Dao Equaling the Heavens

Chapter 27 - 27 21 A Yellow Dragon in the Well

27: Chapter 21: A Yellow Dragon in the Well 27: Chapter 21: A Yellow Dragon in the Well April 13, Daqian’s land tax, business tax, labor service tax, and adult tax, including the silver money tax, increased by ten percent.

April 14, the price of grain in Bianjing rose by ten percent in the morning, thirty percent by noon, and nearly doubled by the close of market.

April 15, the imperial court issued an order to restrict grain prices; all major grain shops ran out of stock.

April 16, official grains were made available, but the Fire Dragon burned down the warehouses.

By the end of May, the price of food had doubled from its original price, taxation by the imperial court led to over ten thousand households fleeing, continuous outbreaks of riots in the villages and towns of Qianjing County, and hundreds of households in Bianjing city either went bankrupt, fled, or sold themselves into servitude, or enlisted in the army.

Coincidentally, the Grand Army set out to expel the invading nomads, requiring a large number of civilians to perform hard labor; many people sharpened their wits to squeeze into the military camps just for a bite to eat.

The slave market was crammed with people selling themselves with grass plugs in their hair.

Old One-Arm, a man whose face resembled dead tree bark, also showed a hint of a smile.

His main business was trading slaves, and the more people sold themselves, the more money he naturally made.

In the past few days, he had almost taken all the silver from his accounting room to buy people, investing more than ten thousand silver taels, and having sold at least thirty thousand taels worth.

Just then, a strong man walked briskly up to him and whispered a few words in his ear; his smile abruptly ceased, his complexion turned pale.

“What did you say?”

“Sir, they said they will only buy from us if we lower our prices by fifty percent.”

Fifty percent?

Old One-Arm’s gaze froze, his breathing became labored, and he clenched his remaining right fist so hard that the muscles bulged unnaturally, while veins emerged like roots breaking through the soil, making his arm swell in size, his shoulders now level with his ears.

Seeing this eerie scene, a black market enforcer swallowed hard, not daring to make a sound.

There had always been rumors in the black market that Old One-Arm would take a life without blinking an eye.

Could this be literal rather than figurative?

Old One-Arm took a deep breath to steady himself, and though he thought he had calmed down, when he spoke, his voice was full of anger, “What exactly is going on?”

His main business was the trade of slaves, and the largest part of his trade was selling women to brothels.

Among these, the brothels on Dragon Bridge would pay the highest prices, often three times higher than anywhere else.

If he had to lower prices by fifty percent, then all the women he recently acquired at low cost would yield no profit, and the benefit would all go to Dragon Bridge.

“I don’t know, Sir.

It seems like those brothels have reached an agreement; they all demand a fifty percent lower price, not even taking those we offer at a thirty percent discount.”

“All of them?”

“Yes, even the brothels of the lowest class on Dragon Bridge don’t want them.”

“They’ve got some nerve!

These merchants dare to join forces against us.”

The cold look in Old One-Arm’s eyes intensified, as he realized that he was being sized up as a fat sheep ready for the slaughter.

In years of disaster, officials prey on the rich, and the rich prey on the common folk.

And among the rich, there are distinctions; the Longqiao merchants are the largest of the rich households in Bianjing after the scholars, while the slave market is the smallest of the rich, because it cannot withstand scrutiny.

However, Old One-Arm had been powerful in Bianjing for many years, and this was the first time he had been made to feel like prey, which was a great insult to him.

“Go and find out who is leading this.”

“Yes.”

His subordinate left promptly and returned in a hurry by evening with news that left Old One-Arm somewhat silent.

“A few days ago, Marquis Wen hosted a feast for the brothel owners at Jiangyue Building on Dragon Bridge.”

For big businesses to unite, there certainly needed to be a prestigious figure leading the charge, and Marquis Wen was one of them.

Even Old One-Arm knew that a Marquis had risen from Dragon Bridge in recent years.

Old One-Arm had thought of various responses.

If the brothels were leading the affair, he had methods to handle them.

But if Gu Wen was involved, most of these methods would be futile, for his opponent was a big fish in the light, while he was but a venomous snake in the gutter.

After all, how could a venomous snake kill a big fish?

After thinking it over for a while, he gave another order, “Find out if this Marquis Wen has any family or relatives.”

“Yes.”

The subordinate left once more.

Old One-Arm went to the front of a building in the yard, knelt down, and said, “Master.”

The light of an oil lamp came on in the room, followed by a voice accompanied by a cough, “What is it?”

“I wish to kill someone.”

“Who?”

“Gu Wen, a merchant from Dragon Bridge.

He’s ignorant and dares to collude with brothels, treating you like a meal on a plate.

I can’t sell any of the girls I’ve collected.”

“A merchant you wish to kill, you kill.”

The voice inside the house was casual, as if a human life were merely an ant that could be crushed with a flick of the fingers.

The one-armed elder spoke, “He is a retainer of the Zhao family’s ninth son.”

This was his only concern; Gu Wen may just be a merchant, but Zhao Feng was a prince,

“The Zhao family…

I remember that some time ago, the ninth son of the Zhao family brought over a Heavenly Girl from the Sanqing Taoist Sect.”

The voice inside the room became hesitant, unable to make a decision for a long time.

The one-armed elder became a little anxious and added, “He’s just a merchant, after all.”

He knew that ordinary means would never be able to compete with the Longqiao merchants; the business world was full of big fish that devoured others whole.

If Daqian was to be established on commerce, then Longqiao would certainly become the center of the world.

And for the sake of profiting from disaster, the one-armed elder had almost invested all his wealth.

His master certainly lacked for nothing, but he himself did, and he might even suffer a loss.

The Silver Tael from Immortal Land was considered annual income, impacting millions of people, and the cause and effect were as heavy as mountains.

The major Immortal Sects had already spent large sums to enter, so how could they bring mundane riches with them?

Hence, money had to be earned by those who partook in worldly affairs.

Some sects had long made preparations, and others were not lacking in methods to generate wealth.

His master might not lack for anything, but he himself was in desperate need, particularly since he was likely to lose money this time.

Nowadays, the girls he bought needed money for food and drink; to sell them at a good price, they had to be nourished for some time so they wouldn’t just be skin and bones.

The one-armed elder had spent ten thousand Silver Taels, an annual income that could motivate the common folk of Lin Chuan thousands of miles away to

“What is it?”

“Last night, I saw…

I saw a yellow dragon in the Dragon Spring Well.”