Chapter 316 The palace is so poor that they can’t even afford food

The old woman deliberately bumped into the blade, scaring the officer and soldier so much that he quickly shrank back and barely avoided the old woman.

Zhang Yushi saw that the officers and soldiers were retreating instead of advancing, and knew that they were afraid of being blamed. They didn’t understand the emperor and didn’t know the emperor’s determination to stop running girls’ schools.

Now that things have become like this, if they don’t suppress it by force, the problem won’t be solved at all. The emperor asked him to come forward just to make him the emperor’s knife.

Thinking of this, Zhang Yushi actually had some sense of righteousness. It was his responsibility to protect the husband’s power.

He grabbed the soldier's knife and stabbed the old woman, shouting, "Zhang Yushitai has been ordered to drive away the mob. Anyone who doesn't leave will be killed without mercy!"

Seeing the old woman lying in a pool of blood, the others were no longer frightened, and the scene suddenly became quiet.

Zhang Yushi glanced at the soldiers and shouted, "What are you still standing there for? Those who don't want to leave, catch them all!"

Seeing that the soldiers were serious, some people gradually left, while some people, especially the orphans, stayed behind, although they were trembling with fear. One girl even shouted, "Keep the girls' school and give us orphans a chance to live!"

Zhang Yushi gave an order, "Catch them all!"

The soldiers rushed forward and caught the orphans.

The girl that the old woman had just held in her arms squatted beside her and cried, "Grandma, Grandma, wake up, don't abandon Moer, the girls' school is gone, Moer has nowhere to go."

But the old woman didn't move, Moer didn't respond to her grandmother's sword, and she stopped shouting. She slowly stood up, her eyes full of anger: "Dog official, give me my grandmother

back!" Moer said, and suddenly rushed towards Zhang Yushi. Zhang Yushi retreated repeatedly, shouting, "Catch this little girl too!"

Moer didn't even run into Zhang Yushi every day, but she was picked up by several strong officers and soldiers and thrown into the cell with other girls.

Seeing that the officers and soldiers were serious, those who surrounded other yamen gradually dispersed, and those who were unwilling to leave were all imprisoned by Zhang Yushi without exception.

The siege of the government office came to a temporary end.

The emperor commended Zhang Yushi in the court, saying that he maintained the face of the court, and those officials who originally wanted to impeach Zhang Yushi for harming innocent people kept their mouths shut.

It seems that the emperor does not want to know how Zhang Yushi solved this problem, or perhaps such radical means are tacitly approved by the emperor.

It was thought that in this way, the problem of the girls' school would be solved, but unexpectedly, it would breed even greater chaos.

The shops under the name of the girls' school were directly confiscated. Originally, the Ministry of Revenue should have taken over, but the emperor felt that Zhang Yushi had done a remarkable job this time, so he asked him to properly settle these shops and then hand them over to the Ministry of Revenue for management.

Zhang Yushi thought that he should send all the women who managed the shops back home, but most of these shops required high technical skills. If these people were driven away, the shops would hardly be able to survive.

So he only fired the chores and added a new group of people, thinking that he would wait until the people he sent in were familiar with the business before sending all the managers away. However,

when they heard that they were going to fire people, all the people in the shops left without looking back, as if they had discussed it beforehand.

At this time, Zhang Yushi had not yet realized the seriousness of the problem, and thought that if they left, they would leave. If they could open the shop, they would open it. If they couldn't, they would just close it. The shops under their control became a business.

But what he didn't expect was that in the past five years, half of the shops in the capital were related to girls' schools.

Cloth and jewelry shops were closed, and at most they would not wear new clothes or jewelry.

But overnight, most of the grain and oil shops, hospitals and drug stores in the capital were closed, and it lasted for several days. Many families had no rice to cook. There were

also many people who were sick and could not see a doctor or get medicine.

The remaining shops took the opportunity to raise prices. The price of goods in the capital increased several times, and the people complained.

After more than a month, even with money, it was impossible to buy food and medicine, because the girls' school had set up a transport team to transport its products to various places, and most of the materials to and from the capital were transported by them.

Now that the girls' school was closed, the transport team was nowhere to be found, and even the seasonal fruits and vegetables in the palace were in short supply.

The emperor looked at the same dishes every day, slammed his chopsticks on the table, and shouted angrily: "Doesn't this chief steward want to be in office anymore? He just cooks these things every day to fool me!"

The queen walked over slowly and said calmly: "Your Majesty, please be patient for now. Your mother has even replaced the bird's nest that we must drink every day with leftover goods

. It is said that there are not many left. She also asked us not to let you know!" The emperor became more and more angry: "Your mother has a cough and must take bird's nest every day. Is my palace so poor that we can't even eat or drink bird's nest? The Minister of Revenue is coming to see me, Queen, you should go with me to listen, let him see what kind of life we ​​are living!"

This time the queen did not have the excuse of being unwell and agreed.

"Your Majesty, although you have exempted a lot of taxes in recent years, the gold mountain and the income from the shops under the Ministry of Rites have never been so abundant."

The Minister of Revenue heard that the emperor was asking about money, so he answered truthfully.

The emperor asked unhappily: "Since the treasury is full, why can't the Empress Dowager even eat bird's nests?"

The Minister of Works looked innocent: "Your Majesty, this should be a problem of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The expenses of the palace are paid in advance every month. This month, they have increased by several percent because of the increase in prices."

The emperor was already furious: "Since there is no shortage of money, why can't the palace even eat fresh vegetables!"

The emperor's saliva almost sprayed on the head of the head of the housekeeper.

"Your Majesty, the daily tribute of vegetables and fruits has not arrived this month. We have sent people to investigate. They said..."

The steward hesitated.

"What did they say!" The emperor knew at a glance that there must be something wrong. This idea has even reached the palace. They are really hateful.

"They said that the fleet responsible for transportation is all the property under the name of the girls' school. Now that the girls' school has stopped, the fleet has disappeared!"

"It's the girls' school again. Do these women want to turn the world upside down? The prince has spoiled them all these years. Even the expenses in the palace dare not be short of money, let alone other places. Arrest all these people for me!"

The emperor was really angry. This must be the idea of ​​the eldest sister or Su Lingxi. They are declaring open war on him.

The queen said slowly: "It is precisely because they are afraid of going to jail that they have abandoned their livelihoods and are hiding."