In Fan Changming's courtyard, Yang Guozhong delayed for nearly two hours before he could leave, returned to the study, and just sat down, a deacon in the mansion asked to see him in a panic.

"Why are you so flustered?"

Yang Guozhong's mood was a little unstable at this time, and he was already a little angry when he saw that the house slave in the house was like this, and he was about to reprimand again, but he heard the deacon's voice tremble and say:

"Oh no, Xianggong, the rice shop of the three-room family was robbed. ”

"What?"

Before the deacon's words were finished, Yang Guozhong's face changed. Yang Guozhong, the largest shareholder of the rice shop, Sanfang is his brother of the same clan, responsible for business and trading, and to put it bluntly, he is the agent who makes money for him. The rice shop was robbed, and of course he suffered the most loss.

"Who is so bold as to dare to grab the rice shop?"

Yang Guozhong slammed his fist on the desk, this time he was really angry, he didn't dare to provoke Qin Jin in the court, and he couldn't turn his face with Yu Chaoen, but there were people among the people who dared to ride his neck to, which was absolutely intolerable.

"It's not any family, yes, it was robbed, the people, no, the people finished grabbing the rice, and they scattered, and the few they caught were all small fish and shrimp, not enough to compensate...... Ah......h

A copper furnace smashed his face, and the deacon couldn't dodge, and was hit right in the door, and immediately bled nonstop. Yang Guozhong's anger completely exploded with this smash, he viciously swept everything on the case to the ground, and then smashed the copper furnace inkstone to the deacon to vent his anger.

"Idiots, a bunch of idiots. How can you watch Diao Min snatch all the rice and say, how much has you lost?"

The deacon endured the severe pain and said intermittently: "We are not the only rice shops in the two cities that have been robbed, but seven or eight out of ten have been robbed, and a rough estimate shows that at least half of the grain stocks in the city are gone. ”

The Yang family's grain storage in the eastern and western cities is calculated in more than 10,000 stones, and half of the loss can be imagined, and Yang Guozhong can even hear the sound of his heart dripping blood. Moreover, the Yang family had long expected that the price of rice would rise before this, and they had hoarded a lot of grain at a high price in advance, and now they were robbed of half of it.

After a seizure, Yang Guozhong calmed down.

"No, how bold can the Diao people be, there must be a perpetrator behind this matter, investigate, we must find out, who is behind this. ”

When it was time to hold the lamp, Yang Guozhong gathered all the deacons together and inquired about the situation. At this time, the causes and consequences of the two cities looting the rice market are generally clear, and the Pujin side reported that the matter of Huangfu Ke's rebellion and surrender was the most fundamental inducement, and what directly led to the robbery of the rice market was that the wealthy families in Beijing bought grain in the rice shops in the two cities, and the people were panicked, and the Jingzhao Mansion was not well prepared, which led to the robbery.

Yang Guozhong secretly sneered.

"These brain-filled, insatiable silverfish, with the wishful thinking of hoarding, don't want to disrupt the two cities, and sooner or later make you suffer. ”

At this point, Yang Guozhong was a little relaxed, since it was not deliberately done by someone, he didn't have to respond to the battle urgently. However, he only cares about criticizing others for snapping up the two cities and hoarding them, but he forgets that he is not doing the same thing?

Yang Guozhong secretly warned himself that there was still one day of hard work, and the Shenwu Army was about to officially leave Chang'an, before Qin Jin, the plague god, left, he must calm down, and don't make any more extraneous branches, as long as this guy leaves Chang'an, everything is not what he wants?

Before he could rest, the messenger from the palace arrived.

"Yang Xianggong, the saint is in a hurry to enter the palace. ”

"I don't know what happened when the saint summoned him overnight?"

"I don't know exactly what the slave and maid are, maybe it has something to do with the robbery of the two cities today. ”

Yang Guozhong said that he was right, it seems that this matter has been spread to the Son of Heaven, and he may be able to use it as a fuss.

Who knew that when he arrived at Xingqing Palace, he found that he was not the only one who was summoned by the Son of Heaven, the prime ministers of the political hall had arrived, and there were some officials, one of whom was tall and burly, who else could it be!

However, the officials were all waiting outside the palace, and the Son of Heaven summoned them separately in turn. The little yellow gate of the Son of Heaven's hall saw Yang Guozhong from a distance, and hurriedly greeted him humbly.

"Yang Xianggong, please come with the slave maid, the saint has been waiting for a long time. ”

After all, Yang Guozhong can't be compared with those ordinary ministers, and the face saint also has priority. A moment later, he sat down in front of Li Longji, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty.

"Have you heard the news of the robbery of the two cities? The most urgent task at the moment is to first stabilize the price of rice, and then find out that those families are hoarding Juqi, and they must be severely punished. ”

In the past, Li Longji never assigned tasks so straightforwardly, but consulted his subordinates, and then selected the "best" to carry it out, because his subordinates always had the ability to successfully guess the holy will. Now he can't even take care of the emperor's demeanor, which shows how urgent it has become.

"Command!"

