Chang'an City was besieged by the northern barbarian army for several days.

At first, the people in Chang'an City didn't think it was anything.

After all, Chang'an is a majestic city in the world. The city is extremely strong and there are tens of thousands of troops in the city.

In the eyes of the common people, the prairie barbarians only came south to fight the autumn wind.

They beat the autumn wind and left in confusion when they saw that they could not take advantage of Chang'an City.

But now more than a month has passed, almost two months, and these barbarians have no intention of evacuating. Are they going to fight them to the end?

What the fuss is about!

As time goes by, people's minds will inevitably change.

Grain prices skyrocketed for a while. As time went by, the situation intensified and the imperial court had to intervene in grain prices.

"This must be someone who is secretly driving up prices to disturb people's hearts."

Jia Xingwen, the bad person's yamen, said angrily...

"Wangcai, why don't you go find out more about the situation and find out who is secretly driving up prices."

Zhao Xun said with a serious expression.

Although Emperor Xianlong did not leave the case of price gouging to bad people, Zhao Xun instinctively wanted to pursue this matter to the end.

There was no other reason than that he wanted to do something for the people of Chang'an.

Rice is expensive and living in Chang'an is not easy.

Even during the price parity period, food prices in Chang'an were far higher than in other places.

Now that Chang'an is under siege, people with ulterior motives are secretly driving up the price of food, so that the price of food has risen to an unacceptable level.

Zhao Xun must find the person behind this and bring him to justice.

"Okay, I'll take care of this."

Wangcai patted his nameplate and promised.

First of all, he was sure that it was not his Pan family who was hoarding food and driving up food prices.

Businessmen pursue profits, but the Pan family loves money and has their own principles.

The biggest principle is to value trust and never embarrass the country.

…

…

There are many grain stores and rice shops in Chang'an City, but overall there are only a few of them that are sold on the counter.

Others are some scattered shops, doing small things.

Being able to drive up and control the price of grain in Chang'an City is enough to prove that this person has extraordinary abilities, so he must be a famous grain merchant.

After Wangcai's investigation, the three most suspected families were the Sun family, the banker family, and the Gu family.

"Brother Mingyun, if nothing else goes wrong, these three companies are driving up food prices. We need to test which one it is specifically."

I have to say that Wangcai's ability to do things is still very strong. It only took half a day to figure out the situation clearly.

"Sun family, Zhuang family, Gu family..."

Zhao Xun muttered silently, his eyes becoming sharp.

"Okay, let's search from house to house to see if there is a large amount of food stored in their granaries."

Jia Xingwen suggested.

"no."

Zhao Xun shook his head and said: "Without evidence, even the government cannot forcefully come to the door. Otherwise, where is the national law?"

Although this era is ruled by humans, Zhao Xun still has his own persistence.

In other words, Emperor Xianlong was not a human being, so he could not learn not to be a human being.

"What should we do?"

Wangcai looked bitter and didn't know what to do.

"It can be traced secretly."

Zhao Xun paused and said, "Wangcai, do you have a way to put people in their store?"

"Do you still need to arrange it? They all have secrets from our family in their shops."

Wangcai spread his hands and said crisply.

Seeing Wangcai's proud face, Zhao Xun was extremely surprised.

"You are planning for a rainy day."

"In our business, we need to be prepared for a rainy day. Only by keeping an eye on all directions, listening to all directions, and being able to get all the news can we do it for a long time."

In front of Zhao Xun, Wangcai had no need to hide it, and simply said the truth: "Actually, other companies must have insiders in our store, and we are well aware of this."

"Then you won't find out the inside story?"

Zhao Xun felt puzzled.

"What are you trying to find out? Why don't you ask them to get some wrong information?"

Wangcai appears to be very confident.

"I see."

Zhao Xun suddenly realized.

"But if that's the case, how can you guarantee that the information you get in other people's stores is not someone else's intention to let you know?"

“There’s really no guarantee, but you have to give it a try.”

Wangcai sighed and said, "It's better than having a black eye."

"Well, then you should try it first."

…

…

Daming Palace, Zichen Palace.

Emperor Xianlong was in a very gloomy mood.

Recently, the price of food in Chang'an City has skyrocketed. Even though the imperial court intervened and suppressed it many times, it still cannot control it.

If this continues, the situation will be completely out of control before long.

"Obani, what do you think I should do now?"

Emperor Xianlong had never experienced such a difficult situation in the past thirty years since he ascended the throne as Jianzuo.

Today's Chang'an City is experiencing real internal and external troubles. Although Emperor Xianlong is trying to support himself, he doesn't know how long he can support himself.

"Your Majesty, the best policy is to remain unchanged in response to all changes."

Zheng Jie said very respectfully: "The imperial court can observe in secret, but it is not appropriate to come forward directly. Only by letting them show the tail of the fox can the imperial court be liquidated."

Emperor Xianlong shook his head and said: "In normal times, of course I can do this. But not at this time. There are barbarians outside who are watching with eager eyes, and there are speculators inside who want to do evil. If I allow them to deceive people's hearts, the consequences will be disastrous.

"

Emperor Xianlong really didn't dare to let things go.

The imperial court's prestige has been greatly reduced. If it can no longer control food prices, it will surely lose people's hearts.

"Perhaps we can first find a scapegoat to take the blame to appease people's hearts."

"Your Majesty, now we have to take a long-term approach and catch big fish. The court must keep calm in order to catch the person behind the scenes."

Zheng Jie insisted: "Your Majesty, you must hold back."

"That's all, just do as you say."

Emperor Xianlong sighed and said: "Next, I will have both the bad guys and the internal guards investigate in secret to see who can find out the results first."

Although Emperor Xianlong finally agreed to Zheng Jie's suggestion, he still held back.

Zheng Jie wanted to make the secret guard responsible for the whole process, so that the inner chamber supervisor could have the case firmly in his hands.

But Emperor Xianlong wanted to let the bad guys also investigate.

The bad coach Feng Hao is not in the capital now. In Zheng Jie's opinion, this is his best opportunity to expand his power.

It turned out that Emperor Long had no intention of delegating power and intended to promote Zhao Xun as Feng Hao's successor.

This Zhao Xun did indeed perform very well and handled several cases very appropriately.

It seems that His Majesty is still worried about him.

Even the old slave who has been with him all his life cannot make him absolutely reassured.
To be continued...