Chapter 222 Even the imperial envoy dares to play!
At this time, Li Huan had calmed down his initial surprise, but he also frowned slightly.
To be honest, Li Huan really didn't expect people like Hu Xi and Wei Kun to obey his orders and lower the price of salt and grain in the city.
Li Huan knew the temperament of these merchants quite well. These people were even willing to sell their souls for profit. Let alone an imperial envoy like him, even if the emperor issued an order, these people would probably not give up the profits they had obtained.
But now these people have really lowered their prices. What does this abnormality mean? This has to make Li Huan think deeply.
As for whether Du Guang would bring false news or something, Li Huan really hadn't thought about it. Du Guang must have confirmed it again and again before coming to tell him.
Li Huan raised his head and looked at Qian Ning, Du Guang, Cao Yu and others with shocked expressions on their faces. He exhaled a sigh of relief. Just looking at the reactions of a few people, Li Huan knew that asking these people was probably in vain.
If you have that time, you might as well think about the purpose of people like Hu Xi.
Li Huan stood up, walked out of the Yamen and said: "Go out for a walk with me."
Several people quickly followed Li Huan and walked outside.
After leaving the Jinyiwei Yamen, I quickly merged into the flow of people on the long street.
Compared with usual, there are obviously many more people on the long street. Just looking at many of these people holding cloth bags in their hands, you can tell that most of these people have received the news of price cuts from various stores and are rushing to buy salt at this moment.
Where's the food?
Previously, the price of salt and grain in Xi'an Prefecture was one price per day, and it was rising every day. For the people in the city, salt and grain were unaffordable at such a price.
Even for some ordinary people's families, if the price of salt and grain cannot come down, they may have to leave the city and become like the refugees, relying on the little rice porridge given out by the government every day to survive.
Now that I suddenly learned that the price of salt and grain in the city had dropped, it naturally attracted many people to rush to buy, and they would buy as much as they could.
Li Huan looked at these people, but there was no joy on his face. Instead, he frowned.
Looking at a grain store in the distance, Li Huan stopped.
Just by looking at the sign of the grain store, you can tell that it is a grain store belonging to the Su family. There is a sign hanging at the entrance of the grain store with today's grain price marked on it.
Li Huan only took one look and confirmed that the price of food had indeed dropped a lot compared to the previous two days.
"Strange, could it be that these people really have their consciences discovered?"
Qian Ning on the side obviously saw the food price on the sign and couldn't help but look puzzled.
Li Huan didn't speak, just watched from a distance.
At this moment, they saw a familiar figure slowly walking towards them.
Several servants came over surrounded by a man who looked like an official. The leader was none other than Su Xiang, a large grain merchant in Xi'an Prefecture who had been invited not long ago.
Su Xiang had a smile on his face. He seemed to have seen Li Huan and the others. He quickly bowed his hands to Li Huan and the others and said, "Su Xiang, a common man, has met the imperial envoy."
Li Huan looked at Su Xiang and just nodded lightly.
Li Huan couldn't tell with his spiritual sense that Su Xiang was clearly waiting for him, so when he saw him, he rushed over as soon as possible.
Su Xiang smiled and said: "Sir, Cao Min and others have taken the initiative to lower the price according to your instructions. I wonder if the imperial envoy is still satisfied?"
Li Huan just glanced at Su Xiang, nodded slightly and said: "Su Yuanwai is really thoughtful. The people in the city will definitely be grateful for Yuanwai's good deeds."
Su Xiang smiled when he heard this and said: "We still have to obey your request, right? As long as you are satisfied."
As he spoke, Su Xiang cupped his hands towards Li Huan and said, "If your Excellency has nothing else to do, the common people will leave first."
Watching Su Xiang's figure go away, Chen Yao suddenly said: "Sir, why do I feel that this Su Xiang came to see you on purpose? What on earth does he mean?"
Even Qian Ning couldn't help but said: "Why does this person's words sound so wrong?"
