Chapter 45 Reward
Seeing Chen He's impolite words, Lu Guancheng said fearlessly: "Haha, Master Chen, you can eat whatever you want but you can't say whatever you want. It's clearly your government office that came to us to buy. How can you say that you are driving up the price of strawberries?"

"Hehe, I didn't ask you to buy it for me!"

"You!" Chen He's face turned pale with anger. He was about to step forward to argue but was stopped by Wang An.

"There's no point in arguing," Wang An chuckled and said, "Since we're the ones asking for help, they have the final say on how much they want to sell it for."

“But…” Wang An sneered, and then said, “Our dynasty’s Taizu also has clear regulations. Those who drive up prices, especially those related to people’s livelihood, such as rice and salt, will be beheaded and their property will be confiscated!”

Wang An's words were a naked threat, but Lu Guancheng was not afraid at all. He said contemptuously, "The strawberries didn't actively sell themselves. Your Majesty came to us on his own. This doesn't count as price gouging."

"Yes, it does not count!" Wang An snorted coldly, turned to look at Chen He, and said, "Go outside the city and find a few hundred bandit families to line up to buy grain from Boss Lu. If he dares to sell at a price higher than the market price by even a penny, immediately close the shop and expel the people!"

Chen He's eyes lit up, and he said excitedly, "I obey your command! I will definitely keep a close eye on Boss Lu's grain account!"

Wang An went to the door to buy the goods himself, and the other party was willing to buy it no matter how much money they offered.

But Lu Guancheng's grain store opened its doors for business, which was a legitimate business behavior. If anyone dared to raise prices unreasonably, they would be accused of price gouging.

If he did not raise the price, then if several hundred people each bought two stone of grain, the goal would be achieved.

Lu Guancheng obviously also knew this truth, his face flushed, "Okay, okay, I didn't expect His Royal Highness Prince Xin to have such a brilliant idea!"

After a pause, Lu Guangcheng sneered again, "But what if I close my business for a few days? All the grain shops in this city have some connections with me. If I don't open, they will naturally..."

However, Wang An said indifferently: "It's up to you whether to open the door or not. Anyway, if we don't open the door for business, you will be the ones who lose!"

Seeing Wang An so calm, Lu Guancheng immediately became suspicious, "But I heard that the government office's grain reserves are running low. If we can't buy grain, those thousands of bandits that the prince brought back might not behave themselves?"

"Humph," Wang An snorted coldly, "Shopkeeper Lu doesn't need to worry about this. We have a long way to go, and we will have dealings with each other again in the future!"

After that, get on your horse.

He just ignored Lu Guancheng and left.

He left so directly and decisively that Lu Guancheng was stunned.

After a moment, Lu Guancheng snorted angrily: "A useless prince is showing off in front of me!"

"I'll just wait for those bandits to start making trouble, and then see how you'll beg me!"

After leaving the Lu Mansion, Chen He said worriedly: "Your Majesty, if we don't buy grain from Lu Guancheng, when the grain in the treasury is used up, if those bandits really make trouble, it will be difficult to deal with..."

There was a lot of worry in his words.

Wang An did not answer directly, but asked in confusion: "What is the origin of this Lu Guancheng? How could he be so arrogant in front of me?"

There is a saying among the people that the people should not fight against the officials. Even though Lu Guancheng was quite wealthy, he was just a wealthy businessman after all. How could he have the confidence to be so rude to the government and Wang An?

Chen He sighed and said, "Lu Guancheng is so arrogant because his brother-in-law has an unusual background! He is Fang Shan, the governor of Qingzhou. On the surface, Lu Guancheng is the owner of the grain store, but the real boss behind the scenes is the governor of Qingzhou!"

Wang An suddenly realized that although Qingzhou was adjacent to Jizhou, it was different from Jizhou in that Qingzhou was a prefecture directly under the Daliang Dynasty. In the absence of a vassal king in the territory, the governor was equivalent to a frontier official with the power of life and death. Although Wang An was not a big shot in terms of status, he was already a real powerful figure.

"No wonder you are so arrogant!" Wang An sneered and said, "As for the food, you can buy it from the people first. You don't need to be too stingy when paying a high price."

Chen He frowned slightly and said, "It's just that the people in this city probably don't have much food in stock. It's okay to purchase it temporarily for emergency use, but if we buy too much, some greedy people might sell all the food they need to save their lives."

Wang An waved his hand and said, "No need to buy too much. Just buy a few hundred stones for emergency use. As for the rest, I will find a way to deal with it."

"Go outside the city right away and select three hundred strong bandits. Follow me to Qingzhou with the guards. Ask them to buy some food along the way."

"If everything goes well, I will look for a fixed company for long-term cooperation, so I won't have to worry about Lu Guancheng and his people's faces in the future."

Chen He hesitated and said, "Those bandits are new recruits. If they go far away, I'm afraid they won't be very reliable."

"Besides, the guards are not as elite as the Black Armor Guards after all. Since Your Majesty is going to Qingzhou, why don't you bring the Black Armor Guards with you?"

"There are less than 100 soldiers left out of the 3,000 garrison soldiers who are still useful. Besides, Xu Huang and his men did not disappoint me during the attack on Crescent Moon Mountain last time." Wang An said indifferently, "It doesn't matter. Just pick those with more family members. That way, you don't have to worry about them causing any trouble."

Chen He suddenly understood and accepted the order.

Except for a few bandits who were unattached, most of them had families with them, and they were all captured by Wang An.

Although people's hearts are unsettled, Wang An will kill their families if they dare to do anything weird.

Don’t say that family members are innocent. When those bandits robbed others of food and gold and silver, their families also got a share of the benefits.

After all, bandits are also human beings. They can be inhumane to innocent people, but they cannot ignore the lives of their own families.

After explaining the matter to Chen He, Wang An immediately turned his horse around and returned to the government office.

He packed up some things and ordered the bailiffs to carry out a box of silver.

When Wang An arrived at the gate of the government office, Xu Huang, who had been notified in advance, had already lined up outside the government office with 89 garrison soldiers.

Although the formation was crooked, they were all tough guys who had the courage to follow Wang An to attack the bandit camp, and their momentum was not weak.

Wang An looked at these people, smiled slightly and said loudly: "Brothers, are you waiting impatiently?"

When these words were spoken, everyone was at a loss.

They had just received the order to gather here, so they hadn't been waiting for long, so there was no need to be anxious.

However, when they saw two yamen runners carrying a small box out, Wang An went straight forward and opened the lid, revealing the silver inside, and his breathing suddenly became rapid!

"Why, brothers, are you not in a hurry to collect the reward?"

(End of this chapter)