Since ancient times, when checking grain, there must be a fire dragon burning the warehouse

"What? I mean, how good is this! Now that the price of grain in the capital has risen, grain merchants are waiting for the price.

Your Majesty ordered us to inspect the granaries and open granaries to level the market, but all the grain and grass in Baoding Prefecture were burned. How can I explain this!"

Mao Liangji secretly thought that he was talkative, so he quickly changed his words, making the other members of the Kurabe Division think that he had heard wrongly.

He scratched his head and continued writing the investigation report.

Mao Liangji was one of the insiders of this matter, but accompanied by many household personnel and Jin Yiwei, he could not show too much understanding, but had to take the initiative to find some loopholes.

"How did the granary catch fire? How many traces of grain and grass were found at the scene?"

"Sir, according to the county government, the fire in the granary was due to rain a few days ago and lightning struck the granary.

After investigation, it was found that the remains of grain and grass at the scene amounted to at least 150,000 dan, and several grain warehouse officials also died in the firefighting."

Yuan Wailang handed over his hands to report, but his sleeves were heavy, and there were a few wrapped silver ingots inside, which increased the food remains he brought to the scene tenfold.

Originally, according to the arrangement of the arsonists, the remains at the scene could only be estimated to be worth more than 10,000, but there was no way, they gave too much.

"It's God's will, it's God's will! God, can't you give me a way for the people of Ming Dynasty to survive?"

"Mr. Mao, please calm down and report truthfully. I have arrested the captain of the government office guard who is guarding the granary."

"The captain is still alive? Who are the dead people inside?"

When Mao Liangji heard this, he had to admire Lai Hongchang's ruthlessness. This guy didn't care about human life in order to do the whole thing.

As for the problem with the granary, why is there no problem with the magistrate of Qingxian County?

The former magistrate of Qingxian County is still away visiting relatives and has not returned.

"Your Excellency, this is an injustice! Your Excellency, this is an injustice! I was not in the granary at all that day, and the fire in the granary had nothing to do with me! Moreover! Wuwuwu..."

"Hey, Shangguan Tan, this guy is not only derelict in his duties, he also wants to talk nonsense."

Mao Liangji's eyes twitched as he looked at the gagged granary servant who was still writhing wildly. Fortunately, the Jin Yiwei was investigating inside, so he didn't go into details.

Is this person named Lai poisonous? The person who took the blame didn't know how to arrange an honest person. If he was asked to reveal that there was not much food in the granary before the fire, how could it be repaid?

So Mao Liangji turned his gaze directly to Lai Hongchang, and Lai Hongchang cast a wave of danger at him and gently pointed his finger at the stomach of the captain of the Yamen.

Mao Liangji understood in an instant that this government official had a gastrointestinal problem and would soon die at the hands of Jin Yiwei due to intestinal colic.

Lai Hongchang eagerly walked to the remains of the charred granary and found Baihu Jinyiwei who was squatting on the ground and carefully touching the charred ashes.

"General, please report this matter to Your Majesty truthfully. It is a natural disaster and a man-made disaster. It is really an accident.

Now because of the fire in the granary, the captain of the government office failed to command effectively, and the two places are far apart. Although I have tried my best to rescue, I still made a big mistake.

I just hope that Your Majesty can hear more about the cause of the fire, so that his guilt can be alleviated."

As he said this, a two thousand tael silver note was already handed out in his hand.

The Jinyiwei Baihu who were investigating took it in easily.

"Don't worry, magistrate, I've seen it, and there is indeed a lot of food.

The government officials also worked hard to put out the fire, which is touching. It was thundering and raining the day before yesterday, and the granary was dry, so a fire was inevitable."

"Thank you, General. Thank you so much, General. I am terrified now, and the granary has been lost. The county will have to cut back on food and clothing, and there is no way to entertain the general. Don't be surprised if you ask the general."

Lai Hongchang's performance is perfect in every aspect: a natural disaster, a brave man, a martyr who takes precautions, a scapegoat who neglects his duty, and a prefect who takes the initiative to admit his mistakes.

Jinyiwei Baihu often dealt with these officials, so they naturally knew that nothing they said was true.

But what does it matter? He is just a member of the Imperial Guard. He only needs to report what he saw truthfully. The bank note is real.

Lai Hongchang saw that Jin Yiwei had collected all the banknotes, and finally felt at ease. He put his hands behind his back and waved them gently. Mao Liangji over there also felt at ease.

Mao Liangji, an investigator from the Ministry of Household Affairs, took care of it, but Jin Yiwei couldn't let him take care of it. This was a procedural issue, and it was also a way out of the case if he refused to admit his guilt in the future.

In the Qianqing Palace, Chongzhen was watching the documentary on the Industrial Revolution seriously when he suddenly received a call from the intercom from the Jin Yiwei at the city gate.

[Call your Majesty, call your Majesty, urgent report from the Ministry of Household Affairs!]

【Announcement!】

Putting down the tablet, Chongzhen stood up and stretched.

"Wang Banban, what do you think is going on?"

