Chapter 457 Worthless Wheat and Collapsed Kingdom Nobles!

  September has quietly arrived, and the rush-built train station and the railroad tracks connecting various places have finally been completely completed with the joint efforts of wizards and hundreds of thousands of laborers.

  However, the rich merchants and nobles in the kingdom have fallen into a frenzy due to the soaring food prices. In just one month, the price of food has increased by a full five hundred times!

  Every morning, there are countless caravans waiting outside the granary, and the wheat delivered by the airship will be sold out without unloading!

  Because as long as you grab the food in your hands, you can earn several times the income after waiting a day or two. Driven by such horrible profits, most people have gone crazy to the point of losing their minds!

   However, there is a limit to this kind of madness, because the food in the hands of the parliament seems to be inexhaustible, and the price of the food shipped every day is gradually increasing. Now, thousands of tons of food are thrown into the market every day!

   It would take tens of thousands of imperial gold coins to eat all of these grains, but the coins in their hands have already been spent almost as much as before, and some wealthy businessmen have even mortgaged their entire net worth!

   But everyone knows they have to buy all the grain, or if the price of wheat crashes, their wealth will be wiped out!

   This batch of grain was finally forced to be bought in batches by dozens of grain teams!

   After buying the food, the wealthy businessmen and nobles couldn’t sit still anymore, and sent their people one after another to find out how much food the wizards still have!

   It is obviously not an easy task to sneak into the granaries of major cities to find out this point during the magic monitoring. Finally, the spies came up with a way to investigate in the workshop.

  Wizards need to provide three meals a day for the laborers. If there is not enough food in hand, the supply will definitely shrink!

After some investigation, they did get a shocking news, but it was just the opposite of what they had imagined before—the magic workshops in major cities are planning to add a midnight snack to the laborers who work the night shift to reward them for their hard work work!

  The next day, the council directly threw more than 5,000 tons of wheat in the major cities of the kingdom, stunned all the caravans who wanted to buy wheat for a while!

   "Impossible! Where did they get so much food?" Marquis Mortain snarled angrily, grabbing the collar of the attendant who was reporting to him!

  Herder and the other earls of the empire are no longer as sure as they were a few days ago, and their eyes are red, and they can't believe this fact.

In the past month, they have bought enough rations for three million people to feed for half a year, and the rest of the rich merchants who want to take the opportunity to make a fortune have bought no less than them. Five thousand tons of wheat?

   "Lord Mortain, what should we do now?" Viscount Sk said in a panic. In order to support Mortain's desperate plan, he did everything he could!

   "Why don't we sell the grain now?" Earl Bell suddenly suggested.

  Bell’s suggestion undoubtedly moved the nobles very much. Now the price of a kilogram of wheat is as high as 500 copper coins. If they can sell all the grain they bought before, everyone present will be rich!

   "Idiot! Do you think we can still sell our wheat now?" Marquis Mortain slapped the conference table heavily and roared angrily.

   Not to mention the market price of 500 copper coins per kilogram, even if the price is reduced to 100 copper coins, no one will take a look at it!

  The Marquis of Mortain doesn't know what drumming is called to spread flowers, but he knows that the parliament provides three meals a day for the poor. As a result, no one in the market except them who collect grain will buy a grain of wheat at a high price!

  The rest of the merchants are not fools. With the current situation still unclear, who would dare to continue buying grain?

  The fact that 5,000 tons of grain was released from the parliament in the morning, and it has been piling up until now and the fact that it has not been sold is enough to prove this point!

  If they send out a large amount of grain again, the price of wheat will collapse instantly, and then it will cause a large-scale run, and even make the wheat in their hands worthless!

  Bell panicked immediately, and hurriedly said, "But aren't those wizards collecting food? We can sell all the food to them!"

   Mortan looked at Bell coldly, and then turned his head to look at the attendant who was lying on the ground trembling slightly. "Come on!"

   "As of last night, the price for wheat purchased by the council is... ten kilograms of copper coins!" The attendant said cautiously.

