At dawn, there was a long line of people waiting for porridge at the gate of Gongchang Mansion and Mincheng City.
A group of more than 20 civilians left the city gate and headed east.
Last night, Xiao Chen returned to Gongchang overnight.
Disaster relief in various places is proceeding in an orderly manner. With the support of the court's disaster relief food funds, officials are active on the front line of disaster relief as if they have received a reassurance.
They are giving out porridge and spreading relief propaganda to the people.
Everything is on track. How can we ignore the ambush in Dongchang and put it behind our ears?
Now, the biggest suspect is the caravan.
Regardless of whether it was done by a caravan or not, first bring the caravan leader.
Even if you didn't do it, it's not an exaggeration to say that you received "special treatment" for a few days just because you were disrespectful to the officials of Gongchang Prefecture.
In Gongchang Mansion, the top priority at present is disaster relief. It is a bit inappropriate for people from Dongchang to take people in such a pretentious manner.
Therefore, Xiao Chen specially told Duan Tianming to change into common people's clothes and secretly capture the caravan leader.
Early in the morning, Duan Tianming went to the place where the caravan was contacting business in Gongchang Mansion. When he learned that the leader of the caravan was not in Gongchang, he led his people to go straight to Shanmen Town in the Qinling Mountains.
In order to prevent the news from leaking, more than ten famous school captains were specially arranged to temporarily control the caravan's contact point in Gongchang Mansion.
In Dingxi City, a few hundred miles away from Gongchang, in the garden of Dingxi Marquis Mansion, Dingxi Marquis Wang Rong was squatting on the ground, tending to an unknown green plant with large leaves.
Holding a small hoe in his hand, he loosened the soil around the green plants.
"Master Marquis, the second young master has arrived and is waiting for you in the hall." A guard came over and said respectfully with clasped fists.
"Kuan'er? There is a drought in Gongchang. If he is not in Gongchang to provide relief, why is he here?" Ding Xihou said, supporting the ground with the small hoe in his hand, and slowly stood up.
He is over sixty years old, with a face full of vicissitudes of life.
Dressed in gray casual clothes and with a slightly stooped back, he looks like an ordinary citizen.
"Second Young Master is in a hurry, he must have something to do." The guard added.
"It's urgent. Is there anything more urgent than disaster relief?" Ding Xihou muttered, passing the hoe in his hand towards the guard and patting the dust off his body.
"The villain doesn't know this."
"Go take a look." As he said that, Ding Xihou walked towards the hall.
In the hall, Wang Kuan of the Gongchang Mansion was sitting on a chair. It looked like he was sitting in an even place, but inside he was very anxious.
Seeing Ding Xihou walking in calmly, he quickly stood up and went to greet him.
He raised his fists and bowed respectfully: "Father."
"Gongchang is suffering from a drought that has never happened in a century. As the prefect of Gongchang, you don't do everything yourself. Do you want to leave Gongchang at this juncture to leave a excuse for others?" After glancing at Wang Kuan, Wang Rong walked over slowly.
He stood in front of the table, holding the table with his hands, and shivered for a long time before he sat down on his seat.
"Father, I came here this time to borrow some food for the people of Gongchang." Wang Kuan rolled his eyes and turned a blind eye to Ding Xihou's slow movements.
"Borrow grain? Where is Gongchang Mansion's grain reserve? Don't tell me that you cashed in the grain and squandered it all, right?" Picking up the tea bowl on the table, Ding Xihou took a sip.
The area under the jurisdiction of Gongchang Mansion is much larger than the fiefdom of my own Marquis Mansion.
Even if the land is not fertile and the grain output is low, after so many years of reserves, it is still not a problem to temporarily support disaster relief.
What's more, the disaster situation in Gongchang has been reported to the court, and the court's disaster relief food funds are already on the way, so there is no need to borrow food from him.
"Father, you don't know that the area affected by the disaster in Gongchang this time is really too large. The government's grain reserves are simply not enough. Therefore, the child has no choice but to come and borrow some grain from his father to relieve his urgent need." Wang Kuan said.
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"According to the requirements of the imperial court, the local government's grain reserves are used to provide food for the people in the jurisdiction. It takes three years to be considered qualified. How long have you persisted? One month? Have you ever thought about where the problem lies?" Dingxi
Hou did not agree easily, but spared no effort to continue educating this seemingly promising son.
