Xiao Yan rolled up the map on the table and put it aside: "Now in Beijing, the only people who are familiar with food prices are the prince and the Cui family."
Qian Baokun immediately laughed when he heard this: "I heard that the steward of the Cui family got into a fight with a grain merchant named Meng a few days ago. Not only did he smash his stall and hurt others, but he also caused trouble in Jingzhao Mansion. Go, there seems to be a chief historian of the Prince's Mansion who went to the Yamen at that time?"
Xiao Yan and Tang Ning couldn't help but laugh when they heard his gloating voice.
Tang Ning said: "The prince previously stocked up a lot of food with the Cui family. He probably wanted to win over brother's hearts without telling me, or to take advantage of the chaos to make a fortune, but who would have thought that your majesty could actually come up with it?" The money and food alleviated the urgent needs of the household department."
Qian Baokun was disdainful: "The Cui family had previously sent people to test the situation and wanted to sell the grain in their hands to the Ministry of Household Affairs. They thought everyone was a fool."
Cui Lin is careless, but at least he still has some sense of proportion. That Cui Qi is not even half as good as his father. He just wants to ease the situation of the Cui family and get involved with the prince, but the two of them combined can't make up one brain. , was squandered by those grain merchants in Beijing.
They thought that one was from an aristocratic family and the other was a prince, and no one dared to deceive them, but they did not want to think that they were treacherous and unscrupulous. With their little tricks, they could outsmart those cunning grain merchants. They bought grain at high prices, were complacent, and wanted to make a lot of money. Once something goes wrong, they want the Ministry of Accounts to take care of the mess for them.
What a sweet dream!
"They are afraid that they know that there is no shortage of food now. Seeing the price of food starting to fall, I directly asked people to bypass the capital and go to Jiangnan, so I was anxious. I heard that they wanted to sell the food back to the grain merchants at the original price, and they directly gave me When I refused, the chief minister of the Prince's Mansion got anxious and used his identity as the Prince to make trouble, and a quarrel broke out."
When the trouble went to Jingzhao Mansion, the prince's private affairs could no longer be concealed.
The matter of stockpiling food is not big or small. To put it simply, the prince wants to make some money, but he chose this time. Everyone knew when the Ministry of Revenue was short of food and the army went south to stalemate. At this time, the prince was exposed again. When he goes out to stock up on food, anyone can see what his intentions are.
Yesterday morning, there were people from Yushitai directly impeaching the prince and Cui Qi for competing with the people for profit, hoarding food, disrupting the market, and harming people's livelihood.
The prince was severely beaten by Emperor An, who took the opportunity to take back the "privilege" of letting him manage the government on his behalf. The prince wanted to refute, but he was wrong and was being held against him. The evidence was conclusive, even those in the court who were controlled by him Even the courtiers who wanted to speak for him could not find a word to refute Emperor An.
The prince had a great situation in the court, but it was because he was greedy for small profits that everything was lost.
After the morning court yesterday, I don't know how many people secretly scolded the prince for being stupid.
Qian Baokun said: "I feel that this matter may have been done by His Majesty. No matter how stupid the people in the Prince's Mansion are, they should not know that this matter will be difficult to end if it gets too big. Besides, the staff in the Prince's Mansion cannot all be brainless. Yes." After he finished speaking, he chopped Xiao Yan: "The prince didn't come to see you?"
Xiao Yan said quietly: "I found it."
Not only did he find it, the prince almost cried and knelt down in front of him, wishing he could confess to him what he had done.
Qian Baokun was curious: "Do you want to help him?"
Xiao Yan coldly sneered: "What can I do for him?"
Tang Ning was also beside him and said in disgust: "This is not the first time that the prince has done these things. Before, when my brother's identity was unknown, he went behind my brother's back several times. If my brother hadn't helped him, he would have died long ago. "
"Later he was made the Prince of Hate, and everyone shunned him. He was also trapped in the Prince's Mansion and almost fell into silence. He had clearly experienced the trough and saw clearly the cruelty of the struggle for imperial power. We all thought he could learn to be smart. At least you can think more carefully before acting."
"But who knows..."
She shook her head a little, because the prince was too much to hold her up.
Of course the elder brother wanted to find a "mascot" to distract Emperor An's attention, so that Emperor An would have no time to deal with the elder brother in his fight for imperial power, but the prince was really stupid.
Whenever the situation was better and it seemed that the government could stabilize the situation and allow Brother to devote his energy to other things, he would come out and cause trouble, and each time he would get more outrageous.
People always gain wisdom after every pitfall, but he is good at it. He eats one pitfall, another pitfall, another pitfall, and another pitfall. He can step into the same pit again and again, and every time he needs someone to take his place. Clean up the mess.
It's better not to have this kind of "mascot".
Xiao Yan saw that the water in the cup was a little cold, so he poured it directly on the ground outside, took a teapot and refilled it.
"The prince has stepped on His Majesty's bottom line. The matter of hoarding food is just a trivial matter. Your Majesty will not tolerate him."
Qian Baokun was stunned for a moment, and suddenly remembered what the prince did outside the city on the day Wen Xinhou and the others went out for the expedition more than half a month ago, and his expression changed slightly.
"No way. Your Majesty slapped him in front of the court yesterday and took back the power of the court. Is there anything else?"
Xiao Yan twitched the corner of his mouth and was about to speak when Jinyun suddenly walked in quickly from outside.
Xiao Yan looked at the look on his face and asked, "What's wrong?"
Jinyun said in a low voice: "The Queen Mother is seriously ill, so she summoned the women from the capital to come to the palace to attend to her illness."
Xiao Yan frowned.
Jinyun said: "Mrs. Rongguo and the girl are also among them."
Xiao Yan's eyes darkened: "Who said that?"
Jinyun said: "The edict came from Shoukang Palace. The eunuch who came to announce the edict only said a few words and left. He only left a message to ask Mrs. Rongguo and the girl to enter the palace as soon as possible to attend to the illness. The subordinates looked at the man In the direction we’re going, I’m afraid there will be quite a few people entering the palace to attend to the illness this time.”
Qian Baokun sat aside and couldn't help but said: "When the queen or the queen mother is seriously ill, there is a precedent for summoning the most important women or noble ladies in the palace to attend the illness. It's just that the queen mother has been sick for such a long time. She had not visited outside the palace before. People are rarely summoned, so why do you suddenly ask someone to attend to you this time?"
He couldn't help but glance at Tang Ning.
"Don't think it's because someone else is taking advantage of the Queen Mother's serious illness to cause trouble."
Xiao Yan raised his head with calm eyes: "Ask someone to go back to the palace and tell them that Tang Ning and aunt are not feeling well..."
"Brother."
Tang Ning put her hand on Xiao Yan's arm to stop his words.
Xiao Yan looked back at her.
Tang Ning said: "My aunt went to Prince Ji's Mansion two days ago and met a lot of people. In the past few days, Aru and I often went in and out of those aristocratic families to copy books. There were even many people from Rongsheng Academy. Met us."
"If it is suddenly said at this time that we are not feeling well and it is difficult to enter the palace to attend to the illness, there is no way to cover it up."
Xiao Yanleng said: "So what if you can't hide it, I won't let you enter the palace, who dares to force it."
"No one dares to force it, but she is the Queen Mother after all."
Tang Ning said softly: "I know that my brother did not allow us to enter the palace because he was afraid that my aunt and I would be in danger, but since the palace has clearly announced the order, the reason is to serve the Queen Mother. If my aunt and I refuse, it will be resistance." Purpose."
"Unless we all hide in the mansion and don't take a step out until the Queen Mother recovers from her illness, no reason can be justified."