Li Huan frowned, wondering what Su Xiang's purpose was in coming to see him.
A wealthy gentleman like Su Xiang is not a fool. Every move he makes has a purpose. It is impossible to wait for him here in vain just to say a few words to him.
Suddenly, the shopkeeper who was selling grain in front shouted: "Today the grain has been sold out and the shop will be closed. If necessary, everyone can come back tomorrow."
At the entrance of the grain store, a group of people gathered around and couldn't help but become anxious after hearing this. They finally waited for the price of grain to drop, but before it was their turn, they were actually told to stop selling it.
As for the saying that it was sold out, the people didn't believe it, especially since they could clearly see the mountains of grain piled up in the grain store. How could it be that it was sold out? Do you really think they are all blind?
Some people couldn't help but ask the steward of the grain store to sell more grain, but the clerks in the store drove the people away one by one with a fierce look, and then closed the door with a bang, and then a dozen tall and round guards with weapons stood in their way.
Before going to the grain store.
"roll!"
The steward shouted loudly, which frightened all the people into retreating.
Li Huan couldn't help but look cold when he saw this scene. He took a deep breath and said, "Go and take a look elsewhere."
Soon Li Huan and others walked through many places and saw that almost all the grain shops in the city had signs saying that the grain was sold out.
Many people came with hope, but in the end they could only return with disappointment.
Qian Ning, Du Guang, Chen Yao and others looked gloomy.
Chen Yao was heard yelling angrily: "Bullshit price reduction, are they cutting prices? If they don't sell things after price reduction, who are they fooling?"
After Chen Yao finished speaking, Li Huan's voice was heard saying with a hint of coldness: "Of course you are fooling me!"
"ah!"
Chen Yao couldn't help but let out a low cry when he heard this, and then he realized it, his face was full of anger, wasn't he just trying to fool Li Huan? Li Huan asked them to lower the price, and they indeed lowered the price, but they didn't sell anything after lowering the price.
At the same time, Chen Yao also understood why Fang guessed that Su Xiang would be waiting for them there. This was to tell Li Huan that they had indeed lowered the price according to Li Huan's instructions, but they still had the final say after the price reduction.
.This is already a demonstration to Li Huan.
"Damn it, sir, let me bring a team of people and capture them."
At the same time, in the government office
With a somewhat strange look on his face, an official said to Wu Wei, Cheng Tai, and Feng Qin: "Sir, I just received the news that almost 90% of the grain shops in the city have closed their doors."
Cheng Tai was stunned for a moment, with a somewhat surprised look on his face as he said, "Didn't you say that almost all grain stores have reduced their prices? Why did they suddenly close their doors and stop selling them?"
Wu Wei, on the other hand, was stunned for a moment and then a look of understanding appeared on his face. He stroked his beard and couldn't help but sigh: "Wei Kun, Su Xiang and the others are really good at this. They are not afraid of angering Li."
Huan?"
Feng Qin stroked his beard and said with emotion: "I didn't expect these people to dare to tease Li Huan like this. They are really not afraid that Li Huan will confiscate their homes and exterminate their clans in a rage."
Upon hearing this, Wu Wei said calmly: "They are really not afraid. I believe that Li Huan will soon receive the news about what will happen if the people in the city cannot buy food."
Cheng Tai suddenly realized, but couldn't help but said: "I really don't know what Li Huan's reaction will be when he gets this news."
Feng Qin couldn't help but laugh and said: "When he is angry, he must be very angry, but Li Huan can't say anything. After all, it's not like they didn't give him face."
Cheng Tai thought of the operations of Hu Xi, Wei Kun and others, put himself in their shoes and said, "I'm afraid Li Huan has the intention to kill people now."
Wu Wei said lightly: "No matter how angry we are, our imperial envoy can only endure it."
