"This is Shopkeeper He who has done business with me. Shopkeeper He is a well-known grain merchant in Nanyang. This time, the Jiuzhou Army has also contributed to the large-scale purchase of grain by Shopkeeper He." Cruise introduced a Chinese businessman to Putmans at the banquet.

"Good luck, lucky luck luck." Putmans said to the grain merchant He Jiangui as he imitated the Han people.

"Cruise, I, He, is just a small businessman. I am really ashamed of it. I am far from those big businessmen who are full of family." Manager He stroked his beard. Although his words seemed modest, his expression was arrogant, and he seemed very satisfied with Cruise's flattery.

"Shopkeeper He should be humble. As far as I know, every time you take action, you will have more than a thousand stones of grain, and you will make a huge profit. If you join forces with a dry grain merchant you know, you can produce tens of stones of grain at a time, and the price of grain in the West depends on your face. Food is the most important thing for the people, and you can say that you are the secret king of the Chinese in the South China Sea." Cruise still licked Shopkeeper He with shameless face.

"If it were before, we could say this, but in the past year, our big grain merchants have not had a good life." Manager He raised the wine glass in his hand, raised his head and drank it all.

"Friend, have you encountered any problems recently?" Putmans keenly noticed the change in Manager He's tone.

"In the past year, the Jiuzhou Army established a grain company in Hoi'an Port. The transaction of grain was temporarily taken over by the government. The price of the Jiaozhi Governor's Department was decided by the grain company. We big grain merchants originally made some meager profits by reselling the difference in grain prices. As for the grain companies, they purchased grain from us with extremely low grain. If we do not agree, they would seal our grain shops and confiscate our grain. We had no choice but to sell the grain purchased from farmers at a low price to the grain company. We could hardly make a small difference and lost manual money. With this continuous loss, we had to bottom out the savings of the past few years, so we did not go bankrupt, but we were not far from bankruptcy."

Thinking of his difficulties in recent days, Shopkeeper He couldn't help but complain to Putmans and Cruise incessantly.

Putmans noticed the opportunity to talk and gave Cruise a wink.

Cruise understood it and asked, "I came from Europe to Southeast Asia for trade. I have also heard that the grain company established by the Jiuzhou Army is a major innovation in the Far East. I just don't know what the purpose of the Jiuzhou Army establishing the grain company?"

"The reason is also very simple..." Manager He was about to continue talking, but suddenly he seemed to think of something, and he wanted to say something but stopped, just lowered his head and drank.

"This..." Putmans was so anxious that he was shaking his feet. Damn it was about to say this, why did he hold it back again? It was really anxious.

Cruise pressed Putmans with one hand, so that he would not have to be anxious.

Cruise was obviously good at dealing with Chinese businessmen. Then he no longer asked about the grain company of Shopkeeper He, but instead talked about family matters and only cared about urging Shopkeeper He to drink.

Manager He drank to relieve his sorrows and refused everyone who came to Cruise, and soon became drunk.

"Shopkeeper He has a good alcohol tolerance, come again, come again." Cruise took turns to toasting Manager He to other Westerners present, and was still secretly surprised that Manager He has a good alcohol tolerance.

Finally, under the wheel battle between Westerners, Manager He's cheeks were red and his eyes were a little confused.

"Shopkeeper He, it's not to be hiding. Our East India Company recently wanted to purchase a large amount of grain, but we knew that the grain merchants had all been bought by the grain company established by the Jiuzhou Army, so we wanted to buy grain from the grain company. I wonder if you can recommend it to us by Manager He?" Cruise asked.

"Introduction...recommendation? No...the grain company only...only collects but not sells...you can buy...what can't be bought..." Manager He stammered, and his throat was dry.

"Why do they just charge but not sell?" Putmans and Cruise asked almost at the same time.

"The Central Plains... the Central Plains has a severe drought... the grain harvest is bad, and the rebels loot everywhere... in order to cover up this matter, the superiors gathered the food from the South China Sea, gathered it in Hoi'an Port, and then secretly transported it from Hoi'an Port to the Central Plains... and secretly..." Manager He said intermittently.

It turns out that it was not Annan Kingdom that lacked food, but the base camp of the Jiuzhou Army! Putmans and Cruise were a little relieved. If there was a drought in the Central Plains, it would make sense to take care of their own face because the rulers of the Central Plains had always paid attention to their own face and secretly plundered food in Nanyang and transported it back for disaster relief.

"If you say that the Central Plains lacks food and they can't take care of themselves, we will take the opportunity to occupy the Jiuzhou Army's colony in the South China Sea and force them to withdraw from the South China Sea. Is it impossible?" Putmans suddenly thought of a crazy idea.

"This is totally feasible! All the grain plundered by the grain company from Southeast Asia is concentrated in Hoi An Port. If we successfully attack Hoi An Port, the Central Plains will fall into a food shortage. At that time, they will be unable to take care of themselves and will give up their colonies in the Southeast Asia region." Cruise agreed with Putmans' idea.

"Okay, I will write a report to the board of directors later, and ask the board of directors to consider formulating a combat plan against the Kyushu Army, convene the East Indian coalition, and join forces with the Spaniards and the Flangers to attack Hoi An Port." Putmans said boldly.

"But they still have the South China Sea fleet. Our main fleet is on the European battlefield, and the warships of the Indian coalition forces in the east may not be able to defeat them." Cruise was a little worried.

"So we also need to find a way to figure out the ships of the South China Fleet, deploy them, and formulate a winning battle plan for us to attack Hoi An Port." Putmans seemed to be guided in a strange direction.

Manager He said to Putmans and the others dizzyly: "I seem to have drunk too much, so I will say goodbye first."

"Shopkeeper He, let's talk about it when you have time." Putmans and Cruise were thinking about the huge plan to attack Hoi An Port, and they wanted Manager He to leave early.

Manager He bowed to the two of them, then left the restaurant with a wooden wall.

"Haha..." Manager He came to the corner of the wall and found a wooden barrel. He was really drunk too much.

A vendor came over: "Shopkeeper He has a good amount of alcohol."

Manager He vomited and scolded: "It's not easy for him to provide false information. These Westerners don't know the importance of taking action. If someone with a poor alcohol tolerance is changed, they will faint."
Chapter completed!