In the Qianqing Palace and Dongnuan Pavilion, the fine inkstone was smashed to pieces on the ground.
The eunuchs on the side could not help but tremble. This was the first time they had seen His Majesty lose his temper.
Li Ruolian, Wu Xiang, Zhou Yuji, and Liu Wenbing, who were kneeling on the ground, dared not express their anger.
"Zhou Aiqing, you don't need to be responsible for this. Please step back and go get to work!"
"This is Your Majesty, please leave!"
Zhou Yuji originally wanted to take some responsibility. After all, he was the Grand Governor. Seeing His Majesty's unquestionable tone, he had no choice but to stand up and resign.
"Li Ruolian!"
"I asked you to be responsible for the security of the outer city. Is this how you are responsible for me?"
"I have repeatedly warned beforehand that there must be no trouble in the city after the bandit army besieged the city, but now it's good, thousands of people have appeared to smash it..."
The more Zhu Cihong scolded, the angrier he became, and the more he thought about it, the more afraid he became. This was a ceasefire. If this happened when the rebels attacked the city that day, the consequences would be really disastrous.
"I am guilty, I have neglected my duties, and I have betrayed your Majesty's trust. Please convict me!"
Li Ruo Lian banged his head loudly and his head was covered with blood. He felt extremely guilty. Thinking of His Majesty's trust in him, he wished he could stab himself a few times.
"enough!"
"Since Jinyiwei is expanding rapidly and the ranks are mixed, there will inevitably be some mistakes. This time, I will be punished for half a year. If there is another time, I will definitely not be lenient!"
"Everyone get up!"
Zhu Cixi waved his hands and said in a deep voice.
He knew that Li Ruolian couldn't be entirely blamed for this.
After all, Jin Yiwei has been rotten for a long time. It is normal for some of his subordinates to neglect their duties and temporarily fail to supervise them properly.
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
The three of them all hurriedly got up.
Seeing that His Majesty did not say anything about punishing them, Liu Wenbing and Wu Xiang breathed a heavy sigh of relief.
"Wang Dehua, go and send the imperial doctor to bandage Li Aiqing!"
Looking at Li Ruolian whose face was covered in blood, Zhu Cixiang said again.
As a result, Li Ruolian was moved to tears again and felt even more guilty.
Wu Xiang and Liu Wenbing on the side were also quite touched. It seemed that the emperor was not as ruthless and unjust as rumored.
It wasn't until Li Ruolian's forehead was bandaged that Zhu Cixiang said in a deep voice: "Li Aiqing, why did those people get out of control, smash and loot?"
"Your Majesty, because the prices of grain stores in the city have increased too much, the local residents were angry and rushed into the stores to loot. The young refugees and soldiers from the Beijing army followed, which caused a big riot and the situation got out of control." Li Ruolian quickly reported the truth.
"How high has the price of food in the city increased now?"
Zhu Cixiang frowned, and he realized that he had ignored such an important thing, that is, commodity prices.
"Your Majesty, most of the rice is eighty-nine dollars a dou..."
"What?"
"Eight coins a dou?"
"Damn it, why don't they go and rob it?"
Zhu Cixiang was stunned.
He slapped Long An hard in the face.
Eight coins per dou, that is, eight liang and one stone. This is no longer outrageous, but it is going to heaven.
Seeing that His Majesty was so angry and swearing, everyone lowered their heads and pretended not to hear or see.
Immediately, Zhu Cihong calmed down, regained his imperial dignity, and said quietly: "Li Aiqing, I will give you two hours to check how many grain stores there are in the city and who is the owner behind them!"
"It's your Majesty!"
After Li Ruolian resigned, Wu Xiang and Liu Wenbing secretly glanced at each other and both understood that His Majesty was probably going to use the knife again.
Jin Yiwei was indeed not just a fan. He could easily handle this kind of investigation. In just an hour, Li Ruolian hurried back again.
