In the early morning of the next day, Jiang Zhiyi, the chief envoy, appeared on the city gate in person.
Below, a group of victims are cooking porridge on the horst stove.
These are all used to doing on weekdays, so they move in an orderly manner. Some people gather firewood, some wash pots, and some squat in front of the stove to add firewood to watch the fire.
There are many earthen stoves like this, dozens of them gather in groups, very quiet.
This kind of silence even made Jiang Zhiyi feel a little uncomfortable. He couldn't believe that these people were the victims who shouted in the city yesterday.
These idiots who are used to pretending!
The so-called benevolent sees it as benevolence, the wise sees as wisdom, the dirty eyes see only shit, but Zhang Sheng's idea completely contradicts it.
What he saw was the happiness of the people, and what he saw was that someone was very good at managing disaster victims. If Dachang were all such officials, why would the people suffer.
Zhang Sheng actually didn't want to come, but Jiang Zhiyi came to him in person yesterday, which made him a little shaken.
Even if it is suffering for the people's livelihood, he should not bet on it. If these disaster victims really rushed into the city, it would be a time of great chaos in the city, and the suffering would still be the people.
"This official is the chief envoy of the Department of Political Envoys. I use my official hat to assure you that the imperial envoy is not in Kaifeng City. If this official is not mistaken, the imperial envoy went to Guangji Cang. , that is, to provide food for disaster relief."
Hearing someone talking upstairs at the city gate, the victims stopped their movements and looked up. It was not until Jiang Zhiyi repeated it on the gatehouse that the victims looked at each other in dismay.
Among the victims, a tall man stood up and raised his voice: "Who knows if what you said is true or false, maybe you lied to us. You officials, all of you don't speak the truth, but only speak official words. If you don't give one piece of food, you will only hold it and say you have no food, but how do we see you all eating so much, it doesn't look like you've been hungry."
This remark caused all the victims to laugh, making Jiang Zhiyi's face turn purple and black, and he almost died of anger.
But he also knew that this had to be endured. If the victims continued to block it like this, it was time to alarm the imperial court, and the matter would not be covered by that time.
He held back his anger and said, "This official has just received this news, and I and all of you are planning to go there to greet the imperial envoy. If you don't believe me, you can go with me."
"real?"
"As for this officer to lie to you, a plain-headed commoner!" Jiang Zhiyi was so angry that his beard was shaking.
"Since you said so, let's just trust you for once. What's everyone's opinion? You should all agree."
"Then go, let's come again." Someone in the crowd responded.
Others said, "Want to take care of the food with you? We suffer from famine every day, and we don't have the strength to leave regardless of the food."
"That's it."
"People are starving to death."
Hearing the following rascals' words, Jiang Zhiyi's face turned red and blue with anger, and after a while he stamped his feet and said, "This official will go to find food for you."
After about half an hour, ropes hung down from the city gate, and food bags were tied to them.
The city still does not plan to put the victims in.
The victims rushed forward, took off the grain bags, turned their heads and went to make rice.
The rice is actually the porridge that I boiled before, but rice is added to each pot, so I don't have to eat that clear porridge.
It was not until the victims had enough to eat and drink that they made way for a road.
The city gate slowly opened, and many yamen with big swords ran out first, lined up in a row to separate all the victims, and then two carriages drove out of the gate.
The mighty army went to Guangji Cang.
This Guangji Warehouse looks like the name of a granary, but it is actually a small town.
However, there are no civilians in it, except for the granaries, which are some grain officials, servants, and grain workers.
In addition to Jiang Zhiyi, Lv Yanshou, the inspector's envoy, also came this time.
When the group arrived at Guangji Cang, the door quickly opened from the inside and let them in, but the victims were blocked outside. However, Xue Tingxiang also sent someone out to speak to comfort him.
"Your Excellency Qin!"
"When the imperial envoy arrived in Kaifeng, why didn't you send someone to Kaifeng City to report the letter, so I can come to meet you?"
Xue Tingyan said with a smile: "It's urgent, so there's no need to make these false pretences."
Jiang Zhiyi and Lu Yanshou looked at each other, and the two bowed in salute: "Xiaoguan Jiang Zhiyi, Xiaguan Lu Yanshou, I will meet the imperial envoy."
"No need to be polite, the two of you sit down. Serve tea."
After speaking, someone brought tea, and Jiang Zhiyi and the two also sat down below.
The two took advantage of the space in which they sat down to observe the hall again.
Seeing that Xue Tingxiang was comfortable and relaxed in his conversations, those who didn't know thought he was the master here. However, Wei Dayong, the grain official, had never seen it, and all the people standing around were imperial envoys.
The atmosphere became awkward, Xue Tingyan didn't speak, and the two didn't know what to say. I came here for temptation. How can you be tempted if you don’t speak? Why do you want to live
At this time, Wei Yunjie in a flying fish suit came up, Xue Tingxiang glanced at him, he stood long in the hall, cleared his throat and said, "The sage has spoken."
