Kou Ji didn't speak, but Li Di already understood through Kou Ji's attitude that his guess was probably right.
Li Di's eyes turned red, "These corrupt officials and profiteers should all die."
He tried his best to help the refugees survive, but these corrupt officials and profiteers ruined all his thoughts. He was so angry that he wanted to pick up the sword and kill people.
Kou Ji said in a deep voice: "The top priority is not to pursue corrupt officials and profiteers. It is to find out the matter as soon as possible and then figure out how to deal with it."
After a pause, Kou Ji gritted his teeth and reminded: "Tomorrow, the largest number of 50,000 refugees will arrive."
Li Di woke up a lot when he mentioned the refugees. The largest group of refugees will arrive tomorrow.
If it is not handled well, many people will die.
"You just stay here and wait for news. I will go find your grandfather and Wang Zeng to negotiate."
Li Di dropped these words and hurriedly walked down from the city gate building to the palace.
Kou Ji was guarding the city gate tower alone.
Stayed until midnight.
The Forbidden Army soldiers who went to receive the third batch of food and fodder sent a scout who rode a fast horse to the south gate of Bianjing City.
The scout looked solemn. When he arrived at the gate of the south city, he saw that Li Di was not there, so he stood at the gate waiting for Li Di and refused to answer anyone who came up to ask questions.
After Kou Ji got the news, he hurriedly came down from the city gate tower and found the scout.
When the scout saw Kou Ji, he bowed and said, "I've seen Kou Ji's Ministry of Industry."
When Kou Ji saw that the scout's face was ugly, he knew something was wrong.
However, he did not chase the scouts to ask questions. Instead, he led the scouts up the wall and into the city gate tower. He screened everyone away before asking questions.
"Is the situation bad?"
Kou Ji asked.
The scout hesitated for a moment and nodded.
Seeing this, Kou Ji's mood fell to the bottom.
He chased the scout and said, "Tell me carefully!"
The scout hesitated for a moment and said: "My captain is well aware of the seriousness of the matter, so he specially reminds the villain that he can only tell the truth to Prime Minister Li and not tell anyone else."
The scout bowed and said: "The military order is like a mountain. Please also ask the Ministry of Industry to not embarrass this villain."
Kou Jicheng sighed, and did not continue to chase the scouts to ask questions. Instead, he quickly sent people into the palace to report Li Di.
After Li Di got the news, he hurried to the south gate.
After arriving at the city gate building, Li Di saw the scout and asked directly: "How is the situation?"
The scout handed Li Di over and said, "In reply to Prime Minister Li, the villain and others were ordered to pick up the third batch of grain and grass. They bumped into a team escorting grain and grass on the pipeline. They also bumped into a group of refugees robbing grain and grass.
The refugees defeated by the villain and others.
But the grain inspector suddenly set fire to the grain and grass.
The villain and others risked their lives to grab a cart of grain and grass, but found that the grain cart was filled with hay and not a grain of grain.
The refugees, the soldiers escorting the grain and fodder, the villain and others were captured together."
Li Di and Kou Ji looked very ugly when they heard this.
The little hope they had in their hearts was shattered by the scout's words.
Li Di gritted his teeth and said something from between his teeth, "Have you been interrogated?"
The scout nodded, "After interrogation by my camp captain, I found that the refugees and the grain inspector were in the same group. They were ordered to work together to burn grain and grass on the way to Bianjing City in a grain truck."
"Whose order did you take?!"
"My battalion captain did not cross-examine him."
"Then let them escort the evil leader to Bianjing City, and I will interrogate him personally."
"Where are the others?"
"Kill them all! No one will be spared!"
Li Di didn't have any good impressions of these people who were helping others to do evil.
Directly issued the order to kill.
The scout clasped his fists and left the city gate building to pass on Li Di's order.
Kou Ji stared at the trembling Li Di and asked, "What should we do now?"
Li Di closed his eyes in pain and murmured: "Dispatch Tianwu and help the Japanese and Japanese armies enter the city..."
When Kou Ji heard this, his eyes widened in astonishment, with a look of disbelief on his face.
The inner court decided to mobilize Tianwu and help the Japanese and Japanese armies enter the city. What should be done?
We must cooperate with the Dragon God Second Guards to defend Bianjing City.
Prevent the refugees outside the city from turning into mobs and attacking Bianjing City.
Kou Ji clenched his fists and asked, "Is the imperial court going to give up on these refugees?"
Li Di trembled: "The court has not given up..."
