Li Chengqian's meal is very simple now, two meats, one vegetarian and one soup for each meal, and when he invites people to eat, he will add one dish and add some to the amount.

Cheng Mingzhen looked at the four dishes and one soup on a round table in the side room, but he didn't know where he should sit, Li Chengqian walked to the main seat and sat down, the old ghost leaned on a chair next to him, and said to Cheng Mingzhen with a smile: "Cheng Minbu, your seat is here." ”

Cheng Mingzhen was shocked when he heard this, because the seat was on the same table as Li Chengqian, and it was next to Li Chengqian's left hand.

For a while, he couldn't believe that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was eating with him so closely, but when he saw Li Chengqian also smiling at him and nodding, he walked over and sat down.

Li Chengqian had been busy all morning, and his mental strength was extremely exhausted, and he was already very hungry When he saw Cheng Mingzhen sit down, he picked up his rice bowl and ate it.

Cheng Mingzhen looked at the fact that there were only four simple stir-fried dishes and a soup on the table, although he didn't know what it was, he still felt that it was too simple. Because the Tang Dynasty was a separate meal system, Cheng Mingzhen, as a courtier, easily did not dare to touch the dishes on Li Chengqian's plate, so Cheng Mingzhen, who was sitting down, looked at the dishes on the table for a while but didn't know how to start.

Li Chengqian took a few bites and saw that Cheng Mingzhen couldn't move his chopsticks, so he reached out and put a piece of preserved fish in his bowl and said: "The Lone King's meal has always been simple, but this method is the latest stir-fry, and the materials are also carefully selected by them.

The amount of food alone is much less, but every time you have to eat it, today because the lonely king wants to eat with you, so they specially added a dish, and the amount of other dishes has also increased, you have to eat more, otherwise it will be a pity to have leftovers. Li Chengqian's movements and words are very natural, and he treats Cheng Mingzhen like an old friend for many years.

Cheng Mingzhen looked at the piece of preserved fish in the bowl, and felt a lot of feelings, this piece of preserved fish looks very strong from the outside, yellow and yellow, and the texture of each piece is clearly visible, like a piece of yellow pine wood.

Cheng Mingzhen has been up and down in the sea for decades, although he has been on the ground, but in the last years of the Sui Dynasty, he led his troops to fight many times.

And many times it is dangerous and dangerous, winning more with less, how many times is the line of life and death, there is his own insistence in his chest, but by this time today, he has admired Li Chengqian and has already thrown himself to the ground.

Cheng Mingzhen secretly decided in his heart that this fate in this life would be handed over to His Royal Highness the Prince, as long as he was not a traitor in the future...... Thinking of this, he laughed instead, how could a person like His Royal Highness the Crown Prince be a traitor?

Cheng Mingzhen thought about all this, suddenly got up and knelt down and said loudly: "The minister is willing to charge for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince in this life, and he will not spin his heels." ”

Li Chengqian looked at Cheng Mingzhen kneeling there resolutely, stretched out his hand to help him up, smiled and waved his hand: "Since ancient times, Yan Zhao has been a generous and sad person, and this promise of Cheng Qing's family is more than Mount Tai!" ”

Cheng Mingzhen smiled embarrassedly when he heard this: "Don't dare to be, don't dare to be." ”

"But the lonely king wants to send you a word, 'Don't flatter you, the gentleman is selfless; Don't be an enemy with the villain, the villain has his own opponents; The lone king has never been stingy with grace to those who can serve the country, whether he serves the lone king or not, but he has never been soft on those who have harmed the country, whether he is a relative of the lone king or not. ”

Cheng Mingzhen heard this, and secretly sighed in his heart that Li Chengqian was broad-minded, so he stopped pretentiously and let go of his nature and ate big.

Li Chengqian finished eating and waited for Cheng Mingzhen to finish eating before rinsing his mouth, and the two returned to the main hall of the Chongjiao Hall and sat down.

"Alright! Now that we've eaten, let's talk about the price of food! Li Chengqian got straight to the point.

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, please!" Cheng Mingzhen knew in his heart that Li Chengqian had long been confident about this.

