"Your Majesty, just now Minister Xu said that the price of grain in the capital city has dropped to 1.81 guan, which is truly a blessing for the people of our Great Song Dynasty!"

Liu Yanzong said in a sarcastic tone.

Anyone could tell there was a hidden meaning in his words.

Xu Churen glared at him, his eyes wide with anger, as if to say, "Spit it out, you son of a bitch!"

Zhao Huan said, "It seems that Imperial Censor Liu has something to say?"

"Your Majesty, Minister Xu says that prices have dropped, but my understanding is not entirely accurate!"

"Oh?" Zhao Huan pretended not to know anything and looked at Liu Yanzong curiously. "Liu Yusi, what's your opinion?"

"Your Majesty, I have a price report for the eastern part of the capital city of Tokyo. Not only that, I also want to impeach Grand Chancellor Xu for colluding with unscrupulous merchants and harming the people!"

On the surface, Liu Yanzong spoke with righteous indignation, appearing to be a great man who was dedicated to the country and its people.

But in his heart he was lamenting: Old Xu, I have no choice. I don't want to care about the lives of those troublemakers. But if I don't deal with you, the emperor will deal with me!

His words caused an uproar in the court.

Everyone looked at each other in dismay; this was no small charge.

If convicted, Xu Churen would inevitably be exiled to Qiongzhou Island to teach.

"Liu Yusi, you can eat whatever you want, but you can't say whatever you want!" Xu Churen's face darkened. "Do you know you're slandering the Grand Chancellor?"

Liu Yanzong drooped his eyes, looking like a dead pig that wasn't afraid of boiling water.

Several officials from the Council of State Affairs came out to accuse Liu Yanzong of talking nonsense and attempting to cause chaos and overstep his bounds, hoping that Zhao Huan would throw Liu Yanzong into the imperial prison!

Liu Yanzong glanced at them, as if to say, "Shut up, you bunch of useless trash!"

"Your Majesty, five days ago, a hotel owner named Xie Kunjing in the south of the city stabbed Shangguan Hongru's youngest son to death in the street!" Liu Yanzong suddenly raised his voice, "simply because Shangguan Hongru's youngest son quadrupled the rent for that shop in just three days!"

As soon as he said this, everyone fell silent.

Zhao Huan frowned, his sword-like eyebrows furrowing, and suddenly became serious, as if the air in the entire court had turned cold.

Zhao Huan coldly replied, "Three days! Doubling the price every day! This is outrageous!"

The emperor's angry voice echoed throughout the court, startling the officials who hurriedly bowed and said, "Your Majesty, please calm your anger!"

"How can I calm down! I just heard the good news of a bumper harvest, and now I've learned that someone dares to suck the blood of people in my capital city! This is simply outrageous!"

Xu Churen's face had turned pale; he knew nothing about the matter.

As the Grand Chancellor, he had to deal with a string of important national affairs every day, so why would he care about the trivial matters in the southern part of the new city?

These are all managed by people below him. The strategies for the Northwest, the agricultural strategies for the South, the governance of the Southwest, the adjustment of taxes, maritime trade, and roads are all enough to give him a headache.

We can't expect him to be involved in every little detail.

Now that I hear it, this has blown up!

At that moment, someone was even more frightened than Xu Churen.

This man is Yao Zhen, an assistant director in the Ministry of Revenue, and he was in charge of controlling housing prices.

After reading Liu Yanzong's report, Zhao Huan was already furious.

"If you gentlemen just came from Hebei at the beginning of this year, with your families, and used all your savings to open a small hotel to make a living, but the hotel owner suddenly says he wants to raise the rent, what would you do?"

"At first it was two strings of cash a month, now it's eight strings a month!"

"It has already been taken over by someone. A wealthy merchant named Jia Cheng is willing to pay eight strings of cash, but after taking over, he does nothing and then rents it out for twelve strings of cash every month!"

"In the southern part of the new city, there have been no fewer than eighty such cases!"

"The prices in the southern part of the new city can no longer be concealed. Last night, there was a crazy surge! The price of rice has risen to six guan per shi!"

The emperor's majestic voice echoed throughout the hall, deafeningly loud!

"They are nothing but parasites of the Song Dynasty!"

Xu Churen immediately stepped forward: "Your Majesty, I deserve to die ten thousand times!"

"I won't listen to any of your crimes that deserve death!" Zhao Huan waved his hand impatiently, "I just want the rent in this capital city to return to its rightful state!"

Although the emperor was still angry, everyone's anxiety was clearly relieved.

Therefore, Grand Chancellor Xu is safe for the time being, at least he will not be dismissed.

Because the emperor has already given him a chance to make amends.

"I will take care of it immediately!"

The others looked at Prime Minister Xu Churen's elderly figure with sympathy, and felt extreme hatred for Liu Yanzong, that despicable and shameless fellow.

Sure enough, after staying with a foreign race for so long, even compassion has been eaten away.

Old Xu is over seventy years old, yet he has worked diligently for the country. And you, Liu Yanzong, who is despicable and shameless, have come back and are already causing trouble for him. If anything happens to Old Xu, we will fight you to the death!

Looking at Xu Churen, whose face was pale and whose forehead was covered in sweat, Zhao Huan seemed to feel a little sorry for him. He then said, "Someone, give Xu Aiqing a seat. From now on, Xu Aiqing can sit down to discuss matters in the court, just like Commander Zhong."

Xu Churen was so moved that he almost burst into tears.

The others were thinking to themselves: Look, look, Liu Yanzong! Fortunately, His Majesty is wise and won't be swayed by your despicable actions!

Your Majesty is truly a holy emperor!

"Liu Yusi, assist Grand Chancellor Xu in handling this matter as soon as possible. I need a result in three days!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Xu Churen sat in the Hall of State Affairs, his brows furrowed and his face grim.

Everyone else was outside and didn't come in.

Yao Zhen was called in.

"Master Xu."

Yao Zhen suddenly knelt down and cried out, "Master Xu, save me!"

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