Jinyi Town Mountains and Rivers

Chapter 166

Prison prison.

The cell door opened slowly, and a man wearing a seventh-rank official uniform walked out from inside.This person is Yang Lian, magistrate of Daxing County.

The sun was dazzling, Yang Lian set up an arbor, and looked back at the prison door.

He thought to himself: The emperor is still wise.It must be that the emperor sympathized with me for opening the official warehouse privately to relieve the victims of the disaster, so he extrajudicially graciously granted me an acquittal.

He straightened his official hat and walked into the sunlight.

A day later, Yan Shifan opened six huge porridge shops in the western suburbs of the capital.

He Liu and Lao Hu had nothing to do in Beizhen Fusi, so they wandered to the porridge market to see how the victims were doing.

As soon as the two entered the porridge market, they saw a seventh-rank official rolling up his sleeves and scolding a sixth-rank official.

The seventh-rank official who yelled at him was none other than Yang Lian.

He Liu said softly: "Just after he got out of the prison, why did he make trouble here again?"

Old Hu said: "Go and have a look."

Yang Lian shouted angrily at the official from the sixth grade: "You are the owner of the porridge shop! Let me ask you, what are the rules for the court to open a porridge shop for disaster relief?"

The owner of the porridge shop said dejectedly: "The porridge needs to be thick so you can put your chopsticks in it! If the chopsticks fall down, the head of the porridge shop owner will fall to the ground."

Yang Lian took a large spoon and stirred it in the cauldron: "Look for yourself, don't talk about sticking the chopsticks, the porridge is so clear that you can see people's shadows! In a large pot of water, add a few Bami, is this also called porridge? Also, look at this rice, it is all yellow and moldy rice! Tens of thousands of disaster victims are waiting to be fed, but you take out such things to fool their stomachs. Could it be your conscience? Did the dog eat it?"

Although the owner of the congee farm was one level higher than Yang Lian in terms of official rank, he knew he was in the wrong, so he didn't scold Yang Lian.He squatted down next to the pot, and slammed his head hard: "Cough! Magistrate Yang, do you think I want to use this thing to fool these victims? Do you think I don't want to cook thick porridge for the victims? Save their lives? The higher-ups allocated so much brown rice for me, what can I do?"

He Liu pushed aside the crowds of onlookers, stepped forward, and cupped his hands towards Yang Liangong: "Brother Yang Shi, what's going on?"

Yang Lian said angrily: "Master He, you came just in time. Take a look, is this the life-saving porridge for the disaster victims?"

Yang Lian pointed to the "congee" in the cauldron in front of him, then turned to He Liu and said, "The emperor has issued a decree to let the cabinet be responsible for the disaster relief. I heard that the Department of Household Storage has also been transferred from the Tongzhou granary. Rice relief for the victims. Someone must be pocketing the life-saving rice from the victims' mouths! Mr. He, you Jinyiwei monitors the illegal affairs of officials, do you care about this matter?"

He Liudao: "If there is a case of embezzlement of relief food, I will naturally take care of it."

Lao Hu tugged He Liu's skirt behind him, which meant to make him speak carefully.Who doesn't know that the person in charge of these porridge shops in the western suburbs of the capital is the left servant of the Ministry of Industry, Xiaoge old Yan Shifan?

He Liu walked up to the owner of the congee farm and asked, "What's your name, and which office did you work in?"

The owner of the congee farm replied: "Young official, Feng Ruixin, used to be the head of the Water Affairs Department of the Ministry of Industry. Mr. Xiaoge took over the errand of running the porridge farm, so I transferred the next official to the porridge farm to be the head of the job."

He Liu lowered his voice and said, "The head of the Ministry of Industry? So you are an old man from Xiaoge?"

The owner of the porridge shop gave a wry smile: "You are always wearing flying fish clothes, so you should be the servant of Jin Yiwei. You should know that if I were an old man from Xiaoge, I wouldn't be transferred to this wilderness to cook porridge for the hungry people."

He Liu asked: "Boss Feng. Just now Master Yang said that the Warehouse Department of the Ministry of Households has transferred good rice from the Tongzhou Granary for disaster relief. Take a look at the things cooked in your pot, are they good rice?"

