Xiao Zhige had expected it long ago, and shook An Changqing's hand to reassure him, then changed into the prince's python robe, and rode into the palace to face the saint.
In the Qianzheng Palace, the earth dragon was burning vigorously, and the golden curtains fell to the ground. After the curtains were stacked, Emperor Anqing leaned on the soft collapse, and two palace maids beat his shoulders and legs for him one after the other. Not far away, a middle-aged Taoist priest wearing a gossip robe was carefully controlling the fire around a pill stove. The pill stove made a small cracking sound from time to time, and faintly exuded the fragrance of medicinal herbs.
"Daoist Xuanyi said that the mad Taoist might be higher than yours?" Emperor Anqing was playing with a small white jade bottle in his hand, his eyes burning hot.
Xuan Yi carefully opened the lid of the elixir furnace, put the refined elixir into a small white jade bottle and sealed it, and then carefully held it in front of Emperor Anqing: "That's right, it's good to be able to calculate the heaven's secrets and break disasters. Even a poor master can't do it. If what King Bei Zhan said is true, then most of the mad people are masters."
"Master..." Emperor Anqing's face was extremely excited: "Then the master may refine the elixir that will make me immortal?"
Xuan Yi looked at his face and replied cautiously: "The elixir of immortality, although I have heard a lot about it, I have never seen the true chapter. Even that expert may not know..."
Emperor Anqing's expression changed, and he waved his sleeves: "Then what kind of expert is this called?"
Xuan Yi cupped his hands and said: "If the Taoist method is profound and can see through the secrets of heaven, you can also seek profit and avoid harm for Your Majesty like this time. It is impossible to refine the elixir of immortality, but if it is only to prolong life, it is not difficult to think..."
Emperor Anqing was a little more happy now, stretched his neck to look out, and urged impatiently, "Isn't the King of the Northern War here yet? Hurry up!"
Waiting for the palace servant at the door replied: "It has been announced that the prince has entered the palace."
Just as he was talking, he heard a high-pitched voice from the palace servant outside the hall: "The King of the Northern War is asking to see His Majesty!"
"Quick announcement!" An Qing Emperor excitedly pushed the two maids away and got up. This should be the first time he was looking forward to seeing this son who didn't like him.
Xiao Zhige came dressed in the wind and snow, and after dispelling the cold air in the outer hall, he stepped into the inner hall.
The inner hall was warm and warm, and there was a strange fragrance floating in the air. Xiao Zhige glanced at the pill stove in the hall, and then saluted respectfully: "My son has seen the father and emperor."
"Get up." Emperor Anqing looked at him with kindness and eagerness in his eyes: "You said that madman last time, but do you still remember what he looked like?"
Xiao Zhige sneered in his heart, but his face lowered his eyes as if thinking: "I met him on the official road in the big camp outside the city at that time. The dress was very poor, and I didn't wear winter clothes in winter, just a worn Taoist robe around my waist. There is also a wine gourd hanging. It should be in his old age when he looks at it, but he is full of energy and has strong steps, which is very different from the average old man."
Emperor Anqing's smile got bigger the more he listened: "But I can still find a way to find him."
Xiao Zhige hesitated for a moment, and said not quite sure: "This mad Taoist looks very strange. It seemed that he was waiting for me on the official road. After saying that, he disappeared after two or three steps. Erchen. I wanted to go after him that day to find out, but I didn't catch up."
Emperor Anqing knew what this son was capable of. A person who has learned a good martial art and can make him unable to catch up must have real skills.
"Call someone to look for it again." Emperor Anqing was overjoyed: "If you can bring someone back, I will reward you!"
"This mad Taoist really has two points of ability. Now that his warning has been fulfilled, do you want to prepare for the snow disaster?" Xiao Zhige asked.
Emperor Anqing's smile faded a little, and he frowned and said impatiently, "What kind of big trouble can a snowstorm cause? Besides, local officials will deal with it." He seemed to remember something, and said, "I vaguely remember, you Are you hoarding a lot of winter items?"
"Yes. It's the mad Taoist who reminded the servants to take advantage of this opportunity to do good deeds and eliminate the murders, so as not to harm their relatives."
"That's right," Anqing Emperor waved his hand, and said of course: "Now that the treasury is empty, since you have the heart, I will leave the errand to you this time. It can also be regarded as a blessing for yourself."
Xiao Zhige had already understood the character of Emperor Anqing, and it was not surprising to hear him say these words, he just thought about it and said, "If it is according to what the mad Taoist said, this snow disaster will not last for a short time, son. If the things hoarded by the ministers are to provide relief to the victims, I am afraid it will only be a drop in the bucket."
