Red Mansion Royal Cat

Chapter 271
A hundred miles around the city of Qufu County has been turned into ruins. The White Lotus Sect keeps saying that it is against the tyrannical rule.

Soldiers and bandits, the country has been established for less than a hundred years, and the military discipline of the imperial court is acceptable. Not to mention that Qiu Wu committed no crimes, he will not do evil things such as plundering the people.

But the White Lotus Sect is different. It robbed the common people of their food, burned down their houses, even kidnapped young wives and girls, and forced the common people to join the sect. die.

Master Zhang Duo went to search for a wave, and Hall Master Li came again.

Finally, Hall Master Li left, and King Xu Fa came again. Qujia Town at the foot of Fangshan fell into panic again.

Fortunately, this King Xu Fa is different from others. The soldiers under his hands seem to be different. They don't disturb the people, don't enter the house, and don't collect food...

The town is not big, and the owner of the only inn had already left. A team of elite escorted the carriage into the backyard of the inn, and walked down a middle-aged scribe, dressed in Tsing Yi, with a dignified face.

The mighty man beside him clasped his fists and asked, "My lord, we are running out of food and grass, do you want to go down to the town to collect some?"

"Forget it, where do they still have food?"

The middle-aged scribe walked into the room, lit up the stove, and the temperature in the room gradually increased.

He unfolded the map to check it carefully, and finally pointed to the place on the north bank of Surabaya on the north side of the town, where several Zhuangzi were marked.

"Niu Ben, work harder tonight, go here and grab it."

"Ah? Master Xu, robbing people's wealth by force is forbidden by the military law, and these Zhuangzi are all property of Yanshenggong Mansion!"

The middle-aged scribe looked at the bright red Kong characters specially marked on the map, and chuckled: "Remember, your current identity is the White Lotus Sect. Isn't it justified for the White Lotus Sect to rob the Confucian family?"

uh~
The expression on Niu Ben's face was extremely complicated, and he struggled for a long time before answering under the indifferent eyes of the middle-aged scribe: "Since the imperial envoy has orders, the general will obey his orders!"

"Go ahead, remember not to hurt innocent people. Those guards of the Kong family will be killed if they are killed. Bring all the food back. We will still be stationed here in the next few days and wait for the opportunity."

After Niu Ben was sent away, Xu Jin was the only one left in the house. Staring at the fire in the furnace, he sighed: "It's really happy, the people are suffering, and death, the people are suffering!"

dong dong dong...

"Come in."

With a creak, a well-dressed man walked in, closed the door and handed Xu Jin a letter.

"Mr. Qingteng, Dongchang Mansion has sent news that King Zhongshun and General Xiao Jia have arrived in Linqing County, accompanied by [-] forbidden troops."

Xu Jin tore open the envelope, read it hastily, and threw it directly into the stove.

"Tang Wu, let people find out the stronghold of the White Lotus Sect in the three prefectures of Jinan, Qingzhou, and Yanzhou as soon as possible, and find out who in Kong's family has colluded with the White Lotus Sect. After you find out, don't hold back, kill!"

"Yes!"

Tang Wu bowed to promise, and then asked: "Then do you want to pass the news to His Royal Highness King Zhongshun and General Xiao Jia?"

Xu Jin shook his head, and replied solemnly: "No need, if we can quietly deal with the matter of the Kong family, we will send a letter later. If someone finds out, you and I will be criticized by those words, why bother to bring others into this place?" In the quagmire."

Tang Wu was still expressionless, he was Habayashiro's secret guard, he was born to walk in the dark, and he had long been used to doing things for the Supreme Emperor that could not be shown in the open.

but……

Xu Jin is different, Liuyuan and the first, Wenquxing, who should enter the cabinet to pay respects in the future, can't be trapped in the small Qufu.

Tang Wu was very helpless to the stubborn scholar in front of him. He had persuaded him many times before, but this Wenqu star saw the hard life of the people around Qufu, so he rejected his proposal extremely resolutely.

"Sir, in fact, this kind of matter should be handled in the future. The saint said before leaving the capital that the guards of the Habayashi must keep Mr. safe and sound."

