"I heard that you went to Chunxifang, so I knew you would ask me about this, Li Qiang!" Sun Bingchen smiled, his expression was very calm, "Fang Beidou and others were not arrested, but were only temporarily placed under house arrest in Luyuan!"
House arrest? Hearing Sun Bingchen say this, Yan Liqiang's tense heart relaxed a little, but he was still puzzled, "Sir, Fang Beidou and the others are either ordinary people or craftsmen. They usually do things according to the rules. I don't know why they are under house arrest?"
"So do you think this Han Empire Times belongs to them or to the imperial court?"
"Uh, why do you say that, sir?"
"Although you founded the Han Empire Times, you presented it to His Majesty in the end. This newspaper belongs to the court. Since it is a newspaper of the court, it should speak for the court and act according to the court's will. The reason why Fang Beidou and others were placed under house arrest is that they controlled the newspaper, were self-righteous, and did not listen to the court's orders. That's why I ordered them to be arrested, dismissed from their posts, and placed under house arrest in Luyuan, and no longer involved in the daily affairs of the newspaper..."
"They... How could they dare not obey the imperial court's orders?" Yan Liqiang looked incredulous.
"The court asked them to publish articles in the newspapers, but they refused. Isn't this just disobeying orders?" Sun Bingchen said as he stood up and walked directly to a bookcase in the study. He took out a pile of things from the bookcase, then walked to Yan Liqiang and placed those things on the table in front of Yan Liqiang. "These are the articles published by the Han Empire Times after they were dismissed from their posts and placed under house arrest. They insisted on not publishing them before they were dismissed from their posts and placed under house arrest, so don't blame me..."
Yan Liqiang took the stack of "Han Empire Times" and was shocked just by looking at the headline of the top newspaper. "Stone turtle in Ling'an River, misleading the public". The headline of the next newspaper was "Everything is normal in Liuzhou, there is no eclipse of the sun". The headline of the next newspaper was "People reported that they saw criminals put stone turtles into the river overnight", "Regretful, the official who sold the luxury house in the capital at a low price wants to redeem it at double the price"...
Most of the headlines in the pile of "Han Empire Times" newspapers were like this. The news and reports in the newspapers almost completely overturned the previous news reports about the birth of the stone turtle. Yan Liqiang knew at a glance that these news and headlines were crudely made and fabricated to deceive people. No wonder Fang Beidou would not publish such news, because Fang Beidou knew what the consequences would be if such news was published. He and he had worked hard for several years just to give the people in the capital a chance to escape before the catastrophe came. If these articles were published, wouldn't it make all his and his previous efforts go to waste? After reading these articles, many people who originally wanted to escape might stay in the hope of getting away with it, and end up dying without a burial place.
These articles, of course, can't fool smart people, but the general public is most easily deceived by these articles and propaganda. Not to mention this era, even in my previous life, there was already the Internet, television, and various media, and obtaining information was extremely convenient and free. It was common for ordinary people to be deceived and deceived by the media, because most ordinary people do not have the ability to distinguish the truth and obtain real information. They believe whatever the media says, even if they don't believe it at first, but the media says the same thing many times, so they believe it. In comparison, the channels for people in this era to obtain information are narrower and more lagging. How do they know whether there is a solar eclipse in Liuzhou or a severe drought in Zhuzhou
"Sir, although I have been in Ganzhou these days, I have also heard about the birth of the stone turtle in Ling'an River. Moreover, the solar eclipse in Liuzhou and the severe drought in Zhuzhou have already been confirmed. Why does the court allow the Han Empire Times to publish such an article to fool the people?" Yan Liqiang looked at Sun Bingchen in shock.
"Between two evils, the court has no choice but to choose the lesser one!" Sun Bingchen sighed.
"Ah, didn't I hear before that the court was ready to evacuate the people in the capital area? Each state and county has allocated evacuation quotas. How come it's completely the other way around now? At this time, the people in the capital area should be allowed to flee quickly, but when I came here this time, I heard that the people in the capital area need a pass issued by the government to leave. If there is really a heavenly disaster, then wouldn't it be letting the people in the capital area wait to die..."
"Yes, the court had indeed prepared to evacuate the people and civilians in the capital area, but later had to stop..." Sun Bingchen said with a complicated expression.
"Why?"
"Then Li Qiang, do you know how many people there are in the entire capital area within a thousand miles?"
“It should be quite a lot!”
