The Female Assistant of Wei Yuyan Shuangfei

The correspondence of the Lian Family Chamber of Commerce is based on his own unique regulations, and the urgency of the letter is determined by the icon in the lower right corner.

When Lian Xi received the letter from Lianhua Tower, he just took a look at the green lotus mark in the lower right corner and felt something was wrong.

Even if he was punished by the master, he had to deliver the letter to the young lady as soon as possible. Similarly, Xie Shuting had a bad feeling after seeing this mark.

After returning to the back hall, Xie Shuting walked quickly to the desk, looked at the wax on the letter, and then hurriedly opened it.

Lian Xi first looked around to make sure there were no servants outside the door, then he closed all the doors and windows of the room and walked straight to the desk.

"Master, I am glad to see you. On March 24, I received letters from other shopkeepers in 21 prefectures and counties, including Yongfeng, Yuyao, Shangyu, Liuyang, Youxian, Xiangyin, etc. All the grain merchants in the prefectures and counties were arrested by the government. The grain was confiscated, but the people were not harmed."

"There is also a grain transport manager named Zeng Hao, who led a fleet to return from Korea at the beginning of this month, carrying 200,000 dan of grain. He was intercepted by the Jizhou government office on the Jiangnan West Road, and the 200,000 dan of grain was seized."

"At the beginning of the month, I ordered the Fuwei Escort Agency to change the route and send the 50,000 dan of grain to Wuzhou. However, when they were about to go to Laigu County, they were stopped in Qinzhou because the government had requisitioned it."

Xie Shuting read the three pieces of letter paper several times. Fortunately, the end recorded that everyone was safe, which was the best result for her.

The food was lost, so long as the people were safe. But the letter from Lian Xi made her see the crisis that the Song Dynasty was facing.

"The Jiangnan West Road has already started to suffer from food shortages. This is a grain-producing area. The disaster is probably even more serious than that year." Xie Shuting murmured to herself.

"Back then? What back then?"

Lian Xi asked in confusion: "Although the Great Song Dynasty has been established for less than a hundred years, I don't remember that there has been any major disaster before."

Xie Shuting realized that she had said something wrong and said with a serious look: "Xi'er! Grind the ink."

"Yes!~" Lian Xi responded quickly.

Xie Shuting picked up the pen and dipped it in ink, but she hesitated to write because she couldn't think of any good solution for the time being. After all, the current disaster could only be solved with food.

Besides, traveling merchants are not considered decent people, so as long as the government uses some tricks, it won't be a problem as long as no one is killed.

After a moment of silence, Xie Shuting's eyes lit up, as if she had thought of something, and she immediately wrote: "If Qin Hao has arrived in Shuzhong, let him put aside the matter of the salt wells and sell grain on the spot. The other rules are inconvenient, so you can make your own decisions."

Lian Xi took a quick glance at the letter written by Xie Shuting and saw Qin Hao's name. Suddenly, he had different thoughts in his mind.

But seeing the lady's serious expression, he could only quickly restrain himself.

"Also, notify the Chamber of Commerce to shut down all non-people's livelihood industries, and all shopkeepers and servants should stay on standby."

As she drew the last stroke, Xie Shuting pushed the letter to Lian Xi and said, "Stamp it with the seal and deliver it to Lian Yue within three days."

"Yes!~" Lian Yue responded without hesitation.

He took out the seal from the purse in his arms, stamped the letter with the lotus seal, put it into an envelope, sealed it with wax, and went straight to Yuelai Inn.

Xie Shuting leaned back in her chair, muttering to herself with a serious look on her face: "This situation is much more serious than it was back then. I hope Shuzhong can help with the urgent need. After all, with Dujiangyan, there should be no shortage of food."

Just as Xie Shuting said, there is indeed no shortage of food in Shu. After all, with Dujiangyan, grain production has been stable all year round.

When Xie Shuting received the notification of the letter, Emperor Song Zhen, who was thousands of miles away in the Bianjing Palace, also had a frown on his face and a solemn expression.

The Minister of Revenue Wang Zhi, the Minister of Works Zhang Huaiyuan, the Crown Prince Zhao Pu, the Second Prince Zhao Qian, and even the Director of the Imperial Observatory Li Qinyun were among them.

Seeing that the situation was somewhat solemn, the prince took a half step forward, stroked his hand and said, "Father! There are droughts in many places in Jinghu South Road and Jiangnan West Road. It is better to transfer grain from other places to solve the urgent problem."

Upon hearing this, Emperor Song Zhen raised his eyes and looked at Zhao Pu. Just this one glance made Zhao Pu's heart chilled, because Emperor Song Zhen's eyes were already filled with anger.

"Bang!~"

Emperor Song Zhen threw the memorial in his hand directly at Wang Zhi's feet and said in a deep voice: "This is the memorial just drafted by the Ministry of Personnel. Right now, it's not just Jinghu South Road and Jiangnan West Road that are suffering from drought, but half of the Song Dynasty."

"this......"

Zhao Pu picked up the memorial with a serious expression, and just glanced at it, his heart falling into doubts.

"Please forgive me, I will check it right away, right away..."

"Verification?"

Emperor Song Zhen looked at Wang Zhi with a sneer and said, "Where is the Imperial Observatory?"

"I...I am your humble servant." Li Qinyun hurriedly bowed and saluted.

"Speak to Lord Wang in detail about how serious the guilt of his Ministry of Revenue is." Emperor Song Zhen said coldly.

At this moment, everyone present felt a chill on their backs, and in addition to the chill in Wang Zhi's body, a sense of death emerged in his heart.

"Sir Wang! When the Imperial Astronomical Observatory observed the stars at the beginning of the year, it discovered that the stars were unusual, so it reported to the government that there might be a severe drought this year."

Li Qinyun said this tremblingly. With the idea of ​​"better death than death for a friend", he turned to look at Wang Zhi and said, "The government has ordered the Ministry of Revenue to raise money and food for emergency use."

"In case of emergency?"

Emperor Song Zhen sneered at Wang Zhi and said, "Today I asked you to allocate 400,000 dan of grain from the Ministry of Revenue to be sent to Jinghu South Road first, and then allocate 200,000 dan from Jiangnan to Jiangnan West Road. However, you told me that the Ministry of Revenue does not have so much grain. Do you know the crime of deceiving the emperor? What should you do?"

"Reporting to the emperor, I did make preparations, but I didn't expect that this drought...drought..."

“I just didn’t expect the drought to be so severe?”

Emperor Song Zhen looked at Wang Zhi jokingly and laughed coldly: "Now the drought is raging and the people are suffering. Your Ministry of Revenue cannot escape the blame! I don't mind killing a few people to offer sacrifices to the heavens and pray for rain."

"Bang!~"

Wang Zhi was so frightened that he fell to his knees and begged for mercy: "Your Majesty, please calm down. I deserve to die! Please give me another chance."

"Humph!"

Emperor Song Zhen snorted angrily, and just as he was about to speak, he saw Zhao Qian on the side hurriedly stepped forward to ease the situation and said, "Father! Disaster relief is the most important thing right now. As for the punishment of Minister Wang, we will discuss it after the drought is over. This will also give him a chance to atone for his sins."

Wang Zhi glanced at Zhao Qian with gratitude. After all, being able to speak at this juncture was a blessing of rebirth.

The scene was deadlocked for a while, and several people fell silent one after another. Emperor Song Zhen looked at Zhao Pu from time to time, and also wanted to give some advice.

Zhao Qian smiled but said nothing. He knew very well that these words should be spoken by Zhao Pu, not him. But Zhao Pu's brain could not think of this and was always half a beat slower.