Everyone present felt much better after listening to Hu Zongxian's words of comfort.
Just as everyone began to discuss the next response, a hurried-looking guard entered the meeting hall.
As soon as he entered the meeting hall, he knelt down on one knee and reported to Hu Zongxian.
"Your Majesty the Governor, there is a man outside the Governor's Mansion who claims to be Jiangxi Governor Cao Shunhe. He says he has a letter that he wants to deliver to you in person!"
When Hu Zongxian heard this, he almost stood up from his seat with excitement and immediately gave the order.
"Let him in quickly!"
"As you command, Lord Governor!"
After the guard responded, he didn't stop at all and quickly turned around and left.
Everyone in the meeting hall, after learning the news from the guards, felt as excited as Hu Zongxian.
He didn't even dare to express his anger. He stared at the door with a pair of eyes that could not be concealed.
Not long after, under the guidance of the guards, the visitor entered the meeting hall of the Governor's Mansion.
As soon as he entered the meeting hall, he knelt down on one knee and carefully took out the envelope from his arms. Then he looked at Hu Zongxian who was sitting at the top and said respectfully.
"My Lord Governor, this is my Lord's reply to you!"
"Before leaving, he told me that he must hand the letter into your hands personally!"
After hearing what the visitor said, Hu Zongxian immediately spoke.
"Well, bring the letter!"
"Yes, Lord Governor!"
After getting Hu Zongxian's permission, the visitor slowly got up from the ground and approached Hu Zongxian step by step.
The guards around him who were responsible for protecting Hu Zongxian were very nervous. While staring at the person with their eyes, their hands had quietly touched the weapons around their waists. As long as this person made any abnormal movement, they would kill him on the spot. Kill!
Fortunately, from beginning to end, the visitor did not make any move that could easily cause misunderstanding.
Seeing Hu Zongxian taking the envelope from the stranger's hand, the guards present could not help but heave a sigh of relief, and quietly let go of the hand holding the weapon.
After Hu Zongxian took the envelope from the stranger's hand, he looked away and immediately spoke.
"Well, I have received the letter!"
Seeing that the goal of his trip has been accomplished, the stone in the visitor's heart has quietly fallen to the ground, and the whole person can't help but relax.
Seeing this situation, Hu Zongxian said this to the visitor.
"You go down and rest for a while first!"
"Thank you, Lord Governor!"
Afterwards, the visitor followed the guards of the Governor's Mansion and left the meeting hall.
At this moment, the eyes of everyone present were invariably focused on the envelope in Hu Zongxian's hand. For them, the contents of the envelope would determine whether they could survive the crisis at hand.
Because of this, everyone's eyes were full of expectation, and in order not to disturb Hu Zongxian, everyone held their breath and did not dare to make even the slightest sound.
Hu Zongxian took in the expressions on the faces of everyone present, smiled, and then opened the envelope slowly and began to browse the contents on it. The contents of the letter are as follows.
"Brother Ruzhen, I have received the letter you sent earlier. Currently, the food available for mobilization in Jiangxi totals 28,000 shi."
"I have sent people to load the grain on the ship immediately. If nothing happens, the grain will be transported to Zhejiang in batches in about three days. I hope Brother Ruzhen doesn't have to worry!"
When Hu Zongxian looked away from the last word in the letter, he faced everyone's expectant eyes, stroked his beard, and laughed loudly: "Haha, okay, okay!"
Seeing Hu Zongxian's face beaming with joy, everyone couldn't help but become curious about the contents of the letter.
Later, Ma Ningyuan stood up first and asked Hu Zongxian.
"Teacher, what is the content of the letter, can you tell us?"
As soon as Ma Ningyuan finished speaking, He Maocai on the side also followed suit.
"Yes, Mr. Governor, just tell us!"
At this moment, Hu Zongxian was in a good mood, so he did not refuse everyone's request. He saw Hu Zongxian put the envelope away and said slowly.
"The governor of Jiangxi, Cao Shunhe, said in the letter that Jiangxi currently has a total of 28,000 shi of grain available for mobilization!"
"He has now ordered his subordinates to load the grain on the ship immediately. If nothing happens, the grain will be transported to Zhejiang in batches in about three days!"
After listening to Hu Zongxian's explanation, everyone finally felt relieved.
After hearing what Hu Zongxian said, Zheng Michang's face was filled with excitement. He stood up from his seat suddenly and said excitedly.
