After hearing this, Yan Song and Xu Jie suddenly had an unknown premonition in their hearts, and the facts proved that their premonition was correct.
Just as Jiajing finished speaking, Lu Fang, who was waiting beside Jiajing, stepped forward and brought the letter that Jiajing had read and recorded the current situation in Zhejiang to Yan Song and Xu Jie.
Jiajing raised his eyebrows, looking at Yan Song and Xu Jie with eyes full of teasing.
"You two, don't you want to see what is recorded here?"
Yan Song looked at the letter in front of him and couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief. He said to himself: "It seems that the strategy I adopted earlier was successful. His Majesty really became suspicious of this and sent Jin Yiwei to Zhejiang!"
Xu Jie, who was on the side, looked at the letter in Lu Fang's hand, a gloomy look flashed across his face, and then he glanced at Yan Song beside him without any trace, and said silently to himself.
"Hmph, I know that this old guy Yan Song will definitely not sit still and wait for death. Do you think I will let you go if you bring this matter to His Majesty?"
"Just wait, your end is already determined. I will step on your corpse and take the position of chief minister of the cabinet!"
Jiajing saw that Yan Song and Xu Jie were still not moving, a look of impatience flashed on their faces, and he immediately spoke to urge them.
"Yan Song, Xu Jie, I'm talking to you, don't you hear me?"
Seeing this, Yan Song and Xu Jie immediately knelt down on the ground with a plop and asked Jiajing for forgiveness.
"Your Majesty, the humble minister is guilty!"
When Jiajing heard this, his expression became even more impatient. He looked away from Yan Song and Xu Jie and said slowly.
"Aren't you two usually very eloquent and talkative?"
"What, mute?"
Xu Jie on the side just wanted to speak out his defense when he saw Jiajing's extremely cold eyes. He couldn't help but trembled all over, and immediately lowered his head deeply, not daring to say a word.
Yan Song had already accumulated rich experience in this area, so at this moment, he just lowered his head deeply and put on a rather remorseful look.
For the next period of time, Jiajing didn't speak anymore. He just rubbed the dragon head carved on the dragon chair and looked up and down at Yan Song and Xu Jie who were kneeling on the ground. He didn't know what he was thinking.
Just when Yan Song and Xu Jie thought that this matter would be over for the time being, Jiajing's Gujing Wubo voice sounded again: "Do you want me to repeat what I said before?"
Both Yan Song and Xu Jie heard the faint murderous intention contained in Jiajing's words. Immediately, Yan Song was the first to react, stood up from the ground tremblingly, and then took the letter from Lu Fang's hand.
Jiajing glanced at Yan Song rather indifferently and then gave instructions.
"Read it to me word for word!"
"As you command, Your Majesty!"
When Yan Song heard this, he immediately looked stern and said respectfully.
"Your Majesty, about a month ago, the grain in the hands of local mulberry farmers in Zhejiang was purchased by unknown people at a high price."
"Those mulberry farmers don't have enough food in their hands, so they have no choice but to rely on the relief food distributed by the government!"
When Yan Song read this, he paused for a moment and then continued.
"It's just that the relief grain stored by the local government in Zhejiang cannot support the consumption of these mulberry farmers at all, so..."
Before Yan Song finished reading, he was interrupted impatiently by Jiajing: "Okay, stop reading and show this letter to Xu Jie!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
After Yan Song responded, he immediately handed the letter in his hand to Xu Jie who was standing aside.
When Xu Jie took the letter from Yan Song's hand, his body trembled even more exaggeratedly than Yan Song did before.
After Xu Jie finished browsing the contents of the letter, Jiajing withdrew his gaze and said slowly.
"You two, since you have read the contents of the letter, don't you have anything you want to say to me?"
"Think carefully and then answer after thinking about it!"
There is no doubt that both Yan Song and Xu Jie felt a huge crisis from what Jiajing just said!
If his answer does not satisfy the emperor, his end will be very easy to foresee.
Because of this, Xu Jie stood up and carefully gave his response after thinking about it for a long time.
"Your Majesty, I have an unshirkable responsibility for this matter!"
Seeing Xu Jie admitting his mistake so straightforwardly, Jiajing couldn't help but have a look of surprise on his face, and then asked with interest.
"Oh, in that case, tell me, where is your responsibility?"
Seeing this situation, Xu Jie couldn't help but let down his guard. After organizing the words in his mind, he continued: "Your Majesty, Wei Chen, as the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, has no idea about the shortage of food in Zhejiang. I have neglected my duty!"
