Quick Wear: Cannon Fodder

The head of the Liu family also wanted to ignore everything, but the prefect did not give him the opportunity and announced the news that the imperial envoy brought food and money before he arrived.

The victims had been keeping an eye on him for a long time. If he didn't distribute food, they would dare to shout and kill the corrupt officials. He asked people to find the ringleader, but the ringleader was beaten, but the troublemaker was not found. Without food, the local wealthy merchant's villa where he was staying was thrown with kerosene in the middle of the night, and he almost died in a sea of ​​fire.

This scared the head of the Liu family, and the people he brought with him also advised them to hurry up and put out disaster relief. If nothing was done, the victims would only become worse and none of them would be able to escape.

"Rescue? What can I use? What's the use of having money? What we lack now is not money, but food. The emperor only gives me money but no food. How do you think we can rescue the people?" Lord Liu was also full of resentment. He liked money, but he would not embezzle all the disaster relief funds. The problem now was where to get food.

The head of the Liu family is incompetent, and his subordinates are a bunch of people who can only flatter and don't know how to work. If you ask them to do small things, they can barely do it, but how can they think of a way to raise food? The local prefect can't do it, how can they do it? If they have a way, they can also be the prefect.

The head of the Liu family was so angry that he drove everyone away. If there was no other way, they should go out and find a solution. Don't hang around in front of him. It was annoying to see him. Unfortunately, a group of people couldn't find a solution. Sometimes, more people are not always useful. More people will only consume more food. The prefect complained that he couldn't find food for disaster relief.

Not only did the imperial envoy have no food, but he also had to lead a team of nearly a thousand people to consume a lot of food for three meals a day. He did not have the ability to provide it all the time. The head of the Liu family was anxious. The victims could not eat, but he could not miss any of the three meals a day. If he missed any, he would be dizzy with hunger.

The prefect did not provide food, so the head of the Liu family set his sights on the local grain merchants. He did not believe that these grain merchants did not have food. If they did not have food, it was easy. They could just transport it from other places. He had the money.

On the surface, the grain merchants did not dare to offend the Queen's father, but which big businessman who could do grain business did not have a master behind him? They could sell grain and transport grain from other places, but the prerequisite was that the price had to be based on the market price and could not be traded at the price of previous years.

"Do you want to make money from the disaster?" Lord Liu showed his authority, which was still a bit scary.

Several major grain merchants looked at each other and agreed to sell the grain verbally, but privately they asked people to instigate the head of the Liu family to take control of the grain. This was free grain, it was grain from the national treasury, and they didn't have to spend a single tael of silver.

"If that's the case, why didn't the local governor open the granary to release the grain?" The head of the Liu family just didn't have the ability, but that didn't mean he was a fool. Even if he was a fool, the people around him wouldn't let him do something stupid. Everyone wanted to return to the capital alive, and they wouldn't watch the head of the Liu family walk to his death.

Those who instigated the head of the Liu family did not need to find excuses. The excuses were already there. The prefect was of low rank and had no right to open the granaries and release grain. Only the imperial envoy had this power, and he could execute first and report later. He was also the queen's father. Could the emperor really kill his father-in-law?

The head of the Liu family was still unwilling. It was true that he had the power, but he also had to take responsibility. He could delay it for as long as he could. If there was no food in the local area, it could not be blamed on him as an imperial envoy for not working hard. If there was anyone to blame, it should be blamed on the emperor for not issuing an imperial decree to use the grain.

There is no need to rush if persuasion fails, because the victims will teach the head of the Liu family a lesson.

That night, the Liu family's residence was attacked again, and this time it was much more serious than the last time. Last time, there were only a few torches with kerosene, but this time they directly poured kerosene on several places and set them on fire at the same time, so it was too late to mobilize everyone to put out the fire.

The courtyard was on fire, and someone shot arrows from the dark. Although no one died, more than a dozen people were injured, and the seriously injured were already lying on the bed unable to get up. The head of the Liu family looked at the half-burned courtyard and shouted that he wanted to move to another place. He wanted to move, but he didn't know where to move. It wasn't just a few dozen people, but thousands of people.

This is because it was difficult to find a place to accommodate so many people in a remote place on the outskirts of the city. Otherwise, they could only find an open space outside the city to set up tents directly. The imperial envoys in the past all did this, but the head of the Liu family did not dare to do so. Without the protection of thousands of people, what would he do if he was killed by the victims?

The fearful Lord Liu decided to release the grain, and he would use the grain from the imperial court. If the emperor wanted to investigate him, he could do so, or at most he would be dismissed from office. It didn't matter if this poor official didn't want to be an official, as he had a title, so he could just eat and wait for death, and leave the hard work to his children and grandchildren.

