"Elder Zhang speaks wisely. We were simply caught off guard by her sudden actions. She's likely waiting for us to make mistakes in our panic. Such a huge loss, let alone for families like ours, even millennia-old clans or the royal family itself, probably wouldn't be able to sustain it for long. So, we truly don't need to worry too much. The only two things we need to do now are: first, buy more grain, and second, find ways to prevent Ding Yun from raising prices. As soon as she raises prices, we'll attack her. Even a mountain of gold would be lost to her!"
After Elder Zhang's explanation, everyone present calmed down. They also felt that what he said made sense; perhaps they had indeed worried too much. Since their calculations showed losses regardless of their approach, the other party absolutely could not be profiting. No matter how deep their pockets, they couldn't keep losing money indefinitely. Therefore, estimating that the other party wouldn't last and would go bankrupt eventually was entirely logical.
"That's all well and good, but how long will it take? What if she can hold on for three to five months?"
"Moreover, losing such a significant military order. We won't be able to explain this when we go back!"
"I'll probably be executed by the family head before she goes bankrupt. Isn't there any other way out of this?"
Even after hearing the explanations, some grain merchants, while feeling a bit better, weren't entirely at ease. They still harbored concerns. Many of them were not family heads themselves, nor did they have the final say in their families. Now, with such a major oversight in their dealings with the Ministry of War, regardless of their direct involvement, they would definitely not be in a good position. They might even have to shoulder blame, be demoted, or worse. Therefore, even though they guessed the other party wouldn't last long, they found it hard to be happy because, however short the time, they anticipated facing punishment. There might even be those within their clans waiting to stab them in the back and seize power. Just thinking about it gave them a headache.
"Enough, all of you, shut up! Her actions are essentially a desperate gamble against us. She has the courage to fight us with everything she has, but we don't. We all have large businesses to maintain. Since we dare not confront the 'Affordable Grain Shop' head-on, don't expect to win through other petty schemes. Listen to Elder Zhang and wait patiently. Meeting change with constancy is also a viable strategy."
Li Hong had now grasped the situation and perhaps even thought he had figured out Ding Yun's intentions. Though resigned, he could only make this decision. Thus, he quickly made the final call, setting the subsequent response plan.
As for the other grain merchants with ulterior motives, though unwilling, they knew they were even less capable of directly fighting Ding Yun. Therefore, they could only console themselves with the thought that Ding Yun absolutely wouldn't last long. Some returned home directly, while others wrote letters to inform their families of the situation and waited in the capital for Ding Yun to go bankrupt so they could directly take over the military orders.
However, they had truly underestimated Ding Yun, and also the production speed of Ding Yun's farm. Her farm had now been upgraded to level eight, possessing eight plots of land capable of growing wheat and rice. With each plot yielding 12.6 million catties per day, eight plots would produce over 100 million catties daily. The entire country's population was now less than sixty million, with most being self-sufficient farmers. Only a minority constantly needed to buy grain. Therefore, her daily output was more than enough to supply the entire nation, let alone go bankrupt.
Their waiting period provided Ding Yun with immense opportunities. It gave her the chance to expand rapidly. In less than half a year, Ding Yun expanded her affordable grain shops, which had originally only been established in less than a tenth of the country's cities, to all cities nationwide. Furthermore, leveraging this dense network of shops, she successfully built her own logistics system by acquiring numerous small and medium-sized escort agencies. In addition, she made another bold decision: to sell official salt, absolutely pure and unadulterated, in her grain shops.
Transporting grain to various borders was originally a significant way for many grain merchants to obtain salt permits. Now that Ding Yun had taken over this entire operation, the salt permits that were supposed to be paid naturally fell into her hands. After all, why refuse such a benefit? Ding Yun had no reason to refuse. With so many salt permits in hand, not selling salt would not only be her own loss but could also lead to a shrinkage of the official salt market, allowing it to be further encroached upon by illegal salt. Therefore, after completing the initial layout, Ding Yun quickly exchanged all the salt permits for salt. Then, she placed this salt, unadulterated and with minimal price increases, in her grain shops to be sold as official salt.
Consequently, her sales exploded again. So much so that she had to implement purchase limits. Her actions were a breath of fresh air among the numerous merchants selling official salt. Those who sold official salt had paid dearly for their salt permits. As the saying goes, the wool comes from the sheep's back. Since they had paid a lot for the permits, they naturally had to find ways to recoup their expenses from the people. Furthermore, human greed is bottomless. Therefore, adulterating official salt with sand and charging exorbitant prices had become commonplace in the industry. This was also the main reason why illegal salt remained rampant and difficult to eradicate. If official salt were affordable and of good quality, who would risk buying illegal salt? It was precisely because official salt was unaffordable, overpriced, and of poor quality that people flocked to buy illegal salt.
Even so, official salt sold very well. This was because if a business owner had no record of purchasing official salt for one or two months, anyone would know they had bought illegal salt. Therefore, even to conceal their purchase of illegal salt, businessmen, especially those in the food business, had to buy some official salt as a pretense. Moreover, the quantity of official salt was limited, and shops specializing in selling it, not worried about sales, would only think about how to adulterate it further and make more money. They would never consider user experience. Besides, illegal salt was also something they secretly sold themselves. If no one bought official salt, it would be even more convenient for them to sell more illegal salt and earn more money. Therefore, the poor quality and high price of official salt had long become an industry norm.
Ding Yun's actions had undoubtedly broken industry rules once again. However, she wasn't worried at all, as her actions had already received the tacit approval of the current Emperor. The Emperor was not foolish. The population of the world was growing, yet the salt tax was decreasing. People could not live without salt. What did this situation imply? It was nothing other than the rampant spread of illegal salt. He had considered ways to curb this from the official side, even to solve it. As for the results? Four salt imperial censors had died in five years, and the current one was likely on his way out. Clearly, there was some effect, as otherwise, the salt merchants wouldn't have resorted to such ruthless measures. However, the effect was limited. The assets and influence behind those salt merchants were too vast, so vast that even the Emperor found it difficult to eradicate them.
It was precisely for this reason that when he learned of Ding Yun's actions and her ambition to monopolize the entire military order, he had a sudden inspiration to summon her. He had even specially made many verbal promises, hoping to use her to disrupt the situation. This would allow him to fish in troubled waters and prepare for the subsequent rectification of the entire salt industry. If it succeeded, that would be best; even if it failed, it wouldn't matter, as it was just an attempt. Success would bring him absolute benefits, while failure would bring him no harm. Why not? She was merely a merchant, and he had sacrificed several salt imperial censors. How much more so a mere merchant.