After leaving the West City, the group walked silently on Zhuque Street. Although the entire Guanzhong drought has not affected the prosperity of the capital at all. The shops on both sides of Zhuque Street are coming and going. If you turn from Zhuque Street to Dong City, you can also see many blonde and blue-eyed Westerners from there.

Daxing City has only been built for more than ten years, and is more than several times larger than the previous Chang'an City. In the first few years, Daxing City was still empty due to insufficient population, but now it seems to be overcrowded.

The biggest reason why Daxing City can develop so fast is probably because of the new loom that Yang Yong presented to the court when the Agricultural College was established. This loom has accelerated the efficiency of weaving several times at the beginning. After more than ten years of improvement, the efficiency of textiles has increased by more than ten times compared to before. This improvement has caused a major outbreak in the textile industry of Dasui.

It happened that the court had been ordering the moving of wealthy families in the world to Beijing for some years. The combination of the two, under the leadership of the Agricultural College, many wealthy families keenly discovered the opportunities hidden in it. They built textile factories with the loom provided by the Agricultural College to absorb a large number of people. Now, the total number of men and women who are engaged in textiles in Beijing is nearly 100,000, and the population related to textiles is as high as 200,000 to 300,000. In this way, how can the capital not be prosperous?

The largest textile factory was of course opened by the Agricultural College itself. There were more than 8,000 weavers who were completely full of production. In addition to temporary workers, there were more than 20,000 people working in the weaver factory opened by the Agricultural College. The Agricultural College relied on looms and the most advanced textile technology to become the richest department in the various yamen of the Sui Dynasty. I don’t know how many people in the court drooled about the Agricultural College. Unfortunately, the backend of the Agricultural College was too strong and directly under the East Palace. Only then could Yun Dingxing firmly grasp this lack of fat.

The rise of the textile industry in Beijing is undoubtedly an impact on the family-style production of men and women who have always been weaving. The rich income in the weaving factory has attracted countless women to join it. This change has not happened in previous dynasties.

However, the rulers and ministers of the Great Sui Dynasty were not regarded as violent beasts. After only a few years of its establishment, the Great Sui Dynasty defeated the Turks, with 400,000 armies, to split into the East and West countries. The Turks, who had always regarded the Central Plains as fat, had to bow their heads and submit to the Great Sui Dynasty. Their Khan had to kneel down when welcoming the Great Sui angels. After defeating the Turks, after several years of rest, they unified the south that had been divided for three hundred years. The confidence of the rulers and ministers of the Great Sui Dynasty rose and dared to accept all novel affairs.

But it is this change that has brought greater crisis to the capital now. Without the large-scale development of textile factories over the past ten years, the population of the capital would have to decrease by at least 20% to 30%. What is particularly terrible is that the increase in 200% of the population has to be purchased. If it is a good year, it will only make the business in the capital more prosperous. Once this severe drought that has not been encountered in a century, the pressure on the capital's grain can be imagined. If we do not think of solving it as soon as possible and the drought continues, I really don't know if it will cause turmoil in the capital.

Along the way, Yang Yong was thinking hard about how to solve this problem. Although there is still a lot of food in the Jinggang, it only needs to satisfy the food of all officials and the imperial guards. It should not be moved lightly, and can only be transferred from the local boundary. However, how to transfer it is a problem?

There was a sound of wooden fish and chanting scriptures in front of him. Yang Yong looked up and saw that before he knew it, everyone had returned to the imperial city. There were crowds of people in front of him. The sound of wooden fish and chanting scriptures came from the jade steps in front of the imperial city.

Hundreds of monks were sitting cross-legged on the jade steps in front of the hall, bang, bang and hitting the wooden fish, and reciting various scriptures. They were monks who personally invited to come to Daxing Temple to pray for rain. These monks had been praying for rain for more than ten days, but no drop of rain fell in the sky.

Despite this, both the emperor and the people still had high hopes for these monks. In the sixth year of Kaihuang, there was a severe drought in Guanzhong. The emperor pardoned and invited 300 Buddhist monks to pray for rain in the main hall. Three days later, heavy rain poured down, resolving the drought in Guanzhong.

The success of the prayer for rain not only deepened the emperor's faith in Buddhism, but many civil and military officials also joined the worship of Buddhism. Now this time, the court and the people still put their hopes on those monks. The emperor himself started by taking the civil and military officials to take the shower and fast for three days.

Although Yang Yong was deeply suspicious of the monks who could seek rain, these monks in the sixth year of Kaihuang either had their luck or were proficient in astronomy and deliberately chose the practice of the previous few days when it was about to rain. If the monks could really summon the wind and rain, how could they be greedy for the wealth of the people? After the success of the prayer for rain, the emperor sent him twenty carts of white rice. Later, he also hinted that the emperor was not enough, and asked the emperor to send five hundred stones before giving up. As the civil and military officials in the court believed it, Yang Yong would certainly not be stupid enough to oppose it, and he could only turn a blind eye to the behavior of these monks.

