Liu Xun changed his strategy.
He no longer wanted to be a savior. He only wanted to use the grain in his hands as the final straw that would crush Liu Chengan, wringing every last bit of silver from him!
It was a vicious plan.
Using his own hoarded grain to drive his rival out of the market would cost him either way.
But Liu Xun no longer cared.
Jealousy and rage had clouded his judgment.
And so, the grain market in the Capital City presented an exceedingly strange sight.
The Crown Prince's side was like a bottomless black hole, greedily swallowing up every sack of high-priced rice on the market.
On the other side, a mysterious seller kept supplying vast quantities of grain without end.
The two sides waged a thrilling battle of capital.
Silver and grain changed hands at a furious pace in this invisible war.
In the midst of this bizarre stalemate, grain prices stabilized at around six taels per shi—not high, but not low, either.
Meanwhile, Gu Shen, the mastermind behind it all, sat leisurely in his Study Room, sipping tea.
A chessboard lay before him.
Black and white pieces were locked in a fierce battle.
"The Crown Prince is fire, and the Second Prince is wind. Wind fans the flames, so the stronger the blaze, the better."
He placed a piece with a light touch and spoke calmly.
"But no matter how fiercely a fire burns, it will eventually die out without fuel."
His finger pointed beyond the chessboard.
There, a large number of pieces still awaited their turn.
Three days later.
Just as the Crown Prince and the Second Prince were locked in a desperate struggle, both sides utterly exhausted,
without warning,
hundreds of grain-laden carts slowly rolled into the city through all four