Since September, or because Wanyan Yinshu has succeeded Han Chang, he has changed his tactics. The Jin army never launched a large-scale siege again, but surrounded it on three sides and attacked it on the other. At first, the change did not attract much attention from officials such as Li Gang and Xu Wei.

But by the middle of September, the Jin army's offensive was getting weaker, and sometimes the Song army wondered if this was not perfunctory. With an average of less than two waves of attacks a day, is the Jin army besieging the city or drilling? But then again, even if the Jin army besieged but did not attack, life in the city became more and more difficult as time went by. There is no water to drink, no fruits and vegetables to eat, this is nothing, but the food is gradually insufficient, and it can't help but make people panic. The vast majority of the living materials of Chang'an residents have to rely on purchases, and the supply will be interrupted when the wolf smoke is gone, and they can only live on the food stored at home. Moreover, in the past, a considerable part of the residents burned charcoal, but now there is no sale in the market at all, so they can only change to firewood, but it is estimated that it will not be long before even firewood becomes a problem.

Since ancient times, there has never been a shortage of people who have made a fortune. The unprecedented prosperity of industry and commerce in the Song Dynasty created a large number of shrewd merchants, and from the day of Xu Weibai, many merchants in Chang'an began to hoard goods. And most of them are concentrated on the necessities of life, especially food. By September, the price of noodles in Chang'an had tripled, and there was nowhere to buy charcoal if there was money. The most outrageous thing happened on the ninth day of September, the Double Ninth Festival, although it was a war, the festival should be passed, the people wanted to steam some pastries at home, but the noodle tank was empty, to the few shops to ask, the price of the day was doubled compared with the day before! What used to cost one pig is now enough to buy five buckets of noodles!

The merchants' accumulation finally aroused the anger of the people. It is estimated that which stunned young man yelled "grab", and the people with noodle bags rushed up, kicked the door panel, and robbed the food. This matter was quickly suppressed by the officers and soldiers who rushed over, but the shop was also robbed almost completely.

The proprietor of the shop reported to Jingzhao Mansion, and the clerk in charge of government affairs sent a messenger to arrest people as usual. But as a result, no one was caught, and several officials were beaten by the angry people. It is estimated that these people are used to being powerful and blessed, and they think that now is a peaceful year, and the common people are obedient.

As soon as the matter became a big one, Jingzhao Mansion was afraid of stirring up a civil uprising, so he quickly reported the matter to the Xuanfu Division. Li Gang was shocked and instructed the Criminal Investigation Department to handle the matter. Wan Qiaoyu finally found something to do, and personally went into battle to investigate the matter, in fact, it was very simple, that is, prices soared, and the merchants who accumulated strange things aroused the anger of the people.

Wan Qiaowei did not arrest anyone, but accused Chang Pingsi of not doing anything. The Changping Division is referred to as the "Cang Division", which is in charge of liquidation, exemption, market trade, and other matters, and is also one of the supervisors. Its functions are similar to those of the later industrial and commercial tax authorities. The Criminal Division blames the Cang Division for inaction, and the price of goods has risen like this, it is simply a misery for the people, why don't you hurry up and calm down?

But the warehouse division also has difficulties, usually they buy unsalable and oversold goods, hoard materials, and then sell them at a later date to level the price. But can the efficiency of the government be comparable to that of a businessman? By the time the threat of war approached Chang'an, and Kuraji sent people to buy supplies, the market had already been sold out by merchants.

Now there is grain in the warehouse where Chang Pingsi is raised, but it is reserved for the army, who dares to open a warehouse easily?

The two yamen had a war of words, and they fought until Li Gang. This emergency is like fighting a fire, Li Xuanfu weighed it, and ordered Cangji to release some of the materials and sell them to the people at a flat price. I said that the people's anger should go down now, right? Unexpectedly, on the second day of the opening of the position, there were five robbery incidents in Chang'an, and even one life occurred, which made people panic.

Some divisions are not allowed to ask the commanders to come forward, and more officers and soldiers are sent to maintain law and order. For several days in a row, things got bigger and bigger. Originally, Xu Wei was the military commander, and the Criminal Department had already come forward, so it was not his turn to take care of this matter. But from September 14, there was a long queue of people who went to the city to ask for coolies for the army, which attracted Xu Wei's attention.

In order to alleviate the problem of insufficient manpower, Shuai Si requisitioned a large number of people. But it was not unpaid labor, and the requisitioned men not only had to take care of the food, but also had to pay a certain amount of wages. As for those who did evil and were arrested to do coolies, they didn't care about anything, but later the criminal department was very strong, Xu Wei didn't want to fight with Wan Qiao, and ordered anyone who was arrested for breaking the law to take care of two meals a day.

Now that the Jin army's offensive is getting worse day by day, he is planning to dismiss some of the people. Fortunately, there were people in a long queue who offered to carry the artillery ordnance. Xu Wei felt that this matter was quite strange, Cangsi had obviously released a batch of materials at a low price, how could anyone still take the risk of breaking the law to rob it? And so many people are willing to work as coolies?

He asked Li Guan to send someone to investigate secretly, and within half a day, the answer came out. Most of the materials released by the warehouse did not reach the people, but were bought by several large shops in Chang'an City. Even the list is clearly listed, and it is placed on Xu Wei's handsome case.

If he is just a handsome guard, he doesn't care about this matter, and he can't manage it if he wants to. But who told him that he was still the prefect of Jingzhao? At present, he is the parent official of hundreds of thousands of people in Chang'an City, and he is in charge of the army and the people on the horse. Originally, he just stamped a big seal and didn't intervene directly, but this time he couldn't sit still. At the moment of the great enemy, it is not good to start internal chaos first.

