Just as Prefect Zeng was about to attend the banquet, Su Juan disguised herself as a wealthy merchant's daughter, taking several subordinates to buy grain in large quantities, and then distributed money to many commoners, instructing them to buy in batches.
In just half a day, the rice shop's prices increased several times over, but buyers kept coming.
Many locals with some silver, upon learning the government would no longer distribute grain or provide porridge, rushed to buy rice, fearing they might not be able to buy any later.
Seeing that the previously hoarded rice was almost depleted, these rice merchants hurriedly sent people to other regions, willing to pay high prices just to get rice quickly. Once the rice returned to Xu State, there would be no worry about selling it at several dozen times the original price!
The allies who initially stood united, refusing to lower rice prices, now viewed each other as competitors, afraid of earning less than the others.
