Tongzhou is the terminus of the Grand Canal, where all the grain transported from the south is centrally stored.

After coming here, Li Yunze immediately ordered Wen Tiren and Luo Yangxing to inspect the grain stored in Taicang.

This time, they were all the personal soldiers of Cao Wenzhao and others, plus the selected warrior battalion.

Not to mention the palace maids, even the eunuchs are only a few who are ready to follow Wang Chengen to Phi Island to deliver the decree.

The army did not enter the city, but simply set up camp outside the city.

After a lot of effort, Wang Chengen came in and reported, "Wang Wenhua, the governor of Tongzhou, asked for His Majesty." ”

"Nope." Li Yunze, who was eating dinner and roasting a leg of mutton, refused without raising his head, "All the prefectures and counties along the way are gone." ”

"Wait."

stopped Wang Chengen, who was about to go out, "Let Qin Tianjian go and see if it will rain here tomorrow." ”

"Yes."

Wen Tiren and Luo Yangxing soon returned and reported: "The ministers and others have checked the account books of various granaries, and there is nothing suspicious. ”

In response to them, a half-eaten leg of lamb flew over.

Li Yunze slapped the table, "Are you brainless, or have you received filial piety?" Checking the books can find out a ghost. To open a position for testing! Carefully check whether the grain in the granary is the same as that in the account book, and open the grain bag to check whether it is counterfeit sediment

, is it stale grain, rotten grain! Check your books? When I'm a fool, go back and re-check! ”

Wen Tiren and Luo Yang's brains were sweating, and they even pleaded guilty to quit.

Out of the tent, Luo Yang's heart palpitated, "Our emperor, I know everything." ”

Wen Tiren of the old Yin coin smiled and said nothing, and would never accept this kind of talk.

However, he still left the next sentence: "Here in Taicang, Tongzhou, someone is going to be unlucky." ”

After Li Yunze had eaten, Wang Chengen came over to report, "Qin Tianjian said that there will be clouds and wind tomorrow, but the clouds are not thick enough and it will be difficult to rain." ”

"That's just right."

Li Yunze got up and beckoned Wang Chengen: "Find a few people to wait outside." ”

Li Yunze, who returned to the modern world, appeared directly in the warehouse he rented.

No matter what world he was in, where he left before, and when he came back, he was still in the same place.

Li Yunze drove a forklift to transport the boxes equipped with artificial rainfall systems to the time and space of the Ming Dynasty.

Summoned Wang Chengen and others to come in, "Good life guard." If you lose it and break it, then you can go to the river and dig the Tonghui River. ”

After arranging things, Li Yunze returned to the back tent to rest.

After getting up the next morning and washing up, Li Yunze beckoned Wang Chengen and others, who had not slept all night, to push the box to the open space outside.

After that, I opened the box and began to assemble it according to the instructions.

Looking at the clouds floating in the sky, Li Yunze, who had adjusted the angle, clapped his hands and said, "Wang Banban, do you want to make a bet?" I can call the wind and the rain. ”

"The emperor is the Son of Heaven, and it is naturally common to call for wind and rain." Wang Chengen, who has a deep knowledge of sycophants, immediately presented a fragrant fart, "How can the slave and maid dare to bet with the emperor." ”

"It's boring."

Li Yunze waved his hand to make the people around him retreat, and then hit the cylinder containing the catalyst into the clouds in the sky.

A few muffled sounds were like thunder, causing some commotion in the entire camp.

Cao Wenzhao and others immediately patrolled the camp and reprimanded them, and soon calmed down.

Luckily, it's dawn now, and it won't be so easy at night.

After waiting for a while, it hadn't rained in the sky, and Li Yunze, who couldn't hold it on his face, hit two more shots.

Now it's finally raindropping.

Wang Chengen, who witnessed this scene, seemed like a miracle to him, and immediately bowed down and shouted "Holy Son of Heaven~~~"

Li Yunze, who was in a good mood, beckoned Wang Chengen to put everything into the tent.

When he was having breakfast, Wen Tiren and Luo Yangxing, who had also not slept all night, rushed to report on the inspection of the granary.

"Long live, there are all kinds of grain in the granaries in Tongzhou, and the total number should be more than 1.5 million stones."

"Long live, the ministers will open the bag and inspect it. Most of the grain in the granaries is stale grain, and even worse, the bags are filled with straw and sediment! ”

"Hey."

Li Yunze picked up the bowl and drank the porridge with a sigh.

"What are you waiting for, go to the lockdown city to arrest and interrogate! Ask me where my food has gone! ”

Tongzhou's grain storage is related to the food problem of the entire north, but at least half of the grain is in problem at the moment.

Li Yunze knew that Da Ming was already rotten at this time, but he didn't expect it to be rotten to this extent.

He was in a terrible mood and didn't have a good face all morning.

When I ate at noon, I couldn't eat it even more angrily.

At this time, the drizzling rain gradually stopped, and Li Yunze simply called Wang Chengen to call Cao Wenzhao and others, as well as those noble children, and went straight to Tongzhou City.

Li Yunze's riding skills are hard to describe.

That is, the crotch is a docile horse, and the senior eunuch of the imperial horse supervisor can lead the horse smoothly.

Tongzhou City had been closed at this time, and the Jinyi guards guarding the door saw that Li Yunze had come in person, and immediately opened the door to greet him.

After entering the city, Li Yunze did not rush straight to the granary, but stretched out his hand and pointed to several families on both sides of the road, "Go and invite the people of these families to come out and speak." ”

The brocade guards who accompanied the car immediately stepped forward and knocked on the door.

For the brocade guards, they usually slam the door.

It was only because Li Yunze said a request that the smash was changed to a knock.

