"Haha! What's so difficult about this? Wang Xiaodong's mother has a heartache and has been sick frequently recently. I told him my identity and told him that I was familiar with Sun Daochang and could let Sun Daochang treat his mother's illness. .
Then he told him that Shopkeeper Jin had made illegal loans and was now being investigated by the court. If he cooperated with us, he would be fine and could also let Daozhang Sun treat his mother. If he was determined to follow Shopkeeper Jin's path If it gets dark, then he will go to jail with Boss Jin! "
In the back hall of the Lantian County government office, Cheng Chumo smiled proudly when he heard Li Ke's question, and then told the general cause and effect.
After hearing this, Li Ke couldn't help but admire: "Chou Niu, you are moved by emotion, rationalized, and promised benefits. Not bad! In this way, Wang Xiaodong should be on our side. , we also have enough time to collect more evidence!"
"Hey! What kind of evidence should we collect? Just arrest Jin Wanfu and Zhang Xiongfei and interrogate them. They must have recruited them all~!"
Cheng Chumo curled his lips and said disdainfully.
"Absolutely not!"
Li Ke shook his head, "We came out of Beijing this time just to exterminate the locusts. My father did not give us the right to arrest people without authorization. Even if it is finally found out that Jin Wanfu did violate the rules and gave loans to Zhang Xiongfei who wanted to hoard food and drive up food prices, we will not We must rely on the power of the Xinfeng County government! Let’s wait and ask the mountain chief for his opinion later~!”
Cheng Chu shrugged indifferently and said, "Okay! It's up to you! Oh, someone is coming!"
At the end of his speech, Cheng Chumo's expression changed slightly because he heard footsteps coming from outside.
After hearing this, Li Ke sat down and his expression returned to normal.
"Your Highness, the food and soup are all ready! Do you want to send them to Marquis Yongan and the children now?"
Wang Dezheng walked in and saw Cheng Chumo in the room. He was stunned for a moment, then handed over his report to Li Ke.
Li Ke nodded and said: "Yes! Send it now! Magistrate Wang, you immediately take the government servants and go with me to deliver the food outside the city!"
Wang Dezheng bowed and said: "I obey the order!"
After a while, the Xinfeng County government drove out five oxcarts, each carrying a wooden barrel. The barrels contained the meals prepared by Magistrate Wang. Li Ke took Magistrate Wang and ten Several government officials walked straight towards the South City Gate.
At this time, the atmosphere in the city was completely different from when Li Ke and the others first arrived, because the news that the Tianji Brigade had come to Xinfeng County to exterminate locusts had spread, and the people suddenly burst into joy after hearing the news. The depressing atmosphere created by the world disappeared instantly.
"Have you heard? Marquis Yong'an has brought the Tianji Brigade to our Xinfeng County to eliminate locusts~!"
"real or fake?"
"How can we still have a holiday? Go and look at the farmland outside the city. There are countless chickens brought here by Marquis Yong'an everywhere!"
"Hey! That's great! Our crops in Xinfeng County can be saved! I heard that the chicken brigade took less than two days to wipe out all the locusts in Lantian County. Doesn't that mean that our Xinfeng County's crops are saved?" Locusts can also be wiped out in two days!”
"No, no, no! It should be faster! I just heard a kid from Hanjiazhuang say that the chicken brigade they brought this time has a total of 310,000 chickens, which is more than double the previous number. This means that the locusts in our county can be wiped out today!”
"Ah? That's great! The price of food in the city has increased in the past two days. I thought a food shortage was coming!"
"Hey! Let's see how the unscrupulous grain merchants in the city continue to drive up grain prices!"
"That's it! That's it!"
"Hey! Stop talking! I still have a dozen chickens in my family. I will go back and drive them outside the city now to help Yong'an Hou and the others exterminate the locusts!"
"My family has thirty chickens, and I'm going back to catch them too!"
Although the people were extremely happy, some people felt uncomfortable.
"What? Yong'an Hou brought the Tianji Brigade to Lantian County? And now the size of the Tianji Brigade has doubled compared to before?"
In the west of the city, there is the back hall of Zhang Ji's grain shop.
After Zhang Xiongfei listened to the slave's report, his old face suddenly became extremely gloomy. He slammed the table and stood up.
"Yes! Master! Now that the news has spread in the county, do we still want to go to Chang'an City to buy food?"
The slave said carefully with a bitter look on his face.
"Buy shit!"
Zhang Xiongfei said with a dark face: "The locust plague is about to be wiped out. Are you going to buy so much food to feed the rats? Get out! Get out!"
"Yes! Master!"
Seeing Zhang Xiongfei's anger, the servant hurriedly rolled away and crawled to the ground.
