While many high-ranking officials in the capital were still rushing around for the upcoming 100-day banquet without stopping for a moment, Hai Rui, who was in Kaifeng, Henan, did not have such worries.
Shortly after he returned to the inn where he lived from Shiqiao Village, he received an invitation from Pan Xian, the governor of Henan, inviting him to attend a banquet at his house in the evening.
After Hai Rui took the extremely exquisite and gilt-decorated invitation from the guard, he turned his eyes to the visitor, pondered for a moment, and said slowly.
"Excuse me, please go back and inform your elders that I will attend the appointment on time!"
Seeing that the purpose of his trip had been achieved, the man sent by Pan Xian to deliver the invitation breathed a sigh of relief, and then responded respectfully.
"Yes, your Majesty the Imperial Envoy, I will convey your words to my family exactly as they are!"
After saying this, the visitor left the inn without stopping.
After the visitor left, Hai Rui was seen sitting at the top, carefully playing with the invitation in his hand, wondering what he was thinking.
When Xiao Er saw this, he immediately stepped forward and asked Hai Rui.
"Sir, are you worried about something?"
After hearing this, Hai Rui came back to his senses, threw the invitation in his hand casually on the table aside, and said.
"I am worried that their invitation to me to the banquet this time is fake. They are secretly manipulating and destroying the evidence."
When Hai Rui said this, he paused for a moment, as if he remembered something, and began to sort out the current situation in his mind.
"Now I have the confession of the official who was responsible for collecting grain. In addition, I have also found three rice merchants with strong backgrounds: Huitong, Guanghui, and Ju'an."
"Finally, and most importantly, it is confirmed that officials here are forcibly confiscating food from the people. There is indeed a lot of trouble in the granary!"
Hai Rui continued to think along this line of thought, and soon, a bold conjecture gradually emerged in his mind.
"For a long time, local officials in Henan have been tampering with the grain stored in official warehouses!"
"By secretly transporting the grain stored in the official warehouse, and then transporting the transported grain to the rice store run by his own white gloves for selling."
"And part of the money earned from selling grain was used to bribe high-ranking officials in the capital, in order to get them to turn a blind eye."
"With the high-ranking officials in the capital as their backing, their actions have become increasingly bold."
"And this can exactly explain why the officials here dare to ignore the court's orders and collect large amounts of grain from the people. This is obviously using the food rations earned by the people's hard work to fill the holes they have created!"
After thinking about all this, Hai Rui couldn't restrain his inner anger. He slammed the table and cursed: "These damn insects!"
Xiao Er on the side was startled by Hai Rui's sudden move, but he did not dare to make any movement for fear of disturbing Hai Rui's thinking.
After thinking about all this, Hai Rui put himself into the other party's perspective and began to think about what strategy he should adopt if he encountered such a situation.
After a long time, Hai Rui came back to his senses, full of energy, looking confident, and muttering silently to himself.
"I should have thought of it long ago. The simplest and most direct way is to destroy the evidence!"
Then, Hai Rui came back to his senses, took out the envelope from his arms quite solemnly, handed it into Xiao Er's hand, and then gave instructions.
"Go and give this letter to the commander here, Fang Qian. He will know what to do!"
"As you command, my lord!"
Xiao Er took the envelope, bowed his hand to Hai Rui, and turned around to leave the inn without stopping.
…
Henan, Kaifeng Fuyamen.
After Pan Xian learned from his subordinates that Hai Rui would attend the banquet as scheduled tonight, he summoned Yang Yinglin and began to discuss the next countermeasures.
Pan Xian was seen sitting at the top. After picking up the tea cup and taking a sip of tea, he turned his attention to Yang Yinglin.
Immediately afterwards, what happened in the past few days continued to appear in Pan Xian's mind like a slideshow.
Thinking of this, Pan Xian was no longer in the mood to continue discussing countermeasures. He only looked away and scolded him.
"Look at the people you use. In just a few days, people are already showing their flaws!"
"There is more food in the granary than less, and he still makes excuses that it was taken from the mouths of rats. He is treating the imperial envoy as a fool!"
"Also, before the imperial envoy arrived, I gave you countless warnings to be more careful when doing things!"
"But you, knowing that the imperial envoy has arrived in Henan, why don't you ask your officials to restrain themselves?"
When Pan Xian said this, he didn't know whether it was because he was too excited or for some other reason. He started coughing non-stop. His chest heaved violently and he looked quite embarrassed.
After resting for a moment and taking a breath, Pan Xian was furious when he looked at Yang Yinglin in front of him, and then continued.
"It's better for you to turn a deaf ear to what I said. You actually dared to go against the wind and commit a crime. You asked your officials to go to Shiqiao Village to seize food. The imperial envoy caught him in the act. How do you want me to tell the imperial envoy? Sir, please explain?"
"Didn't this reveal everything?"
After receiving this reprimand, Yang Yinglin did not show any anger on his face, because he knew in his heart that he had an unshirkable responsibility for the situation that happened now.
But despite this, Yang Yinglin still wanted to defend himself, but he organized the words in his mind and carefully explained: "My Lord Governor, I have already explained what you just said, but... "
Pan Xian glanced at Yang Yinglin, sneered, and interrupted impatiently: "It's just that no one takes it to heart, right?"
"I don't even know how you became the chief envoy. If I had known, I would have..."
Seeing that Pan Xian had a tendency to continue, Yang Yinglin quickly interrupted.
"Sir Governor, no matter how much you regret it now, it's useless. Let's think about how to get rid of this matter!"
Seeing this situation, Pan Xian sighed helplessly, and then spoke.
"Forget it, I have already prepared countermeasures. If Hai Rui is still stubborn and wants to continue investigating, we will give him a "fire dragon burning the warehouse" tonight."
"The fire dragon burns the warehouse!"
When Yang Yinglin on the side heard this, he stood up from his seat suddenly, with a look of shock that could not be concealed on his face, and he couldn't help but say something.
Pan Xian saw the expression on Yang Yinglin's face, a fierce look appeared on his face, he immediately clenched his fists and said in a deep voice.
"Well, that's right. A fire will burn all the evidence. I wonder how this Hai Rui can continue to investigate!"
"At that time, all we need to do is confirm that the fire dragon really appeared in the sky. Can Hai Rui do anything to us?"
After hearing Pan Xian's idea, Yang Yinglin showed a distressed look on his face and hesitated.
"But sir, if this fire continues, we will suffer heavy losses!"
After hearing what Yang Yinglin said, Pan Xian raised his eyebrows and said rather disdainfully.
"If the money is gone, you can still earn it again, but if your life is gone, what's the point of having so much money? Can you keep it to spend in the underworld?"
(End of chapter)