Kou Ji asked: "If the imperial court did not give up these refugees, why did it mobilize Tianwu to help the Japanese and Japanese armies enter the city?"
Since the imperial court mobilized the Tianwu and Japanese armies to enter the city, it means that they have no intention of letting the refugees enter Bianjing City.
The refugees gather outside the city and without food to eat, they will inevitably turn into a mob.
When the mob attacks Bianjing City, Tianwu and Pengri armies will have no choice but to kill them.
Kill a group of refugees to scare other refugees.
Then, when the refugees were crying all over the place, food was collected from other places to appease the refugees.
Use the lives of refugees to make up for the mistakes of the imperial court.
Use the lives of the refugees to buy time for the court to provide disaster relief.
This is probably what the court thought.
But it was clearly the court's fault, so why should the refugees bear the price of their mistakes?
Are these four words, "Compassion does not have power," really so bloody?
Under Kou Ji's questioning, Li Di trembled and said, "I don't know what other people think, but I have never given up on the thoughts of those refugees."
Kou Ji gritted his teeth and said: "Then the refugees should be released into Bianjing City and let them find food in Bianjing City in every possible way. I believe there is enough food in Bianjing City to feed them.
Just the stocks in our Kou Mansion, your Li Mansion, Wang Mansion, Xiang Mansion, Cao Mansion, and Liu Mansion can feed tens of thousands of refugees for a day.
Then the grain stored in the hands of other wealthy families will definitely be enough for the refugees to eat until the grain from other Changpingcang is delivered."
Li Di said painfully: "There is no room for loss in Bianjing. If there is unrest or a plague, then the entire Song Dynasty will be in chaos."
Kou Ji stared at Li Di and asked: "Grandpa Li, you said that people like us cannot be treated as beasts. But what the court is doing now is treating people as beasts.
You also said back then that if I took someone's life for granted, you would blow my head off.
But what the imperial court is doing now is even more despicable than taking human lives."
Kou Ji's words were like nails piercing Li Di's heart.
Li Di felt very painful and tormented in his heart.
On one side is the court that he has protected for half his life, and on the other is the people he has protected for half his life.
He can't let go of either side, and he cares about both sides.
But when the two sides collide, as a political advisor, he must make a choice.
No matter which side he takes, it is a painful choice for him.
But he ultimately chose to side with the imperial court.
Because his reason told him that if the refugees poured into Bianjing City, they would definitely disrupt Bianjing City due to lack of food and clothing.
If Bianjing City is in chaos, some ambitious people in various places will definitely take the opportunity to cause chaos, and the entire Central Plains will be in chaos.
By then, many people will die.
There were so many that he didn't dare to count them in detail.
When he, Kou Zhun, and Wang Zeng made this decision, the three of them sat slumped on the chairs in Zishi Hall and did not speak for a long time.
The three of them are not at peace in their hearts. If there are other options, they will not do it.
But they have no other choice.
But for the sake of the Song Dynasty, they had to do this.
They had also considered the proposal that Kou Ji just mentioned.
But after careful discussion, they found that if they forcibly took food from those wealthy families, those wealthy families would take the lead in disrupting Bianjing City before the refugees could.
The method of obtaining food from wealthy families is obviously not advisable.
With tears in his eyes, Li Di said to Kou Ji: "If you feel unfair, after the incident is over, you can use my life to give justice to the refugees."
Kou Ji stared at Li Di for a long time and sighed.
He was so angry just now that he said those heart-wrenching words.
Now that I think about it carefully, I feel that what I said makes no sense.
Li Di participated in political affairs and was an important minister in the court. He put the country, the country and the country as his top priority, which was not wrong.
Things have come to this point.
Faced with two evils, Li Di chose the easier choice, which was the most correct choice.
Li Di made this decision, and his heart was probably bleeding.
He has tried his best to do everything he can.
It is not what Li Di wants to see when things develop to this point.
Kou Ji thought of many words to excuse Li Di, Kou Zhun, and Wang Zeng, and also thought of many words to excuse himself.
But his heart still couldn't calm down.
When he thought that those refugees were about to be killed by the butcher's knife because of the fault of the imperial court, there was a rage burning in his heart. Computer version::/
He is not a saint, and he has never thought about saving the world from fire and water.
He just remembered what Li Di told him in the city gate cave.
That saying, "Humans are not beasts."
"You'd better save your life. Save your life and kill those beasts who resold the grain from Chang Pingcang and caused this disaster."
