On the wedding day, my wife was abnormal

The morning court session has ended.

Yuan Wei and Wang Jing walked side by side on the road out of the palace, both with faint smiles on their faces.

"Brother Yuan, brilliant!" Wang Jing lowered his voice and gave Yuan Wei a thumbs up. "With just a few words, you got that little girl to obediently walk into our trap."

"Heh." Yuan Wei stroked his beard, a smug glint in his cloudy old eyes. "She's still too young. Does she really think that just because she's in that position, she can control everything?"

"Little did she know that the real power in the Great Qian Dynasty did not lie with her as the emperor, but with us aristocratic families."

“That’s right.” Wang Jing nodded, a ruthless glint in his eyes. “She thinks she can win people’s hearts by opening the granaries? That’s just wishful thinking! As long as we control all the grain in the country, even if she empties the national treasury, she still won’t be able to fill this hole!”

"When that time comes, public resentment will boil over, and the world will be in chaos. I'd like to see if she can still sit securely on that throne!"

"Let's go." Yuan Wei smiled. "The real show is just beginning."

The two looked at each other and smiled, saying nothing.

Behind them, Prime Minister Zhang Jianzhi watched the two men's smug backs, his thin face etched with worry.

Your Majesty, why did you agree to Yuan Wei's proposal, which he considered utterly absurd?

Purchase grain from private individuals?

Now that Hebei is suffering from a major disaster, grain prices are rising three times a day. If the imperial court steps in to buy up grain, the price will surely skyrocket.

What's the difference between this and directly handing money to unscrupulous merchants who hoard and speculate on goods?

He wanted to offer his advice, but when he thought of the unquestionable gaze of His Majesty in the court, he swallowed back the words that were on the tip of his tongue.

"Ugh……"

He sighed deeply, feeling utterly lost about the future.

……

Just as Yuan Wei and Wang Jing had predicted.

When the Minister of Revenue, armed with imperial decrees and silver, excitedly rushed to major grain shops in the capital, ready to buy up grain on a large scale.

What he received, however, was the same answer from all the grain shop owners.

"We're out of food."

"Sir, it's not that we don't want to sell, it's just that the price of grain has risen too fast recently, and the little stock we have has already been bought up by merchants from other places."

"Yes, sir, you're a step too late."

The Minister of Revenue visited more than a dozen grain shops, and all gave the same answer.

Looking at the thick stack of silver notes in his hand, he felt for the first time the helplessness of having money but being unable to buy anything.

What he didn't know was.

He had just left.

Those grain shop owners who had just been complaining about being poor to him immediately spread the news of his arrival through secret channels to their respective backers.

Those so-called "out-of-town merchants" were actually managers sent by the Yuan and Wang families.

Several days ago, they had already secretly bought up all the grain in the capital and even all the surrounding prefectures at prices far higher than the market price.

Now, they have firmly grasped control of the entire grain market in northern Daqian.

An economic strangulation targeting the entire Daqian has begun.

……

The news quickly reached the palace.

In the imperial study room.

Murong Yan listened quietly to the Minister of Revenue's report, her beautiful face, always as cool and aloof as the moon, showing no emotion whatsoever.

Today, she did not wear the ceremonial robe that symbolized supreme imperial power.

The exquisitely black phoenix-themed dress was casually worn.

A five-zhang-long, jet-gold trail cascaded down from the enormous phoenix couch, spreading across the floor like a flowing, black galaxy of starlight.

On the hem of her skirt, the giant phoenix woven from real gold thread, under the illumination of the palace lanterns, had its eyes slightly closed, as if it too felt a little impatient with the war that was happening before it, a war without visible smoke.

"Your Majesty, I...I am incompetent." The Minister of Revenue knelt on the ground, his forehead covered in cold sweat. "Now, the price of grain in the capital has risen to ten taels of silver per shi! And there is no market for it!"

"If this continues, the capital will be in chaos within three days!"

His voice was filled with fear and trembling.

Ten taels of silver per stone!

In the past, this was twenty times the price of grain in a bumper year!

Ordinary people couldn't afford to eat it even if they sold everything they owned.

"Get up." Murong Yan waved her hand, her voice calm. "This is not your fault."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." The Minister of Revenue, feeling as if he had been granted a pardon, got up from the ground.

"Issue my decree," Murong Yan said slowly. "Starting tomorrow, each household in the nine gates of the capital will be allowed to purchase a limited amount of affordable rice per day based on their household registration."

"The price is set at five hundred cash per stone."

"What?!" The Minister of Revenue was completely dumbfounded upon hearing this.

Five hundred coins and one stone?

This...this is just like the price of grain during a bumper harvest!

Outside, the price has already reached ten taels of silver per shi (a unit of dry measure), yet Your Majesty is still selling it for five hundred wen (another unit of dry measure).

Isn't this... a case of losing money to gain publicity?

"Your Majesty, you mustn't!" He immediately knelt down, his voice filled with anxiety. "If we really sell at this price, the national treasury... the little grain stored in the national treasury probably won't last more than a few days before those unruly people buy it all up!"

"Buy it up?" Murong Yan sneered upon hearing this. "I want them to come and buy it up."

"I want to see whether their appetite is bigger or my granary is more robust."

A chilling glint flashed in her eyes.

……

Early the next morning.

When the news that the imperial court was going to sell rice at a limited price spread throughout the capital.

All the people who came upon hearing the news went mad!

They brought their families and all the containers they could find, and before dawn, they went to the grain sales points designated by the government and formed long queues.

The queue stretched from one end of the street to the other, a dense, dark mass that seemed to have no end in sight.

On everyone's face was a mixture of excitement and unease.

They were hoping to buy the life-saving food as soon as possible.

They were also afraid that this was just empty promises from the government.

"Hey, do you think the government is lying to us?"

"That's right, it sells for ten taels of silver a stone outside, how could they only sell it for five hundred coins?"

"Who knows? Let's wait and see. Anyway, we're almost starving, so let's try anything."

Discussions rose and fell.

At this time of widespread anxiety and speculation.

Chenshi.

The wooden door of the grain sales point slowly opened.

Several yamen runners dressed in official robes came out.

Immediately afterwards, wagons loaded with grain slowly drove out from behind the gate.

"Opening the granaries and distributing grain!"

Then a yamen runner shouted at the top of his lungs.

The entire queue instantly erupted in excitement!

"It's true! It's true!"

"The imperial court has really opened the granaries and distributed grain!"

Countless people were so moved that tears welled up in their eyes!

They let out a deafening cheer and surged wildly toward the grain sales point!

The situation was out of control for a while.

Fortunately, the prepared yamen runners and soldiers guarding the city stepped forward in time to maintain order, thus preventing a stampede tragedy.

The grain sales proceeded smoothly.

Bags of snow-white rice were distributed to every citizen.

They held the heavy bags of rice, their faces beaming with genuine, heartfelt smiles of happiness.

"Long live the Emperor! Long live the Great Qian Dynasty!"

Someone, I don't know who, was the first to shout it out.

Immediately afterwards, all the people who had bought the grain knelt down and performed the grand ceremony of three bows and nine kowtows in the direction of the palace.

The roar of shouts, as loud as a mountain and as powerful as a tsunami, echoed endlessly throughout the capital city.