Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 148 Taking advantage of illness to kill someone
How to say it, the convoy brought by the Prince of Zhennan was the largest one Xia Lin had ever seen. It was much larger than the fifty or so vehicles he had when he went to the grassland. The vehicles were connected end to end for a full mile. You can imagine how big this team is.

He stood beside the car and was about to lift the shed to take a look when the Prince of Zhennan held his hand and said, "Xia County Magistrate, I bought all these. The ones you want are in the back."

Although the King of Zhennan was not mentioned in the book, Xia Lin probably knew that at this critical juncture gold and silver mines seemed to have been discovered in Lingnan at the same time, and Xiao Chenzi in the book also managed to cheat his way into the gold mines.

It seems that the Prince of Zhennan did not report the matter of the gold and silver mines to the court, and such a large convoy... well, interesting.

Xia Lin did not continue to open the lid, but just patted the cargo on the cart hard. From the feeling of force feedback, it seemed that it was food, a lot of food.

However, he did not say anything. He just went to take a look at the goods that the King of Zhennan was going to sell. As expected, it was a large amount of buckwheat and taro. Xia Lin had nothing to say and decided on the deal on the spot.

But after returning, he immediately called Lao He to him and said, "Lao He, go to Hongdu Prefecture right now and find out who took the grain that we sold at a high price in Hongdu Prefecture."

"Oh, all right, sir, I'll do it right away."

Xia Lin walked back and forth in the hall with his hands on his hips. He seemed to have no memory of the plot about the Prince of Zhennan, but the direction of the plot had become increasingly uncontrollable, so it would be somewhat inappropriate to force the plot into place.

Their vehicles were loaded with a large amount of food. Such a large convoy was loaded with so much food, and judging from the situation, there should be more than one convoy.

What was this for? To force the famine in the Central Plains to expand? And then...

Xia Lin frowned. This possibility was very high. If the famine really expanded, it would probably turn into a riot among refugees. The imperial court would definitely spend a lot of effort to quell the chaos. At this time, if a prince who controlled the Lingnan region, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Jiaozhi, etc., had his own army and established his own faction...

When they wanted to deal with him, given the long and arduous journeys in Lingnan, the mountains were high and the roads were long, the smoke and miasma were everywhere, and the plague was rampant, it was estimated that the Central Plains dynasty really had no particularly good way to deal with it.

"Damn it, this is ruining my reputation."

Xia Lin put his hands on his waist and cursed inwardly, his pace became faster and faster. This was no small matter, but it involved the royal family after all. If he said it directly, he would be really finished if he was blamed. But if he didn't say it, wouldn't Jiangnan Road become the front line of the Lingnan rebellion?
I have finally found a place in the rear where I can farm in peace, but now the rear has suddenly become the front line. Isn't that going to be a disaster?

No, this matter must be discussed with others, but after thinking about it, the only person who can be told is Guo Dad. However, this matter is of great importance, Xia Lin has no one else to trust, so he clapped his hands and said, "Old He, wait for me for a moment! I will go with you."

After hurriedly telling Cen Wenben about this, and without even having time to say hello to the little princess and Tang Baoer, Xia Lin followed Lao He on a speedboat and headed all the way to Hongdu Prefecture.

After arriving, Lao He was quite quick. He quickly started to inquire in various businesses and also retrieved the account books from his own business. After all this time, he found that most of the people who were raising their own profits in Hongdu Prefecture were from Lingnan businesses.

Well, there was almost no doubt at once. If nothing unexpected happened, he, the Prince of Zhennan, would be plotting a rebellion.

Considering that the King of Wu and the King of Yue were all killed a few years ago, the princes must have been feeling insecure by now. It is better to rebel than to be controlled by the court.

Xia Lin sorted out the evidence and went straight to Lao Guo's mansion, regardless of the time of the morning. After knocking on the door, the housekeeper was surprised to see it was him. "My cousin, it's late at night and the master has already gone to bed."

"Why is he still sleeping? He is at the age where he should go out and explore the world. Hurry up and tell my father Guo to get up. If he doesn't get up, we will all be killed."

Seeing Xia Lin sweating all over, the housekeeper didn't dare to neglect him and hurried to the back room to wake up Lao Guo. When Lao Guo came over in a daze, cursing, Xia Lin wiped his sweat and said, "Dad Guo, we are done."

"You bastard, you came here in the middle of the night just to tell me this?"

"Well, wait till you finish reading. Master Gao, turn on the light."

The lights were turned on, and Xia Lin took the accounts collected by Lao He to his father Guo and said, "Take a look."

Lao Guo picked up the account and looked at it carefully: "What's wrong? Isn't it normal to hoard food when there is a locust plague? The Ministry of Revenue will investigate this matter. What does it have to do with us?"

"Look carefully at these shops."

After taking a closer look, Lao Guo frowned: "This is a collection of Lingnan businesses. Has Lingnan also suffered a disaster?"

"I don't know if there will be a disaster in Lingnan, but there is a 70 to 80 percent chance that there will be a disaster in Lingnan."

Upon hearing this, Lao Guo sat up straight. He lowered his voice and looked at Xia Lin: "Don't talk nonsense. Slandering the royal family is punishable by death..."