  Hearing this news, Bell almost passed out.

  Are you kidding me, ten kilograms for one copper coin?

  This means that he spent a whole hundred thousand imperial gold coins to buy the wheat, which is worth millions of imperial gold coins. The wizards actually want to spend two hundred gold coins to buy it back!

   This is crazy!

   "No, I remember that Viscount Sk said a few days ago that the price they buy wheat should be twenty coppers per kilogram!" Bell yelled hysterically.

  If it was twenty coppers, although he would lose most of his property, it was still acceptable.

Under Earl Bell's cannibalistic gaze, the attendant stammered and explained that the price of grain purchased by the council has been decreasing almost every day, from twenty coppers per kilogram to fifteen coppers, then ten coppers, and five coppers. Copper, two coppers...

   And the price last night has dropped to the lowest point in the history of grain prices in the kingdom, ten kilograms of a copper coin!

  Nobles such as the Viscount Sk could not accept this ridiculous price at all, which meant that their existing assets would instantly shrink to one-fifth of what they were before!

  Bell roared even more hoarsely.

   "This is a naked provocation, it's war!"

   "Where is their granary? I will send someone there immediately to burn all the food for those wizards!"

  The nobles present were full of anger, as if they were ready to overthrow the kingdom.

   "Burn a fart!" Herder cursed angrily, pouring cold water on everyone.

  5,000 tons of food were scattered in more than forty cities in the kingdom. Not only were there heavy soldiers, but there were also not a few wizards in each town. What did they burn?

   Really think wizards can't use magic to put out fires?

  In fact, not only can they conjure a large amount of water out of thin air, they can even easily summon rainstorms and lightning!

Thinking of the scene of someone calling the wind and rain and raining terrifying thunder in the capital a year ago, an unspeakable fear rose in Herder's heart, and he couldn't help regretting why he had listened to Mortan's words, Confront wizards who wield terrifying magic.

  Bell, Sk and others looked at Mortan and their eyes became more and more unfriendly.

  The latter obviously sensed the increasingly delicate atmosphere on the field, and said in a cold voice.

   "Don't forget, everyone, we're all bound together now, and I won't do you any good if I die!"

   "Now we have only one way left!"

   Speaking of this, the Marquis of Mortain obviously paused, then opened his mouth, almost squeezing out the words through his teeth. "That is to continue... to buy food!"

  As long as all the wheat in the parliament can be bought, the initiative will return to their side!

   "I never believe that those wizards have endless food!" The resonant voice of the Marquis of Mortain continued to resound in the castle. "Can they magically conjure wheat out of thin air?"

   It has only been more than a year since the wizards occupied the southern and central regions of the kingdom. Even if they started to reclaim the land from then on, how much food could they grow?

  Mortan firmly believed that the 5,000 tons of wheat must be the last stocks of the council, and the purpose of releasing them now is to frighten them!

  The news about the workshop must also be released on purpose, so that they can mess themselves up!

   After all, he had never heard of that kind of supper. How could those wizards suddenly show kindness and let the laborers have another meal when there was a food shortage.

   This must be deliberately used to confuse them!

  Under Mortan’s analysis, Bell and the others seem to have grabbed the last straw, whether they want to believe it or not, it must be true!

   But soon everyone realized another problem.

  5,000 tons of grain purchased at the current price is a full 250,000 imperial gold coins!

   This is killing them!

  Nowadays, everyone's property has either been mortgaged, or they have spent it all when buying grain. Where can they find so much money?

  Thinking of this, Herder and others retreated one after another.

   Mortain knew that if he did not set an example, the noble alliance would fall apart today, so he gritted his teeth and said. "I mortgaged my manor, and I should be able to collect 20,000 imperial gold coins!"

"Everyone, it's time for life and death!" "Think about it, as long as we can cross this hurdle, the food in our hands can be exchanged for inexhaustible wealth, but once we lose, the accumulation of generations of families They will all be burned..."

