Not only did Bai Gui not make a fortune in the country, but he could often influence and suppress the occurrence of wars between princes.

If you change to someone else, you often use the business of the princes and kings to make a lot of money. Especially the hereditary aristocracy, who often prayed for natural and man-made disasters. At this time, the businessmen of the hereditary aristocracy may make a lot of money.

For example! War is coming! Many hereditary nobles or powerful people will take advantage of this opportunity to make a lot of money.

Although wars were frequent during the Warring States period, most of them were passive. There are many vassal states that are passively drawn into the war. And countries that take the initiative to start a war often accumulate the strength of a country, and how many years it has accumulated before they can start a large-scale war.

Princes and kings often had to prepare for war before starting a war. The first thing to prepare is grain and grass! Grain and grass not only refers to the grain eaten by the soldiers, but also refers to the forage eaten by the horses, so it is called "grain and grass".

To prepare for a big war, it is necessary to accumulate grain and grass early and where to store it. In terms of grain, they all eat and store grain. Other words! This year's harvest is not eaten, but last year's or the year before's grain is eaten. And so on until the time has come for the grain and grass to rot and mildew, and when the opportunity comes, war begins.

As a sensible person, a person with social experience, once he sees such a situation in the country, he can judge without the need for the king or anyone to divulge "secrets": there is going to be a war.

At this time, families would secretly store up food and hide the surplus grain and grass in case of famine. Otherwise! When the war starts, you can't fight quickly, the men go to the battlefield, the food production is reduced, and when the time comes, your family has no savings and you are waiting to starve to death. Or! When the king and the government know that you have food in your house, they will come and collect or increase taxes to force you to hand it over.

Or! Recycle at a high price! Anyway! It is to ask you to hand over the food and support the front-line soldiers. If you hide secretly, your family will not starve. You can eat it secretly. During the day, pretending to be in front of people is better than pretending not to eat and starve to death.

For example! Zhuangzi, the second person in Taoism, was such a native of the country. People pretend to be poorer than each other, and they look pitiful. In fact! People don't worry about not having anything to eat, they just don't dare to eat it openly.

Only stupid than! There is no money to pretend to be rich, and it is still ostentatious. And the really rich are very hidden.

It's always this time! Bai Guidu went to collect grain, transferred the grain as a merchant, and helped the people hide. When the war broke out, when there was a famine among the people, he fulfilled his promise to bring back the grain, ostensibly to help the people, but in fact to return it to the people.

Of course! All this was done in secret. Otherwise! The king will not let you do that. It is precisely because the king cannot quickly accumulate the desired food that he will put off the time to start a war. Even! Because of lack of preparation, it was impossible to start a war.

The hereditary aristocracy and certain powerful people are different: they often take advantage of this opportunity to make a fortune in the country.

There was a famine, wasn't it? They can sell you food at a high price.

When the war came, the soldiers on the battlefield had no food to eat, didn't they? Sold to you at a high price!

In a word! People who have no moral bottom line do not care about the life and death of others and the consequences of war, and only think about how to make a fortune for themselves.

This is the active initiation of war, and the other is the passive acceptance of war.

For example, those small vassal states, they do not have the ability to wage war, their national strength is limited, and they cannot fight wars. But? In this age of power, it doesn't matter if you can't start a war on your own, someone will get you involved in the war.

Countries that want to start wars, see that your country is harmonious, with abundant grain and fast economic growth. But because the country is small, you don't have a complete national defense capability. All right! You are the breadbasket of our country.

The history of the Wei State is like this: you don't have a defense capability, do you? All right! I'll find a reason to beat you up first. If you don't have a defense capability, you naturally want to surrender or sue for peace. So! You must compensate, or compensate, for the financial losses I have caused in waging war.

Outcome! Small countries have to accept unequal treaties because they have no defense capability. The results are conceivable! Just because your country has a bumper grain harvest does not mean that the people have food to eat. But! compensated. Your economy is growing fast, and you are growing for others.

And also! The great powers force you to ally with them, to fight against and attack a certain country. Originally! You have no grievances with this country, even friendly relations, as a result! You have been forced by the great powers and forced to get involved in the war.

And more! You are a small country, and you take refuge in this big country, thinking that you have found a backer. Outcome! That country has come to woo you again. If you don't agree, people will come and beat you. Outcome! No matter who you turn to, you will offend the other party. At last! Forced to get involved in the war.

You don't want to fight? But others force you to fight.

So! In this troubled era, the small vassal states could not be "alone" and could not escape the haze of war.

Food is a big problem, and countries that want to start a war will not be able to fight the war if they cannot raise a certain amount of food, and they will have to postpone it. If there is another drought or flood, it will be impossible to start a war.

And those countries that passively accept war, because of food shortages, droughts and floods, have no choice but to give up the idea of war and take the initiative to seek peace. The most helpless way is: cut the land.

Because of the lack of food, those wars that can be fought or not can be fought cannot be fought.

In the grain business, Bai Gui often played a role in swaying, suppressing, and preventing wars. He did not engage in the grain business because he wanted to make a fortune for the country, but mainly to help the people cope with wars and natural disasters.

It is precisely because he saw the importance of grain that he put a lot of effort into it. He can't fully control the grain of the big country. But for the food of a small country, he has the absolute ability to control it.

The grain of Wei, he can't touch. King Wei Hui had recognized this and had total control over the sale and circulation of grain.

And Chu is a big country, so it does not have the ability to do this. Because of its large land area, the state of Chu is not short of food at all.

On the Qin side, due to the continuous war, the population decreased, there was no labor force to farm, and the food was not enough for self-sufficiency. So! Food is a problem in itself, and it cannot be touched.

On the Qi side, the land area is okay, but he can only protect himself, and it is difficult for him to get involved.

So! Bai Gui's business in grain is also for Chu and other small countries.

But! With such a large area of land, it is quite considerable to accumulate grain.

In addition to the grain aspect, Bai Gyu is also involved in the mining sector.

(End of chapter)