Hoarding means buying up urgently needed supplies in large quantities and driving up prices.

In the capital city, merchants gathered in groups of two or three to stockpile large quantities of firewood.

When the Qun Ying Chamber of Commerce took action and contacted the government, they set up checkpoints directly at the city gates.

Any hawker who came into the city to sell firewood would complete the purchase directly at the city gate, leaving no chance for those unscrupulous businessmen.

In the capital city, the Heroes Chamber of Commerce will not make any purchases, giving those businessmen the opportunity to take advantage of the situation.

"They are trying to kill us. With this kind of behavior and collusion between officials and businessmen, there is no way out for us."

"Stop complaining and make a move quickly. The price of firewood has been falling. This group of British Chambers of Commerce is really harming others and not benefiting themselves. They are making a loss and making a profit."

"The Heroes Chamber of Commerce will not stop purchasing firewood until the price of firewood in the city drops. This time we are at a huge loss. We paid a high price for it and now we have nothing left. We need to sell it quickly at the current price."

"Humph, I've already told you guys not to do this kind of thing in the capital. The Ming Dynasty is so vast, there's no need to fight to the death here. The only way for us to survive is to leave and stay away from the capital."

"That makes sense. I think so too. The power of the Heroes Chamber of Commerce in the capital is too great. After what happened before, we no longer have the power to compete."

There was wailing in the commercial district.

Once the firewood purchasing business started, it became a craze.

Even if the harvest was small, there were still hundreds of loads of crops at home that had not been sold.

The action of the Qun Ying Chamber of Commerce was equivalent to cutting off their retreat. They could not even hold out for a day. Starting from the next day, firewood was sold on a large scale in the market of the capital.

Due to large shipments in a short period of time, the lowest price has reached ten cents per load, which is simply unimaginable.

Not to mention the winter, even in the summer when the price is the lowest, it still costs twenty-five cents per load. It can be said that the price has collapsed at the moment.

"Winter is coming. The weather will only get colder every year from now on. We should prepare for the severe winter and make plans early."

In Kunning Palace, Zhu Ying stood at the entrance of the hall, wearing a waistcoat, looking at the howling cold wind outside and said.

With the weather being so cold, it might snow in a few days.

Ye Yueqing was accompanying him. After some hesitation, she asked, "In this weather, Your Highness, have you considered shipping the black wheat from the Western Regions?"

At present, the entire Qun Ying Chamber of Commerce has been completely handed over to Ye Yueqing for control.

In fact, this is not true. Zhu Ying has been a hands-off boss since he founded the Qun Ying Chamber of Commerce not long ago.

Now Ye Yueqing is very clear about the financial situation of the Qun Ying Chamber of Commerce.

Zhu Ying frowned slightly when he heard this.

Black wheat is a powerful weapon in Zhu Ying's hands. This grain is weak in winter and can grow in cold winter. It is an invaluable treasure for now and even in the future small ice age.

Black wheat is paired with the black soil of Northeast China.

The black soil of Northeast China is the most fertile land in the world and is very suitable for growing wheat. In addition, during the severe winter season, it is a perfect match for black wheat.

The reason why Zhu Ying has not used black wheat until now is that he has already told the old man about the black soil in Northeast China.

There are also some considerations in this regard.

The distribution of the Northeast Black Soil was mainly in the provinces of Jilin and Heilongjiang in later generations, which is currently Liaodong and Nurgandusi of the Ming Dynasty.

During the late Yuan Dynasty, the great general Nahachu stationed 200,000 troops in Jinshan and occupied areas such as Nurgandusi.

After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, it occupied Liaodong. In the eighth year of Hongwu, Naha invaded Liaodong and reached Jinzhou, but was defeated by Liaodong's guards Ma Yun and Ye Wang. After that, he repeatedly invaded the border, but was defeated by the Ming army every time.

In the 20th year of Hongwu, Feng Sheng led an army of 200,000 to attack Jinshan, which was known in history as the Battle of Jinshan. He then sent the former Yuan general Nai Ciwu to Nahachu to persuade him to surrender. Nahachu saw that the situation was difficult to change and surrendered to the Ming.

After his surrender, Zhu Yuanzhang personally appointed Nahachu as Marquis of Haixi and gave him an iron certificate and a red book.

In the 21st year of Hongwu, Nahachu followed Fu Youde to conquer Yunnan. He died on a boat in Wuchang on the way and was buried in Nanjing. His son Chahan inherited the title of Marquis of Shenyang. From then on, Liaodong and Nurgandusi were completely controlled by the Ming Dynasty.

However, in Liaodong and Nurgan Regional Military Commission, there are many indigenous people, including Han, Mongolian, and Jurchen people, living together in multiple ethnic groups, making it difficult to directly control them.

