Chongzhen Wiretapping System

Chapter 186

In the house of Censor Liu Meicai, King Dengku of Shanxi merchants crossed his legs, drank tea, and talked to Liu Meicai. His mood was obviously much better.

"According to my colleagues, Xue Manzi was so frightened that he was sweating profusely that he rushed to the palace to find the emperor." Although Liu Meicai didn't cross her legs, she was speaking to Wang Dengku with a smug smile, " This time, it's enough for them!"

"That's not true!" Wang Dengku nodded and smiled when he heard it, "Most of the other grains outside the capital are basically gone. Even if the court thinks of transferring grain from the south of the Yangtze River at this time, it is absolutely too late. Then Xue The barbarian will be surprised if he doesn't sweat in a hurry!"

Liu Meicai raised his glass with a smile, as if to replace the wine with tea, to celebrate, and then said: "In this way, no one in the court will care about the silver bill, hehe, the emperor must It is rage, and it is estimated that many people will be unlucky!"

"Isn't this exactly what we want to see!" Wang Dengku said, and Liu Meicai looked at each other.Suddenly, the two laughed together, sweeping away the depressed mood before.

After taking a sip of tea, Wang Dengku said proudly, "I didn't expect other grain merchants to follow up so quickly this time. The court's attention should have been attracted by them. Even if the court wants to make trouble, it probably only We will look for them. Who told us that there is no food to sell here!"

When Liu Meicai heard this, she smiled again.The method here is not to care about the petty profits, and not to sell them directly.If it's gone, what else can the court do?As Wang Dengku said, even if the imperial court got angry, it would definitely attack those few grain merchants who were still selling grain at high prices in limited quantities.

He put down his teacup and said, "The "Hu Lv" in "Da Ming Lv" is written in the "Shop" chapter. It should be a board for their actions. I estimate that those behind the scenes have already Let those shopkeepers get ready to be punished. After all, it must be worthwhile to exchange so much money for a meal.”

In this era, there are no crimes such as speculation and hoarding.These charges were made by great men of later generations.But there are similar regulations, which are written in the "Market" chapter, and different market transactions are defined as the crime of manipulating the market, punishments such as eighty sticks or forty floggings.

These two people hid in Yushi's mansion, drinking tea, chatting, watching the situation with a smile, and watching other people's jokes.

What they didn't know was that at this time, although it was getting dark soon, one of the emperor's personal guards, Jin Yi's pro-army, drove out of the barracks in large groups.The sound of rumbling horseshoes, the sound of soldiers running neatly, mixed with the sound of armor colliding, immediately attracted everyone's attention.

"What's going on here? Could it be that Jianlu came in again?"

"Impossible, even if Jianlu came in, wouldn't it be the Jinyiwei who sent out?"

"Then why are they making such a big fuss? For ordinary things, even if soldiers are used, it's enough for the soldiers from the five cities to be dispatched, right?"

"Could it be...could there be another major conspiracy?"

"If you say that, it's really possible! Large-scale factory guards will only be dispatched for major treason cases, right? But now that the Jianlu has retreated, at this time, who will conspire against them? Isn't this courting death? !"

"That's right, the three major battalions under the Yumajian are not vegetarians, they are elites who can defeat Jianlu in field battles!"

"Could it be that someone is about to starve to death, so they rebelled?"

"It's possible that with such high food prices and limited food supply, many people can't survive anymore. Instead of starving to death, it's better to rebel before dying so that they can vent their anger. Aren't they all thieves? I heard They all can’t survive in the beginning and will starve to death.”

"You are crazy. You dare to say such things. Be careful what you say. Be careful what you say!"

"Anyway, all the valuable things in my family are sold cheaply for food, and I can't hold on any longer. The whole family is starving to death, can't I just say a few words?"

"..."

No matter what, when seeing this large-scale factory guard dispatch, the timid people hurriedly hid back home; the bold people either inquired about the news or followed to see the excitement.

The Jinyiwei who were dispatched soon began to divide into teams. Later, there were 200 people in one team, and many teams rushed to various places.

"咚咚咚" knocked on the door hurriedly.

"Open the door, open the door..." shouted sternly.

"What's the name of the ghost?" Someone inside heard it, and shouted impatiently, "It's sold out today, I want to buy it early tomorrow!"

