In the beginning, he was ranked alongside An Shigeng as a spoiled brat.

Master Mingchen went to see his daughter this time.

It could be said that she was wary of the Zhang family and had never dared to go there.

But things are different now. Having long since let go of everything, all she feels besides a trace of attachment is guilt.

Zhang Xiaoshan wanted to take him back to the Zhang family for training, but Master Mingchen said that the Zhang family was too conspicuous and did not agree.

snort!

Seeing everyone praising a fake 'nun' so highly, Huang Rong felt a little resentful.

Ji Yaohua, however, smiled. She knew that this mage was also the little girl's rival in love, and the little girl was definitely not happy now.

Three days later, the imperial gifts arrived again.

For their meritorious service in suppressing the White Lotus Rebellion, the Zhang family was rewarded with a grand mansion of exceptional quality in the aristocratic district of East Street, a hundred jars of fine tribute wine, and a hundred bolts of top-grade brocade...

In order to completely draw the Zhang family into the White Lotus Sect's hatred zone, the emperor bestowed such generous rewards that everyone envied them.

Leaving aside top-grade silks like Yunjin, a luxurious garden spanning over a hundred acres on East Street was a privilege reserved only for princes, which shocked the entire Lin'an Prefecture.

However, Zhang Xiaoshan didn't care about this at all.

The White Lotus Sect has been terrified by the Zhang family; who would dare to cause trouble for them?

On the contrary, the Sixth Prince, through drinking large amounts of the White Lotus Holy Water of the White Lotus Sect during this period, has completely extinguished his will and ambition.

This thing is so domineering that it could drag the entire Han Chinese into an abyss.

Moreover, Zhang Xiaoshan secretly connected him with a spies within the White Lotus Sect, enabling him to purchase the White Lotus Holy Water.

Chapter 237 The Arrival of the Nanyang Fleet (I couldn't stay up at noon, I'll finish this in the evening)

"Young master, the fleet from the South Seas has arrived!"

Because of the abundance of grain and the sheer size of the fleet, it took a full four months to reach the mouth of the Longjiang River.

Meanwhile, the Zhang family had already opened their second granary, which contained another million bushels of grain, completely suppressing the situation.

As long as there is enough food, it is the hope for survival for the people in the disaster area.

Most people understood that the Zhang family's previous claim of 500 shi (a unit of grain measure) was merely a struggle, and they were waiting for an opportunity.

If the Zhang family can't hold on any longer, they will inevitably have to spend a lot of gold to buy the grain they have.

That's right, that's exactly what they've been waiting for – the Zhang family to make the purchase!

The black market is purely small-scale, and the large quantity of grain they possess is difficult to sell in a short period of time.

But the Zhang family was different. They had no doubt about the Zhang family's purchasing power, as the Zhang family itself controlled five major gold mines—

Glassware, soap, pastries, beauty products, and the Red Mansion!

With the profits from Ghost Street, the gold looted several times, and even the gold stored in various banks, there's no shortage of money to buy food.

But the opening of the second grain depot taught everyone a lesson and made them anxious.

If things go wrong, the grain they have could be stuck in their hands.

This amounts to tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of shi of grain, much of which was purchased at high prices. The hope is to resell it to the Zhang family to take over the cooking.

If there is still a glimmer of hope for the second grain depot

The grain that arrived from Southeast Asia was the final straw that broke their hopes.

"We've finally arrived! Let's set off for Jinling!"

In addition to demonstrating their strength, the Zhang family also brought a large quantity of other goods in addition to the enormous amount of grain.

After all, the Zhang family cannot do business at a loss. Just this time, the spices, agarwood, rubies and other specialties are worth hundreds of thousands of gold!

These items all need to be loaded and unloaded in Yingtian Prefecture and then transported to Lin'an Prefecture.

As for why Lin'an Prefecture was bypassed, that's a matter of time.

After all, the routes of large ships are fixed in advance, and stopping and detouring would delay them by at least half a month.

Moreover, the boats on this trip are all large Fujian-style boats. Although the Qiantang River is wide enough, it is not as vast and magnificent as the Longjiang River. Who knows what problems might arise?

Naturally, we should take the safest route.

Zhang Xiaoshan personally led the team, which included Qing Sha and Lan Sha, and consisted of several hundred men.

When Zhang Xiaoshan led his men to Jinling, the fleet had just arrived in Jinling.

Large Fujian ships rarely enter Longjiang, especially a fleet of such a large number, which includes at least twenty or thirty large Fujian ships, and the other ships are at least ten zhang or more in length.

Moreover, each of the large Fujian ships had a very heavy draft, which shocked all the onlookers.

What's inside? The ship's hold must be crammed full.

"Please make way, everyone, our boss has arrived!"

A group of Zhang's men forced their way inside, and the people inside saw Zhang Xiaoshan.

"Young master!"

"Uncle Lei!"

The head of the merchant guild was Lei Hao, an elder of the Zhang family, who was responsible for the guild's safety at sea.

The dock was piled high with goods, local specialties brought from Southeast Asia. There were so many that they were piled up like mountains on the dock.

These were things other than grains, such as timber, Southeast Asian silk fabrics, and exotic products...

At this moment, Lei Hao led Zhang Xiaoshan to the Zhang family's warehouse in Jinling, which was a collection point for the Zhang family's business.

The real gems are inside; Lei Hao wouldn't dare leave them outside.

"Master Liu!"

"Young Master Zhang!"

Inside the warehouse, many laborers were still unloading goods.