The Ming Dynasty established garrisons with the principle of "using barbarians to control barbarians" and controlled the Northeast region by appointing leaders of various tribes as garrison chiefs and requiring them to pay tribute and engage in trade with the Ming Dynasty on a regular basis.

In this case, if black wheat is transported there, it can be planted on a large scale on the black soil.

Zhu Ying had no doubt that those Mongols and Jurchens would not hesitate to break away from the rule of the Ming Dynasty, establish themselves as kings, and occupy the black soil.

After thinking it over, Zhu Ying said, "Tell the Western Regions to take all the black wheat seeds, except for some that are kept, and send the rest to the capital."

"Let's put this matter aside for now. The situation in Nurgan is complicated, so we can only take it step by step."

Ye Yueqing nodded slightly.

Zhu Ying was calculating in her heart.

In order to completely control Nurgandusi, at least 300,000 troops are needed, and they must be a standing army.

Without an army of 300,000, it would be difficult to defend the black soil grain.

At least hundreds of thousands of people need to be relocated there to cultivate the black soil.

We also need tens of thousands of oxen for working.

Liaodong and Nurgandusi are mostly plains, so a large number of war horses are also indispensable.

Thinking of this, Zhu Ying felt a headache.

But Zhu Ying felt even more uncomfortable because the black soil was left unused.

That is an area of ​​two million miles, and in later generations, it accounted for one-fifth of the country's grain production. From then on, the Great Northern Wilderness became the Great Northern Granary.

There are more than 60 million people in Ming Dynasty nowadays. Although there are some deviations in planting, the output of sweet potatoes, potatoes, wheat, corn and other crops is huge.

As long as enough land is reclaimed, it can solve the food problem of 70% to 80% of the people in the Ming Dynasty.

If nothing else, the population in the North will experience a surge and it will no longer have to rely so heavily on the South.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty had solved the problem of food, but the population was surging, and Zhu Ying's strategy of establishing vassal states overseas was also in place.

It is simply hard to estimate how powerful the Ming Dynasty will be in the future.

It is only a matter of time before we surpass the glory of the Han and Tang dynasties.

Thinking of this, Zhu Ying strode forward. He wanted to have a good talk with the old man about how to completely control Liaodong and Nurgandusi areas.

The previous strategy of using barbarians to control barbarians was due to a lack of manpower and the fact that the area was desolate and barren. In Zhu Yuanzhang's mind, as long as it was stable and there was no trouble, it would be enough.

But now, it will be completely different.

At noon, in front of Zhengyang Gate.

Zhu Di, accompanied by dozens of personal guards and his eldest son Zhu Gaochi, who was breathing heavily, waited in the cold wind.

As time passed, it was almost noon when a line of carriages finally appeared in the distance.

"It's mother who's here."

Zhu Gaochi couldn't help but speak.

"Father is not blind yet, so he can see clearly."

Zhu Di said casually.

Zhu Gaochi was accustomed to his father's tone.

Soon, the carriage came closer. When the guards in the front saw Prince of Yan Zhu Di, they began to slow down the carriage and then stopped about ten feet away from Zhu Di.

"Greetings to His Royal Highness Prince Yan."

The guards turned over and knelt on one knee.

Two more riders came over, dismounted gracefully, and said, "Greetings, father."

These are Zhu Di’s other two legitimate sons, Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Gaosui.

Zhu Di nodded slightly, then ignored him and turned his gaze to the carriage.

As the curtain opened, a dignified woman emerged from the carriage. Zhu Di's eyes lit up and he quickly stepped forward and said, "Yihua."

…

To the west of the Qinhuai River is the wealthy area of ​​the Ming Dynasty.

"Are you sure it's the Lu family?"

Zhang San asked in a deep voice.

"Boss, it's probably correct. The government has reported that the head of the Lu family, Lu Hongzhi, often goes in and out of various neighborhoods with his eldest granddaughter, Lu Shuang."

"On the surface, it seems that he bought rouge, powder, silk and satin for his granddaughter Lu Shuang. However, according to the records, he bought too much. The amount he bought is enough for dozens of women."

"That alone doesn't raise any suspicion, but my brothers have seen Lu Shuang and she doesn't have any heavy makeup on. This doesn't make sense."

"According to investigations in the community, Lu Hongzhi always said that he would buy some for his granddaughter, once every two or three days, and each time would take about an hour. And when the Beggars' Sect was arrested yesterday, Lu Hongzhi and his granddaughter Lu Shuang were also in the community."

The brother next to Zhang San explained in detail.

These brothers, all dressed in brocade clothes, were the first trusted guards who followed Zhu Ying to the capital.

Now Zhang San has been promoted to the rank of thousand households, and the others are several hundred households, and they are also living well.

The current Jinyiwei is divided into three major groups.

