The food merchants gathered in the middle of the night. This was their third time gathering this month.
They weren't having a good time. After they raised their prices, they only earned a day's worth of copper coins before no one purchased any more of their wheat.
"That new noble Liu Feng acted like a lunatic and conscripted all the untouchables in the city to work. He gave out wheat as a salary and cutted our path to become rich.
"Abominable, abominable, too abominable!"
The obese food merchant shouted and yelled and used the table to release his anger.
The other food merchants' faces darkened and showed a fierce expression. Anyone who dared to get in the way of their wealth must die.
It's said that businessmen only care about money. It wasn't entirely wrong. People are innately greedy, and what's important is whether or not they can control their greed. These merchants have long been blinded by greed and they no longer care about the lives of commoners.
If the businessmen can get 10% of the profits, then they would not be stopped by any work that is necessary. If they can get 20%, they would risk their lives for it. If they can get 50%, they would do it without caring about their lives. Once it reaches 100%, they would use any means possible. And once it reaches 300%, they would sell their own kind.
Their humanity have disappeared, and the only thing in their eyes were copper coins. They only care about whether or not they can earn money and sell their wheat. They would not consider lowering their prices or anything.
"That damned Liu Feng! If it wasn't for him, we would be lying on beds made of copper coins!"
"Is that Liu Feng a dumbass? An idiot? How dare he take out wheat to feed the untouchables? He even demolished the good houses."
"As far as I know, Liu Feng doesn't have much wheat left. It should only last for another 3 or 4 days. By then, we can earn a lot of copper coins again. In order to make up for our lost, I suggest raising the price of the wheat by another copper coin."
Hearing that, many of the food merchants were tempted. They already had many excuses for raising the prices, such as: horse thieves robbed a lot of the wheat already, and there were hardly any wheat left.
"There's no need. 3 or 4 days is too long." The obese food merchant's eyes were filled with madness. "As long as we kill that Liu Feng, everything will go back to the starting point, and those untouchables will be completely under our control."
"What? You want to kill Liu Feng? He's a noble!"
"No no no... we'll have our heads cut off for that."
Many food merchants got frightened, but there was some hesitation in their voices. They were thinking about the feasibility of the plan.
"Hmph!" The obese food merchant snorted. "We're all bugs on the same rope. Everyone will fall no matter who rattles the rope."
"Besides, the new noble Liu Feng don't have a lot of powerful soldiers. The only knights he has is Niu Ben's family, and I got news that several of Niu Ben's sons have left Xi Yang City with new recruits. This opportunity would not be available every day.
"Huff..." The food merchants all started breathing heavily. After all, there were going to kill a noble, even if the noble was one of the weakest nobles.
"Add me in. I have 5 powerful people in my escort crew. They should come in handy."
Someone immediately took a stance. After all, the autumn harvest was near, and they had to get rid of their wheat or else they would all rot.
"I brought all my guards. They are all outside. You guys can decide what to do. I just need my wheat to be sold. After all, winter is coming, and I need to rush back to Baron Omar."
"I'll also participate. A new batch of maids just got into my family waiting for me to spoil them."
The obese grain merchant stood up and looked around and laughed out loud. "Very good. We will be able to make a lot of money with this determination. Baron Omar said that we will get a higher share of the money as long as we scavenge this place clean."
"He he... Blame it all on Liu Feng who didn't know what was good for him."
"In fact, I've had the idea of killing Liu Feng for a long time already."
"The cat beastkin in the castle is mine. I'll pay 50 copper coins."
"Pfft... you're willing to pay 50 copper coins for a lowly beastkin?"
The food merchants all took a stand and were willing to send their guards to take action.
The obese food merchant smiled smugly and look at several of the food merchants. He had already conspired with them in advance in order to get some money and maybe even rob the City Lord's Mansion.
In fact, the obese food merchants had already gotten information that horse thieves would come to rob Xi Yang City when the autumn harvest came. If things went on as they did now, they would not be able to sell all their wheat, and then they would be the ones who would be robbed by the horse thieves.
Since they were going to be robbed by the horse thieves, they might as well as kill Liu Feng now and sell their wheat at a high price and flee Xi Yang City before the horse thieves came.
While the merchants were discussing how they were going to assassinate Liu Feng, a team of people had already silently came to the outside of the courtyard.
Xing Ke looked at the 4 guards protecting the door of the courtyard, and his eyes flashed with the light of a predator.
"Greedy merchants, how dare you scheme against Lord Liu Feng? You all deserve to die."
And that's the second chapter. Phew.