Chapter 139 Princess, can't you let the prince worry a little?
The Qin King's decisive killing and savage style of doing things have set off an uproar in the court, and scared the officials of the other three prefectures half to death!
Yingzhou is the upper prefecture, and Jizhou, Dezhou, and Cangzhou are all under the jurisdiction of Yingzhou.
And the silver and grain allocated by the court last time for disaster relief were mostly embezzled by the officials of Yingzhou who were too audacious and insatiable. When it came to the three prefectures under its jurisdiction, there was not much left.
Although it is said that people die for money and birds die for food, under the risk of losing their jobs and losing their heads, the insufficient amount of money and food can still keep people sober and have some conscience.
The amount of corruption by officials in Jizhou and Dezhou was not large. After hearing about what happened in Yingzhou, they were terrified. After discussing overnight, they vomited out all the silver and grain that had been sold for corruption and sent them to the treasury.
Although it is said that all crows in the world are black, there are honest officials in any dynasty. Yue Zhuangcheng, the governor of Cangzhou, was an upright and honest official who loved the people like his own children. He was also the one who reported the corruption case of disaster relief silver and grain.
Qin Wang Zhao Defang left 300 elite Moyun cavalry soldiers in Yingzhou and led his troops straight to Jizhou.
When they arrived in Jizhou, they saw that many porridge stalls had been built. There was a lot of food piled next to the big iron pots in each porridge stall. The skinny disaster victims lined up in a long line with broken bowls and pots.
The city also set up food selling points at a fair price. Although each person could only buy half a liter, the price was the same as the price in Yingzhou, which was 20 coins per bucket.
The King of Qin snorted in his heart!
If these dog officials had done this earlier, how could more than 600,000 people flee famine, and how could tens of thousands of people starve to death?
The officials of Jizhou came to greet him tremblingly, their faces pale and their hearts terrified. I don't know how His Royal Highness the King of Qin will deal with them after making up for their merits.
The King of Qin glanced at the trembling officials with a cold look, "The amount of silver and grain you embezzled is all in my account book. Will it be okay if you spit it out? The souls of the tens of thousands of victims who died of starvation are still alive, watching you from heaven!"
The officials were so frightened by the King of Qin's words that their buttocks trembled, and their official uniforms were soaked with cold sweat.
"You have one day to voluntarily confiscate the amount of silver and grain you embezzled and put it into the treasury at three times the amount!"
The officials who were lying on the ground, trembling with fear, immediately agreed as if they had been pardoned.
The King of Qin did not stay for long, leaving two subordinates and two hundred elite Moyun cavalry soldiers to supervise the matter, and led the team straight to Dezhou.
The situation in Dezhou was the same as that in Jizhou. The newly built porridge stalls and food stalls were filled with food vomited by corrupt officials.
The King of Qin imposed a three-fold fine on them, left his subordinates with two hundred Moyun cavalry to supervise the matter, and led the team to Cangzhou.
There were more victims in Cangzhou. There were crowds of people in front of the porridge stalls built everywhere. The food bags next to the big iron pots were pitifully few, and there was no food stall at all. On the contrary, the victims who lined up to receive porridge were not only orderly, but also did not have the numb despair of the victims in other places. They knew that as long as Yue Zhizhou was there, he would not watch them starve to death.
Yue Zhuangcheng, the governor of Cangzhou, was sweating profusely as he led officials and runners to inspect the porridge stalls.
Two bowls of thin porridge a day had already used up the food in the government treasury and the pitiful little disaster relief food that was distributed.
He had tried every possible way these days, using both soft and hard tactics to get food from local powerful landlords, but it was also running out.
Fortunately, thanks to his hard work, basically no disaster victims in Cangzhou starved to death.
The better news was that His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin came to provide disaster relief and investigate the corruption case of disaster relief silver and grain.
The news from Yingzhou also reached Cangzhou, and Yue Zhuangcheng clapped his hands in joy!