At first glance, Zhang Xiaoshan recognized the prefect of Jinling.

The people from Jinling Prefecture had arrived long ago, and they had received prior notice, so there was no need to be alarmed by the passage of the large Fujian ship.

This is life-saving food, practically a lifesaver.

The fact that the Zhang family's merchant ships docked in Jinling surprised even the prefect of Jinling.

When he arrived, he saw that the Dafu ship was continuously unloading supplies brought from Southeast Asia.

The prefect still had the authority to inspect the mountain of goods.

However, when he got on board and looked at the grain lying flat in the cabin, he didn't know how much there was, but he knew that there was more grain than in his Jinling Prefecture's granary!

Moreover, this was just a large Fujian ship.

The prefect of Jinling immediately realized that those merchants who had been trying to make a quick buck had completely failed.

Inside the warehouse, the prefect of Jinling saw the real treasure of the trip, his expression filled with shock and greed.

It wasn't that he was too greedy; it was just that these things were too precious.

Not to mention spices and medicinal herbs, boxes of rhinoceros horn, ivory, and gemstones... are all rare and precious items in Nanjing.

But here, it's piled up in a corner as if it were free.

Previously, the prefect of Jinling thought the Zhang family were fools who had donated millions of bushels of grain for nothing, resulting in a loss of at least a million taels of gold.

Only then did he realize that he was the fool!

Although the Zhang family suffered heavy losses, they gained a good reputation. As for making money?

It's likely that the goods in just this one warehouse will be enough to recoup the costs.

After all, the Zhang family didn't buy expensive grain in the Central Plains. With floods in the Central Plains, grain prices in Southeast Asia shouldn't have gone up, right?

Therefore, the seemingly large number of grain ships only cost tens of thousands of gold coins.

These rhinoceros horns, ivory, and gemstones alone, any one of them, could be used to offset the debt.

Why would the Zhang family care about the money from selling grain?

During each trip to Southeast Asia, I feared that the profit from grain would be less than one percent, while the profit from these seemingly small items was at least ninety-nine percent.

This is the true source of exorbitant profits in maritime trade.

"Young Master, I heard you are searching for the ancient wood, the Qiqin, which is ten thousand years old."

This is a thousand-year-old sandalwood found in the rainforest, and it's even small-leaf sandalwood, with one growth ring every ten years. Master Xianxia said that if it's left for another ten years, it will definitely become a masterpiece for the Qiqin!

As he spoke, Lei Hao lifted a red cloth, revealing a section of ancient wood about five zhang long and seven or eight chi thick.

Upon approaching, a pleasant sandalwood scent wafts through the air, instantly refreshing the senses.

This seemingly century-old sandalwood tree is actually a genuine young sandalwood, taking ten years to complete its growth cycle, a hundred years to mature, and ten thousand years to reach this size.

"Thank you, Uncle Lei. Although it's not old wood, this sandalwood is extremely rare, even after ten thousand years!"

Leaving aside Zhang Xiaoshan's astonishment, the prefect of Jinling was already green with envy.

Offering up such a sacred tree would surely bring official rank and titles!

Rosewood is already a prized material, let alone a thousand-year-old sacred wood.

Unfortunately, he remained clear-headed and understood that the Zhang family was not to be trifled with.

Even if it were to be offered as tribute, that would be a matter for the Zhang family.

····

Within a single day, the news that the Zhang family had not yet finished their old grain and that new grain had already arrived spread throughout the Central Plains.

The twenty or thirty large Fujian ships were far superior to Aunt Yu's merchant ships. With their heavy waterlines, each ship could carry at least 80,000 shi of grain. The merchant ships in Aunt Yu's style could transport at least 10,000 shi.

In this way, the Zhang family transported at least two million shi of grain, completely shattering the dreams of those who hoarded grain.

As for interception?

Now, what force dares to provoke the Zhang family?

However, compared to the White Lotus Sect and those forces that cut off gold, which one did not pay a huge price for this?

This was only because the Zhang family showed mercy and didn't wipe them out completely.

Once this batch of grain arrived in the disaster area, the food crisis was essentially resolved.

In an instant, the black market throughout Kyushu was frantically dumping grain.

After all, news of the grain's arrival had not yet fully spread. Once it did, grain prices would plummet back to previous levels.

Especially those grains purchased at high prices, they lost a fortune.

Along the way, besides that ancient sandalwood, they brought quite a few other good things from Southeast Asia.

Besides the flawed or inferior gemstones, there was also a small box of rubies, sapphires, turquoise, and other stones of top clarity and color...

There were also a pair of top-quality ivory tusks over ten feet long, rhinoceros horns with a unique fragrance, and thousand-year-old premium agarwood...

This is the real gain for the Zhang family.

Chapter 238 The Nine Gates of Ghost Street Reunite, Zhang Family Covers the Burden?

"Brother, brother, the grain is being sold cheaply, only 350 coins a liter!"

"Brother, I'll give you thirty-five coins a catty, three hundred coins a liter, and two and a half taels of silver a shi!"

···

In the black market.

The price of grain, which was originally at least 500 cash per liter, has begun to drop to 2 silver and 5 mace per shi, which can be described as a cut in half!

Ghost Street, as the core of the surrounding black market, was also extremely bustling at this time.

After all, as one of the controllers of Ghost Street, the Zhang family taught all the forces in Ghost Street a lesson.

Although no one dares to cause trouble in Ghost Street, Ghost Street is still bound to be plagued by problems.

The once bustling ghost market has seen more than a dozen stores close down in succession.