abnabooks Chapter 1617: 1 Boomerang
Chapter 1617: 1 Boomerang
Chapter 1617 A Boomerang
"Absurd!" She kept smiling after returning to Youhu Cottage, "I am now convinced that He Xiao's goal is indeed the same as ours!"
Even if King Yao didn't know she was secretly planning a rebellion, the famine and the Emperor's flow of blood could both lead to a riot. At this critical juncture, we can't be stingy with that little bit of money and food, and we can't rashly lay off people!
Tianshui City suddenly had tens of thousands of strong laborers who had no work to do, no money to earn, and no food to eat. What a terrible hidden danger!
He Xiao is as smart as a ghost, how could he not know the pros and cons of this?
At this time, the Tianshui East Expansion Project was suspended and people were driven out. Qingyang couldn't help but wonder if He Xiao wanted to make Tianshui City even more chaotic and add fuel to the fire of Emperor Liujiang's Night?
If Qingyang was the King of Yao, he would definitely go against the majority's opinion at this time, and order the Tianshui project to continue even if it meant digging up the military warehouses for food supplies. After all, it would only take a few days for the Emperor Liujiang to erupt.
It is understandable that the work was stopped because of Emperor Liujiang, and everyone can understand it.
In her opinion, she should work as long as she can, but in the eyes of King Yao, she should save as long as she can.
This old man is not too stupid, but too greedy! The national treasury is already full of profits, but he is reluctant to let the farmers and workers eat rice for free for a few days.
Greed blinds one's mind!
"I actually arm-wrestled with this kind of bastard for half a year?" Qingyang laughed at himself, "I'm really old."
Yuan Xuan said quickly: "If it weren't for the power of the whole country, King Yao would not be your opponent at all."
Qingyang snorted: "By the way, is there any news about Wu Xianlong?"
Yuan Xuan: "I was just about to report it, it has been dealt with, the impact should not expand, at least it will not implicate...important people."
Most of the officials involved in their plan only received instructions or were coerced by their superiors. They had no idea what the big shots at the top wanted to do, or even what kind of trouble they were involved in.
Qingyang’s plan is so secretive, how could there be so few people who truly know about it?
This also makes it convenient for them to control the source of information. If the information is leaked at any level, they can just cut it off at that level.
"white?"
"General Bai is well."
Qingyang took a deep breath: "King Yao has become suspicious. Maybe we need to advance our plan."
This was also a helpless move. If King Yao was suspicious, how could he not think that the night of Emperor Liujiang was the best opportunity to riot? If everyone worked hard towards that day, Qingyang would not be able to gain any advantage.
Man proposes, God disposes. She never dared to say that she had a perfect plan. No matter how good the plan is, it must change according to the time and situation.
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Next, more than twenty officials were taken away, detained, and interrogated by the court judge and palace guards in the office.
Half of them never returned to the office.
All the grain in the kiln warehouse and the granary was gone. In order to quell the panic and stabilize the price of grain, King Yao urgently ordered the rapid transportation of grain from other granaries in the surrounding area to ensure the supply of Tianshui City.
At the same time, Yao Ting launched a comprehensive survey on grain reserves across the country.
In theory, there is nothing wrong with this order, and it is a timely and appropriate move. How can we know what is going on without a fresh survey?
It would have been better if this order had not been issued. Once it was issued, it was like a magic spell. Within just two days, five public warehouses in the country suddenly caught fire one after another. The warehouses were burned as cleanly as the kiln warehouses, leaving no evidence at all.
The whole country was shocked.
Immediately afterwards, three officials in Tianshui City hanged themselves overnight, leaving no chance for Yao Wangting to arrest and interrogate them.
There were also mysterious fires in the homes of two state officials in Mangzhou, and none of the family members, young or old, could escape.
When a person dies, many things are over.
Even the most insensitive person would sense that something was wrong.
The dignitaries of Tianshui City came to He Lingchuan for tea, and they all sighed when they talked about this matter. How much grain was originally left in these warehouses? No one knew.
Gu Xuan sighed: "Amazing, burning so many granaries in a row!"
Jing Yuanxun sneered: "In the beginning, the one who set fire to the kiln warehouse might be——"
Gu Xuan shushed him, shushing out the name, but Jing Yuanxun still said the rest of the words:
"——But the latter may not be the case."
Who asked King Yao to open the granaries to release grain and check the family's financial situation?
He Lingchuan knew what he was going to say. The kiln warehouse might have been set on fire by Qingyang, but the same could not be said for the four warehouses behind.
This was the second major mistake made by Yao Wang:
He misjudged the situation.
No matter how good a policy is, its implementation depends on the timing.
He didn't do a good job of "choosing the right time".
So the discussions among the people spread into the palace.
Ever since Qingyang Regent stopped reporting crimes, officials haven't felt so insecure for a long time.
But this time it was the king who initiated the investigation.
While King Yao ordered a strict investigation, prices in Yao Kingdom did not stop soaring.
With so many granaries burning one after another, how could there be food in the future? The people were in turmoil and panic.
These days, the court officials have been dispatched everywhere, conducting investigations and trials, overcoming numerous obstacles, and sending people to verify the grain, and have managed to determine the true balance of the public warehouses:
There were originally seven granaries in and around Tianshui City, two of which were on fire, leaving five. Three of them only had 20% of the grain, and two had 60% of the grain left!
