Everyone in Zhongdu knows that the Qi Palace has two meanings, one is the private residence of the King of Qi, and the other is the official office of the Northern Sui army. It was originally called the General Office, and now it is also called the Qi Palace. This young man obviously means the latter.

"How did you come in?" Lu Yu asked nervously again.

The visitor was Liu Lancheng. When they wiped out the Turkic cavalry in Beihai County, Zhang Xuan realized the various threats faced within the territory of the Northern Sui Dynasty. He needed an elite army specifically for internal emergency response, namely the inner guard.

After thinking about it over and over again, Zhang Xuan finally decided to transfer the Fenglei Army from the scout guard to the Qi Palace. As the direct internal guard of the Qi Palace, he was responsible for carrying out emergency tasks within the territory and agreed to expand the army to 3,000 people. He did not recruit from outside, but instead drew elite troops from each army. Today, Liu Lancheng came to investigate the real reason for the increase in grain prices under Du Ruhui's order.

Liu Lancheng smiled and said, "There are so many people blocking in front, so of course we came in from behind and found some things to ask Manager Lu."

At this moment, a dense striking sound suddenly came from the top of his head, and then the window screen was smashed, and several stones as big as fists flew in. The crowd outside threw stones at the shop again, which scared everyone's faces changed drastically.

Liu Lancheng turned around and ordered his opponent: "Go and stop it."

A dozen subordinates each grabbed a few stagnant of money from the basket and walked out strode. There was a scream outside. The crowd seemed to be in chaos. A guy stumbled over and said, "Master, everyone outside is picking up money all over the floor, and it's a mess."

Liu Lancheng smiled and said, "Now my subordinates can occupy a favorable position. The people behind will naturally listen to their guidance and will not break into the store."

Lu Yu admired him, and took the initiative with a few dozen coins of coins. As expected, he waved his hand and said, "Please come from Mr. Liu!"

Liu Lancheng followed him into the inner room, and the two of them took a seat. Liu Lancheng introduced himself, and Lu Yu immediately felt awe, "It turns out that it is General Liu, who has long admired his reputation."

"I dare not take it. Today I was ordered to investigate some situations."

Lu Yu was not interested in Liu Lancheng's official duties. He now only cared about the safety of his own grain shop. He asked in a low voice: "General Liu just said that the government will not come, why is this?"

"It's very simple. At the moment of the war, you have provoked a violent fluctuation in grain prices, causing chaos in the city and making the court extremely dissatisfied. So when you encounter trouble, the government will definitely stand by and watch."

Lu Yu was immediately anxious, "The price increase is not decided by our store. We also look at the price increase of others, so how can we blame us for the responsibility?"

"This is my purpose. Ziweige must find out the real reason for the price increase and distinguish the responsibilities. I know that Yanshan Grain Shop is the Lu family's industry and will not sell the interests of the Northern Sui Dynasty, so I came to you. I hope you can tell me what the real reason for the price increase is?"

Lu Yu sighed and said, "It's not clear which company started to increase the price first. We actually don't want to increase the price. But this morning, a news suddenly came from the rice shop, which made everyone mess up. Several small grain shops took the lead in stocking up goods and price increases, so we had to keep up."

"What's the news? Is the assassination in the palace?"

"No! It's because the battle situation of the front army is unfavorable. Shanyang County has been captured by the Turkic army. General Yuchi Gong and 30,000 defenders have all been killed. The Turkic army has broken through Loufan Pass and moved south."

Liu Lancheng was stunned. This was a very clever rumor! Mix the real and fake news together. Once the news of the former army came, everyone would not find that the news was fake. And the timing was very clever. It was released the day after the assassination occurred, which made the court think that the food price surge caused by the assassination in the palace.

More importantly, how could the person who spread the rumors know that the Lord of Shanyang County is Yuchi Gong? That is an extremely important military information and belongs to the strategic deployment scope of the Sui army. Only the senior military leaders and the Ministry of War will know it.

Liu Lanzhen judged that this was by no means an ordinary rumor, but rather that hostile forces were deliberately creating panic in an attempt to trigger turmoil in Zhongdu.

"If I want to find out the source of this news, where can I start?" Liu Lancheng asked again.

Lu Yu looked back at his panicked subordinates in the lobby and stuttered: "If I provide some clues, can General Liu drive away the troublemakers outside for me?"

"Is this the condition for the big manager?"

Lu Yu smiled bitterly, "I really have no choice. They all asked for a refund. It's not that I refused to refund, but I just got a mess."

"So that! I'll give the big manager an idea, which may be able to solve today's trouble."

"Please say, General!"

