Since the early years of Yongle, Daming has gradually stabilized, and Daming's grain prices have been declining.

Rice fell from four coins of silver for one stone at the time of the martyrdom to seven or eight cents for two coins per stone. Wheat is a little more expensive, but it's only a little more than three coins.

In the thirteenth year of Yongle, after Zhu Zhanji proposed to transport a large amount of grain from Nanyang, the price of rice in the Ming Dynasty was stabilized at two coins and five cents of silver.

The decline in the price of rice also affected the wheat, because as long as the people survived, they did not care much about the taste. The price of wheat is too high, so people will naturally switch to rice.

Today's wheat prices are basically not more than three coins of silver, which also makes the people's enthusiasm for farming very low.

Nowadays, the harvest of one acre of land in Daming is basically two or three stones, that is, two seasons of planting, basically the harvest of one acre of land is about one or two silver.

A family planted more than a dozen acres of land, and the total output was only a dozen taels of silver.

This has little impact on the common people, because the common people pay taxes in kind. The grain that is planted is naturally the grain.

As for living money, it's all on the side hustle. Raise chickens, raise pigs, weave cloth, grow fruits and sell them in the market for some oil and salt, and when the harvest is good, you can also buy some sugar for the children to eat.

But the price of such land is not a good thing for the big families, for the big landlords, and for the grain merchants.

The price of grain in the Ming Dynasty was stable, and their profits were pitiful.

It is impossible for the landlords to farm the land on their own, they are all tenant farmers, even the harsh landlords have to feed the tenant farmers, and in such a situation, their profits are pitiful.

Even yeoman farmers are reluctant to farm, and it is better to work casually in the city than to plow food in the field.

If it weren't for the fact that there was no way to change the household registration, I am afraid that countless farmers in the Ming Dynasty would want to abandon the wasteland.

In such an environment, it is natural that many people are dissatisfied with the large amount of grain transported by the imperial court from Nanyang.

Especially in the north, because there are few people in the land, and the land that one person can plant is limited, only one season of grain can be harvested a year, and the harvest is even lower.

Many big landlords are on the verge of bankruptcy, and at this time, they have to play some small actions.

Zhu Zhanji imagined many people, but he never thought that it was his own uncle who came out.

He doesn't have much land of his own, and even if he has encroached on a lot of land in Zhangde Mansion in recent years, he is not a big landowner.

Moreover, he does not have to pay taxes, and the money he earns through trading is definitely much higher than the income from farming, so there is no reason to do this.

But it's him!

Is this insatiable? Or is it being used by others!

Under Ma Qi's confession, an interest group represented by him paid the water. These include two large grain merchants in Ningbo, two large grain merchants in Shandong, one in Hebei and one in Henan.

Zhu Zhanji asked people to write down all these people, he couldn't deal with King Zhao directly, but there was no problem in cleaning them up.

But the problem is that if even the main culprit is at large and deals with others, it will inevitably face the dissatisfaction of the public.

Does Zhu Zhanji care? Of course not, so after listening to Ma Qi's confession, he figured out the link.

"Since all your grain has been disposed of to these six major grain merchants, is there any evidence of handover?"

Ma Qi nodded and said, "Although there is no direct contract, there are transfer procedures for the grain transfer between the slaves and the maids. ”

Sun Lin nodded, indicating that he had checked the account books, Zhu Zhanji made up his mind and said: "This matter makes Gu very embarrassed, if you are not punished, the whole case will not be able to start, so in the past few days, I have to wronged you." ”

Ma Qi hurriedly said: "The slave and maid are not wronged, no matter how His Royal Highness punishes them, the slave and maid are willing to accept it." ”

Zhu Zhanji smiled secretly in his heart, turned to Sun Lin noncommittally and said: "Now the context of this case, Gu already knows it in his heart. Now, it's in this vein that I'm peeling off the cocoons and pulling out everyone one by one. In addition, I have two doubts, Ma Qi ......"

"The slave is here."