Yang Guozhong promised to receive the order, but there was a rare belly in his heart for a while, Fan Changming's words suddenly drifted in his mind, maybe the old miscellaneous hair was right, the current Son of Heaven is no longer the Son of Heaven a year ago. He raised his head and peeked at Li Longji sitting upright on the couch, only to see that his body was slumped, and his hair seemed to be more gray and messy than a few days ago, and he really lost his former style.

Somehow, Yang Guozhong's awe of the Son of Heaven was not as strong as before, and even compared to a day ago, he had a feeling of being incomparable.

"The price of rice is related to the stability of the people of Chang'an, and if it is allowed to develop, the consequences are unpredictable. I will never tolerate finding out which people took the opportunity to make a fortune, no matter what background those people have or what families they come from, I can't let anyone go. ”

Li Longji's anger and worry almost made him a chattering old man, Yang Guozhong saw it in his eyes, but he knew it even more in his heart, the Son of Heaven was really old and unbearable, and after the aura of power and prestige was greatly reduced, he was no different from ordinary people. It's just that he can only keep these slanderous words in his stomach, but he doesn't dare to show a trace of it.

However, with this kind of understanding, the words that Fan Changming said during the day made him a little eager to try.

"The issue of rice prices, the minister has already thought about it on the way here, one is to severely punish those who take the opportunity to make a fortune in the country, the second is to issue a decree in the government hall, stipulating the upper limit of rice prices, and the third is to open the treasury to reduce the price of grain. ”

These three suggestions are decent, Li Longji seems to be very satisfied, nodded and said:

"Yang Qing is like this, I can rest assured, this matter will be handled by you personally, you must not be negligent, before Qin and Jin put down the rebellion of Huangfu Ke, the increase in rice prices must not exceed thirty percent. ”

In this regard, Yang Guozhong promised one by one.

"Qi Qi Sage, Qin Jin has more than 10,000 people under his command, and the food required has also increased dramatically compared to 3,000 people, and the food allocated in the treasury is calculated for seven days, I am afraid that it will be overstretched. ”

After hearing this, Li Longji groaned for a while and said:

"So it's on a monthly basis, and it can't be any more. ”

"Command!"

The size of the Shenwu army was only 3,000 people, and the grain and grass needed to support it were allocated for a period of seven days. Previously, Yang Guozhong made things difficult for Qin Jin, and deliberately prevaricated and delayed in the political affairs hall, so there was an episode of raising loans.

Li Longji was not unaware of these deeds, but actually acquiesced. However, considering the face of the Son of Heaven, of course Yang Guozhong couldn't say it clearly, so he only discussed with him in this obscure way, and he should allocate some food for the Shenwu Army in an appropriate amount.

Li Longji naturally agreed, and at such a critical moment, he naturally knew which was more important and which was more important. It's just that Yang Guozhong took the initiative to mention this matter, he was quite surprised, it seems that suffering is really a whetstone, after experiencing these ups and downs, even Yang Guozhong has made great progress.

Li Longji was very satisfied with Yang Guozhong's transformation, so he was more relieved to hand over the heavy responsibility to him. In addition, the supply of grain and grass in Guanzhong, including all the guards, was transferred to him for moderate allocation. Previously, Li Longji specially selected a young waiter in Menxia Province to be in charge of this matter full-time, and now it is all handed over to Yang Guozhong, so he is naturally deliberately reusing.

Of course, Yang Guozhong's arrangement of the Son of Heaven also smelled another flavor. That is, the Son of Heaven does not trust Yu Chaoen 100%, and letting himself hold the power of grain and grass is nothing more than choking Yu Chaoen's neck, so that if it is not for its expansion, it will cause chaos to the dynasty.

The Son of Heaven played with power and balanced the strength of his subordinates, and Yang Guozhong had already been familiar with it. Such an arrangement was both unexpected and expected by him.

Thinking of this, Yang Guozhong couldn't help but feel a little proud, now not only Qin Jin and Yu Chaoen, but even Ge Shuhan's neck was pinched in his hands, see how long these people can be rampant?

"One more thing, you have to know, let's take a look at the secret report from Tongguan first!"

The secret report was submitted by Bian Lingcheng, Yang Guozhong solemnly took it from the hands of the Son of Heaven, and after unfolding it, he couldn't help but be shocked after reading two lines. It is no wonder that the Son of Heaven repeatedly compromised Qin Jin, and even allowed Gao Xianzhi to allocate an additional 10,000 horses for him.

Yang Guozhong's heart suddenly moved, could it be that before him, the Son of Heaven had already discussed this secret report with Gao Xianzhi?

The contents of the secret report are shocking, An Lushan has gathered 500,000 troops, has gone east out of Luoyang, and will soon arrive outside Tongguan Pass, when a major battle of unprecedented scale will be inevitable. It is precisely because of this that the imperial court must completely resolve the rebellion of Huangfu Ke before An Lushan's army arrives at Tongguan, and not expose the northern part of Geshuhan's army to the threat of rebels to be distracted.

"At this time, nothing can be messed up, Yang Qing can understand my difficulties and hardships, right? I want you to work with Gao Xianzhi and cooperate sincerely, and you must survive this difficulty. ”

Yang Guozhong was stunned for a long time, and he didn't know which string was wrong, so he suddenly whimpered and said: "When this is difficult, the minister asks the sage to determine the prince as soon as possible, so as to calm the hearts of the people!"