Just when Cheng Tai, Wu Wei and others were discussing how Li Huan would react when he got the news, Li Huan was looking at a closed grain shop in front of him with a half-smile, as if he hadn't heard Chen Yao's words.
He said: "Isn't it good to be obedient and live a good life?"
As soon as these words came out, Chen Yao, Du Guang, and Qian Ning couldn't help but shudder.
Then I heard Li Huan say in a cold voice: "Gather your troops and follow me to arrest them."
When Chen Yao heard this, he suddenly looked surprised and said, "My lord, have you finally made up your mind to arrest this person? That's great. I'm going to gather some people now."
Qian Ning couldn't help but said to Li Huan: "Sir, aren't you going to wait until the army arrives to see how these people react before taking action?"
Li Huan clasped his hands behind his back and sighed: "I can wait, but the people in this city can't wait. The countless people in Shaanxi who were affected by the disaster can't wait."
Li Huan snorted coldly and said: "Since they have been given the opportunity, they are unwilling to seize it and insist on playing some scheming tricks with me. Then I will let them know that Jin Yiwei is not one of those civil servants who have the patience to accompany me."
They are playing tricks."
Du Guang and Cao Yu's eyes flashed with excitement.
Following Li Huan, they have long been accustomed to Li Huan's style.
Li Huan's reputation as a man who doesn't take revenge overnight is for nothing. If it hadn't been for Guan Zheng and the Zhenwei Battalion led by Ren Ping and the others had not arrived in time this time, I'm afraid Li Huan wouldn't have sent the invitation to Su Xiang and the others.
Instead, they directly ordered the army to block the door and arrest people.
Even Li Huan gave Su Xiang and others a chance this time, but it was a pity that these people did not take Li Huan to heart at all, and regarded Li Huang as officials like Cheng Tai and Feng Qin.
He even played scheming tricks in front of Li Huan, which naturally angered Li Huan.
Su Xiang did not go far. After leaving the sight of Li Huan and others, he walked directly into a restaurant.
Above the restaurant, in a private room, there were more than a dozen figures including Hu Xi, Wei Kun, Liao Rong, Jiang Zhengye, etc. gathered in the private room.
Seeing Su Xiang walk into the box, everyone looked at Su Xiang.
Hu Xi smiled and said to Su Xiang: "Brother Su, have you ever seen the imperial envoy?"
Su Xiang nodded with a smile on his face and said, "I've seen it before."
Wei Kun chuckled and said, "I think Li Huan must have been very surprised when he saw you, Brother Su."
Su Xiang smiled and said: "There is some surprise, but it's not that exaggerated. But he must have thought that we gave him thin noodles and took the initiative to lower the price."
Liao Rong sneered: "Then he must have seen all our shops closed at this time. If he is not stupid, he must understand by now that we are playing tricks on him."
Liao Rong glanced at everyone and said, "Tell me, if Li Huan sees us raising the price higher tomorrow, what will his reaction be?"
Jiang Zhengye said with a bit of disdain: "No matter what his reaction is, we can sell our own grain at whatever price we want. This time we should teach him a lesson and let him know that the imperial envoy is not omnipotent."
Someone immediately echoed: "That's right, in our territory, dragons and snakes have to be coiled, so what about the imperial envoy."
On the long street, hundreds of Jinyi guards were gathering. At the same time, at the gate of Xi'an Fucheng, a group of people, led by more than a dozen Jinyi guards, were slowly escorting dozens of carriages into the city.
These are exactly the hundreds of young men that Li Huan and others recruited in Huayin County not long ago.
When Li Huan was in the capital, he said that he would recruit a group of young people from the self-displaced people in Shaanxi to reorganize the capital camp.
Obviously recruiting hundreds of young men in Huayin County is a start, but these young men are obviously not trained and do not look much different from ordinary people.
But no matter what, they are still hundreds of young men.
When these people entered Xi'an Mansion, a group of royal guards came galloping towards them.
