Early in the morning of the eighth day of November in the first year of Taichang......

The cold wind blew from the sea and penetrated deep inland, and the hands and feet of the people on both sides of the Huai River were cold.

But right now, what is colder than the hands and feet is the heart......

"Hurry up! Hurry up! Give me a good job, whoever dares to be lazy will die! ”

Huaibei, a place that has experienced hardship this year, is now falling "heavy snow." ”

It's just that this heavy snow, compared to the ordinary heavy snow, is very gray......

"Crunch ......"

On the road in Pizhou County, Huaibei, almost every three miles, dozens or hundreds of bonfires are placed.

Near the campfire, dozens of people were carrying corpses, placing them on the bonfire and lighting them.

The so-called heavy snow is nothing more than the flying ashes of tens of thousands of corpses after they have been burned.

It stands to reason that there is no need for the people to die for such an official government.

But for the people in Huaibei, they just want to survive at the moment.

Four days ago, the government offices in Pizhou, Xuzhou, Muyang, Suqian and other places suddenly began to provide disaster relief.

They asked all the hungry people to wait along the road, and collect firewood to burn the corpses in the Huaibei area, and if they were close to the Huai River, they simply threw the corpses into the Huai River.

Due to the diversion of the Yellow River during the Northern Song Dynasty, the current Yellow River moved south into the Huai River, and then poured into the Yellow Sea in Huai'an Prefecture, so the flow of the Huai River and the Yellow River was enough to wash the corpses into the sea.

In order to survive, the hungry people have done what they are doing.

Burn a corpse, and reward three catties of grain and ten copper coins......

This kind of work gives the survivors of the hungry a way to live.

They didn't know that the imperial court was sending officials from the Imperial Procuratorate to the south, and they didn't know that they were destroying evidence for this group of corrupt officials.

Perhaps, even if they knew, they would continue to do it......

To stay alive......

"O iniquity! O iniquity! Thus the silver and grain were given to the poor! ”

An official at the head of Pizhou City, wearing the regular uniform of the Zhengwupin prefect, shook his head and sighed, and the faces of the dozen or so businessmen next to him were also very ugly.

A great hunger in Huaibei, although they made millions of profits, but things went wrong and they were stabbed to the capital.

Now they want to act, but they have to ask them to provide their tenants to the government for verification, and they have to spend food and silver to destroy the corpses, so they have earned at least two million taels less!

In the crowd, an older fifty-year-old man frowned and said:

"Right now, it's grain and silver, if the court really wants to track it down, can it hide it?"

"Naturally, you can hide it." The prefect of Huai'an turned around and comforted:

"The corpses were destroyed, and the people's registrations and household registrations in the Huaibei area were separated, no matter how they checked, they couldn't find anything."

"Even now, I still need a favor from you, that is, I ask you to transport the grain in the granaries in your respective warehouses to the official warehouses in various places."

"When the people sent by the imperial court leave, the official will return the full amount."

"It's easy to do." The old man nodded, and the people behind him did not object.

"Since that's the case, then thank you Li Juren." The prefect of Huai'an smiled and thanked the old man, and the old man did not reply when he saw this, but left the gate tower of Pizhou City directly with people.

"Shura Warrior God"

Seeing them leave one after another, the Huai'an prefect also breathed a sigh of relief, and then looked at the situation outside the city wall that had almost ended, and shook his head distressedly: "Evil......"

After that, he also took people down the city gate tower, and Pizhou City under the city gate became prosperous in just three days.

Of course, this kind of prosperity is compared to Pizhou City when Lu Jianxing and them came, if it is compared to other places, it can be said to be very poor.

As far as the eye could see, there were all ordinary people dressed in coarse linen clothes, and their cheeks were thin, their eyes were sunken, and their belts were loose and had to be tightened, and the whole city was like a ghost market.

At the same time, in the private room on the second floor of a teahouse in Pizhou City, Lu Jianxing was sitting at the table drinking tea, but a thin man glanced at the scene on the street from the window, and then returned to his position and said indignantly:

"This group of corrupt officials, if they could show the skills used in the past four days to govern Huai'an on weekdays, Huai'an Mansion would have already become the richest place in the Ming Dynasty!"

