In the Imperial Palace of the capital.

"What?"

"No food?"

"How is this possible?"

The good old man Emperor Hongzhi is in a rage, this time Emperor Hongzhi is really angry, so that Xiao Jing, who has followed Emperor Hongzhi for many years, has become extremely careful, for fear of accidentally angering Emperor Hongzhi at this time.

Good people generally don't get angry, but it's not unusual to start a fire, especially when the emperor is angry, bleeding and drifting, and ambushing millions of corpses.

In the hall, the three scholars of the cabinet all looked very ugly, especially Xie Qiandu, who had already knelt on the ground, and the matter seemed to be really serious.

Last year, Liu Jian predicted that there would be a famine after the beginning of spring this year, and things were exactly as Liu Jian predicted, because the winter was too cold, and the winter wheat harvest in the three northern provinces was out of harvest and failed, and there was a famine.

Originally, the famine would not make the good old man Emperor Hongzhi angry, and every year there would be a little famine, either a flood or a drought or a locust plague or something like that.

As long as we dispatch food in time for disaster relief and relief, there will naturally be nothing going on.

Although Huaxia Shenzhou is rich, it has been plagued by disasters and disasters since ancient times, and all dynasties and dynasties have also made preparations in this regard, building granaries and hoarding grain for military supplies, disaster relief and so on.

Daming is no exception, in the two Beijing and thirteen provinces have established large and small granaries, a large number of grain reserves, such as Xuzhou's Guangyun warehouse, Dezhou's Dezhou warehouse, Linqing's Linqing warehouse plus Huai'an's Fengji warehouse, these four granaries are very famous Caoyun granary, a large amount of grain reserves.

Don't look at the Ming Dynasty's imperial court, the tax silver collected in a year is less than three million taels of silver, but this is actually only a small part of the collection, most of the taxes are collected in kind, such as grain, cloth, silk, tea, etc., of which grain is the main thing.

This time, there was a famine in the three northern provinces, according to the usual practice, Emperor Hongzhi naturally issued a decree to the below, requiring the local government to open warehouses to release grain, boil porridge for disaster relief, only need to survive these few months, and when the spring wheat harvest is over, even if this famine passes, nothing will happen.

But the problem is the grain.

Last year, because of Liu Jian's prophecy, Emperor Hongzhi also appointed Xie Qian to take stock of the grain reserves in the granaries in the north, and he didn't panic when he had grain in his hands.

Xie Qian's efficiency is naturally extremely high, and after some inventory, he also reported to Emperor Hongzhi, His Majesty has worked hard to make the country rich and the people strong, and the major granaries in the northern provinces have sufficient grain, and many old grains have begun to mold because they have not been eaten.

After receiving Xie Qian's report, Hongzhi was naturally in a very good mood, because Emperor Hongzhi had really worked hard over the years and never dared to slack off.

In addition, in the past few years, it has always been a smooth weather, Heqing Haiyan, and Emperor Hongzhi also saved a lot of belongings, in addition to the millions of taels of silver, the warehouses all over the Ming Dynasty are also full of grain, and the silk cloth, tea, etc. collected by the imperial court are countless.

Therefore, not only him, but also the whole government and the central government are very relieved, and they are also full of confidence in coping with this famine, because there is enough food, and in addition, grain can be transported from all over the south, and there is no problem at all to easily survive this famine.

However, in recent days, as time goes by, the common people have run out of food, the famine continues to spread, and the major cities in the three northern provinces have begun to gather a large number of hungry people.

When the disaster relief needed to extract food, they found that the granary was already empty, and even the rats were starving to death.

The news reached Emperor Hongji, who was furious.

I was told earlier that the grain is piling up, and the old grain has begun to mold, and now when you need the food, you are told that the granary can already starve to death mice, and you really treat him, the emperor, like a monkey.

It's nothing to treat Emperor Hongzhi as a monkey, Emperor Hongzhi is a good man, and his former enemies can be forgiven, and this little concealment is nothing.

What really made Emperor Hongzhi angry was that the disaster situation in the three northern provinces was getting more and more serious, and the imperial court urgently needed food for disaster relief.

Once that happens, it's not just a matter of famine, but a peasant uprising that spreads like a spark can start a prairie fire.

This is the reason for Emperor Hongzhi's anger, and it is also what he is most worried about now, and he has always loved the people like a son, sympathized with the suffering of the people, and knows that if there is no timely relief in the famine, he will inevitably starve to death, and he does not know how many human tragedies will be eaten.

"Xie Qian, you went to check the granaries in various places, tell me, what is going on?"

"Shandong's Dezhou warehouse and Linqing warehouse are one of the four major granaries, and they are the granaries of the key inventory, I remember that you said that these two warehouses were piled up with grain, but now you are telling me that the two granaries are empty, and the remaining grain is less than one-fifth of what you reported."

Emperor Hongzhi looked at Xie Qian, who was kneeling on the ground, and the whole person was like an angry lion, he had always respected the three elders of the cabinet, but now he called Xie Qian by his name, and he was obviously extremely angry.

"The minister..... minister doesn't know."

"At the beginning, the minister was ordered to check the granary, and I personally went to check the Dezhou warehouse and the Linqing warehouse, and it was indeed piled up, as for why these grains are missing now, the minister doesn't know."

Xie Qian also felt that he was very wronged, because when he checked the granaries, he really checked very clearly, the two granaries had enough food, which was indeed enough to deal with the current famine, and the granaries in other places, he also went to check them, although some granaries were insufficient, but most of the granaries were full of grain.

Now that such a thing has appeared, he has set his back on this pot.

"Is it a mountain of piling up?"

"And all this grain flew? Or was it eaten by something? ”

Emperor Hongzhi looked at Xie Qian, and his voice was so loud that everyone in the entire hall was silent.

"Now you don't know a word and want to deal with me, do you think it's possible?"

Emperor Hongzhi walked back and forth, thinking about it quickly, he took a breath to calm down his mood and said: "I will give you a chance to atone for your sins, this matter is still up to you to investigate, and you must find out." ”

"Yes, the sinner obeys."

When Xie Qian heard this, he was immediately relieved, as long as there was still a chance to atone for his sins, otherwise this time, this level would be really sad, and if he didn't make it, he wouldn't be able to keep the black gauze hat on his head.