Emperor Ming Dynasty

Chapter 453 Add fuel to the fire.

Life is full of flavors, bitter, hot, sour and sweet.

When the heat wave in Nanjing swept across, no one would be spared.

However, for Li Jizu, there is no blessing to enjoy it.

Passing on the canal in a boat, one after another saw many people migrating back with their families, sweating profusely, but happy in their hearts.

Ships, ox carts, mule carts, bringing the old and the young, all full of longing.

"Where did these people go?"

Li Jizu stood on the deck and asked softly.

"Controlling, last year the slaves went south, and the imperial court forcibly moved them to the central capital. Now those who come back are basically upper-middle-class families."

The staff on the side sighed: "I heard that the imperial court has moved hundreds of thousands of people. Those poor people have been allocated land in Fengyang, and they don't want to come back, and they don't have the travel expenses to come back."

"Yes!"

Li Jizu said with emotion: "If it happens again, Nanzhili may be really destroyed."

Even in Guizhou, he knows the danger of this battle.

From Pizhou to Huai'an, the canal was hundreds of miles away, and it was only a few days away from Nanjing. On the surface, the Ming army was defeated again and again.

The emperor said, this is a layer upon layer of blocking, lengthening the enemy's logistics.

But such a price is extremely high, almost destructive damage to Huai'an Mansion.

For example, under his command of Shandong, there are about [-] soldiers and horses under his jurisdiction (including the Yuyuan Army), but [-]% of the grain and grass need to be transported from Nanjing.

Huaian, which is close at hand, cannot protect itself.

"It's Shanyang."

Accompanied by the tank boat heading north, after witnessing the destructive attack and defense of Shanyang City, Li Jizu immediately came to the warehouse.

There are more than [-] shi of military grain left here, which is the granary specially reserved by the emperor for the Shandong army.

"General, there are still one hundred thousand stone left."

The staff at the side calculated for a long time, and finally got an exact number.

"Hey, its numbers are neat, and more than one hundred thousand stones have become one hundred thousand stones."

Li Jizu snorted coldly, venting his dissatisfaction.

"According to the official documents of the Ministry of War, there are actually 130,000 nine thousand three hundred stones and seven buckets!"

The staff read it for a while, and then said.

"The [-] army, although there are no horses, is enough for at most two months."

Li Jizu's face suddenly became serious: "However, what I hate the most are those corrupt officials who dare to greed even the military rations. They are simply daring and reckless."

After speaking, Li Jizu went aggressively to the Huai'an government office.

The army directly surrounded the government office, and officials including the magistrate, the judge, and the magistrate were arrested one by one in a state of embarrassment, as if they were criminals.

When the yamen servants saw the soldiers, they were like eggplants beaten by frost, and they died immediately, sitting with their heads in their arms.

"Marquis An came to the door for no reason, do you have something important to do?"

The magistrate of Huai'an saw the menacing army and a group of colleagues who were like prisoners. He endured the humiliation and asked through gritted teeth.

"What do you ask me to do?"

Li Jizu sneered, seeing his confused face, he waved his horsewhip, and directly knocked down the unlucky government servant at the side. The bloodstains were clearly visible, and he wailed endlessly.

The prefect was frightened and took a few steps back, his face turned pale.

"You dare to be greedy for military rations. It's really boring. If you hand them over in full, I'll save some face for you. Otherwise, hum!"

As he spoke, Li Jizu walked straight away, sitting on the chair of the grand master, surrounded by a group of personal guards.

The magistrate was stunned, and then suddenly realized, he pleaded guilty: "Forgive me, Marquis An, I really have something to hide."

"Unspeakable secrets? Say—"

Li Jizu's face was cold, his eyes were full of murderous intent, the yamen servants saw this with fear, their legs trembling.

"Originally, there were several thousand shi of grain in the treasury, but in the past two months, a large number of people have returned, and the price of food has skyrocketed. Many people cannot afford food and clothing. Seeing this, they can only embezzle military rations to stabilize food prices and help the people..."

"Next month, no, at the end of this month, I will definitely return it in full—"

The magistrate said weakly, observing his face carefully.

Li Jizu listened, his eyelids twitched, and his anger subsided a lot, but he still couldn't calm down:

"You have gained a good reputation, but I have to bear the blame."

"Marquis An, just wait for half a month, and the rations will be returned in full."

The prefect hurriedly said sincerely.

"Speak directly to the court!"

Li Jizu snorted coldly, let everyone back, and then left angrily.

At this time, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and each of them felt lingering fear.

"Qiu Ba is so domineering that he dared to openly surround the yamen, it's really audacious."

The colleague on the side hurriedly spoke up, waking up the bewildered crowd.

The magistrate, who showed his timidity, had a livid face and gritted his teeth and said: "I must impeach you, I must—"

Li Jizu didn't get used to these literati, so he directly wrote a letter impeaching them for embezzling and misappropriating military rations, and shrugging off his responsibility.

The magistrate directly impeached Li Jizu for being domineering, and sent troops to besiege the Yamen, even revealing in his words that his situation was too difficult to control.

Colleagues, classmates, fellow villagers, these kinds of connections exploded, coupled with the announcement of the exam, the whole of Nanjing was instantly like fuel on the fire, and the heat wave killed people.

There was a lot of discussion between the government and the opposition, and the civilian camp was divided into two factions.

One faction is resolutely suppressing, and must not allow military officials to bully civilian officials, and it is still such a lawless behavior.

The other faction is to keep things quiet and use the excuse that it is not appropriate to change generals during wartime to demand that each fight fifty big boards, and the Northern Expedition will be the first.

As for the emperor, he stayed in China.

The cabinet ministers also kept silent and never made radical remarks.

So the court fell into a strange atmosphere.

The court officials in the middle and lower classes were filled with righteous indignation, and they wished to hold the sword with their own hands and tie Li Jizu Wuhuada to Nanjing for punishment.

The senior officials at the upper level, as before, dealt with political affairs in an orderly manner.

On the day when the rankings were announced, it could be described as a sea of ​​people, with no end in sight.

There were those who cried loudly, those who fell to the ground out of breath, and those who laughed crazily, both happy and sad.

Life is full of vicissitudes, but that's all.

Although Zheng Sen came early, he could only walk outside the crowd in such a crowded situation.

His entourage squeezed forward like a loach.

Just as he was slapping his hands on the paper and feeling extremely anxious, he suddenly saw a thin and small man walking out of the crowd.

The kerchief was squeezed out, the robe was skewed, and the boots were full of footprints. He was in a mess and his face was flushed, as if he was about to suffer from heat stroke.

"Brother Taichong, why did you come out?"

When Zheng Sen saw him, he hurriedly walked over to help him, and he took two sips of tea before panting heavily:

"Huh, huh, Damu, you're here too."

Huang Zongxi took a big breath with a smile, and then made a deafening voice: "I've been hit, I've been hit—"

As he said that, he didn't know where the perseverance came from, and he stood up directly, jumping: "Thirty years of hard study, and finally a good result."

As he spoke, he started to cry: "Stupidism, fuck the stereotyped one, after today, I will never do it again."

"Brother Taichong, stereotyped writing is just a stepping stone, it should have been done long ago."

(End of this chapter)