As soon as he entered the gate of the Xuanfu Division, Xu Wei found that something was wrong, where did this person go? It's still early for lunch, why, I have nothing to do after the war, so I don't come to duty? Bypassing the front hall, shining on the wall, and entering the atrium, he didn't even see a ghost. Finally, he caught a twenty-something official at the corner of the corridor of the second hall, and asked what was going on.

The official obviously recognized Xu Wei, saluted, and said with a bitter face: "The handsome still don't know?" There was a commotion at Xuanhuamen, and several officials of the Xuanfu Division personally came forward to calm the situation. ”

When Xu Wei heard this, he made trouble again? No, no matter how fierce the trouble is, how can the prophet be the Jingzhao Mansion, the worst, and the Criminal Division, how can the Xuanfu Division go directly? The level of the Xuanfu Division, according to the later generations, is the provincial party committee and the provincial government plus a large military region headquarters.

"Is Xuanfu here?" Xu Wei frowned slightly.

"In the second hall, if it can't be calmed down, I'm afraid even Xuan Xiang will have to come forward." The officer replied. Xu Wei didn't say anything more, and went straight to the second hall.

When Li Gang saw Xu Weilai, he barely squeezed out a smile, got up and said, "It seems that Sticky Han is going to retreat in the face of difficulties, and this is all the credit of Ziang." ”

Xu Wei didn't have time to talk to him about this, and asked directly: "Xuan Xiang, what's the matter, as for making it like this?" ”

Li Gang didn't seem to understand the meaning of his words, and after thinking about it, he understood what he was referring to. sighed, and said helplessly: "The people take food as the sky, there is no food in this house, and everyone is in a hurry." This happened in Chang'an, hundreds of thousands of mouths, alas......"

Xu Wei thought for a while, and said suspiciously: "Didn't you hear that Cangsi released grain?" ”

"Well, Ben Xiang also felt strange, and instructed the Criminal Division to investigate, but there was no result. Only then did the Xuanfu Division personally come forward to calm down the situation, the prime minister was waiting for news, if it really couldn't be calmed down......" Li Gang's words didn't come out, Xu Wei estimated that if it couldn't be calmed down, either he would come forward in person, or let himself send troops to suppress it.

This matter is unpredictable, it is easy to find out, it won't take half a day for Li Guan to send people, I even hold the list in my hand, why can't the Criminal Division find out? Is there anything wrong with Wan Qiao? As soon as he thought of this, he said: "Prime Minister Xuan, I know Jingzhao Mansion with my humble authority, and I should leave this matter to the government to handle." ”

Li Gang glanced at him and did not say anything. If the Criminal Division can't let go of it, what can you do in Jingzhao Mansion? Besides, if you can fight, these things are not necessarily. Don't directly send troops to arrest and kill when the time comes, but make things so bad that they can't end it.

Seeing him like this, Xu Wei threw out a sentence: "Prime Minister Xuan will give him a day to ensure that the situation will be calmed down." ”

As a result, Li Gang was even more worried, Zijin Hu said so briskly, Bacheng wanted to send troops to suppress it. When he was worried, he heard Xu Jiu say: "The humble post must find out the facts, give an explanation to Prime Minister Xuan, and also give an explanation to the people." ”

Li Gang was a little surprised by these words, could it be that Xu Ziang was confident? After thinking about it, he was originally the prefect of Jingzhao, and it was also within his authority to deal with this matter, anyway, the offensive of the Jin army was weakening during this time, so it was better to let him try. Those who are marshals in Shaanxi are also the chief executives of the same place, and it is not enough to know how to fight.

Thinking of this, he nodded: "Okay." However, Ziang, when dealing with such a sensitive matter, we must pay attention to strategy, and we must not treat it as a battle. Xu Wei responded and left.

Xuanhuamen, most of the people living in this area are poor families, and what they do in the city is nothing more than the asceticism of digging dung and porters, or they are small merchants and hawkers. As soon as the supply is cut off and the price rises, they are the first to be unlucky. In the past few days, many people here have participated in smashing and looting. The most fundamental reason, of course, is stomach problems. Early this morning, dozens of people from Xuanhuamen grabbed it again. However, this time it was not a rice storefront shop that was robbed, but a private house.

The Criminal Department and the officials of Jingzhao Mansion came to arrest people, but before they could find the victim, they were surrounded up. The officials of Jingzhao Mansion came forward and did not use it, and the officials of the Criminal Department came forward and did not count, forcing a group of officials from the Xuanfu Department to hurry up and run over, so that the situation could be calmed down a little, but the people did not let the officials take people with them. It's been a stalemate.

The whole street was blocked by a crowd of people, and the residents were surrounded by a group of officials dressed in various official robes and officials who drew swords against each other. The crowd was indignant and gossiping. Wang Shu, the judge who appeased the people, was appeasing the emotions of the people and repeatedly asked everyone to refrain from doing so. Ma Kuo was also impressively in the ranks, standing behind Wang Shu.

Just as the crowd was buzzing, someone suddenly shouted: "The officers and soldiers are here!" ”

The noise suddenly subsided, and many people looked into the street, but saw a group of officers and soldiers, about 100 or so, all dressed in iron armor and holding spears in their hands, lined up in a line, walking in a neat pace. The sonorous sound of the collision of the armor and weapons made these ordinary people panic at that time.

Especially when I saw the official at the front of the procession, who was riding a tall horse, nine out of ten lost their temper. The heart is broken, Xu Dashuai came with soldiers and horses, don't you want to ......