Li Chengqian nodded and said: "In the past few years, there have been bumper harvests, and the price of grain in Chang'an is only three or four dollars a bucket, ten buckets and one stone, and one mu of land produces two stones a year, and the grain is sold for only sixty or seventy yuan. This is still the price of the grain store, and the people who grow the grain sell it at a lower price.

It stands to reason that there should be barns full of grain and full of grain, but last winter, a heavy snowfall produced nearly 100,000 people who were destitute and destitute, do you know why?"

Cheng Mingzhen listened eagerly and asked, "Why?" After asking the question, he realized that this was not an attitude towards the monarch, so he hurriedly clenched his fists and bowed his head and said, "Please also ask His Royal Highness the Crown Prince for guidance!" ”

Li Chengqian shook his head and said: "This is because the grain is cheap and hurts the peasants, in the past few years, some people went bankrupt because of various changes in their families, and they could only help workers in large households to eat, and they were bombed out in winter, if it was not cold in winter, they could survive the winter by chopping wood, hunting, and burning charcoal in the mountains." But this year, the livelihood in the snowy mountains was cut off, and these more than 100,000 people raised the flag to rebel like the Wagangzhai back then......

In the past few days, spring has come, they should harvest mulberry strips, irrigate mulberry forest to hatch silkworm eggs and find that they can't find anyone, so they are anxious to let the lonely king scatter the manpower of Longshou Yuan, and they can raise silkworms and draw silk brocade and sell them for money.

Therefore, the price of grain should have risen, only when the price of grain has risen can farmers have some surpluses, be able to cope with birth, old age, sickness and death, and can afford to buy farm tools to reclaim more fertile land, so that in the future, there will be more people in Datang who strike iron, and they don't have to be weavers......"

"But what about the people who buy food when the price of food rises?" Cheng Mingzhen hesitated.

Li Chengqian smiled indifferently and said: "If a bucket of millet rises to eight to ten yuan, the people who buy grain to eat will definitely settle some bills, but they will not starve to death, and there will be no major incidents, but if no one grows grain, the country will be in chaos, not to mention that now someone is scolding you for blocking the gun, you are just taking advantage of the trend." ”

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince wants to?" Cheng Mingzhen remembered what Li Chengqian said before eating, and probably understood what he meant.

"There was no grain in Chang'an before, and the lonely king didn't dare to let the people know that Chang'an was short of food, so now you can boldly and rest assured to do it.

Tomorrow, you will open a position and sell grain in limited quantities, and when they increase the price of grain, the price of grain in the imperial court will also rise, as long as it is a little lower than him. ”

Cheng Mingzhen already fully understood what Li Chengqian meant, but he was still a little worried: "What if His Royal Highness the Crown Prince rises too high?"

Li Chengqian smiled confidently and said: "The lone king has his own way to settle this matter, what you have to do now is to plan and build several large granaries, and ensure that you can collect the people's grain for five dollars a bucket during the bumper harvest in autumn today." ”

Cheng Mingzhen said in a deep voice: "The minister obeys the order!" ”

Li Chengqian saw that Cheng Mingzhen was about to retire, and remembered that he wanted to give the eldest grandson Wuji some color, so he hurriedly instructed Cheng Mingzhen: "After opening the warehouse tomorrow and releasing grain, you will write a note to the eldest grandson Wuji and tell him that the price of grain may rise." ”

Since Cheng Mingzhen knew that it was Li Chengqian who protected him, he naturally also knew that Li Chengqian and the eldest grandson Wuji were filthy, and when he heard it, he knew what Li Chengqian meant.

The eldest grandson Wuji is now the number one person in the Pingzhang Yuan and the number two person in the ruling power of the Chongjiao Temple, but it does not mean that Li Chengqian can completely suppress him, because there is still Gao Shilian, the right servant of Shangshu, who fully implements his political ideas.

Therefore, in Li Shimin's heart, the eldest grandson Wuji is the real prime minister, and now the Tang Dynasty really has an accident, and it is definitely not Li Chengqian but the eldest grandson Wuji who is responsible, and the adverse impact of this grain price rise and the bargaining with the Guanzhong Group on grain prices will fall on the eldest grandson Wuji.

(End of chapter)