The great victories in Lingzhou and Jingyang did not affect the advance of the Tujieli brigade, he sometimes encountered resistance at some passes with dangerous terrain, and also broke through the pass after more or less leaving some corpses, while the Tang army did not entangle too much, as long as the pass was broken, he abandoned the city. Jieli's men and horses hit several boulders like a surging flood, and the water slowed down a little, but still continued to move forward.

The Turkic soldiers and horses were like locusts in transit, and there were no villages and towns everywhere they went, but he felt strange that the people and treasures captured in this invasion were pitiful, and even far less fruitful than the plundering on the border. The grain was even more unharvested, and everywhere they went was scorched earth, and some Turkic soldiers could not find firewood and grass for cooking mare's milk and dried meat. Although this is the case, as soon as these people heard that they were going to Chang'an to loot, they rushed forward without forgetting their lives.

Wugong Pass, located in the hinterland of the Guanzhong Plain, faces Weishui and Chang'an across the river in the south, chokes all the main roads out of the west of Guanzhong, and the terrain is open to the north, which can be attacked and defended, condescendingly, occupies the most favorable terrain, and is also the birthplace of Li Shimin. After crossing the martial arts pass, Chang'an City is already a stone's throw away, and the middle population and jewels of Chang'an City, including their emperor, are at their fingertips.

Jieli really touched the big nail when he arrived here, and all his siege methods became vulnerable in front of the defender Qin Qiong, the huge blue striped stone city wall was on top of the hard stone mountain, and it was also watered with molten iron, and any sharp weapon lost its effect in front of it. The three-day assault did not take a single step apart from the loss of the lives of nearly five or six thousand Turks. What made him even more uneasy was that the men and horses who attacked Youzhou, Jingyang, and Lingzhou had not yet received information about joining forces with him.

Although the martial arts pass is impregnable, the news of the arrival of the Turks has made Chang'an City tremble. After the martial law in Chang'an City, people were panicked. In just seven days, the price of rice in Chang'an City has risen from three wen per bucket to ten wen per bucket, and there is a continuous upward trend.

"Arrest all those unscrupulous profiteers and send them to prison" Li Shimin's method of dealing with these people was very simple and rude.

"Sage and slow, if these merchants are arrested, Chang'an may have no rice and grain to sell, and the situation will be worse, and those who dare to take advantage of the fire to rob like this must have a backstage, and even your relatives, you can't kill everyone, right?" Xiao Zheng also said bluntly.

"These people ignore the national crisis and help and abuse for their own selfish interests, leaving them to use?" Li Shimin replied angrily.

"The business situation still needs to be solved by business means, you just need to mobilize the good generals to deal with the Turks, and the ministers of the rice price will come," Xiao Zheng said with a smile.

With the approach of the Turks, the price of rice in Chang'an has skyrocketed, and some rice shops have even appeared at an astonishing high price of 15 wen and 1 dou, and for a time the citizens of the city complained about the newly enthroned emperor.

"Almost, let our hoarded rice out," Xiao Zheng said to Zhou Bingrui when he returned to the mansion.

When it was rumored that the price of rice was going to rise, there were suddenly several grain and rice stores in Chang'an that played signboards, hyping up the sale of grain at a low price, and the people of Chang'an City were moved when they heard the wind, some of them really had no food at home, and some of them were ready to buy it back and carry it to other places to make a difference.

Some other grain stores are very repulsive to these alternatives that have emerged, and some of the hard-line backstage even instigated some ruffians to find trouble with these grain stores, but they didn't expect the guys who came out of it to beat these troublemakers to the ground and beg for mercy.

For a while, there were a lot of people who bought rice in these cheap grain stores, and when they bought it, they bought it in a few carts and cars, and the grain stores also sold it when they gave money and never raised the price, but on the fifth day, the inventory in these cheap grain stores was sold out and closed, and the price of grain rose to ten cents and one bucket.

"It seems that the power of these people is not small, right?" Xiao Zheng said with a smile.

"Don't underestimate them, several of these people who raise the price of rice and make waves are from the princess's mansion," Du Ruhui warned Xiao Zheng and said.

"I don't care who they are, anyway, the goods in our hands are cleared, Lao Du, how long can the grain in the granary of the Chang'an City Civil Department last?"

"It's okay for three months, but you can't move, in case Chang'an City is besieged, it's ....." Du Ruhui did not go on.

