The question from Xian Shijun really frightened the Third Princess. Her expression changed again and again before she spoke with difficulty:

"Father, are you really interested in the position of the Emperor's husband?"

This was the only reason he could think of.

"That requires you to have the will to fight for the throne, so that your father can fight for it."

Xian Shijun stared at his daughter without blinking and said.

"Don't! Father, I don't have such great ambitions. I just want to be a dandy princess and live a leisurely life. Please don't make things difficult for me. I can't beat my eldest sister and second sister.

My eldest sister is highly regarded by the Queen Mother, and my second sister's father's family holds military power, so I don't have much to compete with her."

The third princess simply waved her hand and said.

"You don't need to worry about these. As long as I sit in the position of the emperor's husband, there will naturally be court officials who support you and help you. Our current disadvantage will be our advantage in the future."

Xian Shijun still spoke slowly.

"Father, even so, I don't want to be a puppet queen! I don't believe these people will unconditionally support me to take the throne. Just like what the Queen Mother said, God won't drop pie for nothing, and it won't necessarily hit me when it falls.

The most important thing is that my daughter knows her own worth. I don’t have the ability to sit in that position. If I am not worthy of the position, it will bring disaster to Fengqi Country. I don’t want to be the queen of a fallen country. "

The Third Princess shook her head like a rattle and gave sufficient reasons for her refusal. She was also trying to persuade her father not to get involved, for fear that the virtuous prince would insist on having his own way and even bring up the Empress of the fallen country.

But from another perspective, the Third Princess has a clear understanding of herself. In her previous life, she was the queen of a fallen country.

Xian Shijun then showed a relieved smile on his face, pursed his lips and said:

"It seems that you have a clear understanding of yourself, so it's not in vain for me to be a bad guy."

The third princess then realized that this was a test from her father.

"Father, don't scare me! I thought you wanted to be the emperor's husband. At this cusp, this is not a good thing. Not to mention the ministers in the court, even my eldest and second sisters can tear you down."

The third princess wiped the non-existent sweat from her forehead and spoke in a low voice.

"After the Emperor and Rong Shijun left, some people set their sights on me, which annoyed me. Now that you are back, these people may become even more aggressive. I am afraid that you are not firm enough and that these people are plotting against you, so I want to confirm your thoughts."

Now that it had been brought to light, the wise servant laid out their situation openly.

"How could my father, who has never fought for anything, say something like this?"

The third princess patted her chest. If her father insisted on doing what he wanted, she would be the one in trouble.

The conversation between the father and daughter soon reached Lianyi's ears. The secret guard reported every word and disappeared again.

Lianyi smiled. She had never been worried about Xian Shijun, but she was worried about the Third Princess. However, it seemed that she had no ambition now.

In this case, Lianyi would naturally fulfill her youngest daughter's wish and let her become a rich and idle person and live happily.

After entering winter, grain prices in various places fluctuated and seemed to be on the rise. Unfortunately, less than three days after the price increase, the government released a batch of affordable rice in the name of the empress and posted a notice.

The notice stated that this was the Empress' compassion for the people. Considering the poor harvest due to the disaster, half of the taxes were exempted, and a batch of affordable rice was also supplied so that the people could afford it. After this winter, there would be a batch of high-quality seeds in the spring, and the people would be allowed to receive them on credit and pay them back in the autumn harvest next year.

As soon as this notice was issued, the people in the city rushed to tell each other and praised the Queen for her kindness. The grain merchants who had hoarded grain and were preparing to make a fortune were dumbfounded. Not to mention raising the price, even if they sold it at the usual price, few people came to their stores.

No one is stupid. Why would they buy expensive food when they can get cheap ones? Moreover, when purchasing grain stored in the government office, one must bring along the household registration of one's family to prevent people from making repeated purchases. Otherwise, they will not be able to take advantage of the situation.

"Don't worry, the food will run out one day, so we just have to wait."

A grain merchant said without giving up.

Everyone looked at each other and decided to wait and see for a while.

One day, two days, three days... until a month later, not only was the food supply not cut off, but its variety increased. The grain merchants were dumbfounded and prepared to move to other cities to have a look. Unfortunately, they were stopped by people from the government office before they even left the city gate.

"You have ganged up on each other to drive up the grain prices. You don't sell grain to the people even though you have it. We regard you as profiteers. For the sake of Fengqi's stability, we will temporarily detain you. We will buy your grain at a fair price and then sell it to the people. You will get the same amount of money, but Fengqi will not welcome you in the future."

The people around only realized after listening to the female official's powerful voice that those carts were full of grain. In order to make money, these unscrupulous merchants refused to sell the grain to them and now wanted to take the grain to other places to drive up the price.

All of a sudden, broken stones and mud were thrown at these people. If it weren't for the yamen runners stopping them, the manure would have probably been thrown at them.

Then, in full view of everyone, the government weighed the grain on the spot, settled the money on the spot, and then drove these merchants and their entourage out of the city.

"Everyone, we paid for the food with silver. I advise you to take the silver and leave, otherwise you will be targeted by someone with ulterior motives and lose the silver."

The bailiff's words were meaningful, which made the group of people's hearts skip a beat. They immediately rode away from the place of trouble at full speed.

"Humph! A bunch of idiots!"

The bailiff spat at the backs of the merchants who were fleeing.

This kind of thing was also happening in various cities, but some merchants were very aware of the current situation. As soon as the Queen's notice came out, they immediately lowered the previously inflated grain prices. Although it was not at a fair price, it was still within the acceptable range for the people. After all, high-quality rice cost a few cents more, which the people could understand.

Some merchants who had received the news long ago did not raise prices when other grain merchants raised prices. They continued to sell at the original price and were boycotted by all merchants. However, in the end, these merchants gained a good reputation. Although they did not earn as much money as after the price increase, they still made a small profit.

Those who drove up the price of grain were in trouble. Instead of making any profit, they suffered losses. After all, they had paid a lot of money to get as much grain as possible.

After Fengqi State's reorganization, the trend of driving up grain prices was severely suppressed, and the country survived another crisis. Moreover, the various government offices also took advantage of this opportunity to buy back all the grain from grain merchants, replenishing the granaries that had been halved due to disaster relief, and also storing food and fodder for the war in the spring of the following year.

The new emperor of Panlong State was so angry when he saw that all the merchants he had sent out to disrupt the grain prices in Fengqi State came back dejectedly that he kicked them all out with a ferocious look on his face.

After the first rain of spring, the Xuanwu Kingdom was the first to draw its sword towards the Panlong Kingdom, under the banner of revenge for their father.