I'm the villain in the book

Page 376

The moment Ning Yongnian spoke, the entire hall fell silent.

More than a hundred court officials stared at Wei Xianzhi standing in the first row, with different emotions in their eyes.

But the latter turned a blind eye to this, and just calmly cupped his hands at Ning Yongnian.

"Your Majesty, Xuan Jingsi doesn't care about money and food."

"You should ask Master Miao about this matter."

The "Master Miao" that Wei Xianzhi spoke of was Miao Xuezheng, who succeeded Ning Yongnian after Xu Shixing's death as Minister of the Household Department.

The Ministry of Households is in charge of money, grain, merchants, salt, etc., and it is indeed the "first responsible department" for the chaos in the grain market.

But Wei Xianzhi's words, no matter the content or the tone, are undoubtedly very disrespectful to Ning Yongnian.

"Wei Qing, I naturally know that the Ministry of Households is in charge of money and food..."

Instead of looking at Miao Xuezheng, Ning Yongnian narrowed his eyes slightly, still staring at Wei Xianzhi.

"However, Yingfengsheng's collusion with the Chaotic King is the responsibility of Xuanjing Division."

"It's been a few days since I asked you to handle this matter. I don't know how your investigation is doing?"

"Back to the emperor..."

Wei Changtian folded his hands and bowed his head, and only answered five words concisely.

"The officer is still investigating."

"Still checking..."

"The good one is still under investigation!"

"Ha ha ha ha!!!"

Laughter full of anger resounded through the hall, and all the court officials dared not show their trembling atmosphere.

Anyone can see that the distance between Ning Yongnian and the Wei family is only one step away, so no one dares to say a word at this time.

"Wei Qing..."

After a few breaths, the angry laughter finally gradually stopped, and the murderous intent in Ning Yongnian's eyes was almost undisguised.

He slowly stood up from the dragon chair, walked down the steps step by step, and then stood in front of Wei Xianzhi.

"Ten days, I hope that Xuan Jing Division can punish all those who disturbed the grain market within ten days."

"You, can you do it?"

"Go back to the emperor."

Wei Xianzhi's expression remained unchanged, he raised his eyes and looked at Ning Yongnian: "This case is very complicated and involves a lot, ten days may be a bit short..."

"Is it?"

Ning Yongnian paused and asked again: "Then how many days do you want?"

"this......"

Wei Xianzhi smiled: "Your Majesty, how about a hundred days?"

"..."

One hundred days to solve the case.

Not to mention whether Xuan Jing Division can solve the case after a hundred days, even if it is really possible, Daning will already be starving and dying everywhere by then, and the people will be in dire straits.

So the time limit given by Wei Xianzhi is clearly a provocation.

All court officials present understood this, so they all stared wide-eyed and breathless, wondering why he dared to speak to Ning Yongnian like this.

Yes, the Wei family is indeed powerful now.

But this is not Shuzhou, but the capital city where [-] imperial guards have been stationed for a long time!

How many people are there in total at the helm of your Xuanjing Division?How can it be worth the [-] imperial guards?

Taking a step back, you, Wei Xianzhi, are in the palace right now!

If Ning Yongnian is really angry and wants to kill you, how can you live?

More than a hundred court officials were puzzled, and they didn't understand how Wei Xianzhi had the courage to challenge Ning Yongnian so openly.

They even felt that the commander of the Xuanjing Division could no longer walk out of the hall alive.

However......

Staring at Wei Xianzhi who was smiling at the corner of his mouth, Ning Yongnian's palm hidden in his sleeve was clenched into a fist, and then slowly loosened after a few breaths.

He turned his head without saying a word, no longer looking at Wei Xianzhi, but slowly said to Miao Xuezheng:

"Master Miao, open the warehouse to release the grain."

"Yes Yes......"

Miao Xuezheng didn't dare to say anything now, so he quickly bowed his head in response.

And Ning Yongnian didn't say anything more, shook his sleeves and left all the court officials and walked to the apse.

Accompanied by Li Huaizhong's "retreat", today's morning court ended hastily.

The court officials walked out of the hall one after another, deliberately keeping a distance from Wei Xianzhi like the plague god along the way.

But the latter didn't care about it, and the smile on his face seemed even bigger.

Chapter 433: The Passerby's Obsession with Pretending

Half an hour later, what happened in the early court had already reached Wei Changtian's ears.

And when he heard the news that Ning Yongnian had decided to open a warehouse to release grain, he also had a smile on his face like Wei Xianzhi.

That's right, all of this was actually planned by him and Wei Xianzhi.