Emperor Anqing waved his hand indifferently: "How many victims can a snow disaster have. Let's talk about it when it's not enough."
Seeing this, Xiao Zhige didn't argue, he bowed respectfully and then retired.
And the big eunuch who sent him out, went to wear the will of Emperor Anqing, Zhang Bang searched for a madman.
Xiao Zhige looked back at the brightly lit and beautiful Forbidden City, with a trace of ridicule in his eyes, turned and left without reluctance.
It was already dark when we returned to the palace, and after half a day, thick snow had accumulated on the ground, and the wheels had run over, leaving a deep rut mark. Xiao Zhige opened the curtain of the carriage, and along the way he saw many people who were still mending their roofs in the dark. There are also some who don't even have a place to live, so they can only wrap up tight clothes and find a shelter from the wind.
Even the most prosperous capital of Ye Jing is like this. If you want to come to other states and counties in the Northland, the situation will never be better than here.
It's just that Emperor Anqing was obsessed with Xunxian and asked, even if he was enjoying himself, he didn't want to bother to care about these "little things".
Back at the palace, the lights were still on in the main courtyard, Xiao Zhige's expression softened, and he patted the snow off his body before entering the door. An Changqing has been waiting since he entered the palace. When he saw him coming back, he hurried up to meet him and looked at his expression: "Is it okay?"
Xiao Zhige told him what happened in the palace.
"Your Majesty is too—" An Changqing's face was angry, but he closed his mouth with scruples, but said a little unfairly: "It's obviously all the money from the prince..."
Seeing that he was injustice for himself, Xiao Zhige felt a lot more cheerful and comforted him: "If we can fight disasters in the name of the father and emperor, we can still suffer a little less suspicion, and we have something to give up. These external names don't need to be too much. care."
An Changqing naturally understood this truth, otherwise Xiao Zhige would not have bothered to make up a mad Taoist. But understand to understand, but still a little angry.
Seeing this, Xiao Zhige said: "At this time, it's better to think about how much money can be sold for the hoarded charcoal."
Back then, An Changqing had hoarded 30,000 pieces of winter clothes, 30,000 stone of white rice, and 15,000 catties of charcoal. Among them, winter clothes and white rice are not prepared to make money, and they can recover the cost, but most of these hot coals are used by wealthy people.
This is just the beginning. Presumably the price of these things will go up a few more days after the heavy snow falls.
***
And it turns out that Xiao Zhige was right.
This heavy snow fell on and off for ten days, and the snow was thicker than the knees. The winter clothes and bedding that had been prepared to be put away were all taken out. After the winter has passed, many people's households are running out of food. Everyone started to rush to buy winter clothes and food. In this wave of panic, the prices of winter clothing, food, charcoal and other things that protect the winter have risen unknowingly.
There are even poor people in their families who think that they have finally survived the winter. They can only rely on the little food left over from last year to continue to support, and they are suffering and looking forward to the spring day that they do not know when they will come.
It was at this time that An Changqing summoned the stewards of various shops, and after deliberation, officially released the hoarded clothing, grain and charcoal.
Winter clothes and white rice do not increase in price, they are all sold at the previous prices, and porridge sheds are also built outside the city to make porridge and winter clothes for the poor people who cannot eat.
As soon as the news came out, the first to move was the shops and the owners behind them. However, several stewards were instructed by An Changqing, and their backs were straight. Before anyone came to the door to make trouble, he just said that the King of the Northern War was acting on an order to relieve disasters, but he was acting on the order of the emperor. Who would dare to obstruct it
As a result, those disgruntled colleagues could only sit back and watch as a large number of people flock to the shop in the palace.
There are also people who are thinking about watching the excitement. Yejing is so big and there are so many people. They all went to the shop of the Wang family in the Northern War. How much rice can they supply? In a few days, they will all be sold out. At that time they can still sell at a high price.
But soon news came out that broke their plan again.
All the rice and grain shops in the Northern War Palace have posted lists in front of their doors. They bluntly stated that in order to ensure that as many people as possible can survive the cold winter, the purchase of rice is counted by household, and a household can only buy ten buckets of rice at most every ten days. All people can buy rice only after they have registered their household registration. In this way, the pressure on the supply of rice grains has been greatly eased.
Just as these colleagues were jumping, An Changqing's newly opened Fotan shop also opened.
