On the evening of October 27, a grand banquet was held in the home of Shen Yiyi, the head of the dynasty.

There were many people in attendance, such as the British Duke, such as the Duke of Dingguo, such as the Marquis of Yongkang, such as the Marquis of Taining, such as the Marquis of Wuding, etc., these people in the top noble circles in the Jingshi City, these people were all on the side of Shen Cheng in the coup d'état to help him clean up the emperor's power, and now they are naturally meritorious ministers under Shen Yiyi's rule.

Anyway, they are all meritorious.

Naturally, the so-called "grand" banquet is far from being really grand, at least not as big as the banquet hosted by the emperor, to say that it is a private banquet, but because it is held by Shen Yiyi, the head of the dynasty and the actual ruler of the empire, it has special significance.

Every nobleman who was invited knew very well why Shen had invited them to dinner.

It's nothing more than a matter of prices in the capital.

After the blockade of the Grand Canal, the source of grain and materials in the Beijing division was cut off, and this year's autumn harvest in the north was a big failure, and the grain in the north could not make up for itself at all, so it could only be further requisitioned and transferred through the Grand Canal from the south.

Xiao Ruxun sent a sailor to cut off the route of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, not only food, but also many consumer goods and luxury goods that are special products in the south of the Yangtze River are gone, and the materials of the Beijing division have suddenly become scarce and in short supply, and the prices of many things are rising quietly.

Since the nobles were raised in captivity, it is not all without gains, at least the Beijing camp has been swallowed by them, and they are all good hands one by one, in addition, in addition to Zhang Xuan and Zhang Juzheng have attacked their industry, the rest of the civil officials have not done anything to them, their industries are all over the capital and the surrounding towns, when it comes to making money, these people are also good hands.

They have their own supply channels, the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal has been cut off, and they can still get their hands on it from other channels, while ordinary people and ordinary officials do not, and when some products in demand are out of stock, they begin to raise prices to make money.

From daily necessities to consumer goods to luxury goods, and even food, which Shen has always forbidden, has begun to rise in price.

Shen has always set a rule with them after Li Hualong led his troops south, the price of ordinary consumer goods and luxury goods will rise as you like, but the price of rice and grain is not allowed, and the price of salt is not allowed, other than that, I don't care.

On the surface, they promised to do well, but everyone knows that rice and salt are necessary things for the human body, and rice grain and salt are the most profitable things.

This is a violation of Shen's usual taboo, Shen has always not allowed them to arbitrarily increase the price of rice grain, we must maintain the stability of rice grain, only the stability of rice grain can ensure the stability of the Beijing Division, rice grain is unstable, he Shen has always died and has no place to be buried.

At present, the price of rice and grain has doubled, and the hearts of the people in Beijing have begun to fluctuate, and both ordinary people and literati have begun to express their dissatisfaction with Shen Yiyi, feeling that they are about to be unable to buy rice and grain, and if this continues, they will die.

But the nobles didn't seem to care, and with the defeat of Li Hualong, they seemed to be even more unscrupulous.

At present, they are eating, drinking, and having fun one by one, and they have no scruples about Shen Zheng, who is sitting on the main seat and drinking silently.

Zhang Weixian and Xu Wenbi, who were sitting at the same table with Shen Zhengyi, paid attention to Shen Zhengyi's face, and saw Shen Zhengyi's face slowly eating and drinking as usual, they relaxed a little, but it didn't matter, even if Shen Zhengyi turned his face, they also had a way to save their lives.

"Come, Ying Gong, Ding Gong, this cup, the old man respects you."

Shen Yi suddenly raised his glass to toast Zhang Weixian and Xu Wenbi, and the two were stunned for a moment, and hurriedly raised their glasses with a smile.

"Don't dare, don't dare, or should we wait for the first assistant."

"Yes, yes, we should respect Shousuke and thank Shousuke for taking care of him!"

Zhang Weixian and Xu Wenbi laughed.

Shen Cheng smiled slightly, and drank the glass of wine in one gulp.

"Hehehe, this is what the old man should do, if it weren't for the help of the two princes, the old man would not be able to eradicate the evil and maintain the safety of the Ming Dynasty, thanks to the help of the two, the Ming Dynasty can be so prosperous today, the country and the people are safe."

Shen always seemed to have something to say.

So, where is the world prosperous and the country and the people are safe?

Xu Wenbi and Zhang Weixian looked at each other and smiled again.

"It's extreme, thanks to the first assistant governing the world, the Ming Dynasty is so prosperous now, and the country and the people are safe."

Xu Wenbi gave Shen Yi another glass of wine, Shen Yi smiled slightly, put down the wine glass, and didn't seem to plan to drink this toast.

"The old man who said this is ashamed, the Ming Dynasty is prosperous and prosperous, the country is peaceful and peaceful, this is the old man's lifelong ambition, and it is also the expectation of His Majesty's year, the old man knows that this is not easy, but, as long as we work together, at least there is hope, what do the two princes think?"

Shen Yi looked at Xu Wenbi and Zhang Weixian.

The two were stunned for a moment, and then echoed together: "That's nature, that's nature." ”

"Yes, that's natural, so, since my generation all hopes that the Ming Dynasty will be prosperous and prosperous, the country and the people will be safe, then why do the two princes still violate the rules set by the old man and the two and raise the price of grain?"

The smile on Shen Cheng's face remained undiminished, and it felt as if he was asking if he had eaten at noon today.

It's coming, it's coming!

Xu Wenbi and Zhang Weixian knew that this was Shen's purpose, and everything else was fake.

On the wine table, there are still bold words about changing glasses, but in the eyes of Xu Wenbi and Zhang Weixian, this is just background sound.

"Hahahaha, Shoufu is too worried, why did I raise the price of food? The idea is that if the grain stock in Beijing continues to decrease, but the people do not slow down the purchase rate, then the food will eventually run out one day, and if the food runs out by then, won't it be bad? ”

Xu Wenbi said nonsense.

"Yes, it is extreme, we have adjusted the price of food appropriately, so that the people feel that the price of food has risen, so as to save food, thereby reducing the speed of food consumption, so that the food in the capital can be maintained for a longer time, and give Shoufu more time to open up the canal, I am doing this, but it is all for Shoufu's ambition!"

Zhang Weixian's face did not change, and his heart did not beat nonsense.

Sounds like a lot of sense.

Even Shen always had to admit that what they said actually sounded a bit like it was right.

"So, is the old man inconsiderate?"

Shen always looked at Zhang Weixian and Xu Wenbi with a smile.

Zhang Weixian and Xu Wenbi smiled kindly.

"Where, where is it, the first assistant has all the opportunities, this kind of small thing is what we should do."

"That's it, Shoufu is already very busy dealing with national affairs, and I can't bear to see Shoufu still working so hard in his old age, so I did my best."

The more Shen listened, the more he wanted to laugh, and he felt as if he owed them a great favor.

However, Shen has always wanted to talk to them for the purpose of not only for the sake of grain prices, some things are discussed, but some things cannot be discussed.

That's a matter of life and wealth.