PDLP Chapter 390
Chapter 390
[Colluding with Du Mingqi and certain officials, they replaced the sweet potatoes, corn, and potatoes inside with stale grain. Some greedy officials, wanting to embezzle even more, didn't follow Du Mingqi's safer method. Thinking themselves clever, they substituted grain with sand and gravel, while the bolder ones simply recorded grain quantities in the ledgers, leaving the warehouses completely empty.]Hearing this, Xie Zhiquan's legs trembled violently. If not for his two good brothers, Second Brother Xie and Xie San, holding him up, his legs would have given out long ago.
Joking aside, looking at their imperial father's expression, one wrong move could easily lead to a reckoning later. Besides, these two were experienced veterans in such matters. No matter what, they had to listen quietly and absolutely must not disturb those two ancestors.
Otherwise, it would be adding crimes upon crimes! At this thought, the two recalled the beatings on their backsides and the days spent reflecting on their mistakes behind closed doors.
They wanted to say that although attending court occasionally brought heart-stopping terror, being locked in their estates unable to go out was another kind of torture entirely. Compared to being locked up waiting to die or being forced to make babies, they much preferred attending court to enjoy the drama.
"Did Du Mingqi sell the substituted grain to our neighboring countries? Western Qiang, Northern Li, or Nanzhao and Nanyue?"
The diplomatic missions from these countries, for whatever reason, still showed no signs of returning home even though the New Year was fast approaching.
Over a month ago, scholars and men of letters from various countries had arrived in the capital city of Shangjing. Yue Fuguang had indeed received quite a few visiting cards from all sides over the past month.
Unfortunately, she had no interest in poetry gatherings, literary salons, or flower-viewing parties, and hadn't accepted a single invitation. For some unknown reason, her seemingly arrogant behavior didn't attract resentment or criticism; instead, her reputation in the literary circles of various countries only grew better and better.
Like the diplomatic missions, these people had no intention of returning home. It seemed they were planning to celebrate the New Year in the Great Yan Dynasty.
[Du Mingqi contacted a major grain merchant and plans to sell the grain in batches soon.]
"So Du Mingqi's embezzlement stems from the struggle for the throne, not colluding with the enemy and treason?"
[Master, on the surface, it appears to be embezzlement driven by the greed of certain Hezhou officials led by Du Mingqi. But in reality, it involves treason and colluding with the enemy. However, the traitor isn't Du Mingqi, but a sub-prefect under him in charge of salt and grain named Song Min.
Strictly speaking, Song Min's ancestors were from Northern Li. During the previous dynasty, parts of the border lands of Lianzhou and Hezhou were in the hands of Northern Li. Later, when the Great Yan Dynasty was founded, the founding emperor reclaimed them.
The two countries drew their borders, which is how the Master's lawless tri-border zone came to be.
This Song Min's ancestors moved there from Northern Li. Later, when the founding emperor reclaimed that land, the commoners living there became citizens of Great Yan.]
"So this Song Min's body is in Great Yan but his heart is in Northern Li, and this grain is also meant to be sent to Northern Li?"
Reminded by the system, she finally recalled that after she was made a prince, Emperor Mingxi had carved out a massive fiefdom for her right next to her tri-border land.
A portion of this fiefdom was located in Hezhou!
[It's not that noble! Ultimately, Song Min is just greedy too.]
Yue Fuguang suddenly thought of something. "Little Zhu, are you saying that officials in my fiefdom are also involved?"
[A few are involved. Master, you might as well report this to the emperor, replace these people, and select your own personnel. The chances of issues arising with people we choose ourselves are much smaller.] At the very least, they would investigate them thoroughly going back five generations.
"Let me think about it. The new imperial scholars from the sixth year of Yuankang, aside from those still in the Hanlin Academy, have all been assigned posts. If we want to select people, we can only wait for the special imperial examination next spring. We could pick some capable provincial graduates and imperial scholars from the upcoming metropolitan examination to use."
Ever since she started doing missions, it indeed took a toll on the officials. Over the past few years, many from top to bottom had died, been demoted, or been exiled. Quite a few positions had opened up at the lower levels, which greatly benefited the senior officials and the newly minted imperial scholars.
"Little Zhu, do you mean the grain embezzled by Du Mingqi and his gang hasn't been sold yet?"
[Correct. Because the grain had just been put into storage, the supervising officials sent by the emperor were quite reliable and only returned to the capital after personally watching the grain enter the warehouses.
This is also why Dong Qianli said there were no issues with the Ever-Normal Granary, as the supervising officials included those sent by the Ministry of Revenue.
Because of this, Du Mingqi didn't dare act rashly. He waited until these people returned to the capital before conspiring with the various officials he had roped in to secretly swap out the stored grain.
His original intention was to pass off inferior goods as high quality, wanting the silver but not wanting to cause a real disaster that would attract Emperor Mingxi's attention.
After all, having navigated the turbulent waters of officialdom for years, anyone with half a brain could tell from the imperial court's policies over the past two years that they were preparing for a major disaster.
So, he adopted someone's suggestion and came up with the idea of replacing the high-priced sweet potatoes, potatoes, and corn with stale grain.
Who knew that his subordinates were even more insatiably greedy than he was, risking their lives for silver.
Not only did some replace grain with sand and gravel, but bolder ones directly cooked the books.
This Song Min was one of them, and that so-called major grain merchant was brought in by him—an impostor sent by the Emperor of Northern Li.]
Emperor Mingxi took the tea handed over by Qian Gui. Suppressing the urge to smash the cup, he gulped down three mouthfuls to force down the raging fire in his heart.
However, his bloodshot eyes and overflowing murderous intent could not be extinguished by a mere cup of cold tea!
[There's also the matter of the natural disaster. Because of the court's policies, the lower-ranking officials actually had their suspicions, especially since not a single drop of rain has fallen in these latter months of the year.
Their suspicions deepened, so Song Min, much like with the grain, half-sold and half-gave away his speculations to the Northern Li people.
Aside from Northern Li, Western Qiang, Nanyue, and Nanzhao have also successively received related news from Great Yan over the past two months.]
"Did they believe it?"
Yue Fuguang looked at the gloomy sky outside. Counting today, it was already the third day. The sky had been overcast for three days, and the common people of the world had hoped for three days.
Unfortunately, the heavens only remained overcast without raining. The greater the people's hopes now, the greater their disappointment would be later.
For just a bit of rain from the sky, her statues had sold out yet again.
The loud prayers outside the estate begging the Goddess to bring rain could be heard even through the walls of the Yu Manor.
Spontaneous rain-praying rituals organized across various regions had started as early as a month ago.
[They didn't believe it at first, especially when they learned that Great Yan had started preparing over two years in advance. But as more time passed without rain, they had no choice but to believe it.]
"So the diplomatic missions still haven't returned because they want to stay in Great Yan to get first-hand news of the imperial court's movements in real-time?"
[That indeed accounts for a large part of the reason.]
Emperor Mingxi swept a dark glance at You Mingmin and Zheng Zicheng. With years of tacit understanding between sovereign and subjects, the two immediately grasped his meaning.
Before the stolen grain could be recovered, the news absolutely must not leak out. They had to keep a close eye on the Northern Li people in particular!
Those few could all hear the Junior Preceptor's inner voice. It was alarming to think about how they had spent the past two months making roundabout inquiries about the Junior Preceptor.
They had expressed their desire to pay a visit more than once.
Fortunately, the Junior Preceptor didn't like joining in the bustle and rarely had the chance to meet with these people.