Han Ji

About half an hour later, when Magistrate Wang and several white-haired village elders arrived at the granary under Liu Deran's guidance, a large number of people who had heard the news and come to watch the excitement had gathered outside the granary, and they were all talking about it.

"My lords, my elders, please look," Liu Bei said personally, stepping forward and opening the largest granary to reveal it piled high with golden, plump millet. "All the grain in my Liu family's grain store is top-quality new grain, legally purchased from Yuyang, Jicheng, and other places, with official purchase documents as proof! If there is even a single grain of sand, or a single bit of mold, I, Liu Bei, am willing to accept severe punishment from the government and compensate the villagers who purchased the grain tenfold!"

Prefect Wang stepped forward, casually grabbed a handful of millet, examined it carefully, rubbed it between his fingers, nodded, and announced loudly, "I have inspected it; it is indeed top-quality millet, without any adulteration."

Several village elders also stepped forward to inspect the grain, then addressed the crowd, confirming its quality. At this moment, Liu Yuanqi, having heard the commotion, arrived and announced to the crowd: "Our Liu family has always conducted business with integrity! Since someone is maliciously slandering us and spreading rumors, let's invite more neighbors to come over. We will open all the granaries on the spot for everyone to inspect! Whether it's true or false, you'll know at a glance!"

This suggestion was immediately met with enthusiastic support from the onlookers. Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Liu Bei, along with his men, opened all the granaries one by one, allowing the people to come forward and inspect them. As a result, the rumors were naturally dispelled, and many people instead developed complete trust in Liu's grain businesses.

However, Liu Bei underestimated his opponent's ruthlessness. Just two days later, new and even more vicious rumors surfaced! This time, the claims were more specific and more inflammatory:

"Don't be fooled by the fact that they inspected the grain in front of us and it looked good; what they hid inside and sold to us was moldy rice!"

"That Liu kid is cunning; he's already prepared some good rice specifically to deal with the inspection!"

"My neighbor, Zhang Lao Er, bought some rice from his family. When he washed it at home, half the basin was full of sand. His whole family got diarrhea after eating it!"

This fictional story of Zhang Lao Er spread rapidly through the streets, told with such conviction that it shook the confidence of many who had previously trusted them. The once bustling atmosphere in front of the grain store cooled down again.

The area in front of the grain store suddenly became deserted. Qian Zhao was so angry that he wanted to rush out and find someone to fight, but Liu Bei grabbed him and pulled him back.

"Don't rush, fighting with them won't help."

That evening, Liu Bei summoned Jian Yong and Qian Zhao to the old mulberry tree.

"We don't need to follow the rumors," Liu Bei said. "Let them prove themselves wrong."

The next day, a notice was posted at the entrance of Liu's Grain Shop, and Liu Bei personally stood on a table to explain to the gathered crowd:

"Fellow villagers, recently some people have been saying that my rice is no good. I won't explain much; you'll know whether the rice is good or not once you buy it and cook it."

"There's a spring famine, and everyone's having a tough time. Our Liu family is offering a joint purchase price!"

At first, passersby just looked on curiously and whispered among themselves.

"Joint purchase price? What does that mean?"

Liu Bei stood on the high steps in front of the gate, took a deep breath, and explained in a loud voice: "Fellow villagers! One tree cannot make a forest, but many trees make a grove! From today onwards, as long as three households of neighbors, relatives, and friends come together to buy rice, you can purchase grain at a special price of one hundred and forty coins per shi!"

"Three companies buying together? What... what's going on?"

These words struck like a thunderclap from a clear sky, exploding among the crowd.

After a brief silence, an unprecedented uproar erupted!

"Really? Three households buying together can get a ten-dollar discount?!" A man's eyes widened, almost unable to believe it.

"Dad! What are you standing there for! Go and call your brother and Old Man Wang next door!" A woman shoved her husband hard, her voice sharp with agitation.

"Wait for me! I'm going to call my aunt's house!"

"The Zhang brothers, count my family in!"

"Sister-in-law Zhang, let's eat together!"

"Uncle Li, quickly call your son-in-law's family to come along!"