Xu Jin poked the charcoal fire in the stove, and the ashes from the letter disappeared completely.

He smiled, raised his head and said to Tang Wu: "Someone has to take that step, and as a Confucian, I really want to see with my own eyes how many outrageous things the Kong family has done!"

……

After Liu Ke and Jia Cong entered Dongchang Mansion, they only replenished food and supplies, rested briefly for one night, and then continued southward.

After three days of galloping, they finally arrived at Yanzhou Mansion. The imperial envoy was stationed in the government office. The magistrate Liu Guoliang, the Tong Zhi Mu E, and all the officials from the government office met with the imperial envoy in the lobby.

After roughly reading through the documents sent by the Yanzhou government, Liu Ke wrote two edicts with a few strokes.

"Order Ren Chengwei Commander Ma Jing to send [-] troops to search carefully along Sishui and Yishui to Qufu County. If you find White Lotus Sect bandits, suppress them."

"Prefect Liu, how much grain is there in Fucheng? Immediately open warehouses to release grain. The four counties of Jining, Zouxian, Wenshang, and Ningyang plus Fucheng will all set up porridge sheds to accommodate refugees."

When Liu Guoliang thought of the treasury that could starve mice to death, his heart skipped a beat, the embarrassment on his face was obvious.

Ok?
Liu Ke snorted coldly: "What? Could it be that there is no food in the treasury? If my king remembers correctly, when winter arrived last year, the Ministry of Households distributed a lot of food relief to the prefectures in Shandong to prepare for snow disasters."

Qin Tianjian had reported to the emperor as soon as winter came last year, that the winters will become more and more severe in the past few years, and the imperial court has already prepared for disaster relief in the north.

Especially in Gyeonggi, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Shandong, and Henan, all provinces and counties have prepared enough food to prevent disasters.

But the disaster relief food in the treasury of Yanzhou Mansion has been swallowed up long ago.Not to mention sending it to surrounding counties, even Fucheng itself is not enough to cook a few mouthfuls of gruel.

Originally, Liu Guoliang wanted to contact Qufu as soon as possible and ask the Kong family to temporarily send some grain to the treasury. Unexpectedly, Qufu sent news yesterday that several granaries of the Kong family on the north bank of Surabaya were swept away by the White Lotus Sect.

The grain stored in other places was sold to Korea and Liaodong due to the high winter price. Only Qufu County still had grain for its own chewing, which was not enough for the government treasury.

snort!
Liu Ke stared coldly at Liu Guoliang, who was sweating on his forehead, and raised his hand: "Come here, strip off the official robes of Liu Liangguo, the magistrate of Yanzhou, and put him in a prison awaiting trial!"

"My lord, you can't... woo woo woo..."

The soldiers of the royal family didn't pay attention to what Liu Guoliang wanted to say, stuffed a rag he had found somewhere in his mouth, and dragged him down.

Liu Ke glanced at Mu E, the magistrate of Yanzhou Prefecture with trembling legs, and the old man over fifty only took a peek at Liu Ke's cold face and unconsciously knelt down.

dong dong dong...

After ringing his head three times in a row, Mu E pleaded: "Forgive me, my lord, I will say everything..."

"Press down and interrogate carefully. Before dinner, the king needs to know where the food has gone."

Cutting through the mess quickly, Liu Ke was too lazy to fight against this group of corrupt officials, and directly asked his own soldiers to detain everyone in the hall.

Jia Cong has read the documents sent by the Yanzhou government, as well as the intelligence news sent by the government offices from various counties.

He couldn't help frowning, just judging from the situation in Yanzhou, it was a bit weird.

It is said that Qufu was the source of this bandit disaster, and Yanzhou Prefecture is less than two days away from Qufu County. Why did Ren Chengwei not move, until the White Lotus Sect robbed the Kong family and ran to Sishui County, Ren Chengwei dispatched The army pursued and suppressed the bandits.

If it is said that local officials have no right to mobilize soldiers and horses in the guards, what about teacher Xu Jin?
Xu Jin was in charge of the emperor's envoy, and he was holding a golden command arrow, so there was no need to report to the capital for an army of less than [-] people.