"My Lord Governor, please forgive me for speaking frankly. Twenty-eight thousand shi of grain, even if only 20,000 shi are shipped to Zhejiang, it is enough to survive this period of time, or even more than enough!"
"In a month or two, when the mulberry seedlings mature, everything will be no longer a problem!"
As soon as Zheng Michang finished speaking, Gao Hanwen on the side also followed suit.
"Yes, Lord Governor, with these 28,000 shi of food, the government will no longer have to worry about those farmers!"
At this moment, He Maocai took advantage of this opportunity to propose to Hu Zongxian.
"Mr. Governor, how about we take advantage of this moment to distribute all the relief grains in the warehouse to those farmers?"
“This way, we can save a lot of things.”
After hearing He Maocai's proposal, Hu Zongxian was keenly aware of the inappropriateness in it, and immediately shook his head and categorically refused.
"No, we must not take it lightly before the food is actually delivered to Zhejiang!"
When Hu Zongxian said this, he paused for a moment, looked around, and then continued.
"I would like to ask you, if something happens to the ships responsible for transporting food, and the food cannot be transported to Zhejiang on time, how should we respond?"
After finishing his words, before anyone could respond, Hu Zongxian continued: "By then, the food from Jiangxi has not yet been delivered, but the food from Zhejiang has been exhausted. You guys think carefully. Think about it, what will be the consequences?”
When everyone present continued to think along Hu Zongxian's train of thought, the picture that appeared in their minds made them shudder.
After that, a look of shame appeared on He Maocai's face, and he immediately lowered his head and admitted his mistake to Hu Zongxian.
"My Lord Governor, it was the lower official who acted abruptly. He was too excited and did not think of this, which almost caused a disaster!"
Hu Zongxian didn't care about this. He looked away from He Maocai and continued: "It doesn't matter. During this period, the amount of relief grains distributed will be kept the same as before."
"Only in this way can we survive this period!"
After Hu Zongxian finished speaking, everyone stood up from their seats and said in unison.
"Yes, Lord Governor!"
…
Jiangxi, Nanchang Prefecture.
At this moment, night fell, and Cao Shunhe returned to his mansion in the city after finishing his official duties for the day.
Cao Shunhe usually has a good sleep quality. As long as he lies on the bed and touches the pillow, he can fall asleep in the blink of an eye.
But tonight, no matter how much Cao Shunhe tossed and turned, there was no sleep at all. In addition, an indescribable feeling of palpitations filled his whole body and mind.
Helpless, Cao Shunhe had no choice but to put on his coat, get up from the bed, and then go to the study.
After re-lighting the candle in the study, Cao Shunhe took down a book at random from the bookshelf nearby. He planned to read for a while before going to bed.
Beside the pier, there were more than a dozen large ships responsible for transporting food quietly docked, and around the pier, except for a few scattered servants, there was no trace of anyone else.
Perhaps because they were bored, a few officers stopped patrolling and gathered together to chat.
"Oh, we brothers are really unlucky. We stay up late at night and have to look at these broken boats on the pier!"
"This guy is just incomparable. Look at Lao Li. He does nothing all day long and just hangs around Mr. Zhang. His life is much more comfortable than the rest of us!"
"Bah, if he hadn't secretly sent Master Zhang a large sum of filial piety, people wouldn't have bothered to look at him!"
"Oh, there is such a thing. How about we raise some money some other time to pay respect to Mr. Zhang and his elders?"
"Come on, it's hard to support yourself with this salary from the government. How can you collect the money? And for those adults, the court just raised their salaries not long ago!"
"It's better to study. If you pass the imperial examination, you won't have to worry about anything!"
I don't know who it was among those officers who made such a sentiment, which resonated with everyone present.
"Yeah, it's better to study!"
But just as they were chatting heatedly, they didn't notice at all that a group of men in black had quietly bypassed them and headed straight for the ships docked at the dock.
"Hey, do you smell anything? It seems like something is burning?"
At this moment, a guard stopped chatting, and after sniffing the smell in the air carefully, he immediately asked his companion on the side.
"Where does that smell come from? Why don't I smell anything?"
"Come on, what were we talking about just now? Yes, she is the girl from Dongxiang Tower. She is very good at that. It is said..."
Before the officer finished speaking, he was interrupted by the officer on the side.
The officer suddenly stood up from the ground, his face was extremely pale, his whole body was trembling, and he pointed with his finger at the dozens of large ships docked at the edge of the pier.
