Leng Yi took the official document and looked at it, and couldn't help but feel half cold in his heart. This is an official document from the imperial court to supervise and urge the handling of military rations. What is written on it is that the imperial court is using troops to the north, and all prefectures and counties must make every effort to ensure the surrender of military rations for the autumn harvest. If the payment is not made within the time limit, it shall be dismissed from office and investigated.

Leng Yi threw the official document on the table and said angrily: "Didn't the imperial court receive our official document requesting disaster relief?" We're going to starve to death! But they still have to demand the military rations? At present, more than half of all the paddy fields in the prefecture have been washed away, and this year's harvest is good to have the previous two achievements. I have handed over these two percent of the grain, and I am afraid that it will not be enough. If they are all handed over, the people will only drink the northwest wind. Still don't let people live? ”

Governor Liao shook his head and sighed, "Alas! This, that's really the case, this government invited you to come to discuss, what should I do about this matter? ”

"Go to the emergency again, explain our difficulties, exempt the military rations, and at the same time request for emergency disaster relief again!"

"That's the only way, and that's what this government means."

At that moment, the master of the Liao Governor's Mansion wrote a memo and reported it urgently.

After the rainfall decreased dramatically, the flood waters finally slowly receded below the safety warning line. Leng Yi gave an order, and the people could go down to the city and go home.

However, for most people, there was no home to return to, and the flood washed away everything they had.

Leng Yi took Cheng Luojie and the household secretary to inspect all parts of the city.

The flood severely damaged the city's industrial and commercial industries. Many shops went bankrupt and were forced to sell out.

Leng Yi saw a lot of restaurants, pawnshops and even green houses and other shops in the city, and ordered to post a notice of low-price transfer, knowing that the whole city was hit too hard this time, and I was afraid that it would be difficult to recover in a short time, and his heart was heavy.

At this time, Bai Hong finally returned.

Because it is a brick structure, Xinghuang Restaurant was not destroyed by the flood, and after the wine guy removed the mud, it did not resume normal business. Because when the city tower was transferred, there was not much food transferred, and now there is a shortage of food in the city, if it is to be opened, I am afraid that within a day, all the food will be eaten up and bought.

Bai Hong is still a series of white clothes, spotless. Sit in the restaurant. Leng Yi sat down opposite her, looked at her, and said, "You seem to be very tired, aren't things going well?" ”

Bai Hong smiled reluctantly and said, "It's not going well." ”

"What's going on?"

"I was supposed to send someone to prepare the grain, but soon I got word that the flood had hit the place, and that almost all the rice merchants' granaries had been washed away. There is no grain to sell. I immediately sent people everywhere to buy grain, but all the states and counties in Bavaria were devastated, and most of the granaries of rice merchants were destroyed by the flood, and those who were lucky enough to survive refused to sell their grain. I was in a hurry, so I had to send people to more distant states and counties to buy grain. However, I was shocked by the news that the grain from the distant prefectures and counties, because the imperial court needed a large reserve of military rations because of the imperial court's use of troops in the north, was bought by the yamen as public grain. In addition, some large households that have seen this flood are also buying grain everywhere, preparing to hoard Juqi and make a flood fortune! ”

Leng Yi's heart moved, and he said, "Who is buying?" Did it come to our Bavaria? ”

"Yes, it seems to be a rice merchant surnamed Jin, and he bought almost all the grain."

"The Golden Shopkeeper?" Leng Yi's brows furrowed.

"Yes, in addition, there were ships transporting grain, which capsized and sank during transportation, and the losses were not small. Some of them met hungry people, robbed and burned. ”

Leng Yi thought thoughtfully: "So, there is no food in the nearby states and counties of Bazhou?" ”

"It should be," Bai Hong said: "After it was difficult to buy the large amount of food needed in the distant states and counties, I set off for the capital, and at the moment, I had to go to the capital for help." However, the cost of buying grain from the capital and transporting it to Bazhou is long, and the cost will be doubled. However, I know that I can't buy food from nearby or even distant states and counties, and I'm afraid you can't buy it either. And this flood is not only our Bazhou disaster, but also the nearby states and counties, and the scope is very wide. Such a large-scale disaster, coupled with the fact that the imperial court was using troops in the north, the demand for military food was also very large. In this case, the strength of the imperial court's disaster relief is unlikely to be great. Therefore, the grain must be bought back for you. ”

Leng Yi was overjoyed and said, "Have you already bought it back?" ”

"I bought it, I'm still on the way, I'm worried that you're in a hurry, so I'll come back first."

Leng Yi couldn't help but be stunned, thought for a while, and said, "How many days are we still away?" ”

"We have entered the border of Bazhou, and we can reach it in two days at most."

Leng Yi groaned slightly, and said, "Is there an escort for the convoy transporting grain?" ”

"Nope. ――Do you need it? ”

Leng Yi said in a deep voice: "Very needed!" I found that 23 of our people guarding the embankment had been murdered on the embankment, and at the same time, the embankment had burst. Although no evidence was found that the levee was deliberately breached, the deaths of the twenty-three people were definitely intentional murder. After killing the people who guarded the embankment, they dug up the embankment and flooded the city of Bazhou, with the purpose of washing away the granaries and grain in the city, expanding the disaster and profiting from it! I fear that these people will be detrimental to the caravan carrying grain. - Let's go and pick it up! ”

Seeing that he was so sure, Bai Hong didn't ask too much, and immediately ordered to prepare the horse. Leng Yi took advantage of this time to write a note and asked the guy to transfer it to Liao Zhifu and his wife Zhuo Qiaoniang, only saying that he would go out to raise food and come back in a few days.

