The morning sun was a bit dazzling, there was no wind, and it was muggy.
People in simple clothes walked towards the department store one by one, as usual.
Since the establishment of department stores, everyone has become accustomed to the way of self-selected shopping. You can just buy what you want. The varieties are complete, the quality is high, and the prices are not expensive. It is too troublesome to go to the east and west markets to buy from store to store.
Soon, countless people poured into the mall. The shelves on the first floor were filled with fresh vegetables, fruits, as well as various dry goods and spices. It looked very tempting at first glance, but there was no snowflake salt at the checkout exit as usual.
, everyone was stunned and blinked, unable to believe their eyes.
Many people come from far away because of its reputation. If not, wouldn’t the trip be in vain?
There is a dedicated person at the settlement exit who is responsible for settling everyone's accounts and collecting cash. Some customers couldn't help but ask: "Where is your snowflake salt? Why is it missing?"
The person in charge was confused as to how he knew the inside story. The guests began to panic, and the salt outside didn’t know what was going on. It had increased by several cents in the past two days. Even so, I heard that it was sold out and even if you had money, you couldn’t buy it.
, not to mention it’s too expensive to buy. If there is no salt here, what will everyone eat?
"Where's the salt?"
"We want to buy salt."
More people gathered around and shouted, making the scene a bit chaotic.
At this time, Jia Youcai came over with a team of people protecting the village, and shouted loudly: "Don't make any noise, I am the manager here, the salt is not sold, and we don't know when the next batch will arrive."
"You said you have enough supply, why don't you sell it?" someone asked dissatisfiedly.
"It's just that it can't be sold out so quickly."
"Bring out the salt quickly."
More people got involved, shouting and getting emotional.
Jia Youcai was well prepared and said loudly: "The Li family and Fan Yang Lu family in Zhao County, together with other officials, impeached the Lord Protector, saying that we are maliciously lowering prices, destroying fair competition, and are not allowed to sell salt anymore, right?"
Everybody, let’s go find other salt dealers to buy it.”
"What, you actually said that the Protector of the Kingdom maliciously lowered the price? Damn the salt merchants, why don't they die!"
"That is, they sell it at such a high price, how can we ordinary people afford it? Thanks to the righteousness of the protector of the country, he sympathizes with us and sells it at a low price. Now that they are not allowed to sell it, what can we eat?"
"Damn salt merchants, they are forcing the Lord Protector away so that we can buy high-priced salt."
"No, we don't agree, let's go find them."
Jia Youcai saw that he didn't have to stimulate the public opinion and saved a lot of trouble. He shouted: "Everyone, hurry up. I heard that the bandits in Jiangnan are difficult to quell. Haiyan cannot be shipped in the near future, and the price will rise. Let's go more."
Buy some so you don’t run out of salt in the future.”
When everyone heard that there would be a shortage of salt in the future, they became even more anxious and left one after another.
Soon, a large group of people swarmed at the door of a shop. The shop assistant came out to start a fight. He was a little frightened when he saw so many people approaching in an aggressive manner. However, when he thought about the people behind him, he became emboldened and shouted: "What are you doing?"
"Buy salt, take out the salt quickly."
"Yes, take out the salt and don't raise the price."
When the store clerk heard that he was here to buy salt, he scolded him impatiently: "Just line up to buy salt and come one by one. The boss has told me that the price of salt will increase by three cents today, to twenty cents per catty, so prepare all your money."
"What... another increase? You are robbing."
"Yes, it can't go up any more, we won't agree to it."
The store clerk said disdainfully: "It doesn't matter what you say. If you want to buy it or not, get out of here. If you don't buy it, get out. It will still go up tomorrow. There isn't much salt anyway, so don't worry about selling."
Everyone was even more panicked when they heard that there was not much salt. How could they live without salt?
If you run out of food, you can dig some wild vegetables to satisfy your hunger, and you can get through it. Salt is different, so you can't do it without it. Those who are bold push forward, shouting: "You businessmen are unkind and increase prices indiscriminately for the sake of wealth. You simply don't give us ordinary people a way to survive.
Take out the salt quickly and sell it to us at a low price."
"You're calling... you're calling me shit, I won't sell it anymore." The store clerk was arrogant and didn't care.
When everyone heard this, they refused to accept it, became furious, and rushed in.
Everyone has the instinct to follow blindly and rush in. Several store clerks suddenly panicked and rushed to stop them, but they were knocked to the ground by several strong men. Everyone rushed in, intending to grab what they could before giving them money. After all, there was not much salt.
Whoever grabs it first will have a chance.
When I got the salt, I saw the noisy scene. No one came up to ask for money. Many people had bad intentions and left quietly. Some people who didn't want to take advantage looked around for shop assistants to give money to them, but there was no one in sight. I found that many people were watching eagerly around them.
He stared at the salt in his hand, worried about being robbed, and quickly ran away.
Soon, all the salt in this store was looted.
You are not as popular as you who didn’t grab the salt. Why can others grab the salt and take it away, but you can’t?
