A Millennium Aristocratic Family Starting from the Shang Dynasty

Chapter 502 Grain and Wheat Bran

Handan City.

After Liu Jing captured the Handan Order and imprisoned him, he immediately sent people to take over various government offices. All information and files were sealed, and then they took people to the grain depot in the city.

Liu Jing came to the grain depot with the grain depot order, then sealed the grain depot, and then called the grain depot. More than 80 grain depots were all opened, but only one grain depot contained less than 3,000 shi of corn, and the remaining grain depots only contained more than 10,000 shi of wheat bran.

There are more than 80 granaries in the entire granary. If they are all full, there will be a full 400,000 shi of grain. But now it is less than 3,000 shi. What is left is some wheat bran for feeding animals. This grain is not even 1% of the original. None.

"The imperial court has stored more than 400,000 shi of grain here. Now there are only 3,000 left. Where has the grain gone?" Liu Jing grabbed the grain depot order and asked.

"Shangguan, Shangguan, all the grain in this granary has been sold by the Handan Order a long time ago, and then replaced with wheat bran. I am just a warehouse order, and I really don't know where the food has gone!" The warehouse order kowtowed repeatedly.

"Four hundred thousand shi of grain! You are so bold. As a warehouse commander, not only are you unable to be loyal to your duties, but you are colluding with others and stealing grain depots. What crime should you deserve?" Liu Jing said coldly.

"Death penalty!" An attendant next to him sneered.

Na Cang Ling's face instantly turned pale, and he kept shouting: "Spare my life! Spare my life!"

"Come here, put him in jail, take out all the account books in the granary, and conduct an audit!" Liu Jing ordered, and officials immediately took action and put him in jail. At the same time, the remaining people took out all the officials in the granary. They were all put into prison, and then people were sent to check all the ledgers.

Although Liu Jing was angry, he was not carried away by his anger. The most important thing now was to rescue the victims, and then to check the grain depot and look for food.

Liu Jing brought 300,000 shi of food this time. It was not enough to help the millions of victims in Hebei. Fortunately, this was the first batch, and several more batches of food would be delivered soon.

On the first day Liu Jing came here, he ordered his cronies to take control of the grain and porridge sheds in order to ensure the quality and quantity of the porridge.

The court opened the door to serve porridge, and Liu Jing deliberately let people publicize the news that the court had shipped one million shi of food to the disaster relief. The situation was quickly stabilized. At the same time, people were sent to manage the victims. , divided everyone into teams, and also began to arrange things for these victims.

The imperial court has always provided relief through work, taking advantage of disasters to repair roads and build canals, in order to prevent disaster victims from gathering together and doing nothing.

Let these victims get busy. When the disaster passes and the victims return to their hometowns, the court will also distribute a sum of money. This money is a reward for the victims' work, and it also allows the victims to have money to go back and resume production.

After handling the matter of relieving the victims, Liu Jing began to deal with the matter of Zhao Pei, the commander of Handan. After the relief-for-work program was launched during this period, there was a huge demand for food. Many victims came to Handan after learning about the relief-for-work program in Handan.

The imperial court's 300,000 shi of grain will not last long. The imperial court is still mobilizing grain and grass from other places, and it will take some time to transport it here.

Liu Jing is interrogating Zhao Pei now because he wants to find out where the food he embezzled is hidden so that it can be used to relieve the victims.

In the official office of Handan, Liu Jing ordered Zhao Pei to be brought to the palace.

Although he was imprisoned for a few days, Zhao Pei was not punished and even seemed to be doing well. Even his clothes were relatively clean.

"Zhao Pei, it seems that you are doing well in prison!" Liu Jing glanced at him and then continued without waiting for his answer.

"Zhao Pei, you are also from a school. You are well-read in poetry and books, and the court treats you well. Why do you want to embezzle 400,000 shi of grain? Where have you hidden that grain now?"

"Shangguan, I have been an official for ten years and have never greedy a grain of grain. The 400,000 shi of grain mentioned by Shangguan is not my private treasure!" Zhao Pei sighed.

Liu Jing suddenly stood up and came to the front of the hall: "Zhao Pei, I think you and I are from the same academy and are ministers in the same palace, so I want to give you a chance. If you don't tell me, then your family will They will all be implicated by you, and the three tribes will be exiled. They will not be allowed to enter the palace for the fifth generation, let alone be an official. You will be a sinner of your family by then!" "Shangguan, I have not been to the granary since I took office before the drought happened. I really don't know the granary. Why is it empty? When I know there is no food in the granary, I can only borrow food from the big households around Handan."

"Nonsense, let me ask you, did you use the grain in the granary to exchange it for bran?" Liu Jing reprimanded directly.

Zhao Pei nodded and said: "Yes!"

"You exchange grain for bran to feed livestock, and you still say you are not greedy?"

"Shangguan, there were only more than 10,000 stones of grain and grass left in the granary at that time, and there were 500,000 victims outside the city. If the grain was released in accordance with the regulations of the imperial court, this food would be gone in a few days. I could only borrow grain from the big households in Handan. , but in the end those big investors only borrowed less than 20,000 shi."

"In order to delay as much as possible until the court's disaster relief grain arrives, I can only replace 20,000 shi of grain with 80,000 shi of bran, then mix it with grain and cook it into porridge to help the people!"

"So, the court can't just punish you, but also reward you?" Liu Jing said expressionlessly.

Zhao Pei shook his head and said: "I don't dare to get a commendation from the court. I didn't find out about the theft of the granary. As a result, the granary was out of food after the drought. The people could only live on gruel, so that the fields were starved to death. This is my crime!"

"Haha, does Zhao Lingyin think I am stupid?" Liu Jing said with an angry smile.

"If Shangguan doesn't believe it, I can confront the cangfu order!" Zhao Pei continued. Liu Jing, who was in a rage, was too lazy to interrogate him anymore and said directly.

"People are dying outside the city, and you still dare to quibble. In that case, just wait for the imperial court to take action!"

"Come here, take Zhao Pei to prison and keep him under strict guard!"

"only!"

Immediately two guards came forward, lifted Zhao Pei up directly, and then escorted him to the prison.

"Someone, go and bring the Cangfu Order!"

After a while, an attendant Jin hurried in, then walked quickly to Liu Jing and whispered: "Master Censor, the Cangfu Order is dead!"

Liu Jing's face changed slightly and he whispered: "He was locked up in a prison. How did he die?"

"Death by poisoning."

"Who poisoned me?" Liu Jing asked.

"I don't know."

Liu Jing didn't ask any more questions and took people directly to the prison.

There are several prisons in Handan, some of which are dedicated to detaining officials, some to detain common people, some to detain serious criminals, and some to detain light criminals.

The Cangfu Order was very important, so he was imprisoned in a prison for serious criminals. It can be said that it was heavily guarded. When Liu Jing came here, there were already attendants sealing off the scene.

(End of this chapter)