Chapter 182 Zong Zheng went to invite Li Zhao

Author: big bell

Chapter 182 Zong Zheng went to invite Li Zhao

This time, Feng Quji was more polite and smiled brightly, as if he was asking for advice from a teacher.

"General Li, I have taken the initiative to increase the price of Xianyang's staple grains according to your instructions. If the prediction is good, the price of staple grains will double in two days, and the prices of other grains will also soar."

Li Zhao smiled and secretly said that the Prime Minister's ability to do things is very strong, and he was able to do this in just a while.

This is their first step in discussing how to deal with wealthy businessmen.

"Thank you, Prime Minister Feng." Li Zhao bowed and said, "Then we will wait for the price to soar to the extreme and force the dignitaries to sell all the grain in their hands. If anyone hoards it, investigate and deal with it immediately."

"Isn't this bad!" Feng Quji listened and paused for a moment.

Li Zhao's method is a bit damaging.

You should know that Xianyang’s grain reserves are mainly divided into three parts, tax grain, noble grain and merchant grain.

If the grain of high-ranking officials is sold, there will definitely be a food shortage in the city, and the merchants will definitely raise their prices, pushing the price of grain even higher. In this way, not to mention ordinary people, even the houses of high-ranking officials and nobles will starve to death.

By then, Xianyang will really be in chaos.

Li Zhao smiled. He guessed Feng Quji's thoughts and said maliciously: "Isn't there still tax and food? Use part of it for disaster relief, set up relief stalls, and collect limited amounts, which can solve the temporary problem.

"

Then added:

"If you want to defeat the wealthy businessmen, you have to be ruthless. You can only aggrieve these noble people for a while."

Feng Quji thought about it and felt that it seemed reasonable, but he always felt that Li Zhao had selfish motives. What should I say?

This kid seemed to want to take advantage of the opportunity to rob, but there was no good way to do it. He could only follow this and left. He wanted to report to the emperor.

Li Zhao looked at Feng Quji's retreating figure, smiled secretly, and his heart became lively: Hehe! I was still worried that the corn and rice accumulated in Chang'an Township could not be sold. Now, this is an opportunity!

My uncle came to see me a few days ago and informed me of the situation in Chang'an Township.

Moreover, it is not ordinary sales, but abnormal sales.

For a moment, the depression caused by being in jail was gone and replaced with joy.

Also, didn’t the emperor ask him to lead more people to do business? He is now leading these noble people to do business.

Yes, the sale of grain is within the scope of business.

If this is really achieved, it will be much easier for the emperor to ban suppression of business in the future. After all, these people have already engaged in business activities. If they oppose the ban on suppression of business, the emperor will have an excuse.

The next day, as Feng Quji said, the price of staple food in Xianyang City soared and soon doubled, and the prices of other supplementary food also increased.

For a moment, the whole Xianyang was in a commotion. Those who had no food immediately rushed to buy, and those who had food immediately started hoarding.

With the lessons learned from the previous jade market, these people have become shrewd. They know that when the price of staple food begins to soar, it will definitely continue to soar. This is the best time to stock up.

It is precisely because of this trend that merchants have rapidly increased their purchasing power. All parties are scrambling for grain. The price in the grain market has almost doubled every day. Within three days, the price has soared.

It increased four times, and food shortages began to appear.

The common people could no longer afford food, and some of the nobles had no rice to cook with.

So the nobles went to sell grain at a high price, only to find that there was no grain to sell in the market.

Just when some dignitaries who were hoarding grain were complacent, a hidden force forced them to sell most of the grain. The dignitaries had no choice but to sell the grain gradually, but soon the merchants snapped up all the grain.

Although the rich and powerful have made a lot of money, they have little food in their hands and can only take care of their own families and have no time to take care of others.

Suddenly, the entire Xianyang fell into a complete food shortage, and people died of starvation.

The people had no food to eat and had to eat bark and weeds. It was so miserable!

After this situation lasted for a short time, someone remembered that there was rice in Chang'an Township with a yield of sixteen shi per mu.

This was the life-saving rice, so they came in droves, but the rice fields were empty, with only a few wild birds on the ridges, and even the foraging animals had disappeared.

All the rice in Chang'an Township had been harvested, and only a few farmers were raising seedlings. When they wanted to go deep and force them to donate grain, three hundred guardsmen came fiercely, and no one dared to approach.

Since Li Zhao was imprisoned, the housekeeper has recruited 300 people, and under Wu Quan's training, all of them have become fierce men.

The people are hungry, but food prices do not let people off because of their hunger. Prices continue to rise, soaring eightfold. There is also a price but no market, and there is demand but no supply.

In the early morning, as soon as the palace was opened, the censor reported the matter.

Zong Zheng, who was in the palace and was eating palace food, had no idea of ​​the value of food, so he gave the censor the death penalty in two or two, saying that he was disturbing the court and deceiving the public with his evil words.

