Chapter 434: Chaos in the Grain Market
The next morning.
The latest issue of "Beijing News" published Ning Yuke's "speech" yesterday in an entire page, word for word.
Since there is no subjective evaluation attached, it is difficult to conclude whether this action can be regarded as "collaborating with the enemy".
In addition, the Taichang Temple, which is responsible for managing the "newspaper industry", is now completely controlled by the Tongzhou Society, so the Daning government has not imposed any punishment on the "Jing Bao".
But in fact, neither Ning Yongnian nor the people of Daning care much about such "small things" nowadays.
In the former's opinion, with 300,000 troops crushing over, Ning Yuke would have no chance of winning at all, and by then, "the will of the people" would naturally return to his side.
As for the latter, compared to what Ning Yuke said, they might be more concerned about how much the food price has increased today.
After all, when life becomes a problem, who would have the time to care about "national affairs"?
Before daybreak, long queues formed in front of several grain stores in the capital.
The price of grain is rising day by day, and even in the capital city, which is located right under the emperor's feet, the price has now risen to "sky-high" levels.
But even though the price is sky-high, this food is not something that can be bought just like that.
"Everyone! I'm sorry!"
"We have run out of food!"
"Go back! Come earlier tomorrow!"
“.”
Less than half an hour after the market opened, each grain store had hung up wooden signs saying "No grain today" and were preparing to close down.
And those people who failed to buy grain would naturally not agree.
"No food?! It's been like this for several days in a row! What kind of food store do you run?!"
"There must be more food! These profiteers must have seen that food prices have risen sharply and are deliberately not selling it to us!"
"Open the door! Open it quickly! Otherwise I will break it down!"
"Well, let's all go. I know the owner of this Da'an Grain Store. He is indeed a good man and will sell any grain he wants."
"If he says there is no food, then there really is no food."
"Let's go! Let's go to the grain store on West Street and have a look."
“.”
After shouting outside the door for a long time, those who failed to buy food finally left helplessly.
Even those who bought a small amount of food did not look very happy at this moment.
The food we just bought is not only expensive, but also can't be eaten for a few days.
In a few days, I will have to queue up again to grab food, but who can guarantee that I will be able to get it then?
If you can't grab it, you can only eat bran rice.
After the bran rice is finished, you can only drink white porridge.
If this continues, white porridge will turn into thin porridge, thin porridge will turn into rice soup, and rice soup will turn into tree bark, and one day we will reach the end of our rope.
And then what?
Starved to death? Obviously, there had been no major natural disasters in Daning in recent years, and the price of grain had been very stable.
But why did the food on the market suddenly disappear overnight? Was it because of the war?
But even if there was a war, the price of food should not have risen so drastically. Ordinary people couldn't understand it, and they didn't know that the situation in other states was actually worse than that in the capital.
But Ning Yongnian, who was in the palace, knew it clearly.
He knew very well that the reason why grain prices in Daning were soaring was because countless unscrupulous merchants were hoarding grain.
He knew even more clearly that the company that hoarded the most was a business called "Ying Fengsheng" that suddenly emerged.
Food is the primary need of the people. Food prices must be brought down no matter what.
Therefore, Ning Yongnian decided a few days ago to quickly resolve this problem through violent means.
However, "Your Majesty, yesterday, thirteen granaries in various states caught fire, and not a single grain of food was left in the granaries."
"Your Majesty! It's obvious that they are not after money, but they want to cause chaos in our country!"
"Your Majesty, I think someone must have tipped off Ying Fengsheng in advance. Otherwise, how could they repeatedly burn all the grain before the officials arrived?!"
"Your Majesty, the grain market in Daning cannot continue to be in chaos! Open the granary to support the market!"
“.”
During the morning court session, a group of officials expressed their opinions, either in fear or anger.
Ning Yongnian, on the other hand, sat on the dragon throne with a gloomy expression, his gaze fixed on one person for a long time.
There is no doubt that it was Wei Xianzhi with a calm expression.
"Wei Qing, what do you think I should do?"
“.”
The moment Ning Yongnian opened his mouth, the entire hall suddenly fell silent.
