When the city of Shenyang was filled with white flags and every household set up a mourning hall and heard loud cries, Jinan was in a completely different atmosphere. Every day, thousands or tens of thousands of lonely men and women got married here. The whole Jinan is full of joy all day long.

All this also dilutes the trauma caused by the war to people.

Life must go on after all.

Seven things to do when you wake up early to open the door: rice, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, tea.

But more often than not, the first thing is food.

"According to the instructions of the Crown Prince, each newlywed couple is given one stone of rice and food. With one stone of rice and food, it should be enough for them to maintain their livelihood for two months. Now the ice in the canal has begun to melt. After waiting for another ten days and a half, It is estimated that grain merchants will start to sell grain, but this year is different from the past. In the past few days, the official ordered people to go out to investigate. According to the news reported by the spies, this time the slaves invaded along the canal. Going south, no city, town or village within three to two hundred miles on both sides of the canal was spared. Most of the villages were burned down and the people were massacred. Except for a few lucky ones who escaped, most of the people were massacred."

Damn Jiannu!

Even though he was mentally prepared, Zhu Guoqiang couldn't help but feel a little indignant when he heard Chen Changgeng's words, and even his expression became a little excited.

"So, this year's rice may be much more expensive than in previous years. Although the prince has cashed in the silver reward for everyone, the official feels that when the canal is opened to navigation, it is inevitable that unscrupulous merchants will take the opportunity to drive up the price of food. When the time comes, they will suffer a loss. I’m afraid it’s still the common people…”

"Those profiteers, do they really think..."

Did you originally want to say that there is no royal method?

But when the words came to his lips, Zhu Guoqiang still said with a helpless smile. I'm afraid there is really no royal method that can cure those profiteers. If they could be cured, how could the Ming Dynasty end up in that situation?

"I'm afraid the Crown Prince is helpless in this regard. After all, the imperial court's laws prevent the Crown Prince from meddling in local affairs, let alone doing anything to profiteers, unless..."

Lowering his voice, Chen Changgeng said.

"Unless the prince holds more grain than the profiteers, as long as there are millions of stones of grain in his hand, once the profiteers make any changes, he will immediately release grain to stabilize the price of grain. In this way, the profiteers will naturally have no choice. Technique..."

"I know……"

Zhu Guoqiang pursed his lips and mobilized materials to stabilize prices. Anyone who knew something about controlling the soaring prices in Shanghai in the early days of New China would know this method. But...

"I'm afraid there isn't that much food in the house now."

"It is true that there is not that much food left. After all, for more than a month, the soldiers and civilians in the city have been eating the food stored by the palace. If it were not for the hundreds of thousands of grains paid by the prince, the food would have been exhausted long ago."

After all, Yue Tuo is really his "transportation brigade captain".

Not only weapons, money, and manpower were brought, but even clothes and food were brought by this "captain". It's just that the quantity was too small!

While sighing secretly in his heart, suddenly, Zhu Guoqiang's brows jumped sharply and he said doubtfully.

"wrong!"

"What?"

"Chief Chen, how much grain do you think we seized?"

"It's about 200,000 stone."

"You said that the slaves burned, killed and looted along the way. We bought so many clothes, but why was there so little food?"

The prince's question made Chen Changgeng stunned for a moment before he nodded.

"That's true. Logically speaking, even the poorest people will have grain in addition to winter rations during the winter. Every household, no matter how small it is, should have a few stones of grain. As for the countryside,

A rich man often keeps thousands of kilograms of grain in his home so that he can sell it at a good price when he is young in the next year. Is it possible that all these grains were set on fire by Jiannu?"

"Not burned!"

As if he thought of something, Zhu Guoqiang hurried to the bookshelf and took out a stack of paper, flipping through it for a while before speaking.

"Look, this is the confession of the rescued people. It says, "Jianlu ordered people to load the food on carts, and if they disobeyed, they would directly kill them..."

Looking up at Chen Changgeng, Zhu Guoqiang's eyes flashed, and then he pondered.

"I think I almost know the whereabouts of this food!"

"Does the prince know?"

The prince's words made Chen Changgeng puzzled.

"Then where did the food go?"

"It fell into the hands of others!"

Zhu Guoqiang sneered. He naturally thought of a "late Ming legend", a "legend" about Shanxi merchants colluding with the Qing Dynasty. It is not known whether this "legend" is a "legend", but what is certain is that the Qing Dynasty

The military invaders are inseparable from those families, so how could they possibly work in vain?

"Chief Chen, where are the spies who went to investigate? Ask them to come over. I have something to ask them!"

Soon Zhu Guoqiang got the news he wanted to know from the spies.

"You mean, not all the villages were burned down, right?"

"Master, it is inevitable that some people will be caught in the trap. After all, even if the slaves are just a sieve, they will let some villages go because the distance between the army and the army is too close or for some other reasons."

"Approximately how many villages like this are there?"

"As far as I know, almost a dozen villages in each place can escape."

"So are there any near Jinan?"

The answer was naturally yes. After getting the answer, Zhu Guoqiang went straight to the tower and once again used a drone to conduct "aerial reconnaissance" on the village mentioned by the spies.

Not to mention, using drones for reconnaissance is really convenient!

Compared to the beginning, after having several drone reconnaissance experiences, Zhu Guoqiang seems to have mastered the reconnaissance skills and can already judge whether a trip is necessary based on some details.

"There is almost no need to pass through this area. The reason why such a village was "missed" is because of the terrain and there are several rivers surrounding it. Although the river is covered with ice, the bridge has been destroyed, so the Qing army did not pass through. But, you

Looking at these villages, it’s a bit strange that they are intact. Logically speaking, the villages next to them have been burned down, so how come this place... Eh!”

Suddenly, Zhu Guoqiang, who was talking to himself, stared at the video screen and wondered.

"This Zhuangzi seems a little weird?"

Zhuangzi does not look like an ordinary village, it is a walled Zhuangzi. It looks a bit like a large courtyard of a wealthy family. Logically speaking, there must be many people walking around in such a courtyard, but from the look of the picture,

It was quiet in Zhuangzi, and there seemed to be no one around.

"Fly lower..."

The courtyard in the video has become clearer. Through the high-definition video, it can be clearly seen that there are few people walking around in this courtyard where maids and servants should be walking around.

"There are only people on the corner floor of the courtyard... What's over here? Zoom in on the picture..."

As soon as the picture was enlarged, a stern look flashed in Zhu Guoqiang's eyes, and his eyes became cold.
Chapter completed!