The happy life of a prodigal

However, the Central Plains East Road has indeed reached the moment of life and death.

Even if the imperial court allocates relief food, it is only a drop in the bucket, to no avail.

On the way to Beijing, what I saw and heard was not only empty, some villages have become empty, except for some wild dogs on the roadside, no living things can be seen anymore. "

Hearing this, Emperor Chu narrowed his eyes slightly, looked at the heavy-faced Zhou Nan, and said in a deep voice: "Didn't I let the state government open warehouses to release grain, and let the court send relief grain, besides that, there are The money for disaster relief..."

Having said that, he looked at Tang Zhengtong, the servant of the household department, on the other side.

This time the disaster relief was mainly in charge of him.

Seeing this, Tang Zhengtong got up hastily, and said with a little fear: "Your Majesty, the relief food and silver paid by the household department are all recorded in the book, and there is absolutely no embezzlement in the slightest. I dare to use my own head as a guarantee!"

Upon hearing this, Emperor Chu looked at Zhou Nan again.

At this moment, Zhou Nan had a troubled expression on his face, as if he wanted to say something, but he didn't say it.

Seeing this, the Emperor Chu stood up with a little anger on his face, walked in front of him, looked at him, and said coldly: "Do you know why I called you back to Beijing?"

Zhou Nan hesitated for a moment and replied, "Because His Majesty is sympathetic to the people and wants to know about the disaster in the Central Plains."

"Three ways of the Central Plains, there are three Jiedu envoys, and the magistrates and prefects of each prefecture and prefecture, why didn't I announce it, but you!?"

Chu Huang took two steps in front of him, his voice became a little high.

Hearing this, Zhou Nan gritted his teeth and said, "Because I and Your Majesty are childhood playmates, Your Majesty trusts me..."

Hearing what he said, Emperor Chu's anger eased a little.

However, just for a moment, he became even more angry.

"I still pretend you don't know!"

He looked at Zhou Nan who was bowing his head in front of him, and said angrily, "Lift your head up for me, and look at me!

I want to ask you, do you still remember how you told me when I sent you to the Central Plains three years ago? "

Hearing this, Zhou Nan showed guilt on his face, and replied: "If you are an official, you should benefit the other..."

After hearing this, Emperor Chu glanced at him, and said coldly: "You still remember, since you remember, why don't you dare to tell me the truth?"

Zhou Nan's expression changed when he heard this, he gritted his teeth, raised his eyes, and looked at Emperor Chu.

"Your Majesty, the granaries in the state capitals don't have much grain, and even if they open the granaries, they won't be able to release much grain.

If that's all, that's all. Even such a small amount of food rarely reaches the hands of ordinary people.

Most of the food went to the cellars of the local gentry.

They saved the food, even if there were starvation everywhere outside, they didn't care about it. They only waited for the price of the food to rise day by day, and they would sell it when there was no room for increase.

As for silver...

The imperial court allocated a lot of money, but in the three areas of the Central Plains today, the problem is not the lack of money, but the lack of food.

No one in the local area is willing to sell grain. In Jiangnan, from top to bottom, neither the Jiedushi nor the local gentry and merchants are willing to sell grain to the common people.

It was a disaster year, food was worth more than silver, and those gentry and merchants knew this truth better than anyone else.

They don't care about starvation everywhere, they don't care about the suffering of the people, as long as they have money to earn, they are willing to do anything. Merchants value profits over righteousness, this is an eternal truth.

Even if Chen Xiaozhi uses emotion and reason, there is no way to change their reasoning! "

After Emperor Chu heard this, the expression on his face became extremely cold.

It seems to be slightly better than the previous anger, but only those who are familiar with him know...

This expression just shows that Chu Huang's anger has reached the extreme at this moment!

435 Chapter Lee

Chu Huang's eyes seemed to spew out flames, and he looked at Tang Zhengtong next to him.

"If I remember correctly, the household department of each state government has registered the grain stored in the warehouse, and every year they have to send someone to inspect it. Why can't the grain be released?"

At this moment, Tang Zhengtong was already shaking like a sieve, knelt down on the ground with a bang, and kowtowed heavily.

"I will die!"

"Don't tell me that you will die! If you die [-] times, you will be able to make up for the lack of food, and I will not be enough to kill you [-] times!"

Emperor Chu stretched out his hand angrily, pointed at Tang Zhengtong's head, and said angrily.

When Tang Zhengtong heard this, his face showed panic. He raised his eyes, looked at Emperor Chu, and explained: "Your Majesty, this is definitely not the fault of the minister alone, and the vacancy is definitely not a day's cold! Your Majesty!"

Emperor Chu narrowed his eyes slightly, looked at Tang Zhengtong, and said coldly: "What do you mean by that? Tell me clearly..."

Hearing this, Tang Zhengtong acted like a drowning man grabbing the last straw, took a deep breath, and said, "Your Majesty, the grain storage in the granary increases steadily every year.

In good years, the growth is more, and in bad years, the growth is less. These records are clearly recorded in the books of the Ministry of Finance.

Moreover, the Ministry of Household Affairs will send people to the state capitals for verification every year, and the people they send are different every year.

The minister thinks that if the facts are as Mr. Zhou said, then the involvement in this matter is too complicated.

The minister knew in his heart that he never took any profit from the household department's grain storage.

Therefore, in order to achieve this step, the top and bottom of the household department and the people in charge of grain storage in the state capitals must have made false testimony together.

Your Majesty, think about it, is it possible to do this?

I think it's impossible!

If it is possible, it has happened since the first emperor and even Emperor Taizong, otherwise..."

"Shut up!"

Hearing this, Emperor Chu sternly reprimanded, looked at Tang Zhengtong, and said angrily: "I still think you can say anything, but it turned out that it was just to shirk responsibility, and I only asked you one question.

