mtl008 Chapter 113 Rebellious Officials of the Former Dynasty 44
Chapter 113 Rebellious Officials of the Former Dynasty 44
"The troops from the capital have already entered the northern desert territory and will arrive in Tongcheng the day after tomorrow."
Even if the elders traveled day and night, they could not keep up with the speed of the courier who was traveling alone with three riders.
The memorial regarding the thorough investigation of the Tongcheng incident by officials from the capital had already arrived in Tongzhou City long ago.
"If it weren't for not wanting to disrupt the livelihoods of the people, I would really like to let those old officials come and see what Tongzhou City has been destroyed in!"
Thinking about how Tongzhou City has changed so much in recent days, Xiao Yao still felt somewhat resentful.
People in Beijing can't see the plight of the people in Tongzhou. What if they lift a heavy hand on the Tongzhou officials and then let it go?
If that's the case, he'll probably be so angry he won't be able to sleep.
Ling Yi smiled and said, "Weren't the account books prepared? Let them see them."
She paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "And the house in Tongzhou is still there."
Although production activities are booming both inside and outside the city, they have nothing to do with infrastructure development.
In this freezing north, building a house in winter is something even a madman wouldn't do.
People outside the city could only live in mud-plastered, drafty houses, and some even lived in tents. Was it because Ling Yi didn't understand the principle that infrastructure development drives the economy?
It's because in the dead of winter, you have to warm a pit with a campfire for several hours before you can dig one!
The mud was mixed by the campfire and then immediately smeared onto the cracks in the rocks!
Therefore, the appearance of Tongzhou City today is not much different from that before.
Apart from the officials' residences, even the government offices looked like they were about to collapse. The officials in the capital must have lost their minds to think that those guys had governed Tongzhou City very well.
Moreover, she didn't think the one sitting on the dragon throne would give these guys a chance to smooth things over.
An old lion is even less likely to tolerate others testing its limits.
Even if Ling Yi suspected the matter was serious, she never expected that these officials would actually bring coffins to investigate the case!
The giant trees felled in the south were made into coffins in the capital, and then traveled a long and arduous journey to the distant northern desert.
These wandering logs have seen more of the human landscape than most people in this dynasty have ever seen.
"Gentlemen, what brings you here?"
After entering Tongzhou City, all the scouts sent by Xiao Yao, except for a few who were keeping watch from a distance, were detained by several cautious officials who did not allow them to return in advance to inform Prince Rui.
Therefore, Xiao Yao only just learned that these officials had arrived in the Northwest in this way.
Several usually amiable old officials in the palace now had faces longer than a donkey from the Western Regions: "Your Highness Prince Rui, enough of the small talk, please take us to verify the evidence and interrogate the prisoners!"
Upon seeing their appearance, Xiao Yao immediately became stern: "Please, esteemed lords!"
When he tried to accompany them, the adults righteously stopped him, forbidding him from getting close.
These people didn't even stay in the houses Xiao Yao had prepared for them in the city, but instead stayed in a drafty post station outside the city that was cold in winter and warm in summer.
Wearing an expensive fox fur cloak, Xiao Yuan gazed at the departing figures of the elders and sighed, "Father must have put a lot of pressure on them, like stripping them of their official positions if they didn't perform well."
Ling Yi smiled and shook her head: "It might be even more serious."
For these powerful figures whose disciples and friends were spread throughout the court and the country, losing their official positions was not such a terrible thing.
He might even gain a good reputation in literary circles by protecting his colleagues who were trying to seize official positions, which would benefit his descendants and family.
In his current state, it's likely his life is in danger.
Even a contestant like Ling Yi didn't expect that the emperor's method was to turn all the families of these old men into coffin stuffing.
Feudal emperors were terrifying.
This is already an area that artificial intelligence cannot cover.
"Forget about them, let's just do our own thing."
A gust of cold wind blew by, and Xiao Yao shivered before getting into the carriage with Ling Yi.
In the warm glow of the silvery charcoal, he whispered to Lingyi about matters inside and outside the city. He said that there might not be enough cattle and sheep by spring, and there would be a shortage of farming tools for clearing land and building houses inside and outside the city. Even after winter, there would be a shortage of relief grain, and there would be no storage in case of a possible disaster.
The people Ling Yi brought, along with the grain distributed to the city's residents, put even greater pressure on the already empty relief granaries.
His Highness Prince Rui, who has never lacked food or clothing since childhood, is now planning to freeload off others.
The letter, carrying the chill of the northern winter, has already been sent to the capital.
The Ministry of Revenue, his brothers who had forced him to leave the capital, his old friends who were enjoying a life of luxury in the capital, the Confucian scholars he had only met a few times, and even Lady Yu and the Emperor in the palace all received Xiao Yao's plea for help.
Thirty or fifty taels is not too little, and one or two thousand shi of grain is not too much. Please, for the sake of His Highness Prince Rui's naivety and kindness, have mercy on us people of the northern desert!
The people here are starving, have no clothes to wear, and are in utter misery!
Not to mention how speechless the brothers were when they received the letter, even the emperor in the palace was shocked by his son's begging posture.
Where is his ninth brother? Did the evil winds of the northern desert give him a new soul?
He only knew that Lao Jiu had grown up, how come he didn't know that he had grown into such a strange-looking person?
Xiao Yao calmly ignored the resentment from Yuanfang+1+1.
In order to boost productivity and train soldiers, he even came up with a way to arrange blind dates for the women working in the factory and the well-trained bachelors in the border army camp. So what if he wrote a few letters to ask for help?
Those who achieve great things do not stick to trivial matters!
He's given up on his integrity!
Xiao Yao proudly puffed out his chest in the warm carriage, listening to Ling Yi's plan to plunder more things from the grasslands next year, while the elders settled down in the drafty post station.
They nervously flipped through the compiled account books while discussing what they had seen and heard in Tongcheng.
They reviewed the memorials submitted to the emperor and the evidence sent later countless times on the way.
Beneath that appalling filth, they were prepared for the possibility that countless people would freeze to death on the streets of Tongzhou.
However, they were not prepared for a thriving community both inside and outside the city, with the people fulfilling their respective duties!
If it weren't for the potholed roads and dilapidated houses in the city, they would have thought that the evidence was a means for His Highness Prince Rui to eliminate dissidents when he first arrived in the northern desert.
Looking through the well-organized account books, the Minister of War asked, "Have the soldiers sent to confiscate property in the city already set out?"
"Reporting to Your Excellency, they have already gone."
"Send more people to bring all the criminals' family members outside the city for interrogation."
"Yes, but... in this weather, people will probably freeze to death," the clerk said hesitantly.
He wasn't sympathizing with anyone, but he was afraid that if someone froze to death, he would be blamed by his superiors.
"We've taken care of them as best we can. If they really die..." the old man said coldly, "then consider their death a quick one."