Mid-October, Bianliang City.

The rustling north wind had already begun to blow, and the temperature was plummeting in these recent days. The city's residents had added layers of clothing, but even in this metropolis of millions, the streets remained bustling despite the chill. People went about their shopping, merchants still hawked their wares, eager to drum up business before the full force of winter arrived. Children ran about outdoors, anticipating the first snowfall of the year.

To the left of the Imperial City was the area where high-ranking officials and wealthy families resided. Here, the number of pedestrians on the roads was noticeably fewer. On the relatively secluded Wenyuan Street, a vendor pushing a *tang gao* (sugar cake) cart called out a few times outside the residence of Imperial Censor Zhang. He knew that the Imperial Censor Zhang's grandson, Fang Zhi, was three years old, and the old matriarch of the family doted on him. Once his calls piqued the interest of the child or the old woman, he was sure to make a good sale.

The pedestrians passing by were mostly servants and maids from wealthy families, and carriages quietly rolled past. Before long, several people approached from the end of the street. The woman leading the group was tall and graceful, with a delicate appearance. Although it was winter, her clothing was modest, yet it could not conceal her attractive figure. The woman beside her seemed to be her sister, chattering away and telling her something. When she said something amusing, she would skip lightly. Behind them were four maids, two of whom were less attractive but had sharp eyes and tall figures. One of the maids held a basket.

The group of six stopped at the back gate of the Right Chancellor's residence. After knocking, someone came to greet them and lead them inside.

Those arriving at this time were naturally Yunzhu and Jin'er, who lived nearby. Since Ning Yi had been overseeing disaster relief at the Chancellor's residence lately and often couldn't leave at noon, they frequently came over, sometimes bringing lunch, sometimes bringing sweet soup. It was still afternoon. After entering the Chancellor's residence, the two female bodyguards disguised as maids were left outside. Yunzhu and Jin'er, familiar with the way, walked inside. As they approached the courtyard where the office was located, they ran into Qin Siyuan, who was walking in their direction. The old man was dressed in plain clothes, seemingly lost in thought. Seeing the two of them, he smiled and said, "You're here."

"Grandpa Qin."

"Grandpa Qin."

They greeted him politely. Qin Siyuan smiled and said, "What did you bring? Is there any for this old man?"

Jin'er laughed. "White fungus and lotus seed soup, still hot, and there's a lot."

"Oh, then bring me a bowl later. Let's go, I was just looking for Li Heng."

The group walked towards the courtyard where Ning Yi and the others were. Although, strictly speaking, the disaster relief work also included a large amount of information and data collation and analysis, there were also several people in the courtyard helping besides Ning Yi, but the atmosphere was not as lively as some financial markets in later generations. Everyone collated their data separately, only occasionally consulting with Ning Yi. After Qin Siyuan arrived, Ning Yi also temporarily put aside his work and sat with the old man in the courtyard for a while. Yunzhu and Jin'er served the white fungus and lotus seed soup to the working staff, and when they served it to Qin Siyuan and Ning Yi, the two were sitting there chatting casually, but the topic was not so casual.

"...There's fighting in Pingzhou."

"Troops been dispatched?"

"Troops have already been mobilized a few days ago. The commander is Wanyan Zhamu."

"Aguda's brother, but this person's abilities are average... What's the attitude of the imperial court?"

"Originally, they were happy, but now that the matter is before them, His Majesty is a little hesitant. Tong Guan... is afraid."

"Have General Guo cooperate. They have to fight at least once..."

"That's what I think too. The Jurchens are few in number and cannot go south easily, but they must fight north of Yanmen Pass. Unfortunately... the court only wants to negotiate..."

"So what's happening now..."

"Wanyan Zhamu's men are not as numerous as Zhang Jue's. He can only hope that Zhang Jue wins a victory."

"I think... the court doesn't have to send troops, but it can let General Guo provide assistance. Chancellor, why not let General Guo himself write to the court to request battle?"

"That's what I was thinking too. I've already sent a letter north... How are the grain prices?"

"They're fluctuating around thirty taels on both sides."

"The weather's getting colder, and they haven't risen?"

"The operation is still having an effect, but for now, it can only be maintained. The biggest hurdle is after the first snowfall. At that time, we'll be able to see clearly whether the court can restore the people's confidence."

The so-called grain war, economic war, is really a battle for the people's confidence in the government's disaster relief efforts. The wealthy gentry said that grain prices would definitely rise, and there wasn't much grain to begin with. If the people believed it, they would buy grain at high prices. The government said that they would provide disaster relief, crack down on illegal grain dealers, and have a steady stream of grain coming in. The final result of disaster relief depended on the people's degree of trust in both sides, and of course, on how hungry they were.

