infodatos Chapter 457: Worthless Wheat and the Collapse of the Kingdom's Nobility! - (1)
Chapter 457: Worthless Wheat and the Collapse of the Kingdom's Nobility! - (1)
September quietly arrived, and the hastily constructed train stations and interconnected railways, built with the joint efforts of wizards and hundreds of thousands of laborers, were finally completed.
However, the kingdom's wealthy merchants and nobles had already gone mad due to soaring grain prices. In just one month, the price of grain had increased by five hundred times!
Every morning, countless caravans waited outside the granaries, and batches of wheat flown in by airships were instantly snatched up without even needing to be unloaded!
Because as long as they got their hands on the grain, they could earn several times the profit in just a day or two. Driven by such terrifying profits, most people had gone crazy and lost their reason!
However, such madness had its limits. Because the grain in the hands of the council seemed inexhaustible, the price of grain was gradually decreasing every day. Now, thousands of tons of grain were being thrown into the market every day!
To completely consume this grain, tens of thousands of imperial coins were needed. But their money had long been spent on buying the grain at the previous prices. Some wealthy merchants had even mortgaged all their assets!
But everyone knew they had to buy all the grain. Otherwise, if the price of wheat collapsed, their wealth would vanish into thin air!
These batches of grain were eventually forced to be bought by dozens of grain caravans!
After buying the grain, the major wealthy merchants and nobles were unable to sit still. They sent people out to investigate how much grain the wizards actually had!
It was obviously not easy to sneak into the various cities' granaries through magical monitoring, so the spies came up with a plan to investigate the workshops.
The wizards needed to provide three meals a day for the laborers. If they didn't have enough grain, the supply would inevitably shrink!
After a thorough investigation, they did receive a shocking piece of news, but it was exactly the opposite of what they had imagined— the magical workshops in major cities were planning to provide a supper for the night shift workers to reward their hard work!
The next day, the council directly threw out more than five thousand tons of wheat in total in all the major cities of the kingdom, which stunned all the caravans that wanted to buy wheat!
"This is impossible! Where did they get so much grain?" Count Mortan tightly grabbed the collar of the reporting attendant, roaring in anger!
Count Held and the other imperial counts also lost their previous appearance of being sure of success and strategizing, their eyes all red with disbelief.
In the past month, they had bought up enough food for three million people to eat for half a year. The rest bought by wealthy merchants seeking to profit was no less than what they had bought. How could the wizards take out five thousand tons of wheat in one go again?
"Count Mortan, what should we do now?" Viscount Sk hurriedly spoke, having exhausted all his efforts to support Mortan's desperate plan!
"Otherwise, let's sell the grain now?" Count Bell suddenly proposed.
And last night, the price had dropped to the lowest point in the kingdom's history, ten kilograms per copper coin!
Count Sk and other nobles couldn't accept this ludicrous price either. This meant that their existing assets would instantly shrink to one five-thousandth of what they had before!
Count Bell's voice became hoarse as he shouted desperately.
"This is naked provocation, it's war!"
"Their granaries, where are they? I'll send someone to burn all those wizards' grain immediately!"
The nobles present were burning with anger, all showing a posture of overturning the kingdom.
"Burn what?!" Count Held scolded in anger, pouring cold water on everyone.
Five thousand tons of grain were scattered in more than forty cities in the kingdom, heavily guarded, and there were not a few wizards in each town. What could they burn?
Do they think wizards can't use magic to put out fires?
In fact, not only could they conjure up large amounts of water out of thin air, they could even easily summon thunderstorms and lightning!
Thinking of the scene a year ago, when someone in the capital waved their hand and called down terrifying thunder, a feeling of indescribable fear rose in Held's heart, and he couldn't help but regret why he had listened to Mortan's words and opposed those wizards who wielded terrible magic.
Count Bell, Viscount Sk, and others looked at Mortan's eyes also became increasingly hostile.
The latter obviously sensed the increasingly subtle atmosphere on the scene and said coldly.
"Don't forget, gentlemen, we are all tied together now. My death will do you no good!"
"Now we have only one way!"
At this point, Count Mortan paused noticeably, then opened his mouth, almost squeezing out these words from between his teeth. "That is to continue... buying grain!"
As long as they could buy up all the grain of the council, the initiative would return to their side!
"I absolutely don't believe that those wizards have an endless supply of grain!" Count Mortan's loud voice echoed throughout the castle. "Do they think they can conjure wheat out of thin air?"