The outer room of the county government's security office.

"Isn't this serious?" Wu Cheng'en was so anxious that sweat broke out on his forehead.

"The gunmen have already been dispatched, so they can't cause any trouble." Xu Wei pouted his lips and said indifferently, "It's just a few rioters who robbed the grain store. It's a good opportunity to kill a chicken to scare the monkeys."

"What I'm worried about is not the grain store, but the rumors!" Wu Cheng'en sat at the other end of the kang, tapping on the small machine with his fingers, and said sternly:

"The riots in Dongtang Street can be quelled, but the rumors of food shortages cannot be suppressed. They will spread throughout the city within a day and throughout the county within three days. By then, even gods will not be able to control the situation!"

"Look, this is the problem with writers, they always exaggerate." Xu Wei scratched his ears, blew on his little finger and said, "It's a small matter, but when you say it, it's like the sky is falling and the earth is collapsing. I admire you."

"It's just a small thing?" Wu Chengen laughed angrily, crossing his legs and hugging his arms. "I almost forgot that you, Xu Wenchang, were the mastermind of the anti-Japanese war, and the wise man who deceived Wang Zhi and trapped Xu Hai. Of course, you don't care about such a small matter in Kunshan County."

"You can say that." Xu Wei lay down, resting his hands on his arms, and said with a sigh: "Life is really lonely like snow..."

"Don't just brag. If you have the ability, prove it to me. Let me see if you have the real ability." Wu Cheng'en glanced at him.

"Is this a provocation?" Xu Wei crossed his legs and said, "It's useless unless you promise to update a chapter for me."

"Shameless!" Wu Cheng'en said angrily, "Sacred writing cannot be used to make dirty deals!"

After a pause, he said dejectedly: "Let's make an exception for the people of Kunshan."

"Hahaha, wouldn't it have been over if you had said it earlier?" Xu Wei sat up suddenly and excitedly instructed the guard:

"Tell Xiao Jin to strictly enforce the ban. First, all thugs who steal rice will be flogged and then put in the shackles for ten days."

"Second, all the rice shop owners who raise prices will also be put in the shackles."

"Third, confiscate all criminal tools."

"Yes!" The guard saluted and turned away.

"Fuck, you are so shameless." After the guard left, Wu Cheng'en pointed at Xu Wei and scolded him with a smile: "Confiscate the tools used in the crime. You are so smart."

"Many times, the same thing can be said in a completely different way." Xu Wenchang said with great experience, "For example, if you are lusting after a girl's body, and you directly say I want to sleep with you, then you are a pervert. But if you say I hope to open my eyes tomorrow morning and see you smiling at me in the morning sun, then you are a passionate playboy."

"But now you are just a wretched fat man!" Wu Cheng'en ruthlessly exposed Xu Wei's self-indulgence.

"It's meaningless if you say that." Xu Wei was hurt when he heard that, and thought to himself, there is only one egg. He then lay sideways against the wall, angry. "No one who writes books is honest."

"How can an honest person write a book?" Wu Cheng'en smiled and patted his shoulder, then asked, "You haven't told me how to quell the rumors yet."

"I won't tell you. You'll be suffocated to death." Xu Wei snorted.

"If you say so, I will go and write a thousand words right now." Tofu dipped in brine, one thing can conquer another, Wu Cheng'en specializes in dealing with Xu Wenchang.

"That's fine." Xu Wei sat up and said to Wu Cheng'en with a smile, "It's very simple. Our ancestors already had a method. Just follow the prescription."

"What is it?"

"One is called 'Dong Zhuo Enters the City'; the other is called 'Liu Xiu Seizes the City'." Xu Wei gave a sly laugh and explained briefly.

"Excellent!" Wu Cheng'en couldn't help but give a thumbs up and turned around to assign the task.

"Go write a book quickly." Xu Wei urged.

"Oh, I see." Wu Cheng'en just responded without moving. "Let's finish the business first."

"Liar." Xu Wenchang leaned back down angrily. From now on, he would let Wu Chengen deliver the goods first before giving him any advice.

~~

On Dongtang Street.

After hearing the message from the Caijia Lane guard, Jin Ke immediately had several rice shop owners arrested.

"Why did you tie us up?" The rice shop owners started shouting.

"You are driving up prices and hoarding goods, violating Article 1 of the flood control ban!" Jin Ke snorted coldly, "According to the ban, you will be put in shackles for ten days and listed on the monument of shame! Take them away!"

The people working in the Gunners' Camp are all poor people, and they are happy to see these black-hearted grain merchants get into trouble. The worse the famine is every year, the more they deliberately refuse to sell grain. It's time to deal with this.

The gunmen immediately pounced on them, pinned several rice shop owners to the ground, and tied them up with hemp ropes.

Then Jin Ke called a constable aside and asked quietly, "What do you mean by confiscating the tools used to commit the crime? The thugs are all empty-handed, right? You won't chop off their hands, will you?"

"Haha, Captain, you've got it wrong." The constable was cunning and sly, so he whispered, "I'm afraid the higher-ups are referring to the rice merchants hoarding the tools they use to commit crimes, right?"

"Oh." Jin Ke slapped his forehead in sudden realization. "It must be right."

At times like this, rice is more useful than silver.

He waved his hand again and ordered: "Confiscate the stored supplies!"

"Yes!" The gunmen moved grain out of several rice shops and pushed carts to transport it to the reserve warehouse.

The five stores together had a total of 3,000 stones, which was more than the county’s inventory. The transportation was not completed until dark.

The common people all ran out to the streets to watch the excitement, pointing and talking at the grain trucks that arrived one after another, cursing the unscrupulous merchants for hoarding so much grain and raising the price and being reluctant to sell it.

An old man with a goatee and a middle-aged man with a big mole were also mixed in the crowd, watching the clerks wielding cowhide whips and whipping the mob who were stealing food in public.

And the rice merchants wearing shackles and kneeling under the eight-character wall...

Shaking his head, the old man walked out of the crowd, and the man with the big mole followed him out.

"You reacted pretty quickly." The goatee man was quite surprised and said, "Experienced, ruthless, and shameless. It doesn't look like this is the first time that Zhao has been a county magistrate."

"If he doesn't have some tricks, he doesn't deserve our master's hatred." Big Mole nodded and said, "He has brought all the officials to the dike. He has the final say in the county. It's too difficult for us to trip him up."

"No problem." The man with a goatee chuckled and said, "Just keep spreading the news. As long as the whole county knows about the supply cut, even if Zhao Shouzheng is a god, he won't be able to suppress the situation."

"Okay." Big Mole nodded and said, "I'll talk to those families later and we'll help him get some eye drops..."

Before he finished speaking, the sound of gongs was heard. A yamen runner shouted along the street:

"Our county has sufficient grain and a stable supply. Two thousand shi of grain is delivered every day, which is enough for all the people in the county to eat. There is no need to panic or rush to buy!"

As if to prove the words of the yamen runner, five large grain ships with a capacity of 400 tons slowly sailed in from Liuhui Gate and passed through the city along Zhihetang.

Seeing the flat-bottomed cargo ships piled with grain, with the waterline almost level with the side of the ship, the people on the shore cheered with relief.

"Didn't they say that not a single grain of grain is allowed to be transported into Kunshan?" Seeing this, Big Mole was almost frightened to death.

"Damn it." The goat-bearded man stared at the flag of the 'Wu Ji' flying on the grain ship and gnashed his teeth. "What a bold woman named Ye!"

ps. Second update, come on~~~