The basic principle was like this, but the details were a thousand times more complicated. The process of suppressing grain prices in the north and south had been going on for a month, and the grain prices in the two places had still been maintained at around thirty taels, which was enough to surprise Qin Siyuan. But as Ning Yi said, the real determining factor for the result would still be after the first snowfall. At that time, either the court's disaster relief measures would collapse, or the psychological limit of the wealthy families would collapse. Before that, both sides were constantly using various methods to increase their chips.

In the south, within the past half-month, a grain transport ship had even been sunk, and the culprit had not yet been found. Not long ago, a county magistrate sent by Qin Siyuan to Huainan, due to his upright character and drastic disaster relief measures, caused a backlash. A grain hoarding magnate wanted to take advantage of this famine year to expand his strength and blindly consumed a lot of transported grain. He thought he would make a steady profit without losing, but the subsequent grain price fluctuations exceeded his expectations, and there was even a faint downward trend.

This was also due to the drastic measures taken by Ning Yi in the first stage of suppression. Although the total amount of grain that could be mobilized looked less than expected, Ning Yi's investment in the first stage was still very bold. He was too experienced. In this kind of poker-like business gamble, whether you were fat or not, you had to slap your face until it was swollen first. On the other hand, the enemies this time also had a stepped level. First, bursting the appetites of some large households, increasing their psychological burden, and causing them to collapse early, and then transferring the grain to intimidate people at a higher level, was precisely Ning Yi's plan.

At this level, those small and medium-sized gentry in the countryside were no match for Ning Yi. Ning Yi controlled the entry of grain, and after receiving instructions from the Chancellor's residence, the county magistrate also enthusiastically cooperated with public opinion through administrative means and began to lower prices, while also threatening these large households to spit out the grain. He did too well, and the magnate's psychology collapsed. One day, he shouted, "If you don't let me live, I'll make you die too!" and hired someone to kill the county magistrate, who was busy providing disaster relief.

The county magistrate was originally from a poor family, and he was an honest and upright official. When he was killed, he was distributing his own rations to the starving people outside, and his family could only drink porridge every day.

After the murder occurred, the magnate secretly had people spread the news that the county magistrate was killed by Wang Qing's subordinates who were causing trouble nearby, but the constables quickly found the murderer. At this time, the force responsible for disaster relief in the south was that of Princess Chengguo's mansion. Zhou Pei happened to be nearby and even personally told the county magistrate the strategy for disaster relief. After learning the whole situation, she was so saddened that she almost went crazy. She immediately sent someone to arrest the magnate's entire family, sifted out the people involved in grain hoarding and the magnate's direct relatives, and threw them into prison. Then, she and Princess Chengguo Zhou Xuan, who was furious, wrote a family letter to Zhou Zhe.

After this incident, the Chancellor's residence immediately issued an order, with the people from the Secret Intelligence Division taking over the county government affairs. After the trial, they paraded them through the streets and made a public announcement. After that, they used harsh means to investigate several families. The others were panicking and did not dare to hoard grain under such high pressure, which caused a gap in local grain prices.

In this incident, it was said that after the magnate was thrown into prison, Zhou Pei rushed into the prison on the first day, snatched all the food given to the magnate's family, and drank a bowl of thin porridge in the prison on the spot, saying, "How can such good porridge be given to beasts to drink?", "They must be starved to death alive," and "Whoever dares to send them porridge again, I will beat him to death." Since the royal family was involved, even if they killed this family on the spot, probably no one would dare to say anything. It was just said that Zhou Pei vomited messily in the room that night after drinking the porridge and almost got sick the next day.

Later, when the trial was made public, this family had been starved to death for four days before Kang Xian issued an order to let Zhou Pei stay away from this matter and give them one meal of porridge a day, barely keeping them alive. But it could be imagined that they would hardly die well after that.

Qin Siyuan spoke of this matter in a low voice, and Ning Yi's expression also seemed indifferent.

"The Geng County magistrate's family has already been arranged by the Secret Intelligence Division... Zhou Pei should still be sent back. That place is close to Wang Qing's rebellion. Although Xin Xingzong and the others have already set off to suppress it, it is still not peaceful. Moreover... even if the grain price in one county drops slightly, it will not help the overall situation much. We cannot fill it with the lives of good people. We must prevent such things from happening in other places..."

