After my rebirth, I became the white moonlight in the Beijing circle

The food stored previously could last at least half a year, but as the news of Tuoyue's invasion came, the rice market, which had been quiet for a while, began to fluctuate again, and food prices rose sharply.

After the police investigated, they found no other reason except food shortage.

Fu Guiyun sensed something was wrong and for a moment he didn't know where all the food had gone, so he had to secretly investigate the people who had fanned the flames.

Right now, Cheng Kui and You Dian have not returned yet, so we must not allow a food famine to occur in the city.

That day, she led the soldiers to patrol the city gates. Seeing that the people everywhere wanted to leave the city, blocking the city gates, Hong Qian was very distressed and said, "If this continues, I'm afraid there will be chaos in the city sooner or later."

Fu Guiyun ignored Hong Qian's complaints and asked Lu Youxi calmly, "Can you find out the source of the price hike in the rice shops in the city?"

Lu Youxi nodded and said, "The price surge started from Huji Rice Shop in the east of the city. A while ago, the Crown Prince's wife opened the warehouse to release grain, and many merchants flocked to the rice shop, making it more prosperous than ever. Many rice merchants obtained channels to purchase goods from the government warehouse, but only Huji Rice Shop relied on its own channels to purchase grain, so their prices were not restricted by the government."

"With so many rice merchants pouring in, food prices should be stable, so why are they rising even more?"

Fu Guiyun was naturally aware that there would be people who wanted to make a living from the price difference in such a profitable business.

But no matter where the rice is sold, as long as the supply and demand are balanced, there should not be major fluctuations.

Lu Youxi pondered and said, "I also find it very strange. The news of Tuoyue's invasion has only been heard in the past few days, but since the government opened the warehouses to release grain, the grain in the rice shops has been sold out as soon as they opened for business."

"I thought the people were hoarding food, but I have visited many families secretly and found that most of them are having trouble maintaining their food supply."

Fu Guiyun was puzzled: "Where did the grain in the government warehouse go?"

She had previously repeatedly reminded everyone that the grain released from the government warehouse must be distributed at regular times and in fixed quantities every day.

Lu Youxi was also very puzzled: "The Fourth Young Master has already prepared military rations. The grain stored in the official warehouses in Liyang City is used to balance the supply of rice shops. All merchants have been registered, so no one dares to raise the price of grain at will."

After thinking for a while, he continued, "Besides, every household in the city must purchase grain according to the household register in the palace, so even wealthy families are not allowed to maliciously hoard grain."

Fu Guiyun frowned: "In this case, the problem still lies with Mi Xing."

After that, he whispered to Hong Qian, "Send more people to Hu's Rice Shop to secretly check where their food sources come from."

"The last general takes orders."

Hong Qian responded and left.

After that, Fu Guiyun would disguise himself and take his men to various rice markets to buy grain every day.

But what surprised her was that no matter how early she went every day, there were already long queues in front of the rice shops that received grain from the government warehouses. Although the prices were much cheaper, the grain was snatched away as soon as the shops opened for business.

Those people who failed to buy grain could only go to Hu Ji Rice Shop to buy grain at high prices.

After observing for several days and summarizing the information collected by everyone, she found that in every rice market, it was almost the same group of people who bought rice every day, and she came to a rough conclusion in her mind.

However, the situation in the city was getting worse and worse. The government warehouses had run out of food, and most of the rice merchants who purchased food from the government warehouses had gone out of business. The price of food at Hu Ji Rice Shop changed almost every day.

At this time, Tuoyue's army quietly arrived at Changyu Pass, 20 miles away from Liyang City.

The people in the city became even more panic-stricken.

Fu Guiyun had no choice but to send Hong Qian to Changyu Pass to fight the enemy. Without the garrison, Liyang City was like a pile of loose sand, and more and more people gathered at the city gates trying to escape.

When Fu Guiyun organized the palace guards to patrol the streets, all he heard was the people's shouting and cursing.

"There is no food in the government warehouse. A bushel of rice at Huji Rice Shop costs almost one ounce of silver. How can we afford it?"

"Yes, they just want to starve us to death, and the government won't allow us to leave the city."

"It must be that the Liyang Palace is evil-minded and colluding with these profiteers. They want to exploit us and leave us no chance to survive."

Lu Youxi was annoyed by what he heard, and asked Fu Guiyun for instructions: "There are more and more rumors like this in the city recently. I'm afraid we need to catch a bunch of them and punish them properly in order to restore people's hearts."

"Food is the most important thing for the people. The lower-class people who have no food will naturally complain to the government. It's good that they didn't rise up in rebellion."

Fu Guiyun did not agree with his suggestion, but just watched from afar as many people were arguing with the servant of Hu Ji Rice Shop.

"You are earning this dirty money, aren't you afraid of being harmed by others while walking at night?"

"We earned this money by risking our lives. If you can't afford it, just get out of here. Now there is chaos and war. Do you think it's easy to transport food? If you have the ability, go to the government warehouse to get food. What's the point of trying to embarrass us?"

The angry people had no choice but to run to the city gate to argue and want to leave the city to beg for food.

The soldiers defending the city had no choice but to persuade them earnestly: "There are wars everywhere right now, so you should stay in the city. The Crown Princess is already thinking of a solution, and she will definitely not watch you suffer."

"The Crown Prince's Consort is just a woman, what can she do? She lives a leisurely life all day long, why would she care about our life or death?"

Someone took advantage of this and started to make a fuss, saying, "Perhaps it was the Crown Prince's Consort who instigated those rice shops to drive up the rice price so that they could make money from this national crisis."

"Stop talking nonsense."

The young general guarding the city drew his sword angrily and said sternly, "The Crown Prince's Concubine spent all her wealth to store food for everyone, which allowed us to survive the snowstorm. How can you be so ignorant and slander the Crown Prince's Concubine?"

"What about the food?"

Someone refuted, "Since the government warehouse released grain, how many people in the city have bought grain at a low price? We will die anyway. If you don't let us out of the city today, we will break out even if we have to."

"presumptuous."

Seeing that the young general had already started to kill, Fu Guiyun led his men over immediately and said confidently: "Of course there is food in the government warehouse. The government warehouse will definitely open and release food tomorrow. All you have to do is go back and wait patiently."

"Really?"

She was wearing armor, and no one among the people gathered at the city gate recognized her. They just asked anxiously.

"of course."

Fu Guiyun smiled. Several servants from Huji Rice Shop took advantage of her youth and thought she was just a new soldier. They pouted with disdain: "General, you are so arrogant. Even the Crown Prince's wife can't make food out of thin air. Can you make food out of thin air? Liyang City can only rely on our Huji Rice Shop now."

Fu Guiyun patted the person who spoke on the neck with a smile on his face, and without saying anything more, he led the person back to the mansion.

After going to the accounting office to count the grain reserves in the mansion, she first went to Changchun Palace.

Ye Zhilan had just finished acupuncture with Doctor Xue. When he saw his daughter-in-law come in, he helped her sit down and immediately asked, "Yun'er, what's the situation in the city recently?"

She had also heard the news of the Tuoyue army's invasion and knew that the people in the city were uneasy. Looking at her daughter-in-law's extremely haggard appearance, even if she pretended to be nothing, she could not hide it from her eyes.

"Your uncle asked someone to raise a thousand dan of rice, and Zhan'er just escorted it here. If the city is short of food, send it there first to sustain it for a day."

Fu Guiyun responded lightly, but said: "My daughter-in-law also wants to borrow the remaining 2,000 dan of military rations in the mansion."