For three whole days, countless people waited eagerly near Panmen every day, but what they waited for was only disappointment.
The government posted a notice to calm the people, so that the people did not need to panic, and vowed to ensure that sufficient affordable food would be provided again within a month.
In fact, the people still believe in appeasement of the Yamen. After all, during this period, the government actually provided more than two million dan of grain. Even if it was later sold at a high price, most of the people did not give it. If you buy it yourself, you won't suffer a loss, but you can earn a bit of "errand food".
Thinking that they still had some food at home and could barely sustain themselves for a month or two, the people had no choice but to prepare to wait with peace of mind. Chinese website
The powerful officials like Xie Tang refused to agree, and they could not wait until a month later, so some rumors, both true and false, quietly spread among the people.
"Have you heard that there is no food for sale in Wujiang County these days?"
"No, isn't King Yan still in Wujiang?"
"It seems that he has been gone for a long time. It is said that he has not been seen for at least half a month. He may have returned to Lin'an."
"Leaving? Doesn't he care whether we live or die?"
"Haha... I am the Crown Prince who is so arrogant, how can I really care about me and other grassroots people!?"
"But didn't he bring so much cheap food to sell to us before?"
"A fair price!? How dare you say it's a fair price for five ounces and one stone? And look, has the price of food in the city dropped at all since King Yan sold it?"
People's hearts are always fickle. When there was food for sale, most people understood the price that King Yan sold compared to the price of food on the market. But now that there is no food for sale, some people have begun to question the price. .
"This is really strange. Why would those grain merchants rather not do business than lower grain prices a little bit?"
"Because, the grain merchants all know that our grain shortage in Pingjiang Prefecture is hopeless. They guard the grain and don't have to worry about selling it!"
"Hey, let me tell you a secret. Don't tell anyone outside. In fact, King Yan's previous sale of grain was not to stabilize grain prices at all. He just wanted to make a fortune at three times the usual grain price!"
"Ah? How do you say this?"
"Where do you think King Yan's grain comes from? Did he buy it from other places at a high price? Shit! In fact, the grain was originally from Changpingcang and Guancang, but it was taken out by the former prefect Liu Xiuren a long time ago. Liu Xiuren was just following orders. Hehe, he knew that the Liu family was doing well, so why did he suddenly rebel?... All of this is just a trick to kill people and silence them. Don't ask me who killed people and silenced them, you want to go! "
"Oh, I also heard one thing, that is, the water in Taihu Lake this year would not have risen in the first place. It was King Yan who ordered the gates to be opened, which is why so many places were flooded..."
"If you think about it carefully, it seems that this is really the case. You see, Anjizhou and Changzhou are on the shore of Taihu Lake. They suffered disasters with us last year, but this year they have nothing to do."
"What you are saying means that the flood in our Pingjiang Mansion was actually not a natural disaster, but a man-made disaster. It was caused intentionally by King Yan?"
"Hey! I didn't say that. I just told the truth. Let's figure it out for ourselves."
"I have a relative in Lin'an. He told me that King Yan used to be stupid and stupid, and then from February 2, he suddenly changed. Some Taoist experts said that it was a dragon in Taihu Lake that failed to transform. The house was taken away by a black dragon, and everyone in Lin'an knows about it."
"I guess this is true, otherwise how can any mortal not be afraid of lightning strikes..."
"Some time ago, King Yan ordered the Taihu Lake to be sealed off, especially the Dongting Mountain. No strangers were allowed to enter, just to build the Shenglong Platform there. If he wanted to turn into a dragon and fly to the sky again, the money and food he used was to sell food at high prices. Come."
"It is said that in order to make money, the King of Yan even sold the military rations of Jiankang Mansion and the grains that were supposed to be transported to Lin'an. When the time comes, when hundreds of thousands of red people have no food to eat, what will happen? Shouldn't we rebel and become bandits who go around burning, killing and looting?"
"There is a cloud traveler
The eminent monk below said that if the black dragon wants to transform into a dragon again, it must sacrifice 99.81 million lives. It is impossible to say that King Yan is planning to starve all the people in Gusu City to death! "
"This seems to be really possible. Otherwise, why would Pingjiang have to mobilize more than 100,000 troops from other places when Pingjiang is short of food? Adding their families, this would suddenly create nearly a million more mouths. What they eat is food that originally belonged to us.”
With the full efforts of some people, various rumors, true and false, are told with a clear conscience, making people imaginative and frightened.
Gusu City is shrouded in fear, and undercurrents are surging everywhere. Some timid people plan to escape, but find that the city gate is blocked, and no one is allowed in or out. This makes the atmosphere in the city more and more tense, and is gradually on the verge of riot. .
More and more shops have closed down, various workshops have also stopped working, and private houses have closed their doors. There are not many people walking around on the streets, and the whole city seems to have fallen into deathly silence.
