Xiang Nan immediately went out and came back after a while, "Your Majesty, I have found out clearly that the people of Jiaxing Prefecture are making trouble and resisting the emperor's food supply."
"What?!" Qianlong's eyes widened when he heard this, "It's okay if the people dare to resist paying the emperor's food. What does Su Kuiwen, the prefect of Jiaxing, do?"
"Your Majesty, don't be angry." Xiang Nan smiled and waved his hand, "We just have to stop at Jiaxing Mansion. Why don't you and I dress up in plain clothes and hats, go shopping in the city, try the local snacks, and visit Ask what’s going on?”
Qianlong listened and nodded.
…
At that moment, Xiang Nan and Qianlong changed their clothes and entered Jiaxing City together.
The streets were noisy, and groups of menacing villagers holding farm tools could be seen everywhere.
"Master, let's have a bowl of wontons first." Xiang Nan saw many villagers eating in front of the wonton stall, so he smiled and said to Qianlong.
Qianlong nodded and sat down with him.
"Boss, two bowls of wontons~" Xiang Nan called, and then smiled and said to the villagers, "Brother, why is your Jiaxing Mansion so chaotic today?"
"Hey, don't mention it. The government is forcing the people to rebel. If the government doesn't leave us a way to survive, we can't just sit and wait for death." When the villagers heard this, they said angrily.
"Hey, isn't your Jiaxing land of plenty? How come you don't even have a way to survive?" Xiang Nan asked doubtfully.
"Forget it. Since this spring, there has been a drought in Jiaxing Prefecture, and there has been no harvest. Not only does the government not reduce or reduce the imperial grain, but it also requires an additional 20%.
We are forced to have no way out. Besides making trouble, what else can we do? "The villagers were still quite annoyed.
Qianlong's face turned pale after hearing this.
…
At this moment, a government servant wearing a brave uniform came over.
When these villagers saw him, they scattered one after another.
The officer sneered and sat in front of the wonton stall, "Old Loach, a big bowl of wontons~"
"Okay." The stall owner glanced at him, a little too angry to say anything.
"This Mr. Cha is so majestic~" Xiang Nan said with a smile, "Boss, if I add two more scoundrels to Mr. Cha, they will all be charged to my account."
"Oh, that's so embarrassing." Seeing that Xiang Nan's dress and grooming were not like ordinary people, the Yamen servant suddenly said a little flattered.
"It's okay, I'm easy to make friends with." Xiang Nan waved his hand and said, "Let me ask, what are we doing here? Why is it so chaotic?"
"Don't mention it. Just because of this matter, we almost died of exhaustion." The yamen servant curled his lips and said, "Thousands of people are making trouble around the yamen gate, and only a few of us yamen are guarding the door. As long as one of us doesn't Be careful, we will all become meat paste."
"Then you have worked really hard." Xiang Nan comforted, "Why are the people making trouble? Isn't it the right thing to pay the emperor's rations?"
"That's right. Well, it's my fault that the official is too dark-hearted." The Yamen servant said, "Originally, the grain in the official warehouse was full, and the food delivered to the emperor was rich and abundant. But it suddenly emptied out in the past two days. Alas, but The warehouses of all major grain stores are full."
"So, the official has sold all the grain in the official warehouse to the grain merchants?" Xiang Nan said with a smile.
"Hey, do you need to say this clearly?" the yamen servant laughed.
"Aren't the officials afraid of the common people making trouble?" Xiang Nan asked again.
"Hey, let's make a fuss. How can we not make a fuss three or five times a year, but how can we twist our arms over our legs?" The yamen servant said disdainfully, "It's really a fuss. When the governor's army arrives, won't everyone be scared back?"
"Then the governor doesn't care about this?" Xiang Nan asked.
"Hey, he has collected the most money, who else can he care about?" the yamen servant curled his lips.
"Yo, yo, you know that the governor collects money?" Xiang Nan said with a smile, "Don't be the one who made the mistake."
"My son is making nonsense." Seeing that Xiang Nan looked down on him, the Yamen servant immediately said anxiously, "To tell you the truth, I was not qualified to know. This was not to transport money to the Governor's Mansion in the first half of the year. In the end, too much money was transported. , and the ship sank. We sent people to salvage it, and then the secret was revealed."
"Do you dare to sign and pledge all these things you said?" Qianlong became more and more angry as he listened and couldn't help but patted the stall and said.
"Oh, you are..." Seeing Qianlong's extraordinary courage and scary words, the yamen servant immediately guessed the origins of the two of them, and ran away without even bothering to eat.
Qianlong didn't want to eat anymore and took Xiang Nan back to the ship. "It's so abominable! It's so abominable! I just beheaded Wang Danwang and arrested Chen Huizu, more than a hundred heads. Why can't I deter these corrupt officials?" "
Xiang Nan remained silent.
In fact, the main reason why corrupt officials continue to kill is that their actions lead to deeds.
The emperor is the biggest corrupt official. He owns the most land, the most money, the most slaves, and the most women... He is greedy by nature and wishes that all the best things in the world would be his, so naturally his ministers will be unfair. The beam is crooked.
Just like He Shen. Qianlong also knew that he was a corrupt official. But Qianlong wanted to use him to get money, so even if he was greedy, Qianlong forgave him many times.
In this case, corrupt officials will naturally be killed.
"Your Majesty, you can't be merciful this time." Xiang Nan bowed and said, "It's not wrong for you to learn from the Holy Ancestor Emperor to be tolerant, but it's a shame that those corrupt officials are unscrupulous because of this, treating your tolerance as connivance, and treating you Treat kindness as protection.
In this way, they become more and more greedy, and the more greedy they become, the more they can't hold back. In the early years of Qianlong's reign, the infantry commander Eshan was executed for embezzling a thousand taels. But now, if someone embezzles a thousand taels, all he needs to do is confiscate the proceeds and give him twenty sticks.
I am worried that if things continue like this, sooner or later, officials will embezzle 10,000, 20,000, 100,000, or even 1 million, and they may just be fined silver.
By then, the world will be full of corrupt officials. Your Majesty, this is beyond control. "
"Ji Xiaolan, you just like to make alarmist remarks. I'm not that stupid yet." Qianlong waved his hand and said, "He Shen is still in Hangzhou. Give him an edict to kill Chen Huizu, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang! Jiaxing is in trouble for food and let him give it to him. I’ll find out. If I don’t find out, don’t go back to Beijing!”
"Yes, Your Majesty." Xiang Nan nodded.
…
The imperial ship stopped in Jiaxing for one night and then continued on its journey.
Shortly after leaving the dock, the ship stopped again.
"What's going on?" Qianlong asked.
"Your Majesty, the fishing boat in front is blocking the way, making it impassable." The guard reported.
"Where did the fishing boat come from? You are so brave." Qianlong said displeased, why was there so much trouble going down to the south of the Yangtze River?
"Your Majesty, it was the people who sacrificed to the Dragon King and prayed for rain, and threw some wood into the water, which caused the river to be congested." the guard explained.
"Your Majesty, when people pray for rain, they also hope for a good harvest. You are the right one, so why not help?" Xiang Nan suggested with a smile.
"Should I go to pray for rain too?" Qianlong was stunned, "Okay, let's go and take a look."
The two people immediately came to the bow of the boat and saw that there were indeed some pieces of wood floating on the river, with layers of yellow paper stuck on them, which looked quite strange.
"What are you doing?" Qianlong asked doubtfully.
"Oh, this is the wood used to build the Dragon King Temple. People call it yellow beam." Xiang Nan explained.
"Huangliang? This name is quite interesting." Qianlong smiled.
