"Your Majesty, if this situation had happened before, the government would definitely have intervened, but now the court has begun to collect commercial taxes. If you interfere in the business operations of merchants at will, I am afraid that merchants will be unwilling to pay commercial taxes." Fang Xuanling said.
"Fart, someone is obviously driving up prices. If the imperial court doesn't intervene and the people can't afford food, won't they all starve to death?" Wei Zheng retorted loudly.
Although Wei Zheng often criticizes this and that, he always quotes classics and asserts the great cause. This is also the reason why it is difficult for others to refute when others are criticized by him.
But Wei Zheng never used any foul language, which shows how angry Wei Zheng was at this time.
Unlike people like Li Shimin and Fang Xuanling, he knew the inside story.
And those businessmen know that they are not maliciously driving up prices, but that the normal supply and demand are out of balance, causing prices to skyrocket.
Wei Zheng didn't know all this. He just felt that there had been no major famine in the past few years. Now that food prices had risen so sharply, it must be those profiteers who were driving up prices.
And Fang Xuanling actually advised Li Shimin not to intervene. How could he not be angry?
Fang Xuanling smiled bitterly and glanced at Li Shimin, "You asked me to say this, now I will be scolded."
"Ahem~" Li Shimin was a little embarrassed.
There is no way, Wei Zheng's temperament is too straightforward, and he is from Shandong
He is inextricably linked to the Shandong clan, so tell him, who knows what trouble may happen.
Therefore, Li Shimin could only conceal Wei Zheng.
"Xuanling, what you said does make sense, but what Wei Qing said is also right. Think about it and see if you have any countermeasures." Li Shimin said.
Fang Xuanling said: "If we want to take care of both ends, the court can only provide part of the grain and sell it to the people at the previous grain price."
"Now that food prices have risen sharply, it has caused panic. It is useless for the court to sell food to the people. The people are worried that they will not be able to buy food later, so they will definitely hoard food. How much food can the court have?" Wei Zheng retorted.
Fang Xuanling said with a smile: "Xuan Cheng is right, but the supply can be limited. According to the population of each household, each household can only buy the food they need for that day, and cannot buy more. In this way, those merchants will drive up prices.
The intention will be defeated, and the price will naturally be reduced, and then the storm will subside."
Li Shimin pretended to be overjoyed and said, "Okay, Xuan Ling did a good job. Do you have any other methods?"
Many people have already tasted it by now.
Although they didn't know what Li Shimin was paying attention to, someone was buying grain wantonly, but Li Shimin didn't mean to be in a hurry. It was obvious that something was wrong.
Therefore, one by one, they watched their eyes, nose and heart, and remained silent.
Wei Zheng was not a fool. Although he reacted a little slower than others because he cared about the people, he also noticed something was wrong at this time.
He kept frowning and thinking hard about Li Shimin's intention of doing this, but he didn't say anything.
Seeing that no one objected, Li Shimin said: "Since no one objects, let's do what Xuan Ling said. Gao Ming, you are the prince and the governor of Chang'an. This matter will be left to you. We can't let anyone starve to death, otherwise
I’m the only one asking!”
"My son, take your orders!" Li Chengqian bowed and responded.
…
"Sir, the government is going from house to house to inform each household that according to their population, they can go to the government to buy the food they need for the day at the previous price," Cui Guanjia said.
"What!" Cui Hao was startled and asked quickly: "Is anyone still going to the grain store to buy food now?"
He originally thought that someone was buying grain on a large scale and it was the imperial court.
He naturally knew that the imperial court traded grain and grassland for many horses.
The imperial court's food supply has been replaced by horses, so it is normal to be short of food.
But the imperial court suddenly sold grain to the people according to the previous grain price, which made him doubt his previous guess.
"There are still people who go to the grain store to buy grain, and those people even imply that as long as there is grain, you can have as much as you want, and money is not a problem," Cui Guanjia said.
Cui Haohao felt relieved now. If there was no one to collect the grain, it would be troublesome if the family brought the grain but couldn't sell it.
After thinking about it, Cui Hao was still worried, so he wrote another letter, explaining the current situation in detail, and asked the housekeeper to send someone to send the letter back.
…
"Xuan'er, the price of food in Chang'an has risen a bit recently. Does your family need to stock up on more food?" Lin Dongyang asked worriedly.
In the past, he would never have asked Lin Xuan about such a thing, but in the past year or so, Lin Xuan has changed so much that he habitually asked Lin Xuan about everything.
"Dad, is our family out of food?" Lin Xuan asked.
If there is really a shortage of food, there is no harm in buying some, since the family is not short of money anyway.
If he still has enough to eat for a while, Lin Xuan doesn't want to give money to the family.
The idea was his, and he knew the situation inside.
"The food at home can last for two months at most, but the price of food in Chang'an has risen a bit. I am worried that I will not be able to buy food if I have money later, which will be troublesome." Lin Dongyang said.
The Lin family has so many fields, there is actually no shortage of food at all.
It was only because Lin Xuan reduced the rent for the people in Zhouzhuang that there was basically no income from the thousands of acres of land. This led to the Lin family being short of food and needing to buy food to survive.
The Lin family could not afford much food, but Lin Xuan had five hundred soldiers and hundreds of maids at home, so his daily food consumption was very large.
When Lin Xuan heard that he would have enough food for almost two months, he refused directly: "Dad, there is no need to buy it. If the price of food has risen so high, the court will definitely intervene. Soon, the price of food will definitely drop."
Lin Dongyang nodded and said: "Since you said so, I won't buy it. I have arranged for the housekeeper to buy some things. In a few days, you can go and deliver the things to the tenants in Zhouzhuang."
Lin Xuan said: "Dad, tomorrow is the winter hunting. I will go when I come back from the winter hunting."
After Lin Dongyang left, Lin Xuan thought for a while and went to the military camp.
Since resigning, he has not been to the military camp for several months.
Hearing the sound of horses running inside, Lin Xuan felt a little strange and nostalgic at the same time.
Although Lin Xuan had not been here for several months, the guard at the gate of the camp still knew him and let him in without stopping him at all.
Lin Xuan did not reprimand them, saying that he was no longer their general and could not be let in without notification.
In many novels, the emperor was stopped when he was about to enter the military camp. The emperor was not angry and praised the army for his skill.
This kind of plot can only be written like this in novels.
Something like this might have happened in ancient times, but the general who commanded that army would definitely end up miserable.
When an emperor is stopped when he enters the military camp, that emperor will doubt whether he can still command the army.
Of course, it is another situation if the emperor conceals his identity.
Although Lin Xuan is not the emperor, he once served as the general who entered the army. It was undoubtedly a embarrassment for the soldiers to stop him.
They must be training at this time. Lin Xuan did not go to the school grounds, but went directly to Xue Rengui's big account and waited.
When Lin Xuan came to the military camp, someone naturally reported it to Xue Rengui.
Before long, Xue Rengui led Cheng Chumo and others to the camp.
"See you, Lord Marquis!" Xue Rengui bowed respectfully.
Lin Xuan waved his hand and said, "I resigned a long time ago. Now that you are the commander-in-chief of an army, you don't need to salute me."
Xue Rengui nodded and said nothing.
Lin Xuan was kind to him, and he would still salute him the next time they meet.
Lin Xuan shook his head. He knew Xue Rengui's character and would not change it, so he could only let him go.