The fire spread in the palace, like an evil dragon shuttling across the majestic palace, arrogantly raging the fire dragon, eager to swallow the palace.

Zhao Yanyu looked at the dark red sky, and then looked at the palace pavilion on fire, and there was a sad cry in his ears, his body couldn't help but tremble, and his clothes were wet with sweat.

There was chaos in the palace, the forbidden army, the eunuchs, the palace maids, carrying wooden plates, carrying buckets, quickly putting out fires, and the situation was precarious.

Following Zhao Yanyu's favorite concubine beside him, his eyes were panicked, his face was pale, and he said softly: "Your Majesty, the fire is spreading, the palace is dangerous, the emperor's dragon body is important, hurry up and go elsewhere to avoid trouble."

"Yes, Your Majesty, the fire in the palace is fierce, I am afraid that I can't extinguish the flames in a short time, so I should go to rest somewhere else!" The Commander of the Praetorian Army suggests.

Zhao Yanyu's face was flushed by the flames that rose up, and when he suddenly heard the words of the two close people, he clenched his fists tightly, and his teeth creaked: "One day, I will definitely burn the Divine Capital of Yan Kingdom!"

Immediately, he flicked his sleeves and turned to retreat outside the palace.

The forbidden army opened the way, protected the left and right, and the palace people who were eager to extinguish the fire rushed forward, not daring to approach Zhao Yanyu!

Exiting the palace, there happened to be a forbidden army at the palace gate with the King of Freedom rushing to arrive.

Seeing Zhao Yanyu's traces, King Xiaoyao looked stunned and asked, "Brother Huang, could it be that the fire in the palace is out of control!"

At this moment, the fierce flames lit up the sky, and the dark sky was reflected in the red of the two flames of the palace and the central main street, as if even the sky was on fire.

King Xiaoyao rushed back from outside Gusu City, and he didn't know the fire in the palace for the time being, and he was in a tangled mood to ask!

Zhao Yanyu was irritable, witnessing the traces of King Xiaoyao, seeing that he looked nervous and urgent, and said: "The fire in the palace is fierce, it has not been controlled yet, and it is not a big problem to have the participation of the forbidden army, third brother, you suddenly entered the palace, could it be that the palace was hit by fire?"

"Brother Huang, the younger brother has not returned to the mansion yet, and I don't know the situation in the mansion!" King Xiaoyao shook his head slightly, took a thick fold, and said loudly: "For several days, Emperor Yan forbade merchants to enter the Wu Kingdom, and his younger brother went to the counties to inspect the granaries in various places to reserve grain. According to the situation grasped by the younger brothers, at present, there is not much grain stored in the granaries in several cities near Gusu City, and the illegal grain merchants took advantage of Emperor Yan's ban on merchants to enter the Wu Kingdom, and the prices of all kinds of materials have skyrocketed, among which the price of grain has skyrocketed, and the price has doubled a few days ago.

King Xiaoyao reported what he saw and heard in the counties to Zhao Yanyu, and he couldn't help but worry in his heart that the food problem might make the Wu Kingdom fall apart.

Hearing this, Zhao Yanyu was surprised, stunned, his thoughts couldn't turn around, and he couldn't help asking: "Third brother, what's going on, Wu Guo is the land of fish and rice, and there is a lot of surplus grain in the granary. In addition to the severe drought in the previous two years, some areas suffered disasters, and other places still have good harvests, even if some grain merchants raise grain prices, the county officials will not rush to the disaster in time!

However, according to what you said, there is not much surplus grain in the granaries of the counties, so much, where is the grain accumulated over the years?"

Zhao Yanyu was very annoyed, the fire in the palace had not been extinguished, and King Xiaoyao had reported that there were grain merchants raising grain prices, and he was irritable and annoyed, and he couldn't wait to lift his sword and chop the illegal grain merchants alive!

He ordered the people of Li to unite in the imperial court and join the Yan army, but the grain merchants in various counties secretly made trouble, disregarding the future of Wu and sabotaging his plan.

