#443 - Food market chaos

The next morning.

The newly released "Capital Gazette" published Ning Yukes "speech" from yesterday in its entirety, taking up a full page.

Since no subjective evaluation was added, it was difficult to determine whether this action constituted "collusion with the enemy."

In addition, the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, which is responsible for managing the "newspaper industry," is now completely controlled by the Togetherness Society, so the Great Ning government did not impose any penalties on the "Capital Gazette."

But in reality, neither Ning Yongnian nor the Great Ning people cared much about this "trivial matter" anymore.

In the former's view, with 300,000 troops crushing over, there was no chance Ning Yuke could win, and when that time came, "the will of the people" would naturally return to his side.

As for the latter, they were perhaps more concerned about how much the price of grain had risen today than what Ning Yuke had said.

After all, when life itself becomes a problem, who would have the leisure to care about "national affairs?"

Before dawn, several grain shops in the capital were already lined with long queues.

The price of grain rose daily, and even in the capital under the emperor's feet, it had now risen to a "sky-high" price.

But even at such a sky-high price, this grain was not something you could buy just because you wanted to.

"Everyone! I'm sorry!"

"This shop is out of grain!"

"Go back! Come earlier tomorrow!"

"."

Barely half an hour after opening, the grain shops successively hung up wooden signs saying "No Grain Today" and prepared to close their doors.

And the people who had not bought grain naturally would not agree.

"Out of grain?! It's been like this for several days in a row! What kind of grain shop are you running?!"

"There must be more grain! These unscrupulous merchants are definitely holding back on selling to us because they see the price of grain rising sharply!"

"Open the door! Open the door quickly! Otherwise, I'll smash the door down!"

"Hey, let's all disperse. I know the shopkeeper of this Great Peace Grain Store. He's really a good person and wouldn't hold back on selling grain if he had it."

"If he says there's no grain, then there really is no grain."

"Let's go! Let's go see the grain store on West Street."

"."

After shouting outside the door for a long time, the people who had not bought grain finally left helplessly.

And even those who had bought a small amount of grain did not look very happy at this time.

The grain they had just bought was not only expensive, but it also wouldn't last for many days.

In a few days, they would have to queue up again to grab grain, but who could guarantee that they would be able to grab it then?

If they couldn't grab it, they would have to eat bran rice.

When the bran rice was gone, they would have to drink white porridge.

If this continued, the white porridge would become thin porridge, the thin porridge would become rice water, the rice water would become tree bark, and one day they would reach a dead end.

And then what?

Starve to death?

He also knew that the one hoarding the most was a suddenly emerging merchant firm called "Prosperity Abundance."

The people depend on food as their heaven, and the price of grain must be brought down no matter what.

Therefore, Ning Yongnian had decided a few days ago to quickly solve this problem through violent means.

However...

"Your, Your Majesty, thirteen more Prosperity Abundance granaries in various states caught fire yesterday, and not a single grain of grain was left in the granaries..."

"Your Majesty! They are clearly not after money, but want to throw my Great Ning into chaos!"

"Your Majesty, this minister believes that someone must have tipped off Prosperity Abundance in advance, otherwise why would they be able to burn all the grain before the government officials arrived every time?!"

"Your Majesty, the grain market in Great Ning can no longer be allowed to be in chaos! Open the granaries and provide relief to the market!"

"."

During the morning court, a group of officials expressed their opinions, some in fear and some in anger.

Ning Yongnian sat on the dragon throne with a gloomy expression, his eyes lingering on one person for a long time.

Without a doubt, it was Wei Xianzhis calm expression.

"Minister Wei, what do you think I should do?"

"."

The moment Ning Yongnian spoke, the entire hall fell silent.

More than a hundred court officials stared at Wei Xianzhis, who was standing in the first row, with different emotions in their eyes.

But the latter turned a blind eye to this, and just calmly cupped his fist at Ning Yongnian.

"Your Majesty, the Suspended Mirror Division does not manage money and grain matters."

