The Xie family's entire ancestral graves were also bestowed by the Crown Prince.

In this life, let's clip all his wings first.

She had to do everything she could to protect the Xie family and her father and brothers.

The Crown Prince's residence, the Duke of Cheng'en's residence, and the Wu family received 400,000 shi of grain. They held several meetings together and, after discussion, set the price of the grain at 400 wen per jin.

They were the only ones in the entire market with grain on hand, so they held onto it until the imperial court was in despair and hit a wall, at which point they would release the grain.

The Duke of Cheng'en was more diligent than ever before, working as hard as a bee and keeping a close eye on the court.

Emperor Hui fell ill from worry.

It's not just that grain and salt prices are high, but that there's no grain left on the market.

Winter has only just begun, and the food is already gone. How will the people survive this long winter?

Gu Shaoyu ordered the government granaries to stop selling grain because grain merchants and some local officials were eyeing the grain in the warehouses, and it would never reach the people.

He demanded that grain be distributed to each household.

The Duke of Cheng'en pretended to be more honest than anyone else. When His Majesty asked him if he could get any grain, he said with a mournful face, "Your Majesty, I have run out of rice and grain in my own household."

Emperor Hui summoned all the imperial merchants in the capital for questioning, and they all claimed to be without grain.

"Your Majesty, the problem with the current large-scale operation is not a lack of grain, but rather that the grain is all in the hands of the wealthy. As soon as an earthquake occurs, these wealthy families begin to hoard grain, while ordinary people do not have that much money and cannot afford to hoard grain."

"The people who are truly starving to death now are the ordinary folks," said Pei Kunfu, Minister of Revenue. "There isn't much grain left in the national treasury either."

"Wasn't this year supposed to be a bumper harvest? Where is the grain?" Emperor Hui coughed.

The court officials knelt on the ground, saying, "Your Majesty, please take care of your health."

Emperor Hui waved his hand weakly, signaling everyone to leave.

Take care? Can he even afford to take care?

If the common people are starving to death, what's the point of him being emperor?

At this moment, Leng Luo, the commander of the Imperial City Guard, walked in and whispered something to His Majesty, causing Emperor Hui to cough even more violently.

Several rice shops that had been closed for many days reopened today.

However, the price of that rice was 400 coins per catty.