Chapter 18 It wasn't me greed that killed them

Li Jiancheng, Chen Ying, Wei Zheng, Fang Xuanling, Wei Chigong and others rode war horses and walked slowly.

It was already lunchtime, but there was no smoke rising from the village in the distance, and no dog barking.

Li Jiancheng's face was solemn.

Wei Zheng looked at Li Jiancheng and said, "Your Majesty, there are not a thousand or eight hundred in a village like this!" ”

Li Jiancheng's face was even more gloomy.

Chen Ying waved his hand and said to the guards on the side: "Check around and see if there is no one yet!" ”

After a short time, an old man with a crutch walked slowly, supported by the guards.

Li Jiancheng hurriedly asked, "Uncle, what about the people in this village?" ”

The old man seemed to have some ears behind his ears, and Li Jiancheng asked five or six times in a row before he understood what it meant. The old man's face was full of furrows, and the wrinkles were deeper. He trembled and said, "Escape...... Escape! ”

Li Jiancheng possessed himself and asked, "Why?" ”

The old man sighed and said, "There is no water...... Square...... Thirty miles in a circle...... I couldn't find a drop of water, so I dug a well...... I can't hit the water even if I hit six feet or four feet! ”

Li Jiancheng asked again: "Uncle, why didn't you leave?" ”

"Let's go...... People like me...... Where else can it be! The old man ignored Li Jiancheng, he walked away tremblingly with a crutch.

Li Jiancheng followed the old man and walked for half an hour.

Only then did it become clear that the old man did not live in the village. Rather, in a cemetery. There was freshly dug soil in the cemetery, and the old man walked to the grave that had not yet been dug up, took a hoe, and continued to dig the soil.

Looking at this scene, Li Jiancheng bit his lip with his teeth, he used very hard, Li Jiancheng's lip was bitten by him and bleed, but Li Jiancheng still didn't realize it.

Li Jiancheng walked to the edge of the grave and found that the old man had no bedding, only a few pieces of cracked multigrain cakes, and a small bucket of yellowed water.

Li Jiancheng smashed his fist on his head in pain.

Wei Zheng sighed: "Thousands of miles of red land, barren and populated!" ”

Chen Ying stepped forward and glared at Wei Zheng fiercely.

Wei Zheng looked at Chen Ying disapprovingly: "General Chen, I know that you want to fight the Turks and subdue the Turks, but now our Tang Dynasty can't afford to fight, and our army will starve to death!" The imperial court can't even make up a month's worth of military rations now. For the sake of today, there can be no war, only peace! ”

"Summation?" Chen Ying looked at Wei Zheng and said with disdain: "Only those who can fight can make peace, now it is the Turks who are coming to fight us, not us fighting the Turks." ”

Fang Xuanling, who was originally silent, suddenly spoke: "Now it depends on General Chen's ability, hasn't the general always boasted that he is good at the art of war?" Isn't it the essence of Sun Tzu's Art of War that a soldier who surrenders without a fight? ”

Wei Chigong ignored Fang Xuanling, but looked at Li Jiancheng and said, "Your Majesty, no matter what, we must fight this battle." ”

"What General Wei Chi said is extremely true, the Turks don't care if you are short of food or a major drought. If you don't fight hard, the wolf cubs won't go back to the grassland obediently! Chen Ying looked at Wei Zheng and sneered: "Wei Linggong is standing and talking without a backache, before the Turks came, the famine had already begun, even if the Turks withdrew now, would the famine be over?" ”

Li Jiancheng stared at Yutu silently.

At this moment, Li Xiaogong suddenly rode his horse over.

Li Jiancheng was awakened by the sound of horses' hooves, and when he came back to his senses, Li Jiancheng looked up at Li Xiaogong and said, "Xiaogong, what happened?" ”

Li Xiaogong smiled bitterly: "The Turkic envoys, Bu Lugen and Zhifu Sili have asked to enter Beijing to meet them, and now they have arrived in Fengzhou, and they are expected to arrive in Chang'an in half a month!" ”

How could Li Jiancheng not know that the Eastern Turks sent envoys to Chang'an at this time in order to find out the reality of the Tang Dynasty, and at this time, Guanzhong was hungry and starving, and it was impossible to hide the eyes of the Turks.

What's more, this envoy is probably not only so many people on the surface, and I don't know how many details will sneak into the Central Plains.