However, what responded to his yell was "bang dang" and "wow". The door panel was kicked open and fell into the shop. Then, the light from the torch outside shone in, and a group of people swarmed in.

"What are you doing, grabbing food? You...you..."

You stayed for a long time, but you didn't come out, because the ones who broke into the store were not the hungry people buying food, but the soldiers in black flying fish uniforms, so you don't need to ask which yamen has arrived.The only one who dared to wear this in the capital was Jinyiwei, one of the emperor's personal guards.

The army has never been polite, kicking open doors, breaking into stores, arresting anyone they see, rummaging through boxes and cabinets, and searching things.Afterwards, large carts were parked outside, and bags of grain were carried onto the carts to be transported away. Then a seal was placed on the gate, and a notice was pasted on the gate.

Scenes like this happened in every grain shop.

At this time, what everyone in the capital is most concerned about is food.Therefore, as soon as the news came out, in the blink of an eye, the news that the imperial court dispatched Jin Yiwei to search the grain shop quickly spread throughout the capital.

"What, all the grain shops have been sealed up? Well, I'm so fucking angry. Look at their faces, they are so arrogant and arrogant, they deserve it!"

"What about the food? How do you deal with the food? Don't we have no place to buy food?"

"Don't worry, Jinyiwei posted a notice saying that starting from tomorrow, the capital will begin to limit food. Each household will register with the government on a per capita basis and buy food at a fair price. One family can only have three days' worth at a time."

"Really? That's really great, but... but my family bought high-priced food before, and now I have no money at home. Even if I buy it at a cheap price, I'm afraid I won't be able to last for a few days!"

"It's okay. It doesn't matter if you don't have money. You can still get food, but only half of it, and you have to work to pay back the food afterwards."

"That's really great! But wouldn't those rich people make them cheaper, cheap food, so what if there is not enough food?"

"Of course it is mentioned in the notice that if you have food in your house but want to buy cheap food, once it is seized, no matter how high or low, the house will be confiscated! That's it, let's see who dares to take this risk!"

"Running the risk of ransacking your home for the sake of cheap food, haha, I guess no one would dare. This trick of the imperial court is really high!"

"This time the court finally made a move. It's really great. My neighbor Wang's family starved to death because of the high food prices in the past few times when Jianlu entered the customs! That's really miserable!"

"..."

Amidst all the applause and discussion, some people have different concerns.

"I heard that part of the rations of the two hundred thousand people rescued by King Qin's army will also be allocated from the capital. However, the rations in the capital are not enough now, right?"

"That's right, even if these grain stores are closed down, it's probably enough for the capital alone to persist until Nanliang is transferred to the capital, let alone part of the grain."

"Ah, the emperor must be in a hurry this time. Hearing that Xue Shoufu is sweating, the emperor ordered Jin Yiwei to dispatch and directly seal up these grain shops."

"But is it appropriate for the emperor to do this? Don't merchants buy low and sell high, and they did nothing wrong. Your emperor is so domineering, who will dare to do business in the future?"

"That's right, the emperor is so reckless, he will definitely be criticized in the future! Besides, according to the "Law of the Ming Dynasty", it is at most a ban. It is estimated that the people behind these grain merchants will jump out."

"..."

Amid all the discussions, Jin Yiwei's actions, compared to the focus of sealing up the grain store, were somewhat unnoticed.

There are a lot of brocade guards, rushed to various places in the capital, surrounded warehouses, and mansions, and arrested people directly. This time, it's not just shops, but mansions. Men, women, old and young, as long as they are in the mansion, they will all be arrested together. up.

This operation lasted until late at night. Compared with the grain shop, the news lagged behind, but it didn't start to spread until the next morning.

"Do you know that Jin Yiwei arrested a lot of people yesterday and confiscated a lot of food, and there was a lot of noise!"

"What's going on? Where's the food?"

"Didn't the previous grain shops say that there was no food? They were copied out by Jin Yiwei. They hoarded a large amount of grain, but they didn't sell it. They said it was sold out. You don't know, I heard that those who hoarded There is more grain than those grain shops that are still selling it!"

"No way? Are they crazy? What are they trying to do, hoard them until the end, and then sell them at a higher price?"