Other officials were also secretly glad that they had met a boss who was honest, upright, and ruthless, so they did not end up like their colleagues in Bu Yingzhou.
A yamen runner came running over with a look of surprise on his face: "Sir, the prefect! His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin has led a team to inspect here!"
Yue Zhuangcheng's face flushed with excitement, and tears filled his eyes: "His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin came so quickly, the victims of Cangzhou are saved!"
Wu Tongpan hurriedly reminded him, "Sir, let's go and welcome His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin!" The
prefect Yue agreed and was about to leave with a group of officials when a thunderous sound of horse hooves came from the southwest.
More than a thousand elite Moyun cavalrymen were like a torrent of steel, accompanying His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin on horseback.
When they were several hundred steps away, this iron-blooded army reined in their horses.
Qin Wang Zhao Defang, escorted by more than 20 cavalrymen, rode slowly.
Yue Zhuangcheng took the lead and knelt on the ground from a distance, "Welcome to His Royal Highness Qin Wang!"
The disaster victims around him also knelt one after another, "Welcome to His Royal Highness Qin Wang!..."
Qin Wang Zhao Defang rode his horse to the officials, jumped off his horse, and personally helped Yue Zhizhou and Wu Tongpan up one by one.
"No need to be polite, everyone!"
Yue Zhizhou and Wu Tongpan stood up and looked at His Royal Highness Qin Wang excitedly.
"Your Majesty, you are finally here. The food in Cangzhou can only last for two days at most."
Qin Wang Zhao Defang suddenly bowed to all the officials!
"On behalf of the court and the 100,000 people in Cangzhou, I would like to thank all the adults who have worked hard to save the disaster!"
Cangzhou is a poor state with too many salty and alkaline lands in its jurisdiction. However, under the same disaster, not many disaster victims fled to various places, and no one starved to death.
These dedicated and responsible officials have made great contributions!
The officials of Cangzhou hurriedly avoided in panic, not daring to accept the salute from His Majesty the King of Qin. But the touch and pride in their hearts were surging in their chests!
[We did not embezzle the relief money, and we tried our best to raise food and provide porridge to save the lives of the people. We have no shame and we stand tall!]
They forgot that when Yue Zhizhou had forced the corrupt officials not to embezzle and resell the relief money, he cursed this stubborn boss behind his back.
Yue Zhizhou quickly bowed again!
His excited voice was choked with sobs, "I am ashamed to accept your praise. Doing my best to fight the disaster is the duty of local officials!"
Qin Wang Zhao Defang sighed with a heavy heart!
"Yes! The salaries that the Song Dynasty paid to court officials were the most generous in history. With generous salaries, officials should have devoted their whole hearts and responsibilities to benefit the world.
When encountering natural disasters, we should do our best to fight the disasters and rescue the people in the jurisdiction.
But those black-hearted corrupt officials, who usually plunder the people's blood and sweat, create man-made disasters when encountering natural disasters. They drink human blood and eat the people's blood and sweat, and have lost their humanity!
It's really hateful and heartbreaking! "
The angry words of His Royal Highness the King of Qin made the officials both terrified and admired!
His Royal Highness the King of Qin is really worthy of being the Eighth Wise King who loves the people like his own children!
After the King of Qin sighed for a few words, he said gently: "You have done a great job. After returning to Beijing, I will ask for credit for you adults.
Tomorrow, the food shipped from Yingzhou will arrive, which will solve the urgent problem first.
The food urgently transferred from Jiangnan by the Ministry of Revenue will be delivered to the disaster area in no time. "
When Yue Zhizhou learned that the food would arrive tomorrow, he was really ecstatic!
He looked at His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin with admiration, "Your Highness is swift and efficient in doing things! Such speed and effect are really rare."
