Daming: I help my wife be the empress

In front of a rice shop, the common people gathered layer after layer.

Most of them looked anxious, tense, and even panicked.

In late May, grain was harvested everywhere, but news of a large area of ​​poor harvests spread one after another. By the beginning of June, the price of rice in Nanjing City had risen again and again.

In the past few days, as the news of the food shortage continued to spread, the people of Nanjing tried their best to buy and store food, so that the price of food changed every day.

Today, the price has been raised twice in one morning.

That's it, most of the time you can't buy it.

It made the people even more nervous.

Every time the price of grain changes, grain stores and rice stores have to close for at least half an hour.

Therefore, seeing this rice store closing for the third time, the people who came to buy rice panicked.

"Is this going to raise the price again? A liter of brown rice has already risen to four and a half cents of silver, and it's going to go up again? Let people live?!"

"Hey, when I heard that there might be a food shortage ten days ago, I should have bought food with all my spare money."

"You didn't prepare much when you heard the news ten days ago? Don't you deserve it? I'm miserable. I just came back the day before yesterday, and I only heard the news yesterday... Hey, what a thief!"

"Seeing that the city of Nanjing is getting better, I thought life would gradually get better, but I didn't expect to encounter a food shortage. Amano, don't you really want to give people a way to survive?"

"What's the use of blaming God? In our opinion, if these black-hearted grain merchants dare to raise prices again, we will rush in and snatch him!"

This sentence caused a strange light to shine in the eyes of many people around.

Many people don't have much money at home, and they have to rely on the meager wages they earn every day to buy food.

The price of food has risen so violently that they have no way out.

Rather than starving to death with the family, it's better to grab one.In this way, even if you die, you will die alone, and the food you robbed may allow your family to last for a few more days.

With this in mind, many people crowded in front of the rice store.

At this moment, a small group of inspectors in blue and white uniforms trotted over.

Seeing the situation in front of the rice store, the team leader immediately shouted, "What are you all doing in front of the store? What if someone is trampled to death? Everyone line up for me!"

The squad leader has a bad temper, so he waved the water and fire stick in his hand to hit someone.

But remembering the boss's repeated orders not to beat the people casually, he restrained himself abruptly and threw the water and fire stick to the ground.

Seeing this, the other nine inspectors slammed on the floor tiles with water and fire sticks, making a sound of tuk-tuk-tuk.

This finally made the noisy crowd in front of the rice shop notice them.

"It's an inspector!"

"The servants are here!"

Out of fear of the government, many people screamed and ran away.

There are also some who really need to buy food, so they stand aside and wait and see.

There are also some daring ones who reason with the inspectors.

Because the inspector has been in Nanjing for two or three days.

At first, the common people were afraid and stayed away.

But soon the people of Nanjing City discovered that although some of these inspectors were former county and government officials, they became somewhat similar to the imperial guards.

They no longer oppress the people at will, and they no longer ask merchants and hawkers for food and cards.

They were divided into small groups of five or ten people, and walked up and down the streets and alleys.

Anyone found littering indiscriminately will be reprimanded immediately, fined a few pennies, and asked to send the garbage to a designated place to be dumped.

If a fight is found, it will be stopped immediately, and the dispute can be fairly settled.

If you find a thief, you will chase after it until you catch the thief and take back the lost property.

It was found that many people gathered somewhere, and they would order the people to disperse or line up to maintain order.

In short, although only two or three days, these inspections have left a good impression on the people.

Coupled with the fact that the Imperial Guards who used to patrol the streets in groups have gradually decreased in the past few days, many people realized that these patrols should be the officers who replaced the Imperial Guards and were responsible for maintaining law and order.

Because some of them were former yamen servants, and some of the inspections did overlap with yamen servants, so many people still habitually call them yamen servants.

But there are also some people who are quicker to accept new things called inspectors.

In the past two or three days, before inspectors came to this rice store several times, the people lined up to maintain order.

Although some inspectors had a bad temper and would appear vicious, they never did anything to anyone, as if the water and fire sticks were just a decoration, which made the bold people no longer fear them.

No, a man blushed and said: "Master Inspector, it's not that we don't line up, it's that the owner of this rice shop has a dark heart, and raised the price three times in one day, it's hard to make people live!"

The inspector team leader listened and said: "It's not that his family has raised prices, the whole capital is going up... why am I telling you this? No matter how much they raise prices, you can't make trouble, just line up for me honestly! If something really happens, we will die, and you will not be able to get better!"