"Therefore, Wei Chen implores Your Majesty to give Wei Chen a chance to make up for his past mistakes!"
"After coming down, Wei Chen will immediately ask the Ministry of Revenue to allocate grain to Zhejiang!"
Yan Song on the side heard this and subconsciously wanted to retort: "Your Majesty, you must not..."
However, before Yan Song had time to say his words of advice, he saw Jiajing's face suddenly become extremely gloomy.
"Xu Jie, are you treating me like a child?"
"No matter what happens, it will take at least ten days to transport grain from the Ministry of Revenue to Zhejiang!"
"If you are not lucky enough, it is very likely that the ship transporting grain will encounter bad weather on the way, or even be robbed by bandits along the way. This will delay a lot of time, and the grain will not be delivered on time. Zhejiang!"
When Jiajing said this, he turned his gaze to Xu Jie and immediately asked.
"Xu Jie, I ask you, what are your intentions?"
When Xu Jie saw this, he immediately knelt on the ground in fear, knocked his head on the ground with a bang, and then said in a deep voice.
"Your Majesty, I am wronged!"
"I was in a hurry and didn't take these details into consideration just now. Please forgive me!"
"The loyalty I show you to Your Majesty can be learned from heaven and earth!"
When Xu Jie raised his head, his forehead was already covered with blood. He looked quite embarrassed at this moment, and he did not have half the majesty of a second minister in the cabinet.
Jiajing took his eyes away from Xu Jie and immediately gave instructions.
"The most important thing to do now is not to adjust grains from the Ministry of Household Affairs, but to consider adjusting grains from neighboring provinces in Zhejiang!"
As soon as Jiajing finished speaking, Yan Song on the side added.
"Your Majesty, according to the news we have received before, currently the only two provinces adjacent to Zhejiang are Jiangxi and Fujian, and there is still excess food available for mobilization!"
After listening to Yan Song's explanation, Jiajing did not make a decision, but gave the choice to Yan Song and said.
"Oh, in that case, Yan Song, where do you think it is better to adjust the food?"
Yan Song heard what Jiajing said and responded without thinking.
"Your Majesty, I think we should adjust the food supply from Jiangxi right now!"
In Yan Song's view, Tan Lun from Fujian is a well-deserved person from Qingliu. If food is transferred from Fujian by then, there will definitely be obstacles.
As for Jiangxi, Cao Shunhe, who is currently the governor of Jiangxi, does not have many connections in the court, and Hu Zongxian personally led his troops to Jiangxi not long ago to put down the rebellion!
Both emotionally and rationally, Hu Zongxian had great kindness to Cao Shunhe. Therefore, choosing Jiangxi as the place to transfer grain to Zhejiang would definitely be much smoother!
When Xu Jie on the side heard this, a hint of joy suddenly flashed in his eyes, and he quickly added.
"Your Majesty, I think Mr. Yan Ge made the right choice!"
“Whether it’s the level of wealth, the distance from Zhejiang, or even the method of transporting grain, transporting grain from Jiangxi to Zhejiang is an excellent choice!”
Yan Song on the side saw Xu Jie supporting his proposal so keenly that something was wrong.
"Why is Xu Jie so supportive of adjusting grain from Jiangxi? Is there any trap in this?"
Just when Yan Song was still organizing words in his mind, trying to persuade Jiajing to change the province of grain distribution from Jiangxi to Fujian, Jiajing waved his hand and immediately gave instructions.
"Okay, this matter is settled, let's adjust the grain from Jiangxi!"
Seeing that the emperor had made the final decision, Yan Song had no choice but to respond helplessly, even though he felt unwilling to do so.
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
…
Jiangxi, Nanchang Prefecture.
At this moment, Cao Shunhe was sitting in front of the desk, processing corresponding official documents.
Since the last incident subsided, the forces in Jiangxi have been reshuffled. The salt merchants who were once the dominant and deep-rooted salt merchants in Jiangxi were led by Hu Zongxian and killed them all. Not only that, but all the salt merchants they owned His huge family property was confiscated and confiscated into the national treasury!
After that, the imperial court did not stop there, but launched a major purge of the entire Jiangxi officialdom. Except for Jiangxi Governor Cao Shunhe, most other officials were involved.
