On the evening of October 27, a grand banquet was held in the capital at the home of the prime minister Chen Yiguan.

There were many people in the meeting, such as Duke of England, Duke of Ding, Duke of Yongkang, Duke of Taining, Duke of Wuding, etc., among the top noble circles in the capital city. These people stood on the side of Shen Yiguan during the coup of Shen Yiguan and helped him to remove the emperor's power. Now they are naturally also meritorious ministers under Shen Yiguan's rule.

Anyway, they all made contributions.

Naturally, the so-called "grand" banquet is far from being really grand, at least not as great as the big banquet hosted by the emperor. To be honest, it was just a private banquet, but because it was held by Chen Yiguan, the chief minister and the actual power of the empire, it had special significance.

Every nobleman who was invited knew very well why Chen Yiguan invited them to dinner.

It's nothing more than a matter of price in the capital.

After the Grand Canal was blocked, the source of grain and supplies in the capital was cut off. This year, the autumn harvest in the north was a big failure. The northern grain could not make up for itself at all, so it could only be further recruited through the Grand Canal from the south. As a result, after the sudden war situation and a batch of grain was transported, the canal route was cut off.

Xiao Ruxun sent a navy to cut off the Grand Canal route of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. Not only food, but also many consumer goods and luxury goods of Jiangnan specialties were gone. The supplies in the capital suddenly became scarce and tight, and the prices of many things were rising quietly.

Since the nobles were kept in captivity, they did not get anything. At least they had been swallowed by the Beijing camp. They were all good at vain. In addition, except for Zhang Cong and Zhang Juzheng who had attacked their industries, the other civil servants had never attacked them. Their industries were spread throughout the capital and around the capital. In terms of making money, these people were also good at it.

They have their own supply channels. The Beijing-Hangzhou Canal has been cut off and they can get it from other channels, while ordinary people and ordinary officials do not. When some of the shortage of goods are out of stock, they start to raise prices and make money.

Prices have begun to rise from daily necessities to consumer goods to luxury goods, and even food that has always been explicitly prohibited.

After Li Hualong led his troops south, Chen Yiguan set rules with them that ordinary consumer goods and luxury goods will increase their prices as much as you want, but the price of rice and grain is not allowed to increase, nor will the price of salt be allowed to increase. Apart from that, I don’t care.

They agreed on the surface well, but everyone knows that rice, grain and salt are essential things for the human body, and rice, grain and salt are the most profitable things. At this moment, if you don’t sell rice, grain and grain to make money but sell luxury goods, isn’t this a problem with your brain?

This is a taboo of Chen Yiguan. Chen Yiguan does not allow them to raise the price of rice and grain at will. They must maintain the stability of rice and grain. Only when rice and grain are stable can the stability of the capital be ensured. If rice and grain are not stable, then Chen Yiguan will not be buried.

Now that the price of rice and grain has doubled, people have begun to sway in the capital. Both ordinary people and scholars have begun to express dissatisfaction with Chen Yiguan, thinking that they are about to be unable to afford rice and grain. If this continues, they will die.

But the nobles didn't seem to care. With Li Hualong's defeat, they seemed to become more unscrupulous.

Nowadays, people are eating, drinking and having fun, and Chen Yiguan is not worried about sitting in the main seat and drinking silently.

Zhang Weixian and Xu Wenbi, who were sitting at the same table with Shen Yiguan, looked at Chen Yiguan's face. Seeing Chen Yiguan's face slowly eating and drinking as usual, they relaxed a little, but it didn't matter. Even if Chen Yiguan turned against each other, they had a way to save their lives.

"Come on, Ying Gong, Ding Gong, this cup, I wish you."

Chen Yiguan suddenly raised his glass to toast Zhang Weixian and Xu Wenbi. The two of them were stunned for a moment, and quickly raised their glasses with smiles.

"I dare not, but I should respect the chief assistant."

"It's the extreme, we should respect the chief minister and thank the chief minister for his care!"

Zhang Weixian and Xu Wenbi laughed.

Chen Yiguan smiled slightly and drank the wine in one sip.

"Haha, this is what I should do. If it weren't for the help of the two kings, I would not be able to eradicate evil and maintain the safety of the Ming Dynasty. Thanks to the help of the two, the Ming Dynasty was able to be so prosperous and prosperous today, and the country is prosperous and the people are safe."

Chen Yiguan seemed to have something in his words.

So, where is the world prosperous and prosperous, and the country is prosperous?

Xu Wenbi and Zhang Weixian looked at each other and smiled again.

"It's the extreme, thanks to the Chief Auxiliary's rule of the world, the Ming Dynasty is so prosperous and prosperous, and the country is prosperous and the people are safe."

Xu Wenbi toasted Chen Yiguan with another glass of wine. Chen Yiguan smiled slightly, put down the wine glass, and seemed to be not planning to drink the toast.

"I am ashamed of what Duke Ding said. The prosperity of the Ming Dynasty and the prosperity of the country and the peace of the people. This is my lifelong ambition and the expectation of His Majesty's reign. I know that this is not easy, but as long as we work together, at least there is hope. What do the two Dukes think?"

Chen Yiguan looked at Xu Wenbi and Zhang Weixian.

The two of them were stunned for a moment, and then echoed together: "That's nature, that's nature."

"Yes, that's natural. So, since we all hope that the Ming Dynasty will be prosperous, prosperous, prosperous, and safe, why did the two dukes still violate the rules set by me and me and raise the prices of grain?"

The smile on Chen Yiguan's face was not diminished, and he felt like he was asking if he had eaten at noon today.

Here comes the show!

Xu Wenbi and Zhang Weixian knew that this was Chen Yiguan’s purpose, and the others were all fake.

There were still loud words at the table, but in the eyes of Xu Wenbi and Zhang Weixian, these were just background sounds.

"Hahahaha, the Prime Minister is worried too much. How can we raise the price of grain? Our idea is that if the grain stocks in Beijing continue to decrease and the purchase speed of the people does not slow down, then the food will eventually be exhausted. If the food is exhausted at that time, wouldn't it be bad?"

Xu Wenbi said nonsense.

"It's the extreme, I'm the extreme. We have adjusted the grain prices appropriately to make the people feel that the food prices have risen, thus saving food, reducing the speed of food consumption, allowing the grain in the capital to be maintained for a longer time, and opening up the canal for the Prime Minister. I'm doing this for the Prime Minister's ambition!"

Zhang Weixian was talking nonsense without changing his face.

It sounds very meaningful.

Even Chen always had to admit that what they said sounded a bit like it was right.

"Then is it because I don't think about it?"

Chen Yiguan looked at Zhang Weixian and Xu Wenbi with a smile.

Zhang Weixian and Xu Wenbi smiled kindly.

"Where is where, the chief assistant has a lot of things to do, and these are all small things we should do."

"That's right, the Prime Minister is already very busy dealing with national affairs. I can't bear to see that the Prime Minister has to work so hard in his seventies, so I can do my best."

Chen Yiguan really felt more and more laughing the more he listened. He felt that he owed them a big favor.

However, the purpose of Chen Yiguan's conversation with them is not only for the matter of grain prices. Some matters are discussed, but some matters cannot be discussed.
Chapter completed!