When Zhang Guangdao heard Zhao Shan's words, he stood up first and said: "Your Majesty, I will come first."
Zhao Shan nodded slightly.
Zhang Guangdao took out a book from his wide sleeves, held it in his hands and raised it high, with a respectful gesture, and said loudly: "Your Majesty, here is the list of supplies prepared by the Zhang family."
"Two thousand acres of the Zhang family's land will be left, and the rest will be handed over."
"All the people under the control of the Zhang family have also been released and will no longer be restrained. The money and food that the Zhang family should prepare are all sealed in the Zhang family's warehouse, ready for inspection by Your Majesty at any time."
Zhang Guangdao bowed and said loudly: "Your Majesty, please check it out."
The soldier took the land yellow book handed over by Zhang Guangdao and handed it to Zhao Shan.
Zhao Shan opened it and glanced at it roughly, then said: "The Zhang family is in Yangzhou and has 33,000 acres of land under its jurisdiction, leaving 2,000 acres and handing over 31,000 acres. The population of the people released by the Zhang family, There are more than 5,300 people.”
Zhang Guangdao said respectfully: "Your Majesty, there is no problem with this data. Please check it carefully."
Of course Zhao Shan knew that Zhang Guangdao was not lying.
The land data calculated by Gao Yuan is actually not that much. It is only more than 28,000 acres of fertile land, leaving out about 5,000 acres. After all, it is impossible for Gao Yuan's Dongchang to know the secrets of the Zhang family, so it is normal for the data to be less.
This also proves that Zhang Guangdao was completely willing to risk his life for the official position of Wujun Prefect.
This is good for Zhao Shan.
You can imagine how strong the Zhang family's control over the local area will be if the Zhang family occupies so much land and countless people rely on the Zhang family to make a living.
This is not the strongest family.
Zhao Shan ordered: "Wei Wan!"
"I'm here!"
Wei Wan stood up and answered.
Zhao Shan ordered: "Take your people and go to the Zhang family quickly to check the Zhang family's food and money."
"As you command!"
Wei Wan turned around and left after receiving the order.
Zhao Shan was not in a hurry to deal with everything and waited quietly for the time being. Not long after, Wei Wan came back with his people and reported: "Reporting to Your Majesty, the grain presented by the Zhang family is last year's autumn grain. It is not old grain, and there is no sand and gravel. The grain is very good. The Zhang family distributed thirty-five grains. The ten thousand taels of silver are of perfect quality and there is nothing wrong with them.”
Zhao Shan praised: "Zhang Guangdao, you are very good!"
"Thank you for the compliment, Your Majesty."
Zhang Guangdao looked respectful and said: "This is what I should do, it is my duty."
Zhao Shan asked again: "Who is coming next?"
Gu Xianxiong planned to stand up, but Yu Yong took the lead and said loudly: "Your Majesty, I am coming from the Yu family."
As he spoke, Yu Yong handed over a list of supplies, which clearly recorded the amount of land, grain, silver and population paid.
Zhao Shan opened it and browsed, first looking at the total amount of land owned by the Yu family.
Land can be judged intuitively.
According to the data submitted by the Yu family, there are 46,800 acres of land. After deducting the 2,000 acres of the Yu family, 44,800 acres of land were handed over.
Zhao Shan nodded in his heart.
Gao Yuan found that the Yu family's land was about 40,000 acres, and the reported land was 46,000 acres, so there should be no problem.
This is the heritage of a century-old family.
The Yu family has expanded from generation to generation and annexed land from generation to generation, until it has reached such a scale now. Such a big family has no shortage of money and food. There is also countless food stored in the family's cellars and warehouses.
The Yu family is not worried about not having enough food.
Throughout the dynasties, local large families did not worry about being hungry.
In times of peace and prosperity, large families could develop rapidly and enjoy many of the dividends of prosperity by relying on their family's heritage advantages.
The world is in chaos, the people are in hardship, and the big families are taking advantage of the situation to expand.
If the place is in chaos, the people at the lowest level will not rebel immediately, nor can they immediately follow. Those are rare cases, and someone must organize them. In most cases, after people go bankrupt, they will first borrow food from large families to survive.
