In Yangzhou, Central Plains, the news that the Emperor of Xia State quietly collected grain only spread in the upper circles.

Since the Central Plains and Xirong fell into the hands of that emperor, a large number of reforms have tended to move in the direction of unifying several countries, and it is almost not difficult for the big clans in the Central Plains and even the north to guess the emperor's intentions.

The older generation of the big clans are all ghost-like characters, even if they know a little bit of wind and grass, after a little pondering, they can probably guess the actions behind the emperor, scald a pot of warm wine, and pull their children and grandchildren to sit in the ancestral hall of the clan and chatter, looking comfortable, and talking about their own guesses.

Seeing that the Wang and Li families had eaten a mouthful of oil and a big belly in the past ten days, they made a generous move to buy mansions and shops everywhere. The clans that were originally cautious couldn't sit still.

Naturally, they hoard grain not for food, but to sell it at a good price several times or more than ten times in a year when a disaster occurs.

In the past two years, except for the war in Luyang, let them eat a big meal, the rest of the time, basically peaceful, the granary at home is getting higher and higher day by day, ushering in a rare and peaceful good year, there is no continuous natural disasters, there is no sweeping war, the grain in the field grows one by one, and then, the pile in the warehouse is also moldy.

The first to sit still is the Zhao family in Changshan County, Yangzhou, there are two young talents in Luyang as officials, after several inquiries, Zhao Yankuan couldn't wait to contact the Wang and Li families, and it was a gift and a favor, and finally got through the relationship, and a person named Li Ru got in touch, and waited until the other party came to talk about it.

The old grain piled up in the warehouse was sold first, and the selling price was two or three cents higher than that in the rice shop, if the price of new grain continued to rise.

After selling a few granaries of Zhuangzi, Zhao Yankuan was even more convinced that the emperor was preparing for the domination of the world in two years, and at the same time he also had an idea in his heart, he pulled a few other big surnames who were good friends, and then they were familiar with or befriended by the gentry of the big clans, and the grain of the entire Changshan County was covered by the price of the land with the man named Li Ru.

I thought there would be some bargaining, but after a few contacts, I found that this scribe named Li Ru was actually a gentle person who was easy to discuss.

Sometimes the colleagues who came to collect the grain together couldn't stand it, and they couldn't help but say something heavy: "The grain overseer ...... We charge such a high price, and we can't make a difference above. ”

Who knows, Li Ru replied with a smile: "The whole world has been defeated, and Your Majesty still doesn't allow the brothers to enjoy themselves?" ”

The implication of this is that to collect such a high amount of grain is to be greedy for some Zhao Yankuan and other county clans to take kickbacks, naturally it is not surprising, after all, how can there be officials who are not greedy, not to mention the rare fat difference.

Overnight, he sent someone to discuss with that Li Ru good student, so that Yiwenli's Wenli should be regarded as filial piety to Li Ru.

With Changshan County, the big clans of the rest of the states and counties gradually joined in, after all, although everyone also had festivals, most of them were in the same spirit, and there were many in-laws.

Seeing that several big clans in Changshan County were full, where were they willing to lag behind by half a point, after taking the line of Li Ru, they began to release a large amount of grain to the government to buy.

Of course, they are not worried about the government's arrears and not paying, after all, there is no one who is an official in Luyang, and there are even many court officials.

Moreover, according to the news from the officials in the clan, His Majesty is now doing this business with Wu Yue, and Yuan Feng, the former secretary of the Ministry of War, has recently sold the armor and weapons of the Wei State to the Wu State, and a large amount of gold and silver has rushed into the treasury, and he is not worried about arrears at all.

In this way, the mighty sale of grain is in full swing, and the family has set aside a few rooms, prepared dozens of large boxes, and looked at the strings of copper coins full of them, which is called a cool heart.

Su Chen has been keeping an eye on this major event, to be honest, although he is at ease with Jia Xu, Li Ru, and Zhuge Liang, it does not mean that he is completely at ease, once the thing is not done, even if it is only half, the big clan in the Central Plains will not be able to fall in the future, and it will be difficult to be fooled again.

During this time, he accepted the princess married by Yue Guo, a petite woman, less than fifteen years old, for a girl of such an age, Su Chen was not interested at all, went through a process, and then sealed the title of a concubine, and threw her into the harem to play by herself, too lazy to pay attention to it.

Focusing on the layout that gradually ended in the end, when Jia Xu's news came, he finally began to make a move, and the new money that had been prepared was revealed, and for a while, the entire Central Plains clan was shocked, and the civil and military forces in the court also looked at the Son of Heaven in the Jinluan Hall in horror.

The ratio of sixteen for one directly made the hearts of the big clans holding the copper coins of the Wei State cool by half, which means that more than half of the grain they sold this year was given to the government for free.

