On the wedding day, my wife was abnormal

The capital city, the Grand Tutor's residence.

Inside the study, Yuan Wei and Wang Jing sat facing each other.

On the chessboard in front of the two, black and white pieces were locked in a fierce battle.

"Brother Yuan, you used a rather ruthless 'cut' move." Wang Jing picked up a white piece, hesitated on the chessboard for a long time, and ultimately did not place it.

"Hehe." Yuan Wei stroked his beard, a smug gleam in his cloudy old eyes. "Playing chess is like waging war; if you hesitate, you will suffer the consequences."

"Well said." Wang Jing nodded, put down the chess piece in his hand, picked up his teacup and took a sip. "However, I didn't expect that little girl would come up with the idea of ​​opening the granary to distribute grain. She does have some guts."

"Just reckless courage," Yuan Wei scoffed. "Does she think she can fight us with the meager grain reserves in the national treasury?"

"She's drinking poison to quench her thirst, courting death."

“That’s right.” A mocking smile appeared on Wang Jing’s face. “My men just sent word that the government’s grain sales points sold nearly 100,000 shi of grain today alone.”

"At this rate, her meager savings will be completely wiped out in less than ten days."

"Then let's see what she has to fight us with!"

"Hahahaha!"

The two exchanged a smile, their laughter filled with the smug satisfaction of having the victory in their grasp.

In their view, they had already won the war.

……

However, what they don't know is.

While they were still making a fortune off the national crisis.

A massive, inescapable trap has been quietly set in motion against them.

Imperial Palace, Imperial Study Room.

Murong Yan sat quietly on the phoenix chair, which symbolized supreme imperial power.

Today, she is still wearing that same ultra-black phoenix descending to earth dress.

She wasn't wearing a wedding robe; her long, jet-black hair was simply tied back with a black jade phoenix hairpin.

The five-zhang-long, dark gold trailing tail cascaded down from the phoenix chair, spreading out on the floor like a solidified black ocean.

On the hem of her skirt, a giant phoenix woven from real gold thread, its eyes gleaming under the palace lanterns, seemed to mock the presumptuous clown.

Standing before her was Zhang Jianzhi, the current prime minister, who looked extremely anxious.

"Your Majesty!" Zhang Jianzhi held a newly compiled account book in his hand, his thin face filled with worry.

"In just three short days, nearly half of the Ever-Normal Granaries in our capital have already been emptied!"

"Now, grain prices in the city are completely out of control, and the price on the black market has been driven up to an astronomical price of twenty taels of silver per shi!"

"Moreover, this trend has begun to spread to the surrounding state capitals."

"If this continues, we'll be in chaos before the disaster victims from Hebei even arrive in Beijing!"

Zhang Jianzhi's voice was trembling.

He didn't understand.

Why did things turn out this way?

Your Majesty has clearly opened the granaries and released grain, so why is it that the price of grain has not only not come down, but has instead been rising higher and higher?

"Minister Zhang, please calm down." Murong Yan waved her hand, her voice calm, as she looked at him, who was so anxious he was about to jump up and down.

"Your Majesty, how can I not be anxious!" Zhang Jianzhi said with a bitter face. "Right now, those grain merchants outside are acting like madmen. They buy as much as we sell! This isn't disaster relief; it's clearly giving money to those unscrupulous merchants!"

"Give me money?" Murong Yan laughed upon hearing this. "My money isn't so easy to take."

She turned her head and looked at the man who had been sitting quietly beside her the whole time, yawning listlessly.

"My husband, don't you think so?"

"Hmm." Lin Zhen nodded, put down his teacup, and slowly stood up from his seat.

He walked up to the huge map of the territory, and gently tapped the prosperous land of Jiangnan on it.

"The fish are almost fattened up."

A cold smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

"It's time to close the net."

Zhang Jianzhi stared at Lin Zhen, who looked so confident, and was completely stunned.

He didn't understand.

How can the prince still be laughing at a time like this?

Does he have some other trick up his sleeve?

……

Just when the capital was in a state of panic due to soaring grain prices.

A mysterious army of several thousand men, dressed in black and wearing black iron masks, is silently entering the Jiangnan region via the canal.

They were Lin Zhen's most elite secret guards.

They have only one task.

That is, to wipe out all the secret grain warehouses of the Yuan and Wang families in the Jiangnan region in the shortest possible time!

Jiangnan has been a land of fish and rice since ancient times.

During the Great Qian Dynasty, nearly 70% of the grain was produced here.

The reason why the Yuan and Wang families dared to do this, recklessly hoarding grain in the north and driving up grain prices.

It was because they relied on their deep-rooted power in the Jiangnan region and their enormous grain reserves of tens of millions of shi (a unit of dry measure).

In their view, controlling the grain supply in Jiangnan was equivalent to controlling the lifeline of the entire Daqian Dynasty.

However, despite all their careful planning, they overlooked one person.

That is Lin Zhen.

This is the Great Qian Prince, who never played by the rules from the very beginning.

While they were still basking in the glory of their "flawless" plan...

Lin Zhen's knife had already been silently placed against their necks.

"Boss, everything has been investigated." On an inconspicuous awning boat, a guard bowed and reported to the leader, Xuan Ya.

"The Yuan and Wang families have a total of thirty-seven secret granaries in Jiangnan."

"The largest of them is hidden inside the abandoned Hanshan Temple outside Suzhou city."

"It is said that the grain stored there is as much as three million shi (a unit of dry measure)!"

"Three million shi?" Upon hearing this, a cold glint flashed in Xuan Ya's eyes, hidden beneath his black iron mask.

"What a generous gesture."

He looked up and glanced at the brightly lit, bustling city in the distance, bathed in the night light.

"Pass the order."

His voice was like two cold stones rubbing together, devoid of any emotion.

"Make your move at midnight tonight."

Outside Suzhou city, Hanshan Temple.

This ancient temple, which once flourished with incense offerings for thousands of years, is now in a state of disrepair.

The broken walls and ruins were covered with moss and weeds, which rustled in the night wind.

However, what no one knew was...

Beneath this seemingly forgotten, abandoned temple lies a shocking secret that could shake the entire Jiangnan region.

In the temple's backyard, in the long-dried-up release pond.

Then, a dull creaking sound of machinery turning rang out.

The bluestone slab at the bottom of the pool, weighing tens of thousands of kilograms, slowly moved to the side.

A bottomless, black hole was revealed.

A unique musty smell, a mixture of grain and soil, wafted from the cave.

Several burly men filed out of the hole in the ground.