"It's useless to say this. Anyway, the government's grain reserves can't last much longer. Seeing that the imperial envoy from Dongchang is coming down soon, the father can't watch his son being captured by Dongchang because he doesn't receive the grain. Let's be a typical example.
?”
It seemed that it was easy to say no, so Wang Kuan simply resorted to the bitter meat trick.
"The imperial envoy has arrived, and the court's disaster relief food funds have also arrived. Why are you anxious? Is it possible that your food reserves can't last even these few days?"
"To be honest, if Gong Changwei hadn't brought out his own military rations, the government's food reserves might not have lasted seven days." Wang Kuan lowered his head.
Now that the matter has come to this, it is better to tell the truth than to be secretive.
Anyway, facing his father, he would not just watch as he was helpless.
"Seven days? You, you, you..." Holding his chest, Ding Xihou was so angry that he couldn't get up.
The guard next to him hurriedly ran forward, beat him on the back a few times, picked up the tea bowl on the table, and handed it over with both hands: "Master Marquis, drink some tea to relax."
"No." Ding Xihou blushed and knocked the tea bowl to the ground.
Tea and tea leaves were spilled all over the floor.
The guard hurriedly knelt down and picked up the pieces of the tea bowl on the ground piece by piece.
"At the beginning, I didn't let you take the exam to get the honor. You insisted on taking the exam, saying that everything had to be done by yourself. I used my old face to ask the emperor for a chance to take the exam. Look, you have done so much to Gongchang Mansion.
What's going on? The food reserve is only enough for seven days. How do you want me to explain it to the emperor?"
Putting his arms on the table, tilting his head to one side, Ding Xihou let out a long sigh.
"Now that the matter has come to this, it is too late to regret it even if the child is in trouble. Not to mention the life and death of the people of Gongchang, at least before the imperial envoy arrives, the warehouse is empty, and the child's head will not be safe. When the time comes, the emperor will be angry,
If the Nine Clans are implicated, my father will inevitably be implicated as well."
"Presumptuous." Ding Xihou became furious and slapped his palm on the table, "Are you threatening me?"
"I don't dare, I'm just telling the truth."
Although he lowered his head, Wang Kuan's eyes still rolled up.
"Defining food reserves and disregarding the life and death of tens of millions of people, even the nine tribes are not too much. When the time comes, if the emperor wants to kill me, I will have nothing to say. However, I have no face to see Emperor Taizu underground." Look.
Looking at Wang Kuan, Dingxihou snorted coldly.
At this moment, he wished he could kill the unsatisfactory thing in front of him with his own hands.
Seeing how hard he was, Wang Kuan knelt on the ground with a "pop" sound.
"Father, do you want to see your grandson being implicated?"
You don't need a son who doesn't live up to expectations, but his grandson is the absolute weakness of Dingxi Houdi.
Upon hearing these words, Dingxi Hou shrank instantly like an eggplant beaten by frost.
"Alas, my Wang family has made great military exploits for the Ming Dynasty, and was even granted the title of Marquis by Taizu. Why did you, an unfilial creature like you, come out? Tell me, how much food do you need?"
He said it was a loan, but Ding Xihou knew that it was a meat bun beating a dog, and there would be no return.
"Thirty thousand stones."
"Thirty thousand dan is not enough, how many problems can be solved. I will give you 50,000 dan. However, these grains are not for you, but for the people of Gongchang. If you can't use them on the edge, I will personally escort you to fight with
Your Majesty, please forgive me."
Ding Xihou sighed and grimaced again.
"Father, don't worry, even if you give your child a thousand courages to eat this food, you won't dare to squander it wantonly."
"Okay, I'll ask someone to prepare food and convoy for you. There is a drought in Gongchang. You go back early."
As if he didn't want to see Wang Kuan, Ding Xihou slowly stood up holding the table and prepared to leave.
"Father, my child has something else to report to you."
"I don't want to hear it anymore. You can take the food and leave. From now on, you can take care of Gongchang's affairs on your own. This is the last time I will help you." Ding Xihou didn't look back, he raised his right hand and waved it.
"Father, I ambushed the imperial envoy team and failed?"
Wang Kuan shouted loudly.
Dingxihou's rickety body suddenly stiffened and he stood motionless.
After continuing for several breaths, he slowly turned around, with despair in his eyes: "Ambush the imperial envoy, ambush the disaster relief imperial envoy, even if you don't care about your own head, do you have the face to face thousands of victims in Gongchang?"
With that said, he took off his cloth shoes and threw them at Wang Kuan.
