Heishui Pavilion soon discovered from the information obtained from all over the empire that the rush to buy had spread from some counties in Chuqi and Qi to all the old lands of the Six Kingdoms of Shandong in just two months. Even this trend has swept into the old land of the empire, and even Guanzhong, Shu County and other regions have also seen this phenomenon.

Originally, after the imperial court learned about such a thing, there was no need to directly appoint the people of the Heishui Pavilion to participate, and the officials of the Heishui Pavilion had always forbidden to participate in the direct administrative affairs of the empire. However, when the emperor began to order local officials to investigate the matter in October last year, but no progress was made, which made the irascible emperor angry, so he directly sent members of the Black Water Pavilion to directly participate in the investigation. It is requested that the cause and effect of this incident be traced as soon as possible.

Wei Yi was very surprised in his heart, last year, the empire had a bumper harvest, and the empire was exempted from taxes for another year, even if the people sold the surplus grain, they would not sell the rations they relied on for survival, and what they sold must be the surplus. In addition, salt cloth, salt is stored in every household for several months, the empire is full of men and women weaving, cloth can basically be self-sufficient, there is no need to buy in large quantities, even if someone has ulterior motives, want to hoard Juqi, raise prices, it is difficult to achieve the purpose of shaking the country, but will cause the vigilance of the imperial court, the consequences are unimaginable.

But the emperor's anger was too much to surprise Wei Mi. He pondered for a while and asked, "The emperor is in such a hurry, but he wants to use troops abroad?" After thinking about it, Wei Yu only thought of one reason, except for the great armament of the empire, there was no need to worry about the problem of food, salt and cloth.

Gu Haoran smiled bitterly and said: "My lord, the emperor mobilized hundreds of thousands of troops, with Tu Ju, Ren Huan and Zhao Tuo as generals, and the troops were divided into five routes and advanced in the direction of the South China Sea. ”

"What!" Wei Yi and Chen Sheng's faces sank and they glanced at each other. The two once discussed the military trend of the empire, thinking that the wheels of the imperial chariot would not run so quickly, and when Wei Yu left Xianyang, he learned from the emperor about the empire's military plan, at least three years after the destruction of Qi, before restarting the battle plan and conquering the land of Baiyue in the south. What prompted the emperor to make such a battle plan? Wei Yi's hands and feet were cold. Immediately understood the reason why the emperor attached so much importance to this grain rush purchase.

"Isn't it difficult for the Imperial Treasury to support this war? Why did the emperor start the war lightly, shouldn't it! Wei Yu shook his head and asked Gu Haoran puzzled.

Hearing this, Gu Haoran sighed faintly and said: "My lord may not know, after the autumn of last year, the Bajun Ling family secretly donated 400,000 gold to the imperial court, and provided 300,000 stone grain. ”

"That's it." Wei Yi smiled bitterly. The Ling family made a big deal, 400,000 gold, which could support the military consumption of the 500,000 army for nearly half a year, and with a half-year buffer, the emperor's ambition was naturally stimulated. This emperor has all the merits, but this great joy is really worrying!

Chen Sheng's brows furrowed. Through the conversation between Gu Haoran and Wei Yu, he has basically figured out what happened.

When the emperor launched the southern expedition, he naturally needed military rations. However, the empire did not collect grain from the world last year, so the grain in the treasury was naturally not enough to support a war of attrition. Therefore, it was necessary to buy grain from the people, but it was bought in advance by those who were willing to buy surplus grain from various places on a large scale, so the surplus grain that the government could purchase was far from enough to support the needs of the war.

If the supply of grain and grass is not available, the army of the southern expedition will inevitably be unsustainable, and the result will inevitably fail. With the character of the emperor, he will definitely not be willing to fail, and will definitely levy taxes and soldiers, and the result will be that the people will not be able to make a living, and finally the empire will collapse in the middle of the storm.

This is the scene that Chen Sheng does not want to see. He knew very well that if the trajectory of history could not be changed, then his fate would be as tragic as what was written in the history books.

"You can't ...... like this," Chen Sheng muttered.

For a while, the banquet was cold. Everyone had their own agendas, and no one broke the awkward silence for a while.

Wei Yi was silent for a while before turning his head and asking Chen Sheng: "Sheng'er, what do you think about this matter?" ”

Chen Sheng shook his head, and after thinking for a while, he connected many things in his heart. This time the food was snapped up, it was not an accident, and it may be part of a huge conspiracy.

Seeing the look of difficulty between Chen Sheng's eyebrows, Wei Yu did not speak, but quietly waited for Chen Sheng's thoughts. He was accustomed to the actions of his students, and whenever there was a major problem that was difficult to solve, he would always fall into a deep thought.

Wei Hao was extremely wise and did not issue any important comments and opinions on this matter, which originally puzzled Gu Haoran, but what shocked Gu Haoran even more was that Wei Hao did not say his opinion, so he asked Chen Sheng, which was even more unexpected by Gu Haoran.

After a while, Chen Shengcai said with a solemn face: "Teacher, Master Gu, the students think that this rush to buy food is not a coincidence, but a deliberate conspiracy!" ”

Hearing this, Gu Haoran's heart trembled slightly. It's not that he didn't think about this aspect before, but there are too many people and things involved, and he doesn't dare to guess in that direction at all. Making such a guess without real evidence is enough to make his head fall to the ground.

"Say!" Wei Yi's spirit was shocked, and he said to the students.

"It's a chronological order." Chen Sheng pondered for a moment, sorted out his thoughts, and said, "When did the emperor announce that taxes would be exempted?" Chen Sheng asked Gu Haoran.

"It was the beginning of March last year." Gu Haoran knew these things well.

"The New Deal of the Empire, when will it start?"

"In May last year, the emperor was proclaimed emperor, and in June, the county system was determined, the weights and measures were unified, and the world was implemented!"

"Wei and Chu, when did they start to set off a wave of grain purchases?"

"Last autumn harvest. Starts in July and August and arrives in October**. ”

"When did the Ling family and the Wu clan pay tribute to the imperial court?"

"Last October."

"When will the Empire send troops to the south?"

"Preparations began at the end of October, and troops were sent out in November."

Chen Sheng and Gu Haoran asked and answered, Gu Haoran was puzzled, but Wei Yu's eyes became more and more gloomy and deep. Having been at the center of imperial power for a long time, he naturally understands what it means to move the whole body with one hair. What happened in these timelines was enough for him to read enough information.