"According to the Ministry of Revenue, the entire capital area, including the imperial capital and the surrounding four areas, including five large cities and thousands of villages and towns, has a total population of more than 13 million. The court originally planned to gradually evacuate these people, but in reality, it is impossible..."
"Why not?"
Sun Bingchen's tone was filled with indescribable fatigue and helplessness. "These 13 million people have to evacuate from the capital area, and they must pass through Huizhou, Jinzhou, Yuanzhou, Tongzhou, and Anzhou. Only through these states can the people in the capital area be transferred to other states and counties. Look at this..." As he spoke, Sun Bingchen directly opened the drawer in front of him, took out several memorials from the drawer, and handed them to Yan Liqiang...
Yan Liqiang took the memorials and casually flipped through the first two. His face changed, because the news in the memorials was that the official granaries in Jinzhou and Huizhou caught fire and suffered heavy losses...
"This... is this intentional?"
"If the court wants to resettle the people who are evacuating from the capital, it will need to mobilize food from the official warehouses and granaries of these states to meet the needs of the people along the way. The court's previous evacuation and resettlement plan was also based on the official warehouses and grain reported by these states and counties. But in fact, these official warehouses and granaries of the court have long been eroded, and the situation is shocking. The data they report to the court on weekdays are all false. If the court inspects on weekdays, the official warehouses and granaries of these states and counties can be transferred from local areas to deal with the inspection and create a false impression. But this time, the people in the capital need to evacuate and migrate, and the court needs to transfer grain from local official warehouses and granaries. The demand is huge, and those means of transfer are no longer useful. Instead, it needs to actually take out so much food..."
"So they simply set fire to all the government warehouses and granaries, leaving no evidence..."
Sun Bingchen nodded solemnly, his tone carrying a hint of unspeakable fear. "If there is no food in the government warehouses along the way, and the allocation cannot be carried out, the tens of millions of people who have been evacuated from the capital will eventually become tens of millions of refugees and mobs. Tens of millions, Li Qiang, can you imagine what the scene will be like if these tens of millions of refugees and mobs wreak havoc in the capital? The entire Han Empire will be destroyed in this torrent..."
Yan Liqiang's whole body was cold, his voice and fingers were trembling, he finally understood why Fang Beidou and others were arrested, and finally understood why the court issued a pass to restrict the people in the capital area from leaving, "So... So the court can only let these people and ordinary people stay in the capital area to die, waiting for the arrival of the heavenly calamity..."
Under Yan Liqiang's gaze, Sun Bingchen lowered his head and was silent for a moment. Finally, he slowly spoke, "We can't just let the people in the capital wait for death... It's still unknown whether what the stone turtle said will come true. Maybe... maybe the heavenly calamity won't come..."
"What if there really is a heavenly calamity?" Yan Liqiang looked at Sun Bingchen with burning eyes and asked.
Sun Bingchen looked into Yan Liqiang's eyes and said in a tone as hard as steel, "If the Han Empire is destroyed, more than tens of millions of people will die. Liqiang, you are not in my position. If you were, you would understand that sometimes you have to make choices. As long as His Majesty is here and the court is here, even if the capital is reduced to dust within a thousand miles, even if tens of millions of people die, with the national strength of the Han Empire, although it will be a serious injury, it will still be able to recover in a few years..."
"Then why hasn't the imperial court investigated and dealt with the serious deficits in the government warehouses and granaries in various states? Why hasn't the court mentioned it in the imperial reports? Aren't those corrupt officials the ones who should be executed now?"
"If this matter is really investigated, only one in ten officials in each state and county will be alive, and the imperial court's majesty will be destroyed, and local turmoil will surely occur. At this moment, the court has just eliminated Lin Qingtian's party. His Majesty will go out hunting next year, and the court will rely on them to stabilize the local area and maintain the country. Therefore, this matter cannot be investigated. We can only wait for a few years to pass and then slowly deal with it!"
"So many corrupt officials cannot be killed, but do these millions of innocent people deserve to die?" Yan Liqiang slapped the table with a slap, causing the tea on the table to flip over, and he shouted excitedly.
Sun Bingchen looked at the tea spilling on the table, his tone unchanged, "People are like leeks, they can grow back after being cut, officials are like beams, if they are damaged they will collapse..."
Yan Liqiang's body shook as if he had been struck by lightning, and he could no longer utter a word...
(End of this chapter)