  Amid Mortan's encouragement, the nobles present also reluctantly liquidated their few remaining properties. After all, if you take a step back now, you will be in the abyss, and if you go further, you may be able to have everything!

   They had to gamble on this one!

About half an hour later, more than 40 nobles struggled to scrape together the 250,000 gold coins with land deeds, and Mortain immediately asked his trusted confidants to take an airship to the major cities of the kingdom to collect all the 5,000 tons of grain. buy it!

  After paying the only property in their hands, no nobleman left the secret room, and everyone was anxiously waiting for the news to come.

   Just waited for an hour before the guard walked in from the door.

   "How is it? Is the capital already in chaos?" Herder and others immediately surrounded him and asked impatiently.

  Mortan understood that it had only been an hour, and the confidantes he sent to buy grain in various parts of the kingdom should still be on the way.

   It is also possible that the wizards can no longer hold on and plan to negotiate with them...

  The guard who came in to report did not answer the cross-examinations of the crowd, but handed over a newspaper with trembling wrists. "Master Mortan, this is today's [Magic Daily]..."

  Looking at the fearful expression on the guard's face, Mortan felt a little uneasy in his heart, and flipped through the [Magic Daily] in the opponent's hand and started to read it.

  After seeing the conspicuous and deliberately enlarged title on the homepage, Mortan's pupils shrank slightly, and his blood surged uncontrollably.

   "Master Mortain..."

  The nobles present were horrified. Bell snatched the [Magic Daily] at the first time, and after a few glances, he felt a chill rushing from the soles of his feet to his heart, and shouted in horror.

   "Quick, immediately send someone to bring back all the people who bought food!"

  …

  Five minutes ago, in the City of Fire Oil, inside the newly built Wizard Academy.

  Ivana fished out about ten kilograms of wheat grain from the wooden box where the wheat was stored, packed it in a strong coarse cloth, and was about to go out.

   "Are you going to the granary to sell wheat again?" In the living room, Monroe, who was doing daily prayers, suddenly opened his eyes and called to the girl who was about to go out.

   "Yes, those wizards lowered the price of food again yesterday. I think this may have some deep meaning." Ivana replied freely.

   "Profound meaning? I'm afraid the council is underfunded?" Monroe said with a sneer.

  Thanks to Ivana's secret investigation, he also "understood" the reason why those wizards were able to persist in the food war until now!

  The parliament is operating, buying back all the meager food in the hands of the poor at extremely low prices, and using it to support this food war and maintain the most basic decency!

   But this is just a stopgap measure after all, it won't last long!

  Monroe even thinks that today is the time for those wizards to show their true colors, and five thousand tons of wheat should be the last stock.

  Ivana pursed her lips. She had a different idea from Monroe, but she didn't intend to argue. After taking the ten kilograms of wheat grain, she went out.

   Along the way, no one stopped or questioned her. After all, it was not the first day she went out to sell grain, and they were not the only two who bought and sold wheat during this period of time.

  Many wizards regard this as an opportunity to make a fortune, but there is not enough space to accumulate grain, and the financial resources cannot compete with those wealthy merchants and nobles. Usually they can only buy low and sell high to make a fortune.

  When Ivana arrived at the granary, there was a long queue here. Although the price of wheat purchased by the council would decrease every day, the number of people who came to sell the grain did not decrease but increased!

   This also surprised Ivana. You must know that there is a gap of five thousand times between the purchase price of wizards and the market price!

   That is to say, if you sell ten kilograms of wheat to the parliament, you can only get one copper coin. If you are willing to sell it to major grain merchants, it will be worth fifty silver coins!

   After nearly a month of silence, Ivana finally asked her questions.

After hearing the girl's question, the townspeople gathered around and waiting in front of the granary looked at Ivana with envious eyes. When the girl was about to ask again, Sue, who was wrapped in a torn clothes with a little old grain, looked at Ivana with envy. Shan said with a sigh.

   "You have never experienced a famine, have you, my lord wizard?"

  (end of this chapter)