Wei Xianzhi deliberately acted so arrogantly in the early court, the purpose was to force Ning Yongnian to open a warehouse to save the market.

After all, the purpose of Wei Changtian's economic war is not to starve the people of Daning to death, but to attack Ning Yongnian, or the court of Daning.

Then, he had to force Ning Yongnian to use the "grain reserve" to rescue the market.

Daning is currently fighting on two fronts in Dafeng and Shuzhou, and the treasury has already become tight.

Now coupled with the large quantities of low-priced food... I think Ning Yongnian has already started to worry about money.

No matter what era, wars are fought with money.

But in ancient times, it was not like the modern times where money can be issued infinitely, so there are only two channels for Ning Yongnian to make money——

[-]. Grab the big players.

[-]. Exploitation of common people.

Judging from Daning's current expenses for maintaining the two wars, the money that can be obtained through the former channel is undoubtedly a drop in the bucket.

After all, the richest family in Daning now lives in Shuzhou City.

Then Ning Yongnian can only make up for the financial gap through the latter method.

Increasing taxes, reducing official salaries, and even reducing military pay... It is foreseeable that these policies will be introduced one after another in the near future.

And at that time, Wei Changtian's ultimate goal will be achieved.

For this reason, he doesn't mind continuing to make things bigger.

"Is it food?"

"Hmph, I want to see how much food you have to put..."

Muttering with a sinister smile, Wei Changtian suddenly felt that he must look like a big profiteer in his current appearance.

Tut tut, I'm so bad!

The satisfied self in his heart said "praise", and then he restrained his expression, raised his head and asked Zhang San.

"Where's Xu Suisui? Why hasn't he recovered after so long?"

"Master Hui, Miss Xu, she..."

"Brother! I'm coming!"

Before Zhang San could finish his sentence, another crisp voice came in from outside the room.

"Blind date, I always want to dress up beautifully!"

blind date...

The corners of Wei Changtian's mouth twitched slightly, and he raised his eyes to look at Xu Suisui who just came in from the door.

"What is the difference between you today and before? Where is your dress?"

"Oh, you don't understand!"

Xu Suisui was very proud: "Just don't see the difference! This is called scheming makeup!"

"Scheming makeup?"

"It's a kind of makeup that you straight men can't see!"

Xu Suisui was too lazy to explain to Wei Changtian, and after answering a casual sentence, he yelled to leave quickly.

And Wei Changtian rolled his eyes, and explained in a low voice to Zhang San who was a little confused while walking:

"Zhang San, the so-called straight man is... an upright man."

"Oh I got it."

Zhang San suddenly realized and nodded, and then said with some regret:

"Young master, then I'm afraid I'm not a straight man."

"Well, you really can't be considered a straight man."

Wei Changtian patted Zhang San on the shoulder and sighed, "Actually I'm not either."

"really."

Zhang San immediately agreed: "My lord, you are indeed not honest."

Wei Changtian: "?"

......

......

Another half an hour passed.

Just when Ning Yongnian immediately released the news of "opening warehouses to help the market" in an attempt to boost "market confidence", Wei Changtian and Xu Suisui had already arrived at Weiyang Palace, and when they saw Shen Ran and It's Pai'an.

About why Shen Ran didn't come to him, Wei Changtian didn't ask, but the former gave the reason on his own initiative.

Shen Ran said that he originally wanted to understand the four sentences of Hengqu before visiting him, so that he could ask Wei Changtian about them by the way.

However, due to my dull mind, I haven't been able to comprehend the true meaning for several days, so I have been embarrassed to go.

Obviously, this reason is really a bit forced, and Wei Changtian has a hundred doubts in his heart.

But he didn't bother to guess what Shen Ran was waiting for.

Anyway, since I have come today, I can finally start to implement my "genius plan"——

With the help of Shen Ran, whoring the luck of all the sons of heaven for nothing.

Of course, before that, Xu Suisui's "blind date" had to be dealt with.

"..."

"Cough, Mr. Shen, return to the first assistant."

With a dry cough, Wei Changtian pointed to Xu Suisui who looked disappointed, and introduced solemnly: "This is my cousin, Xu Suisui."

"She has been fond of poetry since she was a child, and her level of poetry writing is not inferior to mine. It's just that she has been keeping a low profile before, so her reputation is not obvious."

"Today she heard that I was coming to see Gui Shoufu, so she insisted on coming to see Shoufu's true face, haha, it's no wonder that you two..."

Wei Changtian's introduction gave Xu Suisui enough face.

However, the latter didn't appreciate it, and has been looking at Wei Changtian angrily since he entered the door, his eyes seemed to say——