“Stockpile grain in years of plenty, set the price in years of famine.”
On the day the deal was finalized, every grain merchant in the city laughed at him: he had traded a forward-sale contract for new wheat for old grain, and paid an extra twelve taels on top.
Three months later, locusts swept in from the north, and the harvest north of the Yangtze failed completely. The price of rice rose from eighty wen to four hundred.
His was the only full granary in all of Ningzhou.
Shen Yan couldn’t see the future. He didn’t memorize poetry, make gunpowder, or hold an official post. All he had was a ledger. While others watched grain prices, he watched the accounts, the warehouses, and the water levels in the Grand Canal.
A book that lays bare grain, money, waterways, and human nature: government grain purchases, price stabilization, grain vouchers, settlements, bank runs. Every step is grounded in real accounts.
Where did the nine thousand shi missing from the government granary go? Who wrote that half-line at the bottom of his father’s ledger? When famine truly arrives, he will be the one to set the price of grain in this city.
One ledger can change the price of grain in an entire city.
Ye Jiuniang has an appetite for me. If we talk about freight, we will talk about freight. She only respects the contract but not the feelings.
Finally someone discovered how important food was back in ancient times. The rules of writing are more important. Seals, stickers, and contracts are easier to use than knives.