The head of the Liu family thought that releasing the grain would be enough, but the result was that the victims of the disaster fought every day because of the uneven distribution. The injuries were minor, and in serious cases, hundreds of people fought and killed people. This was just a small matter. The real big thing was that the grain was not paid.

The head of the Liu family did not expect that the stored grain would be half empty, but he was the one who opened the seal. No one admitted to this mess, so he had to take the blame. Tens of millions of dan of grain disappeared out of thin air. The head of the Liu family was not convinced and wanted to get it back, but he was attacked again.

This time was different from the previous minor fights. They directly targeted him and killed him in the street. Although he didn't die, they were too scared to investigate further. He could just take the blame. This hellhole was not suitable for him. He should leave as soon as possible.

As soon as he left, the victims began to riot. Uneven distribution of food was a minor matter. The key was that they had only been given a few days' worth of rations. What would they do after they finished eating them? Without food, they would starve to death sooner or later. They didn't know about the empty warehouse of grain, and thought that the imperial envoy had embezzled it. They all shouted to make trouble for the head of the Liu family and not let him take the grain away.

Thousands of disaster victims followed the Liu family leader's team. They did not enter the city. Local government officials did not want to interfere, so they just submitted memorials to report the incident. The disaster victims were not as strong as the Liu family leader, but they could endure hardships. They did not rest at all in order to survive. It only took a few days to block the Liu family leader.

The soldiers escorting the head of the Liu family did not need weapons, as they were few in number and the victims were many in number, and they were also fighting for their lives, so the soldiers were the loser. The head of the Liu family was also captured by the victims and threatened the emperor, asking him to exchange food for people and not to hold him accountable.

The emperor was angry that the head of the Liu family was incompetent and brought shame to him, and he didn't want to save him at all, but when Empress Liu received the news, she came to him crying and begging. If she wanted to cry in private, the emperor could still be cruel and ignore her. But his father-in-law was dead, so he died. It was a good thing for him to die. He didn't cause trouble to other people in the Liu family, and he didn't punish the head of the Liu family, which was a magnanimity of the emperor.

The emperor felt good about himself and even asked Empress Liu where she got the news in public. He had clearly said that the news should be kept secret and not be known to the harem. If Empress Liu didn't tell him, she would just cry. Others would not take the initiative to speak out, not to mention that they didn't know. Even if they knew, they wouldn't be stupid enough to report it in public and offend the enemy in the dark.

The emperor was annoyed when he saw the queen crying. He used to like the queen crying because it was a beautiful woman and it made people feel sad. But now he only disliked her because she acted in a panic when faced with a big event, which made him lose face and she did not have the demeanor of a mother of the country. He could ignore the life and death of the head of the Liu family, but since the queen threatened him and even wanted to kill herself, he decided to let the head of the Liu family go.

Releasing the person was just a matter of words from the emperor, but the subsequent trouble it caused was not small.

The problem of granaries in various places was already serious. In the past, these people were like rats in the sewers, and could only move the food to their homes bit by bit secretly. Now with the ready-made example of the Queen's father, people have begun to prepare for the same routine in their hearts.

The natural disaster in Jiangnan had not yet been resolved, and the emperor had new worries. Grain in various places had problems one after another, either due to fire or theft, and the already limited grain became even less. The remaining grain was barely enough to supply the garrisons in various places for a year, let alone disaster relief. You can imagine how powerful this group of people was.

In the past, the emperor could not find a way to solve seemingly simple government affairs, so he could only ask the Grand Tutor and the Prime Minister to come out. It was not that other ministers did not work hard, but they lacked experience and personal ability, so they had to bow their heads in order to secure their position as emperor.

He claimed that he had wronged himself, but he didn't know that the Grand Tutor and the Prime Minister also despised him for his incompetence and said he was a hopeless person. The Grand Tutor wanted his granddaughter in the palace to live a good life, so he had to hold his nose and agree to the emperor's request to return to the palace, so the Prime Minister was much freer. He didn't have a granddaughter to enter the palace, his children were not ambitious, and his son and son-in-law couldn't even find a juren, so his efforts were in vain.

He had already sent his children back to his hometown. The capital was in trouble and without his protection, it was better for the family to return home as soon as possible. With his influence, they could at least keep their wealth and prosperity for another generation in their hometown. It would not be too late to return to the capital when their descendants had a promising future.

The emperor was very unhappy with the prime minister's refusal, and dismissed him without caring about the dignity between the emperor and his subjects. On the surface, the prime minister lost the emperor's favor, but in private, everyone said that the emperor was mean and ungrateful, and it was inevitable that this would be recorded in history books in the future.

The emperor didn't care how history books wrote it. He just wanted to have a momentary pleasure. Now that he was in power, no one could let him suffer any injustice, including his own mother.

