The common people of China are the most docile and obedient in the world, but they will not make trouble if they have something to eat, and they will not take risks unless they have to.

The shopkeeper and the young man were rude together, and some people instigated it, and the hearts of the people who bought rice became more and more angry, and even more short-tempered people couldn't hold back their temperament and grabbed the guy and beat him.

In an instant, there was chaos in front of the rice shop, and I saw that someone took the lead in knocking down the shopkeeper and rushed into the rice shop.

"My ...... Food"

The shopkeeper and the guy who were beaten with a blue nose and swollen face had a sad face, and their voices were full of crying.

Seeing such a scene, some people who had been mixed with the people who bought rice before smiled and left. If anyone recognizes it, the person who added oil and vinegar to the side and fanned the flames is Tu Si.

It is not unreasonable that "official coercion and civil rebellion" have been popular for thousands of years, but the most crucial point is that it is necessary to fan the flames and take the lead.

Biandu's permanent population of 1.5 million, plus officials, businessmen, students, and homeless people who come to Biandu to beg for a living, there are 2 million people, officials, businessmen, and students can abide by the law, but these homeless, poor and helpless people are struggling at the death line, how to abide by the law.

Since the beginning of this robbery of rice shops, there have been rice shops in Biandu that have been robbed by hungry people in the past few days, so that the largest one is that nearly 1,000 hungry people besiege a rice shop, and the rice shop is not to be outdone, hiring hundreds of strong men to fight with weapons, killing and wounding no calculation.

When Kaifeng Mansion heard about it, it immediately sent a messenger to deal with it.

Therefore, there is a saying in the market that "the government and grain merchants collude", and there is a folk proverb that "there are traitors in the court, and there are silverfish in the city".

The matter is so big, how can Kaifeng Mansion sit idly by, think about going to Kaifeng Yin Wangding to issue a card ticket, send a messenger to the hands of a number of major grain merchants in Biandu, and call the major grain merchants to discuss the price of grain.

This year is a disaster year, the grain merchants naturally want to make a lot of money, and this period of chaos, each family has lost a lot of rice grain, anxious to get back the capital, who is willing to reduce the price, a group of grain merchants have been discussing for a long time, no one speaks.

Kaifeng Yin Wangding couldn't, so he had to suppress the price of rice, saying: "Each stone has always been six dollars." ”

The people do not fight with the officials, but not fighting does not mean that they will give in, a group of grain merchants argued: "The goods in the world are all with the market, and this year's drought, almost to the grain is not harvested, the price of rice naturally rises, and the current price of rice is not high, the court and the government should be out of the warehouse, how can they only say a few words to price." ”

Although Wang Ding said that he was a member of the three products, he did not blame the public, and how could he use it strongly, he could not hold on to each other, and he could not set the price, so he let a group of merchants come out. Wang Ding's only plan now is to ask the imperial court to sell the warehouse to suppress the price of rice, and the current government institutions are inefficient, and there must be a process and time for approval, which is by no means something that can be done in a short time.

And it's not just the high price of grain in Biandu, but also the rice grain around Gyeonggi that is controlled by these merchants, and the price of rice is naturally high. In later generations, there was a "garlic you ruthless" and "beans you play", that is, to achieve the purpose of monopoly with capital monopoly production capacity and output, and later generations did not know that this set of tricks had already been played by grain merchants in the Northern Song Dynasty.

Although the government can't help itself, these businessmen are very clear, but now the imperial court can only make a lot of money, but they can still make a lot of money before they leave the position.

With such intentions in mind, a group of businessmen deliberately released the news that "the government has no other way", and in just one day, the grain merchants reached two and five yuan, which can be said to have reached the highest level since the establishment of the country.

The price of rice is difficult to suppress, and the turmoil is intensifying, and the workers in the market began to gather people to ask the boss for a salary increase on the grounds that rice is expensive, and all walks of life began to fall into the turmoil for a while.

When the hired workers in the market were making trouble, the forbidden army stationed in Biandu could not hold on, and some officers and soldiers began to ask the court for additional payments.