And this percentage also includes diseased wheat residues that are shriveled, damp, and damaged by rats and ants.
The granaries in Mangzhou, Zhuofeng and other places have less than 40% of their inventory.
Other small places are even lower.
The granaries found in Tianshui City and its surrounding areas only had an average of 30% surplus grain!
This information reached He Lingchuan through certain channels, and he sighed, "How amazing, how accurate."
The mirror didn't understand: "Who is this talking about?"
"Of course it's Qingyang." He Lingchuan's mind was clear as a mirror. "In fact, whether it's me or Qingyang's group, the total amount of food purchased is limited. If Yao Country originally had sufficient food, this level of threat would not be a big deal."
Yao State is the most powerful country on the Golden Plains. It is a country that relies on the power of the plains to support itself. It has had bumper harvests for several consecutive years. Logically speaking, it should have strong risk prevention and resistance capabilities. How could it be shaken by just a few forces?
"What a pity! Yao State's grain storage has always had a big problem, with chaos and corruption rampant. These big holes can be covered up by accounting in normal times, but once something goes wrong, such as someone secretly disrupting the situation or draining grain from the cauldron, the grain storage will be riddled with holes and exposed immediately!"
Some people have to learn from Qingyang and burn their warehouses to settle accounts!
"That's called planting the seeds of disaster!" Mirror began to talk about his knowledge, "It's also called bringing disaster upon oneself."
"Qingyang is worthy of being Beiga's old national teacher. He finds the point of force so accurately!" Qingyang must have seen all kinds of strange things and chaos in Beiga, right?
There is nothing new under the sun, and her rich experience is still effective when applied to Yao Guo.
"The fire in the kiln warehouse should be the prelude to her actions!"
The officials who were arrested and interrogated by Yao Ting were evasive and gave up a lot of names, but if they were investigated one by one, most of the clues would be useless and the investigation would not go on.
There were a few people who could be traced. The court judge dug deeper and found out that they were the officials who purchased Youhu Villa!
When these officials were summoned for trial, they all cried out that they were wronged and swore to heaven that nothing had happened and that there must have been a traitor who framed them!
After reading these reports, King Yao became more and more angry. He couldn't help but slam the table and stand up, and then he felt dizzy.
The old palace servant Qiu Long hurried forward to support him: "My king, your health is very important, please rest for a night."
"Why are you taking a break!" King Yao pushed him away. "If you continue to take a break, the last bit of food in the granary will be emptied by these termites!"
They are a bunch of useless things!
"Keep investigating. I don't believe you won't find anything!"
"Yes." Qiu Long responded in a low voice. The Lord was angry and inevitably impulsive. In fact, everyone knew that these things could not withstand investigation.
Investigating corruption is like a boomerang, which will eventually hit back at its own hands.
Why did Qingyang wield the stick of denunciation some time ago, and all the officials were in awe? It was because they were not clean.
Now this involves the national treasury, and if we investigate one clue, we can uncover a hundred problems!
Qiu Long knew that King Yao was not angry about not being able to find clues, but was worried that the network of relationships revealed was so complicated that it would prevent King Yao’s court from catching the real culprit!
There is a frenzy of grain speculation across the country. Can an ordinary force have such power?
After taking a few gulps of warm water, King Yao slowly came to his senses.
"The most important thing is to recover the food first." He quickly sorted out his thoughts, "So much food can't disappear out of thin air. It's probably still in the country. It must be hidden somewhere."
Investigating corruption and even catching the masterminds behind the scenes can be done later, but for now, the food problem must be solved first.
"By the way, have you checked all the officials who have had contact with Qingyang in the past few months?"
"We checked them one by one, but the highest level we found was Bao Wei." That is the deceased Minister of War. "The arrested city patrol chief Tu Huan just confessed that he received an order from the Ministry of War to replace the night patrol outside the East Palace Gate! This order was issued by Bao Wei."
"Eastern Palace Gate?" King Yao said "good" three times in a row, "How dare you, do you really want to rebel?"
"Kings……"
Yaozi raised his hand to interrupt Qiu Long's next words. He pondered for a while, and the anger on his face gradually subsided, replaced by gloom.
"Give the order, I want to move back to live near Yuquan Palace."
It's winter now, and the water in Yuquan Palace has turned into ice. Qiu Long was slightly surprised, but he didn't show it on his face: "Yes. When do you plan to move back?"
King Yao said firmly: "Today."
I don’t know if it’s because the old pear tree is no longer there, but Yuquan Palace has become increasingly cold this winter. King Yao couldn’t stand it in the first place, so why does he want to move back now?
But Qiu Long knew that he shouldn't even ask:
"Yes, I will send someone to reopen the Frost Fairy Palace right away."
The original royal study of King Yao was next to the Yuyin Palace, which was the Shuangxian Palace. But this time King Yao was not only going back to work, but also going to live there directly.
The charcoal fire, food, and utensils here must not be neglected in the slightest, and all kinds of office materials must be kept. All those memorials and charts that are as high as a mountain must be moved in!
After the palace servants worked for two or three hours, the Frost Fairy Palace was finally reopened.
The first thing King Yao did when he moved back to his own imperial study was to pick up his brush and write. At the same time, he said to Qiu Long, "Find me the Qinghong seal and a festival banner."