Duke of Zhenguan

In the evening, Cheng Yaojin returned home with his two sons, and Lin Chuan and Cheng Churou went to the front yard to greet him.

Hearing that Lin Chuan had spent the entire afternoon in his daughter's courtyard, Cheng Yaojin, reluctant to speak ill of his daughter, warned Lin Chuan with a dark face:

"Behave yourself. If you dare to overstep the bounds, I'll send you to the palace to serve His Majesty!"

Lin Chuan, thick-skinned as ever, smiled and agreed, while Cheng Churou wished she could disappear into a hole, her face flushed as she glared at Cheng Yaojin:

"Ah Ye..."

Dinner was naturally eaten at the Cheng family's house. After dinner, Cheng Churou reluctantly followed Cui Shi to the backyard, while Lin Chuan chatted with Cheng Yaojin in the front yard.

"This afternoon, the Imperial Physician brought your disciple into the palace, saying that he had a way to prevent and control the epidemic and needed the assistance of the Imperial Guards. Your disciple said that you wrote that hygiene regulation?" Cheng Yaojin asked.

"Hmm!" Lin Chuan nodded.

"I wonder how much you've got in your head. His Majesty has ordered the Imperial Medical Bureau to compile the methods for treating external injuries into a book, which should be printed and distributed throughout the country. If those hygiene regulations are also useful, you'll have done another great service!" Cheng Yaojin said with a smile.

"I only spoke up, it's nothing special..." Lin Chuan said modestly.

"Don't try to fool me. His Majesty remembers everything. This morning, he ordered the Secretariat to draft an edict to strip Li Cang of his title as Duke of Leping County. Now Li Cang is the Marquis of Leping County!" Cheng Yaojin glared at Lin Chuan, annoyed, and said speechlessly.

It was obvious that Li Shimin was trying to appease him. He had to admit, Li Shimin was indeed a good leader. He smiled and said:

"Wouldn't that make the magistrate of Leping County hate me even more?"

"What good is his hatred? What can a mere Marquis of Leping do to you?"

Cheng Yaojin asked, amused.

"That's not how it works. As the saying goes, you can only be a thief for a thousand days, but you can't guard against thieves for a thousand days. If someone is always thinking about you, you'll never feel at ease!" Lin Chuan said speechlessly.

"Alright, instead of worrying about Li Cang, you should be wary of the Pei family. Pei Xu is dead now, but the Pei family won't let this go!" Cheng Yaojin sighed.

"Sigh, I really don't want to get involved with the Pei family!" Lin Chuan sighed as well.

"When I was beating Pei Xu to death at Qunfang Pavilion, I never thought I would offend the Pei family."

"What's the use of saying all this now? We might as well think about how to kill them!" Cheng Yaojin reached out and patted Lin Chuan on the shoulder.

"It's tough!" Lin Chuan sighed.

"That's certainly difficult," Cheng Yaojin grumbled speechlessly, then changed the subject:

"Just wait and see! The grain transported from Jiangnan has already passed Luoyang and will soon reach various parts of Guanzhong!"

"How far have we gotten?" Lin Chuan asked curiously.

He only offered an idea; he wasn't qualified to participate in the matter.

"I don't know the exact amount, but it's considerable. His Majesty and the Prince of Hejian took the lead, and most of the imperial clansmen participated, along with the Changsun family, the Dou family, the Du family, and the Xiao family. They all invested heavily, and it's said that they emptied out all the surplus grain in Jiangnan!" Cheng Yaojin said softly.

Lin Chuan clicked his tongue in amazement. This fight was really interesting. Although the families Cheng Yaojin mentioned were also powerful clans, they had shallow foundations and were newly rich. Moreover, they were all staunch supporters of the Li family.

It has to be the emperor, to make such a big commotion without making a sound.

Lin Chuan didn't believe that those powerful families would just stand by and watch, and asked in confusion:

"Have those powerful families remained silent?"

"What kind of commotion could they possibly cause? All they can do is hoard grain, but grain from Jiangnan is flowing steadily to Guanzhong. At the current grain prices, they can't afford to eat it all!" Cheng Yaojin sneered.

Then he added:

"Actually, if they were to sell the grain now, they could still make a fortune. His Majesty and the others wouldn't gain much advantage. Although transporting grain from Jiangnan involves waterways, going upstream results in considerable losses!"

"His Majesty isn't doing this for money! Besides, I have a feeling that powerful families won't give up so easily..." Lin Chuan shook his head.

"So what if they refuse to admit defeat? As long as the people can buy food, they can't cause any trouble!"

After receiving the news from Cheng Yaojin, Lin Chuan kept a close eye on grain price information.

Five days later, grain prices in Chang'an began to fluctuate. At this time, millet was selling for 200 wen per dou, but suddenly several more grain shops appeared in the West Market and East Market, selling the same millet for only 100 wen per dou.

Within fifteen minutes of these shops opening, the area outside was packed with people rushing to buy grain.

Meanwhile, wagons loaded with grain entered Chang'an from various docks outside the city.

"The grain will keep arriving!"

"The major grain merchants from Jiangnan have all arrived!"

"..."

Similar messages continued to reach the ears of the people.

But there were too many people in Chang'an, nearly 400,000, plus tens of thousands of refugees outside the city. The daily consumption of grain was astronomical, and the people would exchange all their money for grain.

The newly opened grain shops in the East and West markets are packed with people every day, yet many still cannot buy grain, while other grain shops show no sign of lowering prices.

Even among the people queuing to buy grain, many were employees of other grain shops.

These days, Lin Chuan goes to Cheng Yaojin's house almost every day. Apart from being affectionate with Cheng Churou, he spends most of his time listening to Cheng Yaojin talk about secrets.

For example, the grain shops that suddenly appeared in the West Market were owned by Li Xiaogong's family. As a meritorious official who pacified Jiangnan, Li Xiaogong had the deepest roots in Jiangnan. Apart from Li Shimin, he invested the most capital this time.

The extra shops in the East Market were opened by the Empress's people.

The powerful families such as the Changsun, Dou, Du, and Xiao families each took charge of one or more prefectures in the Gyeonggi Province. When the grain shops that suddenly appeared in Chang'an started selling grain at half price, grain merchants in other prefectures of the Gyeonggi Province also began selling grain at low prices, striving to lower grain prices as quickly as possible.

Because grain is not only in the hands of large families, but also in the hands of local powerful clans of all sizes. As long as they feel that if they don't sell it, it will just sit in the warehouse and get moldy, the price of grain will naturally come down slowly.

This kind of price war is simple and straightforward; the only requirement is that Li Shimin and a group of newly rich people always have grain to sell.

Half a month later, apart from the newly opened grain shops, the original dozens of grain shops in the east and west markets still did not lower their prices. However, to their surprise, the newly opened grain shops seemed to have an unsold supply of grain.

Not only could the grain not be sold out, but the price was also reduced again, with each dou (a unit of dry measure) of rice selling for only eighty wen (another unit of dry measure).

Six or seven days later, several smaller grain shops in the West Market could no longer hold out and began selling grain at a price of one hundred coins per dou.

Behind these grain shops were some large landowners near Chang'an. They hoarded grain, hoping that starving people would come to them to exchange their land for grain.

But if the people can buy grain, they will naturally want to sell it to make a profit.

As several grain shops began selling grain, the situation gradually began to tilt in favor of Li Shimin and the newly rich.