The Great Song Dynasty: You were put in charge of teaching, and you produced a whole bunch of prime

In the accounting office of Jingshi Academy, the crisp sound of abacus beads clattering together was like a downpour pounding on banana leaves.

Qian Duoduo was practically lying on the accounting table, with more than a dozen thick ledgers piled up in front of him. His hands moved so fast on the abacus that they left afterimages, and he rattled off data like a machine gun.

"The Lin family has three granaries in the east of the city, with a total grain storage of about 50,000 shi (a unit of dry measure)... The Wang family has two granaries in the south of the city, with a total grain storage of 30,000 shi (a unit of dry measure)..."

"After going through all the grain merchants, big and small, along Jiangnan Road, the only amount of grain they can currently use is a mere 300,000 shi (a unit of dry measure).

Li Gefei sat to the side, holding a worn-out brush in his hand, rapidly drawing the "prototype of K-line chart" that Jiang Lin had just taught him yesterday on a large sheet of Xuan paper, his forehead covered in sweat.

"Manager Qian, if we buy all 300,000 shi of grain at the market price of 300 wen per dou, it'll cost at least 900,000 guan of silver!" Li Gefei stared at the astronomical figure on the Xuan paper, his tongue almost tied in knots. "Can our academy's treasury withstand such a spending spree?"

Qian Duoduo pressed down on the abacus, picked up his glass of cold tea, took a big gulp, and burst out laughing: "Master Li, you've broadened your horizons! You've underestimated our headmaster's money-making skills."

"These past two days, with the sales of Tiangong Liuli (a type of glass craftsmanship), plus the profits we made from the elite families during the top scholar preparation class, our academy's underground vault now holds a solid 1.5 million guan of cash!"

Li Gefei's hand trembled, and the calligraphy brush almost fell onto his crotch.

One and a half million strings of cash?! How much is the annual revenue of the Song Dynasty's national treasury? This dilapidated academy is practically rolling in money!

"But the headmaster has spoken: we can't just buy grain with real money." Qian Duoduo leaned in mysteriously. "Going all in on the grain is just being a sucker; it'll drive the price up. We have to use the headmaster's secret technique—'leveraging'!"

Li Gefei has become desensitized to this word; Jiang Lin spent the whole night brainwashing him yesterday.

Qian Duoduo pulled out a sheet of gold-flecked Xuan paper from the drawer, which was gleaming with the two large seals of Jingshi Academy and the Hangzhou Prefectural Government.

"See that? This is the 'pre-sale wheat contract' we're going to issue." Qian Duoduo pointed to a line of small print at the bottom. "Spread the word that the academy urgently needs to secure the autumn harvest three months from now to ensure food supplies for tens of thousands of people involved in the West Lake project. We'll offer 200 cash per dou (a unit of dry measure), and grain merchants only need to pay a 10% deposit, which is 20 cash, to sign a contract for one dou!"

It was as if a lightning bolt struck Li Gefei's mind, and he instantly understood.

"A price of 200 coins for a 20-coin lock! If they sign a contract for 100,000 shi (a unit of dry measure), they only need a 20,000 guan (another unit of dry measure) deposit to enter the market!"

"That's right!" Qian Duoduo slapped his thigh, his eyes gleaming with greed. "Those aristocratic grain merchants are insatiable. Seeing such a huge bargain, they'll definitely pounce on us like mad dogs and sign the contract. Then, all their deposits will become our cash on hand!"

Li Gefei grew increasingly alarmed as he calculated: "And then we use their deposit to buy up all the available live food on the market?"

"That's called getting something for nothing, a pure 'dimensional reduction attack'!" Qian Duoduo gave a thumbs up. "Use their money to buy their grain, and when the delivery date arrives, force them to fail to deliver the grain, making them pay us ten times the penalty for breach of contract! They'll take everything, leaving nothing behind!"

Li Gefei felt his blood rush to his head.

Compared to Jiang Shanchang's elaborate schemes, which he had seen among the street vendors before, the scheming of those vendors was like a three-year-old trying to smooth things over!

Just then, the door to the accounting room was pushed open. Jiang Lin yawned and slowly strolled in, followed by Zhao Lingjun, who exuded a murderous aura, and Shen Kuo, who was covered in mud.

"Have you figured out the bottom line?" Jiang Lin casually hooked his foot over a grand chair, comfortably slumped in, and asked lazily.