"Why would Uncle Zhao speak for a group of grain merchants? What do you think will be the stake between them? ”

"Your Highness, although these grain merchants are mainly in the grain business, it does not mean that there are no other businesses. Zhao Wangye wants to do export trade, and he can't purchase goods through the procurement channels of internal supervision, presumably these aspects will make Zhao Wangye tempted. ”

Zhu Zhanji nodded and said: "Indeed, even if Uncle Zhao Wang is doing some trade with the back, he can only sell some folk kilns and crude iron tools, which makes him have an intersection with many small traders." But who brought these people together? ”

Ma Qi stopped talking, stared at Zhu Zhanji's calm face with wide eyes, and then hurriedly said, "The slave is ignorant." I never thought of it. ”

Zhu Zhanji sneered: "You are really stupid! How many of these hundreds of thousands of stone grains do you have, how much people eat, and you can give money profitably, have you never thought that there is really such a good business in this world? ”

Although it was a cold day, Ma Qi broke out in a cold sweat, he just had to collect the money, who would have thought that there would be someone to organize it later.

Zhu Zhanji looked at Sun Lin again and said: "The second thing is why Shandong has cooperated with this grain trade on a large scale, for more than half a year, Shandong has been short of grain everywhere, but the officials are not afraid of the lack of food to cause a rebellion, what is the reason?"

Only when there is food can the people live and work in peace and contentment, even if they exchange service for food, it will make life much better. It's just that these officials don't seem to care about the lives of the people at all, and it's not one or two, it's most of Shandong, which makes people wonder, not everyone's conscience will be eaten by dogs! ”

Speaking of this, Zhu Zhanji paused for a moment, and then said: "Immediately send secret agents to investigate the situation in the entire Henan and Hebei." In addition, the grain prices in these places in the past few years will be reported to me, and I will be accurate to each county seat. ”

"Yes!"

Only then did Zhu Zhanji turn to Ma Qi and ask: "If you cut off Shandong's food supply, no one in the navy will suspect it?" The government in Shandong did not urge grain? ”

Maggie shook his head, a wave of fear welling up in his heart. Behind what he thought was simple, there seemed to be a huge conspiracy hidden.

He had never worried about his life, but at this time, he was really a little scared.

"What a foolishness!" Zhu Zhanji shook his head and sighed: "The desire for profit is consumed, and it won't let you just take care of the silver and don't care about anything, right?" ”

Maggie trembled and fell to his knees. "Your Highness, the slave really didn't think about it!"

Zhu Zhanji knew that this was not his ignorance. It's that he has always been on top, and he doesn't care what the people below think, and whether there is any conspiracy behind it.

Zhu Zhanji picked up his confession and read it again, and reorganized his thoughts.

This case is actually not complicated, Ma Qi originally served as a transit envoy, but he was just greedy in a small way. For example, the transport ships of the internal supervision are used to load more grain and sell it to earn the price difference, even if some grain is detained, it will not affect the overall situation.

However, since Zhu Gaosui, the king of Zhao, intervened last year, he became bolder, colluded with grain merchants, and only transported the grain to Shandong for a circle, and then half of it was pulled back to Ningbo and sold directly to grain merchants.

During this period, because the ship was the internal supervisor, the people were the internal supervisor, and the unloading was organized by the local government, except for a commander who participated in it, the navy did not pull too many people into the water in other links.

The key is the attitude of the local government in Shandong after this incident.

According to Ma Qi, in addition to giving 20,000 taels of silver to King Zhao, Liu Zhong was the commander of Shandong Province and Yao Shizhuo, the commander of Laizhou Shuizhai was about 3,000 taels of silver, and the rest of the silver was put into his purse.

Then the question arises, since he did not distribute silver to the government in Shandong, and did not give grain, why would the other party hide it for him?

Also, Shandong's current immigration policy is contrary to the yang and yin, what is the situation behind this? Who gave them so much courage?

King Zhao?

He, a prince in captivity, can influence one or two officials, more than a dozen officials, Zhu Zhanji believes, but if he wants to influence half of Shandong, I'm afraid it's impossible!

This case is very simple, but what is hidden behind it makes Zhu Zhanji a little afraid.

White Lotus Sect? It's impossible, they are poor in the first place, how can they manipulate the government?

Mengyuan remnants? That's even more impossible, for decades, the remnants of Meng Yuan have been almost cleaned up, and even their base camp has almost completely fallen to Daming.

