The immortal of the Tang Dynasty, but the game starts at Xuanwu Gate?

"Behind the red gates, meat and wine go to waste; on the roads, the bones of the starving dead lie..."

As Li Shimin pondered this line of poetry, he couldn't help but think of the chaotic world at the end of the Sui Dynasty. This line of poetry was perfectly suited to describe the situation at that time.

"The poem is good, but the person is not a good person." Li Shimin glanced at Chen Huai'an indifferently. "Before sunset today, I will order the city to be sealed off. The rest is up to you."

"After this matter, it will be time for Pei Ju to retire and return to his hometown. You should prepare to formally take over the Ministry of Revenue."

"I still have a bunch of memorials to deal with, so I'll be leaving now."

"Your Majesty, please take care." Chen Huai'an nodded, watching Li Shimin's figure disappear into the distance.

Li Chengqian, who had been standing silently beside the two, asked, "Sir, what should we do now?"

"What are we supposed to do?" Chen Huai'an said calmly, "We don't need to do anything. We just wait for the big show to start tomorrow."

"..."

The entire city of Chang'an was filled with noise and chaos throughout the day, with the people in high spirits and the grain merchants celebrating wildly.

As the sun set, squads of imperial guards silently blocked all the exits of Chang'an, and one escort convoy after another, bearing government flags, drove into Chang'an.

The truck was neatly piled with bulging bags of things, but I didn't know what they were.

This scene was not kept secret from anyone, and many people saw the government's motorcade.

"Hey, what do you think this is?" asked the people lining the street.

"I don't know. It looks like a government escort convoy, and there are quite a few of them. And look at those soldiers, they're all armored and carrying swords. They're not ordinary government soldiers. The guards are so tight, so it must be something very important."

"What important thing is packed in a sack?"

At that moment, a villager swallowed hard, his face filled with hope: "Do you think this might be... grain?"

food?!

The moment those two words were uttered, all the people were excited, craning their necks and standing on tiptoe to look at the convoy.

Since March, grain prices have been rising day by day. Unscrupulous grain merchants have kept raising prices, pushing them to a point where no one can afford them. Yet, the government has done nothing, only posting notices to buy grain at high prices, making life unbearable for everyone.

The appearance of this heavily guarded convoy, loaded with sacks, makes it hard not to suspect that it's carrying grain.

"May I ask, General, is this the disaster relief grain prepared by the imperial court?"

Some of the bolder people couldn't hold back any longer and shouted out their questions.

The first general glanced at him but said nothing.

But it was precisely this attitude that made the people even more agitated.

Based on past experience, asking such a question would at least result in a few reprimands, and if you're unlucky enough to encounter a general with a bad temper, you might even have to stay in jail for a while and suffer some hardship.

But the leading general said nothing and gave no reply.

As the saying goes, no answer is the best answer, and the people were even more certain that this was grain!

The disaster relief grain prepared by the imperial court!

"The imperial court has transferred disaster relief grain from other regions, so everyone no longer needs to buy those exorbitantly priced grains from unscrupulous merchants!"

Some people wept with joy, and the news swept through Chang'an like a whirlwind.

The news spread like wildfire, reaching even the grain merchants gathered in Chang'an.

"Master, has the imperial court really sent disaster relief grain? If so, we're going to lose a lot of money!"

The grain shop owner hurriedly found Zhang Ming.

"What's the panic?" Zhang Ming snapped. "How can you prove that the imperial court has allocated disaster relief grain? And where could the imperial court possibly source grain from?"

"If the imperial court could truly allocate disaster relief grain, would they have simply stood by and watched the price of grain rise to 250 wen per dou (a unit of dry measure) during this period? Would the officials from the Ministry of Revenue have been repeatedly coming to our door to purchase grain?"

"Look at the past, which of these officials didn't look down on everyone?"

"But boss..." the shopkeeper said in a panic, "That's what the people outside are saying, and the government's escort convoys are coming one after another. I went to take a look, and it does look very much like grain."

Zhang Ming's face stiffened for a moment, then he feigned composure: "Impossible!"

"It's certain that the imperial court has no grain; this is definitely a tactic the court uses to scare us!"

The shopkeeper, noticing his slightly trembling hands and stiff body, hesitated and said, "Master, should I go out and inquire again?"

"Hmm..." Zhang Ming nodded absentmindedly, his mind wandering as he considered various possibilities.

Recalling the experiences of this period and the information gathered from various channels, the imperial court was basically certain that there was no food left.

But... what if?

Zhang Ming pondered this possibility, and his face instantly turned pale.

He is indeed a grain merchant, but he cannot conjure grain out of thin air. In addition to the grain he had been buying and preparing to sell from the beginning, he had also bought too much grain from various places at high prices during this period.

In fact, in order to make a fortune by purchasing grain, Zhang Ming mortgaged his real estate, farmland, shops, and other assets to borrow a large sum of money from banks.

If the imperial court were to open the granaries and release grain, the price of grain would inevitably plummet, and I would lose everything.

At that time, forget about being incredibly wealthy; if you can't repay the money to the lender, you'll become a deadly demon in the blink of an eye.

"Impossible! It shouldn't be possible!" Zhang Ming panicked, and in his panic, he thought of someone.

"Wang Bai! Yes, let's ask Wang Bai!"

"He said the imperial court was short of grain, and he also said grain prices would rise so high. Go ask Wang Bai!"

Zhang Ming could no longer remain calm. He hurriedly went out and arrived at Wang Bai's grain shop, only to find that it was already closed.

He rushed to Wang Bai's temporary rented residence, only to find it completely empty!

"How could they not be here? Where are they? Where did they go?"

Zhang Ming panicked completely.

Just then, Lü Xun and Ma Yan also rushed over in a hurry.

"Brother Zhang, have you seen Brother Wang?" Ma Yan asked impatiently.

Zhang Ming, unable to contain his frustration, said, "No, I've already checked the grain store, there's no one there."

"How could this be?" Lu Xun's heart skipped a beat, a sense of foreboding washing over him. "How could he disappear? How could a perfectly healthy person just vanish?"

"Yesterday, weren't we drinking and having a good time?"

Suppressing his anxiety, Ma Yan said in a deep voice, "Given what has happened, Brother Wang must have already gone to inquire about the situation."

"Let's not panic."

"Yes, yes, yes." Lu Xun nodded hurriedly. "Brother Wang must have gone to gather information. Let's wait, just a little while."

A glimmer of hope appeared in Zhang Ming's heart.

Come to think of it, after something like this happened, Wang Bai would definitely want to find out more information.

Waiting for Wang Bai to come back, just waiting for Wang Bai to come back...

"..."