In the house of Censor Liu Meicai, King Dengku of Shanxi merchants crossed his legs, drank tea, and talked to Liu Meicai. His mood was obviously much better.
"According to colleagues, the assistant Xue Manzi was so frightened that he was sweating profusely and ran to the palace to find the emperor." Although Liu Meicai did not cross her legs, she smiled smugly and lectured Wang Dengku, " This time, it’s enough for them!”
"That's not true!" Wang Dengku nodded and laughed. "Most of the food outside the capital is basically gone. Even if the imperial court thought of transferring food from Jiangnan at this time, it would be too late. Then Xue It’s strange that the barbarian is not so anxious that he is sweating!”
Liu Meicai smiled and raised her glass, as if to celebrate with tea instead of wine, and then said: "In this way, no one in the court will care about the banknote case. Haha, the emperor must be sure at this time It’s because of the rage, and I guess many people will be unlucky!”
"Isn't this exactly what we want to see!" Wang Dengku said this and looked at Liu Meicai. Suddenly, the two of them burst out laughing together, sweeping away their previous depressed mood.
After Wang Dengku took a sip of tea, he said with some pride: "I didn't expect other grain merchants to follow up so quickly this time. The court's attention should have been attracted by them. Even if the court wanted to cause trouble, it would probably only We will look for them. Who told us that we have no food to sell here!"
When Liu Meicai heard this, she smiled again. The method here is not to care about the small profits and just not sell it. If it’s gone, what else can the court do? As Wang Dengku said, even if the imperial court got angry, it would definitely attack those few grain merchants who were still selling grain at a limited price and at a high price.
He put down the tea cup and said: "It is written in the "Household Code" and "Shop" in the "Da Ming Code" that similar practices like theirs should be punished. I estimate that those behind the scenes have already Let those shopkeepers be prepared to take a beating. After all, a meal can bring back so much money, so it must be worth it."
In this era, there were no crimes such as speculation and hoarding. These charges were raised by great men of later generations. But there are similar regulations, as mentioned in the chapter "Market Shop", which stipulates that different market transactions are classified as the crime of market manipulation, with punishments such as eighty canes or forty floggings.
The two of them were hiding in the Censor's Mansion, drinking tea, chatting, laughing at the situation and watching other people's jokes.
They didn't know that at this time, although it was getting dark soon, the Jinyi soldiers, one of the emperor's guards, were marching out of the military camp in large groups. The rumble of horse hooves, the sound of soldiers running in unison, mixed with the sound of armor clashing, immediately attracted everyone's attention.
"What's going on? Did Jianlu come in again?"
"It's impossible. Even if Jianlu invades, he won't send out the Jinyi Guards, right?"
"Then why are they so aggressive? For ordinary things, even if soldiers are used, it can only be done by the Five Cities Soldiers and Horses Division, right?"
"Could it be...could there be another major conspiracy?"
"When you say that, it's really possible! Only in serious cases of rebellion will large-scale factory guards be dispatched, right? But now that the Jianlu have retreated, who would conspire at this time? Isn't this looking for death? !”
"Yes, the three battalions under the Royal Horse Supervisor are not vegetarians. They are elites who can defeat Jianlu in field battles!"
"Could it be that someone was starving to death, so they rebelled?"
"It's possible that with such high food prices and limited food supply, many people can't survive anymore. Instead of starving to death, it's better to rebel before dying so that they can vent their anger. Aren't they all thieves? I heard They all can’t survive in the beginning and will starve to death.”
"You are crazy. You dare to say such things. Be careful what you say. Be careful what you say!"
"Anyway, all the valuable things in my family have been sold at low prices to exchange for food. I can't hold on any longer. The whole family is starving to death. Can't I just say a few words?"
"..."
No matter what, when seeing this large-scale factory guard dispatch, the timid people quickly hid back home; the bold people either inquired about the news or followed to see the excitement.
The Jin Yiwei who were dispatched soon began to divide into teams. Later, there were one or two hundred people in one team, and many teams rushed to various places.
"Dong dong dong" there was a rapid knock on the door.
"Open the door, open the door..." shouted sternly.
"What's the ghost's name?" Someone inside heard it and shouted impatiently, "It was sold out early today. If you want to buy it tomorrow, it's early!"
