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

Chapter 157 This is just the beginning, the really exciting part is coming!
Did the young prince call all these county magistrates here to ask them to accommodate the disaster victims? How many people can they accommodate in those shabby places?

But Jiangnan Road is the base of his royal family. This place is of great strategic significance. It is not only the granary of the entire Wei Dynasty, but also a living land of fish and rice. Although Gyeonggi Province is also rich, there he will have to face head-on confrontation with a group of old aristocratic families such as the Gao family, the Li family, the Huang family, and the Feng family.

When the royal family in the north meets the gentry in the south, there will be a lot of trouble, so the young prince's Chunmiao plan will basically be placed in Jiangnan Road.

So he summoned all the county magistrates to Fuliang County, in order to let them see how Xia Daosheng governed and what methods he used to resettle the victims.

After the 200,000 disaster victims began to be quarantined, Xia Lin no longer had to come so frequently. He even had time to treat the Minister of Revenue and the county officials to food and drinks.

This first proper meal made the expression of the Minister of Revenue Yang Anfu solemn. The beautiful rice noodles with meat, bamboo shoots and duck, crispy chicken, baked carp noodles and other ingredients on the table formed a sharp contrast with the victims outside.

Throughout all his journey, no county magistrate had ever dared to entertain Shangshu Yang with such high standards. It was not because he did not deserve such a high standard, but because it happened to be a year of great disaster, and eating such food would shorten one's lifespan.

"My Lords, the dishes are ready."

The waiter who served the dishes wiped his hands on his apron and went out with a smile. The last dish was the 15-pound giant turtle, which was stewed with large pieces of pork belly until it was shiny and greasy. It was very delicious and tasty.

After he left, Yang Shangshu had a cold expression on his face and did not pick up the chopsticks in front of him. He was the most important person in the scene today, and no one dared to pick up the chopsticks if he did not pick them up.

Minister Yang slammed the cup in his hand, and a muffled sound suddenly came out in the silent box. The hungry officials around him sat up straight immediately, but Xia Lin was the only one who greeted them cheerfully: "Eat, eat, everyone."

Seeing that he had no remorse at all, Minister Yang's breathing became heavier, and then he suddenly opened his mouth and teased: "Master Xia, in this year of great disaster, it is not appropriate, right?"

"Right, why not? Minister Yang and his colleagues have been inspecting the disaster and have traveled across most of Wei these days. Why shouldn't we have something good to eat?" Xia Lin pretended to be ignorant. He said cheerfully, "Now that things have come to a good end, let's eat as much as we can."

"Confused!"

Minister Yang slammed his chopsticks on the plate in front of him, and his scolding echoed throughout the hall.

"Master Xia, I do not deny that you are extremely capable and have good governance, but now even His Majesty is tightening his belt throughout the country to save a bite of food for the people, but you are so extravagant and wasteful. Aren't you ashamed of His Majesty's cultivation?"

Yang Anfu was previously in charge of finance. He knew best that the court's financial situation in recent years was not very good. There were a lot of internal and external troubles, with a pack of wolves surrounding it externally and patchwork internally. Now, in a year of great disaster, he still did such a thing. He was simply arrogant and conceited!

"Ouch..." Xia Lin was not horrified but his tone was exaggerated. He just raised his chin and laughed, "Sir Shangshu is a man of high character. I really admire him. But Sir Yang is wrong about one thing. Not only am I not ashamed of your majesty's cultivation, but I am ashamed of the court and your majesty."

Minister Yang crossed his arms and looked grim, thinking to himself, "This guy really doesn't know what's good for him. I've given him a way out, but he won't take a step back. Oh, he's really getting arrogant because of his favor. Just wait, his good days are still to come."

Seeing that Yang Shangshu was obviously unhappy, Xia Lin didn't care. He took a deep breath and said loudly: "In the spring of the fourth year of Hongbao, the Yellow River flooded in spring, and more than 170,000 people were affected, of which 13,755 people starved to death. In the summer of the sixth year of Hongbao, the Yangtze River flooded in summer, and more than 330,000 people were affected, of which 51,000 people starved to death. In the summer of the ninth year of Hongbao, there was a severe drought in Bashu, and tens of thousands of people starved to death. In the tenth year of Hongbao, the Yellow River was cut off by a severe drought, and starving people were scattered thousands of miles away. People exchanged their children for food, and people were no longer human. In Henan, nine out of ten houses were empty. This year's locust plague affected 4.1 million people, and no one starved to death, only hundreds of people died of illness on the way. Lord Yang, should I raise a glass?"

Xia Lin then continued, "I know that Lord Yang loves the people like his own children and is benevolent to the people. But this is a victory. If we cannot celebrate this victory, it would be a shame for the hard work of you, Lord Yang, and all your colleagues along the way.

Besides, this is just the beginning. There will be a bigger celebration waiting for everyone later. This is just a simple meal. There is no need to get so angry, Lord Shangshu."

His words made Shangshu Yang laugh and cry. He even suspected for a moment that he was the Shangshu and he was just a minor official under him. He almost made the Shangshu lose confidence in himself.

"But do you know how much effort the imperial court put into this disaster?"

Xia Lin smiled and shook his head: "Then, sir, do you know how much effort I have saved for the court?"