"What are you waiting for? Let's find them!"

The whole situation instantly spiraled out of control!

The area in front of the grain store resembled a giant beehive, bustling with noise. Everyone seemed to be in a frenzy, either searching for someone or being searched for.

The few people who were just huddled together whispering about whether there was a problem with Liu's rice have now completely forgotten about the rumors.

"Why worry about all that! Ten coins! That can buy so much more rice!"

"Hurry up, hurry up, or someone else will snatch up all the spots!"

To gather three households, people pulled out all the stops. Relatives pulled relatives, neighbors pulled neighbors, and acquaintances quickly formed alliances. Even some families who didn't usually interact temporarily put aside their differences and came together for the benefit of ten coins.

The workers were so busy they barely had time to breathe, some measuring rice, others collecting money, their voices hoarse from shouting. Bags of golden millet were carried away, and copper coins flowed in like a river.

Looking at the frenzied and chaotic scene, at the simple faces beaming with joy because they had saved money, and at how the rumors crumbled so easily in the face of absolute interests and needs, Liu Bei knew that he had won.

In the teahouse across the street, Chen Gui, the owner of Chen's Tea House, dropped his teacup with a "crash," shattering it on the floor. His face was deathly pale, his lips trembling as he muttered, "Crazy...they've all gone mad...what kind of method is this...?"

His old methods of hoarding and manipulating information, which he relied on for survival, seemed so ridiculous and powerless in the face of Liu Bei's simple and direct "group buying" strategy, which came from a 21st-century corporation.

Eight hundred bushels of grain were snapped up at an astonishing speed amidst the deafening clamor. In front of Liu's grain store, only a mess remained, along with a phrase deeply etched in the minds of the people of Zhuojun—"joint purchase."

Without going to court, without seeing weapons.

Liu used a clean and efficient marketing campaign and irrefutable facts to bury the rumors and conspirators.

"It's all figured out! It's finally all figured out!" Jian Yong's fingers trembled with excitement as he fiddled with the abacus. Finally, he looked up, his eyes filled with excitement. "Although we sold each stone for ten coins less, because the sales volume was huge and the turnover was extremely fast, we greatly reduced the storage and capital occupation costs. In the end, the net profit was a whopping nine thousand coins! More than we expected!"

Liu Bei not only quickly recovered a huge amount of funds, but more importantly, he instantly met most of the urgent grain demand in the Zhuoxian market, causing a temporary saturation of consumption. After the people rushed to buy the affordable grain, the demand for Chen Ji's high-priced grain plummeted, which completely disrupted Chen Ji's rhythm and strategy of relying on hoarding and slowly releasing supplies to make huge profits.

Chen Gui, the manager of Chen's Grain Shop, was truly unable to sit still this time. He hadn't expected these young men, especially the quiet Liu Bei, to be so ruthless, directly striking at the heart of their high-price strategy.

He had no choice but to humble himself and personally visit the person in charge to try to negotiate.

"The younger generation is truly formidable, indeed," Chen Gui said with a forced smile. "Nephew Liu, is it? Your business is thriving, which pleases this old man. How about this: I'll offer 100,000 coins to buy your grain shop's signboard, distribution channels, and grain reserves. You young men can use that money to live a carefree life; wouldn't that be much better than working hard?"

Before Liu Bei could figure out how to respond—how to preserve his initial gains without excessively angering the local strongman—Liu Yuanqi's calm voice came from outside the door: "Manager Chen, since when have you become so concerned about children's play?"

Upon seeing Liu Yuanqi personally intervene, Chen Gui knew that the other party was already on guard, and his plan to acquire the company was unlikely to succeed, immediately losing some of his momentum. Ultimately, through Liu Yuanqi's mediation, Chen's side agreed to stop maliciously raising prices and manipulating the market, while Liu Bei, representing Liu's Grain Store, promised not to engage in bottomless dumping and disrupt the industry's basic survival space.

This war without gunfire, which took place in Zhuojun and revolved around rice and millet, eventually came to an end with both sides taking a step back and temporarily reconciling.