"Three hundred thousand chickens, which means that Xinfeng County's locust and chicken brigade can be completely wiped out in less than a day. When encountering some small counties, it can even clear out locusts in two counties in one day, even if there are hundreds of affected counties. , the Tianji Brigade can clean up more than 20 people at least within half a month. There will definitely be no more locust plagues near Chang'an. If you want to sell food at a high price, you can only go to other places, which is too much. !”
In the room, Zhang Xiongfei murmured to himself with a gloomy look.
After a while, he suddenly remembered the two Hu Ji that he had just given to Jin Wanfu in the morning. He slapped his thigh and said angrily: "It's over, it's over! I just borrowed 6,000 guan from Yanhuang Bank at double interest rate. I thought I could make a lot of money with these six thousand guan, but now I have lost my wife and lost my army? Alas! My two lovely beauties! What a pity! What a pity!"
As he spoke, Zhang Xiongfei slapped his chest with a heartache on his face.
Little did he know that there was even greater trouble waiting for him!
.....................................
"Xiaoguan has met the Marquis of Yong'an! The Marquis can bring the Tianji Brigade to Xinfeng County to eliminate locusts. Xiaguan and the more than 50,000 people in the county are very grateful to the Marquis!"
In a village outside Xinfeng County, after Li Ke and his party found the "main force", they quickly distributed meals to the children. Wang Dezheng came to Li Zexuan and saluted sincerely.
Li Zexuan nodded expressionlessly and said: "I brought the Tianji Brigade out to exterminate the locusts. Firstly, I have received the holy mandate, and secondly, I cannot bear to see the common people being poisoned by locusts. But just now I heard that Xinfeng County has recently The price of grain has reached five cents per stone, Magistrate Wang, can you explain?"
After saying that, he stared at Wang Dezheng with burning eyes. Apparently, Li Ke had told him everything they had discovered in Xinfeng County.
A few drops of sweat suddenly appeared on Magistrate Wang's face. He didn't know whether it was because the weather was too hot or because he was too nervous. He quickly raised his hands and said:
"Xiaoguan's poor governance has led to the emergence of profiteers in the county who took advantage of the locust plague to drive up food prices. I am ashamed of the court and the Holy One. After returning to the city, I will write a letter of apology and hand it to the court!"
Li Zexuan said coldly:
"As the magistrate of Xinfeng County, the price of food in the county has skyrocketed. Of course you cannot escape the crime of dereliction of duty! But the most urgent task is to find out who are the grain dealers who are taking advantage of the locust plague to drive up food prices! The imperial court has repeatedly issued orders to all states and counties. We must stabilize food prices. Xinfeng County is less than a hundred miles away from Chang'an, but food prices rose on the third day after the locust plague occurred. If I had arrived later, would the price of food here have become ten cents? One stone, or one hundred cents per stone?”
Magistrate Wang cupped his hands and said, "What the Marquis said is true! I will go back to the city immediately to investigate the merchants who are driving up food prices!"
"Wait!"
Magistrate Wang turned around and was about to leave, but Li Zexuan stopped him, and then said meaningfully: "It is not terrible for grain merchants to drive up grain prices. What is terrible is that officials and businessmen collude with each other to jointly drive up grain prices! So this matter does not need to be done." You go and investigate, of course I have neither the power nor the time to investigate. Before dark today, officials from the Ministry of Civil Affairs will come over to investigate the matter thoroughly. I hope County Magistrate Wang can cooperate by then!"
Based on the intelligence from Li Ke and Cheng Chumo, Li Zexuan felt that there was probably something wrong with Wang Dezheng and it was necessary to investigate. But what Li Ke said before was right. They only went to various counties to exterminate locusts. Li Er did not give him any authority. They were checking the powers of officials and merchants in various counties. Even if he had this power, Li Zexuan didn't have time to delay here, so he planned to send the matters back to Lantian County using a power bank and let Li Tai report to Li Er.
When Wang Dezheng heard this, his face instantly turned pale, and he quickly said:
"Master Hou, forgive me! I have been busy with disaster relief work recently, but I have ignored the soaring food prices in the city. I am indeed guilty of negligence! Yes, it is Zhang Xiongfei. He is the one who took the lead in driving up food prices this time. Xiaguan's wife is his sister, so he has nothing to fear! But Xiaguan dares to swear to God that he has never received a penny from Zhang Xiongfei in this matter! Xiaguan is unjust! I hope Lord Hou will learn from it. !”
Hearing this, Li Zexuan nodded thoughtfully and said: "Ha! It doesn't matter whether you have received any benefits or not, nor what I said. The officials of the Ministry of Personnel will find out everything! But you can tell me whether I have received benefits or not." What you said is somewhat sincere. I will truthfully tell the court what you said! As for whether you are guilty or not, it depends on how the Holy One decides!"
