Open an aircraft carrier to fight against Japan

Lin Yuan asked, "Why?"

Shen Wanqing said: "If they ask you to write an stereotyped essay on the spot, won't you reveal everything?"

Lin Yuan was taken aback, this really didn't occur to him, but judging from Emperor Guangxu's intentions today, he might not be able to do this, but Weng Tonghe had already sent someone to capture Shen Wanqing, and when they saw that Shen Wanqing was not captured, they would naturally think of it. To test Lin Yuan's method, even let the old scholar Li and Lin Yuan compare in public.

Lin Yuan thought to himself: "If they really thought of this method, they would have nothing to do! To find the shooter, you must know the test questions in advance! If there is a retest in front of Emperor Guangxu, there is no way to leak the test questions anyway. .”

When Lin Yuan was worried, Shen Wanqing suddenly said: "I'm sorry, it's my fault, I trust him too much."

Her guilt-ridden appearance made her look soft, Lin Yuan's heart moved, and he said, "You don't have to blame yourself, I decided to find him as the shooter, and they might not think of this idea."

Shen Wanqing's complexion eased a little, and then she separated from Lin Yuan. Lin Yuan returned home alone, and saw Guan'er rushing towards her like a cheerful bird, and said, "My lord, I heard about it today. , The Holy Majesty and Lafayette know that you are proficient in all aspects of literature and martial arts, so they want to recruit you into the palace and write an essay on the spot."

Hearing this, Lin Yuan couldn't help but "buzz" in his head, and hurriedly asked, "Guan'er, what's going on? Tell me quickly."

Guan'er smiled and said: "I heard that it was Lord Weng's idea, he personally wrote the question, His Majesty and Lafayette will go to see it, there are many people in the palace waiting to see it."

Lin Yuan forced a smile, and said, "That's great..." Before he finished speaking, Liu San ran into the room and said to Lin Yuan, "My lord, Zhang Shiliang is here."

When Lin Yuan heard this, he thought to himself: "Why are these things all coming together!"

At this moment, Zhang Shiliang actually entered the house by himself, so frightened that Guan'er hurriedly hid in the back house, Lin Yuan saw Zhang Shiliang's disobedience and broke in without authorization, and saw that he had lost a lot of weight. His eye sockets were sunken and bloodshot, knowing that something big was going to happen, and sure enough, Zhang Shiliang knelt down on the ground and said, "My lord, something big has happened."

Lin Yuan asked him to sit down and served tea again. Zhang Shiliang picked up the tea bowl and drank it all in one gulp, as if he had never drunk water before. Then Lin Yuan asked: "What's going on, why don't you take your time?" explain."

Zhang Shiliang said: "My lord, I originally wanted to come to your house that night, but as soon as I got the money and returned to the inn, a letter came from my hometown."

When Zhang Shiliang was talking, he stared straight at the teacup in front of Lin Yuan, his eyes were like those of a hungry wolf. Lin Yuan knew that he was rushing all the way, so he hurriedly asked someone to refill his tea. The man directly brought the teapot up, Zhang Shiliang didn't care much, he raised the teapot and poured it for a while.

When Zhang Shiliang was full, he said: "It turns out that there are locusts infested in my hometown! From Hejian Mansion in Zhili to Lu'an Mansion in Shanxi, then to Yanzhou Mansion in Shandong Province, and then to Kaifeng Mansion in Henan Province, there are hundreds of miles in radius. They were all plagued by locusts, and my hometown is in Shenzhou, Zhili, so they were also plagued by seedlings."

"A villain is not talented, and he is considered a number one person in my hometown, so everyone recommended me to go to the capital to buy grain, and I will take the 5000 taels you gave me, plus the 3000 taels collected by the local gentry, and come to the capital to buy grain. "

Lin Yuan asked: "Could it be that the grain merchants in the capital took the opportunity to raise prices?"

Zhang Shiliang said helplessly: "It's okay if the price increases, there is always a price, but the current situation is: the grain merchants don't have any grain!"