The owner of the porridge shop sighed: "The rules of the porridge shop are that the porridge should be thick enough to be inserted into the chopsticks. If the chopsticks fall over, the head will fall to the ground. As long as I have a way, I will not cook such clear soup and waterless food for the victims! The old man is in charge. The Tongzhou granary is managed by the household department. A few days ago, Xiaoge asked the household department’s Gao Gong Gaoshangshu to adjust the grain, and asked for 500 million catties of grain. But Gaoshangshu said that there is too little grain in Tongzhou. One million catties of grain can be obtained.”

He Liu cursed secretly in his heart: The party in the court is fighting against dissidents, everyone is fighting like a black-eyed chicken.In the end, it is the people who suffer.

Gao Gong is a general of King Yu's party, so naturally he won't let Yan Song's son do a good job in disaster relief.

He Liudao: "Boss Feng, even if the Ministry of Household Affairs only transfers 100 million catties of grain, you won't be able to cook this kind of clear soup with little water! To put it bluntly, the grain is not your family's. Who are you giving it to?" How about saving food?"

The owner of the porridge farm said: "On a business trip. The household department transferred 100 million catties of grain from Tongzhou. But what was actually transported to the porridge farm was only 10,000+ catties of moldy and hairy old rice! Master Yang just scolded me for being full I don’t agree with my private pockets! If I take a grain of grain, I will be hit with thunder and bangs! The above gave these, what can I do?”

He Liu sternly said: "Then tell me, where did the good rice from the Tongzhou warehouse go?"

The owner of the porridge shop smiled wryly: "You shouldn't ask me this, you should ask Mr. Xiaoge!"

He Liu was silent, yes, he is just a small official from the sixth rank.It is an unwritten rule that the imperial court allocates relief food to the disaster-stricken areas, and the upper levels of the official circles withhold it.The Yan family's father and son picked one piece, and the officials below each picked another piece.When it reaches the mouths of the victims, isn't it just these moldy rice with clear soup and little water left?
He Liu is not a nosy person.But now he has made up his mind to take care of the porridge market's business.

He Liu ordered: "Let's use moldy rice as moldy rice. First boil the moldy rice into thick porridge that can be inserted into chopsticks, and distribute it to the common people."

The owner of the porridge farm was surprised: "If you cook such a thick porridge, the 10,000+ catties of moldy rice will be used up in less than three days!"

He Liudao: "Don't worry about it. After three days, I guarantee that someone will send you good rice!"

He Liu said to Yang Lian again: "Brother Yang, you are here to watch! After a while, they cooked porridge, and if the chopsticks fall over, you come to me. I will put all these people in the porridge field in jail!"

After He Liu finished speaking, he led Lao Hu straight back to his home.

As soon as he got home, he asked Bai Xiaoyan: "Did you buy the food?"

Bai Xiaoyan shook her head: "The four major grain stores in Beijing are all hoarding grain. They don't sell even a single grain."

He Liu became angry when he heard it: "Everyone said that there is no business and no adultery! It is true. The catastrophe is like this, but they are hoarding. Is there no law?"

Bai Xiaoyan brought a bowl of tea to He Liu and Lao Hu each: "Drink some tea first to suppress your anger. Husband, you don't know the origin of the four major grain stores in the capital, do you?"

He Liu was stunned.Each of the four major grain companies in the capital has a stake in the imperial court.Those first-rank and second-rank officials have to take interest from the four major grain companies every year.

He Liu sighed: "Then what should we do? Don't we just watch the victims starve to death?"

Bai Xiaoyan said: "If someone comes forward to lobby the four major grain companies, maybe the four major grain companies will give us some food."

He Liu asked: "Who?"

Bai Xiaoyan said: "Ding Sanjiao, the leader of the Cao Gang in the south of the Yangtze River, personally escorted the Huanggang silver to Beijing for this ten-year period. Now he is still in Beijing. The rice from the four major grain companies is entrusted to the Cao Gang to transport the rice from the south of the Yangtze River to Beijing every year. Yes. They will naturally sell some face to Chief Ding. When you investigated the Tongwo case, you had some kind of friendship with Chief Ding, why don't you go and beg him?"

(End of this chapter)