Li Jiancheng sighed and said, "Let's go, go back to the palace and draw up a marching strategy!" ”

Chen Ying bowed and said: "Your Majesty is a soldier who knows soldiers, and when it comes to the art of war, Your Majesty is not weaker than ...... Minister. ”

Li Jiancheng stood up and categorically interrupted Chen Ying's words: "The general is outside, and the king's order is not affected!" The general cannot be controlled from the middle, and the army cannot be controlled from the middle, this is the greatest art of war! I know, but we must think of a proper solution......"

Wei Zheng said: "The ministers have also gone through the battle array, don't seek merit, but if you want no fault, you won't be able to make a big mess!" ”

That is, they are unwilling to take responsibility, they are unwilling to make decisions on the spot, and they ask for advice on everything...... Is it to let His Majesty take the blame? Of course, Chen Ying didn't say politely to Wei Zheng: "That's how you became Zaifu?" ”

Wei Zheng was speechless.

Li Jiancheng asked, "Then what do you say?" ”

Chen Ying sighed and said, "The plan can only be advanced!" ”

Now is the most critical time in the struggle between Chen Ying and the Guanzhong Grain Merchant Group, in fact, it can also be said that it is the most critical time in the struggle between the Guanzhong Noble Group.

Chen Ying successively transported grain from outside the customs into Guanzhong, and the grain merchants in Guanzhong chose unscrupulous means to buy it, and the first loan of 1.5 million yuan from the grain merchant group was about to be completed. In fact, Chen Ying has not yet run out of grain in Henan Province, not to mention that there are more than 8 million stone of grain on the way one after another.

Under these circumstances, the Guanzhong grain merchant group has already invested a large amount of money on grain, and it is preparing to buy grain at 10 or even 20 times the usual grain price.

The grain war has been fought so far, in fact, both sides have almost sensed each other's strategy, which is like a national war.

If Chen Ying does not continue to enter Guanzhong, the price of grain in the market is still Chen Ying's final say. However, once the Guanzhong Grain Merchants Group bursts its warehouse, they will either dispose of the grain at a low price and return as much as they can, or there is no way to repay the loan, so they can only sell the shops, real estate and fields that their ancestors have been operating for several generations and accumulating to Chen Ying at a discount.

However, the Turkic envoys entered the customs to explore the reality of the Tang Dynasty, and now the grain market in Guanzhong is like a volcano about to erupt, the people's grievances are boiling, and the most important thing is that the market is sluggish, and the Turks will discover the reality and details of the Tang Dynasty.

Chen Ying sighed and said: "The lesser of two evils, you can only accept it when you see it now!" ”

Originally, Chen Ying had a great opportunity to control the wealth accumulated by the Guanzhong aristocratic group for hundreds of years and harvest most of it at one time. However, in order to deal with the Turkic envoys, it could only be ended early.

Li Jiancheng nodded, sighed and said, "They really shouldn't be killed!" ”

Li Jiancheng also understood that if Chen Ying's plan was completely successful, the Guanzhong aristocratic clique, at least two-thirds of the family heads, would be forced to step down because of the wrong decisions they made, and a major earthquake would occur in Guanzhong.

……

Qi Wangfu, when he got up early one morning, Li Yuanji felt his brain burst out, and his eyelids jumped.

This made Li Yuanji feel a little suspicious, and under Li Yuanji's repeated questioning, Xie Shufang made a full guarantee, and Li Yuanji gave up.

Uncle Xie was about to leave, when he suddenly remembered that the news of the Turkic envoy had arrived, so he told Li Yuanji: "His Royal Highness the King of Qi, the Turkic Jieli Khan sent an envoy to the customs......

When Li Yuanji heard this, he was immediately overjoyed and said: "It seems that Jieli is also a coward, and the has reached the door, and he is still looking ahead!" ”

Xie Shufang said with a smile: "That's not because he was scared by General Chen, in the past three years, the Turks have not taken advantage, when Wude was four years old, the Turks could still gather 400,000 string-controlling people, and now they want to gather 400,000 string-controlling people, I'm afraid they have to count women and children!" ”

Li Yuanji laughed.

After a long time, Li Yuanji stopped laughing, and said with a solemn face: "Haven't you found the whereabouts of the second child yet?" ”

Xie Shufang shook his head and said: "No, he seems to have disappeared out of thin air, no trace of him has been found in Bashu, Hedong, Hebei, and even Liangzhou, Jiannan Dao, and Lingnan!" ”

"That's weird!" Li Yuanji groaned: "Where did the second child die? ”

Xie Shufang bowed his head and was silent.

