Eat the whole family? I emptied the storehouse of the Marquis' Mansion and married the crippled

"Fireflies are so small that they are hard to catch."

Xiao Mo was a big and strong man, and Ye Jintang couldn't imagine what it would be like for him to catch fireflies.

"It's a piece of cake. When I was a kid, I used to catch fireflies for my sister."

"Jiang Heng, go get a lantern made of tissue paper and seal both ends."

"Yes."

"Wait, Your Majesty, what did you just say? You have a sister?"

"Uh?"

Xiao Mo nodded slightly.

"My mother once gave birth to a little girl, but she died only three days after birth. It was because of this that she was always depressed. Later, Emperor Jing gave her poisoned wine, and she drank it without even thinking about it."

Xiao Mo was beside Queen Jiang at the time and watched her drink the poisoned wine and die with blood spitting out from her mouth.

It was this scene that made him hate Emperor Jing.

This was the first time Xiao Mo mentioned the cause of Queen Jiang's death to Ye Jintang.

She was very sensitive and felt that there was something fishy about this matter.

Based on her understanding of Emperor Jing, even if Emperor Jing wanted to eliminate the Jiang family, he would not poison Queen Jiang. After all, the two were childhood sweethearts and had grown up together.

And judging from Emperor Jing's later obsession with Queen Jiang, he also loved her very much.

"Brother Xiao, are you sure that it was Emperor Jing who personally gave the poisoned wine to our mother?"

When asked by Ye Jintang, Xiao Mo looked at her with confusion.

"I was very young at the time. I remember that I had already fallen asleep when I suddenly heard someone talking. I got up to see what was happening and saw a female official bringing poison over. Along with it was the jade pendant that my mother and Emperor Jing had exchanged for love, but the jade pendant was broken into two pieces."

"After seeing the broken jade pendant, my mother drank the poison without saying a word."

"Not long after that, Emperor Jing announced the news that my mother had died of illness, and then he appointed Imperial Noble Consort Dehui as his successor."

"Brother Xiao, how old are you then?"

"A little over three years old."

"It's possible that the memory of a three-year-old may be distorted. I always feel that my mother was not necessarily poisoned by Emperor Jing."

When Emperor Jingdi was stupid, he was always thinking about Queen Jiang. Even though the Jiang family had already threatened the imperial power, he did not depose her or send her to the cold palace. It seemed unlikely that he would poison Queen Jiang.

Xiao Mo frowned slightly and was silent for a while before saying, "I will re-investigate this matter. If there is really someone who is interfering, I will make sure that person is cut into pieces."

Xiao Mo knew better than anyone about the struggle in the palace.

It wasn't just Noble Consort Dehui who was eyeing the position of the empress back then. She had just suffered a miscarriage and was fighting a life-and-death battle with Consort Xian, so she probably had no time to poison his mother.

"It's been so many years since this happened, and everyone around Emperor Jing is either dead or missing. It may not be easy to find out the truth."

"We were able to find out what happened to Eunuch Xia back then, so this matter won't be difficult for me."

Xiao Mo did not continue this topic. After Jiang Heng brought the lantern made of cotton paper, he went to help Ye Jintang catch fireflies.

The calmer he was, the more uneasy Ye Jintang felt.

As a wife, she knew best what Queen Jiang meant to Xiao Mo.

Xiao Mo was so silent, he must be holding back a lot of hatred in his heart.

The tiny fireflies were placed in lanterns made of tissue paper. The tissue paper was very thin, and the green fluorescence reflected through the paper was very beautiful.

"Like it?"

"like."

Ye Jintang was holding a lantern that was flashing constantly, with a smile on his face.

At her age, she was treated like a little girl by a man, and her heart was sweeter than eating honey.

Holding lanterns made of fireflies, the two continued to stroll in the garden. Xiao Mo laughed heartily from time to time. Ye Jintang thought that he was not affected by what happened to Queen Jiang just now.

However, she did not see Jin Yuan the next day. After asking, she found out that Jin Yuan had left for the palace at dawn.

Jin Yuan grew up in the palace and knows everything about it best. It is most appropriate for him to investigate the matter of Queen Jiang.

However, Ye Jintang lived in the summer palace for more than half a month, but Jin Yuan did not find any clues.

After they returned to the palace, Xiao Mo did not mention the matter again.

Ye Jintang just thought that the incident happened so long ago that there was no way to investigate it.

Summer was about to pass, and Ye Jintang was busy teaching the palace people how to grow winter vegetables. Suddenly, urgent news came from Jiangnan that Tanquzhou had been hit by heavy rain for seven consecutive days. The rising river water had submerged thousands of acres of paddy fields. Six villages backed by mountains were buried by mudslides, causing countless casualties.

When this news came, the court was shocked.

Tianqin State has not experienced such a severe flood for many years.

Disaster relief is urgent.

"Your Majesty, we must distribute disaster relief grain as soon as possible. We cannot let the people go hungry again."

Lord Cai stepped forward and spoke first.

"Well, I just want to ask you whether you have any rules on how to distribute the disaster relief grain."

"When I led troops to fight in the past, the army's food and fodder were often withheld by others. I'm afraid that the relief food will also be exploited by others. I wonder if you have any good ideas to prevent the relief food from being stolen."

Xiao Mo's words immediately caused the ministers in the court to fall silent.

Distributing disaster relief grain is a big problem. Over the years, no matter how many corrupt officials have been killed, the problem has not been eradicated.

"I do have an idea that can cure the problem of embezzlement of disaster relief grain, but this plan is a bit toxic. It is better not to use it unless it is absolutely necessary."

"Mr. Cai, why don't you tell us about it?"

"I once read a story in a miscellany about a king who mixed sand into the relief grain to prevent it from being embezzled. This way, those evil-minded people who wanted to steal the relief grain would fail."

"Mr. Cai, is it still edible if there is sand in the grain?"

The Minister of Revenue, Lu Qixian, frowned. He couldn't imagine how to eat rice porridge with sand in it.

"Lord Lu, the people affected by the disaster are starving to death. Do you think they would care whether there is sand in the rice porridge?"

"Will I get sick if I eat too much of this sand?"

Other officials raised questions.

Minister of War Hou Shijin said in a hoarse voice, "When we were marching and fighting, we didn't have enough food and grass. We even ate tree roots and grass roots and no one died. A little sand will not be a problem."

Hou Shijin hated corrupt officials the most. He had suffered countless losses from them, and he felt so much hatred when he mentioned them.

The ministers in the court discussed the issue of disaster relief grain. Some said that adding sand could allow the common people to have food to eat and not starve to death, which was already very good.

Some people also say that adding sand into grain is too cruel and it is a waste of good grain.

For a moment, the court was turned into a vegetable market. Xiao Mo, who was sitting on the dragon throne, felt his head buzzing, but he couldn't come up with a better idea at this time.

This historical issue has existed for hundreds of years and has not been resolved. It is understandable that he cannot solve it for the time being.

"Your Majesty, I have an idea."

Ye Jintang hadn't seen Xiao Mo come down from the morning court for a long time, so he asked and found out that they were arguing again about the disaster relief grain, so he came to check on them.