However, Zhao Yanyu was most puzzled, Wu Guo had a bumper harvest year after year, where did the stored grain go!

Unexpectedly, King Xiaoyao's expression was serious, as if he was not as graceful as before, and he was not surprised, and said: "Brother Huang, the younger brother personally inspected in each county, and there is indeed not much grain in the granaries of each county, and the imperial brother built Gusu City, and continued to mobilize grain to Gusu City, and merchants from all over the country suddenly could not enter Wu State, so the price of grain skyrocketed!"

"How, then, can there be no grain in the granary?" Zhao Yanyu asked, he didn't believe that there was no grain in the granaries of the counties.

If the granary is empty, doesn't it prove that the officials of the counties deceived their superiors and subordinates and deliberately lied about the grain income, is the prosperity of the state of Wu only a superficial illusion.

King Xiaoyao took a long breath and hurriedly replied: "Brother Huang, my brother has asked, since more than ten years ago, Yan Guo has been constantly buying grain in Wu and Wu, and even exchanging Yan country's water and wine and salt for grain, resulting in a steady flow of food to Yan country!"

In recent years, the imperial court has continued to fight wars, and the losses of soldiers are very large, and the counties have actively trained new soldiers according to the requirements of the imperial brother, spending countless money and food.

However, where did the money and grain come from, it was not that the county officials resold the grain to the merchants of the Yan State in exchange for gold and silver, which was paid to the imperial court as a tax, on the one hand, to train the army, and on the other hand, to pay the military salary."

Lin Feng was reckless in his army and fought in all directions, and Zhao Yanyu also used his troops to expand his territory.

He was the first monarch in the south to send Wang Zhengwen to lead the Northern Expedition, and it has been seven or eight years since then, and the war has cost countless money and food for many years.

However, Wu is not like Yan State, with a vast territory, abundant agricultural harvest, developed commerce, and very circulating commercial income such as salt, water and wine, ironware, war horses, and furs.

The key is that Lin Feng opened the sky treasure, which made the wealth of the Yan Kingdom skyrocket, conquered the vassal states, and plundered all the money and grain into the war.

The eight major valves basically returned to the Yan Kingdom, bringing the wealth of the rich rival country!

Therefore, the Yan Kingdom is fighting, and there is a steady stream of money and food!

On the other hand, Wu State, located in the south, is rich in products and abundant grain, but the continuous conquest consumes a lot, and the annual harvest of grain has become a source of money for many wealthy households and landlords.

This piece happened to be targeted by the merchants of Yan Country with ulterior motives!

Hiss!

Hearing this, Zhao Yanyu's body trembled, and he couldn't help but staggered back two steps, and in his mind, it suddenly seemed like an explosion!

So that's how it was!

Stabilizing his figure, Zhao Yan hurriedly grabbed King Xiaoyao's arms and asked, "How long can the grain in the granaries of each county last?"

There was a problem with food, so that he united the people to fight against the Yan army, and the plan to go bankrupt, and the construction of the Gusu city wall would also be delayed.

The many problems of Wu will be exposed one after another, losing the hearts of the people, and the Wu army will not want to resist the invasion of the Yan army!

"Relatively rich counties and counties, insist on two or three months, and relatively poor counties, if you can't get food, there will be problems within half a month or even less!" The King of Pleasure replied. Look at Zhao Yanyu's expression was cold, impatient, and said safely: "Brother Huang doesn't have to be anxious, God protects you, the autumn harvest is coming, if it is properly handled, the food problem will be solved, in addition, Yan State prohibits providing food to Wu State, there is still Chu State in the south, and Chu Country is more abundant!"

At the moment, the ministers are worried that the officials of the various counties will not handle it properly, causing the people of Li to revolt and damaging the prestige of the imperial brother!"

Many counties and counties near Gusu City have a history of assassination, and the county order, according to Zhao Yanyu's orders, spent gold and silver to buy grain from the merchants of Yan State, and sent it back to Gusu City in a steady stream.

