The incident was so big that it inevitably reached Nie Xun's ears.
Nie Xun stared blankly ahead, his eyes lifeless. The soldier who reported lowered his head in fear, feeling uneasy.
After a while, Nie Xun still didn't move. The soldier plucked up his courage and looked up secretly. He saw Nie Xun holding his shoulder with one hand and holding the table with the other. His knuckles were white from the force and his pale forehead was covered in sweat. The soldier was stunned. He saw red and black blood seeping out of Nie Xun's clothes. He didn't care much and hurried forward to help Nie Xun. Nie Xun fell to the side.
"Medic! Medic! Help!!"
Nie Xun's old injury reappeared. The wound on his shoulder that had just healed opened again. Fortunately, the wound wasn't long, otherwise it would be troublesome.
After the doctor treated Nie Xun's wound, he gave the apprentices a prescription and asked them to get the medicine. Nie Xun slowly woke up.
"Is the military counselor awake?"
The deputy general who was guarding the bed shouted, and the other people also came over. Everyone immediately heaved a sigh of relief.
Nie Xun's face was pale and his eyes were confused. It took him a while to recover his memory before he fainted.
He was calm and comforted everyone in a weak voice, "I'm fine. I'll be fine after two days of rest."
One of the deputies said angrily, "If those profiteers didn't take the opportunity to make money from the disaster and raise the price of grain, the military counselor wouldn't have fainted."
"Merchants pursue profits, and those who are ambitious are few and far between. They're just a bunch of greedy people. As long as they make money, why would they care about anything else? "
The situation in Chenzhou wasn't good. Those businessmen didn't fear death and took the opportunity to make money from the war. What a bunch of black-hearted people!
"They're short-sighted. They only care about profit. Why would they care so much?"
Several deputies expressed their anger. They wanted to send troops to kill all the black-hearted businessmen in the city who raised the price of grain.
The more they spoke, the angrier they became. Their voices grew louder and louder until the military doctor interrupted them.
"Generals, the military counselor needs to rest and shouldn't make a ruckus. You can come back tomorrow if you have anything to say."
Nie Xun's skinny hand reached out of the quilt and waved weakly, signaling the doctor to stop talking.
He asked weakly, "What's the situation outside?"
A deputy general stepped forward and reported, "The rice shop is still unwilling to budge. The price of grain has increased by another ten percent."
Ever since the news of Chenzhou's food shortage spread, rice merchants who had been hoarding food smelled a business opportunity. They took the opportunity to raise the price and sell old rice at a high price.
Feng Jin did not send out many people to help. Instead, it was the rice merchants in Chenzhou who volunteered to help and acted as free tap water.
They fanned the flames and caused a food shortage while peddling the stale rice in the warehouse at a high price.
At this time, the price of grain was several times higher than usual. It could be considered a sky-high price and had long exceeded the purchasing power of ordinary families.
Even so, the food supply was still insufficient to meet the demand. Basically, the moment it was put on the shelves, it was snatched up by the people who had lost their minds.
The commoners who didn't have any stored food rushed to buy it, and the commoners who had stored food also followed the crowd, trying to buy more.
The streets near the rice shop were tightly packed by the terrified citizens, and there was more than one stampede.
Nie Xun was so angry that his old injuries acted up.
Seeing that Nie Xun did not speak, the deputy general could not help but say, "Advisor, what should we do now? Why don't we capture those merchants? "
Nie Xun asked him, "The reason?"
If there was no suitable reason to arrest people, wouldn't it be indirectly admitting that there was a food shortage?
An unconfirmed rumor made the people so crazy. If it was confirmed, the whole of Chenzhou would really be finished.
The deputy general's face turned red from Nie Xun's questions, and he could not say a word for a long time. He really did not know what reason to arrest people.
Another person said, "These unscrupulous merchants took advantage of the chaos to raise the price of grain. Don't they deserve to die?"
"Of course we have to arrest them, but we can't use this reason." Nie Xun closed his eyes weakly and said weakly, "These merchants are selling old rice from a few years ago. Why don't we use another reason? For example, in order to sell the old rice they have hoarded to reduce their losses, they spread the rumor that Chenzhou is short of food to trick the people into buying food. What do you think? "
The few of them were happy. This was a good reason. They could openly punish those merchants, and at the same time, they could put the blame of the rumor on the merchants and obscure the current situation of Chenzhou's food shortage. As long as the people calmed down and didn't cause trouble, Chenzhou could still hold on for a month or two!
One of the deputies said, "We can delay it for as long as we can. In another month or two, it will be the autumn harvest. When the new rice is harvested, the food shortage will be solved."
Nie Xun nodded weakly. Everyone saw that he was tired and chose to leave.
When they all left, Nie Xun opened his eyes, and a bit of sarcasm flashed in his eyes.
So what if they delayed it until the autumn harvest?
Chenzhou had been at war for several years, and the harvest within the territory could not be increased. There was no way to fill such a big food shortage.
If Huang Song had some support, there might have been a chance.
But Huang Song had given up on Chenzhou. Otherwise, why hadn't Nie Xun replied to the message he sent for so long?
As smart as he was, he had already guessed Huang Song's decision, but he could not tell the truth to others.
Chenzhou was already in a precarious situation. If the soldiers knew about this, they would collapse overnight.
Nie Xun's response reached Feng Jin's ears. He smiled and said, "Nie Chengyun's reaction is not slow."
Meng Hun shook his head and said, "I heard that when he heard the news, his old injury acted up again. I don't know how long his body can hold on."
Feng Jin said, "It's still not enough."
Meng Hun was surprised. "Not enough?"
Feng Jin smiled and said, "Here's our chance."
At this time, he naturally had to fan the flames and add fuel to the fire, so that Nie Xun could not care about anything else.
According to Nie Xun's idea, the rice merchants in Chenzhou who raised the price of grain and spread rumors were arrested, and the seized grain was sold to the people at a low price.
Many people bought grain. When the others who were still watching saw this, they immediately lost the idea of buying, and the rumors collapsed.
Nie Xun was very clear that this was only a temporary solution. After a long time, the people would still find out.
In order to stabilize the political situation, Nie Xun had to deal with government affairs with his injury, and he had less than four hours of rest every day.
The military doctor tried to dissuade him, but to no avail, he could only let Nie Xun go.
Since the old injury broke, Nie Xun's condition was repeated.
It was not that the military doctor's medical skills were bad, but that Nie Xun did not follow the doctor's advice.
Late that night, Nie Xun's body began to heat up again, and he drowsily slept for half the night. When he woke up, the room was dark.
He tried to open his mouth to call for someone, but his dry throat could not make a sound. He could only sit up with difficulty and stagger out of the door.
Nie Xun raised his hand and wiped his burning face. Even his breath was hot.
"What is that —"
He struggled to open his sleepy eyes and found that the sky in the distance was dyed with a layer of orange light.
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