At that moment, a beast-like roar came.

Li Yuanji was stunned and hurriedly ran towards the backyard.

Xie Shufang followed.

When Li Yuanji came to Yu Wenhua's small courtyard, suddenly an inkstone flew out of the courtyard, and Xie Shufang hurriedly wanted to block in front of Li Yuanji.

Li Yuanji frowned and smashed it with his fist.

"Bang ......"

Li Yuanji smashed this fine inkstone with one punch. Li Yuanji entered the small courtyard, but saw Yu Wenhua and his hands lifting a foreign yuan to follow him, and his hands were holding his neck.

Yu Wenhua roared with a hideous face: "There is still a million stone grains, why didn't you say it earlier?" Don't say it sooner......"

It's just that the servant has stopped struggling, twitching, and is no longer silent.

Li Yuanji walked up to Yu Wenhua and his body, broke Yu Wenhua's hand hard, and said while exerting force: "Sir, he is dead!" ”

As he spoke, Li Yuanji ordered left and right: "Find him a coffin, bury him well, and send a hundred pieces to his family!" ”

Li Yuanji helped Yu Wenhua and sat down and said, "Sir, what's wrong?" ”

"All this waste, all of it is waste." Yu Wenhua roared: "Chen Ying'er is in Henan Mansion, and he has already secretly stored two million stone of grain, which is placed in Taolin County. I didn't find out until now ......"

Li Yuanji was shocked, and at this time, the two guards of the Changlin Army were carrying the body of the Yuan Suihu, who was strangled to death by Yu Wenhua, and slowly walked out.

Li Yuanji yelled at the two: "Stop! ”

The two guards of the Changlin Army looked at Li Yuanji inexplicably.

Li Yuanji roared: "There's no need to bury him, chop him up for me and feed it to the dogs!" ”

The guards did not dare to slack off, so they had to carry out Li Yuanji's orders.

Li Yuanji was in a mess at this time, and he clearly knew what it would mean to have an extra million stone of grain.

If one million stone all enters the people, if the people only eat one meal, or hang their lives with gruel, as in the last years of the great cause, one million stone of grain can be enough for one million people to support half a year. Although six taels of rice a day is not enough, it is absolutely impossible to starve to death.

The key is half a year, enough time to discover too many things. Even if the snail crawls, grain from other grain-producing areas can be transported into the Guanzhong.

This means that this hoarding of food has completely failed.

Li Yuanji said uncontrollably: "Sir, what should we do now?" ”

Yu Wenhua angrily suppressed the anger in his heart and said: "Now I can only continue to buy!" ”

"However, we have very little money left!" Li Yuanji said: "The other families, I'm afraid they are all the same, right?" ”

Yu Wenhua turned around, and suddenly said with his hands behind his back: "His Royal Highness King Qi, didn't the imperial court say that the population who migrated outside the customs could be compensated by each household?" ”

Li Yuanji nodded and said, "Yes, the Ministry of Civil Affairs has such a rule, sir, what do you mean......"

Yu Wenhua smiled bitterly: "Each of them is a tenant and a tenant, let them exchange people for money!" ”

The relocation and resettlement fee is to avoid the people who migrate outside the border, so that they will not have food and clothing, if the migration road, all the way to flesh and blood, this is not what Chen Ying is willing to see.

The cost of the relocation arrangement of ten yuan per household is Chen Ying's tax discount method, which is paid from Tongli Money Village. Of course, all of them are money, which does not hinder circulation.

At this time, the average size of a household was four. In fact, there are more than 1 million households in Guanzhong, and 330,000 households are planned to move out.

Of course, all the major aristocratic groups in Guanzhong have shade households, and there are quite a few of them. Taking Jingzhao Webster as an example, Webster has more than 8,000 shade households and more than 10,000 slaves.

Yu culture and the method is actually not the way. Just drink doves to quench thirst, if the major families can make up 20,000 households, they can get 200,000 yuan from the imperial court. These shady households of the major clans carried food on the road, and they did not have to starve to death.

……

Since the food famine, grain merchants in Chang'an have cut off food supplies. It all depends on the long-term liquidation of the grain to sell.

On June 27, more than 60 grain stores popped up in Chang'an City at once.