The borrowed money and food could not be repaid, so he had to sell the land and live on renting the land from the big family, and finally became completely dependent on the big family.
The people who really can't survive are either wandering or dying. Only when someone takes the lead in rebellion can the climate be formed, and the people dare to rebel.
You don’t rebel just casually.
The big family maintains countless servants and guards. These are not just freeloaders, they are enough to suppress small groups of troubles.
Zhao Shan once again arranged for Wei Wan to investigate the food situation. He still did not ask people from each family to swarm in to submit the list. He just investigated one by one.
When the food and money donated by Yu Yong were investigated, Gu Xianxiong became a little nervous.
The reason is simple. He persuaded Yu Yong.
In Gu Xianxiong's understanding, Yu Yong, like him, uses old food as good food.
Yu Yong is different from Zhang Guangdao. He is on his side and on the side of Yangzhou's wealthy families. If there is no problem with Yu Yong's food, then the various families will naturally have no problem.
Wei Wan came back soon and reported: "Your Majesty, the Yu family's food and money are fine."
"very good!"
Zhao Shanyan said two words concisely and comprehensively.
Gu Xianxiong planned to stand up, but as soon as he took a step, Bai Wanli took the lead again. He was already kneeling on the ground, holding a list of supplies in both hands, and offering the supplies that the Bai family needed to bear.
After Zhao Shan checked it, he ordered Wei Wan to investigate and found that there were no problems with the food and money. People from the Zhou family, Fan family and other families came forward one after another, and Wei Wan investigated without touching the ground.
Without exception, no problem.
Zhao Shan saw that the land donated by each family was similar to the data provided by small families and Gao Yuan. The difference was only a few hundred acres of land, which meant that the difference between big families was greater.
Each family acted as agreed, and in the end only Gu Xianxiong was left.
Gu Xianxiong was no longer worried at all.
Every family will advance and retreat with him. The Yu family, Bai family, Fan family, Zhou family, etc. will have no problem. His Gu family will naturally have no problem.
Things are very simple now.
Gu Xianxiong had a faint smile on his lips, mocking Zhang Guangdao for being sentimental.
After everyone had finished reporting, Gu Xianxiong stood up calmly and saluted: "Your Excellency, Gu Xianxiong, pays homage to Your Majesty."
Zhao Shan chuckled and said, "Your Gu family is the largest family in Yangzhou. I look forward to your donation of land, food and other materials."
Gu Xianxiong took out the list from his sleeve and said loudly: "Your Majesty, please take a closer look."
Zhao Shan took the book and browsed it, with deep eyes, and said calmly: "The land donated by the Gu family is more than 76,500 acres. The population to be cleared out is more than 13,000 people, which is quite a lot."
Gu Xianxiong said confidently: "The grassroots have been busy with this matter during this period, and they dare not let down your majesty's trust. Today, we have finally prepared the Gu family's supplies, please see your majesty carefully."
Zhao Shan was noncommittal. He didn't say yes or no. He said, "Wei Wan, go and take a look at the grain and silver."
Wei Wan left with people again.
The distance from Prince Wu's Mansion to the Gu family's granary was not far. Wei Wan went to do a random inspection and came back soon.
Wei Wan looked grim and said loudly: "Your Majesty, the grains of the Gu family that I found were all shoddy old grains, full of all kinds of gravel, the grains were also eaten by insects, and a lot of the rice was broken. Smash the rice. The rice husks were found to be dark, indicating that they were at least four years old. The silver presented by the Gu family was fine, but the grain was completely substandard."
brush!
Gu Xianxiong's expression changed drastically.
Everyone is qualified except him. However, everyone is the same, how could he be the only one who can't do it?
Gu Xianxiong was unwilling to give in and said loudly: "Your Majesty, the food of my Gu family and the food of each family are like this. They are all a batch of food. Why can the food of each family pass the test, but only the Gu family can't?"
Zhao Shan stared at Wei Wan and said, "Wei Wan, what did you say?"