In the face of this man's indignation, Lu Jianxing was not shocked, but nodded secretly in his heart.

In four days, in just four days, corrupt officials in Huai'an Prefecture and Xuzhou Prefecture in Huaibei first used grain to recruit hungry people to dispose of the corpses of people who had starved to death, and then used a corpse to give money to the people in the form of ten cents.

The purpose of distributing money is very simple, that is, to make the people spend money, and to make the Huaibei area into a false appearance that the people have surplus money.

The people in the Huaibei area were grateful to the Yamen for this incident, but they didn't know that all of this was directed and acted by the government itself.

It is said that there is no great hunger in Huaibei, and there is enough food for the people to eat.

As a result, when the people who came in saw that there were bones all over the floor, there was no cooking smoke.

How many people died of hunger in a great Huaibei famine? No one has a specific number in mind.

Even if Lu Jianxing himself is investigating these days, it is difficult to find out the specific death toll.

Thinking of this, he looked at the emaciated man opposite and said:

"Have the bodies of the thirteen caves been hidden? Did you sprinkle it with lime? ”

"You can rest assured, there are thirteen caves and nearly three thousand corpses, which is enough for this group of dog officials to drink a pot!"

The man almost gritted his teeth and said this, and after Lu Jianxing heard that the corpses were hidden, he no longer cared about this matter, but turned his head and asked:

"How much grain have we sold in the past few days?"

Speaking of business, the man also hurriedly replied: "The time is too short, only 60,000 stones were sold, and 443,675 taels and 3 cents were sold." ”

"Excluding the silver for the purchase of grain, a total of four hundred and forty-four thousand two hundred and sixty-seven twenty-six dollars and eight cents and two cents were earned."

"The current grain depends on these grain merchants to distribute grain, so that the grain on the market can be maintained at six cents and one catty."

"When the people of the imperial court find out the eucalyptus, as soon as the lie is exposed, the price of grain will rise back to at least 30 wen a catty."

The man was indignant, but when he was indignant, Lu Jianxing's heart made waves.

400,000 taels of silver, counting the remaining silver given to Hua by His Royal Highness the Fifth Highness, he still has more than 500,000 taels in his hand at present.

In other words, in less than a month after leaving the capital, he had already doubled 300,000 taels.

This speed ...... It's too slow!

It seems that the grain trade has made Lu Jianxing crazy, in order to let Zhu Youzhen see his value as soon as possible, Lu Jianxing gritted his teeth and explained directly:

"Arrange for people to find enough displaced people, buy enough food in batches, and stock up all the food."

"In addition, the brothers who flew pigeons and called Fengyang and Jiangxi bought all the silver on hand and transported them to Huaibei!"

When the man ......heard this, he couldn't bear to say:

"Isn't this earning the people's hard-earned money......

Lu Jianxing was paused by what he said, but the next second he continued to drink tea:

"If we don't sell it, it will be sold by a group of grain merchants who violate the law and discipline, and when the grain merchants raise the price again, the people of Huaibei will be even more miserable."

"We can sell it, we can earn silver for His Highness, to the imperial court, and to ensure that the people of Huaibei have something to eat."

"Listen to me, go and do things......"

"This ...... Be! The man's face was embarrassed, but after he was still entangled, he went to do things.

As for Lu Jianxing, after the man left, he also sighed.

In this way, under his arrangement, thousands of people were bribed, and they took turns to go to several places in the Huaibei area to buy grain, and then brought the grain back.

Of course, there will be people who will enrich their own pockets, but Lu Jianxing turned a blind eye, perhaps to atone for his future act of selling grain.

In just one day, Pizhou alone was bought by Lu Jianxing with thousands of stone of grain.

However, for the grain merchants, they had long thought that there would be people who would be crazy about stockpiling grain after the great hunger, although they felt that there were a lot of people buying grain, but it was still within their acceptable range, so they did not check it.

This kind of grain purchase lasted for three days, and Lu Jianxing hoarded 20,000 stone of grain in Pizhou, and all parts of Huaibei combined, and even hoarded more than 100,000 stone of grain.

If these grains are sold later, they can make a profit of six or seven hundred thousand taels of silver, or even millions of taels.