At present, the merchants of Yan State stopped providing grain to the counties of Wu State, and the counties and counties were assassinated, and the county order could not get food.

If there is a grain robbery incident, the people's hearts will turn against each other, and the crisis of Wu will come.

Zhao Yanyu was silent for a moment, and said with a difficult expression: "After the autumn harvest, the merchants in all counties are strictly ordered to sell grain, and those who violate the order will be beheaded, and officials will be sent to Chu State to buy grain, and strive to resolve the food crisis in a short time!"

"Brother Huang, the imperial court's money and grain are used to expand Gusu City, if you buy food, how to solve the shortage of silver!" The King asked softly.

On the front line, hundreds of thousands of Wu troops spent silver, grain, built Gusu City, appeased the displaced people, and spent a lot of silver, and the flow of silver in the treasury decreased rapidly.

Buying grain from the State of Chu is another big expense, and King Xiaoyao is afraid that the court will not be able to take it out!

"This...."

The food problem was barely solved, and the silver problem appeared, which was more related to the food and salary of the soldiers on the front line, and Zhao Yanyu was suddenly embarrassed.

Suddenly found that he governed the state of Wu, removed the surface camouflage, the country of Wu was full of holes, the Yan army had not yet entered the city, and the state of Wu itself had been exposed to many problems.

"Can you have an early autumn harvest?" Zhao Yanyu inquired, hoping that Wu would produce its own food and reduce the amount of grain purchased from Chu, not to mention, Chu was divided and wars continued, so it may not sell grain to Wu.

King Xiaoyao was stunned, and he didn't know why Zhao Yanyu suddenly raised such a question, so he couldn't help but shake his head slightly and said: "Individual counties and counties can, if they are harvested in advance on a large scale, I am afraid that the yield will be greatly reduced."

"If you don't reduce, you can barely get through it!" Zhao Yanyu said helplessly!

did not stay near the palace gate for a long time, and went to the side hall outside the city under the protection of the forbidden army.

Take the carriage of the King of Leisure, shuttle through the central street, the fire on both sides of the street is equally fierce, the people, the merchants, are impatient to put out the fire, but there is still the sound of houses collapsing from time to time in the middle of the road!

Dust flew in and the smell of decay was everywhere.

Zhao Yanyu lifted the curtain of the carriage bed, looked at the fire shining on the street, and the burning buildings, and couldn't help but say angrily: "The Yan army attacked Gusu City, burned the palace, and burned the buildings on both sides of the street.

Two days ago, he was still high-spirited, confident and ready to fight to the death with the Yan army, clamoring to kill 300,000 Yan troops outside Gusu City, but he encountered a surprise attack by the Yan army, and looked at the losses in front of him, Zhao Yan was like a defeated rooster, listless, without any momentum.

King Xiaoyao was helpless, stared at the burning house, and said: "Emperor Yan does things, unscrupulous means to achieve the goal, the imperial brother sent Chen Weiqi to lead the troops to the western battlefield, which will inevitably destroy the deployment of Emperor Yan, and in anger, Emperor Yan sent a flying army to come.

The former brother was most worried that after the Yan army attacked Gusu City, he came every other day and got used to attacking Gusu City on the spot, in that way, the imperial brother's plan to build Gusu City might be affected, and the losses of Wu State would become bigger and bigger, and when the time was ripe, the Yan army would even take the risk of fighting in Gusu City!"

If it was continuously attacked by the Yan army, Gusu City was seriously damaged, and the people in the city and the displaced people outside the city suffered greatly, so they would abandon their homes and take refuge in other counties, lose the support of the people, expand Gusu City, and strengthen the city wall.

Don't have the luxury of expecting, the Yan army will kill from the east and west fronts, and fight to the death with the Yan army outside Gusu City!

"Emperor Yan ruined my plan, and I will take Emperor Yan's life!" Zhao Yanyu slowly closed his eyes, his teeth crunched!

(End of chapter)