However, what responded to his shout was a "clang" and "crash". The door panel was kicked open and fell into the shop. Then, the light from the torch outside shone in, and a group of people swarmed in.
"What are you doing, robbing food? You...you..."
You have been waiting for a long time, but you don't come out, because the people who broke into the store were not the hungry people buying food, but soldiers wearing black flying fish uniforms. You don't have to ask which yamen arrived. The only one who dared to dress like this in the capital was the Jin Yiwei, one of the emperor's guards.
The military was never polite, kicking down doors, breaking into stores, arresting anyone they saw, and rummaging through boxes and cabinets. Later, carts parked outside, and bags of grain were loaded onto the carts and transported away. Then a seal sealed the door and a notice was posted on the door.
Scenes like this happen in every grain store.
At this time, what everyone in the capital is most concerned about is food. Therefore, as soon as the news came out, in the blink of an eye, the imperial court dispatched Jin Yiwei to inspect the grain store, and it quickly spread throughout the capital.
"What, all the grain stores have been closed down? Okay, I'm really pissed off. Look at their faces, they're so arrogant about selling at such a high price, they deserve it!"
"What about the food? How to deal with the food? Don't we have no place to buy food?"
"Don't worry, Jinyiwei posted a notice saying that starting from tomorrow, the capital will begin to limit food. Each household will register with the government on a per capita basis and buy food at a fair price. One family can only have three days' worth at a time."
"Really? That's great, but...but my family used to buy high-priced grains, and now we don't have much money. Even if we buy them at low prices, I'm afraid I won't be able to last for a few days!"
"It's okay. It doesn't matter if you don't have money. You can still get food, but only half of it, and you have to work to repay the food afterwards."
"That's great! But don't those rich people take advantage of them? Food is cheap. What if there is not enough food?"
"Of course the notice mentioned that if you have food in your house but want to buy cheap food, once caught, no matter how high or low you are, your home will be confiscated! That's it, let's see who dares to take this risk!"
"Running the risk of ransacking your home for the sake of cheap food, haha, I guess no one would dare. This trick of the imperial court is really high!"
"This time the court finally took action. It's great. In the past few times when the Jianlu invaders entered the customs, my neighbor Lao Wang's family was starved to death by the Gao family! That was really miserable!"
"..."
Among these applauding discussions, there are also some people who have different concerns.
"I heard that part of the food rations for the two hundred thousand people saved by King Qin's army will be allocated from the capital. But now, the food in the capital is not enough, right?"
"Yes, even if these grain shops are sealed, it is estimated that it will be difficult for the capital side to insist on transferring the grain from the south to the capital, let alone to distribute part of the grain."
"Yeah, the emperor must have been anxious this time. I heard that Xue Shoufu was sweating so much that the emperor ordered the Jinyi Guards to dispatch and seal down these grain stores directly."
"But is it appropriate for the emperor to do this? Businessmen have to buy low and sell high. They didn't do anything wrong. If your emperor is so overbearing, who will dare to do business in the future?"
"Yes, if the emperor is so messy, he will definitely be criticized when he comes back! Besides, according to the "Laws of the Ming Dynasty", it is just a slap in the face at most. It is estimated that the people behind these grain merchants will jump out."
"..."
Amid everyone's discussion, Jin Yiwei's actions were somewhat less noticeable than the seizure of grain stores, which was the focus.
There were many guards in uniform, rushing to various places in the capital, surrounding warehouses and mansions, and arresting people directly. This time, it was not just shops, but mansions. Men, women, old and young, as long as they were in the mansion, they were all arrested together. .
This operation lasted until late at night. Compared with the grain store, the news lagged a little behind, but it was not until the next morning that it began to spread.
"Do you know that the Jinyiwei arrested a lot of people yesterday and confiscated a lot of food? There was a lot of movement!"
"What's going on? Where did the food come from?"
"Didn't those grain stores in the past say they were out of grain? They were raided by Jinyiwei. They stocked up a large amount of grain, but they refused to sell it and said it was sold out. You don't know, I heard that those hoarding There is more grain than the few grain shops that are still selling it!"
"No way? Are they crazy? What do they want to do, hoard until the end, and then sell them at a higher price?"
