"Thank you, Your Majesty! But it's not suitable for the Minister to propose the prohibition, otherwise, it will be exposed. " Meton bowed and said. The Mo family had a huge interest in liquor. If he proposed the prohibition, it would be suspicious.
"Don't worry! It's easy to deal with this, but another thing is not. "Li Shimin looked at Merton maliciously.
Meton's heart skipped a beat, and he asked cautiously, "Your Majesty, what do you mean?"
Li Shimin sneered and said, "The prohibition proposed by you is really good, but I'm used to drinking Xie Qianchou in the Village of Mo. What if I run out of wine in the future? I heard that there are many wine cellars in the Village of Mo … "
Meton couldn't help but smile bitterly and said, "Your Majesty, don't worry. The wine cellars are enough for Your Majesty's needs."
Li Shimin nodded with satisfaction and took Meton to Empress Zhangsun and her daughter with a kind face. Looking at such a harmonious father-son-in-law relationship, Princess Changle couldn't help but feel warm in her heart, and suddenly felt that the world was worth it.
However, Princess Changle didn't feel happy for too long. On the second day of the imperial court meeting, the whole imperial court immediately changed.
"Your Majesty, recently the price of grain in Guanzhong has soared, which is not good for the country!" In the imperial court, an imperial censor said bitterly.
"The price of grain soared? Have you found out the reason? "Li Shimin looked at Su Lingnong, the Minister of Finance, and asked.
Su Lingnong helplessly stepped out and said, "Your Majesty, this year, the rain in the Tang dynasty was not good, and there was a shortage of grain in many places, which caused the price of grain to soar."
Li Shimin said pretentiously, "It shouldn't be! Now that the Tang dynasty has drought-resistant methods and pesticides, even if the yield is reduced, it's still more than before. How can there still be a spike in the price of food? "
Fang Xuanling cupped one hand in the other before his chest and said, "Your Majesty, although the drought resistance method is good, it can only take care of a small part of the fields. It will not cause the grain to be harvested. Most of the fields still depend on the weather. In addition, now that the artificial hatching technology has been popularized, the number of chickens, ducks, and geese in the Tang dynasty has greatly increased. They all need grain to feed. Every year, half of the Tang dynasty's grain is consumed on feeding poultry. Therefore, although the grain output has increased, the places that need grain have also increased.
A civil official thought for a moment and said, "Since that's the case, why not restrict the raising of poultry and stabilize the price of food?"
"No!" As soon as this suggestion was made, many officials objected.
Fang Xuanling smiled bitterly and said, "It's not easy for the people to live a good life. If the imperial court restricts the raising of poultry, won't the people be furious?"
After tasting the taste of meat, no one wanted to go back to the days of plain soup and noodles. The people's demand for meat in the Tang dynasty was endless. In addition, fat was popular in the Tang dynasty, so the amount of meat consumed every day had reached an astonishing amount. Naturally, the amount of grain consumed was also astronomical.
At the same time, the imperial physician came out and said, "Eating meat is a good medicine for night blindness. Nowadays, the artificial raising of poultry is popular in the Tang dynasty. It's no longer a luxury for the people to eat meat. Night blindness has almost disappeared. Eating meat has contributed a lot and must not be restricted."
The officials suddenly felt embarrassed. If they really restricted the raising of poultry, they were afraid that they would immediately be reviled by the people, not to mention that eating meat was a cure for night blindness.
Yu Zhining snorted and said, "Gentlemen, you only see that raising poultry consumes food, but you don't know that there is a place that consumes a lot of food every year, but it doesn't benefit the country at all."
"Minister Yu, please say." Li Shimin heard Yu Zhining's words and immediately took the opportunity to say.
Yu Zhining suddenly stood out like a fighting cock and said, "Your Majesty, when it comes to the consumption of food, wine can be said to be the first. There is a saying that three catties of grain and one catty of wine are consumed. Especially after the Mo Family Village created a high quality liquor, the amount of grain consumed in wine is even more amazing. Since ancient times, excessive drinking has made a mistake. If Your Majesty issues a ban on wine, the Minister believes that the price of grain in the Tang dynasty will certainly fall."
"A ban on wine!" The officials couldn't help but exclaim. In the imperial court, there were many people who were addicted to drinking, and Li Shimin was a master of wine. If a ban on wine was issued, wouldn't it mean that even he couldn't drink? Would Li Shimin agree?
"No, wine has been passed down for thousands of years. How can it be banned just like that?" Cheng Yaojin was the first to jump out and oppose.
"And now the medical school needs to use alcohol to disinfect. If wine is banned, what about the medical school?" The imperial physician retorted.
Yu Zhining thought for a while and said, "The Minister thinks that the medical school can be exempted from using wine, but it can't be sold in the world."
"The Minister agrees." Immediately, many ministers agreed. Since they couldn't restrict the raising of poultry, they could only restrict another big consumption of grain, wine.
Li Shimin seemed to hesitate for a while and said, "Well, in this case, I will issue a ban on wine. One month later, the use of grain to make wine in the Tang dynasty is prohibited. Once it is found, it will be severely punished."
"Your Majesty is wise!" Yu Zhining couldn't help but feel happy. He and Mo Jiazi had been fighting for many years. This time, he finally made Mo Jiazi suffer a heavy loss. Everyone knew that the high quality liquor was a huge profit, and Mo Jiazi's Xie Qianchou was sold at a high price per bottle. It was a robbery. This time, he finally broke an arm of the Mo Family Village.
After the imperial court, the news of the ban on wine quickly spread to the people, almost causing an uproar in Chang 'an.
"Wine ban!"
A group of people in Chang 'an couldn't help but be stunned. No one expected the imperial court to suddenly issue a wine ban.
Some clever people immediately turned around and ran to the wine shop without hesitation, and used all their money without hesitation to buy wine.
Other people followed. Soon, there was a wave of people fighting for wine in Chang 'an. For a while, the price of liquor in Chang' an rose. Some businessmen saw a business opportunity and went directly to the winery to buy wine.
"Wine ban!"
When the people of Zhang Village heard this, they suddenly felt like a disaster. Zhang Village had always made a living by making wine. Now that the imperial court had issued a wine ban, wouldn't it cut off their livelihood?
For a while, the villagers of Zhang Village wailed, and their hearts were in a daze.
"Why are you crying? Don't we still have one month? In this one month, we have to make all the wine. Make a lot of money first. "The village head of Zhang Village roared.
Only then did the villagers come back to their senses. With the ban on alcohol, the price of hard liquor had skyrocketed. Now was the best time to make money, not the time to lament. Immediately wiping away their tears, all the villagers of the Zhang family went to work, striving to brew as much alcohol as possible in the remaining month.
Not only Zhang Village, but almost all the wineries made the same decision, including the winery in the Mo Family Village, and even spread to the Tang dynasty.
For a while, all the wineries consumed as much grain as possible to make wine, but the price of grain did not rise, but fell sharply.
The effect of the wine ban was immediate, and the crisis of grain price in the Tang dynasty was solved.
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