However, Lu Jianxing continued to transfer grain from other places, and on the way from Fengyang Mansion to Huaibei alone, there were a full 200,000 stone of grain on the way.

The waterway from Jiangxi to Huaibei still has more than 300,000 stone grain.

Lu Jianxing was fully prepared, and what did not disappoint him was that early in the morning of November 11, he received the news that Yang Lian and others had arrived thirty miles outside Pizhou City.

Not only did he get it, but Liu Bian, the prefect of Huai'an, also got the news, including the gentry and merchants gathered in Pizhou City in Huai'an Mansion.

More than 200 officials and officials, including Yang Lian's leadership department and the Metropolitan Procuratorate, gradually appeared on the horizon under the protection of 600 brocade-clothed guards.

Although Liu Bian, the prefect of Huai'an at the head of the city, was fully prepared, he still didn't know why, and he was inexplicably a little weak.

The major gentry and businessmen were waiting for his good news in Pizhou City, and he could not be found out by Yang Lian and Zuo Guangdou that there was any news that was unfavorable to the Jiangnan Zhejiang Party, the Xuan Party, and the Kun Party.

Thinking of this, Liu Bian also said to the Pizhou County next to him:

"Prepare for the Angelic ......"

"Yes!"

Angel, that is, the envoy of the Son of Heaven, has been handed down since the Spring and Autumn Period.

Although Liu Bian did not welcome Yang Lian and others, if he dared to snub the angels, he would not need Yang Lian to impeach him with his identity in the matter, and the officials of the Metropolitan Procuratorate would first detain Liu Bian.

So under Liu Bian's arrangement, officials of all sizes in Pizhou City appeared in Ding'anmen, the north city of Pizhou City, put on the table eucalyptus yellow cloth, incense burner tribute, and quietly waited for Yang Lian and others who came with the holy decree.

And Yang Lian and others also took the lead with Zuo Guangdou and Lu Wenzhao under the attention of officials of Huai'an Mansion, and slowly walked with a large group of people.

After a stick of incense, the three of them led people to the outside of Ding'an Gate, stepped on the moat, and took out the holy decree......

"Fengtian carries the emperor, and the edict says ......"

Just opened his mouth, which suddenly made Liu Bian and the others feel half cold.

The regulation of the Divine Decree is very particular, and the content is even more so.

Generally speaking, there are several types of edicts, edicts, and forgiveness.

The edict is an edict to the world, for example, important matters need to be announced to the subjects of the world, so this kind of holy decree is to explain to the people of the whole world, and after the matter is handled, the people can see it.

The system is only for the purpose of announcing the officials, and is not used for ordinary people, and the pardon is that when the emperor rewards the officials, he will warn the officials not to be proud and complacent, so they use the pardon.

At present, the holy decree in Yang Lian's hand begins with an edict, so a very simple answer, it is obvious that the matter of Huaibei hunger has been taken seriously by the emperor, and after the matter is handled, it will be announced to the world.

So after hearing the word edict, Liu Bian and the others became empty-hearted.

As for what followed the decree, it was exactly as they expected.

The emperor first reprimanded the officials of Huai'an Mansion and Nanzhili, and then reprimanded the inspection and supervision of the imperial history of the Nanzhili Metropolitan Procuratorate, and finally talked about the thorough investigation of the Huaibei hunger.

If nothing happens, wait for the outcome of the investigation, no matter what the final result is, the emperor will tell the world about the matter.

If there is no great famine in Huaida, then it will be announced to the world to appease people's hearts, and if there is a great famine in Huaida, then it should be killed, taken, and relieved, and an explanation should be given to the people of the world.

In the apprehension of Liu Bian and others, Yang Lian finally finished reading the holy decree, and did not send the holy decree to Liu Bian and others, but put it away himself.

This move shows that Yang Lian and others do not trust the officials of Huai'an Prefecture.

"Liu Bian! As the prefect of Huai'an Mansion and the parent official of the people of Huai'an, may I ask why the people of Huai'an Mansion have vegetables on the road and the villages along the road are sparsely populated? ! ”

No one thought that Yang Lian didn't even enter the city, and directly scolded Liu Bian at the city gate.