"No, according to the notice posted by Jin Yiwei, these grain merchants purchased a large amount of grain before, and then did not sell it, pretending to be sold out, just to starve the people of the capital and create chaos. They are planning to plot inverse!"
"Ah, intending to rebel? This... this... can't be possible, right?"
"What's wrong? I think it's possible! Think about it, what would happen if the capital had no food? The consequences are a bit scary to think about. Anyway, I will definitely be unlucky, and your family will be in trouble too! "
"When you say that, it's true. The capital will definitely be in chaos by then. Maybe they really want to rebel, but they are just grain merchants!"
"Who doesn't know that there are people behind those big grain merchants! Maybe there is someone behind the scenes! Jin Yiwei is investigating now, and when they are found out, we will know who wants to conspire! But no matter what, these hoards are not for sale now The grain merchants are in bad luck, their homes were ransacked, and everyone was arrested. It is said that they can’t even be held in prison, so some of them were sent to the prison of the Ministry of Punishments!”
"Bah, they deserve it. No matter if they are treasonous or not, they deserve to die just because they are hoarding food and not selling it!"
"..."
Discussions like this are everywhere. Relatively speaking, those princes and dignitaries have their own opinions.
"I didn't expect that the emperor would be so ruthless this time. He didn't follow the "Great Ming Law" and directly charged him with treason. Now, those grain merchants will be in trouble!"
"I wonder who is behind those grain merchants whose houses were confiscated? At this time, they must be scared to death! The emperor did not play his cards according to common sense, and Long Yan was furious. No matter what happened in the future, they were going to be unlucky anyway. .”
"Yes, Jin Yiwei doesn't know how the investigation is going. With their methods, it won't take long. They will definitely be able to find out who is behind those grain merchants soon. This kind of thing can be found out by asking more. .”
"Haha, I know that there is a grain merchant who is backed by Shanxi merchants. Behind them, there are high-ranking officials from the imperial court. Haha, I am going to be in trouble this time. I guess I will be so anxious that I will write a letter to defend myself, right?"
"..."
At this time, a servant opened the door of the Yushi Mansion. He was a little surprised and asked quickly: "Master, don't you have to go to court today?"
Liu Meicai looked anxious. As she hurried to the house, she asked hurriedly: "Where is Mr. Wang?"
"Still in bed!"
Upon hearing this, Liu Meicai immediately turned around and hurried in.
Seeing his action, the little man who opened the door knew that something bad had happened, and couldn't help but feel a little worried. I don’t know how it happened. Previously, the Liu Mansion had always been going smoothly. Officials from both sides of the court, big and small, were coming and going. It could be said that there was a bustling crowd. Recently, it seems that something has started to go wrong.
Isn’t the master very rich? Is it hard to use this money now?
With a "clang", the door was pushed open forcefully, and Liu Meicai stepped inside, passed through the outer room, opened the curtain, and broke into the inner room.
When he saw Wang Dengku poking his head out of the bed with a beautiful maid in his arms, his face a little ugly, he couldn't help shouting: "Ah, Mr. Wang, why are you still sleeping? What a disaster! What a disaster!"
"What's the trouble?" Wang Denku was still a little confused and looked like he hadn't woken up.
Liu Meicai became anxious and stepped forward to lift the quilt, causing her two bodies to tremble with the cold. Suddenly, Wang Denku woke up and quickly grabbed the quilt and asked: "What happened? Why are you in such a hurry?"
"Our grain depots were sealed by Jinyiwei last night, and all the grain merchants were arrested. The charge was to create chaos in the capital with the intention of treason!" Liu Meicai said with a burning tone, "Now Jinyiwei is investigating the people behind those grain stores. People, I think they’ll be able to find out soon.”
"Intention of treason?" Wang Dengku was stunned by this accusation. Even if he did business with Liaodong Jianlu, he never thought that such behavior was treason. But now he is just doing some tricks to sell food, but he has been slapped with such a big label.
After he came to his senses, he kicked the beautiful maid away, and while hurriedly dressing, he asked Liu Meicai: "Do all the ministers in the court just let the emperor do whatever he wants? If this is the case, the emperor will be able to do whatever he doesn't like in the future. Who can bear to be labeled as a traitor?"