More than a dozen people from several families stood together in horror.

Wang Chengen stepped forward and was about to scold them for saluting, but Li Yunze waved his hand directly, "Excuse me, just ask you a few words, and respond truthfully." ”

These Tongzhou people are dressed okay, the adults have few patches on their clothes and are very clean, and several women even have copper hairpins.

The height of adult males is more than 1.6 meters, and it is okay to look at it vigorously.

This is completely different from the images that Li Yunze once saw on the Internet, those who were dark and short in the late Manchu Dynasty, like skeletons.

"How much income is your family?"

In the face of Li Yunze's inquiry, a strong man in the crowd responded respectfully: "The villain is fighting the grain pack on the canal, and when he is alive, he can get more than 20 wen a day." ”

Then the man motioned to a few men around him, "This is He Laosan, who is doing chores in Fulin Building, and can get more than ten Wen a day?" ”

Then He Lao San nodded repeatedly, "Yes." ”

"This is Chen Liuzi, who works as a carpenter at home. How much..."

Chen Liuzi hurriedly responded, "The villain sells woodware, and he has more than 100 yuan, and there are 70 or 8 yuan when he is young." ”

"This neighbor is Zhao Dayou, who works in Yuantai Grain Store, and can also get more than ten literary wages every day."

Zhao Dayou nodded again and again.

Li Yunze said, "What is the price of grain in Tongzhou, how much does it cost to buy catties of meat?" ”

"Tongzhou Doumi is 90 Wen, and mutton is 60 Wen a catty."

Hearing this price, Li Yunze immediately took out his mobile phone and began to calculate.

One stone and ten buckets, that is to say, one stone of grain is nine hundred Wen.

The weight of a stone in the Ming Dynasty is one hundred and fifty-three and a half catties, but it is a catty in the Ming Dynasty, and a catty in the Ming Dynasty is 594.6 grams, which is converted to 188 city catties?

In other words, you can buy a pound of grain for less than five cents.

If they eat meat, these people can grit their teeth and buy a pound of tooth sacrifice every once in a while.

Of course, to be specific, it is also necessary to divide brown rice and polished rice, in addition to eating, there are also expenses such as diesel, salt, sauce, vinegar, tea, cloth, etc.

Moreover, this is Tongzhou, where the grain transported from Cao is hoarded, and it is normal for the grain to be cheaper.

Overall, life can barely go on.

Compared with the people who lived on sweet potatoes in the last years of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, they were already living happily.

It's a pity that with years of natural disasters and wars, everything will collapse under the soaring prices.

Li Yunze nodded and motioned to Wang Chengen, "Give them two taels of silver per household." ”

The group went straight to the official warehouse in Tongzhou City, where Li Yunze saw with his own eyes the granaries that were mostly empty, as well as the grain bags filled with straw and soil, and the old grain that had been difficult to feed the livestock for I don't know how many years.

He didn't say a word, and after checking it, he immediately turned his horse's head and went straight to the Tongzhou Mansion.

Among the noble sons and daughters who accompanied him, many of them had panicked faces.

The grain business in Tongzhou City is so big, and there are many nobles involved in it.

When he came to the Tongzhou Mansion, Li Yunze turned over and dismounted, rubbed the painful inner thigh, and walked in directly with the horsewhip.

At this time, the trial was being held in the lobby, Wen Tiren was holding high in the center, and on both sides were Luo Yangxing and Wang Wenhua, the governor of Tongzhou.

Those who were interrogated were the stewards of more than 40 granaries of all sizes in Tongzhou.

Seeing Li Yunze walking in directly, Wen Tiren with a dignified face, hurriedly ran down to salute.

"Hooray~~~"

Tongzhou did not get the slightest news before, and there were rumors last night that the emperor had arrived outside the city.

At this time, I saw the emperor appear here, and many of the stewards of the granary could no longer control the sphincter.

Li Yunze, who was expressionless, stared at Wen Tiren, "How is the question?" ”

"Long live, the ministers have been interrogated strictly to get some eyebrows, but there are too many offenders, and it will take some time..."

'Smack! ’

Li Yunze shook the horsewhip abruptly and pulled out a crisp sound.

"Say the result!"

Wen Tiren's scalp was numb, and he gritted his teeth and said, "This matter is the collusion between the directors of various granaries and many grain stores in the city. ”

Li Yunze looked around at the people lying on the ground, "Who is from the grain shop?" ”

No one answered.

"Huh?"

Wen Tiren buried his head deeply, "Long live, the grain merchants haven't been captured yet..."

"Wen Tiren." Li Yunze walked straight to the high plaque of Mingjing and sat down: "Don't you want to do it?" ”

At this time, Wen Tiren was bitter in his heart.

He knows the doorway very well, but there are too many senior nobles in the DPRK and China who do the grain business in Tongzhou, and he doesn't dare to offend.

I thought that the big things would be small and take these supervisors to the account, but I didn't expect the emperor to stare so closely!

Wen Tiren's life creed has only one, that is, to be an official and a big official.

Now that I have finally achieved the position of second assistant to the cabinet, I am absolutely reluctant to lose it.

He kowtowed again, "The minister knows his mistake, and now arrest all those grain merchants." ”

Li Yunze hummed noncommittally.

Wen Tiren gave Luo Yangxing a look, and a large number of brocade guards immediately dispatched.

After a short time, there was a commotion outside.

"I'm the steward of the Chengguo Mansion! Who dares to arrest me?! ”

These arrogant words came, and the entire lobby fell silent.

Woe comes from the mouth, this unlucky child can be regarded as a pit for the Chengguo Mansion!

Li Yunze knocked on the table in front of him with a horsewhip, "Break your leg first, and then bring it in." ”