"Your Majesty, there are a total of 132 large and small grain shops in the capital. Five of them are opened by distinguished royal relatives, three are opened by wealthy merchants from Jiangnan, and the remaining 20% are opened by Shanxi merchants..."
After saying that, he handed over a detailed record book.
Zhu Cihong took the booklet and saw the name of Duke Dingguo at the beginning, which owned more than thirty grain shops.
This is just a simple grain store. If other stores are added, the number will probably be even more terrifying.
Take a peek and get the whole picture.
It can be seen that most of the profitable businesses in the capital and nearby prefectures and counties are probably not run by Xungui.
Merchants from Shanxi and Jiangnan can compete with the nobles in the capital, which shows that the economy of other provinces may not have been completely monopolized by merchants from the two places.
Think of this.
Zhu Cixiang took a deep breath and knew that now was not the time to rectify the economy, so he put down the booklet.
"Li Aiqing, I will give you one day to search all the shops owned by Shanxi merchants in the city, and temporarily detain the personnel."
Those valuable shops cannot be touched now.
Jiangnan is rich in products, and those merchants are inextricably linked to the wealthy Jiangnan civil servants. After repelling the invaders, they still need blood transfusions from Jiangnan to regain their strength, so it is not appropriate to touch them for the time being.
But he will not show mercy to those Shanxi merchants. In the future, they will loot and kill every family. Shanxi has nothing but coal.
"I obey the decree!"
Although Li Ruolian was slightly shocked, he still answered quickly.
He had long expected that His Majesty might attack grain shops, but he never expected that it would be all shops opened by Shanxi merchants.
It seems that I still far underestimated His Majesty's courage and means.
Then he asked for instructions: "Your Majesty, most of the rebels have been captured. There are more than 800 people in total. Most of them are common people from outer cities, and a few are young soldiers from the Beijing camp and refugees. Please tell me how to deal with them!"
Zhu Cixiang was silent for a moment, and then said expressionlessly.
"I have issued a decree in advance. Anyone who dares to cause trouble will be killed without mercy. You have no excuses, just deal with it according to the order!"
"Yes Yes!"
This time Li Ruolian's tone trembled.
That’s more than 800 people!
This time I am really going to become a butcher.
But no matter what happens to him in the future, he has no regrets.
After Li Ruolian left, Zhu Cihong began to think about it.
He killed all those people because he couldn't cause any trouble now, and also to tell everyone in the city that the law does not punish everyone, so it was of no use to him.
Likewise, he wants to use these hundreds of heads to tell the refugees and the soldiers in the capital that he, as the emperor, will not be stingy with rewards, but he will not be unpunished for his merits and mistakes, and he will still punish those who make mistakes, regardless of the crowd.
As for whether to kill soldiers who are out of character, as long as the rewards and punishments are clear and they are not killing people indiscriminately, there is no need to worry. On the contrary, blindly showing kindness is not advisable.
He certainly understands this simple truth.
However, although killing these people can greatly deter other local residents and homeless people, so that they do not dare to cause trouble again, the matter has not been resolved.
Thinking of this, he decided to open a few grain shops of his own.
Sold in limited quantities and at low prices, it can temporarily solve the lives of residents in outer cities. Anyway, there is plenty of food and salt now.
You don’t have to argue with those noble people to get them to lower the price. If they don’t sell it, you can sell it yourself.
But when he thought about the corrupt eunuchs, Zhu Cixiang had a headache.
It was impossible for him to check the accounts all the time, and he couldn't put his mind on running a grain store, but he didn't trust anyone other than the two queen mothers to take the lead.
But the two queen mothers are obviously not suitable to do such tasteless things as doing business, and Dongchang and Jinyiwei certainly cannot do it either.
After struggling for a long time, Zhu Cixiang's eyes suddenly lit up, and he finally thought of a suitable candidate.
Then he made arrangements and headed to Kunning Palace.
