Chapter 432: What crime has Lord Shi committed?
Everyone walked into the main hall. Zhu Lan and Zhu Qingyan naturally sat at the top, while the other officials stood respectfully with their heads bowed, their faces solemn. The atmosphere was quiet, waiting for the two to speak.
"Master Shi."
Shi Yuanzhong stepped forward and said, "I'm here."
"Do you know why I have come all the way to Qingzhou?"
Zhu Lan picked up the tea bowl, brushed aside the floating leaves, and took a sip slowly. His voice was gentle, but it seemed to carry an invisible pressure.
Shi Yuanzhong lowered his head respectfully, but his eyes moved rapidly.
The next moment he suddenly knelt down, bowed his head and shouted:
"I admit my guilt!"
As soon as Shi Yuanzhong knelt, the officials behind him dared not stand and knelt down one after another.
"Do you know your crime?" Zhu Lan raised his eyebrows slightly, with a hint of amusement in his voice, "What crime has Lord Shi committed?"
Shi Yuanzhong answered fluently:
“Since the famine in the middle of the year, Qingzhou has been short of food, the people are in turmoil, and the public security in the city is in chaos.
After the relief grain distributed by the court arrived a month ago, I wanted to open the granary to release the grain, but I didn't expect that there would be repeated incidents of unruly people snatching food.
There were even some greedy people who gathered together to go to neighboring counties to grab food, causing some counties and towns to fail to distribute enough food in time, and a lot of relief food disappeared!
I am incompetent and failed to manage the people of Qingzhou, which led to the unrest. I am indeed responsible for negligence.
I hope the Imperial Envoy will punish me!"
Shi Yuanzhong knelt on the ground, reviewing his mistakes in tears, looking heartbroken and remorseful.
"Oh? So, it was the people who gathered together to rob the food, and Lord Shi just failed to notice?"
Shi Yuanzhong lowered his head and said nothing.
Zhu Lan smiled coldly, and the tea bowl in his hand was placed heavily on the table with a clang.
Everyone was so frightened that they trembled all over and crouched lower.
The hall fell into an eerie silence.
After hearing no movement from Zhu Lan for a long time, the people kneeling on the ground began to get nervous. Finally, someone mustered up the courage and looked up cautiously.
Unexpectedly, the imperial envoy, who had a gloomy face just now, now smiled warmly.
"So that's how it is." Zhu Lan laughed, and his voice returned to normal.
"Please stand up quickly, everyone. It turns out this is all a misunderstanding."
Shi Yuanzhong then looked up to observe her expression, and repeatedly confirmed that Zhu Lan was not speaking in a sarcastic way, then he breathed a sigh of relief and stood up.
He asked tentatively: "Your Excellency, what is the 'misunderstanding' you are talking about...?"
Zhu Lan laughed twice, asked Shi Yuanzhong to sit down, and then said:
"Recently, there have been rumors in the capital that the famine in Qingzhou has not been properly resolved, and there is a shortage of food in the state, and some people have even starved to death. The prefect blocked the news, which is why His Majesty has not been informed of this matter.
Your Majesty believed the rumors and was worried about the situation in Qingzhou, so he sent me to deliver grain. One is to provide emergency relief, and the other is to investigate the Qingzhou administration to see if there is any disregard for human life. "
"Your Excellency, this is unjust!"
Shi Yuanzhong knelt down again with a plop, his expression as if he had suffered a great injustice.
“I failed to do my job well. I allowed those unruly people to disrupt the distribution of disaster relief grain, which caused a lot of trouble. Qingzhou is still facing a food shortage.
But I have set up porridge stalls in the city and distribute porridge every day, and the same is true in other counties and towns under my jurisdiction. Although there are still people who are hungry, no one will starve to death!
I hope the Imperial Envoy will understand!!!"
The officials who followed him and knelt down again also said in unison:
"Please understand, Your Excellency the Imperial Envoy!"
"Please stand up quickly, Master Shi." Zhu Lan even stood up and said with a smile: "I already said it was a misunderstanding!"
"The capital is far away from here, so it's normal that we don't have much information. I didn't expect that there would be such bold and reckless people in Qingzhou who dared to steal the government's disaster relief grain.
The imperial court was unaware of the truth, and therefore mistakenly believed that Lord Shi had colluded with local tyrants to withhold food from the people!"
"I dare not!"
Zhu Lan stopped Shi Yuanzhong who was about to kneel down again and said angrily:
"Okay, Lord Shi. Since the situation in Qingzhou is not as serious as rumored, and no one has died, Your Majesty can rest assured.
When I return to the capital, I will report your difficulties to the emperor. Even if the emperor punishes you, he will forgive you for your hard work."
Shi Yuanzhong was overjoyed when he heard this and thanked him repeatedly.
"Your Excellency the Imperial Envoy is able to distinguish right from wrong, has worked hard and made great contributions, and truly deserves to be the backbone of our Daliang!"
After a round of praise, Shi Yuanzhong said that his house had prepared a banquet to welcome Zhu Lan and his party.
"There's no rush yet."
Zhu Lan glanced at the people in front of him and said in a gentle voice:
“I have a good memory. Whenever I go to a place for inspection, I remember the names and faces of local officials, big and small, to facilitate the communication of government orders.
Now please state your names in order of rank."
The Qingzhou officials looked at each other. They had all heard that this female chancellor was the top scholar of that year and had a photographic memory.
If I seize the opportunity to show off, and she remembers me, she will mention it to His Majesty later...
Who knows, the opportunity to make a fortune may come!
"Your humble servant is Zhu Yiyang, the co-magistrate of Qingzhou."
"Your humble servant is Miao Zhi, the magistrate of Yu County, Qingzhou."
“…”
After everyone reported their official titles and names in turn, they all looked at Zhu Lan with burning eyes.
Zhu Lan frowned slightly and looked at Shi Yuanzhong with an unhappy expression.
"Master Shi, don't you have a Tongpan in Qingzhou?"
Shi Yuanzhong smiled awkwardly and said, "Your Excellency, the judge Lu…he…"
Zhu Lan's expression suddenly darkened and he scolded:
"I am an imperial envoy going to Qingzhou for an inspection. All officials of Qingzhou, big and small, should come and pay their respects to me immediately. How dare a mere Qingzhou Tongpan be absent without reason?"
Upon seeing this, Zhu Yiyang, the Tongzhi of Qingzhou, immediately said:
"Your Excellency may not know that the magistrate Lu Feng has not come to the yamen to work for a month on the pretext of something!"
"How can this be possible? Why don't you quickly order someone to bring him here?"
Zhu Lan was about to get angry, but Shi Yuanzhong beside him quickly explained:
"Don't be angry, sir. Judge Lu said he had contracted some strange disease that is very contagious, so he came to pay a visit to you, sir."
Shi Yuanzhong smiled and said in a lower voice:
"This person is mediocre and has a bad temper. We... usually don't want to provoke him.
It's good that you're sick now, so you don't have to see the Imperial Envoy and have to use your big mouth to annoy you again."
"Oh..." Zhu Lan acted as if he had no doubt about it.
"Since he is ill, I will not get involved in his misfortune. By the way, the banquet that Lord Shi just mentioned..."
"It's all ready, just waiting for the two imperial envoys to show their favor!
Sir, please come this way!"
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