Chapter 298: Tangent (10)

“Branch Manager? So, are you saying that direct orders came down from Jangheung Trading Company headquarters to make excessive profits by raising food prices fifty times in a city severely damaged by flooding?”

Roughly among ways to win an argument:

Exaggerate. Use the opponent’s claims.

Distort and concretize the opponent’s claims, then nail them down.

And persuade the audience, not the opponent.

As Qing asked, the crowd’s eyes grew fierce.

“No, that’s not it.”

“Then what is it? Was the amount of gold and silver to show appreciation for the County Magistrate’s direct visit small by custom? If you’re spending so much gold and silver to make a profit, don’t you have to do such vicious business as collecting debt notes, selling daughters to brothels, selling sons as slaves, and wiping out entire families?”

The branch manager was at a loss for words.

Because that’s what he really intended to do.

Qing’s sophistry was an exaggeration and forced interpretation, but it was exactly what merchants were plotting in the face of the flood disaster.

Not just Jangheung Trading Company, but all the merchant companies were indulging in such sweet dreams when Qing gave them a proper slap of cold water.

They say a cow stepping backwards catches a mouse – this is exactly the kind of situation where that saying applies.

At this, the corners of the crowd’s eyes turned sharp as needles and cold as ice.

Since the shape of the eyes reflects the shape of the heart, the crowd’s mood was sharp and about to stab someone.

“It’s a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding. The County Magistrate was, well, passing by coincidentally, something like that. How could a mere merchant summon the County Magistrate in the first place, that doesn’t make sense…”

Qing didn’t bother to raise her voice and press him about lies or anything.

The County Magistrate was coincidentally passing by.

There’s no need to add anything to a lie that even a three-year-old wouldn’t believe.

The listening crowd would be even more dumbfounded.

Of course, the official stance would be that the County Magistrate was just trying to subdue the gathered crowd while passing by, and never privately mobilized soldiers after receiving gold and silver from the merchant company.

If the County Magistrate said that, while no one could believe it, they would have no choice but to believe it, but a mere branch manager didn’t have the authority to force commoners to believe.

“But Jangheung Trading Company did tell you to make vicious profits by selling grain at fifty times the price in flood-stricken villages. Such orders did come down, right?”

“No, no! Certainly not such-“

“Then did you, Branch Manager, make that judgment?”

“Aigo, how could a mere branch manager have such authority?”

“Oh my. Branch Manager. Do you think I’m easy and funny because I’m speaking gently with a nice expression? No orders came down from above. The Branch Manager has no authority. Then where exactly is the cause of grain prices becoming fifty times higher?”

“Well…”

The branch manager struggled to find words.

In fact, this is like a merchant’s divine skill.

I have no authority, so inquire with headquarters.

You want to inquire with headquarters? But headquarters probably doesn’t know anything either.

Then where should I inquire?

I don’t know either. The customer should figure it out diligently on their own.

Even if problems arise, there’s no responsible person to take responsibility, so no one takes responsibility.

It’s the completion of a world where only merchants don’t get hurt.

Even if customers get furious at this, since individuals can’t deal with merchant companies, they have no choice but to give up helplessly.

And if people gather, it becomes an attempt at treason prohibited by law and likely to end in hanging.

But if you ignore all that and charge in, what can a single branch of a merchant company do right away?

“Ah! I’m sorry. It seems I’ve made quite a misunderstanding. I spoke as if Jangheung Trading Company had already decided to raise grain prices and make excessive profits. Surely not, right?”

“Well, that is, well…”

The branch manager broke out in a cold sweat.

If he says yes, someone will have to take responsibility, and if he says no, they’ll have to sell the grain cheaply.

“Now. I’ve come to buy grain. All the amount you have. How much were you repor- no, how much are you considering?”

“Well, now is not the time to sell grain. Not for sale, not for sale.”

“Ah. At a time when countless people in the city have nothing to eat due to flooding, you’re saying you won’t sell even though you have mountains of grain piled up? Why?”

“That’s the company’s business, so I can’t tell outsiders…”

What’s with the ‘opseo’?

Qing let out a snort.

“Ah. So Jangheung Trading Company is going to hoard all the grain and watch people starve to death? Is this headquarters’ decision too? To just watch until everyone starves to death? Wow. Everyone, did you hear? They say they’re going to watch until you all starve to death?”

At this, killing intent started to rise in the crowd’s expressions.

“No! How could that be!?”

“Then is it the Branch Manager’s decision? To watch deliciously while eating rice alone when everyone is starving to death?”

“I, I don’t have such authority…”

Qing tilted her head.

“Branch Manager? Then what authority do you have? If the branch manager has no authority over the branch, is it just a dream job where you sit and receive a monthly salary?”

“I can’t teach you the company’s internal regulations-“

“But you know. We’re trying to borrow some grain from the grain warehouse, does the branch manager have the authority to stop us?”

“That, that’s no different from robbery!”

“Robbery? I said we’d borrow it. Can’t you hear? Of course I can’t tell you when we’ll pay it back, and we can’t write an IOU either.”

“How is that different from robbery!”

“Hmm, okay, shall we call it robbery? So what can you do about it, Branch Manager? Will you go and physically block us?”

“That’s a crime and illegal! How can you say such an outrageous thing when proper national laws exist!”

“Ah. I don’t know. Everyone! They say they won’t sell the grain and will just store it until it rots, but wouldn’t it be better for someone to eat it instead? I, Ximen Qing, will take full responsibility! Let’s go borrow some grain!”

Everything should be done in moderation.

If they dislike this and dislike that, making all sorts of excuses and trying not to take any loss at all to the very end, what kind of bastards are these?

