Chapter 294: Storm Of Rumors
Jia Xu suppressed the turbulent waves in his heart and asked, “Has the grain in Chaisang always been this cheap?”
“Pretty much! It’s always been forty or fifty wen, and recently it’s gotten even cheaper, dropping below forty wen.”
“But this is wartime!”
The shopkeeper grinned wryly, a bitter smile uglier than crying. “Before, during wartime, the price skyrocketed to fifty wen per dou all at once, but after the Cao Army’s large ship was burned to ashes, the rice price also plummeted like a fire to thirty-five wen per dou. It’s just pitiful for us small-time rice merchants; we’ve lost everything.”
Jia Xu sighed and said, “But the rice price in Hefei is still two hundred wen per dou. Don’t you know that?”
“I know! Of course I know, but what use is that?”
“You could…”
Before Jia Xu could finish, the shopkeeper interrupted decisively, “Impossible. Our Marquis of Chu has a strict order: grain is absolutely forbidden from being exported. If caught, it’s light punishment of exile to Jiaozhou or heavy punishment of beheading. No one dares to do such a thing.”
Jia Xu felt somewhat relieved. The grain price was indeed a huge temptation attracting northern citizens to migrate to Western Chu. Why let the fat water flow to outsiders? Gan Ning naturally wouldn’t use his low grain prices to subsidize outsiders. Strictly banning grain export was very normal.
Jia Xu suddenly remembered something else and smiled as he asked, “Earlier you said it dropped to thirty-five wen per dou. How has it dropped another five wen today?”
The shopkeeper sighed, “The new rice seeds in the eastern suburbs experimental field had a bumper harvest at the beginning of the year, yielding eight hundred jin per mu. Now they’re planting autumn grain with it, and it’s looking like another success. Of course the rice price has to plummet!”
Jia Xu was stunned. Eight hundred jin per mu, two-season rice—he knew exactly what that meant. He didn’t bother asking more and turned to leave the shop. Getting into the carriage, he said, “To the eastern suburbs experimental field!”
The eastern suburbs experimental field was no longer a secret. Everyone in Chaisang knew about it, and countless farmers were watching this three-thousand-mu field. Many farmers had even set up shacks by the fieldsides, staring daily at the growth of the new rice.
Gan Ning didn’t interfere. He was eager for all farmers to come see, as it would promote the Jiaozhi rice.
When Jia Xu arrived at the eastern suburbs experimental field, the trial fields were surrounded by tens of thousands of farmers from various places, all wide-eyed staring at the rice. It was early September now; the rice had turned yellow, grains plump and heavy, drooping down. In another half month, it would be harvest time.
The farmers didn’t care about the rice’s origins; they only cared about the results. Eight hundred jin per mu was three hundred jin higher per mu than current rice. More importantly, it was two-season rice, while now it was just one season of winter wheat at three hundred jin per mu and one season of late rice at five hundred jin per mu, totaling eight hundred jin of grain per year per mu. The new rice seeds doubled the annual yield exactly. This huge grain production gap made all the farmers envious.
Hearing this huge grain difference, Jia Xu was also shocked into a daze. As a top strategist, he knew exactly what it meant: a gap in national strength. Wasn’t national strength just grain and population?
“Where are these rice seeds from?” Jia Xu crouched down and asked a farmer nearby.
“I hear they’re rice seeds from Jiaozhi Commandery. High yield, short growth period—real treasures!”
Jia Xu returned to the city in a daze. At this time, news was spreading everywhere inside the city that the Marquis of Chu was to form a marriage alliance with Cao Cao. This was something Jia Xu had deliberately arranged for his subordinates to spread, to amplify the marriage alliance’s influence. He believed there must be forces in Chaisang supporting the marriage alliance.
At dusk, Gan Ning returned to the manor as usual. Greeting him was Sun Shangxiang. She had completely emerged from her gloom and was no longer as skinny as before; she had recovered her original figure and looked exceptionally healthy and beautiful.
She happily stepped forward, took Gan Ning’s arm, and proactively kissed his face. Her beautiful eyes were especially bright, just like a girl fallen in love.
