Leng Yi took the official document and read it, and couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart. This was an official document for the imperial court to supervise and urge the delivery of military rations. It said that the imperial court was sending troops to the north, and all states and counties must make every effort to ensure the handing over of military rations for the autumn harvest. If it is overdue, no one will be allowed to do so.

If you pay, you will be dismissed and investigated.

Leng Yi threw the official document on the table and said angrily: "Didn't the imperial court receive our official document requesting disaster relief? We are about to starve to death! But they still want to call for military rations? Now all the rice fields in the county are

More than half of the grain was washed away. It would be great if this year's harvest can achieve twice as much as before. Even if 20% of the grain is handed over, I'm afraid it won't be enough. If all the grain is turned over, the people will have no choice but to drink from the northwest wind.

Are you going to let people live?"

Magistrate Liao shook his head and sighed, saying: "Alas! This is really the case. I have invited you here to discuss what should be done about this matter?"

"Prepare another urgent memorial to explain our difficulties, exempt military rations, and at the same time request emergency relief again!"

"That's the only way. This is what I mean."

At that moment, Magistrate Liao's master wrote a memorial and reported it urgently.

After the rainfall decreased significantly, the floods finally slowly receded below the safety warning line. Leng Yi issued an order that the people could go to the city and go home.

However, for most people, there is no home to return to, and the floods have washed away everything they had.

Leng Yi took Cheng Luojie and the household secretary to patrol around the city.

This flood severely damaged the city's industrial and commercial industries. Many shops went bankrupt and were forced to be sold.

Leng Yi saw many restaurants, pawnshops and even brothels all over the city, and ordered them to post notices of low-price transfers. He knew that the city had been hit so hard this time that it would be difficult to recover in a short time, and he felt heavy in his heart.

At this time, Bai Hong finally came back.

Because the Xinghuang Restaurant was built with bricks and tiles, it was not destroyed by the flood. After the restaurant staff removed the mud, it did not resume normal business. Because when it was moved to the city tower, not much food was transferred. But now there is a shortage of food in the city. If it wants to open,

, I am afraid that all the food will be eaten and bought in one day.

Bai Hong was still wearing white clothes and was spotless. She was sitting in an elegant seat of the restaurant. Leng Yi sat down opposite her, looked at her and said, "You seem to be very tired. Isn't everything going well?"

Bai Hong forced a smile and said, "It's not going well."

"what happened?"

"I originally sent people to prepare food, but I soon received news that the area was hit by floods, and almost all the rice merchants' granaries were destroyed by the floods. There was no food to sell. I immediately arranged people to buy food everywhere.

However, all the prefectures and counties in Bazhou were hit by the disaster, and most of the rice merchants' granaries were destroyed by the floods. Those that survived by chance refused to sell grain. I was very anxious. I could only send people to further prefectures and counties to buy grain.

However, the news that came back shocked me - the grain from those distant states and counties. Because the imperial court needed a large amount of military grain reserves to use troops in the north, a considerable part of it was bought by the Yamen as public grain. In addition, some people who saw this

Large households affected by the flood are also shopping around to buy food, preparing to hoard and make a fortune from the flood!"

Leng Yi's heart moved and he asked: "Who is buying it? Has anyone shipped it to our Bazhou?"

"Yes, it seems to be a rice merchant named Jin. He bought almost all the grain."

"Shopkeeper Jin?" Leng Yi frowned.

"Yes, in addition, there are also some ships transporting grain that capsized and sank during transportation, causing considerable losses. Some of them encountered hungry people who robbed them and burned them."

Leng Yi thought thoughtfully: "So, there is no food in the prefectures and counties around Bazhou?"

"It should be so," Bai Hong said: "After it was difficult to buy the large amount of food needed in distant states and counties, I set off for the capital. At the moment, the only option was to go to the capital for rescue. However, after buying food from the capital,

The cost of transporting it to Bazhou is doubled due to the long distance. However, I know that I can’t buy food from nearby or even distant states and counties, and I’m afraid you can’t either. And this flood is not just

Our Bazhou was hit by a disaster, and nearby prefectures and counties were also hit by a disaster, covering a wide area. With such a large-scale disaster, and the imperial court deploying troops to the north, the demand for military rations was also very high. In this case, the imperial court provided disaster relief.

I'm afraid it won't be that powerful. Therefore, the food must be bought for you."

Leng Yi was overjoyed and said, "Have you bought it back yet?"

"I bought it and it's still on the way. I'm worried that you're in a hurry, so I'll go back first."

Leng Yi couldn't help but be stunned, thought for a while, and said: "How many days are there for the journey?"

"We have entered the territory of Bazhou. We can reach it in two days at most."

Leng Yi pondered for a moment and said, "Does the convoy transporting grain have any guards?"

"No.—Do you need it?"

Leng Yi said solemnly: "It's very necessary! I found that twenty-three of our minzhuang people who were guarding the river embankment were murdered on the river embankment. At the same time, the river embankment broke. Although there was no evidence that anyone deliberately broke the embankment.

, however, the deaths of these twenty-three people were definitely intentional murders. They killed the people guarding the river embankment and then dug up the river embankment and released water to flood Bazhou City. Their purpose was to destroy the granaries and grain in the city.