"Your Majesty, I don't know, but if you report so urgently, it seems that Mao Liangji has encountered some difficult problem."

Wang Chengen continued his thoughts. He couldn't guess the specific situation, but he could feel that this was definitely not good news.

really.

An hour later.

Mao Liangji entered the city with a torch and was led to the palace by a flashlight. He saw Chongzhen in Pikachu pajamas.

"See Your Majesty.

Your Majesty, something bad has happened. The granary grain in Qing County, Baoding Prefecture, Zhili Province, was caught in a fire due to a thunderstorm. A total of 200,000 stones of grain were burned."

"What's the specific situation? Isn't there a maximum of tens of thousands of stone granaries in one county? How come two hundred thousand were damaged???"

Chongzhen sat up straight suddenly, his breath became heavy, and then he slowly leaned on the backrest.

Mao Liangji below glanced at Chongzhen strangely. He didn't know why Chongzhen calmed down so quickly. That was two hundred thousand dan. If the granary was gone, the food supply of the entire Baoding Prefecture would become a total problem. This is no joke.

As Mao Liangji and Jin Yiwei described each other, Chongzhen's aura was still so heavy, but his face didn't look angry at all.

"Have you found anything wrong after looking at it for so long?"

"I returned to Your Majesty and found nothing. I have carefully investigated and found out that the entire granary was indeed on fire from the first moment. There were no less than 150,000 kilograms of blackened grain remains at the scene.

At the same time, I beg the emperor to allocate some silver from the Ministry of Household Affairs to appease the families of the martyred government officials."

Mao Liangji knew that the government servant who was burned to death was definitely not a fire-fighter, and he definitely had no family members.

But it doesn't matter, he also kept the thousands of taels he gave to comfort him.

Chongzhen waved his hand and looked at Jin Yiwei.

Jin Yiwei replied with the same content and made a gesture. Chongzhen understood that he had something to say alone.

"You all, please go down. The matter of appeasing the families of the martyrs will be brought up in court tomorrow so that officials can spread the word that some people gave their lives to protect the granary."

Chongzhen waved his hand, Mao Liangji relaxed slightly, and left the gate together with the Jin Yiwei. Then, under the leadership of the internal officials, they left the palace in different directions.

Fire dragon burning the granary is a heavy word. Throughout the ages, the management of granaries has strictly controlled fireworks, but the granary in Qing County was burned in such a clever way.

"Chongzhen: Shopkeeper, as you thought, the fire dragon burned down the warehouse. They did it. I just don't know whether it was a partnership of grain merchants or a simple magistrate."

"Chen Ye: The one who comes up with a solution has the highest probability of taking action. Please pay attention to the trends of grain merchants recently. If they don't sell grain in the past few days, it means they are going to start speculating on grain."

Chen Ye was working overtime with Su Qing in the company, dealing with department store orders, when he suddenly saw a message from Chongzhen.

Regarding this news, Chen Ye can be said to be neither surprised nor surprised.

Because according to the nature of these officials, it would be strange not to do this.

In particular, if grain dealers want to lower prices, they must first let the officials have no grain on hand, even though Changpingcang is already almost sold by them on a daily basis.

But still usable and unusable are completely two different concepts.

Chen Ye mentioned this possibility when he told Chongzhen about the food war, but Chongzhen didn't believe it at that time.

Coupled with the inexplicable good condition of the Changping Granary in the capital, the grain merchants were caught off guard and grain prices dropped a bit. Chongzhen became more confident in the grain warehouses in various places.

However, with the incident of the fire dragon burning the warehouse, Chongzhen's luck was gone.

He is indeed a mascot trapped in the capital. Except for the emperor's rules in the capital, there is no control over him outside.

The Jin Yiwei who came back from the detour bowed to Chongzhen and handed over the two banknotes.

"Your Majesty, this is what Magistrate Lai Hongchang gave me, and he asked me to tell the truth about what I saw.

I am not a fool, so I cannot see the condition of the corpses, nor can I see whether the burnt black matter on the ground is grain. There is indeed mixed with burnt black grain.

However, I feel that even if those charred objects are food, they are far from hundreds of thousands of dan, or even tens of thousands of dan."

"What's the use of you? If you don't know anything, you still follow me. Can you count clearly? Do you know what 147 plus 103 is?"

"Your Majesty, it's 250."

Teng!

Hearing Jin Yiwei's immediate mental arithmetic, Chongzhen jumped up from his chair. Wang Chengen on the side looked at Jin Yiwei on the ground with a dark look on his face.

Jin Yiwei definitely doesn’t know what 250 means, but Chongzhen does.

Originally, he was just scolding Jin Yiwei for asking a math question, but he didn't expect that he ended up scolding himself. Chongzhen felt depressed for a while.

It’s hard to say, I feel aggrieved.

"Forget it, Wang Banban, according to the rules, give him one-tenth of the bribe amount."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The Jinyiwei Baihu happily accepted the two hundred and two coupons handed over by Wang Chengen. Although they didn't know why His Majesty and the chief eunuch both had bad faces, they still cooperated with a straight face and thanked them repeatedly as they accepted the reward.
To be continued...