Since the grain problem was uncovered by Li Chengqian a few years ago, it has been a problem for the Tang Dynasty monarchs and ministers.

Li Shimin immediately summoned the prime ministers of the three provinces, the two governors and the eldest grandson Wuji and Xiao Yu to the Liangyi Hall to discuss countermeasures.

Because Li Chengqian was grounded in the East Palace, he specially summoned Yan Shigu to let him listen to it and go back to talk to Li Chengqian.

Li Shimin waited for everyone to sit down with a calm face, picked up a few notes on the case, and sighed: "You also see, this is a peaceful and prosperous era?"

Everyone's hearts sank, what happened?

Gao Shilian, who was sitting at the top, took the song and looked at it, and while handing it to the eldest grandson Wuji, he said to the crowd with some puzzlement: "The grain prices of Chang'an City have been rising for this bumper harvest year after year, how can this be explained to the people of the world?"

The eldest grandson Wuji took the song and was about to see it, but when he heard the words, he directly handed it to Cheng Mingzhen with an expressionless face.

When everyone heard that it was because of the grain price in Chang'an, they all looked at Cheng Mingzhen, after all, everyone was not the person in charge of this matter.

Under the gaze of everyone, Cheng Ming still took the song and read it calmly, and then dropped the song and said to Li Shimin as if no one was around: "Although the price of grain has risen, Your Majesty, the Ministry of Civil Affairs has already opened a regular position to release grain, so it will not let the price of grain rise too high." ”

When everyone heard Cheng Mingzhen's words so lightly, they were a little dissatisfied in their hearts, and felt that this person didn't take national affairs too seriously.

For the "Zhenguan rule", these people also think that they have merit, of course, they don't want to see the price of food rise, the people's grievances boil, and it will be recorded in the history books that the common people can't afford to buy food during the Zhenguan period.

Seeing this, the eldest grandson Wuji thought that Cheng Mingzhen didn't know the severity, and he was secretly happy in his heart, but asked with a serious face: "If it weren't for the Ministry of Civil Affairs to open a regular position and release a limited amount of grain, the people would not know that Chang'an City was short of grain!" ”

Li Shimin was secretly angry when he heard this, and when he saw Cheng Mingzhen's eyes, he was a little scrutinized, and the other people in the hall were the same, waiting for Cheng Mingzhen to give an explanation.

No, the name of the process was not given in vain, as if he didn't feel the atmosphere in the hall solidifying, and said with an indifferent smile: "Lord Eldest Sun's words are wrong, why did they force the East Palace to close the grain store?"

Isn't it just to raise food prices?

It's a pity that it's busy with spring planting and farming, and not so many people are transporting grain into Chang'an City, otherwise I would never let grain prices continue to rise. ”

Cheng Mingzhen said these words quite beautifully, first leading the trouble, saying that the people who impeached Li Chengqian wanted to raise the price of grain, and then clearly told the people here that it was the busy time for spring planting and farming, and no one went to Luoyang to transport grain back.

When Li Shimin heard this, his breathing immediately became heavy, and he looked at the eldest grandson Wuji angrily, hoping that he could come up with a way.

Eldest Sun Wuji was speechless when he heard that there was no one to transport grain now, but he quickly thought of something more important than the rise in grain prices in the East Market.

"How much grain does the Cheng Minbu have in each warehouse in Chang'an now, and can the military rations and officials' Lu rice be distributed on time?" This issue is even more important, the increase in grain prices in the eastern market is nothing, but if there is a shortage of military food, I am afraid that we will have to send people to transport grain regardless of spring planting.

As soon as the eldest grandson Wuji asked, Li Shimin and the others in the hall also reacted and looked at Cheng Mingzhen with great concern.

Cheng Mingzhen deliberately pretended to be pretentious when he heard this, pinched his fingers to calculate, and then smiled at the eldest grandson Wuji and said: "Don't worry, Lord Eldest Sun, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is wise, and he expected that the manpower would be tight during the spring planting and he would not be able to separate the manpower to transport grain, so he had already stocked up enough military food and Lu rice for officials, but there was less grain in the regular closing warehouse, so the cheap grain of the Ministry of Civil Affairs could only be sold for half a day every day." ”

Li Shimin and everyone were angry when they heard this, and Li Shimin said with a spring breeze on his face: "Cheng Qing's family can rest assured. After a pause, he continued: "Do you think this grain price can be pushed back quickly?"

