In Licheng, Qizhou, the imperial envoy traveled to the palace and study room.
Bai Yutang just rushed back from Jeju. After seeing the situation in Licheng, he didn't care about rest and hurriedly came to see Yan Chasan.
"Master Yan, why haven't you prepared shelter for the victims outside the city?"
"Also, why is Licheng so depressed?"
Yan Chasan was very happy to see Bai Yutang back, but when he saw him asking questions, he was speechless.
Seeing this, Han Zhang, the Chedi Mouse, explained angrily: "Aren't they the local gentry and grain merchants?"
"Master Yan originally planned to stabilize local grain prices, but those grain dealers deliberately set up a trap. Not only did they defraud us of a lot of disaster relief funds, but the civilians in the city also suffered great losses."
Yan Chasan shook his head helplessly and said, "I mistrusted the villain. When it comes to buying low, selling high, and manipulating prices, I am not as smart as those businessmen after all."
Han Zhang quickly explained for him:
"There are also those corrupt officials. They always oppose the adults and protect the gentry and grain merchants. Otherwise, it would not be like this."
After speaking, he added: "As for the winter shelters for the victims, the progress is still very fast."
"Master Yan didn't trust local officials, so he personally recruited thousands of craftsmen to build residences for the victims. Now more than half of them have been built."
"It should all be completed before the year. Although there are occasional victims who freeze to death, they are a minority after all and are inevitable... Fifth brother, don't be impatient."
When Bai Yutang heard this, huge disappointment flashed in his eyes, he shook his head and said:
"Before I come back, all the food and accommodation for the winter have been prepared in the seven states that Cao Bin is responsible for."
"And there is enough food and stable shelter. Now the victims there have begun to build prefectural and county offices and city walls!"
Yan Chasan and Han Zhang were immediately at a loss for words. After a long while, Yan Chasan said with difficulty: "He is working for relief? His food..."
As he spoke, he nodded thoughtfully and said:
"Yes, he is colluding with the local grain dealers and buying grain at high prices. Naturally, there is enough food now, but it will still be a long time until next autumn harvest."
Then, he asked: "Is Guard Lu coming back soon?"
Han Zhang said quickly:
"Yes, sir, the first batch of food is 380,000 dan, and it will be transported by my elder brother. It will arrive in three to five days."
Yan Chasan's eyes shone with joy, he nodded and said:
"That's good. With food, we can implement the work-for-relief method and stabilize food prices."
"How can those grain merchants resist this time?"
"Even if I lose some more money and food, I will never collude with those corrupt officials."
Han Zhang opened his mouth, wanting to persuade Yan Chasan, but in the end he didn't say anything.
Previously, he had lost 80,000 to 90,000 guan to stabilize food prices, and another 100,000 guan was spent on building shelters for the victims. Now Yan Chasan doesn't have much money left.
Cao Bin saved a lot in this regard. He implemented work-for-relief, and he only had to pay for food, which was fast and stable.
Seeing that his problem here was solved, Yan Chasan remembered Bai Yutang's mission.
"Brother Bai, have you collected any evidence of corruption by Cao Bin, Chang Feng and others?"
Upon hearing this, Bai Yutang took out a pamphlet and said:
"This is the grain purchase accounts and bribery records between local officials and Cao Bin."
As he spoke, his eyes were full of anger and he said:
"When I was in Jeju, officials bribed Cao Bin every day. Gold, silver, jade, silk and silk were all ordinary."
"There are also various antiques, rare treasures, beautiful women..."
“Some of these women were taken from good families by force from ordinary people’s homes.”
"When Cao Bin goes out, if he takes one more look at a woman on the street, someone will try to intimidate him and lure him."
"I heard from the servants at the imperial envoy's camp that Cao Bin's bribes had already filled a courtyard."
"Some people jokingly call it the 'Soft Red Hall' because of the many treasures in the courtyard and the warm and fragrant soft jade!"
Listening to Bai Yutang's introduction, Yan Chasan could no longer suppress the anger in his heart and said to himself:
"This Cao Bin is simply a bug in the country. He is lawless. I will impeach him."
Bai Yutang continued: "In addition to Cao Bin, Shandong pacification envoy Chang Feng and others are also greedy."
"I suspect that they were secretly planning the fires caused by the mob's riots when the imperial court first distributed relief funds."