"No, you adjust the amount for me for ten days, and then I will pay you back with interest, I'm going to cheat people" Xiao Zheng said with a wicked smile.

Just when many people were worried that the price of rice could not be controlled, there were suddenly more grain sales points of the Ministry of Civil Affairs on the streets of various markets in Chang'an City, and the price was still three cents and one bucket, but it was only sold by the fang officials who issued bills, and the number of people in the family and the rations used were written on the top to buy, and others did not sell tickets without much money.

There were also a few fang officials who were greedy for a little cheap and opened a few more tickets, and after the fake people and fang officials were beheaded, no one dared to make trouble at this time, and the price of rice in Chang'an City also fell.

Just when people were worried that the court would not hold out for too long, a lot of grain vehicles came on the road from Luoyang to Chang'an, and when they asked about the convoy that came north along the canal to deliver official grain, they entered Chang'an City and walked towards Guancang, and some people even saw the rice bags that fell from the car, and after they broke it, they were all white rice scattered all over the ground.

Immediately afterwards, the official grain purchased with the ticket was reduced to two cents per bucket, which was cheaper than when the Turks came! If you don't have money, don't worry, as long as you follow the ordnance baggage that goes to Chang'an to Wugong Pass, the rations you earn can fully feed the old and the young.

For a while, the people of Chang'an were very settled, and they changed their dissatisfaction with the court a few days ago, and the voices of praise were endless. And those grain stores who wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to make a fortune suddenly no one cared, and a few bosses who collected grain at high prices and wanted to make war money saw that there was no hope of making money, and they hanged themselves and jumped into the river from time to time, so they were also scolded by others.

At this time, several shops that used to sell cheap grain opened their doors again, on the contrary, this time they did not sell rice, but released words to collect rice, but this time it was not recycled at the price of ten wen per bucket, but at the official price of two wen. He also said that if he did not sell it in his hands, the price of official grain might fall, and after a while, the grain transport team would come again, and he would be left alone.

Sure enough, within two days, the official price of grain sales in the market dropped to three cents and two buckets. Some merchants who can't stand it have to cut the inventory in their hands and buy it painfully, this time it is not the common people who are fluctuating, but those merchants who buy grain, run over to ask these stores that buy grain, ask the price or two pennies and a bucket, sell! Hurry up and sell it, if you don't sell it, it will be a loss, and the entire grain bank hated these alternatives to the bone, and now all of them have become life-saving living bodhisattvas.

"I'm just curious, my Datang's taxes have long been returned to the warehouse, where did you get so much grain out of your empty hands, and what are you doing with the grain you originally put into storage?" It was strange to watch Kudin move the grain he had bought back in, and then pound the grain that the original convoy had brought in.

Xiao Zheng smiled and didn't speak, pointed to the bags of grain that he had moved out, and when he came to the front, he picked up the hemp rope in the sewing pocket, and after a soft sound, Du Ruhui found that what flowed out was not rice, but all yellow sand, and he was stunned.

"Lao Du, the soldiers are not tired of cheating, and the people are not tired of cheating, you don't need to use extraordinary means to deal with these unscrupulous businessmen. I transport fake grain is to put the surplus grain of this profiteer into the warehouse for my Datang use, although there is not much grain in Chang'an City, it is far from the point where it cannot make ends meet, and the real killer is our ticket supply. Say something you don't understand, cut off their buyer's market to him, no one wants gold is also a piece of scrap iron", Xiao Zheng said with a smile.

After listening to Xiao Zheng's words, Du Ruhui sighed and said: "If you let the current saint take action, using the decree to force it will be counterproductive on the one hand, and it may be true on the other hand. You have the good idea of making a policy for the benefit of the country and the people and scraping these profiteers back, and only you can do it in the world."

"Qing's plan is very good," Li Shimin pushed the door and walked in.

After entering the door, Li Shimin did not say politely and calmly: "This time, the royal family who raised the price of rice participated, and your Ministry of Civil Affairs made a move and they lost all their money, and there were two princesses who dared to find the queen and said that they wanted to investigate and deal with your Ministry of Civil Affairs, and the queen dared to leave the palace at that time, I didn't treat them for their crimes, and it was very good, Qing's methods should be more ruthless and let them go bankrupt!" ”

After Li Shimin finished speaking, Du Ruhui asked, "I don't know what instructions the sage has here?" ”

Li Shimin smiled at the two and said, "The two of them went to Wugong Pass with me, Jieli has been here for a few days, and I should also go to meet him."