Cheng Mingzhen hurriedly said: "These are the merits of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Ren Yaxiang, and the minister has just entered Chang'an.

As for the grain prices that His Majesty said, it was difficult to suppress them for a while, and the ministers could only try their best not to let the grain prices rise too quickly, so as not to cause panic buying. ”

Li Shimin couldn't hide his disappointment when he heard this, but at this time, it was also a fact that the people could not mobilize the people to transport grain, and Cheng Mingzhen could not be blamed for his incompetence.

Although the rise in grain prices could not be completely solved, after receiving Cheng Mingzhen's assurance that he would try his best to keep down food prices, Li Shimin put down the stones in his heart, and he didn't bother to discuss with these people anymore, so he let everyone disperse.

Li Shimin also drove back to the Ganlu Palace to see Princess Jinyang.

A few days ago, the spring breeze has been strong and the temperature has risen, and in the past two days, with a thin light rain, it is a cold spring, just in response to the warm and cold time, the most susceptible to cold, the delicate Princess Jinyang has been sick for two days.

When Li Shimin returned to the Ganlu Palace, Princess Jinyang had just fallen asleep after taking medicine, so Li Shimin did not disturb her.

He returned to the main hall and sat down on the chaise longue given to him by Li Chengqian, looked up at the painting that Li Chengqian gave him for a while, thinking that Li Chengqian had prepared military rations and rice in advance as Cheng Mingzhen had just said, and he was still very relieved.

Thinking that Li Chengqian could share the government affairs for him, he comfortably picked up a book on the small table and flipped through it, and he didn't even care about the rise in grain prices in Chang'an.

Just when Li Shimin was sitting on the recliner reading leisurely, he suddenly heard the sound of crying outside.

Could it be that which palace maid and eunuch were bullied?

No, how can the palace maids and eunuchs cry here when they are bullied?

Li Shimin thought about getting up and quietly walked outside, and saw Li Zhi kneeling outward on the felt mat, and his upper body lying on the small table and crying bitterly.

When Li Shimin saw this, he hurriedly stepped forward to help Li Zhi up, and saw that Li Zhi, who had always been carefree, burst into tears at this time, and felt very sorry in his heart, but said with a calm face: "Li Zhi, why are you crying here for no reason?"

When Li Zhi saw Li Shimin turn around, he threw himself into Li Shimin's arms and cried loudly.

Seeing this, Li Shimin's face couldn't sink anymore, he took Li Zhi into his arms with one hand, gently stroked his back with the other, and asked gently, "What's wrong?" Could it be that someone is bullying you? Tell your father, and your father will be your master. ”

Li Zhi was unmoved, just blindly cried, and finally annoyed Li Shimin from crying, pushed him out, stared at him angrily, and said, "What happened?"

Li Zhi raised his head and looked at Li Shimin with tears in his eyes and shouted, "Father! ”

"Hey, tell your father, your father is your master!" Li Shimin said as he wiped Li Zhi's tears with his sleeve.

Li Zhi sobbed for a long time before saying, "My fourth brother is gone!" ”

"Ahh Li Shimin didn't react for a while.

"Father, my fourth brother is dead!" Li Zhi said again

threw himself into Li Shimin's arms and cried loudly.

Li Shimin hugged Li Zhi in a daze for a long time and shed two lines of tears.

"Self-inflicted!"

When Li Shimin first heard that his once favorite son had died, he only said such a sentence, and hugged Li Zhi and wept silently.

It wasn't until Li Zhi was tired of crying that Li Shimin silently raised his hand to wipe away his tears and said to Li Zhi: "This is his own fault, and he can't blame others." ”

After that, he patted Li Zhi on the shoulder and said, "You are his own brother, and your funeral will be handled by you, according to the rules of the country." ”

After speaking, he got up and walked back, and when he walked to the door of the inner room and saw the chaise longue in the inner room, he heard Li Zhi say loudly behind him:

"Father, the fourth brother died so miserably! Both of his legs were broken......"

Li Shimin was stirred by the threshold, and suddenly felt that his legs were weak, and he fell to the ground.

(End of chapter)