According to the news sent back by Long Jianwei, when Xu Jinlin left, he clearly ordered Ren Chengwei to mobilize troops to suppress the bandits, but until Xu Jin disappeared outside Qufu County, Ren Chengwei never left the camp.

"Master Thirteen, I want to go to Ren Chengwei..."

Liu Ke directly interrupted Jia Cong's words: "If you don't want to, just stay in the government office obediently. The king will send Ma Jing, the commander of the city guard, to come."

What are you kidding?At present, none of the Wen and Wu in Yanzhou Mansion can be trusted. Jia Cong went to serve as the city guard, who knows if there will be any accidents.

The imperial envoy can disappear outside Qufu County, so it is impossible to lose another imperial envoy.

Jia Cong sighed when he heard the words, and was about to plead for orders again, when he saw LV Xiaozu, the Langzhong of Shandong Qingli Division of the Ministry of Households, walking in with two clerks and a stack of account books.

"My lord, my lord Xiao Jia, the situation is even worse than I imagined. The Yanzhou government treasury has only one thousand shi of grain and 2 taels of silver in the treasury. It's not even official money. It's equivalent to more than 7000 taels of market silver."

clap la la...

Lu Xiaozu asked people to pile up all the account books on the desk in front of Liu Ke, and opened one casually, sighing again.

"It's all fake account books. According to the account books, the government's grain inventory should be more than 8 shi, and the silver should be [-] taels of silver. But the official took people to check it himself, and there was a moldy [-] shi in the grain depot. Chen Mi, the treasury only has poor-quality market silver on the shelves."

Liu Ke was still calm, and suppressed the anger in his heart to stop Lu Xiaozu from continuing.

The most urgent task is to raise money and food as soon as possible. According to the news sent from everywhere, I heard that the imperial envoy is stationed in Yanzhou Fucheng, and refugees from all over the country have gathered here.

Jia Cong stood up, clasped his fists and begged for orders: "I beg for orders to raise grain, and I will definitely raise ten thousand stones of grain before noon tomorrow!"

"Ridiculous, where do you go to raise food?"

Liu Ke was upset, and interrupted Jia Cong with a wave of his hand.

Seeing Jia Cong's solemn expression, he cupped his hands again and said: "I really have a way to raise food, but I need to borrow the prince's name to use it..."

……

Yanzhou is full of bandits, natural disasters and man-made disasters, and the mourning outside the city does not affect the peace of singing and dancing in the city.

The Sishui River passes through Yanzhou Fucheng, and the banks along the river have the charm of the Qinhuai River.On the banks of the Sishui River in the southeast of the government office, restaurants, teahouses, brothels and painting boats are all available.

Jia Cong leaned against the wooden railing and looked at the lights in the distance, Lu Xiaozu looked at the list in his hand with some doubts.

He couldn't help asking: "Sir, will these people really sell us grain? Hoarding has always been a means of these merchants. Now that the price of grain in the city is rising three times a day, how can they sell it at a low price to the government?"

Jia Cong touched the Yanling knife on his waist, and said coldly: "Even if they don't want to sell it, I will let them sell it to us obediently."

dong dong dong...

Jia Shishi pushed open the door of the private room and walked in, clasped his fists and said, "Except for the Qu family, the Qin family, and the Yan family, the other gentry and wealthy merchants in the city, a total of 42 principals, have arrived and are waiting downstairs."

"Uncle Eleven, is there any reason why the three families can't come together?"

Jia Cong took off the Panlong Golden Order from his waist, and gently rubbed the dragon pattern on it.

Just listen to Jia Shixi replying: "The head of the Qu family asked someone to answer. He was infected with the wind and cold, so he can't go. The housekeeper of the Qin family said that the eighth concubine of the head of his family is due to give birth today, and he has no time to come. The Yan family is in the city. The old house outside was poisoned by the White Lotus Sect, the ancestral hall was destroyed, more than [-] people were killed and injured, Yan Hui, the head of the Yan family, vomited blood and fell into a coma, but his eldest son, Yan Chenglin, returned a letter..."