Could it be the King of Han? Liu Zhongke has always been a supporter of Zhu Gaoxu.

Since he didn't know the essentials, Zhu Zhanji didn't think about it for the time being, and said to Sun Lin: "King Zhao, I will personally come to investigate, you are responsible for investigating the changes in grain prices in the north in the past few years, as well as the officials in Shandong, why have they been silent!" ”

After Sun Lin responded, Zhu Zhanji turned to Ma Qi and said: "This matter makes it difficult for Gu to do, if you don't go to prison, how can Gu deal with those businessmen who trade with you." So, I'm going to wronged you for the time being. ”

Ma Qi knelt down and said, "The slave is willing to be punished......"

He turned to Li Liang again and said: "I will find out the six major grain merchants who traded with Ma Qi, all the people involved in the transaction, and the grain merchants in Ningbo let Zhu Zhen do it and seal up all the grain stores of the six major grain merchants."

In addition, the grain merchants in Shandong let Yixin do it. The grain merchants in Hebei asked Yongkang Hou Xu An to arrest him. Where are the grain merchants in Henan? ”

Yongkang Marquis Xu An is the son of Xu Zhong, a famous general of Jingnan, whose father died of a stroke, and he attacked the Marquis of Yongkang, and is currently the commander of Hebei.

Ma Qi hurriedly said: "Your Highness, Fan Chengxian, a grain merchant in Henan, is a person from Kaifeng. ”

"Since there is a water village of our navy's first fleet, let the commander of Kaifeng water village arrest Yu Mengkui. If I am instructed, I will arrest all of them, young and old, and I will not let any of them go. All family property was left in accordance with the rules, and the rest was handed over to the state treasury for confiscation. ”

"Your Highness, is it handed over to the treasury or to the inner treasury?"

"Don't give those civil servants some benefits, do you think they won't shout?"

The treasury is given to the household department, which is equivalent to an additional amount of funds that can be mobilized by the imperial court. But if it goes into the inner treasury, it will become the private property of the royal family.

Zhu Zhanji doesn't care about these petty profits, in his opinion, the current Ming royal family has taken up too much money.

The imperial court had no money for disaster relief, so Zhu Di often "generously" opened the inner treasury and took out silver for disaster relief. Speaking of which, the people all think of the emperor's goodness, but in fact, this is a great waste of resources.

The royal family monopolized the commercial activities of the Ming Dynasty, and the treasury was empty, even if Zhu Zhanji was the future emperor, he occasionally felt that he couldn't see it.

In the future, apart from physical goods, Zhu Zhanji is not going to put the silver in the warehouse, since the two banks are controlled by the royal family, it is better to put them directly in the bank, which can play a greater role.

Li Liang was about to go to Xie Jin to write the Taisun Order, walked to the door, turned around and asked, "Your Highness, what happens after the people are arrested?" ”

Zhu Zhanji thought for a while and said: "First detain on the spot, and after the case is tried, the main culprit will be beheaded." Each family member was given five hundred taels of silver, and all of them were exiled to Beihai to shepherd sheep. ”

Zhu Zhanji did not worry about exile such restless people, and the prisoners in the future would mainly be sent to the north.

Each family left them some property to prepare for the winter, and it was up to them whether they could survive or not.

Anyway, the north is vast and sparsely populated, and needs people to replenish it, and I am not afraid of their rebellion.

After Li Liang left, Zhu Zhanji said to Sun Lin of the Counseling Department: "Put Ma Qi in the internal prison, but don't treat him harshly, a pot of wine and a meat dish every day until the case is closed." ”

Ma Qi knelt down and kowtowed, "Your Highness Xie has mercy on ......"

Seeing his happy look, Zhu Zhanji secretly sneered in his heart, when the case is closed, the use value is over, and it is time to "hit the road".

Now at the juncture of "changing the dynasty", the eunuchs in this palace have formed a huge force, he wants to make everyone return to their hearts, how can he let go of this opportunity to kill chickens and monkeys.

Ma Qi was escorted out again, and Zhu Zhanji stood up and stretched. "Liu Wan, you go and tell Liu Chenghui to prepare a meal, and then go to see where the imperial grandfather is, after eating, I want to talk to him."