It's just that the people are making trouble, and now even the officials and soldiers have begun to make trouble, which is not a small matter.

Although the imperial court decided to close the grain to suppress the price of grain, the rice and grain had to be transported from other places to Biandu, and it would take ten or twenty days to get rid of the time, or several months, and the thirst could not be quenched by far water; Moreover, the army is a violent institution on which the country depends, and the imperial court relies on the army to achieve deterrence and rule the world peacefully.

……

Ouchi, vertical arch hall.

"Ladies and gentlemen, what is the best way to curb the price of rice?" Looking at the ministers of the palace, Zhao Ji asked.

Recently, the price of rice has risen, so that the displaced people have made trouble and grabbed grain, and the people are uneasy and the army is uneasy.

Since the early spring of this year, not only has there not been a drop of rain around Gyeonggi, but also the rain in Jingdong and Jingxi Zhulu has also been pitiful, so that there is no harvest, and the price of grain is naturally rising, and now it is completely a seller's market, and the price of grain cannot be determined by the imperial court.

After Zhao Ji's words fell, all the ministers were silent, although there was grain in the official warehouse, it was difficult to meet the increasingly serious famine, and it would take some time to transfer rice and grain from other places, and it was difficult to hope that the official warehouse would come out to calm down grain prices in a short period of time.

Seeing that all the ministers were silent, Zhao Ji set his eyes on the ruling Wang Huang, narrowed his eyes and asked, "Wang Qing, do you have any good plans?" ”

As the head of the hundred officials, Wang Huang couldn't say much, and after pondering for a while, he came out and said: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that he should send the Kaifeng Mansion to send a messenger and guard the army to prepare for the army, and forcibly levy the rice grain Ping City!" ”

"No!" When Wang Huang's voice fell, the imperial historian immediately came forward to stop him, and said: "The imperial court came forward to forcibly levy, which is tantamount to the current robbery of the displaced people in the market, is it the way of the Son of Heaven to be the king, and the way to wait for the ministers?" ”

Governing the country with the way of Confucius and Mencius, advocating benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom and faith, gentleness, courtesy, frugality, loyalty, filial piety, bravery, and honesty, is not to be stopped, and Zhao Ji will not agree to the forced expropriation of rice and grain in the city.

Zhao Ji looked at Wang Hao and shook his head, not saying much. Wang Hao saw some disappointment in Zhao Ji's eyes, and his heart chuckled, and he couldn't help but be disappointed.

An official said: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that these grain merchants should be punished for the crime of price gouging!" ”

Zhao Ye, the secretary of the criminal household, stopped: "Everyone in the world knows that scarcity is expensive, and now that the famine is serious, the harvest around Gyeonggi is almost extinct, and the price of rice is naturally rising, so I am afraid that this discussion is not appropriate!" ”

Because Zhao Ji was observant of the interrogation of Yang Jian's case, Zhao Ji was extremely dissatisfied with Liu Shangshu of the Criminal Department, and a few days later, Zhao Ye, who was appointed as the chief secretary, took his position and released him as an official.

At this time, another household official said: "The minister thinks that the imperial court should come out to borrow grain from these merchants, but in fact, it is to collect grain, and wait for the grain from other places to arrive in Gyeonggi to repay the grain of the merchants!" ”

After the words of the household official fell, Zhao Ye chuckled and said: "Merchants are heavy on profits, and now the price of grain has risen sharply, so I am willing to let go of the opportunity to make money to borrow grain and the government, and besides, my Emperor Song has issued an order to borrow merchants from these merchants, if it is spread out, the official family will not be ridiculed!" ”

Hearing this, he nodded immediately at the officials, and when he had a good face today, he naturally couldn't let go of this figure.

Obviously, this proposal will not work.

