After confirming that the bandits had gone away, the sergeants who had just run away slowly returned to their places to collect their bodies.

Not a single prisoner was alive.

Let's get as many corpses as you can.

The most important thing is the body of the Tian master, but unfortunately it was washed away by the river.

The sergeants looked at each other.

"How are we going to go back to Beijing now?"

"The confessions drawn by the prisoners and others are still there, and His Royal Highness Fifth said that it is best to bring people back, and if they can't bring them back, they must also bring the documents of these people's confessions back to the capital!"

The drawings were wrapped in thick brown paper, and several sergeants each brought a part of it, and they jumped into the water without getting soaked.

Could it be that the five princes had expected that there would be water bandits?

No, the more you think about it, the more terrifying it becomes.

The sergeants searched for the bodies that could be found, did not dare to take the waterway again, went ashore to the nearest post station to identify themselves, endured the pain, and rode back to Beijing on fast horses.

The news of Tianjin Wei was transmitted back to the capital a day earlier than these people.

was still waiting for the head of the field to be escorted back to Beijing to punish the crime, but he met the water bandits on the road, and the water bandits hacked the moths to death.

How could it be such a coincidence?

Someone in the court immediately grabbed the five princes and said that the five princes should not take 30,000 stone of grain from Tianjin Wei at one time, which not only slowed down the disaster relief trip, but also had hidden dangers, making Tianjin Wei's food storage greatly insufficient.

The emperor was noncommittal and let the courtiers express their opinions.

When it was Meng Huaijin's turn to speak, Meng Huaijin said lightly:

"The minister thinks that the situation of the granary in Tianjin is special, and it is understandable that the five princes took away 30,000 stone of grain. As for the lack of grain in Tianjin Wei, it was caused by being stolen and sold, and although the criminal official Tian and others died, it cannot be ruled out that they still had accomplices in Tianjin Wei, allowing the management of Tianjin Wei's granary to be eroded without investigation, but they grabbed the five princes and took away 30,000 stone of disaster relief grain...... If anyone thinks that the five princes are not up to the task of disaster relief, they might as well go out of Beijing to chase after them, and the five princes and their entourage should have gone to Shandong by now, and they can still catch up. ”

Meng Huaijin said a long paragraph, and it can be summed up that whoever thinks he is better than the five princes will go to Huainan for disaster relief by himself.

- If you don't go, don't be blind!

He has always been a pure minister, he is not close to the courtiers, and he doesn't have to save face for anyone when he speaks.

The courtier who questioned the behavior of the five princes [Vertex www.booktxt.xyz] was almost choked to death by Meng Huaijin.

The emperor was very satisfied, Meng Huaijin said this, and the emperor's ears were quiet.

Tianjin Wei's side, it is indeed necessary to investigate.

If there is no problem, how could the Tian master and other criminal officials be killed by the "water bandits" halfway?

The emperor is worried about the granary of Tianjin Wei, and even more worried about the three guards of Tianjin Wei, Tianjin Wei is so close to the capital, and the three guards have nearly 20,000 soldiers, if he is not loyal to the king, the emperor will not sleep well at night.

"Meng Aiqing, are you willing to go to Tianjin Wei to thoroughly investigate the case of the theft of grain from the warehouse?"

"Command!"

Meng Huaijin didn't hesitate at all, and the emperor couldn't help but nod.

Master Cheng Liu glanced at Meng Huaijin with concern.

Thinking of Cheng Qing and Cheng Zhixu, who had arrived in Shandong at this time, Master Cheng Liu was extremely sad.

Huainan disaster relief is more dangerous than imagined.

Nanyi Cheng's family either has two people who want to soar into the sky this time, or two people are folded together in Huainan.

Even if Master Cheng Liu is worried that he will be replaced by Cheng Zhixu, he has to admit that Cheng Zhixu is in the prime of life, and his official position has reached the rank of servant of the Ministry of Officials, which is indeed promising.

Master Cheng Liu, Cheng Zhixu, and Cheng Qing are the three generations of the old, middle-aged and young people who lead the Nanyi Cheng family.

If something happens to the latter two, it will be difficult for the remaining Cheng Sixth Master to stand alone in the court, and Nanyi Cheng can't afford such a big loss.

Meng Huaijin is going to Tianjin Wei again, the danger there is no less than the disaster relief in Huainan, can Master Cheng Liu not worry?

I was so worried that Master Cheng Liu's beard was about to fall off!

……

Meng Huai's estimate was correct, Cheng Qing and his party had indeed just arrived in Shandong.

The Grand Canal runs through the southeast and west of Shandong, and Cheng Qing and his entourage not only crossed the border from Shandong, but also stayed in Shandong for a short time.

Because there are two large granaries in Dezhou and Linqing in Shandong, these two granaries have to undertake the task of allocating 100,000 stone of disaster relief grain!

At the beginning of the Tianjin Wei Dynasty, in fact, it was more of a shipping turnover, and later the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal was connected, and the imperial court basically gave up shipping and devoted itself to the development of river transportation.

In addition to Tongzhou and Tianjin Wei granaries, along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal to the south, there are four large granaries along the way, in order from north to south, respectively, Dezhou, Linqing, Xuzhou and Huai'an.

Dezhou and Linqing are in Shandong, while Xuzhou and Huai'an are in Jiangsu.

The Grand Canal does not pass through the Huainan area, and the two closest granaries to Huainan are Xuzhou and Huai'an, and Xuzhou and Huai'an naturally bear the heaviest grain transfer tasks.

Tongzhou bears 50,000 stones, Tianjin Wei 30,000 stones, Dezhou and Linqing add up to 100,000 stones, and Xuzhou and Huai'an have to bear the remaining 220,000 stones of grain transportation.

The fifth prince already had 35,000 stone of grain in his hands, and he was anxious to rush to Huainan, and the grain he pulled away from Dezhou and Linqing was also counted as one-tenth, and he wanted to set off with 45,000 stone of grain first.

When docking at Linqing Wharf, Cheng Qing saw the ragged porters, and the people at the wharf said that these were escaped from the Huainan area, and these homeless people were in a state of confusion, and they scattered out of Huainan, some went north, some went south, and ran all over the country.

If they can find a livelihood, they stop fleeing the famine, and they don't need to be paid to carry goods at the docks, as long as they manage two meals a day.

The displaced people have already gone to Shandong!

It's not that they can't survive in Huainan, it's impossible for these people to leave their hometown.

Unlike Cheng Qing and others, they have boats, horses, and cars, all walking on their legs, all the way from Huainan to Linqing Wharf...... The drought in Huainan broke out earlier and more severely than the imperial court knew.

The homeless people looked numb.

The five princes asked them to ask how many homeless people there were at the dock, and if they didn't know, forget it, even if they met, they could be resettled nearby.

Even if the emperor knew, he wouldn't say that the five princes did something wrong, didn't resettle the displaced people along the way, and let these displaced people continue to go north, wouldn't they all gather outside the capital in the end?

Cheng Qing is willing to do this.

Hearing that Cheng Qing was an official sent by the imperial court to Huainan for disaster relief, the numb faces of the displaced people were finally moved, and some people cried and laughed, shouting madly:

"They're all dead...... Not saved......"

These displaced people are clearly greatly stimulated.

They can go to Linqing, but their relatives and friends may not be able to go.

Cheng Qing went ashore to see the temporary settlements of the homeless, all of which were straw shacks, mostly men in the prime of life, and there were few old and weak women and children in sight.

Cheng Qing didn't dare to think about it.

- Are the old and weak women and children unable to hold on to themselves, or are they abandoned halfway?