But when he went in and out of the palace gate every day, he felt unhappy when he saw these monks. Yang Yong felt helpless on his face, shook his head, and said to Lu Mulin, Zhang Qiu Taiyi and others behind him, "Forget it, I won't go back to the mansion for the time being. I want to visit the Si Nong Shaoqing."

The Si Nong Shaoqing is the fourth rank and is in charge of the national warehouse report. The Si Nong Shaoqing is Cui Zhongfang, but he is still the wife and brother of King Yang Jun of Qin. When he heard the prince’s visit, he quickly opened the middle door to greet him and knelt down and worshiped with his whole family: "I am here to see the prince!"

Yang Yong helped Cui Zhongfang up: "There is no need to be polite among relatives. The hurry of my palace today has been disturbing."

"I dare not, I dare not, please!"

Cui Zhongfang usually walked around the East Palace, but he guessed how much Yang Yong was going to come. He invited Yang Yong and others to sit down in the main hall and ordered people to send tea to him before saying, "Is this the palace here to care about the grain storage in the official warehouse?"

"That's right, I'm going to see it in the West City today. The price of rice in the capital is more than one day. Some people can only eat coarse grains mixed with bean dregs and rice bran. I wonder if the official warehouse is still sufficient?"

"Your Highness let go, and I am aware of the heavy responsibility for handling the warehouse. The grain storage in the official warehouse is still more than one million stones, which is enough for three months." Cui Zhongfang smiled.

"Oh, enough for three months of food." Yang Yong nodded. He thought that after several months of severe drought, there were several more grain releases in the middle, and the official grain might not last long. Unexpectedly, there were still millions of stones left. This also shows the wealth of the Sui Dynasty: "If I ask the emperor again to supply half of the grain in the official warehouse, I wonder if it is feasible?"

Cui Zhongfang's face changed: "Crown Prince, this is absolutely impossible?"

Yang Yong said strangely: "Why, even if half of the official grain is taken out, the court can still support it for a month and a half. After one and a half months, the food transported from the outside has been replenished."

Cui Zhongfang looked carefully at Zhang Qiu Taiyi, Lu Mulin and others, shut up and said nothing. Yang Yong smiled and said, "It's okay, these are all my confidants."

A mysterious look flashed on Cui Zhongfang's face, and he lowered his voice: "Yes, Your Highness, that's all, that's what your Highness thinks the price of grain in the capital has risen sharply, how short of food is there?"

Yang Yong was surprised: "Not short of food? How can I say that the severe drought in Guanzhong be true, so how can I not short of food in the capital?"

"Your Highness has no idea that our Sui Dynasty has been in good weather for several years. Many people have stored grain in their homes for several years. This year, it has only been half a year of drought. If no one is involved, even if the food in the capital is short of food, it will not be repeated several times in a month."

Everyone was stunned when they heard this. Someone dared to be unable to get along with the court at this moment. Lu Mulin interrupted and said, "Mr. Cui, what evidence is there?"

"What evidence does this require? Your Highness remembers that just half a month ago, hundreds of thousands of stones of grain were taken out from the official warehouse and thrown into the rice market. It was bought in just a few days. After a few days of the rice price, it immediately rose higher than before. Although the official grain is still as high as one million stones now, it doesn't matter if it takes out half of it, it will be sold out. Once it starts supplying, it will be sold out within a few days. If that is the case, what's the use of taking out this half of the official grain?"

"These profiteers, some of them went to smash their rice shop." Mai Tiebang was annoyed when he heard this.

Cui Zhongfang looked at Mai Tiebang with contempt. Although the merchants have always had a low status and are looked down upon, no real big businessman has a connection with officials in the court. Otherwise, they would be swallowed up if they didn't make a big deal. It is natural for those rice shops to collect rice at low prices and sell them at high prices. If there is no reason, the prince cannot just smash it.

"Okay, since that's the case, please don't tell anyone about this. I will think about whether there is any other way?"

"Yes, I obey the order." Cui Zhongfang said respectfully.

After leaving Cui Zhongfang's home, Mai Tiezhang cursed at the unscrupulous merchants who were unscrupulous in custody of rice. Lu Mulin gently urged the horse to approach Yang Yong and whispered: "Your Highness, have you forgotten that there is another place with a lot of food?"

Yang Yong was excited and said, "Where?"

Lu Mulin gently spit out two words: "Qishan!"

Yang Yong was stunned for a moment and immediately shook his head: "No, you can't transfer food from there. It's obvious that Renshou Palace will be completed in a few months. If he transfers grain from there, it will inevitably delay the project of Renshou Palace, and the father will not agree."
Chapter completed!