Liu Bian was also taken aback, but he still responded with a forced composure:

"In the Yangdu case, the village was sparsely populated because most of the people were recruited by the government to build Huai'an roads and water conservancy channels along the way."

Liu Bian's arrangements had already begun, and early yesterday morning he had already asked the gentry, merchants, and squires to send their tenants to various parts of Huai'an Mansion to build roads and canals.

In those villages, where people died of illness and starvation, tenants were simply impersonated, and they remembered their identities and information.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, there was a large hidden population, especially in the south of the Yangtze River.

Once the local gentry released the tenants, on the surface, there were no fewer people in Huai'an Mansion at all, but the business withered and the land was abandoned.

But the abandonment of the land is very simple, as long as the canal is opened to release water and the water is used to flood the land.

And the people who were flooded with their fields gave money and gaged their mouths.

As for those hungry people, I don't know why, I still think that the government has made a move, and now I am grateful to Dade.

Thinking of this, Liu Bian couldn't help but sneer in his heart.

Examine? I'll see what you can find out!

His arrogant, neither humble nor arrogant appearance made others look at him, and they really thought that he was a clean and honest official.

Lu Wenzhao frowned slightly, then turned around and walked behind him, and his actions made Liu Bian's heart tremble.

Jinyi Wei ......

Just three words can make people shudder in their hearts, what Lu Wenzhao wants to do, Liu Bian really doesn't know, but it doesn't affect his weak heart.

Yang Lian saw that Lu Wenzhao moved, so in order to help him cover up, he directly scolded:

"Since you said that the people build roads and water conservancy, then let me ask you, how much rice is there in the official warehouse of Huai'an Mansion at the moment? Is there a great hunger in Huaibei, and is the government providing disaster relief?! ”

Three consecutive questions were expected for Liu Bian, so he responded:

"Back to Yangdu, at present, there are 264,637 stones of grain in the official warehouse of Pizhou County, Huai'an Prefecture, and 93,000 stones are often closed."

"There was a disaster in Huaibei, but in July, the official asked me to open a warehouse for disaster relief, and it subsided early."

Huai'an Mansion can have so much food, Yang Lian and others are not surprised.

The tax system of previous dynasties was different, for example, in the Song Dynasty, all the tax was collected in the national treasury and then distributed to the local government, while in the Ming Dynasty, the local government kept the "needed" part and then the national treasury.

Therefore, Huai'an Mansion has the ability to provide disaster relief on its own, but if the scale of the disaster really becomes larger, or if there are corrupt officials and corrupt officials who secretly resell grain from the official warehouse, then it is another matter.

Thinking of this, Yang Lian said directly: "Go to Pizhou Guancang!" ”

"Yang Du gave the middle of the matter, Zuo Du Yushi, please ...... here" Liu Bian made a gesture of please, and then took Yang Lian and others to Pizhou County's "Chang Ping".

As for Lu Wenzhao at this time, he also found Shen Lian hidden in the crowd, and explained:

"Go find your eldest brother and ask you about the matter."

"Don't worry, Lord Tongzhi!" Shen Lian saluted, and then ran into an alley while entering Pizhou City.

His actions had already been seen by the people arranged by the gentry and merchants, and for a time the people wandering at the city gate followed in his direction.

It's just that as soon as they left, Lu Jianxing, who was in a dwelling, grabbed his waist knife and said coldly: "Go!" ”

"Woo......"

As soon as he opened his mouth, the sound of the dong flute was blown out, and some of the brocade guards hidden in the crowd also hindered the group of people, and Shen Lian heard the sound of the dong flute, and knew that someone was following him.

He only turned a few corners, then turned and jumped into a dwelling, and the gentry and merchants had arranged for him to be gone.

This group of people scurried around like headless flies in the alleys, and the grumpy ones directly knocked on the door to check people.

When they were checking people, Shen Lian had already circled several times, and finally climbed over the wall to enter a residential house, and saw Lu Jianxing sitting in the courtyard of the residential house.

"Big brother." Shen Lian got up and relaxed his guard, and Lu Jianxing also nodded, and then pulled out a thick piece of paper and said:

"Everything that happened is written on it, and the map of the evidence is marked."

