Chapter 131: Public Resentment
"I like silver. I saved so much food in order to exchange it for money. However, I didn't expect the blizzard to block the road. I couldn't sell it in time, so I had to store it here."
"This year, Fuzhou City paid 500,000 dan of rice as tribute. Does that mean the rest is all here?"
Fuzhou is the largest prefecture in Dongxi, with a vast area and an annual tax revenue of 500,000 shi of grain.
I thought it was because it was so cold here that only one crop could be grown per year, resulting in a small harvest.
But I didn’t expect that the harvest was quite good, but it was embezzled.
There are only one million stones here, and no one knows how much was transferred away privately by Li Lingcang.
"yes."
"How many years have you been doing this kind of thing?"
"I swear, this is the only year I will be punished. Please forgive my family, Your Majesty."
"Tsk... Li Lingcang, you have been entrenched in Fuzhou for more than ten years, only a few years? So you mean that the harvest in Fuzhou is only good this year?"
"The guilty minister... The guilty minister..."
The amount of tax paid every year was a fixed number, and the Regent would know it once he checked, and he had no way to refute it.
At this time, Ming Yi walked over from the west, his face was very heavy, and he glanced at Li Lingcang as if he was looking at a dead person.
Then he leaned close to Chi Ming's ear and said, "My Lord, that road leads to the mountains in the west. There are private soldiers inside."
Chi Ming was right. The grain was not used to pay off the debt, but to support private soldiers.
"How many?"
"I estimated that there are about 50,000."
Chi Ming's tongue repeatedly chewed the two words "fifty thousand".
One million shi of grain can easily feed 50,000 people.
Li Lingcang is really capable.
It's also my fault that I don't know much about farming, which led to such a mistake. Otherwise, I would have known that there was a problem in Fuzhou a long time ago.
The few words they whispered could not be heard by outsiders. Even though they could not hear them, Li Lingcang was staring at them nervously because he had never seen this person before.
Why did he come from the west? Why is it west instead of east or any other direction?
Moreover, he had a strong intuition that what was being said was most likely about him.
Under such nervousness, he couldn't think of how to answer the Regent's question just now.
In a hurry, he could only make up a story: "Your Highness, I was diagnosed with a terminal illness last year. The doctor said that there was no cure. I was about to die, and my son was not doing well. I just wanted to leave more money for my family, which is why this happened this year."
"It seems that you can't wait until the terminal illness breaks out. I can give you a quick death now."
Li Lingcang shrank his neck back. He didn’t want to die.
"Your Majesty, please be merciful. Considering that I have worked diligently for Fuzhou for more than ten years, even if I have no merit, I have worked hard. Please spare my family. My mother is already eighty years old."
"Eighty years old? Do you know how many eighty-year-olds have frozen to death these days? Your mother is a mother, but others' are not?"
He stared straight into Li Lingcang's eyes, as if he could see into his heart at a glance.
"Li Lingcang, do you really think that I didn't find that secret passage?"
"You are planning a rebellion, and your family still wants to escape the crime? Have you read the law into a dog's stomach?"
Li Lingcang's eyes narrowed sharply, and in panic, he looked towards the west unconsciously.
His body was shaking violently and his entire body was in a tense state, like a spring that was stretched to the extreme and would break with a single click.
The secret passage was discovered!
The private soldiers were also discovered!
He's finished!
He moved his lips and wanted to say something in defense, but his throat was so dry, as if it was on fire, and he couldn't utter a single word.
Chi Ming would never give him another chance.
"Take him away and torture him severely to make him reveal who was behind this."
For a student from a poor family to sit in the position of prefect of Fuzhou is already a glory to the family.
It is almost impossible that he would rebel on his own.
He has no chance of success because he has no legitimate reason to do so.
Li Lingcang finally reacted, found his voice, and crawled to Chi Ming's feet: "Your Majesty, there is no mastermind behind this. This is all done by me, the guilty minister."
He is already old, but he was crying with tears and snot, so pitiful.
But, just because you look pitiful doesn’t mean you are really pitiful.
What he did is irritating God and people.
"You did it all by yourself? So you mean to say that you embezzled food to support your private army and intended to rebel?"
"Li Lingcang, do you want to kill all nine clans?"
Li Lingcang was speechless. He didn’t want to.
If all nine clans of the Li family were killed because of him, how would he face the ancestors of the Li family in the underworld?
"Your Majesty, please have mercy on me. I was just confused for a moment."
He still didn't want to say it. Chi Ming knew that this person would not say it unless he suffered a little.
"Take him away and interrogate him along with his family members. Interrogate him in front of Li Lingcang."
Li Lingcang was heartbroken: "Your Majesty, please have mercy, I can't!"
How could he bear to watch his wife, children and elders being tortured in front of him?
Lieutenant General Tao ignored his cries and ordered the soldiers to drag the man away.
"As for all the officials in Fuzhou, interrogate them all. If they are related to this matter, they will be killed without mercy."
"Lu Jinshu, issue the official document and announce it to the world."
Lu Jinshu took the order. Now he not only had to take inventory of grain and be responsible for the dispatch of grain and fodder, but also had to draft official documents for the prince. He was really overwhelmed.
However, this also shows that the prince values him very much.
Work hard until you die of exhaustion!
The future of An Ning Marquis Mansion depends on him!
He acted like he was going to lose ten pounds.
At daybreak, the common people of Fuzhou City took to the streets to line up for porridge. Some of them with sharp eyes saw the official documents posted on the streets.
Those who could read immediately read it out loud. It turned out that they had no food to eat because the Fuzhou prefect had embezzled money.
It turned out that he had hidden all the taxes they paid.
If it weren't for him, his family would not have frozen to death or starved to death.
If it weren't for him, they would still be reunited in one family, and...
Word spread quickly from one person to ten, and from ten to a hundred. In less than a moment, the entire Fuzhou city knew this shocking news.
For those who were queuing up for porridge, the porridge no longer tasted good when it reached their mouths. Even if they were starving, they could not drink it.
The person they thought was a great judge turned out to be such a pest.
That’s a million shi of grain, which can save so many lives.
They knelt down and cried out: "Oh God, how could this happen?"
"Old man, you died so unjustly!"
"God damn it, these officials are so careless about human life!"
"Oh my God, why don't you open your eyes and look!"
Some talented people even wrote a few lines of poetry on the spot.
[Woodworms eat the millet in the granary, and the starving people lie on the barren hills.]
The people’s anger was so high that the raging waves swept away the remaining boat. 】
In a short period of time, public resentment boiled over and became a hot topic.
The crowd gradually gathered at the gate of Fuzhou prefectural government office.
I beg the Regent to give an explanation to the people of Fuzhou.
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