"The thief arrived in Linqing?" Chongzhen's eyes turned red. He had not slept well for a month, and even said he had almost never slept.

The situation deteriorated day by day, and the imagined Hutchison army did not come, but he found that the Ming Dynasty was already shaky and was almost on the verge of destruction.

According to Ji Town, Xuanfu, Datong and Yulin towns, the Hutchison's military front was clearly forward, and each town found that Hutchison's cavalry was approaching the border wall and the forts.

There have been many Dunbao military platforms in Xuanfu area that have been attacked on small scale. Hutchison seems to be tempting and did not take it seriously, but this is enough to make the towns nervous.

The key is that Xuanzhen and Datong Town suffered heavy losses. The elite troops who had been practicing for more than 10,000 yuan for more than a year were completely lost. This loss is not easy to make up. Chongzhen transferred Zhu Dadian to serve as the governor of Datong, and another capable governor was appointed as the governor of Xuanfu. At the same time, he allocated more money and grain to the two generals Huang Degong and Zhou Yuji, and enriched the Ji Town in Baoding. He hoped to enrich the defense of the nine borders before Hutchison launched a large-scale attack.

But Hutchison obviously won't give the Ming Dynasty more time, and the towns are still in chaos, and Xuanda's strength has been severely reduced. You should know that Lu Xiangsheng and Hong Chengchou are not only their own elite soldiers, but also the general's military barracks and the selection of the battalions. They are all the most elite men who dare to fight.

Such elite troops were defeated by a group of temporarily gathered miners. After the news spread one after another, Xuanda's military morale had long been overcome.

It can be said that if there were no side walls and heavy artillery, there would be no need to fight this battle again.

Chongzhen's eyes were blood red and he couldn't sleep at night. The pressure from Jiubian had already made him breathless. What's even more fatal, the food price that he didn't care much about was almost knocking him over.

The emperor hated Cao Huachun's Dongchang and Jinyiwei, and failed to provide feedback on the real situation in time as grain prices rose.

When the officials made a big report, they were already difficult to return when they explained the tragic situation in the capital and everywhere in the north.

Now when the factory guards are not allowed to be dealt with, they have to report new situations every day and then report them in conjunction with official reports to prevent them from being deceived by these people again.

Due to the pressure too much, Chongzhen went to Huangji Palace to give his ancestors a fragrance very early today. He did not regret it. Hutchison's actions all show that he has developed too much over the years, and has been deeply trapped in the body of the Ming Dynasty, and has gradually become a great disaster. With this thought, Chongzhen stayed for a while before passing by the statue of the father's statue and the Lord of the God, but when he passed by the portrait of Brother Tianqi and the Lord of the God, Chongzhen only stared at it and thought to himself: "You broke the world of the Ming Dynasty. I don't know what the situation would be like when you meet the ancestors and ancestors!"

In the Huangji Palace, Chongzhen refused to eat, and was so anxious that Zhou Hou and many eunuchs gathered in the room at the door of the hall, all sighing.

Many people were crying secretly. They were all eunuchs from the residence of King Qian. They had only been in the palace for a few months, had just had very little money, and had not accumulated a deep family background.

In this way, the Ming Dynasty is really about to collapse, and no one can understand why things have developed to this point?

A few months ago, although there were two major threats from the Eastern Lu and Hutchison, at least the Ming Dynasty was peaceful and there were not many difficulties outside. The Eastern Lu were trapped in western Liaoning, and the two crushing defeats proved that it was not enough to be able to defend western Liaoning, which was not afraid.

When Zhang Han, the Hutchison, voluntarily returned to Xinpingbao. The court had many shackles openly and secretly, and was trapped by righteousness. Zhang Han could only sit in Xinpingbao as a prisoner and could not return to the grassland, which was equivalent to trapping the dragon in shallow water.

Wei Zhongxian was in charge of the Shu family and was becoming more and more skilled and experienced. At least Shu's fiscal revenue increased year by year, and the place was quiet.

As a result, the new throne was first driven away and killed Wei Zhongxian and others, and the court was in chaos.

Then he forced Zhang Han to rebel, and threatened thousands of miles north of the north. The imperial court did not have enough comprehensive defense and was leaking everywhere.

Internally, Hutchison Trading disappeared, prices in the whole north soared, people were inconvenient to travel, and merchants were unable to operate business, so of course they were all resentful.

Then the bandits came out of Shaanxi and went straight to the hinterland, and now they fought to Shandong.

Until now, the food prices have soared, and people are starving to death everywhere. There are more than 100,000 thieves in Shandong and Henan, and people are rebelling everywhere in Hebei. The war is everywhere, which is already a standard scene of the end of the world. Almost everyone thinks that the Ming Dynasty is about to end.

If it has been years of change, everyone can accept it, but, but it has only been a few months...

The emperor couldn't eat, and these servants couldn't eat it anymore, so they were so uncomfortable.

When Chongzhen received the latest news, not only the emperor's eyes turned red, but even the eunuchs who reported the news were red.

"Emperor," Wang Dehua didn't care about pretending to be stupid and said with a sharp voice: "We must send officers and soldiers to fight quickly. The grain transportation is broken. Now the hearts of the capital and the people in Hebei are carried by the hearts of the grain ships."

The canal transport was the aorta of the Ming Dynasty. Millions of stones of grain, a large amount of materials, and the private grain trade all rely on the canal transport and the Grand Canal of Beijing and Hangzhou.