Moreover, since Jangheung Trading Company was in charge of the water control project, whether the cause of the flood was design, shoddy construction, or poor floodgate operation, shouldn’t they take at least minimal responsibility now that something has happened?

If they insist on making excessive profits from grain, then there’s no choice but to strike with the iron fist of anger.

“Wait! You can’t do this, please!”

The branch manager ran out without even putting on shoes and blocked Qing’s path.

Qing smiled sweetly at this and said:

“Branch Manager? Shall we have a little talk?”

The branch manager did have some expectations when she said let’s talk separately.

She was already in a situation where she could achieve everything she wanted with the crowd behind her, yet she deliberately asked to talk separately, so.

For example, demanding gold and silver separately and letting go of the grain.

Or asking for connections to Jangheung Trading Company.

Not to mention, since the company leader is sworn brothers with the Shaanxi governor, if she wants government connections, it’s a direct line.

People see what they want to see, so that’s exactly what the merchant thought.

But from the first words, it was completely shattered.

“What will you do with the grain? I can give you up to double the market price.”

“Hero, please look at my situation. Shouldn’t I keep at least ten times the profit?”

“You’re going to make ten times the profit from people who have become beggars due to flooding?”

“Ten times is still…”

At this, Qing responded with a monologue:

“Strange. This doesn’t sound like something a human would say. Is a monster or demon sitting in front of me? As a member of the Dao sect, should I inevitably cut down this demon disturbing the human world?”

“Two times, I’ll give it at two times…”

“Alright. Geol Taran, check the quantity and contract, hmm. I don’t know well, so Geol Taran handle it properly.”

“Yes, miss. How could there be any doubt? I’ll make sure not to miss a single grain.”

“Mm. Mm. Indeed, using smart people makes work easier.”

“Huk. Glory, more glory! It’s an honor of three lifetimes, no, a thousand, ten thousand lifetimes, how can I receive such excessive…”

Geol Taran suddenly choked up and shakily stood to make a deep bow.

Of course, the Heavenly Demon Lord reincarnated in the human world directly gave words of praise, so that emotion is like a cosmic-scale miracle as if heaven and earth were turned upside down.

The covert operatives doing external activities for the Demonic Cult are fanatics who have received brainwashing equivalent to torture since childhood.

At this, the branch manager’s expression turned pale.

Could she be an extremely noble lady?

So she easily defeated the County Magistrate, and well, when the authorities back down it’s either a peerless master or an even more precious status.

“By the way. I heard Jangheung Trading Company was in charge of the water control project. I’d like to meet the person in charge.”

“Well…”

“If you say you don’t know again, I might really get angry? Do you want to die? Do you want to see my hungry Moonlight Sword quench its thirst with blood? Ah. You won’t be able to see once your breath stops anyway.”

Now it was blatant threats.

However, only the branch manager, Qing, and as a bonus one fanatic were present in the office.

Where could the branch manager complain?

“It’s not that, there’s no one who can be called the person in charge of the project…”

“No, the embankment broke but there’s no one in charge? Does that make sense?”

“Originally the water control officer should manage and supervise, taking responsibility to clarify faults, but the water control officer exists in name only and doesn’t actually exist.”

Hmm. The Central Plains is truly a mess.

Qing thought anew that the Central Plains is running well and changed her question.

“Hmm. Then is there someone who got the biggest benefit? Merit? Anyway, someone who got a big promotion for earning huge amounts of gold and silver from the water control project for Jangheung Trading Company. Who is that?”

“Well…”

The branch manager looked around again.

At this, instead of pressing him, Qing quietly placed the world’s most beautiful hand on her sword hilt.

“The person who won the project and directed it is the company leader’s daughter, Miss Jun Samwol. I heard she inherited the distribution network in Henan for that merit…”

“No, then you should have said so from the start. She won the project and even directed it? Then, isn’t she the person in charge, who else would be?”

“Responsibility is another matter…”

The word merchants hate most in the world is ‘responsibility’.

Within the word responsibility are gathered all the things merchants hate most, like refunds and after-sales service.

So merchant companies try their best not to have someone in charge, writing contract subjects vaguely or installing puppet presidents, complicating departments and organizing similar tasks to create an infinite rotation of passing responsibility to each other, and preparing various countermeasures.

“Hmph. Enough. And if there are project-related people, spill it all. There must be carpenters, who was the master carpenter? Who procured the materials?”

“Well, I don’t know. I’m not hiding anything, I really don’t know. From the start, the headquarters handles such big pieces, what would a rural branch manager like me know?”

“What would you know. Did they bring in all the workers for the project from other regions? They must have skimmed a bit of the wages in the middle, right?”

Having briefly been a construction worker before being an industrial worker back in her homeland, she thought the practices would be the same whether in the Central Plains or modern times.

They say skimming, but if you think of it as just a job introduction fee, it’s not that unreasonable.

Of course, it depends on how much they skimmed.

“Well that’s true, but wouldn’t all the major positions have come down from headquarters? I just mediated and took a little. Um, if you want the list of workers, it should be filed somewhere, I’ll find it and bring it right away if you want.”

It seemed he really didn’t know anything about the project.

To begin with, even a merchant’s evil karma is just barely short of killing, so it was hard to see him as involved in such a big disaster.

Seeing how he acts, there’s no possibility that he was originally a good person who got hit with an evil karma bomb and ended up like this.

Rather, it’s impressive his score isn’t over 100.

If his evil karma had been 300 points as soon as I saw him, I wouldn’t have even talked.

I would have just led the crowd and properly looted once.

At this, Qing sighed deeply and said:

“What are you doing? Hurry up and find it and bring it.”