Thousands of miles away in Gongzhou.

Because of the cold wave before the winter, the crops were frozen when they were still in the field, and Gongzhou was not very rich, and a great famine broke out since the beginning of winter.

The people frantically scrambled to buy grain, but the grain merchants closed their doors at this time to stock up on grain, and the Gongzhou warehouse was cleared and closed after less than seven days of opening.

The governor of Gongzhou urgently reported to the imperial court and asked for grain relief.

The saint ordered this chapter to discuss in the early dynasty, and ordered the household department Shangshu Xin Shiyi to open the yellow warehouse, and appointed Xue Qifeng and General Xue of the military department to patrol the imperial history, allocated 650,000 stone of grain, gave 2.8 million taels of silver, and set off within three days to go to Gongzhou with relief grain.

"Grandpa, I'm hungry."

Outside the endless procession, a five or six-year-old child grabbed the old man's clothes, with a heavy desire in his eyes.

The old man comforted his grandson: "We will be there soon, and we will have food when we receive rice." “

The people around him were all earth-colored, emaciated, and staggering, and only when they looked at the shed in front of them did they have a little hope in their eyes.

The consul was putting a small bag of rice in the hands of the person in front of him, when he was suddenly stopped by his men.

"Master, there is a problem with this grain, there is more sand and gravel than rice grain."

In order to prevent merchants from instructing or bribing slaves to pretend to be refugees to receive relief grain, or to collect grain at high prices and hoard grain, the imperial court mixed a certain amount of sand and gravel with rice grain before allocating grain, so as to prevent slightest, sand and gravel accounted for about 30 percent, and rice grain accounted for 60 percent.

But in this matter, the handful of grain in the hands of his subordinates was faintly visible, and the rice grain was sparse.

His face was serious, and his brow furrowed deeply.

The consul's heart jumped and he followed him into the granary.

There was a bag of rice lying on the ground, and the mouth of the bag had been opened by his men.

I saw that it was not snow-white grains of rice, but fine crushed sand and gravel.

There is a small amount of sand and gravel in the rice that is quite common, but this bag in front of me is no longer adulterated, and it cannot be eaten at all.

The consul opened another bag nearby.

Black, black, white, white, and white are almost completely submerged in the sand.

The two looked at each other, both of them with shock in their eyes.

On the same day, he urgently revised the book, ordered his subordinates to ride fast horses and run the official road, and presented the matter to the Ming Sheng.

Recently, two major events have occurred in Gongzhou that shocked the government and the opposition.

Gongzhou and neighboring states grain merchants, rich businessmen all raised the price of grain, one or two meters and one tael of gold, and the relief grain distributed was exploited layer by layer, and when it arrived in Gongzhou, the grain became sand and gravel, which was one of them.

The minister of disaster relief concealed and did not report, and continued to fool the people with sand and gravel, resulting in thousands of starvations, Gongzhou officials and businessmen colluded, Zhumen wine and meat stinked, and there were frozen bones on the road, and finally the people could only enter Beijing to sue the emperor, which is the second.

The saint was furious and ordered the Hou of Zhenbei to investigate the matter thoroughly and propose a new candidate for disaster relief in the court.

The second prince took the initiative to receive the order and went to Gongzhou again with relief silver and grain, which once again attracted praise from the government and the opposition to be virtuous.

………………

Compared with the precarious situation of Gongzhou, Shangjing is covered in white snow and powdered jade.

The Lu Mansion next door held a full moon banquet today, and a few days ago, it sent a post to the Zhenbei Hou Mansion.

said that it was a full moon banquet, but in fact, the daughter of the Lu family was nearly four months old, but I heard that she was weak when she was just born, and she was still sick when she was a month old, so she delayed until the full moon banquet is held now.

Qiao Yuan remembered that when she heard that Mrs. Lu gave birth, she also gave gifts.

The left and right Lu Mansion are next door, and Qiao Yuan has nothing to do recently, so he packed up and went.

The fire in the house was thriving, and the cold outside.