"I know, so I rushed over to check the accounts overnight. I didn't sleep for a whole day and night, and I came to tell you the news at night. Look at this amount, is it exaggerated?"

"Well... it's a little exaggerated. But not as exaggerated as yours. It's not even half of your stored food."

Xia Lin took a deep breath and said with a smile, "Father Guo, do you know that the Prince of Zhennan is in Fuliang now? Let me tell you, he is exchanging taro, buckwheat and other things for oil. In a year of disaster, exchanging grain for oil, isn't this operation very special? Of course, we can explain it to him, but their convoy has about 150 vehicles. They won't let me see what's in it, but I patted it and it's full of rice. Rice plus salt and oil, guess what it is, Father Guo?"

"Fried rice cakes, military rations!" Lao Guo was an old soldier after all, and he connected the dots immediately. This baked rice cake was not the Wangwang snow cake, but rice and glutinous rice pounded into rice cakes, which were then fried in oil with salt. This was a very high-end military ration. One piece of rice cake soaked in oil could provide a soldier with a day's food, especially in the humid environment of the south. Generally, rice cakes that were dried and baked would quickly become soft and moldy and inedible, but after being fried, the rice cakes could be preserved for a long time without spoiling.

What kind of good person would be obsessed with hoarding large amounts of military rations during a disaster?

"Damn it." Lao Guo touched his bald head and said, "This is fucking... This is going to be a big deal. Are you going to keep someone to investigate?"

"Of course we'll keep it. I'll ask my county magistrate to delay them for a few days, and then find out what goods they have. Then I'll tell them that we have some glutinous rice that we want to sell, but the goods are at the Jiujiang wharf warehouse, and it will take a few days to arrive."

"Well, you are smart after all. Now, keep a close eye on him while I go write a letter to my fourth brother."

"Now is not the time to fight." Xia Lin pursed his lips and thought for a moment before saying, "Father Guo, can you detain the Prince of Zhennan? It won't take too long. Let him spend the New Year here first."

Lao Guo pondered for a moment and said, "Then we have to let Si Nan speak. If I open my mouth, they will know it. Without solid evidence, neither you nor I can say a word."

"Yep!"

After that, Old Guo stood up. Xia Lin asked quickly, "Dad Guo, where are you going?"

"Go call Si Nan." He shook his sleeves: "He must be awake now, come with me."

Old Guo was an impatient man, and he rushed into the palace as soon as he remembered. It was already 3:30 in the morning, and even if Prince Teng's big yellow dog had turned into a spirit, he would be dazed at this moment, let alone a little old man who was probably in his sixties.

But Lao Guo didn't care about that. He pushed open the door of the palace and rushed in: "Sinan! Sinan, you haven't slept either? Come out, it's a big deal!"

The prince's expression when he got up was just like that of Zhang Huaimin who was woken up by Su Dongpo hundreds of years later, with frowned brows, squinted eyes, and messy hair and beard.

"what?"

"Sinan! Sinan!"

After clearly hearing that it was Lao Guo's loud voice, the prince yelled at the top of his voice: "You are yelling in the middle of the night, you are yelling at the soul? Who opened the door for him?"

But soon he put on his clothes and came out: "Guo Da, you'd better have something to do today, otherwise I'll hit you on the head with a stick."

Xia Lin looked at this scene and exclaimed, "Wow! The way these old boys from Dawei communicate is not much different from him and Lao Zhang..."

"Hmm?" The prince saw Xia Lin and asked, "Why are you here? Did you instigate this unscrupulous soldier to come here?"

"It's not me. I tried to stop him, but failed." Xia Lin waved his hands and took a step back: "It has nothing to do with me."

"Stop talking nonsense."

Lao Guo thrust the account book into the prince's hands and said, "Look for yourself."

Although the prince was a little unambitious and liked to direct traffic at the dock, he had the most flexible mind among the princes. As soon as he saw the accounts, he felt something was wrong. Just as he was about to ask, Lao Guo interrupted him.

"Are you afraid of hoarding rice, grain, and oil at this critical moment?"

"There are no soldiers in Lingnan, so what are you afraid of?"

"No armor? They have as much paper armor, rattan armor, and iron armor as we do." Lao Guo sneered, "Guangzhou Prefecture produces 3500 sets of fine iron armor per year! Can you, Hongdu Prefecture, produce 3500 sets for me?"

"Is there any evidence?"

"Why would I come to you when I have evidence?" Old Guo pulled Xia Lin to sit down and said, "Son, tell your father-in-law everything in detail."

Xia Lin shook his head helplessly. Lao Guo was a master at talking about things that were not related to the topic, but he couldn't refuse this matter, so he told the prince all his experiences and analysis.

"My analysis is mainly from a business perspective. Anything abnormal in business is a demon. We are all experienced generals. It is understandable that one or two companies would do such a thing, but if all the companies did the same, it must be premeditated. Moreover, they not only hoarded grain and oil, but also purchased a large amount of ointment. In addition to injuries, they also suffered from acclimatization, malaria, and colds."

The prince and Lao Guo looked at each other, and their expressions became solemn in an instant.

(End of this chapter)