"Sir, Meng Baihu has entered the city escorting the gold and silver confiscated from Huayin County, as well as hundreds of young men. Could you please tell me how to arrange them?"
When Li Huan heard this, he couldn't help but smile. He really got what he needed.
He had been restraining his temper and not taking action against Hu Xi, Su Xiang and others. On the one hand, he wanted to give these people a chance, and on the other hand, it was because of insufficient manpower.
There are dozens of big and small wealthy merchants in the city involved. If you don't take action, if you do, Li Huan will definitely take down all these dozens of merchants with thunderous momentum.
However, this would inevitably require the use of a large number of manpower, but the manpower Li Huan currently had available was only a few hundred people at full strength.
Not counting the three hundred Jinyiwei who came with him, the number of Jinyiwei and even non-staff personnel that the Shaanxi Jinyiwei Thousand Households Institute could mobilize at a moment's notice could total up to three to four hundred people.
Any more words would have exceeded the limit of Shaanxi Jinyi Guards' Thousand Households, so if Li Huan really wanted to take action at this time, he would only have six to seven hundred people available.
If we were dealing with one or two families, so many people would be more than enough. Not to mention arresting people, it would even be enough to raid their homes.
But this time Li Huan has to deal with not just one or two families, but dozens of families, especially the Su family, the Hu family, and the Wei family. These people are not Camellias. Once he leads the Jin Yiwei to kill them,
If you go to arrest people, there is no guarantee that these people will not jump over the wall to resist.
With the power these families have, to be honest, Li Huan's hundreds of people are really not completely sure that they can suppress these local tyrants.
Not to mention others, the big salt merchant Wei Kun alone. According to the information obtained by Jin Yiwei, Wei Kun has three to five hundred desperadoes as thugs. If Wei Kun is willing, he can pull out an army of nearly a thousand desperadoes at any time.
The team of people came out.
A big salt merchant who can monopolize the salt of a province is really just a show-off. Without three to five hundred backbones and thousands of people to look after such a huge industry, how could Wei Kun enjoy the salt profits of a province.
Maybe Wei Kun is a little worse than the Lianghuai salt merchants, but that is also compared with the Lianghuai salt merchants. Looking at this Shaanxi region, among the many wealthy merchants, I am afraid there are not many desperadoes under their command.
Home can be compared to it.
Suddenly, there are hundreds of young men. Although they are just young men, if they put on the clothes of a royal guard and get weapons, they may not be able to kill people, but if they increase the number of people, there will be no problem in building a strong momentum.
Li Huan immediately said to Qian Ning: "Qian Ning, go and make arrangements immediately. Let Meng Liang Baihu bring hundreds of young men to change into the clothes of Jin Yiwei, and then bring them over for me."
Qian Ning's eyes lit up when he heard this and said: "Don't worry, sir. There are no other clothes in the yamen. It's no problem to find a few hundred pieces of Jin Yiwei's clothes. It's really not enough. I'll ask my subordinates to put it together and I can always get it together."
.”
Li Huan waved his hand, and Qian Ning immediately rode away.
A large number of Jin Yiwei gathered here, and as the number of Jin Yiwei increased, it naturally attracted the attention of many people.
Among the government offices
An inspector stumbled over and said to Cheng Tai, Wu Wei and the others: "Sir, it's not good. The people from Jinyiwei are gathering. I'm afraid something is going to happen."
When Cheng Tai and Feng Qin heard this, their expressions changed drastically, and they stood up suddenly. Cheng Tai exclaimed: "No, Li Huan is afraid that he is going to go on a killing spree."
Wu Wei's expression changed slightly, and he looked at Cheng Tai with a little hesitation. Feng Qinji said: "Two adults, are you exaggerating? Hu Xi's actions may be teasing, provoking Li Huan, but Li Huan
Imperial Envoy Huan Tangtang will never be so narrow-minded and just want to arrest people."