Empress Dowager Li listened to the words of the Li family and advised the emperor that there were chaos in various places. If the country was not governed well, the royal family would suffer in the future. The country belonged to her son and would be her grandson in the future. Li was still very concerned. When she heard about the chaos, she was anxious to make the emperor obey.

She thought it was simple, but she forgot that the emperor was no longer a child, and her words were not the only thing that mattered to him. As soon as she said it, the emperor blocked her back and said that the harem should not interfere in government affairs, which really touched Li's heart.

What's the point of her living when her son who she raised doesn't listen to her. She doesn't like her daughter-in-law and the management of the harem is not in her hands. What's the point of her being the queen mother? All the ladies outside the court laugh at her for not being as good as the Renshou Palace.

She wanted to make trouble with the emperor and force him to be filial, and it would be best if he could pamper Concubine Chen more and give birth to a grandson as soon as possible so that she could enjoy the happiness of family. But in the eyes of the emperor, it became a conspiracy theory. If they gave birth to another prince with Li blood, would they plan the position of the crown prince step by step? Or even if they felt that he was no longer needed as the emperor, they would kill him directly so that the crown prince could succeed to the throne.

It's no wonder that the emperor was overthinking. This had happened before in history. One day his dynasty would become the Li dynasty, and he would be crowned emperor without losing a single soldier. Who could resist such a good thing? In the past, he only focused on the Ye family. Now, he thought that there was not only the Ye family that he should be wary of. The Li family was not good either, and he should also be on guard against the Liu family.

He had to be on guard against these relatives by marriage. The history books said that he would not and would not dare to make this mistake. If the court's major affairs were not handled well, it would be bad. If he did not take precautions against the relatives by marriage, he was afraid that one day he would even lose his life.

If the emperor wants to do something wrong, no one can stop him. The Li family just feels that something is wrong. Their nephew the emperor has not lived a good life after taking power. It is worse than when he shared power with the Taifu before. If they had known what they were doing, they would have made the emperor a puppet.

Under the emperor's chaos, no one was willing to take the initiative to take responsibility. The six ministries were in chaos, and the officials below began to fish in troubled waters. Natural disasters and man-made disasters occurred frequently in various places. The Ministry of Revenue had no money, and the emperor's private treasury had no money. There were more and more refugees, so many that refugees appeared in the suburbs of the capital.

Local officials had no other options except to cry poor and report to the emperor. Everyone was worried, and even the army began to become unstable. There were refugees leading the rebellion, and the emperor was still locked up in the harem and had no idea. He could not handle the memorials, so he learned to procrastinate, hoping that if he procrastinated, the officials below would get things done.

This is possible in normal times, but when the Ministry of Revenue cannot pay and officials are even owed their own salaries, why should they be afraid of the court's scolding? They can scold, but it doesn't mean they will lose two pieces of meat. As for dismissal, it is not as deterrent as before. There are refugees and bandits everywhere. It is not easy to be an official. At worst, they can retire.

Few officials were stupid. Seeing that the emperor was not a wise ruler and that there were signs of chaos, they all wanted to retire to the mountains and forests. There were refugees everywhere, and civil officials were the first to be killed by the rebels. Rather than being killed by the rebels one day, it was better to hide in the city with people and food, and wait until the market was good before coming out.

No matter how chaotic the world is, whether the dynasty changes or not, the world will always be ruled by scholars. The emperor takes turns to sit on the throne, and as long as the scholars' family continues to have scholars, their wealth and honor will last longer.

The emperor was a fool, but Ye Zhiqiu was not. Someone around her had already reported the chaos in the world to her. She felt sorry for the refugees in the world, but unfortunately she could not control natural disasters, and could only barely control man-made disasters. She was just a human, not a god.

She took out all the money she had and asked Banxia to exchange it for the worst coarse grains and transport them to the border to accommodate the refugees of the Ye family.

The Ye family was overjoyed to receive the grain, and agreed to it without even listening to Ye Zhiqiu's conditions. They would have settled the refugees even without the grain, and they would have settled more refugees if they had an unexpected amount of grain. It was just that the refugees could not be settled in the country, but had to be placed on the newly seized land at the border, which was not a big deal.

They have seen the land outside the country, and they all have good land. As long as they can open it up and plant it for a few years, it will become good farmland. With land, they are not afraid of not being able to attract people. After more than ten years of development, the Ye family is not afraid of not having the support of the court. If the emperor wants their lives one day, the worst that can happen is that they can go abroad and establish themselves as kings.

The Ye family has always had ambitions. It’s not that they don’t want to be emperor, but they don’t have the ability. Who wouldn’t want to try if there was a chance to establish themselves as king?