"No, according to the notice posted by Jin Yiwei, these grain merchants bought a large amount of grain before, and then refused to sell it. They pretended to sell out, just to starve the people of the capital to death and create chaos. They are trying to plot inverse!"

"Ah, intending to seek rebellion? This...this...isn't it?"

"What's wrong? I think it's possible! Think about it, what will happen if the capital keeps running out of food? The consequences are a bit chilling to think about. Anyway, my son will definitely be unlucky, and your family doesn't need to say it! "

"If you say that, it's really true. The capital will definitely be very chaotic by then. Maybe they really want to plot rebellion, but they are just grain merchants!"

"Who doesn't know that there are people behind those big grain merchants! Maybe there is someone behind the scenes! Jin Yiwei is investigating now, and when they are found out, we will know who wants to conspire! But no matter what, these hoards are not for sale now The grain merchants are already out of luck, all their homes were ransacked, and all their families were arrested. It is said that the imperial prison can’t hold them anymore, and some of them will be sent to the prison of the Ministry of punishment!”

"Bah, they deserve it. Regardless of whether they conspired or not, they deserve to die for hoarding food and not selling it!"

"..."

Discussions like this are everywhere.Relatively speaking, those princes and dignitaries have their own opinions.

"I didn't expect the emperor to be ruthless this time. Instead of following the "Law of the Ming Dynasty", he was directly charged with treason. Now, those grain merchants will be in trouble!"

"I don't know who is behind those grain merchants whose homes were raided? At this time, they must have been scared to death! The emperor didn't play the cards according to common sense, and Longyan was furious. No matter what happens in the future, they will be in trouble anyway." .”

"Yes, Jin Yiwei doesn't know how the investigation is going. With their means, it won't take long. They will definitely be able to find out who is behind the grain merchants. This kind of thing, you can find out by asking more .”

"Hehe, I do know that there is a grain merchant behind Shanxi merchants. Behind them, there are court officials. Hehe, this time is going to be unlucky. I guess I will be so anxious to write a letter to defend myself?"

"..."

At this time, a servant of Yushi Mansion opened the gate, he was a little surprised when he saw it, and quickly asked: "Master, don't you have to go to court today?"

Liu Meicai looked anxious. As she hurried to the house, she asked hurriedly: "Where is Mr. Wang?"

"Still in bed!"

Hearing this, Liu Meicai immediately turned around and hurried in.

Seeing his action, the villain who opened the door knew that something bad had happened, and couldn't help feeling a little worried.I don't know how it happened, but in the past, Liu's residence has been running smoothly, with officials of all sizes coming and going, it can be said that there are a lot of people.Just recently, things seem to be going wrong.

Isn't the master very rich?Is this money not good enough now?

With a "clang", the door was pushed open forcefully, and Liu Meicai stepped inside, passed through the outer room, opened the curtain, and broke into the inner room.

When he saw Wang Dengku poking his head out of the bed with a beautiful maidservant in his arms, his face was a bit ugly, he couldn't help shouting: "Oh, Mr. Wang, why are you still sleeping, what a disaster, what a disaster!"

"What's wrong?" Wang Dengku was still a little confused, looking like he was still asleep.

Liu Meicai was in a hurry, she stepped forward and lifted the quilt, her two bodies shivered from the cold.Immediately, Wang Dengku came to his senses, and hurriedly went to grab the quilt, while hurriedly asking: "What disaster happened, why are you in such a hurry?"

"Our grain depots were seized by Jinyiwei last night, and all those grain merchants were arrested. The charge was to create chaos in the capital with the intention of rebelling!" Liu Meicai said anxiously, "Now Jinyiwei is investigating the people behind those grain shops. People, it is estimated that they will be found out soon."

"Intent to conspire against?" Wang Dengku was stunned by the accusation. Even if he did business with Liaodong Jianlu, he never thought that such an act was treason.But right now, it was just a trick to sell food, and it was such a big hat.

When he came back to his senses, he kicked the beautiful maid away, and while hurriedly getting dressed, he asked Liu Meicai, "Could it be that all the ministers in the court let the emperor do whatever he wants? If this is the case, the emperor will not be pleasing to anyone in the future." Put on a treasonous hat, who can bear it?"

　My daughter still had a fever last night, but this morning the fever subsided, and her spirits are much better. She can write with peace of mind. Today I plan to write [-] words. I don’t know if I can finish it!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)