Sun Lin also picked up the confession on the table at this time, and suddenly he paused and stopped Zhu Zhanji, who was about to leave. "Your Highness."

Zhu Zhanji's body didn't move, his head turned back and asked, "What's the matter?" ”

"The grain merchant in Shandong is surnamed Kong...... Will it be ......"

Zhu Zhanji's body shook, as if a bright lamp was lit, and suddenly he suddenly realized.

The Kong family, the Kong family, how could they forget the Kong family!

In later generations, the Kong family has lost their privileges, but in this era, they are well-deserved first-class families!

In the Song Dynasty, the Confucian family was enshrined in the Holy Prince's Mansion, but the rank was very low, and it was only an honorary official position.

But in the Yuan Dynasty, Yan Shenggong became a three-grade product.

In the Ming Dynasty, in order to highlight the Han family, Zhu Yuanzhang made Yansheng Gong a product and the head of Wenchen.

Although they have not entered the officialdom, their influence in the officialdom is not weak at all, and if there is anyone who can bring most of the government in Shandong together, I am afraid that they are the only ones.

Although Zhu Di has now cut their title of Yan Shenggong, their influence has not disappeared. Moreover, they now have even more reason to "retaliate" against the imperial court in this way.

Zhu Zhanji turned around, walked to the case table in a few steps, and picked up the case file of Ma Qi's confession.

Zhu Zhanji didn't care who these six grain merchants were, because the status of merchants in this era was very low.

So Zhu Zhanji didn't read the appendix of this confession, but now, he opened the appendix of the confession and saw clearly that the proprietors of the two grain merchants in Shandong were both surnamed Kong.

At this point, the logic of the whole case can be explained, and the attitude of Shandong officials can also be explained.

Even Zhu Gaosui was willing to come forward, and the Kong family was afraid that he also played some role in the back.

Although Zhu Zhanji thought about how to treat the Confucian family in the future, how to turn respect for Confucianism into faith, and how to treat Confucius and the Confucian family differently.

But he didn't expect that when he hadn't started to supervise the country, he would run into the Kong family.

He stared at the names of the two people for a long time before he said, "The plan is still the same!" ”

Sun Lin, who has always been gloomy and vicious, shook his body at this time, and said in a trembling voice: "Your Highness, this is the Kong family!" ”

Zhu Zhanji sneered: "Confucius is Confucius, and the Confucian family is Confucius. Also, the Confucian family is noble, even if it is a businessman, it is definitely not the main branch, is it just two side branches, do you have to worry? I'll see if they'll come and fight me for two side branches! ”

Sun Lin thought about it, with the Confucian family's family, even if he was doing business, he would only let the side pay for it, and deal with the side branches of the two families, and he didn't have to worry too much.

Zhu Zhanji came to the door, and Li Liang's assistant Tao Chang hurriedly put Da Yu on his shoulder. He is also a rare tall man in this era, and it may be for this reason that he was selected by Li Liang to serve Zhu Zhanji closely.

Zhu Zhanji did not participate in the open and secret struggle between Li Liang and Liu Wan, they were a little contradictory, if they were all of the same mind, Zhu Zhanji would have to worry that they would unite to deceive themselves.

Liu Chenghui went to the West with Zhu Zhanji and went for three years. When she was outside, even if Ma Xin's status was higher, she began to let Liu Chenghui take charge of things because of her young age, and she was always in charge for the next three years.

She is very similar to her wife Gracia in her previous life in some ways, not only did she not care about Zhu Zhanji's lust, but even helped to abuse her.

And she is tall and understands medical skills, she can afford to take it and put it down, and she can really help Zhu Zhanji solve a lot of trivial matters, and no concubine in the palace dares to bully her.

No one dares to say that there will be no problems with their health, not to mention that there are children, and there is a female doctor by his side, and he is much more at ease.

Although her status is low, because she helps Zhu Zhanji manage a group of women from all over the world, her power in the palace is not small at all.

When she returned from the West, she was already pregnant, and she was pregnant a little later than Ma Xin and the other two concubines, and now she is only six months old.

There are two moles, and Sun Xian naturally knows what she did along the way.