The Prince of Qin smiled faintly, "Fighting the epidemic and disaster relief is like marching to war, and speed is the key to victory! The decisive and decisive method of leading troops is also suitable for use in fighting the epidemic and disaster relief. "
Naturally, all the officials racked their brains, searching for words of praise in their stomachs, and flattered His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin! However
, the Prince of Qin was still as gentle as jade, neither arrogant nor extravagant, with a calm expression, and it was obvious that he did not take these flattery to heart.
Yue Zhuangcheng was even more respectful and worshipful in his heart!
If His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin could succeed to the throne according to the "Golden Casket Alliance", he would definitely be an emperor of the ages who could be compared to Emperor Wu of Han and Emperor Tang of Tang!
The Prince of Qin stayed in Cangzhou for only one day. After receiving the food shipped from Yingzhou, he handed it over to Yue Zhizhou and led the team away.
He trusted and assured these dedicated officials, and did not leave a single person or soldier behind. Supervision, all the disaster relief work in Cangzhou was handed over to Yue Zhizhou to be in charge.
Qin Wang Zhao Defang led his people back to Yingzhou City.
When the victims who fled famine heard the news that Qin Wang was rescuing the disaster in Yingzhou, they all scrambled to flee back.
In this era of strict road permit system, no one would be willing to leave their hometown and be displaced to escape famine unless they really couldn't survive.
Now that there is life-saving food in their hometown, it would be stupid to not flee back quickly!
Qin Wang Zhao Defang personally led people to patrol the streets in the city.
Groups of ragged, unkempt, yellow-skinned and thin victims, carrying the elderly and children, entered the city.
In the compartment Under the supervision of soldiers and yamen runners, they lined up in an orderly manner in front of each porridge stall, waiting to drink a bowl of life-saving hot porridge.
Those who are secretly complaining are the black-hearted profiteers and landlords who hoarded grain and wanted to make a fortune from natural disasters.
The grain that was once priced at 700 wen a gob is now unpopular even at 100 wen a gob.
The limited purchase grain, which was sold at a reasonable price of 20 wen a gob, is supplied steadily every day. In the big iron pots in front of the disaster relief porridge stalls, one pot after another of thick porridge is cooked from morning to night every day.
When the people passed by those grain stores, they all spit out a mouthful of saliva in relief!
It’s deserved! These big bosses who eat people without spitting out their bones and dregs, they all went bankrupt!
When the news spread that the relief grain transferred from Jiangnan would be transported to the disaster area in a few days, the grain prices in several prefectures were cut in half overnight.
Each grain store posted a price of fifty coins per dou.
Seeing that they still couldn't sell it, some anxious grain merchants secretly cursed the King of Qin for his cruel methods! At the same time, they gritted their teeth and hung up a sign of thirty coins per dou.
Most of the hoarded grain was bought at a high price of fifty or sixty coins per dou!
The King of Qin silently ordered people to buy it secretly, and try to exchange the confiscated stolen silver for life-saving grain.
Yun Yi hurried into the house and bowed to the King of Qin!
: "Your Highness, I have received a secret report that Yang Yanzhao will be in the capital the day after tomorrow."
Hmm?
The King of Qin threw down the account book in his hand and frowned slightly.
: "It's really not the right time for Yang Yanzhao to come back! Yun Yi, send a message to him and ask him to dawdle on the way.
I will give you another task. I have seen many strong and healthy big-footed women among the disaster victims in Hebei Road.
You take people to observe secretly and recruit some suitable ones for the princess and bring them back to the capital to hand over to her big-footed women's army. "
Yun Yi smiled knowingly and left.
After leaving the door, the corners of his lips still couldn't help but curl up the smile.
[The prince is worried that when Yang Yanzhao comes to Beijing the day after tomorrow, the princess will go to see him privately, and he can't secretly supervise him!
Alas!... In addition to this Yang Yanzhao, there is also Kou Zhun! I wonder what the prince feels like after being so jealous?
The prince is jealous and still wants to recruit soldiers for the princess's big-foot women's army. Princess, can't you let the prince worry less?]