Jiang Zhiyi and Lu Yanshou didn't expect such an outburst, so they hurriedly stood up and planned to kneel down to speak.
But Wei Yunjie stood by Xue Tingxiang's side, and this person was unavoidable. Wei Yunjie was fine. The word of mouth was on behalf of the sage. Do they have to kneel to the imperial emissary
Many thoughts were only for a moment, Jiang Zhiyi clenched his teeth and knelt down. Lu Yanshou's eyes flashed fiercely, and he even hated Jiang Zhiyi in his heart, but in this case, he could only kneel down.
Wei Yunjie said eloquently: "I pass your majesty's word, Henan local officials should assist the imperial envoy to handle the disaster relief, the people will be safe and you will be safe, the people will be uneasy, you and others will be ashamed of the common people, the court, and me."
"I am ashamed, I will help the imperial envoy to do the disaster relief well, and live up to my emperor's expectations."
The tone in Xue Tingyan's heart finally calmed down a little, and then he was busy like waking up from a big dream, and stood up and made a false gesture: "The two adults, please get up quickly, Your Majesty is just encouraging you to wait, and there is no blame. Before the official came out of the capital, His Majesty also specially asked the official to speak. His Majesty said that Jiang Zhiyi and Lu Yanshou are the pillars of the court, they are valued by me, and they are also diligent, diligent, honest and honest, which are rare and good. Officer…”
Because of Xue Tingxiang's "His Majesty said", the two knelt for a while before standing up.
Various psychological activities during this period will not be described for the time being.
After the two sat down again, Xue Tingxiang suddenly remembered and asked, "I don't know how the Governor of Henan, Sir Xiang, has not come?"
In this case, how could Xiang Long come. However, this will definitely not be true. It can only be said that Master Xiang has been too tired recently and has fallen ill, so he really cannot come.
With these foreshadowings, Jiang Zhiyi also asked doubts: "Sir, you still don't know the grain officer here? After I came down, I haven't seen this person."
"He?" Xue Tingxiang looked at Jiang Zhiyi with a smile: "He is also a little unwell and fell ill."
Well, I can't take this anymore.
Originally, I wanted to come and explore the truth, but now I haven't found the truth.
The purpose of this trip—
In fact, Jiang Zhiyi wanted to ask what happened to the people sent by Wu Xu, but it was impossible for the imperial envoy to tell him.
Lu Yanshou glanced at Jiang Zhiyi.
Jiang Zhiyi gritted his teeth, thumped and knelt down again, and fell to the ground crying: "Xiaguan has something else to do, Xiaguan neglected to check, and I am ashamed of the court..."
It has to be said that few of these people who can take the position of a high-ranking official are simple characters.
At least this Jiang Zhiyi's acting is good.
This cry is like weeping, blood and tears, and it is an excellent interpretation of an officer who caused his subordinates to do evil due to his oversight.
"Xiaguan doesn't justify himself, but this way of supervising food is originally a special purpose of the imperial court. Although he is a subordinate of Xiaguan, he has no right to control him. If such a big thing happened this time. , that Wu Xu revealed his fault, and the subordinate officials, Lord Lu, and Lord Governor still don't know. I wanted to tie this person to meet the Lord, but who would have thought that this person was actually afraid and committed suicide because of fear."
"Afraid in my heart? Suicide because of fear of crime?" Xue Tingxiang rubbed his chin and muttered.
Jiang Zhiyi glanced at him and said, "The corpse is still in his home now. After all, this Wu Xu is also a third-rank official. Because the evidence of the crime is not conclusive, no other treatment has been taken."
"I was afraid, and committed suicide because of fear of crime?" Xue Tingxiang repeated it again, hehe sneered: "When this person sent someone to murder this official, why was he not afraid? If it succeeds, you can sit back and relax, and if it fails, you know you are afraid. People can't wait for this official to die quickly, but two groups of people came to urge him."
"This—" Jiang Zhiyi scolded: "This Wu Xu is really a heinous crime, and it is not enough to wipe out his crime by looting his family and destroying his family."
"These two Japanese officials ordered people to check the accounts of the Guangji warehouse over the years. There are many rats, corrupt officials and theft of the country, and the crime is extremely heinous." Xue Tingxiang took a deep breath, calmed down his excitement, and said, "Forget it, this official's personal safety is very small. , those people who suffer and suffer are the greatest, and this matter will be discussed later, this official will return to Kaifeng with you first, and disaster relief will be the most important thing!"
Without further ado, Xue Tingyan ordered the people below to prepare to leave, but within two quarters of an hour, the group left the Guangji warehouse.
Outside the door, the victims watched from the sidewalk. They didn't feel relieved until they saw Xue Tingyan leaning out of the carriage.