Originally, I wanted to put the princess's shelf in front of her, but she was pregnant, and Sun Xian didn't dare to make small moves, so according to Zhu Zhanji's instructions, she arranged three side halls for him in Yongfu Palace.

Because Zhu Zhanji has many concubines, there are only two general Chenghui, and arranging three rooms for her is already the treatment of a good yuan.

Although she is six months pregnant, her height is 1.8 meters, and her belly is not pregnant, which does not affect her movements.

Seeing Zhu Zhanji, she helped Zhu Zhanji untie the big and said: "Your Highness has missed the time for dinner today, the concubine is pregnant with a dragon seed, but she doesn't dare to treat it slowly, she has already used the dinner, but now she can't eat with His Royal Highness." ”

"It's okay. When I came back from the West, it was the first time I came to your room, and it was good to have you to talk to me. ”

Liu Chenghui can't sleep when she is pregnant, and although Zhu Zhanji comes to her room to eat today, he won't stay here to sleep.

The two of them sat together, Zhu Zhanji was eating, and she talked about the recent training.

The women brought back from the West, Zhu Zhanji broke the bodies of several women except for the occasional interest on the road and wanted to try it, and most of the women have not yet come close.

At the beginning, Zhu Zhanji still wanted to keep the royal family's bloodline pure, and wanted Liu Chenghui to use fierce medicine.

But after the Zhang Wu incident, Zhu Zhanji also thought about it, since he wanted national integration, he should also lead by example. Even if these mixed-race sons don't stay in China in the future, they will have no problem going abroad to share a piece of territory and become a land king.

And they can also have some use when they invade other countries.

told Liu Chenghui about this, and she also agreed with Zhu Zhanji's idea. "Your Royal Highness, you can send more women to various countries in the future, and give birth to thousands of little princes in the future, and distribute them all over the world, so that this world will become the world of the Zhu family."

Zhu Zhanji couldn't help laughing and said, "You want me to create a nation alone!" I have taken care of one or the other of you people, and I am also satisfied, and there will be no more people in this harem in the future. At least, until you are forty years old, you will have no more people. ”

After dinner, Zhu Zhanji pursed his lips, wiped his mouth with a cotton cloth and said: "You are so good to rest in peace, recently the focus is on raising the fetus, those Xiyi women don't have to worry about it for the time being, I will let Xue Shanggong take care of them." ”

"Yes, the concubine now thinks that His Royal Highness has a son."

sent Zhu Zhanji to the door, but Zhu Zhanji didn't let her send it again.

Liu Wan, who was waiting at the door, said: "Your Highness, Your Majesty watched a big show today, and I heard that Your Highness is looking for him, so let Your Highness go directly to Wangjiang Tower." ”

Zhu Zhanji hummed for a moment, and explained: "You don't have to go over, you often go to bed tonight, go to see if there is anything that needs to be placed, and tell her that I will come later." ”

Fengyi is the lowest among the six levels of Zhu Zhanji's concubines, although she can sleep, she basically doesn't even have the opportunity to eat with Zhu Zhanji.

For Zhu Zhanji, this is a bit cruel to a woman who belongs to him, but the world is like this.

What's more, he is busy with affairs and has many concubines, and it is indeed impossible for everyone to be equal.

Along the corner gate of the apse of Xingqing Palace, there is a small door that can lead directly to the Great Shan Hall of the harem,

Xingqing Palace was originally not inhabited, but used by Zhu Yuanzhang as a treasure collection. This is also the location of the harem, but it is separated from the harem by a sandwich wall.

After Xingqing Palace was rewarded to Zhu Zhanji, the two doors here were locked for a long time, and Zhu Zhanji rarely came to the harem once a year in order to avoid suspicion.

Along the Great Shan Hall to the north, it is a garden corresponding to the imperial garden in the west, respectively, the Hope River Tower, the Ninety-Five Flying Dragon Palace, the northernmost palace wall is the Tibetan Buddha Palace, but these three palace groups are added together, and there is only the size of Xingqing Palace.

Zhu Di raised a group of geisha in Wangjiang Tower, and as long as he had time every day, he liked to watch a big play.

However, Zhu Zhanji is not interested in this kind of opera, let him watch this, it is better to let a group of women perform a striptease for him!

"Junki, what the hell is going on, and now you have to tell me?"