These grain stores have put up their listings to sell grain.

"Sixty dollars a bucket!"

"Eighty dollars a bucket of rice!"

"Seventy-five dollars a bucket!"

"Never limit!"

Soon there was a long queue at the entrance of these grain stores.

Li Jiancheng and Chen Ying dressed up as ordinary people and followed in the crowd.

It has just begun, because the price of the grain market is slightly lower than the price of the long-term liquidation and sale, which has attracted the people to rush like crazy.

They bought one stone, and some pushed the deer cart and bought three or four stones.

But more often than not, the people who were able to walk and dress in brand new clothes, bought a larger amount of grain, more than a dozen stones, and a little more than five or six stones.

In front of Li Jiancheng was a teenager and a girl. They didn't look very old, and both of them were yellow and thin, and they stammered in front of the guy in the grain store: "Can you give me a pound of chestnuts!" ”

The guy said, "Five big bucks!" ”

The young man cried and said, "We don't have any money!" ”

The guy's face was blank: "If you don't have any money, get out of the way and go back to get the money!" ”

The girl cried with a sad face: "We don't have any money at home!" ”

Although this food war can make Chen Ying make a lot of money, it is still ordinary people who suffer. Thanks to the fact that Chen Ying opened too many workshops in Chang'an City, plus the workshops built by the imperial court, the people could do odd jobs during their leisure time. Make a lot of money every year.

Otherwise, even if the price of 50 yuan of doumi, ordinary people can't afford it.

Chen Ying took out a money bill from his arms, even the smallest denomination was consistent money.

"Thanks... Lang Jun rewarded money, small... The villain bought a pound of rice and came back, Sister, you kowtow to Engong again! ”

Li Jiancheng sighed and said, "When is this kind of scene a head?" ”

Chen Ying smiled faintly: "It's almost there!" ”

Food prices are rising rapidly, but they are also falling even faster.

From the highest peak of 90 yuan of rice, it is almost a price a day.

It took only four days to go from 90 to 50.

The grain merchants in Guanzhong have been watching, hoping that the government's grain can be sold.

It's just that they are disappointed, and there seems to be no end to the food in the official mansion.

Grain prices are falling rapidly, and the grain merchants in Guanzhong no longer have the money to empty the grain market, so they have no choice but to watch the people buy grain in large quantities at a price of 50 yuan a bucket.

On the first day of the seventh month alone, Chang'an Guancang and the grain stores in the city sold no less than 200,000 stone of grain.

On the second day of the first month of July, grain still fell for five consecutive days, and this time the decline was relatively large, directly dropping by 20 yuan on the original basis.

Thirty dollars per bucket!

This also means that the grain in the hands of Guanzhong Grain Merchants Group, which was originally worth more than 4 million yuan, has shrunk by two-thirds in just five days.

Qian Changgeng couldn't stand him anymore.

He was originally the chief treasurer of the Yuan family's business, responsible for the care of grain and the grange. Over the years, he has also been a wealthy man with a fortune.

He originally wanted to unite the major families in Guanzhong and short the grain market. He can also make a lot of money from it, and he pledged his house and field every day, and loaned him to 4,000 yuan, plus his own more than 6,000 yuan, a total of 10,000 yuan, and when he was at the peak of 80 yuan a bucket of rice, he privately bought 12,500 stone of grain, ready to make a big profit.

However, in just a few days, his family fortune was less than 4,000.

Heavy losses, no return.

Qian Changgeng couldn't stand it, the grain market collapsed, and with Yuan's mean temperament, this pot must be his back.

Thinking of this, Qian Changgeng immediately poisoned himself.

Of the 37 members of the family, none of them were spared, and all of them were poisoned and died.

Qian Changgeng is not an accidental case, not even the first.

With the collapse of food prices, more and more well-dressed businessmen with fat heads and big ears are either hanging, wiping their necks, hitting walls, and jumping off buildings.

Li Xiuning followed the news and said a little unbearably: "Miserable...... It's so miserable! ”

Chen Ying said with a smile while calculating the accounts: "It's better to cry as a family than to cry all the way, not to mention that it wasn't me who killed them, it was their greed!" ”

PS: These two days are limited to the creation of the world, so there is only one chapter per day, the end of the limit, a small explosion, three more and ten thousand three bottoms!

Please remember that the first domain name of this book is:. Nine Heavenly God Emperor mobile version reading website: