After being dressed as Wu Zetian's daughter, she was favored by the group

Chapter 45
In the early morning of the next day, Wang Gong'er simply cleaned up, and under the protection of two imperial guards, he embarked on the journey back to Chang'an.

On Li Lingyue's side, they spent the whole night writing and drawing, daubing and altering. The tent was full of discarded paper balls, and the two little maids went back and forth to refill the lamp oil several times.

At dawn, Li Lingyue put down her brush, walked out of the tent, and stretched beautifully.

Dongfang was already pale, and under the service of two court ladies, she simply washed her face with hot water, then went to the commander of the imperial army, picked a dozen or so guards, all of them took off their armor, handed in their sabers, and together with Li Lingyue, All disguised as ordinary people, ready to come to a private visit in micro-services, and secretly investigate to find out.

Fuzhou, which was ravaged by insects, has long lost its former prosperity. The streets are sparsely populated and all businesses are sluggish. Only rice farms and vegetable shops are particularly prosperous.

Li Lingyue and his party came to the largest Zhouji rice shop in the city, and the store was already surrounded by people rushing to buy food.

The common people held up the money bags in one hand, and waved the rice utensils in the other, begging constantly in their mouths, just to grab a morsel of grain.

Strange to say, the common people had money in their hands, but the waiter inside the store was completely indifferent to this, neither charged money nor sold rice, just stood at the counter and watched the excitement.

There were a few strong men standing at the door of Mizhuang, each of them holding a wooden stick, blocking all the people who bought grain from the door of the store.

Seeing more and more people gathering, a shopkeeper with a big belly came out of the lobby slowly.

He closed his throat, spit thick phlegm at the food-buying crowd, cursed, waved at the strong men, and turned back to the house.

Under the instruction of the fat shopkeeper, several strong men with sticks lifted their wooden sticks into the air, rushed into the crowd, and began beating the people who bought grain indiscriminately.

For a while, screams, wailing, begging... could be heard endlessly, and the people dodged around like a group of driven lambs.

Seeing this scene, Li Lingyue was furious. Several guards formed a circle, relying on their strong bodies, to push away the crowd outside and escort Li Lingyue to the door of the shop.

The strong man who beat the people didn't care who came, he couldn't help but hit Li Lingyue and the others.

Seeing this, the waiter in the shop rushed into the back room to report the news.

When the fat shopkeeper heard that someone was making trouble, he immediately whispered a few words to the waiter, who quickly left the shop.

The fat shopkeeper came out holding a small and exquisite purple clay pot. Seeing that it was a little girl, the fat on his face trembled, revealing a harmless Maitreya smile.

"Where did you come from, little girl, dare to come to my Zhouji Mizhuang to play wild!" The tone was very lazy, obviously not paying attention to Li Lingyue.

With her hands behind her back, Li Lingyue suppressed her anger, raised her head and sneered, "I'm here to buy rice!"

"Oh? How much to buy?" The fat shopkeeper became interested when he heard it.

"One stone!"

"It's easy to say, take the money first, and hurt my subordinates... Hehe, let's take it easy later!" The fat shopkeeper took a sip of the teapot, his eyes narrowed into a line.

Li Lingyue cast a glance at the guard, who tore off the money bag from his waist and threw it to the fat shopkeeper.

The fat shopkeeper held it in his hand and weighed it, and suddenly smiled!
"I want to buy a stone of rice for more than 100 texts. You are deliberately finding fault!"

While speaking, he shook the bottom of the purse, and in front of Li Lingyue, he shook the copper coins inside to the ground like dumping garbage.

Li Lingyue's heart twisted, sure enough, the prices here have already risen.

Before coming here, she had known the current prices. According to the purchasing power, the price of a bucket of millet was about 12 yuan, and ten buckets were one stone, which cost 120 yuan. The purse that Li Lingyue asked the guards to give was as much as 150 coins. Rice, just more and less.

"Then tell me, how much does it cost?" Li Lingyue asked tentatively.

The fat shopkeeper slowly raised his left hand and gestured a finger towards Li Lingyue.

"One thousand dollars?"

Li Lingyue had already guessed at the high price as much as possible, but the fat shopkeeper smiled contemptuously and said:

"A tael of gold!"

As soon as these four words were uttered, even Li Lingyue, who was already mentally prepared for 'inflation', took a deep breath.

During Li Zhi's period, except for some jewelry shops in Chang'an City where silver transactions were popular, commercial transactions in other places were mainly based on gold and copper coins.

The one tael of gold in the mouth of the fat shopkeeper is about [-] Wen copper coins, and [-] Wen copper coins can buy about a hundred stones of millet.

Looking at it this way, the price of goods in Yanzhou City has not only increased tenfold, but these profiteers who have made a fortune for the country have already increased the price by more than a hundred times.

No wonder those people who obviously have money to buy food are driven and beaten mercilessly. The little money in their hands is no different from beggars in the eyes of profiteers.

Li Lingyue, who had figured this out, was in no mood to argue with the fat shopkeeper, so she suppressed her anger, turned around and left.

"and many more!"

Seeing that Li Lingyue was about to leave, the fat shopkeeper would not give up.

"One of your subordinates injured me, we haven't settled the debt yet?" The fat shopkeeper chuckled.

"How are you doing?" Li Lingyue gave him a sideways glance.

"It's easy to say, pay me a tael of gold, and I won't argue with you!"

The implication is that Li Lingyue took advantage of it.

Li Lingyue was immediately annoyed that it was a tael of gold.

"What if I don't give it?"

The fat shopkeeper smiled and threatened: "No? Hehe, then I will send you to death row!"

This guy has a big tone, you are the one who opened the yamen!
Li Lingyue thought she heard it wrong, but the next moment, the reality told her that the fat shopkeeper did have this strength.

As soon as she refused, the waiter on the fat shopkeeper's side led a group of officials to kill him.

The fat shopkeeper smiled like a flower, went up to him and cupped his fists, turned around and pointed at Li Lingyue and his party, and said arrogantly:

"Lieutenant Li, it's this gang of unscrupulous people. Not to mention stealing food, they even injured my guy. Please take them down quickly!"

Lieutenant Li couldn't help but draw out his saber with a 'swish':

"Come on, arrest this gang of thieves who rob food and hurt people, and if there is any resistance, they will be killed without mercy!"

Seeing the officials surrounding them with swords raised, Li Lingyue hesitated again and again, but did not take out the goldfish charm that Li Zhi had given her.

The guard around her was about to fight back, but she stopped him in time:
"Don't move, let them catch you!"

In Li Lingyue's view, officials help shopkeepers indiscriminately to get people. In Li Lingyue's view, this is not just a simple "collusion between officials and businessmen".

Behind the little shopkeeper and the captain, there must be a bigger fish hiding. If he exposed his identity prematurely, the big fish might have slipped away before casting the net.

As the saying goes: the greater the wind and waves, the more fish!

Since you want to play, then play a big one.

(End of this chapter)