Duke of Zhenguan

The fierce food price war is like an undercurrent beneath a calm river.

Ordinary people cheered as grain prices fell lower and lower, while large-scale farmers who had hoarded large quantities of grain and were waiting to stockpile land could only curse the disruptive grain shops in the East and West markets while having no choice but to lower prices as well.

Judging from the current situation, the longer they delay, the greater their losses will be.

It wasn't that no one was secretly hiring people to cause trouble for the shops in the East and West markets that had initially lowered their grain prices.

But they soon learned the consequences of doing so.

Not only were those who caused trouble thrown into jail, but those who did were also thrown into jail.

Even the mastermind behind it all couldn't escape this fate; he was directly chained up and dragged away by a group of fierce-looking county yamen runners.

Those who wanted to plead for leniency were sternly warned.

At this point, even those who weren't well-informed realized that the people behind the grain shops that led the price cuts were not to be trifled with, and they could only honestly use business tactics to compete.

Aside from the covert price wars over grain, the newly erected makeshift barracks outside the city gates of Chang'an made countless people grateful to the new emperor.

Emperor Taizong of Tang (Li Shimin) was a pragmatic emperor. After reviewing the health manual submitted by the Imperial Medical Bureau, he not only approved the Bureau's experimental plan but also ordered the Court of Imperial Sacrifices to prepare a batch of medicinal materials.

He also instructed the Ministry of Revenue to prepare grain.

When the refugees learned that the newly built barracks were actually medical facilities specially constructed by His Majesty for the sick refugees, they could hardly believe it.

Originally, those sick refugees could only wait to die, but after some people mustered up their courage and entered the barracks, and came out a few days later full of energy, more and more people went in.

Because they not only provide medical treatment, but also a hot meal.

Many healthy refugees pretended to be sick to sneak in, but were naturally beaten out with sticks.

The only thing that the sick refugees complained about was that there were too many rules in the barracks.

Even urination and defecation must be done in a fixed place, and the latrine must be flushed clean with water.

They have to drink boiled water; anyone who drinks tap water will not be given food.

The more desperate they were when they were waiting to die, the more grateful they would be to His Majesty the Emperor who gave them a new life when they came back to life.

The situation regarding grain prices was completely reversed at the end of May.

In fact, when those local powerful families who originally sided with the aristocratic clans started selling grain to other regions, the situation became very clear.

The powerful families also had their own channels of communication. When they learned that the canal was indeed filled with ships laden with grain, they knew that they had no chance of winning.

Apart from a few of the largest grain shops, all the other grain shops, large and small, in the East and West markets began to lower their prices for millet and wheat.

The price of millet has dropped to fifty coins per bushel.

This price is still several times higher than the price during the bumper harvest in the eighth year of the Wude era, but it is the lowest price in the past two years.

But such a price was enough to barely feed the hundreds of thousands of people in Chang'an.

Before the price of grain in Chang'an dropped to fifty wen per dou, the price of grain in various parts of Gyeonggi Province also gradually dropped to fifty to sixty wen.

Moreover, compared to Chang'an, the cooperation among the powerful families in various parts of the capital region was obviously not close enough, and they were almost easily defeated by the well-prepared powerful figures.

After grain prices fell, several shops that had initially lowered their prices to sell grain in the East and West markets quietly closed down.

Meanwhile, brick kilns, cloth workshops, and paper mills began to appear outside the city, and a large number of healthy migrants were recruited into these workshops.

In addition, the government also recruited a large number of people to start building water conservancy projects and repairing the long-neglected city defenses.

Thus, a famine that could have been recorded in history quietly vanished without a trace.

Li Shimin even won over many people's hearts because of this.

Lin Chuan, who had been silently observing all of this, was not surprised by any of it.

With Li Shimin, the Guanlong Group, and the grain from Jiangnan, those powerful clans had no chance of winning.

Moreover, they dared not push Li Shimin too far, but Li Shimin had no such concerns.

This was a completely unequal war from the start.

Aside from keeping an eye on grain prices, Lin Chuan focused all his energy on making soap.

The front yard of the east wing has been almost completely transformed into a huge handicraft workshop.

After Lin Chuan simplified the soap-making process into an assembly line, the production efficiency of soap increased significantly.

The speed of production depends directly on the supply of oil.

Besides soap, Lin Chuan also found a few clever people to start researching floral water and perfume.

Currently, some of the soap produced is stored in the warehouse, while the rest is used as gifts for the Cui family.

When Lin Chuan delivered the soap to the Cheng family, Cui Shi initially thought it was just a novelty Lin Chuan was trying to win Cheng Churou's favor. However, after she accidentally saw Cheng Churou washing her hands with the soap, Cui Shi couldn't sit still anymore.

For a lady of high society like her, no matter how expensive the things she uses or the food she eats, they are just ordinary.

Only something like soap could give her a special sense of superiority in front of other wealthy women.

After she presented a bar of osmanthus-scented soap as a gift to the Princess Consort of the Prince of Hejian on her birthday, she became a guest of honor among the wives of various dukes and marquises.

Knowing that Cui also liked soap, Lin Chuan personally sent over another batch.

But the quantity is far from enough.

She was too embarrassed to ask Lin Chuan directly.

Because Lin Chuan is not yet considered a son-in-law of the Cheng family.

Although Qin Qiong spoke casually to Cheng Yaojin, once he started making arrangements for Lin Chuan, he strictly followed the proper etiquette to begin the marriage proposal process.

Ask someone to choose an auspicious day and have them prepare various gifts.

The engagement date is still at least three months away.

However, Cui was not a rigid person. She was hesitant to speak directly to Lin Chuan, but she had few reservations about speaking to her daughter, Cheng Churou.

So, Cheng Churou openly brought Cheng Chun to the Lin family.

Cui didn't take it for nothing. Knowing that Lin Chuan was looking for a shop, she directly gave Cheng Churou the land deed of a shop in the East Market and asked her to give it to Lin Chuan.

Lin Chuan didn't stand on ceremony. After obtaining the land deed, he personally designed the renovation plan and asked his twelfth uncle, Lin Twelve, to take charge of the renovation.

On the last day of May, at dusk, Lin Chuan saw Cheng Churou off and smiled at his younger sister who had come out with him to see her off, saying:

"Er Ya, you can't go to the Yan family empty-handed. There are some new soaps available in the east wing. You can pick out a couple to take with you."

I also got some floral water; take some with you, it's never a bad thing to be a good gift!

After being dismissed from his post and stripped of his title, Lin Chuan found some time to take Er Ya to visit the Yan family, so that Er Ya could study with Yan Liu Niangzi.

At home, he would also take time to teach Er Ya arithmetic and some simple knowledge.

I don't expect her to become a great Confucian scholar, I just want her to understand more about things and broaden her horizons.

"Brother, I understand!" Er Ya nodded obediently.

In early June, a shop called Xiangfang opened in the East Market.

When people learned that this shop sold soaps that were only available to a few wealthy ladies, the shop suddenly became packed with customers.