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

"Yes!" The shopkeeper immediately turned around and waved to the back room.

Soon, a dozen strong men came out carrying several heavy iron boxes.

The box was opened, revealing neatly stacked golden ingots and gleaming silver ingots. Their dazzling light instantly illuminated the steward's greedy yet fearful face.

"Thank you so much, young master! Thank you so much, young master!" The steward was overjoyed and quickly directed his men to load the life-saving cash onto the carriage.

Watching the steward leave with profuse thanks, Gongsun Li handed Ying Chen a cup of freshly brewed fragrant tea, and asked softly with some confusion, "Young Master, such a small matter as mortgage lending can be handled by the managers below. Why do you need to personally oversee Lianjin Pavilion?"

Ying Chen took the teacup and took a small sip.

"I'm sitting here for certain people to see."

Gongsun Li was taken aback upon hearing this. "Is this for Ji Wuye to see, young master?"

"That's right." A glint flashed in Ying Chen's eyes. "Jade Tiger is nothing more than a dog that Ji Wuye has pushed to the forefront. This dog has now been driven to the brink and has begun frantically selling off its assets. Ji Wuye's spies are all over Xinzheng; he couldn't possibly not know that Jade Tiger has mortgaged and borrowed money from Lianjin Pavilion."

Ying Chen stood up, hands behind his back, exuding an aura of domineering arrogance.

"My personal presence at the Lianjin Pavilion is to clearly tell Ji Wuye, and the entire Nightfall, that the Lianjin Pavilion is my, Ying Chen's, property! And behind it stands the Great Qin! Once these properties of Emerald Tiger enter the doors of my Lianjin Pavilion and bear its seal, they become the flesh of the Great Qin!"

"If Ji Wuye knows what's good for him, he'll obediently watch me drain this dog of its last drop of blood. If he dares to extend a claw..." Ying Chen said casually, "then I'll chop off his claws too!"

……

Time passed day by day as the Jade Tiger endured its torment.

The cash from Lianjinge acted like a shot in the arm, briefly stabilizing Emerald Tiger's collapsing financial chain. He used this money, obtained through trading his core businesses, to once again pounce on the grain market in Xinzheng like a mad dog.

"Buy! Keep buying! Take as much as you can!"

Inside Emerald Manor, the roar of the Emerald Tiger never ceases, day and night.

However, what made him feel utterly desperate was that no matter how much money he invested or how much grain he bought, the grain on the market seemed to appear out of thin air, endlessly and inexhaustibly!

Zilanxuan's grain transport fleet appears on the streets of Xinzheng every day, selling grain to the people at a price 10% lower than the market price.

The mysterious merchants wearing straw hats were even more elusive. They not only sold grain in Xinzheng City but also began to expand to towns surrounding Xinzheng. The grain they sold was of excellent quality and reasonably priced, completely shattering Jade Tiger's illusions about monopolizing grain prices.

What terrified Jade Tiger even more was that, as time went on, the people of Xinzheng City had calmed down from their initial panic.

They discovered that they could buy affordable grain at any time by going to Zilanxuan or those mysterious merchants.

Since they can buy cheap grain, who would buy the expensive grain from Emerald Tiger?

Thus, an extremely strange phenomenon appeared in the grain market of Xinzheng.

Jade Tiger's granaries were piled high, and even the open courtyard was filled with grain sacks covered with tarpaulins.

However, his grain stores were deserted, with not a single customer coming to inquire about prices.

Contrary to his expectations, grain prices in the market did not surge due to the imperial court's impending grain requisition; instead, they began to plummet!

"It's fallen...it's fallen again..."

Jade Tiger slumped on the white tiger-skin couch, clutching a newly delivered grain price chart tightly in his hand, his entire body trembling violently.

"Master, we can't accept any more!" The steward knelt on the ground, sobbing uncontrollably. "The money we borrowed from Lianjin Pavilion is almost gone! The market price of grain has already fallen below the average price we paid when we bought it! Every additional bushel of grain we hoard now means we're losing money!"

"Shut up! Shut up!" Emerald Tiger slammed the bamboo slip in his hand onto the steward's head, causing the steward to bleed profusely.

His eyes were bloodshot, like a trapped beast driven to the brink of despair, as he paced frantically around the room.

"How could this be? How could this be! Nanyang has clearly suffered a complete crop failure! Qin has clearly deployed troops on the border! The imperial court is clearly going to requisition grain! Why won't grain prices rise?! Why?!"

Jade Tiger couldn't understand it; he really couldn't understand it. He had dominated the business world for so many years, exploiting information asymmetry and financial advantages to drive countless competitors to their deaths, and had never made a mistake.

But this time, he felt as if he had fallen into a bottomless quagmire, and the more he struggled, the deeper he sank.

"Pawn it! Pawn it at the Golden Pavilion again!" Emerald Tiger abruptly stopped, his eyes flashing with madness. "Pawn the jade shop in the south of the city, the silk shop in the north, and my other three villas outside the city! I still have money! I can still hold on!"

"Pawn it! Pawn it at the Golden Pavilion again!" Emerald Tiger abruptly stopped, his eyes flashing with madness. "Pawn the jade shop in the south of the city, the silk shop in the north, and my other three villas outside the city! I still have money! I can still hold on!"

The butler looked at the completely irrational Jade Tiger with despair and said in a trembling voice, "Master, word has come from the Gold-Collecting Pavilion... They say they're not interested in our remaining properties. If we still want to borrow money, we'll have to... we'll have to mortgage this Jade Manor!"

"What?!"

Emerald Tiger was struck dumb, frozen in place.

Emerald Manor—this was the culmination of his life's work, a symbol of his wealth and status! The Gold-Collecting Pavilion actually wants to swallow up his headquarters!

"This is outrageous! Lianjin Pavilion is outrageous!" Emerald Tiger trembled with rage, spitting out a mouthful of blood that stained his brocade robe.

"Master!" The butler was so frightened that he quickly stepped forward to support him.

The jade tiger gasped for breath, the madness in its eyes gradually fading, replaced by a deep fear and despair.

He finally regained consciousness.

He knew he had lost. He had lost completely, losing everything.

He now has nothing but mountains of grain that are constantly depreciating in value. The enormous debt he owes to Lianjinge is like a mountain, suffocating him.

What terrified him most was Ji Wuye.

"It can't be hidden anymore... it can't be hidden at all..."

The jade tiger muttered to itself, as if all its strength had been drained in an instant, and lay on the ground like a lump of mud.

He knew that he had used a huge amount of Nightfall's funds, and now not only had he lost everything, but his businesses were also about to be emptied out by Lianjin Pavilion.

If Ji Wuye investigates the accounts, he will surely die!

"Prepare the car... quick, prepare the car!" Emerald Tiger suddenly sprang to his feet like a zombie, shoved the butler aside, and stumbled towards the door. "I need to go to the General's Mansion! I need to see the Great General!"