Leng Yi and Bai Hong hurried their horses and horses, and traveled along the official road to pick up the horse convoy carrying grain.

Along the way, Leng Yi saw that the rice fields were all washed away by the flood, including the official road, which was really full of devastation. Although it is not much, it has already made Leng Yi's heart heavy. If the food problem is not solved, what other way will the people have but to flee the famine?

In the evening of the next day, they were galloping forward on horseback, and suddenly, Leng Yi looked up and saw a faint fire in the distance, and his heart couldn't help but sink, and said to Bai Hong: "Look! ”

Bai Hong looked at it and exclaimed. The two of them involuntarily whipped the horse's buttocks a few times. The horse galloped faster, almost as if all hooves were off the ground.

After running for a while, the smell of rice could already be smelled in the air, and the two of them were even more anxious.

At this moment, a dozen horses also galloped towards him.

Leng Yi's eyes were sharp, and he could see the eyebrow stick hanging on the horse at a glance. couldn't help but move in his heart, and whispered to Bai Hong: "Stop them!" ”

Bai Hong nodded quietly.

Almost at the same time, the two men reined in their horses and crossed the official road, blocking the way.

The dozen or so horses also stood still, looking at them suspiciously.

Leng Yi and the others were all wearing masks, and they looked expressionless. Among the dozen people, an old man said in a deep voice: "Why are the two of you blocking the road? ”

Leng Yi pointed to the flames in the distance and said, "Excuse me, what's going on over there?" ”

The old man looked back and said with a smile: "Maybe the mountain forest is on fire." We were in a hurry and didn't pay attention. ”

Bai Hong sneered: "The place where the fire started, it is in the direction of the official road, you came from over there, you don't know what the reason for the fire, is it possible, this fire was put by you, and you want to cover it here?" ”

The old man smiled gloomily and said, "The two of you are from the Yamen, right?" In that case, well, this is what you found yourself, and we can only send you away. Above! ”

The people behind him all took off their horses' eyebrow sticks and rode their horses to rush up.

Bai Hong and Leng Yi rose from their horses almost at the same time, their movements were as fast as lightning, and in a moment, more than a dozen of their followers had been knocked unconscious by Bai Hong and fell to the ground. And the old man, his throat was already Leng Yi's thin short blade against the uniform.

Leng Yi said coldly: "Who sent you?" Say! ”

The old man closed his eyes and looked at him as if he was listening.

Leng Yi said to Bai Hong: "You hurry up and go to see the situation on the other side of the grain convoy first." I'll leave it to me. ”

"Good!" Bai Hong got on his horse and galloped away.

Leng Yi kicked the old man's calf, and when he heard a click, his calf was broken. The old man snorted and collapsed to the ground. Leng Yi stepped on his right elbow with his foot and said, "Say, or don't say." ”

The old man glanced at Leng Yi and groaned in pain, but he still didn't say anything.

Leng Yi clicked and smashed his elbow joint.

The old man let out a terrible scream. It hurt so much that I almost passed out.

Leng Yi stepped on his right elbow joint again, and said, "Actually, if you don't say it, I also know that you are the shopkeeper of Bazhou Mi Shangjin, right?" Last time, the twenty-three people who were berms on the embankment of the Ba River were killed, and the embankment was broken and the city of Bazhou was flooded, which was also done by you, right? It doesn't matter if you are stubborn and refuse to confess, I believe that there should be people under your command who are willing to confess. I'll go through them one by one. ”

The old man shuddered, and finally spoke: "Yes, ......, we did it, and I am willing to confess." ”

Leng Yi said: "Tell me what happened!" ”

"Yes." The old man groaned in pain, and said slowly: "We are the guardian of the golden shopkeeper's mansion, on the day of the embankment break, he asked me to go, and told me to take someone to quietly kill the people who watched the embankment on the upstream embankment, and beat them to death with a stick, so that when others found the corpse, they only thought that it was caused by the flood and hit something, so that they could hide people's eyes and ears." After the killing, he dug up the embankment of the river and flooded the city with water. I didn't want to do it, but the golden shopkeeper was kind to me, and I couldn't refuse, so I could only agree. When we got to the embankment when it was dark, the men didn't care, thinking that we were part of the defense of the embankment, and we killed them, dug up the embankment, and ran up to the tower. That's the way it is. ”

Leng Yi pointed to the fire in the distance and said, "What about the grain?" Who told you to burn it? ”

"It's also the golden shopkeeper, he has arranged eyeliner in the states and counties near Bazhou, and as long as there is grain to be transported into Bazhou, he will find a way to destroy it. Some of the boats and wagons that carried grain were scuttled or burned by our men. This time it was the same, we learned that a batch of grain was being transported from the capital, and there was no one to escort it, so according to the instructions of the golden treasurer, we pretended to be thieves, killed the handlebar, and burned the grain. I didn't expect to meet you on the way back. ”

(To be continued)