Two days later, Yang Qiu also came to visit Liu Hong with the information he had gathered.

"Your Majesty, after two days of investigation, we learned that those dwarfs landed in Donglai in April of this year and later arrived in Luoyang."

However, they were not an envoy, but just a group of ordinary merchants. After arriving in Luoyang, they spent their days wandering around the market and did not go anywhere else.

Moreover, most of the goods they brought were a white metal that was neither gold nor copper, similar to ingots.

As far as I know, this metal is roughly the same material as some utensils and ornaments brought by merchants from the Western Regions, but its color is somewhat inferior.

(In ancient times, silver was called "ting". It was mined as early as the Qin and Han dynasties, but it was mostly used as decorative vessels. Because it was relatively rare, it also had great trading value. It was not until the mid-Tang dynasty that it began to circulate as currency.)

As he spoke, Yang Qiu took out a metal block about the size of a thumb.

Liu Hong took it and said, "This is a silver ingot, but it's mottled because those short guys' mining skills are poor."

"I see."

Yang Qiu nodded as if he understood, but he only knew how to capture and kill people; he knew nothing about things like mining.

Liu Hong picked up the silver nugget and played with it for a while, then looked at Zhang Rang beside him.

"Go tell Zhao Zhong to have the Royal Trading Company contact those dwarfs and trade all the silver ingots they have."

"promise!!"

"Furthermore, summon the Grand Tutor, Minister of Works, Grand Herald, Grand Minister of Agriculture, and Marquis of Moyang to an audience."

"It's Your Majesty!"

Zhang Rang accepted the order and then quickly turned and left.

"How is Wenhe doing lately?"

After Zhang Rang left, Liu Hong inquired about Jia Xu's situation.

Yang Qiu: "Your Majesty, according to Wenhe's report, he is currently leading men to Chengde to make arrangements and prepare to develop spies to go to the Xianbei."

Liu Hong chuckled softly: "Has Wenhe been provoked by Zhongde?"

Yang Qiu smiled and said, "Zhongde has already begun to make arrangements in the Western Regions, so Wenhe is bound to be a little impatient."

Liu Hong nodded: "These two have been away from Luoyang for almost four years, and they have been working hard all this time. Once they have settled things, let them come back."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Where is Wenyou? Has she replied?"

When Jia Xu and Cheng Yu were mentioned, Liu Hong couldn't help but inquire about Li Ru's situation.

Yang Qiu said in a deep voice, "Your Majesty, Wen You replied that he hopes to remain in the Northern Wuhuan and try to provoke a conflict between the Wuhuan and the Eastern Xianbei in order to buy time for the construction of the Youliao defense line."

"Sigh, it seems that Wenyou really has gotten used to and even liked this kind of life, just as Wenhe said."

Liu Hong couldn't help but sigh softly. These three poisoners really had similar temperaments; they all liked to hide in the shadows and plan everything.

Before long, Chen Fan, Yuan Feng, Yang Ci, Cao Song, Mo Shang and others, who had been summoned by Liu Hong, arrived at Deyang Palace.

After everyone had exchanged greetings, Liu Hong picked up the silver nugget and looked at everyone.

"Do any of you recognize this object?"

As he spoke, Liu Hong handed the silver nugget to Chen Fan.

"Your Majesty, this looks like a tinkling?"

After reading it, Cao Song couldn't help but ask curiously.

Liu Hong nodded: "That's right, Yang Qing got this from a group of short guys."

"Shorty??"

Everyone was slightly taken aback and looked at Liu Hong with some confusion.

Liu Hong smiled and said, "Oh, they're from the Dog Slave Country."

Cao Song suddenly realized, and then laughed: "I have seen such people in the market. They certainly deserve the name 'little dwarf.' I really don't know what kind of weird things they eat all day long. That leader is truly a pitiful sight."

Everyone couldn't help but smile upon hearing this.

Then Liu Hong picked up the silver nugget and said in a deep voice, "The reason I summoned you all here today is for this item."

As he spoke, Liu Hong pulled out his empty money bag.

"To be honest, I went out of the palace today with the Empress and the others to buy some things, but I found that the purchasing power of the five-zhu coin seems to be less stable than before."

Upon hearing this, everyone's expressions darkened.

Cao Song spoke up, "Your Majesty, I have also recently discovered this problem, although the court has been strictly controlling the price of grain."

However, the prices of other goods continue to rise. If this continues, it will inevitably lead to a situation where low grain prices hurt farmers.

Liu Hong nodded: "Do you gentlemen know the reason for the price increase?"

The crowd exchanged bewildered glances before turning their attention to Cao Song, the Grand Minister of Agriculture.

Cao Song replied, "I have also considered this issue. After some investigation, I found that the main reason is that there is too much currency in circulation."

Originally, those coins were kept in the homes of powerful landlords and rarely circulated in the market. Therefore, it was very difficult to obtain a Wuzhu coin, and its value was very high.

But later, all the powerful landlords and wealthy people turned to commerce, and they brought out all their hoarded money, causing a surplus of currency over goods, which in turn led to price increases.

In fact, what Cao Song said can be translated as: Previously, the Han Dynasty was experiencing deflation, which is why the court had less and less money to spend.

With the current boom in commerce, many merchant families have put all their grain, money, and land into business. However, the production speed has not kept up, resulting in an excess of money and a shortage of goods, leading to inflation.

As Cao Song finished speaking, Liu Hong couldn't help but cast a surprised glance at him. He hadn't expected Cao Song to have such a keen economic insight.

Liu Hong then asked, "In your opinion, how should this problem be solved?"

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