Chapter 383: Too much food, what to do?

"Yes!" Emperor Yu responded and said calmly: "I don't know there is something fishy. For three consecutive years, locust plagues have occurred every autumn harvest. In three years, the taxes paid by the two counties were less than one county."

"I haven't spared my hands to deal with them. It seems that they are becoming more and more unscrupulous!"

There was a cold look in Emperor Yu's eyes, until the sound of footsteps was heard, Jiang Wei strode forward and saluted: "Commander of the Jinyi Guards, Jiang Wei, see your majesty!"

"Get flat!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

"Jiang Gu, Chang Yan, do you know about the locust plague in Beihe County?"

Emperor Yu looked directly at Jiang Gu, who nodded slightly, with a solemn look on his face, and said in a deep voice: "Reporting to Your Majesty, since the end of last year, my subordinates have been secretly investigating the taxes of the two places in previous years."

"It's just that the progress has been slow, and our Jinyiwei has lost a lot of manpower."

"Half a month ago, my subordinates received news from thousands of households of the Jinyi Guards in Changyan. The Sheriff of Changyan seemed to be suspected of embezzlement, so I sent people to investigate. Later, as the investigation deepened, I discovered that the Sheriff of Changyan The government and the Lu family have close relations."

"Last year's locust plague only affected two counties, and the affected farmland was only a few thousand acres. According to reports from Jiangbei Jinyi Guards, Changyan colluded with the Lu family..."

After hearing Jiang Wei's report, Emperor Yu's face hardened, and he kept tapping the table with his knuckles. Wei Zheng on the side looked angry: "It is simply lawless. The tax revenue of one county is at least more than one million taels." Silver, the food never entered the treasury, but instead entered the family’s granary!”

"Chief Changyan, you deserve to die."

"Master Wei!" Jiang Wei slightly cupped his hands and said in a deep voice: "Now that Jin Yiwei has not found any substantive evidence, Changyan County has already been completely managed by the Lu family. In the first half of this year, Jin Yiwei was completely destroyed in Changyan County. Fifty-seven brothers!”

"How brave!"

Shen Li also had a look of anger on his face, and his rickety figure released a heart-stopping aura: "Your Majesty, the Lu family interferes in local governance and secretly controls local officials. This matter must not be tolerated."

"Otherwise, it will lead to disaster."

Emperor Yu pondered for a long time, then looked at Jiang Wei and asked, "Has the Lu family ever raised private soldiers?"

Jiang Wei shook his head slightly, and his tone became deeper and deeper: "Although the Lu family has never raised private soldiers, the soldiers from the Changyan County Sheriff's Palace and even the Beihe County Sheriff's Palace are all under his command."

"The power of the soldiers in the palace is all controlled by the direct descendants of the Lu family, and the soldiers in the two counties are overnumbered. There are seven or eight thousand soldiers in each county."

"Moreover, my subordinates also discovered that the Lu family's grain team transporting more than 30,000 stones of grain and grass every month disappeared without a trace."

"Since the control started last year, no removal of these grains and grasses has been found yet."

After Jiang Wei finished speaking, he slightly cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, I am going to go to Changyan in person to visit the frontier fortress."

"Um?"

Emperor Yu frowned slightly and asked doubtfully: "Border fortress?"

"My subordinates also found some clues. The Hu family secretly transported salt and iron to the north. In the north, banditry is serious. Many of them are connected with the Hu family, and they are even secretly supported by the Hu family!"

"What a four-prominent family."

"It seems that the demise of the Chen family not only did not make them restrain themselves, but instead made them become more and more rampant and unscrupulous."

"Do you really think I dare not touch them?"

Emperor Yu's face was as dark as water, his fists were clenched tightly, and he looked at Jiang Gu and said: "If you go north with my secret order, you can mobilize soldiers from all the counties in the north of the Yangtze River to thoroughly investigate the affairs of the Hu family in Changyan."

"Once the evidence is implemented, summon the capital as soon as possible!"

"promise!"

Jiang Wei bowed respectfully, and Emperor Yu waved him off. Wei Zheng frowned slightly and said in a solemn voice: "Your Majesty, if the Hu family really colludes with the Northern Bayi tribe, then our northern territory will be in danger."

"Now is the time of autumn harvest. If the Bayi tribe goes south, with the support of the Hu family..."

After Wei Zheng spoke, Emperor Yu said in a deep voice: "Send a message to Duke Jing to beware of the Ba Yi tribe going south."

"promise!"

"Why!"

Emperor Yu rubbed his head tiredly. There was no small matter related to the governance of the country. Even if it was trivial, as it was released from the palace and expanded to local areas, it was a major matter that could endanger people's livelihood!

"It would be great if my second son was by my side!"

A wry smile appeared on Emperor Yu's face. Among his sons, only that bastard dared to talk and joke unscrupulously and still do things around him!

"By the way, Xuancheng, is there any news about Huainan recently?"

"Your Majesty, I have not contacted Huainan."

"Haha!" Emperor Yu smiled, with a hint of amusement on his face: "It's been half a year since this kid has been here, and I don't know if he has a firm footing. I'm afraid he may have a headache!"

"Your Majesty, I suddenly remembered that Chen Qinghe, the Minister of Household Affairs, sent a letter yesterday asking whether to collect taxes from Huainan..."

"What kind of expedition... Huainan has just experienced a war, and now the second child has only been there for a few months. I'm afraid I haven't even sat down on my butt. It's already extremely difficult to take care of myself."

"tax?"

"Haha, I'm afraid that this guy will reach out to me for money or food!"

"Although I have granted him the right to recruit troops, I am afraid it will be difficult to support these 50,000 troops!"

Emperor Yu suddenly felt that he was a little cruel. He allowed him to open a palace in Huainan, appoint officials by himself, and even delegated military power. It seemed that the policy was very tolerant, but in fact, Ning Fan went south alone, with neither external help nor money or food support. , how easy is it to control the sixteen states of Yanyun that have been ruled by King Huai for decades?

"That's all!"

"There is no war in the eastern border now. Generals such as Yue Fei and Lan Yu are guarding the border. Chen Qingzhi and Ran Min are leading the White Robe Army and the Qihuo Army to the south to guard the border."

"I hope this kid won't disappoint me!"

Wei Zheng heard Emperor Yu's sigh, but he kept calm on the surface. He secretly complained in his heart: "Your Highness has the assistance of Guo Jia and Chen Gong, and the military generals include Dian Wei, Xu Chu and Qin Qiong. I'm afraid he lives more comfortably than your Majesty!"

...

Huainan.

Lingzhou City.

Just as Wei Zheng expected, Ning Fan is living a very comfortable life now. With the payment of taxes from all over the country, the newly built granaries in Lingzhou City have been filled, but they still can't hold more.

Potatoes are suitable for storage in cellars, and since Ning Fan made cement, he has also started to build factories for batch production.

The industrial park outside Lingzhou City is now quite developed, with clothing factories, cement factories, breweries, salt fields, etc., and now porcelain and glass are also being fired.

"My Lord, the granary is full again."

"It will take at least half a month to build the new granary. Now there is no place to store the taxes that have been transported. What should we do?"

Guo Jia said with a bitter face, and Di Renjie also looked worried. If potatoes are placed in the cellar, they can be kept for at least three months, and even longer in winter.

But now, the construction of the cellar is quite difficult, and the scale is small, and the construction is difficult. However, the grain cannot be piled outside all the time.

"Put it in the wine cellar first, and then transport it back to where it was pulled from, and store it in the local government vaults."

"Potatoes and grain should be supplied to the grain store first, and sold at a low price!"

...