Hearing what Wu Wei said, Cheng Tai and Feng Qin looked at each other, and Cheng Tai smiled bitterly and said, "Haven't you heard that Li Huan is narrow-minded and has a reputation for revenge?"
Wu Wei was slightly startled. Shaanxi is so far away from the capital. Who would ask about this when they have nothing to do.
Besides, even if there is sporadic news about Li Huan, it has already been spread to such an extent that even if it is heard, it is treated as a joke and no one will take it seriously.
Not to mention that he had never heard of it before, even if he had really heard about the news about Li Huan's revenge, Wu Wei would not take it seriously.
But now looking at the reactions of Feng Qin and Cheng Tai, it seems that Li Huan is really serious about this.
Wu Wei couldn't help but said: "Two adults, you must not let Li Huan arrest people, otherwise big things will happen."
Others don't know why Wu Wei doesn't know the details of people like Su Xiang, Hu Xi, and Wei Kun. If he forces these people, the whole city of Xi'an may fall into chaos.
Cheng Tai's forehead was covered with fine beads of sweat from nervousness and worry. He walked back and forth on the spot, muttering to himself: "What should we do? What should we do?"
Wu Wei looked at Cheng Tai and said, "Sir, let's stop the imperial envoy quickly, otherwise it may be too late if we take action."
Hearing this, Cheng Tai couldn't help but said anxiously to Wu Wei: "If you go to stop Li Huan's murderous star at this time, my head is broken. I might be regarded by Li Huan as a comrade of Su Xiang, Wei Kun and others."
The party won it."
Feng Qin on the side heard this and gritted his teeth and said: "If you go to Li Huan to plead for mercy, why not go to Su Xiang, Wei Kun and the others quickly, and then take them to apologize to Li Huan and ask Li Huan to be noble and let them go?"
Hearing what Feng Qin said, Cheng Tai couldn't help but his eyes lit up, and he said hurriedly: "Yes, yes, hurry up and find Su Xiang. Wei Kun and the others will apologize to Li Huan for being guilty, and ask Mr. Li Huan not to remember the villain's faults and spare them."
…”
Unfortunately, before Cheng Tai finished speaking, Wu Wei shook his head and said: "This is impossible. Based on my understanding of Su Xiang and Wei Kun, it is absolutely impossible for them to plead guilty to Li Huan. Moreover, once they do
Li Huan bows his head. When the time comes, they will definitely follow Li Huan's instructions to stabilize prices. They don't know how much money they will lose by then. It will be even harder than killing them."
Cheng Tai said anxiously: "This won't work, and that won't work either. Then let's just sit on the sidelines and watch the two of them fight."
As a dignified chief envoy of a province, he actually said such words. Fortunately, Li Huan did not hear it, otherwise, he would have been the first to capture Cheng Tai.
Jin Yiwei made such a big fuss, and naturally it could not be hidden from the spies who had been monitoring Li Huan and the Jin Yiwei Yamen.
As the real local snakes in Xi'an Prefecture, the Su family, Wei family, Hu family and other families' penetration and control over Xi'an Prefecture even exceed the government's control over the city of Xi'an Prefecture.
The reason why Li Huan did not gather troops quietly, but made such a big fanfare, is not that Li Huan did not know that such a move would inevitably alarm Su Xiang, Wei Kun and others.
If possible, Li Huan would also like to use the force of surprise troops to fall from the sky to catch each family off guard. Unfortunately, in Xi'an Fufu City, he really can't do it without disturbing the large number of royal guards gathered in each family.
arrive.
Whenever there is any slight disturbance in the Jinyiwei, Su Xiang, Wei Kun and others will definitely receive the news immediately, and they want to take action without telling each other, which is obviously unrealistic.
In this case, Li Huan simply did not hide it, but made a big fanfare. It may not have the effect of a surprise attack from the sky, but it still suppresses people with an upright force.
Among the restaurants
There was a loud bang, and the door of the box was pushed open violently. Wei Kun, Su Xiang and others were shocked, and then everyone glared at the visitor.
