Mao Xi stepped forward with some self-reproach, "During this time, the main energy of the imperial court has been on food, and the recent chaos in Hebei and other places, there are many negligences in the work of the imperial court, this is the dereliction of duty of the minister, please punish His Royal Highness." ”

Chen Kefu's face softened a little, waved his hand, and said, "I also understand that there have been more things in the imperial court recently, and the burden is heavier. The army of the imperial court is now fighting on three sides, and all the logistics are handed over to the princes, which is already a very heavy burden. In addition, there are rebellions in various places now, and the place is paralyzed for a while, and it is difficult for the princes. ”

"However, now is a critical moment, and at the beginning of the business, the burden must be heavier. However, we can't relax ourselves because of this, now that the soldiers are bleeding and fighting outside, then I and the princes and others are sitting in the rear, and we should govern the government and the local government to maintain local stability and prosperity, so as not to disappoint the blood of the soldiers. This rush to buy is not just a panic rush for food, but a more complicated situation. ”

Picking up a few folds from the table, Chen Kefu asked the chamberlain to pass them to the ministers.

After the right servant shot Fang Xuanling looked through it, he said with some surprise, "This trend of grabbing grain is actually mixed in by Li Yuan, Wang Shichong, Yang Jun, Yu Wenhua and other forces, and even Shuzhong and Jiangnan are also involved?" ”

These excerpts were issued by the Investigation Division, which provided a detailed investigation of the before and after of this grain rush trend. In the end, they found out that this time the tide of other grains was originally due to the panic of the people in the capital and the unrest in Hebei and began to rush to buy. Later, some profiteers saw an opportunity to take advantage of the opportunity and joined in, hoarding and wantonly fueling the flames behind the scenes, in order to seek huge profits.

However, as they investigated further, they immediately found some clues from several of the hoarders. After an all-out investigation, it was discovered that not only did prices begin to rise rapidly in the capital, but also in other places under the control of the imperial court.

And what surprised them even more was that they finally found out. More than half of the businessmen who are behind this are actually controlled by other major forces such as today. In other words, this trend is actually a conspiracy of major forces against the imperial court.

Now there are rebellions in various parts of Hebei, and the imperial army is fighting on several battlefields, and now they are busy fighting against the rebels of the Shi clan in other places. At such a critical moment, the imperial court, which was already in a shortage of food. and the conspiracy of various forces has caused prices to rise wildly in various places. Supplies are scarce. Then next, it will inevitably cause the prestige of the imperial court to plummet, and even cause a new round of turmoil due to this rush to buy.

At present, the local families and powerful have rebelled, and if it leads to chaos among the ordinary people. Then the court will be in danger. At that time, internal strife will lead to external crises, and even several armies fighting abroad will be greatly affected, which may lead to the defeat of foreign wars.

"Is this true?" Gao Shilian was also shocked.

Li Wusheng of the Investigation Department said, "We have found enough evidence, and in the past few days, the Police Department and the Military Police Department have been dispatched one after another, and hundreds of people have been arrested. The statements obtained so far are consistent with our evidence. ”

Mao Xi, Fang Xuanling and the others glanced at each other, and they all felt a deep crisis. This time such a big thing happened, they didn't know anything in advance, which was too passive and dereliction of duty. Fortunately, King Chen has already started to take action. Otherwise, I'm afraid that this incident will cause a lot of trouble.

"Your Highness, we must immediately launch a counterattack, otherwise we may cause unrest among the people. The people live on food, especially in Hebei today, if there is a famine, there will definitely be turmoil. I propose. Merchants who hoard food should be investigated immediately. ”

Du Ruhui nodded and said: "A legal system should be established to stipulate that grain should be monopolized. Merchants are forbidden to buy and sell in large quantities privately, so as to prevent profiteers and other hostile forces from making trouble in secret. ”…,

Other ministers also spoke out. Propose a number of feasible plans.

After Chen Kefu made people write them down one by one, he thought carefully for a while.

It can be said that no matter what dynasty or era, grain is a strategic material of the country, and it is an indispensable thing related to the lives of the people at any time. If the imperial court is allowed to monopolize them like salt and iron, there are advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that this kind of strategic material can be avoided from falling into the hands of others, and the imperial court can better control it. But there are also disadvantages, food is related to the people's livelihood, the imperial court is monopolized, and if it is not good, it will be easy to get out**, just like private salt, when the officials and businessmen collude, I am afraid that there will be a worse situation.