The Ming Dynasty only had this big blood vessel, which was the canal transport along the canal, personnel exchanges, material exchanges, and north-south exchanges, all relying on the canal.

The Ming Dynasty did not have a large amount of land mobility, the roads were too poor, the official roads were dilapidated and damaged, and there was no one to maintain them, and there were no large number of four-wheeled vehicles used by officials.

In this era, due to the strong national strength of Western European countries such as the Netherlands, a small country with a population of millions may have tens of thousands of four-wheeled vehicles. Using better conditions and a large number of four-wheeled vehicles, it can fully implement rapid maneuvering ranging from hundreds or even thousands of miles.

But the Ming Dynasty did not have such conditions, there were no standard roads, and there were no large number of big cars. To put it bluntly, even a unified dispatch, command and logistics system was not established.

Such a Ming country is no wonder that it was destroyed by 20,000 or 30,000 armored barbarians.

Once the canal transportation was cut off, the north was completely destroyed. Not only did the knowledgeable people know and clearly, but it was also quite clear that the eunuchs in the deep palace.

Chongzhen's face had changed from blood red to pale. He asked in a hoarse voice: "What is the price of grain in the capital now? I have to listen to the truth, tell the truth!"

The emperor's voice was like a roar. If it were the past, everyone would be frightened, but now not many people are afraid. The emperor's power is based on a stable dynasty, and he also wants to give everyone hope and wealth. However, the young emperor in front of him has nothing to do.

Cao Huachun looked at Wang Dehua, Wang Chengen and others, and their faces were not good-looking.

Everyone bought a lot of grain about five cents, and later they did not exceed one or two taels when they were most expensive, and then sold them in large quantities at a price of more than two taels to three taels, making a big profit, of course they were all very happy.

They were all in power for a short time and were so hungry that they became so hungry, so even if they knew that food was the most important weapon of the country, who could bear it under the temptation of profit?

Even the loyal Wang Chengen was involved in it?

But the grain prices of each company have almost sold almost the same food, but the price has risen instead of falling. After just a few days of falling, it has soared again. Now the grain prices have reached an unimaginable high price. Each company has bought a lot of them one after another. Then, under pressure, they sell again, and they see that it is wrong. Now they dare not sell, and they cannot buy, and they are already rats in the bellows, and they are angry.

Almost all the powerful people in the capital, as long as they participate in the speculation of grain, were trapped in this dilemma.

Everyone knows that the food price cannot rise like this. It is already time to endanger the country. They want to make money, but they don’t want the big tree they store to fall down. It is true that they are borers. If the big tree falls down, then they will be done.

But now all the powerful people have polished the stored grain, and they still have a drop in the bucket. Moreover, they dare not not buy grain. I don’t know how long this storm will last. If another Hutchison army sieges the city, it is not impossible to starve hundreds of thousands of people to death. If the food is not taken into consideration, whether it is a noble, a eunuch, or a military official, these powerful people no longer dare to seek profits. They just hope that they can save their lives before the storm is pacified.

After receiving the affirmative sign, Cao Huachun lowered his head and responded: "Return to the emperor, the price of grain in the capital has risen to twenty taels per stone last night."

Chongzhen's face was as if he was struck by lightning, and his face was purple and he couldn't say anything for a long time.

"A thing that has never been heard before actually happened in this dynasty. If the ancestors knew... if the gods knew... I really had no face to see the ancestors."

The seventeen-year-old emperor suffered an unprecedented impact. At this moment, he had strong suspicion of everything. The emperor glanced around, dozens of famous eunuchs stood in and out of the hall, silent everywhere, only the sound of shabu-shabu-shabu-sounding when the wind blew across the hall.

At this moment, Chongzhen had subversive doubts about his abilities, his abilities, and his insights.

The emperor subconsciously said, "Why did this happen?"

Cao Huachun said with a look of grief and anger: "It's all about Hutchison!"

"Huaji is doing something wrong, I know." Emperor Chongzhen said with confusion: "But why are the gentry and wealthy families in Shandong, Henan, and even Nanzhi helping the traitors to stock up on grain?"

This is also unquestionable. Before the bandits arrived in Linqing, the grain transportation was not interrupted, but there were only a small number of grain ships in the north, and a large number of grain ships were bought by gentry and merchants everywhere in the Jiangnan, Henan and Huai'an.

Millions of stones of private grain can not even be ground, and all of them are digested by the ground.

The merchants in Huguang are still selling grain. Huguang harvests bumper every year, and it is the largest granary in the late Ming Dynasty. If private grains are not allowed to ease grain shortages in various places, it will not cause such terrifying high prices to date.

No one present is stupid. Such high food prices last for more than ten or twenty days, and most of the people in the capital will starve to death, but don’t think that the rest can survive. Before starve to death, the people in the city will rise up and rebel. I don’t know how many powerful families will face the disaster of extermination.

There are many things Cao Huachun dared not say directly. Not only is it late, no one dares to go out, but no one dares to go out when it is okay during the day.

When Cao Huachun and others leave the palace, they have to bring at least dozens of fully armed guards, otherwise they will not be able to guarantee their safety.

There are commotions in the capital every day, and there are incidents of looting wealthy families, such as fighting, murder, large-scale armed fights, looting merchants and grain stores. These things have become daily routines.

Due to the chaos of order, there is no way to collect the bodies from the city every day. There are corpses starved or killed everywhere in the streets and alleys and in residents' homes.

The weather is still quite cold now. In another half a month, the weather will warm up, and I am afraid that the whole city will be covered with corpses.
Chapter completed!