The person responsible for carrying out this great purge was none other than Liu Mi, the envoy of Jinyiwei Town who rushed to Jiangxi with Hu Zongxian. During that time, heads were being killed and rivers of blood flowed throughout Jiangxi!
Those officials who were lucky enough to survive were in panic all day long, while the people all applauded this!
After that, with the arrival of a new group of officials, Jiangxi as a whole gradually got on the right track.
Since the newly arrived officials had witnessed the tragic end of their predecessors, in order to keep their hats on their heads, they were cautious and did not dare to treat the people too harshly.
Because of this, compared with other provinces in the Ming Dynasty, the current Jiangxi can barely be described with four words: political leadership, people and people.
Just as Cao Shunhe finished processing the official documents in his hand, he was about to take a break and drink tea.
There was a rush of footsteps outside, and a moment later, a guard with a hurried look came in, kneeling on one knee and respectfully reporting.
"Sir Governor, there is a person outside who claims to be the governor of Zhejiang Province and the governor of Zhejiang Province Hu Zongxian. He says he has a letter that he wants to deliver to you in person!"
After hearing this, Cao Shunhe thought about it for a moment and then immediately ordered: "Well, let him come in!"
"Yes, Lord Governor!"
After receiving Cao Shunhe's instructions, the guard did not stop at all and quickly turned around and left.
Not long after, under the leadership of the guards, the confidant who had been entrusted by Hu Zongxian to deliver the letter successfully met Cao Shunhe.
As soon as he entered the room, he carefully took out the letter from his arms, lowered his head and said respectfully.
"I've met the governor!"
"Um."
Seeing this, Cao Shunhe nodded slightly to the visitor, then immediately turned his attention to the letter in his hand and asked.
"Is this the letter your master asked you to personally deliver to me?"
After hearing this, the visitor did not dare to hide anything, and immediately responded respectfully.
"Yes, Lord Governor, my Lord has said that I must hand the letter into your hands personally!"
Cao Shunhe looked away, took the letter from the stranger's hand, and immediately gave instructions.
"Well, I have received the letter. You can go down and rest first!"
Seeing that his mission for this trip was successfully completed, the visitor couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief, and immediately left the room under the leadership of the guards.
Soon, Cao Shunhe was the only one left in the room. After that, he opened the envelope slowly and read the contents word by word. The contents of the letter are as follows.
"Brother Fengqing, right now, in Zhejiang, the grain in the hands of mulberry farmers has been purchased by unknown people at high prices, resulting in food shortages. If this continues, the conversion of rice to mulberry promoted by the court will be unsustainable. I Hu Zongxian is here, asking for your help in a personal name, I, Hu Zongxian, will be very grateful!"
Cao Shunhe quickly browsed through the contents of the letter. Judging from the handwriting on it, it was undoubtedly Hu Zongxian's personal letter!
Immediately afterwards, Cao Shunhe looked at the handwritten letter from Hu Zongxian in his hand, and combined with the previous notice issued by the Ministry of Revenue, the context of the entire matter had been formed in Cao Shunhe's mind.
After a long time, Cao Shunhe sighed helplessly, and then sighed.
"Alas, things turned out not to be unexpected, and the fight started again!"
"It's just that this time, both sides chose Zhejiang as the battlefield. Yan Dang's side needs to succeed in converting rice into mulberry. While accumulating chips for themselves, they can also show their abilities to the emperor in disguise, while Qingliu's side needs to succeed. , then tried every means to make the conversion of rice into mulberry fail, and their purpose was to completely overthrow the Yan Party and then replace it!"
"In this way, the notice issued by the Ministry of Revenue and the handwritten letter sent to me by Hu Zongxian can be explained!"
Although Cao Shunhe already knew the ins and outs of the whole matter, an unavoidable question was now placed in front of him.
That is, who do you listen to?
If you follow the orders from the Ministry of Revenue, you will offend the strict party. If you follow Hu Zongxian's request to transfer grain from Jiangxi to Zhejiang, you will inevitably offend the people in Qingliu.
In this way, Cao Shunhe fell into a dilemma.
He knows very well that he does not have many connections in the court to use. If he really encounters impeachment, not many people in the court will stand up and speak for him!
After weighing the pros and cons, Cao Shunhe seemed to have made up his mind. He gritted his teeth and made his decision: "Damn it, why do you think so much!"
"No matter what, Hu Zongxian has shown great kindness to me and I must repay it. The worst is, I am no longer the governor of Jiangxi!"
(End of chapter)
