Chapter 602: Be on Guard
Yu Yanfeng's expression remained unchanged as he whispered, "I don't know. His Majesty only asked Liu Tongen and me to wait at Lingyang Wharf. Food was delivered to us after midnight last night."
"The leader at the time looked to be around 30 years old, with an ordinary face and dressed like a merchant. He claimed to be a grain merchant from Jiangnan, and his accent was indeed from there."
"I spoke to him a few words, but Liu Tong'en was following him all the way, so I couldn't ask too much. However, I saw the people escorting the grain, and they didn't look like the guards of ordinary merchants."
After Yu Yanfeng finished speaking, he glanced at the imperial guards who were escorting the food.
"Liu Tong'en has a deep grudge against me, and His Majesty doesn't trust me too much. Although he beat and scolded Liu Tong'en, he didn't tell me the truth about the grain incident. He only let me accompany Liu Tong'en to escort him, but he did secretly hint that he wanted me to monitor Liu Tong'en."
Qian Baokun said, "Since you've decided to monitor me, it means you no longer trust me as much as before. Xiao Yan's method is indeed useful."
Whether it is master and servant or monarch and subject, the most feared thing is suspicion.
Emperor An was not a broad-minded person. Once suspicion arose, he would make mistakes everywhere.
The rift between him and Liu Tong'en grew day by day, and as time went by, it was only a matter of time before he and Liu Tong'en turned against each other.
Yu Yanfeng naturally knew this, so he was not in a hurry at all. He just said to Qian Baokun:
"There is one more thing I need to tell Minister Qian and Duke Dingguo."
"There's something fishy about the origin of this gold. Although it's ostensibly shipped from the palace, Eunuch Feng said that His Majesty doesn't have that much gold in his private vault. Most of it is valuable items like rare treasures, jade, calligraphy, and paintings. But I saw this gold being taken out of the private vault with my own eyes."
"I think that either His Majesty is hiding something from Eunuch Feng and has long been wary of him, or there are secret passages in the palace that even we don't know about."
If this gold was from a private vault, it would mean that Feng Lai had never completely gained the trust of Emperor An, and that Emperor An was on guard against him.
If Emperor An had someone deliver it in advance and then took it out from the private warehouse in front of everyone, then how could he and Feng Lai have been able to deliver the things to the private warehouse without telling them? Then there must be other entrances and exits in the palace, which is not a good thing for them.
Qian Baokun's face turned serious: "I will tell Xiao Yan about this."
…
Ever since Prince Pingshan rebelled, everyone's attention has been on the army heading south to quell the rebellion. The fact that Marquis Wenxin and his men took people to the granary in the south of the city to get food could not be concealed.
The next day, the people from the Ministry of War received the silver from the Ministry of Revenue, and the Ministry of Revenue also began to purchase grain from outside. The previously stagnant war preparations started moving again. All those who knew that the national treasury was extremely poor and the Ministry of Revenue had no silver to use, learned that Emperor An used his private treasury to subsidize the Ministry of Revenue.
…
In the Prince's Mansion, the Prince smashed things all over the floor.
"Where did the Emperor get so much grain? It would have been a huge commotion to transport 10,000 dan of grain into the capital. Even the official ships have been moved, yet you haven't heard a word yet?!"
After he knew that the Ministry of Revenue had no grain, he secretly had people exchange all the little silver they had left for grain, waiting for the Ministry of Revenue to be in trouble before taking it out to help them out, in order to win over the hearts of Marquis Wenxin and the army heading south to quell the rebellion. Even if his father could take out the silver, he had already instructed the grain merchants in Beijing that as long as they delayed selling grain, any amount of silver would be a joke.
At that time, it would be a good thing for him to use it to win people's hearts or take the opportunity to sell it to his father to make some money.
But where did Father get so much food?!
"That idiot Cui Qi, didn't he say that no one in the capital has so much food!"
The staff member beside him whispered, "Your Highness, this grain was brought to the capital by official ship, and it was personally escorted by two commanders of the Imperial Guards. I'm afraid Your Majesty must have collected grain from other places..."
"Go and find out where this food comes from. Tell Cui Qi to find a way to get rid of the food in my hands."
He had previously given Di Tao a large sum of money to send to the northwest, and later gave him a lot more to send to Shezhou to win people's hearts. Now he is already stretched to the limit.
If the grain couldn't be sold at a good price and was left in his hands, he wouldn't have any money left. How could he win over the court officials to his own advantage?!
…
Liang family.
After hearing that Emperor An had lifted the siege on the Ministry of Revenue, Liang Guangyi said to Feng Qiuli, "Thirty thousand gold and ten thousand dan of grain, your majesty's plan is truly a good one."
Under normal circumstances, this would not be a big deal and a few families could easily come up with it by pooling their resources. However, for the families that had just been severely injured by their marrow and vitality being drained away, it was not an easy task.
Moreover, once the war breaks out, these 30,000 gold coins may not be enough. If the war drags on for too long, there will be endless holes in the back...
The white piece in Liang Guangyi's hand landed on the chessboard with a thud: "Your Majesty truly treats the aristocratic families as money bags."
Feng Qiuli heard this and said, "He was just like that in his early years. He relied on the Lu family to rise from a useless child and ascended to a high position with the Lu family's help. But once he came to power, he wiped out the Lu family, leaving not even a single branch of the family behind. In terms of ruthlessness, who can compare to him?"
Putting the black piece next to the white piece, Feng Qiuli sighed:
"It's a good thing that Lord Wang reminded the Grand Tutor that day, so you were prepared. Otherwise, I'm afraid our families would have been tricked by His Majesty and had to empty their wealth to fill the hole in the Ministry of Revenue."
Liang Guangyi recalled the high-sounding words Emperor An had said to him that day, and was filled with disgust. "He also asked me to take action against Yin Bao on his behalf, and promised to give me military power afterwards. But he didn't consider that if the rebellion army went wrong, it would bring disaster to the people. If it were discovered, my reputation would be ruined in an instant."
Feng Qiuli said, "Your Majesty is planning to drag you and the noble families into this."
"He's currently locked in a fierce feud with the Crown Prince, and Xiao Yan is dominating him. Whenever he's in trouble, he thinks of the good things his family has to offer, but he's forgotten how he allowed Xiao Yan to kill us all in the first place."
Liang Guangyi recalled what Emperor An had done before, his face darkening. "Emperor An is fickle, and once the bird is dead, the bow is put away. If the noble families continue to cling to him, I'm afraid the Lu family will end up like this. On the other hand, the Crown Prince, though incompetent, is easy to control."
"He's privately contacted the Cui family and secretly stockpiled grain without Xiao Yan's knowledge. He's also previously bribed officials from the aristocratic families to work for him. It seems he's not completely loyal to Xiao Yan. If we can win him over, it would be more beneficial to the aristocratic families than helping Emperor An regain power."
Feng Qiuli's eyes flickered slightly. "What the Grand Tutor said is true, but Xiao Yan is very powerful, and the past incident has just been resolved. If he knew we were planning to take over the Crown Prince, I'm afraid he wouldn't let it go..."
Liang Guangyi frowned when he thought of Xiao Yan's method.
They really need to be cautious about this matter, otherwise if Xiao Yan gets hold of something, he will probably break their bones.
Liang Guangyi put down the chess piece and talked about other things: "That Wang Huailu is not bad, he has some insight, and he has stayed in his current position long enough, let him move."
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