Kou Ji said quietly.
After saying this.
The two of them stayed in the city gate tower without saying a word.
It's time for the third watch.
Liu Heng jumped on his horse and rushed to the city gate tower. Panting, he rushed up to the city gate tower. When he saw Kou Ji's first words, he was shocked.
"Fourth brother, it's not good. The victims have discovered that we used sand and soil as food, and now they are gathering to cause trouble."
Kou Ji and Li Di were both shocked when they heard this.
Kou Ji asked: "What's going on?"
Liu Heng wiped off the sweat on his head and said in a deep voice: "In the evening, a few people mingled among the refugees and spread rumors that the second batch of grain and grass used by the imperial court for disaster relief had been burned by thieves.
The place where we store grain is not grain at all, but sand.
With the comfort of me, Cao Yi, Chen Jing, Wang Tiansheng and others, they did not listen to the rumors.
But in the middle of the night, someone sneaked into the place where the grain was piled, stole a bag of grain filled with sand, tied it to the horse's tail, and put a string of firecrackers on the horse's tail, and then lit the firecrackers, letting the horses fly among the refugees.
Running wildly outside the tent where they live.
Almost all the refugees were woken up, and almost all the refugees knew that the food in the food bags was not grain, but sand."
Kou Ji and Li Di looked at each other and almost unanimously guessed that someone was secretly stirring up trouble.
Li Di had a gloomy face and almost broke his teeth. He said with murderous intent in his voice: "Have you caught the person who spread the rumors?"
Liu Heng shook his head sadly, "They are all dead soldiers. When I led people to catch them, they all bit their tongues and committed suicide, leaving no one alive."
Li Di gritted his teeth and said in a cold voice: "As long as it is man-made, there are always clues to be found. I will go to the Ministry of Punishment and ask people from the Ministry of Punishment to come and investigate. As long as the person behind the trouble is found, I will definitely expose it.
off their skins.”
Kou Ji was speechless, bowed his hand to Li Di, and left the city gate building with Liu Heng.
Kou Ji had probably guessed a little bit about who was causing trouble behind the scenes.
After all, Bianjing City, and even the entire Song Dynasty, could afford to raise dead soldiers, and not many people dared to raise dead soldiers.
But he was in no hurry to deal with the matter.
He wanted to appease the refugees first.
When Kou Ji arrived at the north gate of Bianjing City, the refugees were confronting the government officials.
Tens of thousands of refugees crowded into one place, full of momentum.
The government officials were forced to retreat to the area where grain was stored.
On the weak side.
The grain bags containing sand and soil had been torn into pieces by the refugees, and the sand and soil were scattered on the ground.
If Chen Jing, Wang Tiansheng and others had not tried their best to restrain them, I am afraid that the government officials would have been torn to pieces by the refugees.
When Kou Ji arrived, he scolded with a sullen face: "What are you doing? Rebellion?"
When Chen Jing, Wang Tiansheng and others saw Kou Ji, it was like seeing a savior.
Chen Jing shouted to the refugees: "The Ministry of Work and Industry is here, the Ministry of Work and Industry is here. The Ministry of Work and Industry will give you an explanation. You must not do anything stupid."
Kou Ji walked to the place where the refugees and government officials were confronting each other. He frowned and asked the refugees, "What are you going to do?"
"We want an explanation!"
"We're obviously out of food, why did you lie to us?"
"..."
"Without food to eat, how will we survive the winter? How will we survive?"
"..."
Among the refugees, some were brave and shouted at Koo Ji with their necks trembling.
Kou Ji snorted coldly and asked: "From the time I took over you until now, which one of you has been hungry?"
When the refugees heard this, they were a little speechless.
They were silent for a moment and shouted to Kou Ji: "But there is obviously no food here, why did you lie to us?"
"Yes, yes! Why did you lie to us?"
"..."
"The imperial court clearly doesn't want to take care of us and lets us fend for ourselves."
"Yes, yes, if the imperial court wants to control us, it should let us enter Bianjing City instead of keeping us out of the city."
"..."
Kou Ji glared at the refugees and said coldly: "Who told you that there was no food? Call them out and let me take a look."
Before the refugees could speak, Kou Ji said again: "I don't know if there is any food? Do I need you to remind me? Do I need you to cause trouble?"
When the refugees heard this, they became excited and began to speak.
Kou Ji took the lead and said: "I finally asked someone to get a batch of sand and soil, and piled it here to prepare a workshop where you can have a bite to eat in the future.