, to expand the disaster in order to profit from it! I'm worried that these people will be detrimental to the horse teams transporting grain. - Let's set off immediately to respond!"

Seeing that he was so sure, Bai Hong didn't ask any more questions and immediately ordered the horse to be prepared. Leng Yi took advantage of this time to write a note and asked the clerk to forward it to Magistrate Liao and his wife Zhuo Qiaoniang, saying that he would go out to collect food.

Come back in a few days.

Leng Yi and Bai Hong rode at full speed, traveling under starry night, along the official road to pick up the carriage team transporting grain.

Along the way, Leng Yi saw that the rice fields had been destroyed by floods, including the official roads, which were really devastated. On the road, he could already see people helping the old and young to flee to other places. Although there were not many, it already made Leng Yi feel heavy in his heart.

If the food problem is not solved, what else can the people do besides fleeing from famine?

At dusk the next day, they were galloping forward on their horses. Suddenly, Leng Yi raised his head and saw a faint light of fire in the distance. His heart sank and he said to Bai Hong, "Look!"

Bai Hong looked over and exclaimed. The two of them involuntarily whipped the horse's buttocks several times. The horse galloped faster, almost as if its hooves were off the ground.

After running for a while, the fragrance of rice could be smelled in the air, and the two of them were even more anxious.

At this moment, a dozen horses came galloping towards us.

Leng Yi's sharp eyes saw clearly the eyebrow-level stick hanging immediately. He couldn't help but feel a move in his heart, and whispered to Bai Hong: "Stop them!"

Bai Hong nodded calmly.

The two men reined in their horses almost at the same time, blocking the way on the official road.

The dozen or so horses also stopped and looked at them doubtfully.

Leng Yi and the others all wore masks and looked expressionless. An old man among the dozen people said in a deep voice: "Why are you two blocking the road?"

Leng Yi pointed at the flames in the distance and said, "Excuse me, what's going on over there?"

The old man looked back and said with a smile: "Maybe there was a fire in the forest. We were in an emergency and didn't pay attention."

Bai Hong sneered and said: "The place where the fire broke out is in the direction of the official road. You came from that way and you don't know the cause of the fire. Is it possible that you set this fire and it is trying to cover it up here?"

The old man smiled sinisterly and said: "You two are from the Yamen, right? In that case, well, you found it yourself, so we can only send you away too. Come on!"

The people behind him all took off their brow-leveling sticks from their horses and rushed forward on horseback.

Bai Hong and Leng Yi jumped up from their horses almost at the same time. Their movements were as fast as lightning. In a moment, more than a dozen followers were knocked unconscious by Bai Hong and fell to the ground. As for the old man, Leng Yi's throat was already covered with blood.

The thin short blade held against the uniform.

Leng Yi said coldly: "Who sent you? Tell me!"

The old man closed his eyes and looked like he was obeying.

Leng Yi said to Bai Hong: "Hurry up and check the situation on the food convoy first. Leave this to me."

"Okay!" Bai Hong mounted his horse and galloped away.

Leng Yi kicked the old man's calf, and there was a click, and the calf bone was broken. The old man groaned and collapsed on the ground. Leng Yi stepped on his right elbow and said, "Say it, or not."

The old man glanced at Leng Yi and groaned in pain, but still did not say anything.

Leng Yi clicked and crushed his elbow joint.

The old man let out a scream and almost fainted from the pain.

Leng Yi stepped on his right elbow again and said: "Actually, even if you don't tell me, I know that you are from the shopkeeper of Bazhou Rice Shangjin, right? Last time, there were 23 guards on the Bahe embankment.

The people who worked on the embankment were killed, the embankment was breached, and Bazhou City was flooded. It was also you who did it, right? It doesn't matter if you are stubborn and refuse to confess. I believe that some of your people should be willing to confess.

I will review them one by one."

The old man trembled, and finally said: "Yes..., we did it, and I am willing to confess."

Leng Yi said: "Tell me what happened!"

"Yes." The old man groaned in pain and said slowly: "We are the nursing home of Shopkeeper Jin. On the day the embankment collapsed, he asked me to go and tell me to take people to rescue the people watching the embankment on the upstream embankment.

Kill them quietly and beat them to death with sticks, so that when others find the body, they will only think that it was washed away by the flood and hit something. This can hide the body from others. After the murder, dig up the river embankment and release the water to flood the city. I didn't want to do it.

Yes, but Shopkeeper Jin was kind to me, so I couldn’t refuse, so I had to agree. We arrived at the river embankment while it was dark, but those people didn’t pay attention and thought we were participating in the defense of the embankment. After we beat them to death

, dug up the river embankment, and then ran up to the tower. That’s what happened.”

Leng Yi pointed to the fire in the distance and said, "What about the food? Who asked you to burn it?"

"He is also Shopkeeper Jin. He has arranged spies in the prefectures and counties near Bazhou. As long as there is food to be transported into Bazhou, he will find a way to destroy it. Some of the ships and carriages transporting food have been chiseled by our people.

It was sunk or burned. It was the same this time. We learned that a batch of grain was transported from the capital, and there was no one to escort it. According to the instructions of shopkeeper Jin, we pretended to be bandits, killed the handlebars, and burned the grain. No

I thought I would meet you on the way back."

∷
Chapter completed!