Lu You is also a smart person. Just looking at Li Ling's expression at this moment, he could guess some hidden things. As his mind turned, he added: "Is it because of you that the result?"

Li Ling just smiled, neither admitting nor denying it, but slowly said: "Do you still remember the difference between the original document accounts and the later ones?"

Everyone had already understood this matter, and Lu You had no worries, so he smiled and said, "Of course, the former took the grain from Huguang, while the latter wanted to transfer the grain from Jiangnan."

"It seems that there has been only a little change in one place, but the difficulty has not only doubled when it comes to military rations! You may not think that the journey from Huguang to northern Xinjiang is the same as from Jiangnan to northern Xinjiang, right?"

Lu You slapped the table and understood: "Why didn't I expect this difference? Yes, the journey from Jiangnan to north is 30% more than that from Huguang to transport grain. In this way, the time will be increased by more than one or two months."

"It's not only that, but also the different ways to transport grain. The officials used water transportation rather than land transportation in that document, so the journey would naturally be slower. Moreover, I also deliberately hid the most critical point, that is, after autumn, the water level of the Caohe River drops, and it would be extremely difficult to take a big ship. Even if the boatmen on both sides of the Caohe River were recruited to pull the ship, they would not be able to make the ship speed reach half of the spring and summer seasons, which would make the food northward slower, and I was afraid it would be difficult to transfer the food to the northern border before spring."

While listening, Lu You was thinking and thinking in his mind. In the end, he had to admit that Li Ling's algorithm was completely correct. The manpower, material and time required to transfer grain from Jiangnan to north were probably more than three times more than that from Huguang!

At this time, Li Ling said: "In fact, if the court really wants to do these difficulties, they can still be overcome in the end, but there is a bigger problem. Not to mention our Ministry of Revenue, even if His Majesty formally issued an order, I am afraid that it will not be able to be successfully solved this year!"

"Oh? What is that?"

"Caiming for Jiangnan!"

"Well? What do you mean by this? Isn't we calling the official warehouse to store grain? As long as one order is conveyed and each warehouse will follow the order, it will naturally not take long to prepare the food, but what is the problem?"

Li Ling looked at him and saw that he really looked like he had confirmed it. He knew that Lu You, who had been working in the Ministry of Revenue, had no idea of ​​the local problems. At that moment, he explained carefully: "Do you know how much grain is stored in the official warehouses in various parts of Jiangnan every year?"

"This... in the past two years, in addition to part of the tax grain collected every year, escorted by the Transportation Office, at least 70% of it is left in the local area. After all, we must prevent emergencies. As for the specific number, it should be between 80 and 900,000 stones."

"Yes, Jiangnan is indeed a place where I am rich in food and food in Dayue. This place alone can match 30% of the food income of the court." Li Ling sighed and immediately raised a question, "What's the use of depositing this much grain into the warehouse?"

"Didn't I say it, in case of emergency!"

"But in the past two years, Jiangnan has had a bumper harvest almost every year. The official warehouse has neither the grain storage needs to be used to help with disasters nor to stabilize the price of grain. This so-called out-of-time demand has become empty talk. And the food cannot be stored. Three years later, due to local climate relations, it will be completely moldy and cannot be used. Wouldn't it be a waste?"

"That's right..." Lu You frowned. Not to mention him, I'm afraid many people in the court hadn't noticed it, or they didn't take it to heart when they saw it.

Li Ling sighed and said, "So, officials from all over the world want to go to Jiangnan to become officials, because it is indeed a fat man there. As long as these stored grains are used well, they will have a considerable income, and even several times their salary."

Lu You was shocked when he heard this: "What do you mean is the officials in Jiangnan who have taken food to take out food?"

"It is all officials in Jiangnan who have done this. After all, the grain is white and moldy in the warehouse. It is better to sell it elsewhere earlier and make some money."

"This... how dare they... this is the food of the court. Are they not afraid of something going on, and their official positions are not guaranteed because of this?"

"Of course they are afraid, but they think there are enough officials in this matter, so many officials in Jiangnan are like this. Under the general trend, they naturally have no scruples. After all, the law does not punish the masses. Even if the court knows something, can it still take hundreds of officials in Jiangnan to rule?

