Water Margin: The opening scene involves assassinating Emperor Huizong of Song and forcibly taking L

“We are keeping a close eye on all the warehouses and storage facilities.”

"It's not cloth inside at all; it's all coal."

"The exchange cannot do this; you are breaking the rules and harming merchants!"

"Without bad rules, everything is compliant."

"If they don't dare let us inspect the goods, they must have broken the rules. There's no stock in the warehouse at all."

"I've found out that the warehouse on this shipment list contains coal that was delivered ten days ago!"

There are no bad rules.

"Inspect the goods! Inspect the goods!"

"Inspect the goods..."

With such a large investment, the big merchants naturally had to keep a close eye on everything.

They not only sent people to keep a close watch on the cargo ships entering and leaving Kaifeng, but also bribed officials in the state treasury and stock exchange warehouses.

They didn't do anything illegal; they just had their clerks help them pass on messages.

We will notify them immediately once new goods arrive at the warehouse.

These people were absolutely certain that the large number of orders His Majesty had issued corresponded to warehouses filled with coal, with absolutely no cloth.

The situation escalated, and even many small investors, fearing losses, spontaneously came to the warehouse to protest.

When the crowd had grown to several hundred, an eighth-rank official appeared, smiling and bowing to the crowd: "I am the official in charge here, and I understand your feelings."

"But these invoices are indeed compliant. Please be patient and let me explain slowly."

The official finished speaking and then fell silent, waiting for the scene to gradually quiet down.

Chapter 3348 Military Stronghold

The warehouse manager continued, "Because too many people are placing orders but not picking up the goods, the fabric warehouse is overflowing, so we have to use other warehouses to store it."

"The warehouses are now overflowing. To cope with the overflow, the imperial court has ordered the major official coal yards in Kaifeng to buy coal and empty these warehouses within a specified period..."

"What does this have to do with us?" a merchant asked impatiently.

The warehouse manager chuckled, "The official coal yard needs time to buy coal and clear its inventory after receiving the imperial order."

"In the next few days, they will move the coal out of this warehouse."

"As for the fabrics on your order, they will all be moved into this warehouse before the delivery date, so as not to delay your delivery."

Wu Yong, whose Tokyo cloth business ranked second in terms of financial strength, personally came to the warehouse: "Since the goods haven't even entered the warehouse yet, why should the exchange allow them to place orders?"

The warehouse manager retorted, "Don't any of you read the exchange's detailed rules?"

"There's no rule that goods must be stored in the warehouse before an order can be placed; the only rule is that the goods must be verified before an order can be placed."

“You merchants disregard the people’s livelihood, only place orders without taking delivery, and fill up the government’s warehouses and stores.”

"Not only are they speculating on fabric, but these past few days some people have even gone so far as to speculate on rice and wheat!"

"In order to store more goods, the imperial court had no choice but to urgently allocate other warehouses."

"To tell you the truth, the goods in your inventory are currently stored in the military warehouse."

"The exchange officials have already inspected the goods at the military warehouse."

"Once the coal yards are emptied of coal here, the cloth from the military warehouses can be transported here."

"And it will definitely be before the delivery date."

"Take a look, these are the attachments to the official coal trading company's contract confirming the delivery of goods within a specified period, and these are the attachments to the military warehouse's contract confirming the delivery of goods into the warehouse within a specified period."

"Everything is based on legal documentation. If they violate the terms of the contract, they will be compensated and fined in accordance with the contract!"

"Excuse me, Mr. Wu... do you have any further questions?"

Wu Yong stood there, speechless.

Due to the constant flow of goods between Tokyo and other parts of the country, there were simply not enough warehouses, and warehouses lined the banks of several canals.

Therefore, a large amount of military supplies were not stored in Tokyo at all, but were placed in Chenliu Military Warehouse, thirty miles away.

This is normal practice. For example, in another timeline of the Ming Dynasty, when there was simply not enough space outside Beijing, they built granaries in the neighboring Tongzhou to store supplies.

This is a heavily guarded military warehouse; who would dare to inquire about it?

Even if they dared to inquire, they wouldn't get any information; at most, they could quietly observe how many ships and vehicles had recently entered the warehouse.

Only high-ranking officials in the Cabinet, the Privy Council, the Court of State Affairs, the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of Revenue knew about it. Even mid-level officials could not inquire about it casually, because it was an absolute state secret!

Now that things have come to this, Wu Yong can basically guess that the Chenliu military granary is mostly full of cloth.

Moreover, using it to deal with them was merely a side effect.

The reason why the military warehouse in Chenliu was stockpiling supplies was because of a major case last year that caused turmoil in the national officialdom.

His Majesty was afraid that something might happen in the capital, so he directly dispatched tens of thousands of soldiers to the capital. These soldiers have been stationed around the capital for a full year!

Correspondingly, the military supplies that were originally intended for the front lines were instead transferred to the Chenliu military warehouse.

There was another reason: Zhao Yuan had been secretly stockpiling supplies in Chenliu in preparation for war with the Jin Dynasty.

Chapter 3349 All Paid Off

There was no large-scale disturbance to the residents, nor was the allocation system invoked.

They simply collected a portion of the tax revenue in kind from the various tax offices along the Bian River and sent it to the military granary.