Although Ning Yi's tone was indifferent, he ultimately felt compassion when thinking about these things. Qin Siyuan shook his head. "This is war. It is inevitable. A hard knife does not cut meat, but a soft knife hurts more. Recently, the pressure from below is not small, but if we really want to do things well, we must take a wartime attitude. Otherwise, once we think about self-preservation and compromise once, it will be difficult to avoid continuing to compromise. I will send Geng Qianzhi's matter throughout the world in the Imperial Bulletin to tell them the evil of these grain hoarders. We must... defeat them!"

Ning Yi thought for a while and nodded. "It was I who was a little indecisive..."

Qin Siyuan laughed. "The *junzi* (gentleman) towards birds and beasts, seeing them alive, cannot bear to see them die; hearing their cries, cannot bear to eat their flesh. Therefore, the *junzi* keeps away from the kitchen. Li Heng acts ruthlessly towards himself and others, but he always has compassion for the people around him, which is in line with the way of the *junzi*."

Ning Yi thought for a moment and sighed. "Good people should have good rewards. We often say that someone does good deeds and accumulates merit, but in the end, he dies for others and does not receive good rewards. In the end, it often gives people the feeling that doing good deeds must have bad rewards. If they don't get bad rewards, doing good deeds often seems to be insincere. This kind of propaganda is not good."

"Where does Li Heng say such a thing?" Qin Siyuan was a little surprised. "I see some stories and strange tales in the world today that say this person is either filial or chaste, and in the end, they often end with good things. If it is a man, he often passes the imperial examination and becomes a high-ranking official. If it is a woman, she often meets her ideal husband. There are not many stories about good people getting bad rewards."

"Uh..." Ning Yi was stunned for a moment, then couldn't help but laugh. "Haha, I misunderstood. Chancellor Qin, don't be offended."

Qin Siyuan also smiled, then became solemn. "Li Heng must guard against the soft knife I mentioned."

Ning Yi nodded. "I know. Now, in the north and south, all the officials sent out are under pressure, either tempted by money or forced by power, just wanting them to turn a blind eye. I have already asked the Secret Intelligence Division to increase the intensity of strict investigation in this regard. Other officials are fine, but the lines on the north-south trade routes cannot be sloppy."

"Someone has already extended their relationship to the capital and taken my side of the relationship." Qin Siyuan's face was gloomy. "Sooner or later, they will find their way to Li Heng's side. Li Heng must make some preparations."

Hearing him say this, a smile appeared on the corner of Ning Yi's mouth. "I am mentally prepared for this. Chancellor Qin, rest assured."

Qin Siyuan sighed. "I am not worried about you. As I said just now, Li Heng is ruthless to himself and others. I only sigh for this world..." After a pause, he smiled. "Oh, yes, De Xin and Zhou Hai seem to be doing well in the north."

Ning Yi nodded. "Brother Cheng is very capable. With him and De Xin joining forces, those people can't make any waves."

"Yes, Zhou Hai uses too harsh tactics, which is similar to me in my early years, but when he does things, he is indeed comprehensive. I am... not too worried..."

The old man said this, and he had high hopes for Cheng Zhouhai, this disciple who was skilled in using schemes...

****************

The reason why Qin Siyuan and Ning Yi talked about Cheng Zhouhai was because Cheng Zhouhai was originally in charge of military grain in the north. After the disaster relief began, he temporarily took over the Secret Intelligence Division affairs in the north. After that, he connected with Li Pin and cooperated with each other.

Then, a few days ago, the first fierce backlash from the large households in Hedong Road came from the Guo family in Xiaoyi County.

Since Li Pin went to the Guo family to force them to release grain, Guo Mingyi went to Zuo Jilan to discuss it. Zuo Jilan then went to Qi Fanghou of the Qi family. After the two parties discussed, two staff members, Wang Zhizhen and Xu Mai, gave Guo Mingyi the first plan.

After that, on the second day after Guo Mingyi returned home, under the protection of his servants, he went outside and tearfully said a few words to the starving people: Because the government believed that the Guo family had been giving porridge, they must have grain at home, so they forced the Guo family to release more grain. He had no choice but to make some unavoidable concessions. At the same time, he announced that this day would be the last day for the Guo family to give porridge.

He wanted to... incite civil unrest and point the finger at the government!

No matter how high Li Pin's rank was, no matter what kind of backing he had, if his first measure after taking office caused civil unrest, coupled with the influence of the Zuo family and Qi family in the capital, his position... would be impossible to maintain no matter what.

Perhaps because it was the last day of giving porridge, the porridge cooked by the Guo family was particularly thick, which also gave the people who had been hungry for days the strength to digest this news. The group of starving people listened to Guo Mingyi's words, dumbfounded.

A riot was about to break out. Then someone shouted from one side of the crowd: "He's lying!"