"What's more, they are also prepared to sell official grain. For example, they have negotiated with the local big grain dealer early in the morning. On the one hand, you sell grain and the profit can be divided into him. On the other hand, if the court really sends officials to investigate, they will take the grain dealer's grain first and put it in the warehouse for investigation, so naturally there will be no flaws. Of course, there are exceptions. For example, this time, if the court suddenly calls the grain deposit in Jiangnan at one time, the inside story of not much remaining grain deposit in the warehouse will be exposed!"

Lu You was really stunned this time. He never thought that the officials in Jiangnan would be so brave and greedy. After a while, he hesitated and said: "What you said is indeed? But how do you know the inside story?" You must know that he had not known the matter in the Ministry of Revenue for many years, so how could a young man who had just entered the court know this well?

Li Ling smiled: "The officials naturally heard it from other places. After all, those officials in Jiangnan still have to go through the hands of others if they want to sell grain, such as merchants, and Cao Gang..." His news naturally came from Cao Gang!

Because of their deep hatred with Liu Runsheng, the former governor of Jiangnan, the Cao Gang has been looking for a handle, and this act of reselling official grain is naturally at their attention. However, as I said just now, there are too many people selling official grain in Jiangnan, which really affects the whole body, and may even make the court jealous, so in the end they did not attack this matter.

However, they still saw all the relevant internal information, and then Li Ling also knew everything from them, so he changed the food of Huguang to Jiangnan. He then believed that as long as this matter was reported to the court, there would inevitably be officials who knew the interests of it to stop it, and even the excuses were ready-made, and the sentence was the two points mentioned just now.

After a cup of tea, Lu You sighed again: "Wen Zhong, you are really calculating, so even if this war cannot be revived, it was already your expectation?"

Li Ling nodded: "Actually, it's Your Majesty. I don't think he wants to have this battle. After all, my Great Vietnamese border army had just suffered a loss under Gui Rong, and the morale of the army might not be too strong. It would be fine if he sent troops rashly at this time, but what if he lost? At that time, the consequences were not affordable.

"So the result like this is actually quite good. It puts some pressure on the foreign captives, and does not really take risks to attack..." Another point Li Ling cannot say, that is, the emperor obviously does not want the prince to make military achievements in the border, which will make the prince famous and thus affect himself.

Since the victory or defeat of the military campaign against the north was not what the emperor wanted to see, Li Ling could naturally let go and use the hands of the emperor and some officials from Jiangnan to achieve his goals.

Lu You may not know Li Ling's overall thoughts, but just some of the content mentioned by the other party made him sincerely amazed, and finally smiled bitterly: "It's really better to listen to your words than to read for ten years. Compared with you, I will feel ashamed."

"The lord is so serious, so the subordinates just rely on their little cleverness to protect themselves." Li Ling hurriedly said modestly.

Lu You shook his head, sighed again, and then said, "Since Wen Zhong, you have such a strategy, I feel relieved. Even if the Minister of the Secretariat may target you next, you must be able to deal with it."

"Well, what do you mean by sir?" Li Ling frowned and asked quickly.

"This is also what I heard from some people in the yamen privately mention, and only said that the Minister hates you deeply, and I am afraid that when you recover from the injury, you will suffer some trouble."

Li Ling smiled bitterly. Although he had played the role of the little master of crossing the river and saved himself, he had completely offended both forces. Even if they did not dare to deal with him explicitly now, it would be easy for Bian Xuedao to wear his own shoes. It seems that his life will be very difficult for him to live in the future.

However, Li Ling did not regret it, because compared to being an abandoned son who was sacrificed casually, the best result is now, at least he still has a certain amount of self-protection. Moreover, this time he was favored by His Majesty and joined the Imperial City Department, and he did not have the power to fight back at all.

"Thank you for your reminder. I understand. But I won't be able to wait for death. No matter what means he uses, I will continue!" Li Ling said, his face full of fighting spirit and perseverance.

Seeing this, Lu You was stunned again, then stood up and said goodbye: "I hope you can get rid of danger, but I will not accompany you in this incident." After expressing his position, he hurried away.

Li Ling stood up and saw him off, finally stood in the courtyard, watching him stride away, and after a while, he let out a long breath of turbid air: "It seems that the matter is not over yet! Well, since I have to continue fighting, I will accompany you to the end, and I want to see what kind of tricks you can come up with!"

To be honest, except for the initial nervousness, Li Ling was not too worried. Because he knew very well that the current rule in the officialdom of Dayue was that the promotion and withdrawal of court officials like him was not determined by the superiors of the yamen, but after the intention was transferred to the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Personnel made the final decision.
Chapter completed!