However, when a censor was sentenced, there were still censors who were not afraid of death and came forward to remonstrate with him, describing the situation in Xianyang, where people were starving and dying, and people's livelihood was in ruins.

Zongzheng was so frightened that he stepped down from the Jinluan auxiliary seat and looked at the ministers in disbelief. They all lowered their heads and were speechless.

He still didn't know anything, so he immediately shouted: "Where is Mr. Han?"

When no one responded, Zongzheng was furious: "Where did he go? Xianyang is the capital of the country, and he failed to report such a critical situation and allowed the food disaster to worsen. Is this what the young man did? Damn it, deserve it!"

Still no one answered. This is because this matter is of great importance and no one wants to get into trouble. As a flatterer, he also kept silent at the right time and there was no more flattery.

In the end, the waiter next to him reminded him in a low voice: "Zong Zheng, Mr. Han's residence has been suspended for one month. He is banned from entering the palace."

"What?" Zong Zheng was shocked and angry, flicking his sleeves, "Who is so bold and dares to approve him to take a rest for a month in such a embarrassment? How decent is it?"

"Even if Xiu Mu, why didn't he order someone to monitor the market? Han Shaofu has failed in his duty!" Zong Zheng was furious.

He was originally in a good mood these days and felt that he was handling government affairs well, but this sudden move made him confused.

The waiter responded timidly: "Zongzheng, you have forgotten that it was you who asked Mr. Han to take a rest for a month, and also ordered him not to interfere with the affairs of the market."

Hearing this, Zong Zheng's face suddenly turned ugly.

He remembered it, and it seemed that such a thing really happened, and his tone softened.

"This is his duty, and he can't take it in vain!" He said this without any confidence.

Although the words were funny, no one responded. However, Feng Quji couldn't help but laugh out loud. He quickly raised his hands and said, "Zong Zheng, the matter has come to an end. We should go all out to correct the price of grain. I hope you will be informed on how to do it."

.”

"I hope Zongzheng will make it clear!" Some ministers also came out to support him.

"Make it clear?" Zongzheng was confused. He had never seen such a thing before. How could he make it clear?

But when he glanced at Feng Quji, he lowered his arrogance and said, "Prime Minister Feng, you are the Prime Minister, do you have any good ideas?"

"There is no good way to cure the disease." Feng Quji cupped his hands, bent down, and answered without thinking.

Zongzheng was unhappy when he heard this and said with an angry face: "You know you are the prime minister, so why can't you do anything? I am just one of the nine ministers. How can I make it clear?"

"No!" Feng Quji smiled and said, "Your Majesty has a decree. Mr. Zongzheng is the acting minister. All ministers also recognize that you are wise and powerful and must have good strategies."

These words made Zong Zheng's face look even more ugly. Helpless, he could only glance at the ministers and asked: "Do you have any good ideas?"

However, no one answered, they all lowered their heads.

Zong Zheng's face turned livid when he saw it, and his eyes fell on Jia Xiong, "General Jia, you have many suggestions before. You must have a good plan now!"

He pinned his hopes on Jia Xiong.

Jia Xiong was startled, his eyes flickering, and finally he pointed outside and whispered: "Zong Zheng, I believe that the rise in food prices is only temporary and will recover soon."

That's it again.

Although Zong Zheng likes to listen to flattery, he knows that the abnormal price of food at the moment is very bad.

"Recover, recover! Are you thinking shit? How long have you been recovering? It's obvious that someone did it on purpose."

Zong Zheng pointed at Jia Xiong and cursed him, but Jia Xiong did not dare to raise his head.

The court was silent for a long time, and Zong Zheng, who took a breath, finally lowered his head and sighed.

Han Shaofu has been investigating this matter and has the most say. Now he can only let him end his rest and return to the court immediately.

"I think he must be a wealthy businessman. The Shaofu's investigation is correct. Maybe he has a good plan."

"Come here, please invite Mr. Han to the palace immediately."

"No!" The guards left. Half an hour later, Mr. Han came to the palace. Although he was not angry, his face was full of anxiety.

He is worried about the country.

It has been guessed that Zong Zheng wanted him to return to the court in advance.

"Young Master Han, the current price of food is like this, and the people of Xianyang are miserable. You are the Young Master, please tell me how to solve it?" Zong Zheng asked impatiently.

Han Shaofu did not refute him because of what happened before. He frowned and did not express his thoughts directly. Instead, he asked: "Do you know what the price of food is like around Xianyang City?"

Zongzheng was speechless, he didn't know.

But a minister came out and answered: "I have conducted an investigation and found that all the grain around Xianyang has been bought up, and the price of grain has also skyrocketed."

