"Well, you, you are truly my good and beloved ministers. If I hadn't suddenly allocated grain, I'm afraid you would have kept it a secret. Could someone explain to me what's going on? Rongguo is so big, but it doesn't even have a million dan of grain!"

The Emperor of Rongguo became more and more angry as he spoke, and he stood up with his hair standing on end and slammed the table.

He swept all the memorials on the desk to the ground.

All the ministers below lowered their heads and kept silent, not daring to offend the furious Emperor Rong.

Emperor Rong cursed for a long time but no one dared to respond.

He stood up and looked around, "Where's the Prime Minister?"

"Master Chu, you speak."

Lord Chu had a bitter look on his face. After being called, he stepped out of the queue and said, "Your Majesty, Prime Minister Lin has been ill for three days."

Although they also bear a lot of responsibility for the current situation in Rong State, the biggest culprit is still Lin Hao. At the critical moment, this old thief actually stayed at home sick, leaving them to bear the wrath of His Majesty.

Lord Bai suddenly stood up and said, "Your Majesty, I think Prime Minister Lin has already fled, fearing his crime. I'm afraid you don't know this, but now 90% of our Rong State's land is planted with mulberry trees, which has led to the depletion of the national treasury. Our Prime Minister Lin has played an indispensable role in allowing things to develop to this point. I wrote a letter to dissuade him from doing so, but no one in the court believed me."

After hearing what Lord Bai said, Emperor Rongguo's expression suddenly became even uglier. After all, he himself didn't believe it at first.

If he is guilty, even he, the emperor, cannot escape it.

"Send someone to summon Prime Minister Lin. Even if he's sick, he must be carried in for me!"

A quarter of an hour later, the person who went to look for Prime Minister Lin came back with a pale face and trembling with fear.

"Where's the Prime Minister?"

The Emperor of Rongguo saw that there was no trace of this man behind him. When he thought of what Lord Bai said about fleeing for fear of punishment, he suddenly became furious.

"Your Majesty, there is no one left in Prime Minister Lin's mansion. When I went to summon Prime Minister Lin, I found that there were only a few servants in his mansion. All his family members were gone."

After the eunuch finished speaking, he bowed his head to the ground and did not dare to look up.

"Damn it! Damn it! Find it! Find it for me now! Even if you have to dig three feet deep, you must find Old Dog Lin for me!"

Lord Bai spoke up, "Your Majesty, the most important thing right now is to stop the depletion of the treasury. Otherwise, if the Yan State learns of this and takes advantage of the situation, our Rong State will immediately collapse."

The other officials looked at each other in surprise as they looked at Lord Bai. This man was really brave. Although everyone knew that the Rongguo Mansion was about to collapse, no one dared to say it out loud.

Another minister stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, I wonder if Prime Minister Lin and his family have escaped Rong State by now. If they have, the news of our empty treasury will surely spread, and Rong State will be in great disaster."

They don't even need to send out a single soldier. As long as they spread the news of their empty treasury throughout Rong State, the people at the bottom will automatically riot.

And they were afraid that they could not control those soldiers.

Several ministers became anxious upon hearing this. If the Rong Kingdom had been destroyed, how could they have the power and influence they currently held? Several people shouted in unison, "Your Majesty, please suppress this news!"

The Emperor of Rong suddenly sat down on the dragon throne in a dejected manner. "Send the order down, seal off all the checkpoints of Rong State, and arrest Lin Hao and his family with all your strength."

"Pull out all mulberry trees and focus on growing food. Anyone planting mulberry trees again, regardless of the number, will be executed!"

"Lord Qu is responsible for replenishing the national treasury. Quietly send people to purchase food from all around. We must not let anyone know that Rongguo is short of food."

Lord Bai once again stood up and said, "Your Majesty, I have thought about it and believe that such a large-scale plan must have been set up by the State of Yan, not some prince from the Western Regions. I'm afraid that the State of Yan has already learned of the situation in the State of Rong. The most important thing right now is to stabilize the emotions on the border. If the border troops are out of food, how can they defend the border?"

"Distant water cannot quench immediate thirst. We probably can't buy much grain in a short period of time. We have civil and military officials in the court, and each of them owns thousands of acres of fertile land. I suggest that each minister donate their own grain, which will surely help alleviate the crisis."

After Lord Bai brought up the idea of ​​donation, all the ministers changed their expressions and stared at him with blazing eyes as if their dead mothers.

Who doesn't know how precious food is in Rong Country these days? They grow all their own food, so why should they donate it?

How could the Emperor of Rongguo not know who was most benefited by the current situation? So all this must have been done by the Yan State, but they had no evidence.

"Master Bai's suggestion is excellent. In that case, Master Bai will arrange this matter. Within two weeks, I want to see two million dan of grain. Once it's gathered, half will be sent to the border troops first. The remaining two hundred thousand will be used for disaster relief."

Emperor Rong looked at the faces of the officials below and knew that this was not an easy task. They usually declared their loyalty one by one, but none of them were useful at the critical moment. He did not expect that it would be Lord Bai, the person he hated the most, who would come forward to relieve his worries.

"Don't bother with two masters for one thing, Lord Bai. I'll be working on you from now on."

Lord Bai bowed and saluted, "I obey your command."

"Master Qu, your grain purchase must also be carried out at the same time, and the speed must be quick."

At this time, Prime Minister Lin had already boarded the Liulizhai cargo truck and was on his way back to the State of Yan.

After the rebellion in Rong State, Liulizhai gradually withdrew its people.

In addition, with the traitor Prime Minister Lin, they all ran away the day before the incident.

Also returning with them were the waiters from Yan State's Liulizhai.

Before they left, they left a batch of food in Liulizhai as wages for the Rong people who helped them. They believed that they needed food more than silver.

Prime Minister Lin sat in the carriage with a blank look in his eyes, not knowing what he was thinking.

Suddenly, Manager Jin walked up to him with a simple smile on his face and said, "I just received a secret letter. The Emperor of Rongguo sent people to your house and Liulizhai to arrest people. Fortunately, we left quickly, otherwise we would have been blocked. Thanks to Prime Minister Lin for being well-informed."

Prime Minister Lin smiled bitterly, "Manager Jin, please stop teasing me. I'm just an ordinary citizen who has left my hometown. How can I be a prime minister?"

After making an alliance with Manager Jin, he sent all his family members to Yan State one after another, as hostages to Yan State, while he himself was responsible for staying and promoting the planting of more mulberry trees in Rong State. He used all his connections, even at the cost of offending anyone, deceiving his superiors and subordinates, and he had a close relationship with the emperor.

Because he took the blame for the death of 300,000 border soldiers in Lianyuanjian, the Emperor of Rong trusted him more, which allowed them to keep the matter secret until now. Only when the rebellion started did Prime Minister Lin feel sure that his mission had been accomplished.

Now he hopes that the Queen of Yan will keep her promise.

Otherwise they will become homeless dogs.