"It's a long way from the capital to Jiaozhi, and when General Dingnan comes, I'm afraid the people outside the city will already stir up a popular uprising!"

Li Qingzheng knew that Li Yuntian had rushed to Jiaozhi, but he didn't have time to wait, and said to the supervisor of the granary in the south of the city with a stern expression, "This matter has been decided, you quickly let people open the warehouse door!" ”

The capital is thousands of miles away from Jiaozhi, and the road is rugged and the army is not easy to march, so it will be two or three months before Li Yuntian arrives in Jiaozhi, and at that time, even if the people outside the city do not break out into a civil uprising, I am afraid that they will starve to death a lot.

In Li Qingzheng's view, Li Yuntian, as the commander of the counterinsurgency army, naturally had to be with the main force of the counterinsurgency army, even if Li Yuntian sent the vanguard troops, the people in the vanguard troops did not have the right to open warehouses and release grain.

Li Qingzheng had already reported the matter of the lack of grain in Xuanhua City to the imperial court a few days ago, but counting the time on the road and the process of the imperial court's affairs, it would take more than a month to get a reply from the imperial court, and it would not necessarily open a warehouse to release grain, because the counterinsurgency army also needed grain and grass.

Although Li Qingzheng is no longer in the capital, after all, he has been a scholar of Hanlin and has been in contact with many state secrets, so he knows that the imperial court is no longer able to take out the military funds for Li Yuntianping's rebellion, so the grain in the Xuanhua granary is likely to be left to Li Yuntian.

Li Qingzheng knew in his heart that the batch of grain in Xuanhua City was very important now, but he couldn't watch those victims starve to death, so he decided to open the storage in the south of the city, release grain to relieve the victims, and at the same time arrange for people to go to negotiate with the prefect of Taiping Prefecture, so that the Taiping Tusi who blocked the mountain pass removed the checkpoint and let people pass.

In the final analysis, the source of the matter was Liu Sheng's fiasco, who would have imagined that the 120,000 Ming army would be defeated by the rebels with a word? and then brought a series of chain reactions, forcing Li Qingzheng to be in a hurry.

"Without the official document of the imperial court, the lower officials will never dare to do this, please forgive me." The superintendent of the granary in the south of the city knew the severity of this matter, and hurriedly bowed his hand at Li Qingzheng and said.

"Someone comes, bind him." Li Qingzheng glanced at the overseer of the granary in the south of the city, and gave an order to the soldiers on the side in a deep voice.

When several soldiers heard this, they immediately rushed up, and after pressing down the granary in the south of the city, they took out a rope and tied it up.

"Your Excellency, don't open a granary privately, it's a felony." The overseer of the granary in the south of the city raised his head and comforted Li Qingzheng with an anxious expression.

"The official has made up his mind, and he can only wronged you." Li Qing waved his hand expressionlessly, and the supervisor of the granary in the south of the city was taken down, which was also a kind of protection for him, and he would not be involved in the supervision of the granary in the south of the city when the imperial court held him accountable in the future.

"Prefect, think twice!" The superintendent of the granary in the south of the city knew Li Qingzheng's intentions, so he did not struggle, and shouted at Li Qingzheng when he was escorted away, he admired Li Qingzheng's personality very much, so he did not want Li Qingzheng to be planted in this matter.

When Li Qingzheng heard this, his eyes showed a gloomy look, he didn't know that the consequences of doing this were very strict, but he couldn't blame it so much now.

"Come on, smash open the warehouse door and release the grain!" After a deep groan, Li Qingzheng shouted loudly to the people he had brought.

With his order, the doors of several granaries were quickly smashed open, and at the same time, more than a dozen horse-drawn carriages entered the courtyard one after another, and people carried the grain in the granaries to the wagons, preparing to transport them to the porridge shacks outside the city to help the victims.

Seeing this situation, the superintendent of the granary in the south of the city couldn't help but close his eyes helplessly, Li Qingzheng would definitely not escape the severe punishment of the imperial court this time.

"Stop, stop!" When the carriage was about to be filled with bags of grain, a middle-aged official with a Chinese character face wearing a Zhengwupin civil official costume hurriedly walked into the courtyard, and couldn't help but be taken aback when he saw this, and hurriedly stopped those who were loading, and his words had a thick local accent of Jiaozhi.

Hearing the order of the middle-aged official with a national character face, those who were busy loading the carriage with grain stopped one after another and looked at him curiously.

"My lord, this granary is a military powerhouse, and if you release grain without permission, you will definitely not be able to escape the disaster of death." The middle-aged official with a national character face walked quickly in front of Li Qingzheng, bowed to him, and said urgently.

"Master Tao, the official has made up his mind, you don't need to persuade again." Li Qingzheng had long expected that the middle-aged official with a national character face would come, so he replied quietly.

The middle-aged official with a national character face is named Tao Jirong, who is the local official of Xuanhua Mansion and the hereditary local official of Shuiwei County.

After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, the Tusi system since the Yuan Dynasty has been reformed and different management measures have been adopted for the different situations of ethnic minorities in the southwest and northwest provinces:

In those areas where the government ruled strongly, the original Tusi Yamen was abolished, and the prefectures, prefectures, and counties were reestablished, and the imperial court sent officials to serve as prefects, prefectures, and counties; In areas where the government rule is weak, the Tusi system is still retained, and it is still managed by the local ethnic minority leaders. In other areas, it is governed by both "soil" and "stream", or it is mainly governed by liuguan and supplemented by local officials, or mainly by local officials and supplemented by liuguan.