"You should ask Lord Miao about this matter."

The "Lord Miao" in Wei Xianzhis mouth was called Miao Xuezheng, who took over the position of Minister of Revenue after Xu Shixing died and was Ning Yongnians man.

The Ministry of Revenue is in charge of money, grain, commerce, salt, and other matters, and is indeed the "department primarily responsible" for this grain market chaos.

But Wei Xianzhis words, whether in content or tone, were undoubtedly very disrespectful to Ning Yongnian.

"Minister Wei, I naturally know that the Ministry of Revenue is in charge of money and grain..."

Without looking at Miao Xuezheng, Ning Yongnian narrowed his eyes, still staring at Wei Xianzhis.

"But the Suspended Mirror Divisions duty is to investigate Prosperity Abundances collusion with the rebellious king, right?"

"It has been several days since I ordered you to handle this matter. How is your investigation going?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty..."

Wei Changtian cupped his fist and lowered his head, only answering five words concisely.

"This official is still investigating."

"Still investigating?"

"What a 'still investigating'!"

"Hahahaha!!!"

A laughter filled with anger resounded throughout the hall, and all the court officials were trembling and dared not breathe loudly.

Anyone could see that Ning Yongnian and the Wei family were only one step away from completely tearing face, so no one dared to say a word at this time.

"Minister Wei..."

After a few breaths, the angry laughter finally gradually stopped, and the killing intent in Ning Yongnians eyes had almost reached the point of being undisguised.

He slowly stood up from the dragon throne, walked down the steps step by step, and then stopped in front of Wei Xianzhis.

"Ten days. I hope the Suspended Mirror Division can bring all those who disrupt the grain market to justice within ten days."

"Can you do it?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty."

Wei Xianzhis expression did not change, and he raised his eyes to meet Ning Yongnians gaze: "This case is very complicated and involves a lot. Ten days may be a bit short..."

"Is that so?"

Ning Yongnian asked again, word by word: "Then how many days do you want?"

"This..."

Wei Xianzhis smiled: "Your Majesty, how about a hundred days?"

"."

One hundred days to solve the case.

Let alone whether the Suspended Mirror Division can solve the case after one hundred days, even if it really can, Great Ning will already be full of starving people and the people will be living in misery by then.

So the deadline given by Wei Xianzhis was clearly a provocation.

None of the court officials present did not understand this, so they all widened their eyes and breathed rapidly, wondering how he dared to speak to Ning Yongnian like this.

Yes, the Wei family is indeed powerful now.

But this is not Shu Province, but the capital, where 50,000 Imperial Guards are stationed for a long time!

How many people are there in your Suspended Mirror Divisions headquarters? How can you resist these 50,000 Imperial Guards?

Taking a step back, you, Wei Xianzhis, are currently in the palace!

If Ning Yongnian really gets angry and wants to kill you, how can you survive?

Hundreds of court officials were puzzled, not understanding what Wei Xianzhis relied on to dare to openly challenge Ning Yongnian.

They even felt that this commander of the Suspended Mirror Division would not be able to walk out of the hall alive.

However...

Staring at Wei Xianzhis, who had a smile on his lips, Ning Yongnians hand hidden in his sleeve clenched into a fist, and then slowly released it after a few breaths.

He turned his head without saying a word, no longer looking at Wei Xianzhis, but slowly said to Miao Xuezheng:

"Lord Miao, open the granaries and release grain."

"Yes, yes..."

Miao Xuezheng didnt dare to say anything now, and hurriedly lowered his head in response.

Ning Yongnian did not say anything more, flicked his sleeves, and left all the court officials behind to walk to the back hall.

With Li Huaizhong's "Withdraw from the court," today's morning court ended hastily.

The court officials walked out of the hall one after another, intentionally keeping their distance from Wei Xianzhis all the way, as if they were avoiding a plague god.

But the latter didn't care about this, but the smile on his face seemed to be even greater.