Lin Yuan hurriedly asked: "What about the grain? Doesn't the imperial court have Ping Tiaocang? Isn't it easy to use?" This Ping Tiaocang is a granary established by the government. Put it on the market to stabilize food prices.

Zhang Shiliang said: "Didn't there be a war a while ago? The imperial court built a railway again, and most of the grain in Jingtong Thirteen Warehouses has been transported to the front line. Now the Pingtiao warehouse is empty. We are counting on Zhili, Shandong, The autumn grain in Shanxi and Henan came down to supplement, but who knew that they encountered locusts, and the old people in the village said that they had never seen such powerful locusts in their entire life!"

Lin Yuan asked: "Then what is the situation of Yu Liang now?"

Zhang Shiliang said: "Right now, the food reserves of each household are almost exhausted. After a while, I'm afraid they will have to change their food."

Lin Yuan asked: "I know that the stored food should be enough for next year, right? Is it going to run out so soon?"

Zhang Shiliang said: "Your Excellency, I don't know, these grains are from this time last year!"

Lin Yuan asked, "What do you mean by that?"

Zhang Shiliang said: "My hometown is at the junction of Zhili and Shandong. We grow grain there. We plant wheat in October every year. After a winter, the wheat matures at the beginning of June. When the wheat is harvested, there is a batch of grain at this time, and then the corn is planted, and when the wheat grain is almost eaten, the corn will mature, and then the corn will be eaten.”

"It is said that the auspicious snow heralds a good year. The snow fell very well this winter, but in March, the wheat suffered from blackfoot disease. The roots and stems became gray and black, and died soon. The folks wanted to eat last year's surplus grain first, and then plant the corn in early June. The surplus grain could support the corn until it matured, but they didn't expect that there was a locust plague at this time. There's no green to be seen."

Lin Yuan asked, "What about the local officials, don't they care?"

Zhang Shiliang said: "They really want to take care of it, but they can't do it, they can't change the food! They can only report to the higher authorities, but after a long time, the relief food has not been allocated. I came to the capital to ask a friend specifically this time. Now, it turns out that the imperial court doesn’t have any food either!”

"The previous batch of grain transported in Jiangnan has almost been consumed, and the next batch of grain transported in Jiangnan is still being transported. This year, there is very little rain in the south of the Yangtze River. Many sections of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal have bottomed out. We have to cross these rivers. Duan can only be dragged out by the trackers! What's more, the amount of this batch of grain transported by water is extremely small, not enough for more than a dozen state capitals and more than a million people!"

Lin Yuan asked again: "What are the common people there doing now?"

Zhang Shiliang said: "Everyone is scrambling to grow corn, but it takes four months to mature. During these four months, I don't know how many people will starve to death!"

Lin Yuan said, "How come I don't know about such a big thing?"

Zhang Shiliang smiled helplessly, and said, "Master Lin, you are a general who leads the army to fight. The local officials at all levels report to the Ministry of Households one by one. How could you know about such things?"

Lin Yuan thought to himself: "That's not right. For the locust disaster that affected millions of people, the officials of the Ministry of Household Affairs must give the emperor a discount. The court has no food. How many people will starve to death! For the rulers of all dynasties To put it bluntly, death from starvation is a small matter, but riots by hungry people is a major cause! The Qing Dynasty took the world from the Ming Dynasty, and the direct cause of the Ming Dynasty's demise was the starving people in northern Shaanxi! So such things must have been written on Emperor Guangxu's face It’s up, but he’s still talking and laughing with me today.”

Lin Yuan nodded and said, "You go back first, I understand all these situations, and I guarantee that no one will starve to death!"

Zhang Shiliang didn't believe his words, and thought to himself: "Even if Mr. Lin is capable, he was on the battlefield. Does he really have the ability to conjure food?"

But Lin Yuan was thinking: "Is there any connection between Weng Tonghe's retesting his stereotyped essay and the famine?"

Suddenly, like a light in the darkness, he saw the connection!