If you stock up a little each month, the amount will be enormous over a year.

This is now the third year of quietly stockpiling!

Various military supplies in Chenliu military warehouse.

Including cloth, there's so much that it's almost overflowing.

Even if war were to break out with the Jin Dynasty immediately, the Ming Dynasty would not need to temporarily requisition supplies.

Not only are the military granaries in Chenliu nearly full, but the military granaries in Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong, and Shaanxi are also very well stocked.

Having shed the "three redundancies" problem of the Northern Song Dynasty, various reforms were also in full swing, and the population was gradually recovering, with abandoned land being cultivated again. For a country of China's size, this was truly astonishing.

The fiscal debts of the previous few years were all paid off at the beginning of last year.

With ample national treasury funds, investment in water conservancy has been increased since last year, mainly focusing on the management of the Yellow River and Jingjiang River systems.

A group of merchants from the capital want to wage a futures war against the increasingly wealthy imperial court?

Their thinking is still stuck in the financially distressed former Song Dynasty!

……

Outside the stock exchange.

Zhao Kai squatted anxiously by the door, his ears filled with all sorts of random rumors.

Zhao Shu rushed over, panting, and said:

"Huff...huff...the military warehouse...it's the military warehouse's stock. I heard the Chenliu military warehouse is piled high with cloth..."

"It's over, it's over..." Zhao Kai felt as if he had been struck by lightning.

Because of his former imperial lineage, fewer and fewer people cared about him, and his situation became increasingly worse.

After much painful reflection, Zhao Kai diligently studied painting techniques and managed to imitate Emperor Huizong's paintings to a degree of similarity.

Even experts can tell it's a fake.

But they always manage to fool some wealthy laymen.

Some people even buy Zhao Kai's paintings.

They took it to the south and sold it as Emperor Huizong's "posthumous work".

After making money again by selling his father's paintings, Zhao Kai once again became extravagant in his spending.

Last year, due to a major case, all members of the former Song imperial family were placed under house arrest until after New Year's Day when they were released.

Zhao Kai must have been holding back for a long time, so he went on a spending spree this year, and for a while he practically lived in Fanlou.

Instead, he ended up owing Fanlou a huge debt, and even mortgaged the house he had purchased.

Seeing that trading futures could make money, Zhao Kai quickly pulled Zhao Shu to join him.

They didn't even get to eat hot shit before the price was already extremely high when they entered.

They sold everything they owned and borrowed money everywhere, but still couldn't buy many orders.

If the investment fails, the two brothers will starve.

"Brother, what should we do?" Zhao Shu's face turned pale.

Zhao Kai slumped against the wall, staring blankly at the sky: "What else can I do? Slowly pay off my debts by painting."

Zhao Shu said anxiously, "You can make money by painting, but how am I supposed to live?"

"Figure it out yourself," Zhao Kai said irritably.

Zhao Shu was furious. He grabbed Zhao Kai by the collar and said, "I told you that roasting goods was unreliable, but you insisted on dragging me into it."

"If I lose everything, you have to help me pay off my debts!"

Zhao Kai, with an air of utter indifference, retorted, "If I tell you to stir-fry goods, you stir-fry goods. But if I tell you to die, will you die too?"

"Don't blame me for your own greed."

Enraged, Zhao Shu began to punch and kick, but Zhao Kai covered his head with his hands and let him beat him.

In the end, Zhao Shu also lost heart.

The two brothers re-entered the exchange and watched as the big traders stopped placing buy orders.

The other investors were also unwilling to trade, and a glimmer of hope suddenly arose in their hearts.

Chapter 3350 Cracking Down on Speculation

Trading of textiles on the exchange has been suspended.

His Majesty is still dumping his goods, but no one is buying them.

However, some people still took action.

An hour before the exchange was about to close, bankers who had received the news started coming to place their orders.

These merchants are all legitimate cloth shop owners.

Perhaps they were timid, perhaps they were slow to act, or perhaps they believed that the government would intervene.

In short, none of them participated in speculation; they simply followed the cloth merchants in raising retail prices and then used their own meager inventory for retail sales.

The higher the price of fabrics is driven up, the less willing they are to buy them; they all wait for the price to drop before placing an order.

Many shops had already sold out of fabrics; they had been holding on, waiting for this day!

In the past, even if they bought goods at low prices, they wouldn't dare to sell them at lower prices on their own, because they would be suppressed by large merchants.

But things are different now. Can a guild's verbal agreement really outweigh His Majesty's?

As long as the exchange can operate smoothly, we won't have to depend on the big brokers for everything in the future!

The vast majority of ordinary people, seeing that the price of cloth had risen too ridiculously, refrained from making winter clothes and bedding, and temporarily made do with last year's old clothes and tattered quilts.

Small merchants can make a profit simply by buying His Majesty's goods and then automatically lowering the retail price.

Those who rushed to buy cloth after hearing the news could even form long queues in front of the shops.

The fabric trade, which had been temporarily suspended, suddenly became booming again.

Looking at the bustling scene in the exchange, everyone involved in the speculation, whether they were wealthy merchants or ordinary retail investors, felt utterly devastated and heartbroken.

Those who took out loans to speculate on goods, in particular, were practically contemplating jumping into the Bian River to end it all!

"Dang-dang-dang!"