After thinking carefully for a long time, Chen Kefu shook his head and said cautiously, "Food is the foundation of people's livelihood, and every policy must be cautious. I don't approve of changing grain to a court monopoly. I thought about it carefully, and the imperial court could issue a decree to raise the commodity management of grain to a higher level and strengthen the supervision of the imperial court. For example, a price section was added by the Ministry of Households, and some important materials in the world were brought under the supervision of the imperial court. Once a month, the Imperial Court sets an approximate price for the published prices, and allows them to fluctuate within a certain range. However, it is forbidden to exceed the highest price, and those who dare to exceed it will be investigated and punished. For example, grain, salt, iron, copper, hemp, silk and other livelihood and national strategic materials are all included in the supervision. ”

"In addition, in this incident, the imperial court must not be soft, for the people who rush to buy, they will be warned by the Lizheng, Baozheng, and Jiazheng, and if there are any more rush purchases, they will be confiscated from the rush to buy materials. All the merchants of Juqi were ordered to sell their grain at a parity price. As for those hoarding merchants who are supported by the major forces behind the back, as long as they obtain evidence, they will immediately confiscate all their assets in the territory ruled by the imperial court, and confiscate their families into Weizhou, and if there are serious cases, they will be beheaded and made public. ”

Moreover, the imperial court must also distribute and sell a batch of grain to the people in the capital and other places in the near future, and each person is limited to receive it, and it is strictly forbidden to sell it after receiving it. And the imperial court must also publicize it to quell the trend as soon as possible. ”

Mao Xi and other officials from the three provinces and six ministries thought carefully about Chen Kefu's words for a long time. These methods, including severe punishment and warning profiteers, as well as appeasing the people and distributing food to alleviate the trend, are a good plan.

However, there are different opinions on this price section. After all, except for monopoly things such as salt and iron, the imperial court has never taken care of these private business affairs. At this time, it was unprecedented to suddenly add such a yamen, and the imperial court would set the price. And if you don't get it right, it's easy to mess up. However, for the time being, it is safer to set up a price section than to be monopolized by the imperial court. In the end, everyone passed it one by one.

"Report to Your Highness, good news from Yuyang! In a great victory, General Li Benlei defeated the 200,000 rebels of the Lu clan in Fanyang in one fell swoop, and the rebel leader Lu Che was defeated and killed himself, and the rest surrendered. Congratulations to Your Highness, congratulations to Your Highness. The chief eunuch Li Chaoen's face was full of excitement, and he ran into the Wenhua Pavilion with a ruddy face, and shouted the good news.

When the ministers in the cabinet heard this good news, they were also moved. Among the rebellious clans in Hebei, the rebellion of the Lu clan was the largest. As soon as they came, they rebelled in Yuyang and other places not far from Zhuo County, and secondly, their rebels numbered as many as 200,000, and at the beginning of their rebellion, they also sent a cavalry to Beijing to show off their might, so they had the greatest influence in the Gyeonggi area.

This rebellion of the clan has not been long in time, and even other places in Hebei have not yet received good news, but there is a rumor that the rebellion of the Lu clan has been pacified, how not to make him excited and happy.

All the ministers bowed and saluted one after another, and said happily, "Congratulations to Your Highness, congratulations to Your Highness." ”

Chen Kefu laughed a few times, and his mood was also a lot brighter. …,

"Present this good news."

After receiving the good news, Chen Kefu happily browsed.

"Annihilate 38,000 rebels and capture 183,000 rebels."

"The rebel leader Lu Che was defeated and killed himself, and Zhao Kuang was killed in battle, and the rest of the rebels surrendered."

"The entire fort of Lujiabao has been surrendered, and a total of 13,853 slaves of the Lu clan have been captured."

"Hahaha! The horizontal knife is immediate, only I am General Li! Well done, well played. This battle laid down a hundred years of stability in the four counties of Yuyang, Hebei Province. Chen Kefu's face was full of joy and his mood was extremely excited.

After reading it, Chen Kefu passed the good news to the ministers to watch.

Mao Xi was the first to read it, and his face was also happy, "Your Highness, now that Lu Che is dead, and the four counties in northeastern Hebei are all peaceful, I don't know how His Highness plans to deal with the Lu clan and other Hebei rebel clans, as well as those people who are attached to the rebellion?" To kill or not to kill? ”

Hearing Mao Xi ask this question, the rest of the ministers also looked up at Chen Kefu.

Lucher was the first rebel clan to be put down, and how to deal with him can be said to be very important. It is related to the disposal of other clans in the future, if the disposal is light, then there is no doubt that the majesty of the imperial court cannot be reflected, and even those rebellious clans who have not yet been pacified will be lucky.

However, if the punishment is severe, it may cause extremes. Dealing with it harshly and harshly is likely to provoke an outright revolt from those rebellious clans. At that time, it will inevitably bring a lot of trouble to the imperial court. After all, now that the imperial court is also in an eventful season, if the rebellion can be quelled one day earlier, the imperial court will be able to recover sooner. If it is really delayed, then Hebei will be eroded, and the loss of the imperial court will be even greater.

Even more troublesome is Huaibei in Shandong, where the imperial court has not established a solid rule over those two places. If the imperial court dealt with the Lu clan too harshly, it would inevitably provoke a fierce reaction from the clans in these two places, and perhaps Li Mi in Henan and Chen Chao in Jiangnan would intervene in it at that time.

He had long thought deeply about how to deal with these powerful people who dared to openly rebel, and all the follow-up plans had long been in his heart. However, at this time, he still wanted to hear the views and opinions of his assistants in the government and politics