Greed takes over the high ground in the brain and becomes crazy.
Everyone yelled and rushed towards the nearest salt shop. Based on the experience last time, this time they didn't waste any time and rushed in to grab it, fearing that it would be too late.
Soon, looting started in Chang'an City. Everyone ran away after looting. Qian Niuwei came up to arrest people but they couldn't do anything. There were too many people at the scene and they couldn't stop them.
The news of salt shortage swept through the whole city of Chang'an like a storm. More and more people were worried about the lack of salt in the future, so they walked out of their homes and joined the looting team, causing chaos on the streets.
The law does not hold everyone accountable, and the chaotic situation becomes more and more intense.
The news quickly spread to the imperial city and reached the ears of Li Er, who was handling affairs in Ganlu Hall.
Li Er felt bad all over. He stared blankly at Qian Niuwei who came to report. It felt very unreal. The Chang'an City under his rule was not far behind if he didn't tell the way or pick up lost things. However, a looting incident actually broke out. This... how?
possible?
This is a disgrace to the imperial court.
It is even more of a stain on his own governance. If it were recorded in history books, how could he be embarrassed?
Li Er, who has always cherished his reputation, became angry and asked: "What's going on? Why is this happening?"
Qian Niuwei, who came to report, quickly explained: "Your Majesty, I don't know about my humble position. I only heard that department stores stopped selling snowflake salt. The people hated other salt shops for hoarding goods and selling at higher prices. They asked for a price reduction but failed, and a dispute broke out.
It eventually turned into looting, and the whole city of Chang'an was in chaos."
"You Nanya Forbidden Army can't handle such a small thing? Where is Duke Lu?"
"Back to Your Majesty, Mr. Lu Guogong is directing the quelling of the chaos at the scene. There are too many innocent people at the scene, and only a few are looting. However, with the help of innocent people to escape, it is difficult to arrest them. Mr. Lu asked me to ask the Majesty for military control."
Military control means that you can take over the entire city of Chang'an and order everyone to go home unconditionally. Anyone who dares to disobey will be shot without mercy.
Doing so can quickly quell chaos, but it can also escalate public anger.
Li Er hesitated for a moment, fearing that the looting would escalate, cause a fight, or even threaten the safety of the imperial city and himself, so he quickly said: "Under the two-day control, we must find out the truth behind it, recover the robbed goods and return them to the victims."
"Here!" the other party agreed and hurried away.
Li Er looked in the direction of the gate, his eyes flashing, and he murmured in a low voice: "Snowflake salt is no longer on sale. Qin family boy, what do you want to do, counterattack me? Then come on."
"Your Majesty, the Li family of Zhaojun and the Lu family of Fanyang have sent representatives to ask for an audience." Wang De's voice came from the door.
"Xuan!"
Soon, two middle-aged men hurried into the temple. After bowing, one of them said: "Your Majesty, several salt shops in the clan have been robbed and the losses are huge. Please make the decision and uphold justice."
"That's right, please, Your Majesty, severely punish the murderer and give me justice." Another person also agreed.
Li Er narrowed his eyes and asked coldly: "I came to you two days ago and asked you to reduce the price together. Didn't you say there is not much salt? Why did you suffer a huge loss?"
"There isn't much salt, but we shipped a batch last night and planned to sell it at a reduced price today. I didn't expect the unruly people to cause trouble and rob the supplies. They deserve death." A man said solemnly.
Li Er is not stupid. There were floods in the south of the Yangtze River, roads were blocked, sea salt could not be transported, and almost all the southwestern salt mines were confiscated. Where did the salt come from? He obviously wanted to hoard it and sell it at a high price, but considering that he still needed two companies, he didn’t point it out.
He said in a cold voice: "Don't worry, the Nanya Imperial Army has been ordered to pursue the case."
"Thank you, God, for your grace!" The two of them looked grateful.
At this time, Wang De hurried in and said anxiously: "Your Majesty, the fight is about to begin."
"What started a fight?" Li Er scolded, but his heart thumped.
Wang De quickly organized his words and explained: "Your Majesty, the common people are fighting with the Imperial Guards. They are demanding salt and are not allowed to increase the price. Many common people even gathered at Zhuque Gate. They are in a hot mood and are afraid something will happen."
"What……"
Li Er's face changed drastically. The common people actually broke into the Imperial Guards and came to the Zhuque Gate to demonstrate. Was this a rebellion? But when he thought about the reason, Li Er's face turned red with shame. In the final analysis, it was all his own fault.
Inexplicably, an unprecedented uneasiness came over me, and I felt like something big was going to happen.
But the emperor cannot make mistakes, otherwise his majesty will be lost, and he must not tolerate the thugs. An unknown anger arose, and Li Er said coldly: "Send the decree to Duke Lu to put an end to the chaos as soon as possible. Those who resist and do not obey will be killed without mercy!"
"According to the order!" Wang De instinctively felt that this order was inappropriate, but he did not dare to say more and hurried away.