The other inspectors once again cooperated to intimidate them by knocking on the floor with water and fire sticks-this was learned in the training middle school of the patrol station, and it was also the request of the superior.Unless there are certain circumstances, you must not do anything to the people.

These people who came to buy rice were ordinary people who were afraid of officials after all. Frightened by such scolding, some dispersed, while others lined up obediently.

The man who complained before took a sip, and said in a moderate voice: "Dog yamen servant, if you change your skin, don't you still help the rich and powerful bully the poor?"

"What did you say?" The squad leader just heard it, and his anger was immediately aroused, and he was about to strike.

An inspector hurriedly stopped him and persuaded him: "Boss, don't make mistakes for such a trivial matter, it's not worth it."

The man was taken aback and wanted to slip away.

But thinking of the old mother, wife and children at home waiting for the rice to go into the pot, they bit the bullet and went to the back to line up.

After a while, the rice shop finally opened.

Everyone saw that the price of rice had risen again.

"Brown rice is [-]% a liter?!"

"Didn't it all go up by one per cent before? Why did it go up by three per cent this time?"

"Tuesday shaking, did you see how many people bought rice today and deliberately increased the price?"

"Damn it, you really don't want people to live, do you?!"

"···"

Seeing that the price of rice has risen more than expected, the common people broke out again. If it weren't for the patrol team watching from the side, they would have rushed into the rice shop to make trouble immediately.

Of course, they may not be able to rush in.

Because there are seven or eight clerks in the rice store, all of whom are strong men, with a stick in their hands, so they can keep their appearance.

The shopkeeper Zhou of the rice store raised his hand and said loudly: "Everyone, the price of rice is not that our family has increased so much, but the whole capital. If you don't believe me, you can go to other places to buy it. Anyway, we are running out of rice. .”

As soon as he said this, people panicked immediately.

He hurriedly said, "I'll buy it! Give me two...three liters of brown rice!"

There were also people who didn't believe it, and said angrily: "I don't believe that everything has gone up!"

After speaking, he ran to other grain stores.

But most people choose to continue to buy food - if the price has risen by three per cent, they can only buy less.

If you don't buy it, you will only be hungry.

The man who scolded the patrol captain before stood in the line, holding a cloth bag tightly in his hand and stood still.

"Let's go." The people in the queue behind urged.

"I won't buy it." The man walked out with a wry smile.

Not only did he think it was expensive, but he didn't have enough money to buy one liter—this store sold at least one liter at a time.

After walking two steps, he stopped again, unfolded the cloth bag in his hand, and stared at the 45 copper coins in a daze.

I thought bitterly: without rice, what can the mother, wife and children at home eat?
If the money that can buy a liter of brown rice is used to buy other things, there will be no food for the next few days.

Just when the man was frowning, he saw the bearded and violent patrol captain walking over.

The man took three steps back in fright, and said loudly but weakly: "What do you want to do? Don't think I don't know, you can't hit people casually!"

The people around also looked over and thought: Is this master inspector really going to beat someone?

There are also warm-hearted people wondering whether they should go to the Imperial Guards - the Imperial Guards are dedicated to this kind of official army and yamen servants who are bullied by the people.

But the bearded inspector took out some big money from his pocket, handed it to the man and said, "Go to the queue and buy me a liter and a half of brown rice!"

The man froze for a moment.

The bearded inspector said impatiently: "Didn't you hear me? Buy a liter and a half of brown rice on your behalf, forget about scolding me as a dog servant!"

The man came to his senses, couldn't hold back, and burst into tears.

Repeatedly said: "Thank you! Thank you Master Inspector!"

"Fart master! Hurry up and line up!"

"Okay, okay."

The man immediately went to line up.

At this time, he didn't know, but the bearded inspector must have guessed that he didn't have enough money, so he deliberately asked him to buy one and a half liters of brown rice, so that he could only buy half a liter of rice by the way.

A member of the patrol next to him approached with a smile and said, "The boss is really benevolent."

The bearded inspector said with a serious face: "Hurry up and maintain order!"

The team members were stunned, and noticed that the bearded patrol was pointing in one direction. Looking over, they noticed several Imperial Guards walking over.

I saw one of the imperial guards looking into the rice store, took out a notice, and said loudly: "Your Majesty has an order, all rice stores in Yingtianfu, from the time the order is known, brown rice shall not exceed three-eight centimeters per liter ( Silver), polished rice should not exceed five cents per liter! Your rice price is wrong, why don’t you change it quickly?!”