My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 71 Mutually Beneficial [25 Reads Requested!]

Zang Ai's son, Zang Quansi, is a typical example. In order to become one of the Nine Ministers, he did not hesitate to curry favor with the court officials and nobles, and gave his father, who was Zang Ai's favorite concubine, to Deng Yang.

This Deng Yang was a confidant of Cao Shuang, the Grand General who held power in Cao Wei at the time, and a descendant of Deng Yu, a famous general of the Eastern Han Dynasty. He, He Yan, and Ding Mi were known as the Three Dogs of Taichung.

This shows just how bad his reputation is.

Therefore, the story of Zang Quansi giving his father's beloved concubine in exchange for an official position shocked the entire city of Luoyang and became a popular tale.

Zang Ai, of course, had no idea that he had such a filial son who would send him another hat after his death, as if afraid that his head would get cold in the afterlife.

Zang Ai was chatting and laughing with Mi Lu at this moment; the two were actually old acquaintances.

Soon, sounds came from outside.

Today, the entire inn has been booked by the Mi family, and the banquet will be held on the second floor.

Liu Feng was waiting in the private room of the banquet. When the door opened, he stood up to greet him.

As soon as Zang Ai entered the room, he saw Liu Feng. He looked at Mi Lu in surprise, not expecting that there were other people in the room.

Mi Lu smiled and explained, "Registrar Zang, this is my young master, Mi Feng. He was arranged by the family to come with me for training."

Zang Ai suddenly realized: "So that's how it is. I had heard that Elder Mi had retired home to enjoy his retirement, and I was wondering why you were in charge of the caravan this time. It turns out that Elder Mi has entrusted you with this important task."

Accompanying the eldest son of the family on business trips is indeed an extremely important task. Only a highly trusted and capable elder could be given such an important position.

Liu Feng greeted Zang Ai in a rather low-key manner, and then they both took their seats.

Zang Ai appears very scholarly, with the air of a Confucian scholar. Judging from his speech, he is quite capable and a good official who wants to get things done.

If possible, Liu Feng would actually like to recruit Zang Ai, since with his abilities, he would be more than qualified to be a county magistrate.

Unfortunately, this time Liu Feng is going to deal with Zang Ai's father, Zang Ba, and Zang Ai will have to become the sharp blade that pierces Zang Ba's heart.

After exchanging pleasantries, and having eaten and drunk several rounds of food and drinks, they began to get down to business.

Mi Lu spoke first, bringing up the topic: "Registrar Zang, I heard that the Cavalry Commandant is raising funds?"

Zang Ai nodded. This was something everyone in Kaiyang knew, so there was no need to keep it a secret.

"Yes, that's true."

Zang Ai remained calm and surprisingly frank, saying, "Even now, my family's fundraising is still insufficient. Since Elder Mi is already aware of this matter, I wonder if the Mi family would be willing to do me a favor?"

Upon hearing this, Elder Mi smiled without saying a word and looked at Liu Feng to the side.

Zang Ai then followed Elder Mi's gaze and turned to Liu Feng.

Feeling the gazes of the two men, Liu Feng showed a hint of nervousness on his face, but forced himself to remain calm. He spoke to Zang Ai, "Since the Registrar has something to ask for, my Mi family is naturally willing to help. However, my Mi family also has something we would like to ask the Registrar for help with. What do you think, Registrar?"

Zang Ai paused for a moment, then pondered for a while.

Judging from Liu Feng's words, it seemed that he wanted to make some kind of deal with me.

Thinking of her irritable father at home, Zang Ai decided to listen to Liu Feng's opinion first.

With Zang Ai's permission, Liu Feng immediately showed an excited expression: "Chief Clerk, since the Cavalry Commandant is short of money, and the Mi family happens to be short of grain, why don't you persuade the Cavalry Commandant to sell his surplus grain to my Mi family?"

"Your household wishes to purchase grain?"

Zang Ai asked in surprise, "Why is the Mi family of Donghai suddenly short of food?"

"It's not that my Mi family is short of food, but that the governor is short of food," Liu Feng explained. "After Governor Liu took office, he wanted to teach the people to cultivate land, but he lacked food and seeds. Therefore, the prefecture is currently raising funds for food."

"As you know, my patriarch is currently serving as the Prefectural Governor. He also strongly supported Tao Gong's land reclamation efforts. Now, he has been entrusted with an important task by Governor Liu, which is something he has no choice but to do."

Zang Ai realized that the Mi family had gone back to their old ways, providing money, grain, and labor to exchange for government positions in the state.

The Mi family had done something similar a few years ago; when their father was appointed Cavalry Commandant, the Mi family also sent a generous gift.

It's perfectly normal for them to procure grain for the state government now.

Then, Zang Ai recalled the intelligence she had received a few days earlier.

According to intelligence reports, Liu Bei did indeed intend to implement large-scale land reclamation and had already begun taking action.

The Mi family and the capital of Xiapi began to raise resources and send them to Tancheng.

Judging from this situation, what Old Mi said is quite reliable.

“Registrar, my family is willing to pay a high price for grain. What do you think of this figure?”

The price Liu Feng offered was quite tempting; even at double the price, let alone now, you couldn't get this price during the leanest period before the summer harvest.

However, as Zang Ba's eldest son and already in office as the registrar of Kaiyang, Zang Ai was very clear about Zang Ba's family background.

Zang Ba is now not only short of money, but also of food.

Although there wasn't a huge shortage of food, enough to last until the summer harvest in June, there was absolutely no surplus.

This is going to be a real headache.

The Mi family wanted grain and were willing to pay a high price to buy it. Although we were also willing to sell, we didn't have enough grain, so there was nothing we could do.

Zang Ai smiled wryly and said to Liu Feng and Mi Lu, "Since you two are not outsiders, I will speak the truth. To be honest, Kaiyang's grain supply has long been exhausted. My father has gathered the remaining grain from the surrounding areas, but it is only enough for the people and soldiers of the city to eat until the summer harvest. There is really no more grain to be squeezed out."

Both Liu Feng and Mi Lu showed obvious disappointment on their faces.

Zang Ai was also helpless, but the grain absolutely could not be sold.

Suddenly, Liu Feng came up with a new idea.

"Registration Officer Zang, may we first purchase grain at a high price, and then buy grain from afar to resell to you?"

Zang Ai was completely bewildered at first, but she understood after Liu Feng explained it to her.

Liu Feng explained that Liu Bei needed food urgently, so the Mi family simply didn't have time to go far away to collect it.

In other words, what the Mi family lacked was not food, but time.

Given enough time, the Mi family could certainly gather enough food.

If that's the case, why not borrow some grain from Kaiyang on credit, deliver it to Tancheng first, and then buy grain from other places to repay Kaiyang?

Zang Ai was shocked by Liu Feng's boldness and shrewdness. He did not expect that the other party could come up with such a seemingly bizarre idea, but upon closer inspection, it was quite reliable.

Liu Feng even provided detailed specifications: if Zang Ai was willing, they could purchase grain at 1.5 times the market price, and then resell the same amount of grain to Kaiyang at the market price.

They can even keep double the price difference as a deposit.

The loan period is only two months. It's January now, so the grain can be repaid by the end of March, which will not cause any harm to Kaiyang.

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(End of this chapter)