Knowing that the new money was replacing the old money, Zhao Yankuan sat at home with the transcription back, and his face was red and speechless.

There are several large tiled houses in one of his courtyards, and most of the money made by the Wei State has shrunk directly at this time.

He is not the kind of person who can't beat a fart with a stick, so he immediately took someone to look for the grain supervisor named Li Ru, but he didn't find anyone, however, what happened next was dizzying, and the troops in Luyang found that the new military food was mixed with gravel, gravel, a pile of rice grain, and half a bag of dirt and gravel.

The generals in the army immediately set off a wave of anger, and the emperor who got the news was furious in court and sent a large number of embroidery men to investigate the matter.

Zhao Yankuan, who wanted to hold Li Ru accountable before, didn't have to wait for him to go, the originally gentle and weak scribe came to the door with his hands in his sleeves and still smiling at this time, and there were a large number of soldiers who came to the door with him.

"You people are so bold, the military rations sold to Your Majesty are mixed with gravel and fine stones, this is a matter, but it is a capital crime."

Zhao Yankuan was arrested and taken out of prison, his family members and nursing homes were also thrown into prison, and the entire Changshan County was instantly covered with bloody rain, and a large number of government officials and officials went around to get people.

The next day, several children of the big clans in Changshan County discussed countermeasures, and if they wanted to rescue the adults in the family, they had to find a way to dredge the officials above, but they sent a lot of money, and only sent back one sentence: "Wait." ”

But in the back, more county officials in Changshan County began to take people, starting from the Zhao family, almost all the men were arrested, and only women and children were left at home.

Moreover, the announcement of the charges caused an uproar among the people in various counties, and in a few days, a storm of arrests was suddenly set off in various prefectures, counties, and counties.

A large number of soldiers, under the leadership of the embroidery department, went to various families to get people, and then gathered their families in a house to impose martial law.

Things have been moving so quickly since then that people are overwhelmed.

In just 20 days, the big clans involved in selling grain in the Central Plains states were in mourning, and the elders and steers of the clans were imprisoned one after another.

The county vegetable market also set up a torture platform, there are special officials on the top to tell the people about the crimes of these people, to the back of the court of the civil and military are also panicked, these big clans are the family behind them, if they kill everyone, they will really become rootless.

successively begged to see the emperor's grace, and went to meet Prime Minister Zhuge and other descendants of the Son of Heaven from the side.

After a few days, the originally angry emperor finally relented, but as a punishment, it was to protect people or assets, and let these civil and military people choose.

Such a choice is not difficult, if there are no children in the clan, what is the use of asking for so many industries, as long as there are people, wealth is accumulated again.

As long as Su Chen relaxes his mouth, then everything will be easy, the fields, shops, and Zhuangzi of the big families in various states will be sealed, and those that should be handed over will be handed over, and one person will be released at a price of one hundred yuan.

On this day, all the properties of the eight major clans of the entire Central Plains were reduced to almost one-tenth of them, and most of the fields handed over were sold to the original tenants, and one-third of the grain was handed over every year to repay, which was almost equivalent to giving the fields to the people for nothing.

The various schools in the eight major clans were also taken over by the government and opened to the children of the common people.

For a time, Su Chen's prestige among the people of the Central Plains, whether he was a scholar or a peddler, rose directly to the height of a bodhisattva of great compassion in the temple.

The remaining fields were distributed to the families of the soldiers in an orderly manner in accordance with the government and military system, and the families of the soldiers in the north who were pro-Xia influenced and drove the atmosphere of the Central Plains.

Central Plains Dading.

Soon after, Su Chen returned to the north, went to Ding'an County to sit for a few days, looked at the swaddling clothes in Jiang Wan's hand, and showed a smile on his face, and then returned to Yanjing to preside over the court.

In the dead of night, the lights swayed gently, a wind blew, stroking the pages, Fang Xuejun came over with her stomach up, put her single clothes on her husband, and looked at Su Chen's handwriting.

The ink marks that have not dried, one stroke at a time, are full of ink, Su Chen looked at the written policy of governing the people, blew the ink stains on it, and walked to the bed with his wife's waist in his arms.

Time passed, the offering table in the temple was changed to a larger one, and there were more and more spiritual seats on it, which seemed crowded, and the two spiritual seats that had been silent for a long time finally reacted.

Su Chen knelt on the futon, holding long incense, as always, asking for the blessing of the ancestors and ancestors, and occasionally when he was tired, he would come and sit under the offering table, laugh with the emperors, sweep away the tiredness, shake the spirit, and continue to devote himself to the government.

……

In the court, the pine and green gradually withered and yellowed, and summer went to winter, day after day.

It's two years of governance.

(End of chapter)