"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. For three years, the taxes paid by the two counties were less than one county."

"I have never 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, and Jiang Wei strode forward to salute: "Commander of the Jinyi Guards, Jiang Wei, see your majesty!"

"Get flat!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

"Do you know about the locust plague in Jiang Gu, Changyan, and Beihe counties?"

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 Changyan Jinyi Guards that the Changyan County Sheriff seemed to be suspected of embezzlement, so I sent people to investigate. Later, as the investigation deepened, my subordinates discovered that the Changyan County Sheriff

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 Jinyiwei, 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."

The silver and 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 long been completely managed by the Lu family. In the first half of this year, Jin Yiwei was completely destroyed.

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 maintained any private soldiers, the soldiers from the Changyan County Governor's Mansion and even the Beihe County Governor's Mansion are all under his command."

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

"Moreover, my subordinates also discovered that the Lu family's grain team transporting overseas has more than 30,000 stones of grain and grass every month, but their whereabouts are unknown."

"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 personally go to Changyan, the frontier fortress."

"Um?"

Emperor Yu frowned slightly and asked in confusion: "Border fortress?"

"My subordinates also found some clues. The Hu family secretly transported salt and iron to the north. The northern border is in serious trouble with bandits. 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 Ying 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 his hand to him to step aside. Wei Zheng frowned slightly and said in a solemn voice: "Your Majesty, if the Hu family really colludes with the Northern Eight Yi tribes, then our northern border 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 would be 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 the Ministry of Revenue, sent a letter yesterday asking whether to collect taxes from Huainan..."

"What kind of levy is there... 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 it!"

"There is no war in the east now. Generals such as Yue Fei and Lan Yu are guarding the border. Chen Qingzhi and Ran Min are leading the white-robed army and the beggar army to go south to guard the border."

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

When Wei Zheng heard Emperor Yu's sigh, his face remained calm, but he cursed in his heart: "Your Highness has Guo Jia, Chen Gong and others as assistants under his command, and Dian Wei, Xu Chu and Qin Qiong are among the military generals. I am afraid that your life will be better than that of Your Majesty."

Comfortable!"

…

Huainan.

Lingzhou City.

As Wei Zheng expected, Ning Fan is living very comfortably now. With the taxes from various places being paid, several newly built granaries in Lingzhou City have been filled, but they still cannot hold them.

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

The industrial park outside Lingzhou City is now quite developed. Clothing factories, cement factories, breweries, salt works, etc. are now also producing porcelain and glass.

"Lord, the granary is full again."

"The new granary will take at least half a month to be built, and now there is nowhere to store the tax revenue. What should we do?"

Guo Jia said with a grimace, and Di Renjie also had a sad look on his face. If the potatoes are placed in the cellar, they can be stored for at least three months, and even longer if it is winter.

But nowadays, it is quite difficult to build a cellar, and the scale is small, so the construction is difficult, but the food cannot be piled outside all the time.

"Put it in the wine cellar first, then transport it back to where it came from and store it in the treasury of various places."

"Potatoes and grains are given priority to grain stores and sold at low prices!"
Chapter completed!