Chapter 139 This King Looks Familiar
Xiao Zirui's expression changed and he said sarcastically:
"Is the Princess Regent jealous of the great achievements of this Crown Prince? The two hundred thousand dan of grain are literally lying there, you can't help but believe it!"
Yun Qingqing glanced at him with a cold smile and said to the emperor:
"Your Majesty, I suspect there's something wrong with the Crown Prince's 200,000 dan of grain. You can ask me to pay for it, but I won't be taken in. I must see with my own eyes that the grain is in good condition!"
Xiao Zirui wanted to slap her and the Regent in the face right then and there, and immediately said:
"Your Majesty, the Princess Regent can examine me anytime she wants, but after the examination, I ask Your Majesty to bear witness and have the Princess Regent apologize to me on the spot!"
Yun Qingqing said coldly:
"Your Highness, there's no need to use the Emperor as pressure. If the 200,000 dan of grain is truly not a problem, why would it be so difficult for me to apologize to you immediately?"
The emperor nodded:
"In that case, please follow me and take a look outside!"
Led by the emperor, a large group of civil and military officials poured out of the hall and came to the square outside the hall.
I saw rows of grain carts neatly arranged, each filled with bags of grain.
Xiao Zirui glanced at Xiao Changheng and Yun Qingqing with pride, and said loudly:
"This is the 200,000 dan of grain and fodder I have painstakingly collected. I invite the Emperor and all the civil and military officials to bear witness!"
The emperor finally smiled:
"Great, great! With so much food, we can finally relieve the Northwest Army's urgent needs. Your Highness has done a great service this time!"
"Wait."
Yun Qingqing strode to the grain carts, looked at them one by one, and said calmly:
"Your Majesty hasn't sent anyone to check if there's anything wrong with the food yet. We might as well wait until he does."
Xiao Zirui sneered:
"The Princess Regent is being too mean-spirited. These are grains sold to the imperial court by wealthy merchants from Jiangnan. Do they dare to pass them off as good quality? Aren't they afraid of losing their heads?"
When Yun Qingqing saw the untouched grain carts, she knew that Xiao Zirui had not checked the grain at all, and she found it even more funny to hear what he said.
It seems that he is convinced that the Regent has transported food from thousands of miles away and has already checked the quality of the food, which is why he is so confident!
She snorted coldly, passed the grain carts in front, and stopped.
She dragged the bags of grain one by one to the ground.
The emperor asked doubtfully:
"Princess Regent, what are you doing?"
Xiao Zirui said coldly:
"Don't waste your energy. There's no way the food I bought can be problematic!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Yun Qingqing sneered:
"Oh? If that's all right, then what's going on?"
As she spoke, another bag of grain fell to the ground with a bang.
Everyone was stunned.
Because the sound of this bag of grain falling to the ground was obviously different from the others!
And anyone with a discerning eye can tell that this bag is much heavier than the previous bags of grain!
While everyone was stunned, Yun Qingqing had already opened the bag and poured it out by the bottom.
There was a "crashing" sound, and the sand and gravel in the bag scattered all over the ground.
"What!" Xiao Zirui's face changed drastically.
Everyone was also shocked.
"This grain bag is filled with sand!"
"Hiss... No wonder the princess didn't believe it. She actually found out the problem!"
"Don't those wealthy merchants want to live anymore? How dare they tamper with the grain they sell to the court?"
"I wonder how many bags of sand were mixed in with the grain..."
As everyone was talking, Yun Qingqing had already opened two more bags, and what came out was all sand!
Yun Qingqing patted the sand on her hands, looked at Xiao Zirui and said coldly:
"Except for the few bags of grain on top of the first few cars, the rest is all sand!"
"Your Highness, this is the food you spent three times the price to buy to feed the 100,000-strong army in the northwest!"
"No, impossible..."
Xiao Zirui's face turned pale and blue, and he could not say anything except "impossible".
The emperor's face darkened and he waved his hand:
"Check carefully for me to see how many bags of sand are still there, pretending to be grain!"
The commander of the imperial guards immediately rushed over with his men, unloaded the bags from each vehicle and opened them on the spot for inspection.
The more they investigated, the more shocked everyone became, and the worse the emperor's expression became.
Finally, the commander of the imperial guards returned to the emperor and reported:
"Your Majesty, except for a few bags of grain on the top of the first few carts, all the other bags are filled with sand!"
The emperor was furious!
"Xiao Zirui! Explain to me what's going on!"
His face turned purple with anger, and he immediately started coughing after yelling this. The eunuch chief hurried over and patted his back to help him calm down.
Xiao Zirui stumbled and fell to his knees:
"Father, I don't know what's going on! It should be grain, how could it turn into sand?"
"No...someone must have deliberately harmed me!"
He gritted his teeth and glared at Yun Qingqing and Xiao Changheng, his eyes a little red.
How could he not understand it until now? No wonder Yun Qingqing insisted on checking the grain herself. She clearly knew the result a long time ago.
The food that I robbed was tampered with!
Yun Qingqing widened her eyes with an innocent look:
"No way? The Regent and I just returned from a long journey. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had problems buying food himself. Does he want to put the blame on us?"
Xiao Zirui gritted his teeth, but there was nothing he could do.
Prime Minister Su recovered from his shock and glared at the Crown Prince with dismay, but he had no choice but to step out and speak for him:
"Your Majesty, please calm down. His Royal Highness may be inexperienced, which is why he was deceived by those unscrupulous wealthy businessmen, but he would never do such a thing intentionally! I hope Your Majesty will understand!"
With him taking the lead, several other ministers immediately came forward to plead for the prince.
The emperor's expression eased slightly, but he was still furious and said:
"Implement a thorough investigation immediately! Which unscrupulous merchants dare to mock the imperial court and use such despicable means to make money! I will cut them into pieces and exterminate their entire clan!"
Xiao Zirui had no words to express his pain.
All the food was snatched from the Regent, there are no rich businessmen here!
This matter must not be known to anyone. If it really doesn't work... we can only find a few merchants to be scapegoats.
There was a vicious glint in his eyes.
But at this moment, Xiao Changheng suddenly spoke slowly:
"Royal brother, don't be too quick to blame the merchants. Maybe things are not as you imagined."
The emperor frowned:
"What do you mean, my royal brother?"
"Why do these grain trucks look so familiar to me?" Xiao Changheng glanced at the kneeling Xiao Zirui.
Xiao Zirui trembled.
"Uncle, you're overthinking it. All grain transport trucks look pretty much the same, so of course they all look familiar."
He broke out in a cold sweat and said this while suppressing his guilty conscience.
But Yun Qingqing sneered.
She walked to an empty grain truck, touched her chin and said:
"You know what? This grain cart looks familiar to me, Princess. It's exactly the same as the cart we brought with us from Jing Country!"
As she spoke, without waiting for Xiao Zirui to react, she stretched out her slender arm, grabbed the side of the grain cart and lifted it up.
To everyone's astonishment, the slim and slender young woman actually overturned the entire grain cart!
Yun Qingqing clapped her hands and grinned, pointing to the bottom of the car:
"Whether it's just that he looks familiar or there's something else going on, just take a look at this and you'll know!"
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