Han Shaofu frowned even more tightly. He no longer asked how the food was in places further away from Xianyang, because it was unnecessary. The road outside Xianyang was far away, and even if there was food, it would be too far away to put out the fire. He could only hand over his hand and say:

"I have no solution."

He was telling the truth. He had never seen food prices soar so high before, so he had no good solution.

"What should I do?"

Zong Zheng became anxious and paced back and forth in the hall.

Everyone here was sullen, except Feng Quji, who was holding his mouth and laughing secretly.

Suddenly, the atmosphere became extremely dull.

Suddenly, Zong Zheng's eyes sharpened, he stared at Jia Xiong, and shouted: "General Jia, you have made many suggestions before, which deeply impressed my Zong Zheng. You will be responsible for this matter. We must lower the price of food as soon as possible."

Come down."

When Jia Xiong heard this, his face turned ugly.

How is it possible for him to keep food prices down? He is just a rough guy.

He quickly knelt down and declined: "Master Zongzheng, you are a reckless man who doesn't understand the affairs of the market. I hope you can take back your life."

Zongzheng yelled: "You don't understand? Since you don't understand why food price fluctuations are normal, you don't understand why you persuade me to ignore this matter, you bastard!"

Jia Xiong did not dare to touch Zong Zheng's anger.

"Well, it's up to you. You also said before that food price fluctuations are purely normal. It shows that you understand the market affairs, so I will leave this matter to you."

Zong Zheng was completely out of ideas and started making random choices.

Plop!

Another person knelt down and begged for mercy: "Sir, I know that I was wrong. I don't understand the affairs of the market. I will not dare to do it again."

"You?" Zong Zheng was so angry that he threw the inkstone at it, making a crackling sound.

He glanced at the ministers, and immediately more people knelt down and begged for mercy. These were the people who had flattered him before, but no one could share their worries.

"You, you, are all bastards, is there no one who is qualified?"

Zong Zheng was so worried and completely panicked that his previous dignity was gone.

However, the situation of people having no food to eat must be solved, otherwise Xianyang will become a dead city.

Han Shaofu was anxious about this matter and immediately said: "Zong Zheng, please immediately solve this urgent problem and help the starving people."

"Yes, yes!" Zong Zheng had no clue at all. He nodded no matter what he said, but soon frowned.

How to solve it? He had no experience in this area, so he couldn't help scratching his hair, causing dandruff to fly.

Feng Quji couldn't help it any longer and burst out laughing "haha", laughing so freely and completely ignoring Zong Zheng's feelings.

"Prime Minister Feng, you..." Zong Zheng was a little angry, "Why are you laughing? Do you want to bury this Zong Zheng?"

"No!" Feng Quji still couldn't help covering his mouth, but he held up his hands and explained, "Quji couldn't help but laugh because he thought of a way to help the people."

"Oh!" Zong Zheng suddenly heard that he had a solution. He no longer cared about why Feng Quji was smiling. He raised his brows and asked quickly: "What's the solution? Tell me quickly."

He looked so urgent, which showed his embarrassment.

Feng Quji stopped laughing, straightened his expression, and responded: "It's not a useful solution, it's just a mitigation strategy. It's about sending food to provide disaster relief."

"Distributing food for disaster relief?" Zong Zheng thought for a moment and immediately applauded, "It's a good idea, that's it. The key is to prevent the people from starving."

But the next moment, his brows wrinkled again.

It is indeed necessary to distribute food for disaster relief, but the food in the national treasury is not endless. If the soaring food prices cannot be solved, it will definitely lead to more problems.

He thought about increasing tax revenue, but at this time of spring plowing and the grain harvest had not yet been harvested, it was obviously useless.

"But how to solve the problem of soaring food prices?"

Zong Zheng had no choice but to place his hope on Feng Quji.

Feng Quji cupped his hands and shook his head, "As I said just now, there is nothing I can do, but I can recommend someone who may be able to solve the current problem."

Zong Zheng's eyes lit up and he immediately asked: "Who is it?"

"General Li Zhaoli."

"Li Zhao?" Zong Zheng was in a dilemma and said to himself hesitantly, "He is a person waiting for sin, so that's not good!"

"What crime is he guilty of?" Feng Quji retorted and sighed to himself, "In this case, there is nothing I can do!"

Zong Zheng glanced at the ministers and saw that no one said anything, so he nodded. In fact, he had no choice but to ask Li Zhao.

"Do you have the prime minister to invite me on my behalf?"

"Shall I invite you?" Feng Quji quickly waved his hand and stepped aside, "You have imprisoned everyone in Xianyang Prison, why do you invite me?"

"I don't have the ability. After all, he is the one you sent to jail, Zong Zheng. You are the only one who can invite him."

"Forget it!" At this moment, Zong Zheng had no choice. Li Zhao was indeed the one who sent him to prison.
Chapter completed!