More than a hundred court officials stared at Wei Xianzhi standing in the first row, with different emotions in their eyes.
However, the latter turned a blind eye to this and just calmly bowed to Ning Yongnian.
"Your Majesty, the Xuanjing Division does not deal with matters of money and grain."
"You should ask Lord Miao about this."
The "Mr. Miao" mentioned by Wei Xianzhi is called Miao Xuezhen, who took over the position of Minister of Revenue after Xu Shixing's death and is Ning Yongnian's man.
The Ministry of Revenue was in charge of money, grain, salt and other matters, and was indeed the "first responsible department" for the chaos in the grain market.
But both the content and tone of Wei Xianzhi's words undoubtedly showed no respect for Ning Yongnian.
"Mr. Wei, I naturally know that the Ministry of Revenue is in charge of money and grain."
Without looking at Miao Xuezhen, Ning Yongnian narrowed his eyes slightly and still stared at Wei Xianzhi.
"But it is Xuan Jingsi's responsibility to investigate Ying Fengsheng's collusion with the King of Chaos."
"It has been several days since I asked you to do this. I wonder how your investigation is going?"
"Return to the Emperor"
Wei Changtian bowed his head and answered with just five concise words.
"I'm still investigating."
“Still checking”
"Good one is still investigating!"
"Ha ha ha ha!!!"
Laughter filled with anger resounded throughout the hall, and all the court officials were so terrified that they dared not even breathe.
Anyone could see that Ning Yongnian and the Wei family were only one step away from a complete break, so no one dared to say a word at this time.
"Wei Qing."
After a few breaths, the angry laughter finally stopped, and the murderous intent in Ning Yongnian's eyes had almost reached the point where it was unconcealed.
He slowly stood up from the dragon throne, walked down the steps step by step, and then stood in front of Wei Xianzhi.
"Ten days. I hope that the Xuan Jing Division can bring all those who disrupted the grain market to justice within ten days."
"Can you do this?"
"Return to the Emperor."
Wei Xianzhi's expression remained unchanged. He looked up and met Ning Yongnian's gaze. "This case is very complicated and involves a lot of things. I'm afraid ten days is a bit too short."
"Really?"
Ning Yongnian asked again, word by word, "How many days do you want?"
"this."
Wei Xianzhi smiled and said, "Your Majesty, how about a hundred days?"
“.”
One hundred days to solve the case.
Not to mention whether Xuan Jingsi can solve the case after a hundred days. Even if it can, by then Daning will be a place where people are starving and living in misery.
Therefore, the deadline given by Wei Xianzhi is clearly a provocation.
All the court officials present understood this, so they all stared with wide eyes and breathed rapidly, wondering why he dared to speak to Ning Yongnian like that.
Yes, the Wei family is indeed powerful now.
But this is not Shuzhou, but the capital city where 50,000 imperial guards are permanently stationed!
How many people do you have in the Xuanjing Division? How can you defeat these 50,000 guards? Taking a step back, you, Wei Xianzhi, are in the palace at this moment!
If Ning Yongnian really gets angry and wants to kill you, how can you survive?
More than a hundred court officials were puzzled and didn't understand what confidence Wei Xianzhi had to challenge Ning Yongnian so openly.
They even thought that the commander of the Xuan Jing Division would not be able to walk out of the hall alive.
However, staring at Wei Xianzhi who had a smile on his face, Ning Yongnian clenched his hands hidden in his sleeves into fists, and then slowly loosened them after a few breaths.
He turned his head without saying a word, no longer looking at Wei Xianzhi, but slowly said to Miao Xuezheng: "Master Miao, open the granary and release the grain."
“Yes, yes.”
Miao Xuezhen didn't dare to say anything now, and quickly lowered his head to respond.
Ning Yongnian didn't say anything more. He shook his sleeves, left the court officials behind and walked towards the back hall.
With Li Huaizhong's shout of "dismissal of court", today's morning court ended so hastily.
The court officials walked out of the hall one after another, and along the way they deliberately kept a distance from Wei Xianzhi as if they were avoiding the plague god.
But the latter didn't care about it, instead the smile on his face seemed to become even wider.
(End of this chapter)
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