The so-called liuguan refers to the officials of the Ming Dynasty from the ninth rank and above, these officials are appointed by the imperial court, and they will be transferred to other places after a period of service in one place, so they are called liuguan.

According to statistics:

The Tusi set up in the territory of the Huguangbu Political Division are: Xuanfu Division 2, Xuanfu Division 4, Pacification Division 8, Chief Lawsuit Division 20, Barbarian Chief Lawsuit Division 5;

The Tusi set up in the territory of the Sichuan Buzheng Division are: Xuanfu Division 2, Xuanfu Division 3, Pacification Division 9, and Chief Officials Division 37;

The three provinces of Guizhou, Guangxi, and Yunnan are full of barbarians, so in the early Ming Dynasty, due to the large number of local Tumen, the officials or chief officials in the yamen of the prefecture and county are local officials, and the adjutant is a liuguan, or the chief official is a liuguan, and the adjutant is a local official, that is, the Tuliu and the rule.

The situation in Jiaozhi is similar to that of Guizhou, Guangxi, and Yunnan, and there are also many tusi, so the prefecture and county usually also adopt the method of both the tuliu and the local magistrates, so that the liuguan appointed by the imperial court and the local local officials are jointly governed.

Tao Jirong was opposed to opening a granary to release grain, because privately opening a granary was a serious crime in Daming, and he admired Li Qingzheng very much and did not want him to die.

Originally, Tao Jirong was handling official business in the government office, and when he learned that Li Qingzheng had taken someone to the warehouse in the south of the city, he was taken aback, and realized that the shape was not good, so he rushed over in a hurry.

It's a pity that he was still a step late, and when he arrived, Li Qingzheng had already let people smash open the door of the granary.

"My lord, as long as it takes two more days, those victims outside the city will naturally disperse after knowing that there is no food relief in the city, and go to other places to find relief, why bother to move this food." Tao Jirong knew that Li Qingzheng was concerned about the victims outside the city, and seeing that his tone was resolute, he was ready to bear the responsibility, so he couldn't help but persuade hard.

"There have been two years of military rebellion in Jiaozhi, and now in addition to Xuanhua City, where else is there surplus food to help them, even the Taiping Mansion can no longer hold on, blocking the road into Guangxi."

Li Qingzheng shook his head when he heard this, and looked at Tao Jirong with a stern expression, "If someone takes the opportunity to incite trouble, I am afraid it will cause a big disaster at that time." ”

"My lord, if you do this, you will fold yourself in, and the people in the house can't do without you." Tao Jirong saw that Li Qingzheng's attitude was still resolute, so he arched his hand at him, bowed down and said, "My lord, please think twice." ”

"After the official leaves, the imperial court will send other officials to take over, and they will definitely do a better job than the official." Li Qingzheng's eyes showed a gloomy look, and then he smiled slightly and comforted Tao Jirong.

"Your Excellency!" Hearing this, Tao Jirong knew that Li Qingzheng was ready to die calmly, so he knelt in front of him with weak legs, touched his head to the ground, and said loudly, "Those victims outside the city of Xiaguan have thanked the great kindness of the adults. ”

At this moment, there was a sound of messy footsteps at the gate of the courtyard, and a civil official dressed in a Zhengqipin costume hurried into the courtyard on horseback, followed by a group of soldiers carrying knives and guns.

"Lord Prefect, Xuanhua Cang is the military need of the imperial court in Jiaozhi, and no one can open the warehouse door to release grain without the official document of the imperial court, which is a crime of killing the head." Daniel Zhang, the seven-pin civil official who was the head of the Xuanhua granary, was taken aback when he saw the grain bags on the carriage, and quickly turned over and dismounted, and said to Li Qingzheng.

"Director Zhang, there are 200,000 starving victims gathered outside the city, and if we don't help them, it will easily trigger a civil uprising, and the consequences will be unimaginable." When Li Qingzheng heard this, he said quietly, "Chief Zhang, this matter was done by this official, and you and other military attachés, at that time, this official will confess his guilt to the imperial court, and you will definitely not be implicated."

Daniel Zhang's face couldn't help but show a bitter smile, he was the supreme official of the Xuanhua warehouse, if the grain in the Xuanhua warehouse was gone, how could he escape the involvement?

"Lord Prefect, the duties of the lower officials, please forgive me." Then, Daniel Zhang bowed down and saluted Li Qingzheng, and then shouted at the soldiers behind him, "Listen, it is a felony to open the granary privately, if these grains are transported out, including this official, they will be punished by the imperial court, and now this official orders, guard the door, and not allow a carriage to go out!" ”

Listening to Daniel Zhang's order, the soldiers first hesitated, and then ran to the door and closed the courtyard door.

"Come on, drag them away from the official." Seeing this, Li Qingzheng sighed secretly in his heart, waved his hand at the soldiers at the door, and gave an order with an expressionless face.

With a hula, the people in the courtyard rushed to the guards at the door, and because of their large number, after a scuffle, they dragged the guards guarding the gate aside and opened the courtyard door.

"Prefect, why are you doing this?" Daniel Zhang had already guessed this result, and sighed helplessly, he had fulfilled his duty, and the imperial court could deal with it when asked in the future, and the rest of the matter was only left to fate.

"Report!" As soon as Daniel Zhang's words fell, a fast horse rushed into the courtyard, and the sergeant on the horse jumped in front of Li Qingzheng, knelt on one knee, and reported in a loud voice, "Lord Prefect, General Dingnan is already outside the city, and the commander asks you to recognize someone." ”

"What did you say?" Li Qingzheng was stunned when he heard this, and looked at the sergeant who reported the news with a stunned expression, and did not react for a while.!^!