"The purpose is to swallow the imperial court's disaster relief supplies..."
Yan Chasan calmed down a little at this time, walked around the study twice, and muttered:
"I have to write a letter to inform the teacher about this. In the past few times, all the memorials I submitted have fallen into disarray."
"I'm afraid someone in the court is colluding with them to cover up this matter..."
He guessed very accurately that someone had indeed intercepted his memorial.
Cao Bin was reading the letter sent by Grand Master Pang at this time, which talked about Yan Chasan's memorial and reminded him to be careful.
Since arriving in Shandong, Yan Chasan has been on the list several times, especially to impeach Cao Bin.
If Taishi Pang hadn't temporarily cut off part of it, the imperial court might have sent someone to investigate.
Cao Bin read the letter with a dark face and felt very uncomfortable. This was a toad crawling on his feet. It couldn't hurt anyone, but it was disgusting.
Although he had already prepared for the investigation, the emperor must have had a bad impression of himself after hearing too many memorials like this.
"Come here, ask Xia Laodao and Shi Qian to come over."
After pondering for a moment, Cao Bin ordered.
It was already the twelfth lunar month, and he had to return to Beijing to report on his work and report the disaster relief situation to the court, so he had to prepare in advance and take a preemptive strike.
Three days passed in a flash.
On this day, Yan Chasan was leading people outside the city to inspect the resettlement of the victims, but Bai Yutang ran back with Lu Fang on his back covered in blood.
"Master Yan, my eldest brother was attacked by Liangshan bandits, and all the food was stolen!"
Hearing this, Yan Chasan almost fainted.
That's 380,000 shi of food. Throwing away this food would not only disrupt all his plans, but also face a situation where there would be no food for relief in the future.
Although he had gotten the exact answer, he still couldn't believe it:
"Liangshan bandits, do they dare to attack official ships? Steal official supplies?"
Lu Fang smiled weakly and said:
"I underestimated them. Uncle Zhongjing once reminded us, but we didn't take it to heart."
After hearing what he said, Yan Chasan also recalled it.
When he first arrived in Jeju, he wanted to send the Tiger Wing Navy to supervise the counties, but Cao Bin refused because of the threat of bandits.
After staying for a while, Yan Chasan stamped his feet and said: "It's too late to say anything now, the key is how to save it!"
Bai Yutang said: "Please give me five hundred soldiers, sir, and I will go and get the food back."
Lu Fang hurriedly said: "Fifth brother, please don't be impulsive. Liangshanbo is 800 miles wide and powerful. We don't have a naval force. How can we attack it?"
At this time, Yan Chasan was extremely anxious and could not care about the previous conflicts. He determinedly said: "I'll go find Cao Bin and Chang Feng to borrow troops!"
So he personally ran to Jeju City to ask for help.
Cao Bin refused simply. He wanted to see Yan Chasan in trouble, so why would he help him?
Moreover, he only has 1,500 imperial troops at his disposal, and he has to guard millions of money and food. Once someone takes advantage of the loophole, the consequences will be disastrous.
After all, he didn't trust the local soldiers very much.
However, Chang Feng did not refuse directly. While dragging Yan Chasan, he secretly prepared his troops without knowing what he meant.
Yan Chasan hated the two of them for not taking official matters first, but he had no choice but to buy some high-priced grain to temporarily tide over the difficulties.
In the blink of an eye, more than half a month has passed.
The victims of the disaster in Jeju and other seven states are completely on the right track. Although they are constantly tired every day, at least they will not go hungry.
They had even missed Cao Bin. For the victims, as long as they were fed, they did not care about the reputation of the officials or how much corruption they had committed.
Maybe only the civilians in the city didn't miss Cao Bin. After all, "the price of grain hurts the people." Cao Bin made them bear more than three times the price of food, which has not changed.
But at least they still have life insurance. If they go bankrupt and can't afford to eat, they still have the option of becoming disaster victims...
What's more, there is a comparison so close at hand?
Didn’t you see that the people of Qi, Zi, and Qingzhou were already in dire straits at this time?
They can't get even half a catty of food every day, and they will die of cold and starvation if they are not careful.
On the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, after harvesting the last batch of high-priced grain, Cao Bin was ready to return to Beijing, but the grain merchants were still transporting grain, preparing to make a lot of money.