When a group of officials sighed, Dali Temple Qing Lotte came out of the class and said: "Although the dwellers are noble, although it is the eternal principle, but the sky has the virtue of a good life, and now the businessmen seek profit and light righteousness, and take advantage of the famine year to deliberately raise the price of rice, which is tantamount to depriving others of the right to live, which is really contrary to the way of benevolence and righteousness, and the minister thinks that he should be severely punished to suppress the price of grain!" ”

"What Lord Le Hou said lightly, I am afraid that I can't cure these merchants with just one sentence to raise the price of rice." Zhao Ye, the secretary of the Criminal Department, shook his head and said: "There are laws to follow in our dynasty to raise prices, one is to fabricate and disseminate information on price increases, and greatly increase prices; second, hoarding, resulting in a sharp rise in commodities; the third is hoarding; However, these three do not exist, and the drought around Gyeonggi is a well-known thing, and it is only natural that this year's summer grain harvest will fail, and the price of grain will rise. ”

In the Song Dynasty, the discussion of punishment almost reached the highest peak of the criminal law legal system in feudal society in China, and even some aspects were not weaker than those of later generations, so there were detailed provisions on the criminal law.

Zhao Ye, the waiter of the Criminal Department, Lotte also knows some roots, this Zhao Ye is a native of Kaifeng, and he is a time-space scholar who took the second year of Zhenghe. He has supervised the imperial history and the imperial history of the palace, tried to be a resident and a prince, and it can be said that he was a person who was half a prince, and later moved to the book, gave things, and became a great secretary, and worshiped the Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment and the bachelor of Hanlin.

To say that this Zhao Ye is also an ordinary person as an official, and he also has some skills in his hands, whether it is Cai Jing or Wang Huang is more upright, the party is squeezed together, one advances and one retreats, there is no one in the government and the opposition who can do both, but Zhao Ye has the heart of the two of them, and Cai Jing and Wang Hao are also undoubted.

Lotte then asked: "Zhao Shangshu, as the secretary of the Criminal Department, is naturally proficient in the laws of my Great Song Dynasty, according to Zhao Shangshu, these businessmen did not commit the crime of raising prices, I think there is no, but these businessmen's crime of raising the price of rice, can it be regarded as an illegal monopoly?" ”

"Monopoly?" When listening to Lotte's mouth, he said a new word, and the hundred officials were also very good.

"I think Lord Zhao has never been familiar with Yashengzhi!" Lotte smiled and said: "Yasheng Youyun: I must seek monopoly and climb it, and look at it left and right, and now the trip of a group of businessmen is completely in line with the words of the sage, and I am a minister who has been taught by the sage, and the lawbreakers will be brought to justice!" ”

Yasheng is Mencius, Mencius said that he must seek monopoly and climb it, to look left and right, which means to stand on the high ground of the market to manipulate trade, generally refers to control and monopoly, and the word monopoly comes from this.

"The 'monopoly' mentioned by Le, that is, my Great Song Dynasty today's 'Rong' also, my Great Song Dynasty salt, iron, tea, and wine have been official for a long time, although this move has huge profits, but the imperial court has a financial crisis, in order to make up for the lack of national use, so although my dynasty has three redundancies, but also because of the ban and a lot of wealth." Lotte said slowly.

Then he said: "However, rice and grain are different from salt, iron, tea, and wine, and are necessary for the people. ”

Zhao Ye said: "This is just the words of the Hou Ye family, how can we be sure that the businessmen of Biandu have a monopoly!" ”

Lotte said: "Some time ago, there was a rice shop in the city that sold rice at a low price, but the rice and grain sold were all purchased by the city grain merchants, and then sold at a high price. Why can some grain shops sell rice at market prices, and why do Biandu grain merchants sell rice at high prices? ”

"What Le Qing said is extremely true!" Zhao Ji nodded and said, and then set his eyes on Zhao Ye, the secretary of the Criminal Department: "Zhao Qing is familiar with the law, and he can divide the official and private affairs into the law, and then the Kaifeng Mansion will severely punish the crime of private affairs according to the law, so that all the people can do it." ”

"Command!" Zhao Ye, the secretary of the Criminal Department, and Yin Wangding of Kaifeng issued the decree together.

From the end to the end, Liang Shicheng, who was standing in front of Danqi, had been staring at Lotte with a confused look, trying to find some answers from Lotte's face, but seeing Lotte's face has always been an indifferent appearance, which makes people unable to see through and can't see Lotte's intentions.

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