“Gan Lang is back?”
“I’m back. Where are they?”
“A Yu is chatting with Older Sister Da Qiao, and Yun Qing is reading Older Sister Da Qiao’s fortune.”
“What’s wrong?” Gan Ning sensed something off.
“Older Sister Da Qiao isn’t in a good mood today. It seems there’s a rumor that Cao Cao wants… wants a marriage alliance.” Sun Shangxiang stammered; actually, she was also worried about being replaced by someone else.
Gan Ning understood and nodded. “Have your older sister come to the study.”
Gan Ning returned to the study. He had just sat down when Da Qiao came in with a cup of hot tea, her eyes somewhat red and swollen, as if she had been crying.
Gan Ning was both exasperated and amused. He pulled her into his arms and sat her on his lap. “It’s just a rumor. Is it worth crying over?”
“But I think it’s real!”
Da Qiao lowered her head and said softly, “Husband once told me that sometimes political marriage alliances are unavoidable, like that year when you allied with Jiangdong and almost had to marry Shang Xiang.”
Gan Ning hugged her sympathetically and comforted her, “I don’t know if there will be political marriage alliances in the future, but even if there are, it has nothing to do with you. Even if it’s the emperor’s daughter, she’ll have to obediently serve you tea. You are my wife, now and forever!”
“Husband!”
Da Qiao hugged her husband and cried. “I’m not concerned about being the main wife. I’m afraid… afraid you’ll divorce me!”
When the main wife is deposed, it’s mostly direct divorce rather than demotion. What Da Qiao feared was exactly this—Cao Cao’s daughter could never tolerate her remaining in the manor.
“What are you talking about?”
For this wife with severe insecurity, Gan Ning smiled wryly in exasperation and had to try another angle. “If I divorce you, what about our son? A Zhu, sober up! The son you bore is the heir apparent. With him, what do you have to fear?”
But Da Qiao still couldn’t let it go. She had become her husband’s main wife in a muddled way. Originally, she had entered Gan Ning’s manor as a concubine, without matching status, without formal wedding rites, without the hair-tying ceremony. These lacks had always been thorns in her heart, the root cause of her insecurity.
Just like Liu Bei’s Madam Gan, promoted from concubine to main wife, but then because Liu Bei married Madam Mi for a marriage alliance, Madam Gan was demoted back to concubine.
So the rumor of a Gan-Cao marriage alliance instantly activated that thorn in her heart. She thought of the world-of-difference status gap between herself and Cao Cao’s daughter, that she couldn’t help her husband achieve his grand ambitions while Cao Cao’s daughter could. Da Qiao completely broke down.
That night, Gan Ning coaxed his wife until midnight before barely convincing her that her position was irreplaceable and she would forever be his wife.
But Gan Ning knew the thorn in his wife’s heart hadn’t been removed; the pain was just temporarily eased. He had to prove his determination with actions.
The next day, Gan Ning received Jia Xu.
For Jia Xu, this old friend, Gan Ning no longer valued him as much as at first. Jia Xu was a top tactical strategist, but he lacked a bit in grand strategy. His seven-year truce plan against Jiangdong was executed brilliantly, but it was limited to gains and losses of one city or region. In long-term strategy, it was a loss.
“Has Strategist Jia decided to implement a seven-year truce strategy here with me again? If I remember correctly, the Cao family’s seventh miss was promised to Sun Quan. Does Chancellor Cao want me to marry a widow awaiting remarriage?”
Gan Ning’s voice was cold. Jia Xu froze, a never-before-felt bitterness rising from his heart. His achievement in successfully deceiving Jiangdong had now become an insurmountable mountain.
The hall fell silent. Lu Su, Jiang Wan, and the other high officials were all stunned. They had never discussed these words from the Marquis of Chu.
After a long time, Jia Xu took a deep breath and said, “Whether the seven-year agreement is real or fake is a fact, but the measure of truth or falsehood has never relied on so-called negotiation sincerity, but on strength. I think the Marquis of Chu is well aware of his own strength.”