"As long as there is this evidence, the corrupt officials in Huai'an Mansion will not be able to escape."

Seeing this, Shen Lian hurriedly took the thick paper into his arms, and then asked Lu Jianxing, "What His Highness handed over to us......

"Don't worry, most of the things are done, and the remaining half won't be too long." Lu Jianxing is confident:

"This matter is done, maybe you and I will be promoted to a thousand households and a hundred households in advance!"

"Hmm!" Hearing this, Shen Lian nodded, and Lu Jianxing also patted him and said:

"Let's go and do something, don't let a few adults wait too long, it will change sooner or later."

"Good!" Hearing this, Shen Lian changed his clothes, turned around and walked out of the house, and then rushed towards Chang Ping.

As for Lu Jianxing, after he left, he said to the house next to him:

"There is not much time, so ask our people to hurry up and collect the grain!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the emaciated man walked out of the dwelling, and after making a salute, he took the people to continue collecting grain.

He was also angry at what Lu Jianxing had done before, just because if Lu Jianxing was really just to make money, then he could delay the news for a few days, let Yang Lian and them wait a few more days, and give him a few more days to collect grain.

But now that Yang Lian and the others came, Lu Jianxing handed over the information, so there was no such thing as interest.

It's just that what he didn't know was that after he left, Lu Jianxing frowned secretly when he looked at his departing back, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but provoke a smile.

As for the thin man, after arranging for someone to collect the grain, he rushed to a house not far away.

He knocked on the door three times, two short and one long, and soon the door opened with a "squeak", and the one who opened the door was a young man who looked like a child.

The thin man walked into the courtyard, and the young man also closed the door, and after the two entered the door, people walked out of the main house and the side room, led by a man with a delicate face and a slender skeleton.

"Lu Xian, how did he do it?"

As soon as the man spoke, he questioned the thin man and called out his name.

When Lu Xianyan heard this, he responded: "He directly handed over all the evidence, and asked him to pay homage to Yang Du and give it to Yang Du. ”

"That's fine...... the man nodded, then looked at the young man next to him and said:

"Lu Xiu, you don't have to follow us, go to the senior brother to protect Yang Du and Zuo Du Yushi."

"Me?" Hearing this, Lu Xiu, who was hanging, pointed to his nose, and then said helplessly: "Yes......"

After that, he didn't open the door, but just turned over the wall and went out.

"If there is a door, you won't go...... ...... over the wall" Lu Xian looked at Lu Xiu's departing back with the eyes of a strange man, and then said to the man:

"Master, then I'm ...... now"

"You continue to follow Lu Jianxing, if he is greedy for His Highness's money, send the news back as soon as possible." The man spoke softly, and after Lu Xian also responded when he saw this, he returned to Lu Jianxing's side according to his words.

As for Na Lu Xiu, he relied on his fast steps and ran into the team of Jinyi Guards halfway, and the Qi family knife on his waist was a little conspicuous.

When Lu Wenzhao saw him coming, he also asked in a low voice, "How is it?" ”

"Uncle Shi rest assured, the news is all right, there is no mistake."

"That's okay......" Hearing this, Lu Wenzhao relieved his heart, and after a while, Jinyiwei's men escorted Yang Lian and Zuo Guangdou, as well as officials from the official department and the Metropolitan Procuratorate to the gate of the official warehouse and Changping in Pizhou.

Guancang and Chang Ping are on both sides of the street, Yang Lian looked at Zuo Guangdou: "You go to Chang Ping, I'll look at Guancang." ”

"Good!" Zuo Guangdou nodded, and then took half of the people from the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Officials Branch into Chang Ping, while Yang Lian took the rest of the people into the official warehouse.

Lu Xiu followed Yang Lian into the official warehouse, while Lu Wenzhao turned around and glanced at Liu Bian and the others, and then said loudly:

"Fence me around the official warehouse and the regular closing position!"

"Yes!" As soon as the words were spoken, the six hundred brocade guards immediately took action, and even the people wandering around suddenly took off their clothes, revealing the crimson regular clothes inside, with a goose feather knife.

At this moment, the surrounding Jinyi guards broke through a thousand people, and the sudden change made Liu Bian and the others feel weak......