Wei Wan said: "Your Majesty, this is not against Gu Xianxiong, but Gu Xianxiong's fault. The food presented by each family is, without exception, the autumn grain harvested just last year. It is clean without any grain of sand and there is no shortage of grain. Only Gu Xianxiong deceived His Majesty by pretending to be inferior in order to get through."
boom!
Gu Xianxiong's mind felt like thunder exploding.
Everyone was completely confused.
What each family presented was last year's autumn grain, and the grain was clean without any grains of sand.
how can that be possible?
Gu Xianxiong had been in contact with people from various families for a long time. Every family recognized his proposal and were willing to use such food as good food. The emperor was unlikely to understand it anyway.
Unexpectedly, he became a clown all by himself.
Gu Xianxiong suddenly looked at Zhang Guangdao, and saw that Zhang Guangdao was looking at his nose and heart, looking indifferent, as if he had nothing to do with him.
No, it’s Zhang Guangdao.
It was Zhang Guangdao who caused all this.
Before, Zhang Guangdao came to him and stated that the Zhang family would not be with Gu Xianxiong. Unexpectedly, Zhang Guangdao quietly convinced everyone and made everyone switch sides, putting him in trouble.
Gu Xianxiong turned to look at Zhao Shan, and his heart felt cold for a moment.
He swore to Zhao Shan that he would do things in a down-to-earth manner, but now he is violating it. Zhao Shan gave him a chance, but he betrayed Zhao Shan for the sake of family interests.
This is the crime of deceiving the emperor.
Gu Xianxiong was thinking about how to deal with it, feeling extremely urgent.
thump!
Gu Xianxiong knelt down on the ground without hesitation and said in a hurry: "Your Majesty, the common people don't know what's going on? They clearly arranged last year's grain, but it was replaced by old grain, and there is so much gravel."
"This matter must be caused by embezzlement and embezzlement by the people below to line their own pockets. The ordinary people are guilty. Please allow the ordinary people to make meritorious service and let me investigate the family's situation and make up for all the food."
Zhang Guangdao knows the principle of being harmed by a snake instead of dying.
Since Gu Xianxiong was plotted. Gu Xianxiong cannot be allowed to recover, otherwise the Zhang family will definitely suffer a counterattack from the Gu family.
Zhang Guangdao took the lead and said: "Your Majesty, it's not that Gu Xianxiong didn't know that the people below were enriching his own pockets, he knowingly committed the crime. He once made an appointment with the old man, hoping that the old man would also give the old grain to your majesty with inferior goods."
Yu Yong stood up and said: "Your Majesty, ordinary people can testify. In order to deceive Your Majesty, he specially found me. He hopes that the Yu family can cooperate and hide more ordinary people secretly."
Bai Wanli said: "Your Majesty, ordinary people can testify."
Others stood up one after another.
None of them looked after Gu Xianxiong at all. To this day, they just want to beat Gu Xianxiong to death completely.
The Gu family is gone, even if the Gu family is confiscated and exterminated, even if their money, food, land, etc. are confiscated, there are countless people in the Gu family in the officialdom. If these people are overthrown, each family will still benefit.
The Gu family also has countless business resources.
Families can also benefit from sharing resources.
Driven by interests and with Zhang Guangdao taking the initiative, everyone no longer hesitated and stood completely opposite Gu Xianxiong, wanting to beat Gu Xianxiong to death with a stick.
Gu Xianxiong became even more angry after hearing this.
Unexpectedly, today turned out to be a siege on him. What a ruthless person, Zhang Guangdao.
Gu Xianxiong knelt on the ground and said: "Your Majesty, the common people have used the old grain for their own purposes. Please have mercy on the common people and let the common people redeem their sins and make compensation again. The common people are willing to donate all the food of the Gu family for the use of the court. Please forgive the law." show mercy."
"show mercy?"
Zhao Shan smiled faintly.
There seemed to be some mockery in the laughter.
Zhao Shan grabbed the book handed over by Gu Xianxiong and threw it in front of Gu Xianxiong. Woolen cloth?"
The voice was calm, but it resounded in Gu Xianxiong's ears like thunder.
There was an incredible look in his eyes. How could the emperor have such detailed data? Even other families didn't know exactly how many fields the Gu family had, but the emperor actually knew it all.