"The chief manager can ask them to register first and then check with the grain store sales record. If the verification is correct, then let them take the grain back and refund it at the original price."

"But if they can't check, will they make unreasonable trouble?"

"My subordinates are just on the side to maintain order. I ask them to put on armor. If they are rude, then my subordinates will be responsible for arresting people."

This method made Lu Yu's eyes lit up. There were shop marks in the lower left corner of his grain bag, and there were records of purchases of more than ten stones. It was completely possible to check and return the goods. He was afraid that someone would take advantage of the situation and buy grain that was often closed for him to return the goods. If there were soldiers next to him to maintain order, there would be no problem.

He quickly got up and saluted, "Thank you General Liu for his kind help!"

Liu Lancheng said lightly: "This is just a condition for Manager Lu."

Lu Yu patted his forehead and said apologetically: "I almost forgot if I don't remind you."

"I'll listen carefully!"

Lu Yu lowered his voice and said, "General, why not check the Heluo Mid Shop. I heard from Manager Cui of Shuangcheng Grain Shop that the news of the defeat of the Sui army was the outbreak of this rice shop."

Liu Lancheng was overjoyed. As agreed, he ordered his subordinates to assist Manager Lu in handling the food return matter, and he himself immediately returned to Ziwei Palace to report the situation.

It was already dusk when Liu Lancheng arrived at Ziwei Palace, but Du Ruhui did not return home. He was still waiting for news from Liu Lancheng in the official room.

In the official room, Du Ruhui asked Liu Lancheng to sit down and asked someone to serve tea again. At this time, Ling Jing, the director of the recorder, also hurried over and sat down aside. Only then did Liu Lancheng tell in detail about his visit to Yanshan Grain Store.

Ling Jing frowned, "Heluo rice shop, is this the rice shop opened by Wang Shichong?"

Du Ruhui smiled and said, "From the name, it is indeed a bit similar. In fact, I also suspect it is related to Wang Shichong or Xiao Xian. They are the biggest suspect and have obvious motives, but there are no clues, and just guessing is meaningless."

"Now we have clues, what should we do?" Liu Lancheng asked.

In Liu Lancheng's style, this grain shop is either an intelligence point or a branch of hostile forces. It should be taken down by Thunderbolt to avoid long nights and dreams. But now it is not his final say. Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui are both his superiors, and he must obey their superiors' arrangements.

Du Ruhui pondered for a moment and said, "If I were the intelligence leader, I would never spread news from my own station. I would either find a branch point or use this grain shop through favors, so we cannot do it rashly to avoid alarming the enemy."

Ling Jing was once Dou Jiande's military advisor and a resourceful person. He smiled and said, "Then the solution is very simple. Just catch their shopkeeper secretly from outside the store, and you won't be alerted."

The two of them looked at Liu Lancheng, and Liu Lancheng smiled and said, "Tonight, Beizhi will arrest all the people involved."

Since it is currently a war period, although the war broke out in Bingzhou, it also affected the life of Zhongdu more or less. The main reason is that the city gate must be closed after dark. Zhongdu and Anyang County must strictly implement this regulation, so Xicheng City has also been affected accordingly. Most stores must close their stores at dusk to get back to the city before the city gate is closed.

The same is true for Heluo store. The shopkeeper is Chen Chun, a native of Xingyang County. He currently lives in Xinxian County, Anyang. At dusk, most of the people who made trouble in front of the grain shops returned to the city. After the conflict was successfully resolved by Yancheng grain shops, everyone followed suit, which gave the impact of this price increase hope to resolve.

Heluomi Shop also closed the shop, leaving two friends to see the shop. The shopkeeper Chen Chun rode a donkey to Xinxian County in Anyang. He had to enter the city before dark, otherwise he would have to stay outside the city tonight.

There were many pedestrians on the road, basically like Shen Chun, who rushed back to the county town in a hurry. Horses, donkeys, mules, carriages, ox carriages, and various means of transportation gathered on the streets. It was quite spectacular, but more were walking coolie porters, carrying loads and strideing with meteors.

As night fell, the sound of drums closing the city gate sounded. Pedestrians outside the city swarmed towards the city gate. Chen Chun also entered the city in time. His home was not far from the city gate. In an alley, Chen Chun had just arrived at the entrance of the alley. A carriage suddenly stopped behind him. A man in black covered his mouth from behind and dragged him into the carriage, while the other rode his donkey away.

In the carriage, a sharp dagger hit his throat, and a man said coldly: "To be honest, I'll spare your life, otherwise I'll just throw your body into the moat."

"What do you want me to say?" Chen Chun asked coldly.

"What a calm and composed person. It seems we don't have to guess each other."
Chapter completed!