Wei Kun's face was rather gloomy. He looked at the visitor and said, "Wei Wu, if you don't give me an explanation, go get thirty sticks by yourself."
Wei Wu was one of Wei Kun's confidants, but Wei Wu's behavior was obviously rude. Didn't you see that everyone looked at Wei Wu with an unkind look?
Wei Wu was tall and tall, like an iron tower. Hearing this, he respectfully said to Wei Kun: "Master, the Jinyiwei people are gathering. Now there are at least three to four hundred people gathered. And according to the news from the people we sent to Jinyiwei to monitor, the Jinyiwei people are gathering."
It seems that manpower is being redeployed, and at least five to six hundred people will be able to gather before long."
"What?"
Hearing that the Jin Yiwei people were gathering, many people present were shocked, especially some people who seemed to have thought of the purpose of the Jin Yiwei gathering, and many people had a look of panic on their faces.
"Li Huan doesn't want to do us harm, does he?"
"Is he a lunatic? He dares to attack us?"
"Isn't he afraid that we will fight him to the death?"
Many people were full of fear. Although they were usually regarded as local overlords in the city, the awe of the government was still imprinted in their bones for thousands of years.
In fact, many of the people present were just outsiders and fell in love with the wind. More often than not, they were forced to follow Wei Kun, Su Xiang, Hu Xi and others due to pressure.
Because Su Xiang and Wei Kun showed great confidence and were unwilling to give up their interests, they naturally chose to align themselves with Su Xiang and Wei Kun.
But now that they heard that Li Huan had gathered the Jin Yiwei to do harm to them, many people were a little panicked.
Compared with many people who looked timid and at a loss, Su Xiang, Hu Xi, and Wei Kun were worthy of being the leaders of these wealthy businessmen. Although their faces also showed a bit of surprise and shock, they did not show any panic or uneasiness.
color.
After glancing at everyone, Wei Kun snorted coldly, and a wave of evil aura rose up on his own. He suddenly slapped the table with his palm, and immediately saw the table shatter into pieces on the ground.
You must know that the desk is made of high-quality wood. Even a second-rate expert may not be able to crack it with a slap, let alone break it easily.
Wei Kun turned out to be a top-notch player with hidden secrets, especially the murderous aura in his body. If his hands hadn't been contaminated with dozens of lives, he probably wouldn't have been able to gather such murderous aura.
"Why are you panicking? The people from Jinyiwei haven't come yet. If you are scared, just get out of here, Wei."
Wei Kun's eyes filled with murderous intent swept over the crowd. Anyone who was caught by Wei Kun's eyes, who were originally panicked and fidgeting, froze up. They didn't know what they thought of, and there was a look of fear in their eyes.
, lowered his head subconsciously, not daring to look at Wei Kun.
The originally noisy box suddenly fell into silence as Wei Kun spoke, which clearly shows Wei Kun's intimidating power.
Su Xiang, who had been sitting there without any reaction, and Hu Xi sat next to Wei Kun on the same table. They looked at the debris scattered on the ground in front of them. Su Xiang stroked his beard and looked at Wei Kun, who had an angry look on his face.
, chuckled and said: "Brother Wei is still as powerful as before."
Hu Xi smiled and said: "Don't worry, Brother Wei is just joking with everyone."
As Su Xiang and Hu Xi opened their mouths to ease the atmosphere, the atmosphere that had become extremely tense with Wei Kun's words suddenly relaxed a bit.
Many people glanced at Su Xiang and Hu Xi and subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief.
It is true that Wei Kun's reputation is so evil that he doesn't think anything of it on weekdays. Many people even subconsciously forget what Wei Kun did to start his career.
As a result, when Wei Kun got angry, especially when they felt the murderous intent in Wei Kun's eyes, many people subconsciously thought of the several major cases of family annihilation that Wei Kun had done back then, and many people were instantly restrained.
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