The pork butcher is smoother than a pig butcher!

Chapter 320 Who is the scapegoat?
At the court.

Under immense pressure, the Minister of Revenue forced himself to speak out:

"Your Highness, there has been no movement on this year's land tax."

The Regent frowned and asked:

"Didn't we tell you to organize special grain collectors to go down and collect land tax? This year, don't bother calculating the tax in silver; just bring all the grain back."

In the later stages of a war, it all comes down to manpower and supplies.

The palace's coffers are almost depleted; it's time to stockpile food.

The Minister of Revenue nearly buried his head in his chest, muttering, "Reporting to the Regent, those grain clerks have all been driven out of the village."

It turns out that those thug-like grain clerks were indeed acting under orders.

However, he added a little bit of "selfishness" when carrying out his duties, and then he was met with widespread resistance.

Those who were driven out of the village were considered relatively fortunate; some of the grain tax was actually used as fertilizer.

The Regent was so enraged by the Minister of Revenue's words that he threw the memorial in his hand at the minister's head and angrily rebuked him:

"Rebellion! Rebellion! How long have these unruly people been quiet? Now they're refusing to pay grain taxes again? Anyone who disobeys this order, arrest them all!"

The civil and military officials below were silent as if trembling in fear.

Seeing their indifferent expressions, the Regent's voice grew even colder:
"What, is my royal decree not working? Or are you going to speak up for those unruly commoners?"

The current leader of the Pure Army stepped forward under everyone's gaze, his hands trembling as he bowed:
"Your subordinate obeys!"

“Well done, Commander Yi! Take the Jingjun and go down to each provincial administration office to investigate. If there are any stubborn villages or unruly people who refuse to pay their grain taxes, make an example of them! Most importantly, make sure all the land taxes are returned.”

"Yes"

The leader of the Jing army turned and left.

The atmosphere in the main hall did not improve at all after he left.

Currently, there are very few ministers among the civil and military officials who can actually get things done.

It's utterly useless except as an echo chamber.

The regent flew into a rage during court.

After the court session, he was summoned in a panic by the head of the Inner Palace Attendants Bureau.

When he heard the report from the Chief Eunuch of the Inner Palace, he almost couldn't catch his breath, and asked in a chilling tone:

"You say there's a food shortage in the palace? How much? Are the Emperor, Empress Dowager, and I going to run out of food tomorrow? What are all those imperial estates on the outskirts of the capital for?"

Clearly, these trivial matters of eating, drinking, and relieving oneself are not within the scope of the Regent's daily attention, and his daily life and enjoyment have not been affected to this day.

The head of the Imperial Attendant had already been broken from kowtowing on the gold brick ground.

Ignoring her dizziness and blurred vision, she whispered her explanation:
"The imperial estates on the outskirts of Beijing rarely grow rice or wheat; they are mainly used for growing flowers, vegetables, fruits, and raising poultry! When the late emperor was alive, he loved alchemy, and several estates were used to grow medicinal herbs."

"Don't waste your breath arguing with me about these useless things. Apart from a few masters, there are more than 20,000 people serving in the palace. So many people can't possibly live off those imperial estates! Where have all the imperial merchants who used to cooperate with the Imperial Household Department gone?"

"Your Highness, the imperial merchants who used to cooperate with the Imperial Household Department on rice and grain have not made any moves this year! These are the ones who have been used by the imperial family for decades, and they would send grain to the capital in the first month after the autumn harvest every year. I didn't expect that something would go wrong this year."

"Fools! Fools! How dare they disrupt the business in the palace! To make money, those imperial merchants are willing to risk their lives to get in! Why don't you send someone to investigate what's going on?"

Furthermore, don't put all your eggs in one basket! These imperial merchants are causing trouble; replace them all! Whoever has the ability should take over! I refuse to believe that without Butcher Zhang, we'll be eating hairy pork.”

"Yes, yes, I obey. I will go and find out the information immediately."

The Chief Eunuch of the Inner Palace kowtowed again and scrambled out of the palace.

Not trusting his subordinates to handle matters, he personally led a few trusted clerks to the mansions of the largest imperial merchants.

The imperial merchants seemed to have anticipated this day. If they couldn't get their business done, who would be foolish enough to wait at home to be arrested?

There was no one there.

Both businesses closed their doors and windows.

After visiting more than ten suppliers who had cooperated with the Imperial Household Department for decades, they still couldn't find a scapegoat.

After most of the day had passed, the head of the Imperial Household Department was so frightened that he looked as if he had been pulled out of the water.

My underwear and outer clothes were completely soaked.

My heart was pounding: What on earth is going on?

After finally calming down, he sent his trusted clerk to inquire about the affairs of these imperial merchants.

I ran around under the scorching sun all afternoon before finally getting confirmation.

"As you all know, the rice merchant Qiu family that I was in charge of inquiring about said that his father had passed away in his hometown half a year ago, and the head of the family took his wife and children back to his hometown overnight. Their loyal servant stayed for more than three months, and the neighbors no longer saw these people coming out."

"My lord, the last of the three households I was in charge of left a month ago! They were using the pretext of going to the farms they were cooperating with to collect grain! In previous years, they would often travel far away before the autumn harvest."

"I asked everyone I knew, and no one knew where those companies went."

"My lord, I have a bad feeling! Most of these people probably know that there are big problems with this year's autumn harvest, and they are unable to solve them, so they took advantage of the chaos to leave."

"."

The Imperial Household Department knew they couldn't catch these dishonest imperial merchants, so they had to activate the second plan.

He worked tirelessly for three days, exhausting all his efforts, but still couldn't find a single supplier who could meet the needs of the 20,000 people in the palace for rice, flour, and cooking oil.

Hundreds of grain and oil shops in the commercial city were closed, and shop owners and workers could not be found.

Every morning, a large crowd of people would gather around these shops.

They all wanted to buy rice and flour.

In contrast, grocery stores that used to sell some grains and dried goods no longer sell any edible food or seasonings.

All the fermented soybeans are sold out.

In the farmers' markets, which are the most popular among ordinary people, there are dozens of times more buyers than sellers.

That area was not only far outside the imperial city, but if you arrived even slightly late, there was almost nowhere to put your feet.

Do you think there are many good products for sale in these vegetable markets?
However, they were mostly vegetables, fruits, and homemade produce.

These can also be sold for several times the price of previous years.

Meat became even more precious.

Even those nobles who didn't like pork had their servants rush to this commoner's market outside the city before dawn to buy it.

No one slaughters sheep in autumn; the sheep are still fattening up for winter.

Poultry such as chickens, ducks, and fish are considered rare finds.

In addition, eggs have become one of the foods that people are frantically buying.

Demand exceeds supply.

There is a complete shortage of supply.

The head of the Imperial Household Department managed to escape from the crowd, completely bewildered.

If no familiar scapegoat can be found and no new scapegoat can be found either, then he, as the Chief of the Inner Palace Secretariat, is the only scapegoat to take the fall.

You want him to go look for it in another city?
Now that the provincial administration offices are gone, to whom can he issue orders?
(End of this chapter)