Qian Duoduo immediately stood up straight and reported: "Reporting to the headmaster, we've investigated everything. The grain merchants in Jiangnan have at most 300,000 shi of grain in hand. Once the contract is issued, we can conservatively estimate that we can extract 500,000 guan of deposit from them."

Jiang Lin nodded indifferently, then slightly raised his eyelids to look at Shen Kuo: "Cunzhong, are the hands and feet on the sluice gate clean?"

Shen Kuo wiped the mud off his face haphazardly with his sleeve, his eyes shining: "Don't worry, Headmaster, I've led a team to inspect all the key sluice gates of the Grand Canal. As long as it's five days before the handover date, the mechanical gears of the sluice gates will completely jam due to 'years of disrepair'."

"I, Shen Kuo, guarantee with my life that not a single grain transport ship will be able to enter Hangzhou in less than ten days to half a month!"

Li Gefei swallowed hard as he listened.

Physically severing the Grand Canal's key points? That's tantamount to welding shut the aristocratic families' supply lines for grain requisitioning from other regions! That's an absolutely brilliant move!

Jiang Lin then glanced at Zhao Lingjun, who was playing with a black iron dagger beside him: "What about the Imperial City Guard?"

Zhao Lingjun twirled his sword, sneered, and said in a chilling tone, "On the day of handover, five hundred Imperial Guards will take direct control of all the city's granaries. Anyone who dares to cause trouble or refuse to pay compensation will be charged with treason for 'sabotaging the imperial examinations and the people's livelihood'!"

"I'd like to see whether their family's stubbornness is greater than the speed of my blade."

Li Gefei sat in the corner, looking at the three people in front of him, feeling a chill run down his spine.

One manipulates finance to empty pockets, another blocks waterways to cut off logistics, and the third is wielding a large knife, preparing for violent liquidation.

This is hardly the teaching and nurturing class of an academy; it's clearly a death trap for powerful and wealthy families!

"Alright." Jiang Lin stretched and stood up from his chair. "Everything is ready. Let's close the net. Duoduo, put up the sign for 'Great Song Grain Contract Trading Center' first thing tomorrow morning. Make a big fuss about it, let the whole city know that I, Jiang Lin, am stupid and rich, eager to be a money-grubber."

Qian Duoduo jumped up and down excitedly: "Alright! You can do it! I guarantee they'll line up to give me money!"

……

The next morning, on South Street, the most bustling street by West Lake, a brand-new, magnificent three-story building was brightly lit and decorated.

Above the main entrance, a huge gold sign covered with red silk boldly proclaims: "Great Song Grain Contract Trading Center".

Outside the building, Qian Duoduo hired the loudest 20-person drum and music band in the city. The deafening gongs and drums attracted half of Hangzhou's idle people who loved to watch the excitement.

The head of the Lin family had been so angry about the release of the imperial examination results that he had stayed home all day. Today, he was riding in a sedan chair, preparing to inspect several shops. Hearing the noise in the street, he impatiently lifted the curtain of the sedan chair.

"The Great Song Grain Contract Trading Center? What kind of trouble are Su Shi and that Jiang Lin up to now?" The Lin family head asked in an unfriendly tone.

The steward scurried through the crowd, inquired around, and returned beaming: "Master, I've found out! Jing Shi Academy is doing that West Lake project, and they're desperately short of grain! They've publicly announced that they'll buy three months' worth of autumn grain at a high price of two hundred coins per dou (a unit of dry measure). And all you need to do is pay a tenth-digit deposit to sign the contract!"

The head of the Lin family was stunned for a moment, then burst into uncontrollable laughter from inside the sedan chair.

"Two hundred coins for a bushel of autumn grain? That brat Jiang Lin must have lost his mind after the imperial examination reform!" The Lin family head slapped his thigh, his face full of mockery. "Three months from now, when the new grain comes out, the market price will be at most one hundred coins. He's offering two hundred coins? He's throwing around mountains of gold and silver for charity!"

The steward fawned, "Master is wise! This Jingshi Academy has become arrogant after making a little money. We should take advantage of this opportunity!"

"Let's go! Let's meet our God of Wealth." The Lin family head straightened his robes, his eyes filled with an arrogant confidence. "The face he lost in the imperial examinations, this time I'll take it all back from his purse with interest!"

"This time, the advantage belongs to the Lin family!"