Recently, Shangjing was shrouded in rumors of corruption in winter disaster relief, and the Lu Mansion was not good at this time, so it only invited a few familiar ladies to sit down.

Before Qiao Yuan could enter, he heard the sound of talking in the house.

The maid lifted the curtain for her, and Qiao Yuan walked in.

A meal in the house.

Outside is covered in silver, and the cold wind hunts.

As soon as the lady who walked in from the snow entered the door, the silhouette of her hazy and delicate face, which was as delicate as a distant mountain, slightly peeked out from under the hood, and everyone felt that the room was a little brighter.

Before Qiao Yuan got married, there were good deeds in Beijing who wrote poems, praising her appearance as bright as a pearl and boundless.

No one can remain indifferent to the first pearl of Shangjing, both men and women.

The maid stepped forward to untie Qiao Yuan's cloak, exposing her whole face in front of everyone.

The snow is the spirit, the flower is the soul, the eyes are rippling, the delicate snow skin is swept by the cold wind, the nose is slightly red, and the mouth is like Zhu Dan.

Wearing a snow-green sprinkled flower jacket, it looks like a jade beauty has come to life, and the gold and silver threads are intertwined and embroidered into a cloud pattern, and as you walk, the line is like flowing water.

The eyebrows and eyes are delicate, and at a glance you know that she is a lady who has been spoiled by her husband at home, no, maybe it is more suitable to say that the girl is more suitable.

Because she is so young, everyone here is older than her, and the youngest is six or seven years older.

There is no way, the husband of the family is angry, and the meritorious service is prominent, and even she is sealed.

Wherever a banquet is held, it is impossible to go beyond this young lady.

Everyone had different eyes.

Mrs. Lu hurriedly asked someone to add a warm cushion to the chair and beckoned Qiao Yuan to sit down.

They were sitting around talking, and in the middle of the cradle lay a little baby.

Qiao Yuan leaned over to take a look, and the little baby happened to wake up, with a pair of big ignorant eyes, smiling at her.

Mrs. Lu picked up her daughter and gently put on her small clothes, with a smile on her face.

So everyone began to say auspicious words, praising cuteness and well-behavedness, and it became more lively for a while.

At this time, someone interjected coldly. "It's a pity that it's a sister, wouldn't it be better if it was a brother?"

The ladies were silent and exchanged glances with each other.

Who doesn't know that Mrs. Lu already has two daughters under her knees, and before Sister Wan was born, the entire Lu Mansion was looking forward to being a brother.

On the day of the launch, Lord Lu stayed in the delivery room, and as soon as he heard that it was another sister, he immediately brushed his sleeves and left.

Sister Yun is the nickname of a small baby.

It was Mrs. Zhao who interjected, and she covered her mouth and smiled. "Sister Yun'er's full moon banquet, why don't you see Lord Lu come forward?"

The crowd did not answer her.

Mrs. Zhao didn't seem to feel the strange atmosphere, "If it's a brother, Sister Lu can be as moisturized as Mrs. Ning Guo." “

After going around for a long time, it turned out that the foothold was here.

If the ungenerous people listened, they might want to anger her together.

Qiao Yuan didn't remember when he had offended this Mrs. Zhao, and he had to say something sour on such an occasion.

Mrs. Lu's face was already very heavy, but she was afraid that the visitor was a guest, so she said lightly: "My husband is busy with official business, and he can't come in time for a while." “

So it was, but the hand in her sleeve tightened the veil.

No one knows better than her that her husband is there now, a few days ago, Lu Fu brought in a new concubine, and Lord Lu has stayed in that place for the past few days.

Mrs. Zhao seemed to see through her disguise and pretended to sigh.

"It's still Mrs. Ningguo's life, she has such a beautiful appearance and moon appearance, no wonder she can fascinate the Hou of Zhenbei, I heard that the Hou Mansion doesn't even have a connecting room."

She was talking to herself, but she heard the sound of tea lids clattering.

gently, but inexplicably makes people feel coerced, and unconsciously closes their mouths.