With that said, Jia Shixi handed over the letter.Jia Cong opened it and saw that the content of the letter was very simple. Yan Hui, the patriarch of the Yan family, was in a coma, and all the children of the family were sick at home, unable to attend the banquet.

Skipping those few sentences of apology, Yan Chenglin probably thought of the reason for Jia Cong's invitation, and attached a handwritten letter with the seal of the head of the Yan family, so that he could go to the Yan family's grain store to fetch thousands of grains.

Yan Chenglin said in the letter that the food was donated free of charge, and he only asked the government to avenge the deaths and injuries of more than [-] members of the Yan family.

Jia Cong put away the letter, and at the same time handed the Panlong Golden Token in his hand to Jia Shishi.

"Since the Qu family and the Qin family are shameless, I don't plan to continue to give them shame. Uncle Shi, you personally lead people to seal up the shops and warehouses of these two families, and take all the food to the government overnight. Store it in storage. If someone blocks it, kill without mercy!"

Gudong!

Lu Xiaozu couldn't help but swallowed, he hesitated for a while and tried to persuade: "Sir, it's a bit like punishing someone for not teaching. Just seal up the shop and warehouse, if you kill someone..."

"If you don't kill him, how can you frighten Xiaoxiao?"

Jia Cong showed a trace of murderous intent on his indifferent face, and he waved his hands: "Go, since people from the Qu family and the Qin family don't want to come, then don't come again. Master Lu, go downstairs with me to meet Meet these Yanzhou celebrities."

Yimeng Tower is the largest and most luxurious restaurant in Yanzhou Prefecture. The first and second floors are full of Yanzhou celebrities invited by Jia Cong.

When Jia Cong and Lu Xiaozu walked down the stairs on the third floor, the noisy restaurant immediately became quiet.

Jia Cong in the purple robe made these people both curious and afraid. This young master has a stingy father who has no taboos.

They had thought about joining forces to fight against Jia Cong's invitation, but after discussing for an afternoon, they still didn't dare to find a reason to refuse like the Qu family and the Qin family did.

After all, not everyone has a background of being a high-ranking official. Maybe they have the fame of juren and scholar, and there are one or two officials in the family to support them, but no one's waist is thicker than the waist of the young man in front of him.

Moreover, there is a great god behind this young master, the famous Prince Zhongshun is still sitting in the government office.

"Greetings to Master Jia, greetings to Master Lu..."

Jia Cong walked halfway up the stairs, looking down at the saluting crowd with a calm expression.

He raised his hand and said in a deep voice: "You don't need to be too polite, I have a request for you to invite you here today..."

There were buzzing whispers all around, but Jia Cong didn't pay attention to it, instead he directly stated his request.

"I'm sure you all know about the rebellion of the White Lotus Cult. Natural disasters and man-made disasters have come together, and the people have been displaced. Rats have appeared in Yanzhou Mansion, and there is no food in the treasury. Therefore, I invite you here today to buy some from you. Food is an emergency."

"My humble Hong Shixing, may I ask Mr. Jia, Yanzhou is out of grain, why doesn't Jinan prefecture adjust the grain?"

Jia Cong looked at the white-bearded old man who was asking him a question, shook his head and replied: "It's too late, the refugees are about to gather in Fucheng, and the sky is snowing, and it's too late to transfer food from Jinan. That's why the official said, yes I want to buy some emergency food with you.”

Hong Shixing clasped his hands and asked again: "If we can help the imperial court to relieve the disaster, we are obliged to do so. But..."

"Old Mr. Hong can speak out!"

I saw Hong Shixing with a self-deprecating look on his face, exchanged glances with the people around him and said: "To tell you the truth, Mr. Jia, if it is a thousand or eight hundred shi of grain, I can get it together, let alone buying it, it is a free gift." You can give it to the imperial court. But just now, my lord also said that there is almost no food in the treasury, and we are just raising a thousand or eight hundred shi, which is just a drop in the bucket!"

Monthly ticket recommendation ticket

　Thanks for the reward of lost memories!
　　Let’s stop here tonight and continue tomorrow.Good night!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)