Wang Dezheng cupped his hands and said, "Thank you so much, Lord Marquis!"
At this moment, Li Ke walked over quickly and said: "Chief of the mountain! Many villagers came over there and said they wanted to meet you!"
Li Zexuan raised his eyebrows and asked, "Meet me? Why do you want to see me?"
Li Ke said with a smile on his face: "Some of them are here to deliver meals, some are here to thank you in person, and some are here to deliver chickens!"
"Giving chicken?"
Li Zexuan could understand both sending meals and thanking him in person, but it was the sending of chicken that made him unable to react for a while.
"Oh! What Ke means is that the common people want to send their chickens to the Tianji Brigade to help catch locusts together, and then return them to them when we are done with them~"
Seeing Li Zexuan's confusion, Li Ke quickly explained.
"Oh? Is there such a thing? Let's go and have a look~!"
When Li Zexuan heard this, he was very surprised. Although the 90,000 chickens in the Tianji brigade now came from the farmers in Lantian County, after all, Xinfeng County is not Lantian County, and the people here are not like the people in Lantian County. He believed that now someone was willing to lend his chickens, which really surprised him.
The two of them walked towards the common people not far away. Magistrate Wang thought about it and followed them.
"Master Hou is here!"
"This is Marquis Yong'an! So young!"
"As expected of a son of a god, he is so handsome!"
"If it weren't for Marquis Yongan, all the food in my fields would have been destroyed by locusts! I want to kowtow to Marquis Yongan!"
Seeing Li Zexuan coming towards them, the people suddenly became excited.
"See you Lord Marquis!"
When Li Zexuan was still four or five steps away from them, the people all bent down and bowed down.
Li Zexuan took a look and said, "Hey guys, there are thousands of people here!" It was noon now, and these people were probably all here to deliver meals, chickens, and thank you without even having lunch. He never expected that he would be so popular among the people in Xinfeng County, and he was a little flattered for a moment!
"No need to be polite, folks! Please get up quickly!"
Li Zexuan quickly raised his hands and said loudly.
"Master Hou! You brought these dolls to help us kill the locusts. We are very grateful. We just want to reward these hard-working children with some food. I hope Master Hou will not refuse!"
At this time, a white-haired old man stood up carrying a food basket and said to Li Zexuan sincerely.
As soon as he finished speaking, the rest of the people started shouting excitedly.
"Yes! Lord Marquis! This is the chicken stewed by my mother-in-law. I hope it can replenish the health of the children!"
"My family even stewed eggs!"
"By saving my crops, Mr. Hou saved seven members of my family! Old man, I kowtow to Mr. Hou! I hope Mr. Hou is safe and prosperous throughout his life!"
"I also kowtow to Lord Marquis. Thank you very much, Lord Marquis, for saving the crops on my thirty-five acres of land!"
"Master Hou! I have thirty chickens at home. Do you think we can join the Tianji Brigade to fight the locusts together?"
"Master Hou! My family has raised fifty chickens, and I am willing to lend them out! Even if they are lost, it doesn't matter! Please don't refuse, Master Hou~!"
The people were talking about their demands. After a while, people were kneeling on the ground in front of Li Zexuan. Among them were children of seven or eight years old, middle-aged people in their thirties and forties, and even six people. A seventy-year-old man!
They are all people who were in danger during the locust plague and were saved by Li Zexuan today. No one can understand the joy and emotion in their hearts for the rest of their lives. At this moment, they are willing to do anything for Li Zexuan!
Li Zexuan didn't like others kneeling to him. When the first old man wanted to kneel to him, he had already reached out to stop him. But he could stop one, but he couldn't stop hundreds of dealers!
Seeing more and more people kneeling in front of him and the scene getting more and more noisy, Li Zexuan quickly got angry and said loudly: "Fellows! Listen to me!"
The loud voice reached everyone's ears, and the excited people suddenly became quiet. Li Zexuan continued: "Folks, get up first! The boy has only just reached the crown, and many of you can be considered me. Elders, how can I afford this great gift from you? You are not repaying your kindness, you are shortening my life~! So please fellow villagers, please stand up quickly. If you have any questions, please stand up slowly. Speak slowly!"
Hearing this, the people who were kneeling on the ground couldn't help but look at each other, and after a while they stood up one after another.
Seeing this, Li Zexuan couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief, as the people would not kneel down again, so he hurriedly struck while the railway was hot: "Everyone, fellow villagers, feel sorry for the children in Lantian County and sent them meals. I am very grateful in my heart, but as you said. See, the children already have food, so it would be a waste, so please bring the food back to the villagers!"
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