"Okay, let me ask you! Why is there sand and gravel mixed in the rice and flour of the disaster victims? Do you know that the crime of corruption is enough to get you beheaded and have your property confiscated?"

"Of course. If I embezzled the relief grain from the imperial court, then I deserved death. But didn't the Minister know that the relief grain was all from the Fuliang warehouse, not a single grain from the imperial court? I used the county's rice and flour for disaster relief, so how could I be accused of corruption? It was originally under my control. If I really wanted to embezzle, would I have to fiddle with it like this? You can enjoy it to your heart's content. And you also know that although this year is a year of great disaster, the price of grain is cheap. How much money can I embezzle? Minister Yang, don't worry."

Minister Yang paused when he heard this. In fact, he had noticed some clues along the way. The main thing was that His Highness's behavior during this period was very telling. This Xia Daosheng was extremely important to His Highness. And now, if he thought about it carefully, his various rude behaviors might be just tests of His Highness.

Who are you testing? Of course, you are testing Yang Anfu, to see if he is Gao Shilian's man or His Majesty's man. This is a test of the crown prince. If you take a wrong step, the result will be imaginable when the future crown prince takes the throne. After understanding this, Yang Anfu immediately became honest. He sat down and nodded to Xia Lin with a smile, then picked up the chopsticks calmly.

Seeing this scene, the county magistrates present did not dare to say a word and could only observe the expressions of the people the whole time. A small county magistrate confronted the minister. This was something that had never happened in all the dynasties, right?

This cannot be described as extremely audacious, it is clearly going against the will of Heaven.

But who would have thought that he would be offended to such an extent? Any decent person would have walked away, but this minister picked up the chopsticks and started eating.

When Xia Lin saw his action, he sat back down and said with a smile, "My Lords, please enjoy your meal. These are all the works of famous chefs from all over the world. Well, I'll take my leave for a moment."

After he finished speaking, he turned around and walked out with a smile. At this moment, the whole place was still silent. Except for Minister Yang, everyone's eyes were on Xia Lin.

After he walked out, his pace obviously quickened and at a turn he saw the little prince leaning against the wall and waving a fan. The little prince exchanged glances with him, and then they both went to a secluded place.

"how?"

"Riding the fence."

The conversation between the two was very brief, but the content was very rich. After listening to it, the young prince nodded and said, "It seems that we should have won this game."

"This is just the beginning, but Your Highness, even if I am exposed after this, what are your plans?"

"Hmm..." The little prince took a deep breath: "What do you expect?"

"Prediction, prediction is actually very simple. I have just been promoted to the fifth rank, and now people have seen the prosperity of Fuliang. Guess what I will do?" Xia Lin also sighed: "Your Highness, Gao Shilian will definitely try every means to transfer me away from you, but Father Guo will definitely not let me go, so there will definitely be a dispute about me in the court. Then I may be transferred to idle, or even temporarily take away the power of the county magistrate, leaving only the empty position of the censor."

The young prince looked at Xia Lin and shook his head: "What will they do to you?"

"Your Highness, if you were in Gao Shilian's position and wanted to deal with me, how would you deal with me?"

"He was disrespectful to his superiors, he was in collusion with his friends, and he hoarded goods to make a profit."

"That's right." Xia Lin clapped his hands. "That's what you'll do to me. But Your Highness, Fuliang must be preserved. Even if I'm transferred away, this vacancy cannot be left to anyone else. Whoever takes Fuliang will cause a mess. We have to let it grow on its own."

"Can't the emperor protect you?"

"How can I protect them? If Your Majesty protects me, how can you deal with the others? Your Majesty is too busy now. When the aftermath of this natural disaster is over, there will be many people to deal with." Xia Lin squatted on the ground: "Your Highness, I really did this for you. Otherwise, I would be a fifth-rank county magistrate and I would be so comfortable."

"I understand in my heart." The young prince also squatted down and put a jade pendant into Xia Lin's hand: "I can't say much now. If I open my mouth, it will be troublesome. You should take good care of yourself and wait for the opportunity."

Politics is so complex and cruel that it really cannot be explained by logic. It is said that Xia Lin offended Gao Shilian, but his level is not good enough for Gao Shilian to look at. Even if Gao Shilian knew that he was Lao Guo's man, it would not matter. After all, even if the two of them are enemies, they will never meet, and there will be no dispute over core interests for the time being.

But it's different on the young prince's side. Gao Shilian would never allow a right-hand man like Xia Lin to stay. No matter how much he has done and how great his contributions are, to put it bluntly, his operation this time is also hoarding goods to sell at a high price. He just hoarded them but there is no high price. Didn't the price be lowered by the young prince?
The issue here is huge. Your Majesty can't deal with the people around Gao Shilian if he protects Xia Lin. If he wants to deal with them, he must deal with them all at once. So now it depends on what the result will be in the court. His arrogance with Yang Shangshu is just to sell a flaw and test the other party's details.

Wouldn't change the results much.

"All right!" The little prince stood up and sighed again: "I will never treat you badly in the future."

"Thank you for your kindness, Your Highness. But I don't know what the ending will be. I am quite nervous."

(End of this chapter)