"You are exposed to the wild all day long, and it is not suitable for your health. This official has arranged it. You can temporarily live in Guangji warehouse, and the imperial court will send people to settle down later."
"We believe Master Xue, what Master Xue said, and what should we do."
"Master Xue is a good official. As long as Master Xue is still stable, we can rest assured."
"We are really afraid that those corrupt officials will harm you..."
These voices and sentences are like slaps, one slap and one slap on Jiang Zhiyi's face. The two of them were clearly in the car, so they could only pull the curtains and close the windows, so they didn't hear.
The group soon arrived at Kaifeng City.
It was supposed to go to the governor's yamen, but Xiang Long was sick, so Xue Tingxiang went to the governor's yamen on the grounds of inconvenience.
All the local officials in Kaifeng came to pay their respects.
Lu Yanshou originally asked whether to invite the governor to come, but Xue Tingxiang had worked hard for Lord Xiang for so long, so he refused.
Xiang Rong was not there, Xue Tingxiang was the biggest.
These people can be considered shooting themselves in the foot.
Not much to say, Xue Tingxiang asked people to take out an account book, listing how much food had been taken out from the Guangji warehouse since the disaster broke out. They also ordered people to count how many people there were in each prefecture and county, and how much food each commoner needed to eat each day to survive.
The number of people in each prefecture and county can be checked with the Yellow Book, but everyone did not expect that Xue Tingxiang would be so clear, and he could narrate only from memory without having to read the Yellow Book.
"Before I left the capital, I went to the Ministry of Housing to ask for a local yellow book in Henan. Since it was kept by the imperial court, I would definitely not go wrong. If there is a mistake, I have to ask the local officials if they are negligent in their duties." Xue Tingxiang seemed to Laughing but not laughing, he tapped the table with his knuckles: "But I don't care about these, since there are so many local reports, we will count according to these, and now we need so much food in total to quell the disaster in Henan, I don't know. How much can you adults contribute?"
"This—" The crowd below looked at each other in dismay.
Xue Tingxiang said again: "By the way, as local parents and officials, how could you have come to Kaifeng if you didn't stay under their rule?"
He said these words to a few small officials in cyan official robes who were standing at the end of the accompany station and didn't even have a place to sit.
These people are all county officials below. Because the local county is in chaos, they came to Kaifeng for fear of death. He also knew that all the high-ranking officials in a province were here, and naturally they would not be left alone. If the high-ranking officials starved to death, they naturally would not starve to death.
It's a pity that it ran into the hands of the Qin Envoy.
In fact, they didn't dare to come this time, but when they came here, they avoided appearance and were held accountable, which would only aggravate the crime and come in panic.
After coming here, I saw that the imperial envoy didn't mention this, and just avoided it as a fish in troubled waters. I didn't expect to be waiting here.
Several people all knelt down, some kowtowed and begged for mercy, while others cried about the local chaos, such as they almost lost their lives and so on.
"Erbo Erlu, the people anoint the people's fat, the people are easy to be abused, and the gods are hard to deceive! This official hacked and killed you on the spot, and it's you who deserve to die!"
These words are exactly what is engraved on the stele in the 'Jieshi Pavilion' in each county government office, and it is the words of alerting local parents and officials. It's a pity that these county officials sit in the hall every day, facing the 'Jieshi Pavilion', but still do not keep these words in their hearts.
"Your Excellency Imperial Commissioner, the subordinate officer is wrong, the subordinate officer must change it..."
Several county officials begged for mercy one after another, and Xue Tingxiang's eyes showed anger, obviously furious. Jin Yiwei's people were also dispatched, pulling out the knives from their waists one after another, and came behind a few people, everything was just a crunch.
Someone pissed their pants. I really thought that the imperial envoy was going to kill them, because Xue Tingxiang's momentum was too strong, and the men of Jinyiwei were aggressive.
Several high-ranking officials sitting on the left and right sides of the upper head are like sitting on needles, not to mention the two prefects of Beppu.
Seriously, they are considered to have violated the law of the king, and the local officials are not allowed to leave the place at will, but they left the people under their control and fled.
If it had been changed before, no one would have come forward to dissuade him, but this time, because of the suspected murder of the imperial envoy, he would be at risk, and who would speak for whom.
"Come on! This official is just here, disaster relief is the most important thing, and it is not easy to be contaminated with blood. I ordered you to atone for your crimes, raise food to help the people, and you will wait for the crime, and then discuss it later. I hope you will not disappoint this official. This disaster relief is the most important thing. Seriously, Your Majesty has issued an imperial decree to allow this official to be executed first and then to file, if Ruoer and others are still perfunctory, it is time for this official to be ruthless, but don’t say that this official does not want to be an official of the same dynasty.”
These words are not so much for a few small county officials, but for those high-ranking officials who are sitting on pins and needles.
Several county officials all kowtowed again and again. As for what those high-level officials thought in their hearts, it was not for the time being.