In terms of status, Jiang Li is the highest; in terms of actual power, Song Zhong has the greatest.

If we talk about status, it would be Zhang San, who had always been Zhu Ying's personal guard.

And having gone through the test of the imperial prison, even Zhu Yuanzhang favored Zhang San.

It’s just that because Zhu Ying is currently living deep in the palace, which is a little different from before, Zhang San has a lot more free time.

There is no need to worry too much about the affairs of the Jinyiwei. On weekdays, you just hang out with the Jinyiwei in the teahouse.

After being idle for such a long time, he finally waited for the order from his boss to conduct a thorough investigation of the top leaders of the Beggars' Sect.

The brothers, led by Zhang San, were immediately full of energy. Even the biting cold wind was no hindrance to them.

Now that I have something to do, I must do it well.

"Without any real evidence, it would be too abrupt to come directly to their house. Besides, the Lu family is also a family of scholars."

Zhang San frowned and said.

After all, he had not been in the Jinyiwei for long and did not have such a domineering mentality.

And because I have been following His Royal Highness the Crown Prince for a long time, I have some particularities in many aspects.

Of course, if it involves His Royal Highness the Crown Prince himself, then that would be another matter.

"Boss, they all did this. What evidence do we need? When we catch them and interrogate them in the imperial prison, we will have all the evidence."

"Yes, boss. We are directly under His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. Even if we act a little arrogant, who dares to control us? Just break the door and arrest everyone first."

"This old man Lu is so sneaky and suspicious, it must be true, he must be a high-ranking member of the Beggars' Sect."

Zhang San listened to the brothers shouting and shouted, "Be quiet!"

After hearing the leader's loud shout, everyone quieted down.

"Your Highness, the Crown Prince, has told us not to let a bad guy go, nor to wrongly accuse a good guy. Look at you, you are willing to destroy a family just based on speculation?"

"No matter which family they are from, they will all be arrested and imprisoned. Even those who are innocent will be punished. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince asked me to wait for the Imperial Guards, is this how you want to act recklessly and disregard the law?"

Zhang San said sternly.

Everyone looked at each other.

Looking back, it seems that since entering the Jinyiwei, everyone has started to become arrogant. They are no longer as cautious as before, and they usually look up to the sky when they walk on the street.

I didn’t learn the good things, but I learned the bad things thoroughly.

Some people have already started accepting gifts from their subordinates.

In silence, a burly, tall man stood up and said in a deep voice, "Boss, you are right. We brothers have been dazzled by the colorful life in the capital. Even I followed them to the Yihong Courtyard and spent my free time hugging the young lady all day long."

"His Royal Highness has arranged a house for us. We eat and drink in the teahouse. We live like playboys every day. Boss, I don't want to live this way anymore. I will listen to you and follow you from now on."

When these words were spoken, most of the dozen or so people felt extremely ashamed.

They spent their days eating, drinking, having fun, visiting brothels, going to prostitutes, and listening to storytelling.

I have been wearing this skin but I have never been paid.

The former dragon slayer has now become a dragon.

Zhang San didn't think much about it. He looked at the burly man and said, "Good for you, Erniu. I was wondering why you gained so much weight recently. It turns out you are living a good life."

"Okay, stop wasting time and follow me to visit the Lu family first."

Many brothers did not expect their leader to let go like this. They felt extremely guilty and secretly vowed to start a new life. There was a look of emotion in their eyes.

The door of the Lu family mansion was closed.

Bang bang bang!

"Open the door quickly!"

Erniu stepped forward, banged on the door, and then shouted.

Soon footsteps were heard, the door opened, and a servant came out. He was about to complain, but when he saw the clothes worn by more than ten people in front of him, he immediately covered his mouth.

"Send the message, Jinyiwei Captain Zhang San, I have been ordered to come and investigate."

Zhang San said in a deep voice.

The servant dared not neglect the request and immediately opened the door: "Gentlemen, please come in quickly. I will go and inform the master right away."

He didn't dare let the Jinyiwei wait at the door, otherwise a problem would arise.

After entering the room, the servants and maids saw the appearance of more than ten Jinyiwei, and there was immediately a panic.

In the backyard, Lu Hongzhi gathered the younger generations of the clan and was giving them a lecture.

"The capital has been in turmoil recently, and the situation is volatile. All descendants of the Lu family must be cautious and take a step back when faced with difficulties. They should not make enemies with others for no reason."

"Anyone who violates this rule and brings disaster to the clan will be expelled from the Lu family!"

As soon as the words fell, a voice came from outside the door: "Master! Master!!"

Lu Hongzhi's already frowned brows deepened, and a bad premonition emanated from his heart.

A servant came running over breathlessly and said quickly, "Master... there are more than a dozen Jinyiwei coming... outside!!!"