Qin Dynasty: Ying Zheng is my brother, I am the Bad Commander

"Young Master Jiu's plan is indeed imaginative and breathtaking." Ying Chen put down his teacup, a cold smile of extreme confidence curling at the corner of his lips. "This deal is indeed entirely beneficial to me. Not only will I gain a Jade Manor that is richer than a country for free, but I can also enjoy a good show of dogs fighting each other."

Ying Chen raised his head and smiled faintly: "I'll accept this collaboration!"

Hearing Ying Chen agree so readily, Han Fei felt no joy. After all, the assets of Jade Tiger could be considered the property of the State of Han. Now that everything was settled, they would belong to Ying Chen and, consequently, to the State of Qin.

……

Outside Xinzheng City, at Emerald Villa.

At this moment, in a grand hall deep within the manor, a jade tiger, its body as large as a mountain of flesh, was comfortably lying on a huge soft couch covered with an entire white tiger skin.

He held in his hand a luminous cup, a tribute from the Western Regions, filled with scarlet wine.

On either side, several scantily clad and alluring maids were massaging his legs and shoulders, while another maid carefully placed peeled, glistening grapes into his gaping maw.

"Sir, great news! Incredibly great news!"

A middle-aged man who looked like a butler rushed into the main hall, his face full of undisguised ecstasy.

Jade Tiger frowned, his fat face jiggling slightly, and he snorted unhappily, "What kind of behavior is this, all this commotion? Can't you see I'm resting? Tell me, what good news is it?"

The steward quickly knelt on the ground, panting heavily, and said, "Reporting to Master, an urgent report has just arrived from Nanyang! Nanyang is suffering from a severe drought; not a drop of rain has fallen for three whole months, and all the crops in the fields have withered and died! This year's autumn harvest is definitely a complete failure!"

"Oh?" Emerald Tiger's eyes suddenly lit up, and a greedy green light instantly shot out from its small eyes, which were squeezed into slits by its fat.

Namyang is South Korea's granary. A crop failure in Namyang means that South Korea will face a huge food shortage!

But that wasn't all. The steward swallowed hard and continued, "Not only that, but rumors are spreading throughout Xinzheng that the Qin state has amassed 100,000 troops on the border, with ulterior motives. To stabilize morale, the court is preparing to requisition autumn grain on a large scale soon! News just came from the court that the Ninth Prince, Han Fei, has already petitioned the King to advance the grain requisition!"

"Bang!"

Jade Tiger slammed the luminous cup in his hand to the ground, splashing crimson wine everywhere, startling the surrounding maids.

But he didn't care at all; instead, like a boar, he excitedly jumped up from the soft couch.

That enormous body displayed astonishing agility.

"Heaven is helping me! Heaven is truly helping me!"

Jade Tiger paced back and forth in the hall, his fat face trembling with excitement as he rapidly calculated in his mind.

Natural disasters compounded by human error! With a complete crop failure in Nanyang and the imperial court launching a massive grain requisition, grain prices in Xinzheng are bound to skyrocket!

"This is like a mountain of gold falling from the sky!" Emerald Tiger abruptly stopped, grabbed the steward by the collar, and roared viciously, "Pass on my orders! Immediately gather all the cash in the manor and go to the market to buy grain! No matter the price, buy all the grain! Don't leave a single grain for anyone else!"

The butler, his eyes rolling back in his head from being choked, managed to say with difficulty, "Master...Master, the price of grain in the market has already started to rise. Should we wait and see?"

"Watching my foot!" Emerald Tiger shoved the steward to the ground and roared, "The bold get rich, the timid starve! If we don't grab it now, are we going to wait until the price skyrockets before buying? Hurry up! Fill all our granaries across the country! I want the whole of Korea to be quoting classic lines from 'Qin Dynasty: Ying Zheng is my brother, I am the Bad Commander,' seeking resonance. They'll all be begging me, Emerald Tiger, to buy their grain!"

Under Emerald Tiger's frenzied commands, his vast business empire instantly sprang into action.

Large amounts of silver poured into the grain market of Xinzheng like a flowing river. The merchants under Jade Tiger waved gold ingots, sweeping away every grain in the market like locusts.

In just three days, grain prices in Xinzheng doubled and are still soaring at an astonishing rate.

Panic gripped the people, who rushed to grain stores with their meager savings to buy grain, only to find that "sold out" signs had already been hung in front of the stores.

The entire city of Xinzheng seemed to be shrouded in a suffocating dark cloud.

Meanwhile, Jade Tiger, sitting in Jade Manor, looked at the ever-increasing grain prices and the mountain of grain reserves in the account books his subordinates sent him every day, and laughed so hard that his eyes disappeared.

"Let it rise! Let it rise! Let it rise even higher! When the court urgently needs grain, the grain I have can be exchanged for half of Korea!" Emerald Tiger smugly imagined his future where he would be richer than a country.

However, he did not know that everything he saw was nothing more than a meat grinder carefully woven for him by others.

On the fourth day of Jade Tiger's shopping spree, a strange change suddenly occurred in the grain market of Xinzheng.

A batch of grain of unknown origin suddenly appeared on the market, which was already nearly depleted.

These grains were not only abundant, but also of excellent quality.

Most importantly, their selling price was actually 10% lower than the price that Jade Tiger paid to acquire it!

"What's going on? Where did all this grain come from?"

Emerald Tiger frowned deeply as he read the report from his subordinates.

"Reporting to Master, we've investigated. Some of it was grain released from Zilan Pavilion's reserves. That woman Zi Nu, for some unknown reason, actually pulled out their underwear. And some..." The steward wiped the cold sweat from his brow, "and some was sold by a group of merchants wearing straw hats and moving about mysteriously. They are numerous and extremely scattered; we have absolutely no way of knowing their backgrounds!"

This group of mysterious merchants wearing straw hats were naturally the "Bad People" under Ying Chen's command.

Under Ying Chen's instructions, the Bad Guys, who had been hiding throughout South Korea, mobilized in droves. They broke into smaller groups, disguised themselves as merchants from various regions, and continuously poured the grain that the Bad Guys had accumulated in South Korea into the Xinzheng market.

"Damn it! That bitch Zi Nu dared to ruin my plans!" Emerald Tiger cursed angrily. "And those rats in straw hats, where did they come from?!"

"Master, what should we do now? There's more and more grain on the market. If we don't keep buying, and the price drops, all the money we invested will be wasted!" the butler asked anxiously.

Jade Tiger gritted his teeth, a glint of crazed gambler's light flashing in his eyes.

"Buy! Keep buying! I refuse to believe that their grain reserves are inexhaustible! How much grain can Zilanxuan have? How much grain can those small merchants have? As long as we consume all the grain they have, I, Emerald Tiger, will still call the shots in the grain market of Xinzheng!"

Jade Tiger has completely fallen into the trap of "sunk costs." He has already invested too much money, and if he stops now, he will face huge losses. He has no choice but to bite the bullet and continue pouring money into this bottomless pit.

Day .

Day .

Seventh day.

Emerald Tiger's granary is overflowing, and even the guest rooms in the resort are piled high with sacks.

However, the grain on the market seems to be inexhaustible, with a continuous influx of supplies.

Zilanxuan's grain transport convoy paraded through the streets of Xinzheng every day, while the ruffians wearing straw hats were like ghosts, omnipresent.

Grain prices, instead of skyrocketing as Jade Tiger had predicted, began to show a slow downward trend.

"Master! We're out of money! The cash in the accounting office is all gone!"