If this has always been the case, then why do I want you! ? "

Hearing this, Zhou Nan who was beside him also knelt down and shouted: "I will die!"

He knew in his heart that what Emperor Chu said was not only for Tang Zhengtong, but also for him.

Chu Huang took two steps and sat back on the dragon chair.

For the latter words, he doesn't need to ask in such detail, he can guess it by himself.

Why, as a Jiedu envoy, did not stop such behavior.

Why did Jiangnan Liangdao refuse to sell grain.

All in all, there is only one word - Li!

The food issue involves the interests of countless people.

Especially the interests of the gentry class.

In the state of Chu, the emperor and the scholar-bureaucrats jointly ruled the world.

Most of the civil and military officials in the imperial court came from the gentry class. If you want to eradicate this force, you just pull out carrots and bring mud...

As a result, the entire Chu State will have huge turmoil.

Today's internal and external troubles in Chu, whether it is the Qiyan tribe in the north or the Duke of Guizhou in the southwest, are all problems that do not know how to solve them.

At this time, there must be no major disturbances!

Emperor Chu's face became a little gloomy, and he looked at the two ministers who were kneeling on the ground trembling, and an inexplicable anger rose in his chest.

However, this anger was accumulated in his chest, but there was nowhere to vent it.

After a while, he took a deep breath, looked at Fang Xiu who was a little embarrassed sitting beside him, his brows eased a little, and said: "Fang Xiu, it's the first time I read your policy theory, I just found it sharp, pointing directly at it Imperial ills.

But I think that the officials of the state government, the ministers of civil and military affairs above the court, and the rules and regulations of the court have not decayed to such an extent.

Only now did I realize that everything Qing said was true, and every sentence hit me, Da Chu, and the court's sore spot! "

This is already very harsh.

The state of Chu advocated that the king humiliated his ministers to death.

If the words of the old emperor spread...

After being heard by some so-called "people with lofty ideals" on the "Festival of Justice and Death", they were afraid that they would cry and go to the ancestral hall to apologize.

When Tang Zhengtong and Zhou Nan heard this, they also slammed their heads on the ground with a bang, and shouted: "I will die!"

Seeing this scene, Fang Xiu was even more embarrassed.

After all, he is also a courtier.

The two of them put on this posture, and they always felt a little bad sitting next to them.

He thought for a while, wanted to get up, followed the example of the two of them, and shouted 'ten thousand deaths' twice.

The Emperor Chu on the dragon chair saw it, but said: "The two of them kneeled because they failed the trust of me and the people of the world. What are you kneeling for? Sit back..."

When Fang Xiu heard this, the corners of his mouth twitched, but he didn't refuse, he just cupped his hands and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty!"

The two ministers knelt on the ground with their heads pressed tightly to the ground, not daring to make a sound.

Emperor Chu sat on the dragon chair, looked at them like this, and said coldly: "Since you want to kneel, kneel here for a full day and night.

Without my word of mouth, you two will keep kneeling down! "

The two ministers breathed a sigh of relief when they heard this.

This is called lifting high and putting it down gently.

His Majesty said so, which means that the two of them will not have any major problems.

"I thank your Majesty Long En!"

The two ministers kept this posture, kneeling on the ground.

At this moment, Emperor Chu's anger seemed to have subsided a little.

He picked up his teacup, took a sip, looked at the two ministers kneeling on the ground, and said slowly, "The memorandum given to me by An Shuo, the Jiedu envoy of the Central Plains East Road, said that today's famine in the Central Plains is due to drought?"

When Zhou Nan heard this, although he didn't raise his head, he hurriedly replied: "Reporting to Your Majesty, it is indeed because of the drought."

"However, I have read the reports submitted by the state capitals. Although the drought this year is more serious than previous years, it is not enough to cause so many state capitals to suffer..."

Emperor Chu took another sip of tea, and said slowly.

Obviously, the stack of memorials on his desk are all about the disaster in the Central Plains.

The disaster in the Central Plains has lasted for three full months.

Every day, a large number of refugees are displaced from the Central Plains to Gyeonggi.

These days, the prefects of the various prefectures in Gyeonggi and the prefects of Kyoto have written letters one after another, asking how to deal with these refugees.

These memorials brought the disaster in the Central Plains to a higher level after the attack on the Qiyan tribe.

Solving this matter is imminent!

However, he re-read many memorials, but found that many memorials did not even clarify the specific reasons for the disaster.

Some state capitals said it was due to drought, some state capitals said it was due to locust plagues, and what's more, they even said it was floods...

They belonged to the same group, and it was so absurd that drought and flood happened at the same time!

Therefore, the Emperor Chu recalled Zhou Nan, the Jiedu envoy who was far away in the North Central Plains, back to Beijing, just to ask for clarification.

What is the disaster in the Central Plains!

Chapter 436 I Have a Solution

Zhou Nan, who was kneeling on the ground, hesitated when he heard this, gritted his teeth, and replied: "Reporting to Your Majesty, the situation of the disaster in each state is indeed different.

However, all the prefectures under the Central Plains North Road that I govern are severely drought-stricken. In addition, I heard that there are insect plagues. "

"It is said that?"

When Emperor Chu heard this, anger appeared on his face again. He glared at Zhou Nan who was kneeling on the ground, and said coldly: "As a parent official of the same family, it is only a rumor that the family and life of the people are involved!?"

Zhou Nan showed panic on his face, and hurriedly said: "The minister made a mistake, it's the truth, it's not what I heard...

The strange thing about this plague of insects is that it is not locusts, but another kind of red insects, with a hideous face, extremely ugly, and shaped like a monster.

There are rumors in the market that this is an ominous omen, implying that the world will be in chaos, so the ministers dare not speak falsely.