Chapter 418 Chaos in the City
Qin Chi quickly wrote a memorial to explain the situation.
After the memorial was written, it was handed to Captain Chen.
Captain Chen took the memorial to find the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and soon the memorial was delivered to Emperor Mingcheng.
When Emperor Mingcheng saw the memorial, a surge of anger filled his heart. After a moment, a fishy and sweet taste surged into his throat. However, he quickly spat the blood into the tea bowl while drinking tea, then tilted his head back and drank it in one gulp.
He put down the teacup as if nothing had happened.
Give the memorial to Lord Xu who was standing beside him.
Lord Xu's hand holding the memorial trembled slightly.
As for the problem with the government granaries, Lord Xu had his suspicions. There were often disasters here or there, and the granaries were never full.
After reading the memorial, Lord Xu put it back on the imperial desk and said, "Your Majesty, let's put aside the question of who is responsible for this. Right now, the most important thing is to have Lord Qin count the food and supplies in the city. At least we will know how long the city can hold out and whether we can wait for the army to come to our rescue."
Emperor Cheng of the Ming Dynasty agreed with what he said.
Elder Xu suddenly changed the subject and said, "The sudden dispatch of the Tatars in the northwest, could it be that they reached a consensus with the rebels and used this to delay Prince Rui? I have pondered this for so long, and the more I think about it, the more it seems wrong. It seems that there is a big hand controlling all this. After all, there are too many coincidences."
"Helian Kai has a counselor named Yan Jiangnan, so this must be his doing. I know they are in the capital, but I don't know where they are hiding."
Emperor Ming Cheng took the memorial, wrote the word "approved" with a stroke of his brush, and then stamped it with the imperial seal.
Elder Xu said: "As long as we find the person, the situation in the capital can be reversed."
"Yes, as long as the culprit is dead, everything will be settled." Emperor Mingcheng was very murderous.
Because the rebels were outside the city, they restrained themselves.
However, the food problem broke out particularly quickly.
Qin Chi led his men to the alleys of the granaries to check and found that most of the dozens of granaries were empty. The few that had grain stored had less than half of their grain.
When Qin Chi started to check it, he discovered a big problem.
The outer layer is rice.
The inside is almost entirely filled with rice bran mixed with gravel, and is completely inedible.
When Qin Chi was checking, he noticed some movement outside.
After a while.
It’s the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard coming over.
Qin Chi greeted the other party, "Why is the commander here? But you came just in time."
He pointed to the grain bag that had just been opened.
The sacks were filled with rice bran mixed with fine sand and gravel.
The commander of the Jinyiwei had a dark face. "I will report this to His Majesty. Minister Qin, please count the number."
"Can."
Qin Chi is also decisive in doing things.
He checked the accounts as quickly as possible, counted the existing grain quantities, and after checking that there were no problems, he handed over the amount without even a moment's hesitation.
Qin Chi didn’t care what would happen to Emperor Mingcheng after seeing it, because it was getting dark and he wanted to go back home to rest.
When I was at the mansion, Manager Tao was already waiting.
"Sir, the personnel are ready. Also, Helian Kai and Yan Jiangnan have not left the Zhang family manor yet."
"They are quite stable."
Qin Chi set up an ambush on the way from the manor to Zhangjiawan.
He would not stop Helian Kai and others from entering the city, but he would stop them from joining the rebels in Zhangjiawan. But after such a long time, they still refused to come out.
This was somewhat beyond Qin Chi's expectations.
Qin Chi asked, "Uncle Tao, under what circumstances would you let Helian Kai stay in the manor and not join the rebels in Zhangjiawan?"
The rebels’ largest force is in Zhangjiawan.
As the head coach, Helian Kai should have gone to Zhangjiawan earlier, but he didn't go there, and he is still guarding the Zhang family manor? "There is another thing that puzzles me. The Zhang family's manor should have been exposed earlier, and Yan Jiangnan should have moved to another place earlier, but they didn't." Qin Chi had questions in his mind one after another.
Shopkeeper Tao pondered, "Could it be that Zhuangzi has another secret?"
"Is there another mystery?"
Qin Chi stood up suddenly.
In fact, Zhang's farm was not far from the capital city, only a few miles away.
Helian Kai and Yan Jiangnan knew that the location was exposed, but they still stayed there. This meant that there was a reason why they had to stay there. "Go check it out, and make sure you find out everything!"
Outside the city are their people.
The city is under lockdown, so people can’t go out, but news can spread.
The chaos in the city happened faster than others expected.
There is no wrong version in the 1619 book forum!
When Qin Chi woke up the next day, he learned that the news of food shortage in the city had spread, and many people hiding in their homes risked going out to buy food from the grain shops.
However, grain shops imposed purchase limits under the supervision of government officials.
Even so, food was limited, and with some people deliberately instigating trouble, more people were causing trouble on the streets, and looting and vandalism often occurred.
The order from above is that those who cause trouble will be killed.
The officers and soldiers beheaded the man immediately without even putting him in jail.
Thousands of people died and the people were in panic, but fortunately the unrest was temporarily suppressed. However, smart people knew that this calm was only temporary, and a big reason was that the people still had some surplus food at home, which might not be the case after a while.
When people are really at the end of their rope, the government's deterrence will become smaller.
Chaos is inevitable at that time unless someone solves the problem of food shortage in the city.
Almost on the same day.
Qin Chi was assassinated on his way to the yamen.
The man was injured and unconscious, and he had an old illness, which made his situation even more serious. However, the first thing Qin Chi did when he woke up was to think about his duties, which moved the Jinyiwei who came to visit him.
There was really no other way, so Captain Chen helped him submit a leave application, and then submitted a letter of apology on behalf of Qin Chi. Emperor Mingcheng was suspicious, so he sent an imperial physician to Qin's house. After learning that Qin Chi was indeed injured and seriously ill, he allowed Qin Chi to recuperate at home and pushed the tasks on hand to other people.
Some people suspected that Qin Chi did it on purpose.
He went to the house under the pretext of visiting a patient, but found nothing wrong and thought Qin Chi was just lucky.
The city quickly became chaotic.
It was only three days.
There was no robbery on the street, but crimes were committed at night, and more and more cases of home robbery occurred. Most of them happened in Xicheng, where most people lived, including the poor. There were also many people, and the good and bad were mixed. Also, because there were no dignitaries living here, the government's inspection efforts were not strong here.
Gradually, it happened not only in Xicheng, but also in other places.
At first, some soldiers went to check it out, but after the case was reported, they dragged their feet and said they couldn't send anyone.
Cuihua Hutong, Qin Mansion.
In the study, Qin Chi was sitting at the desk, reading the information sent today.
"Something is not right in this city."
Old Huo standing by said with a stern face, holding his weapon.
Qin Ba next to him looked up and asked, "What's wrong?"
"The government doesn't suppress criminals and doesn't even send people to investigate. Isn't this condoning crime?" Old Huo always felt that the court was on a passive strike.
Emperor Ming Cheng had previously asked his son to stabilize the people's hearts in the city. Now that his son was injured at home, he should have arranged for someone else to take over the matter. But now not only is there no one to take over, but even the chaos in the city has not been suppressed.