The instigators like Xie Tang were celebrating with their hats and singing and dancing.
Xu Xueqian laughed wantonly, "Haha, it's in vain that Wu Qian was once the prime minister, but now he only dares to hide in the city and can't do anything about the situation in the city. He is really a mediocre talent!"
Lu Wencai drank the wine, shook his head and said, "It's hard for a clever woman to cook without rice. She can't bring out food. What can you do? But the strange thing is that King Yan is silent. He has broken the pot. , or are you holding back some big move?"
"Haha, maybe he is still unwilling to admit defeat and can't let go. After all, he is still a young man. However, if he continues to remain still, don't blame us for being inconsiderate... Tomorrow, we will add more fuel to the fire. , if he makes some real trouble, I don’t believe he can still sit still!?”
Xie Tang was sure of victory and had already planned how to deal with the imperial crown prince.
At this moment, the concierge of the Xie family sent a plain invitation. Xie Tang unfolded the invitation with confusion. There was no letter on it, just a simple line of text.
"On the ninth day of the lunar month, we will meet at the Confucian Temple and be sure to appreciate it."
Signed, "Zhao Yu".
Everyone in the hall looked at Xie Tang, and Lu Wencai asked tentatively, "Cangshi, who are you inviting me to?"
"It is our Prince Yan." Xie Tang said slowly.
"Oh?" Lu Wencai said with joy, "Has he given in? Does he want to negotiate with us?"
"It should be." Xie Tang said, but there was still confusion on his brows, "The strange thing is, why are you meeting at the Confucian Temple?"
"Well, maybe he felt that it was too expensive to come to the door in person, but he wanted to express his sincerity in the peace talks, so he chose the Confucian Temple next door to preserve some dignity for himself?" Lu Wencai guessed.
Xie Tang thought for a moment, then nodded, "It's possible... Hey, we, sir, have a lot of money, so let's give him this little bit of face to satisfy his last stubbornness."
But at this moment, people from the Lu family also sent the same invitation. Then, one after another, other powerful people present received the same invitation, including Xu Xueqian and all the wealthy people in Jiaxing Prefecture. .
For a moment, everyone looked at the invitations in their hands and fell into confusion. The female dancers in the hall also felt the abnormal atmosphere and couldn't help but stop singing, dancing and music. The whole hall was silent, and you could hear a needle drop.
For a long time, Xu Xueqian couldn't help but said, "What does this mean? Does it mean that we are all under the control of King Yan?"
Xie Tang thoughtfully said, "It's not a big deal. We haven't done much to avoid taboos in our dealings. It's not difficult to find out if you want to..."
Even though he said this, there was still a hidden worry in his heart, but in order not to affect his morale, he endured it and didn't say it.
"The ninth day of the ninth lunar month? That's tomorrow. If he wants to negotiate peace, he shouldn't need to find us all. Could it be that this is a Hongmen Banquet and he wants to take the opportunity to catch us all!?" Lu Wencai said anxiously.
"No." Xie Tang shook his head and chuckled, "If he wants to use violence, why bother? He can just seal off the city and arrest people. Besides, even if he arrests us all, what's the use?" No, he wants to be with
Are we going to die together, taking dozens or millions of lives with us? "
Xu Xueqian said with a stern face, "Then what exactly does he want to do?"
"Why bother thinking so much? Let's go as scheduled tomorrow and let everyone see with your own eyes what kind of medicine our Highness, Prince Yan, is selling in the gourd."
Xie Tang was very motivated and firmly believed that Zhao Mengqi could not escape from his Wuzhishan.
But what he didn't expect was that the Department of Comfort would not only post a notice, but also announce it with great fanfare throughout the city.
"His Royal Highness King Yan will come to Gusu City in person to completely solve the food shortage!"
After the people heard the news, they knew that King Yan had not left them alone, so they had hope in their hearts, and the influence of the rumor was naturally weakened.
After all, over the nearly three hundred years of the Zhao and Song dynasties, awe and trust in the imperial power have been deeply embedded in the bones of ordinary people. The king of Yan is still more useful when used as a sign.
Of course, if King Yan cannot fulfill his promise in the end, it will be another story, or an accident...
On the ninth day of July, as soon as the sun shone on the top of Gusu City, the whole city came to life.
Many people hurriedly drank a few mouthfuls of porridge and then dragged their families out of the house. They wanted to go to Panmen to wait for King Yan to enter the city, so they could see with their own eyes what the next official would look like.
But when they turned from the alley to the street, they found that the street was densely packed with people, rubbing shoulders with each other. Everyone was heading in the same direction, but it was still difficult to move forward.
Some smart people wanted to use boats to cross the river, but they were told by the government officials and the imperial guards that most of the main waterways in the city were under martial law and were temporarily not allowed to pass.