"Fire...fire, the boat is on fire!"
"What!"
When everyone heard this, they couldn't help but turn pale with shock. They immediately looked in the direction pointed by the officer, and saw that the dozens of ships that were docked at the dock earlier and were responsible for transporting grain were already burning with raging fires. The fire was getting bigger and bigger, and there was no hope of putting it out.
What was reflected by the orange firelight was not only the scene around the dock, but also the extremely panicked faces of the officers.
"It's on fire, come quickly!"
"on fire!"
…
Cao Shunhe closed the book in his hand without finishing it. At this moment, the bizarre plots in the book still appeared in his mind, and then he felt sleepy.
Just when Cao Shunhe was about to go back to sleep, he heard a rush of footsteps outside the door. The housekeeper pushed the door open and reported to Cao Shunhe: "Master, it's not good. The government just sent someone to inform you. They say something happened at the pier!"
When Cao Shunhe heard this, the sleepiness that had been brewing for a long time suddenly disappeared. He suddenly became excited and asked in a deep voice: "What happened?"
Facing Cao Shunhe's questioning, the housekeeper did not dare to hide anything. He lowered his head and carefully responded: "Sir, the dozen or so large ships used to transport food parked at the dock are on fire!"
"What!"
After learning the news from the housekeeper, Cao Shunhe did not dare to stay at all. After putting on his official uniform, he hurried to the dock under the escort of the guards.
Perhaps it was because everything that could be burned had been burned. When Cao Shunhe arrived at the dock, the fire had gradually dimmed. The government officials also took this opportunity to put out the fire vigorously and tried to save some from it. Supplies that survived.
When Cao Shunhe saw this situation, his face was full of gloom, and he looked at the burning ships not far away without saying a word.
When the official in charge of the dock saw Cao Shunhe coming in person, he knew that a disaster was imminent. In order to reduce his guilt, he quickly stepped forward and explained the reason to Cao Shunhe.
"Governor...Governor, this...this..."
Cao Shunhe just glanced at the official indifferently and gave him instructions without giving him any chance to explain.
"Call all the officers responsible for patrolling the pier tonight. I want to question them personally!"
"Yes, yes, Lord Governor, you... you wait a moment, I... I will go and call them over now!"
After hearing Cao Shunhe's instructions, the official in charge of the dock responded with fear and fear while wiping the sweat from his forehead with his sleeves.
Not long after, all the police officers who were previously responsible for patrolling near the dock were escorted up.
As soon as these officers were escorted up, they knelt on the ground with a plop and kept kowtowing on the ground to beg Cao Shun and the Jiangxi governor for forgiveness.
"Sir, please spare our lives!"
"This is an errand for the government. We are working hard and don't dare to relax at all!"
"Sir, I have an eighty-year-old mother who needs support, and a one-year-old child who is waiting to be fed. Please spare my life. I will work as a horse for you in the next life!"
As the officers talked and talked, they even began to cry quite sadly. They told about their own difficulties, and all of them shed tears when they heard it.
Cao Shunhe just glanced at them, then withdrew his gaze and said in a deep voice: "If you dare to talk nonsense again, I will send you to see the King of Hell immediately!"
Hearing this, the officers felt as if they were struck by lightning, and they had no choice but to kneel on the ground, not daring to say another word.
Immediately afterwards, Cao Shunhe stretched out his index finger, pointed at the dozens of large ships that were about to become wrecks at the dock, and asked in a deep voice.
"Now I ask you, how did these ships docked at the dock burn?"
After hearing what Cao Shunhe said, the officers exchanged glances with each other and hesitated for a long time without giving a more convincing explanation.
These officers knew very well that if they told the truth about the cause of the matter, they would definitely die.
If nothing else, just on the charge of dereliction of duty, they will lose their heads!
On the government side, if the murderer is not found for a long time, in order to set an example, they, the servants, will be singled out by the government and treated as scapegoats!
After that, seeing that Cao Shunhe's patience was almost exhausted, one of the guards suddenly had an idea in his mind, pointed to the sky with his finger, and immediately reported to Cao Shunhe with confidence.
"Sir, to tell you the truth, not long ago, my brothers saw several fire dragons suddenly flying through the air. After that, the ships docked near the dock started to catch fire inexplicably!"
As soon as the officer finished speaking, the remaining officers followed suit.
"Yes, sir, we really saw those fire dragons flying in the air!"
(End of chapter)