Originally, there was no charcoal shop in the palace. Yejing also does not produce charcoal, which is transported from Qizhou further north every year. The amount is not too much or not, just to supply Yejing for one winter. If it is not enough, it will be shipped from Qizhou. But this year's heavy snowfall has greatly affected both water and land transportation. In addition, Qizhou was also affected by the snow disaster, and the price of charcoal rose sharply, so it was no longer possible to care about Yejing.
Yejing has many aristocratic families, and every household is extravagant. Now is the season of cold weather, but the noble people who are delicate and expensive can't stand the cold. The purchasing managers of various prefectures are eager to find out where they can buy charcoal.
As soon as the new shop opened, there were already well-informed searchers.
Just asking the price, but stupid: "Why is it so expensive? The most expensive is only ten taels of silver on weekdays."
Due to the shortage of manpower, Zhou Helan temporarily acted as the manager of the new shop. The thin young man wore a blue cotton robe, tucked his hands into his sleeves, and smiled like a fox: "This time is different from the past. If you don't want it, let it go, and it will come later. Someone is waiting."
People were unwilling to ask at the beginning, so they could only step back. I thought that the next person would also think it was too expensive, but who knew the price of the other party and asked directly: "Is there any silver wire charcoal?"
Zhou Helan said: "All, how much do you want?"
"Two hundred catties of ordinary charcoal and one hundred catties of silver wire charcoal will be delivered to Uncle Xiaowen's house."
After that, the man was afraid that he would not be able to buy it, so he took out a bank note and paid the bill, which was a lot of money.
When the people behind saw it, they stepped forward to pay and register, and then the shop asked the guys to send them to each house one by one.
By the end of the day, more than half of the inventory of the charcoal had been sold. The ordinary charcoal was 32 taels of silver per catty, and the high-quality silver wire charcoal was 100 tael and one jin. When the account was settled in the evening, An Changqing calculated that on this day, The charcoal alone was credited with 530,000 taels of silver.
The author has something to say: Well, it's a fortune! I will make money to support you in the future.
Cowardly: ... um.
————
Waiting for a long time, today is about trying to make money, so I will give you red envelopes, 99!
The nutrient solution is about to be overtaken again, I will give Da Ga a vertical fork, and Da Ga pours some nutrient solution.
Thank you to the little angel who voted for the king or irrigated the nutrient solution for me~
Thanks to the little angel who threw the [hand grenade]: 1 sugar cube;
Thanks to the little angels who cast [landmines]: 4 _dtx; 2 summer solstice; A Shui, Ziyue Pavilion Master, Bronze, West Wind Warms, Moon Stone Smells Momoda, Awuwuwuwuwuwuwu, header7, Feng Thick but not laborious, your peach acridine, koi, Gu Lingzimu, ronin, f, Youyou look, 39983060, every day on the edge of runaway, Luhan's best brother, Huaijin, almond bun, almond bun, vinegar slip Peppermint essence, Momo 1;
Thanks to the little angel who irrigated [nutrient solution]:
64 bottles of Chaoqing Muxue; 30 bottles of Shumiao, Qiuqiu, and Three Points Smile; 20 bottles of Yi Aiwei; 15 bottles of Mo., Qin Jie; , Xiaoqi, Pig on a Swing, Human Sweet Cake Zhou Jiuliang, Qi Fei, 10 bottles of Ah Shui; 9 bottles of Yuxueyun; 6 bottles of Years Sui Sui, Lulu, The Brightest Star in the Sky, and Wolfberry Jun; Duosheng, I don't have a few, I'm sorry, Gong Yimo, Youyu, Bad x Bao, Man Lan, Mimi Miis, Pancake Husband, Autumn Wind Falling Shadow, Moon White, Milante, Half Honey, Banana, One bite off the rabbit's tail is 5 bottles; 4 bottles of orange dish, Jingyan, Shuixie Yunting; leaves in late autumn, tiring to wash hair, one listening cub, Xiaochang-twotwo, Ningxiaoxian 3 bottles; I want to go to heaven!, cowzki cow 2 bottles; small chrysanthemum, kiss cute, Mengmeng is not lemon essence, salt salt salt grain salt salt salt salt, y~, under the mistletoe, the object of the small side, walnut crisp, I don't know what name to call, a total of Qinghuan, Mo Xinyu, Nanyan, Flowers on the Other Side, Tomato Potato Soup, Moyang, Yaomu, _strong, Heavenly Burial_Three Days of Silence, Yi Qingli, Clown, Clown, Ugly Fish, Flowers on Moshang, Love Yaoer, Qiguang Immortal, Su 1 bottle;
Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!