I clearly wanted to be a tyrant, but how did I become the greatest emperor of all time?

Tian Liang, who was commended by His Majesty, rode his horse non-stop to the Huainan area.

The Huainan area is located between the Yangtze River and the Huai River.

Although this place is not as prosperous as Yuhang, it is also a land of fish and rice.

The Huaihe River has a complex water network and is the area with the strongest river transportation power.

When the late emperor was alive, he conducted a crackdown on river transportation, which led to the mutiny of boat workers in the Huai River area.

They sank grain ships and blocked the river.

After bidding farewell to His Majesty, Tian Liang went directly to the Huai River.

The water transport department established on the Huaihe River is the focus of this investigation into river transport corruption.

The Grand Canal Governor Pan Dazhuang is a fourth-rank official!

At this time, Pan Dazhuang was toasting at the banquet.

Pan Dazhuang received Li Guangmao, the son of the Sixth Wise King, who came from Kyoto.

Accompanying the two of them was an energetic old man, who was Yu Yuanhui, the leader of the Cao Gang!

Yu Yuanhui's life story is very legendary.

He started out as a coolie loading and unloading goods at the dock, but was later recognized by the Cao Gang, learned martial arts, and gradually rose to the top of the Cao Gang.

Later, Yu Yuanhui didn't know what opportunity he encountered, but he became a tenth-level master and became the leader of the Cao Gang.

A tenth-level warrior, this identity alone is very important.

Plus the leader of the Cao Gang who has tens of thousands of disciples.

But Yu Yuanhui was pouring wine for Pan Dazhuang at this time.

Pan Dazhuang, the governor of the grain transport system, is the real overlord of river transport!

Li Guangmao said, "Sir Pan, my father sent me here to remind you. Your Majesty is very determined to investigate the river transport scandal this time!"

Pan Dazhuang laughed and said, "The late emperor also wanted to investigate the river transport scandal, but what was the result? Hahaha."

Yu Yuanhui said: "The canal transport is the lifeblood of millions of canal workers, and it is also the lifeblood of tens of thousands of brothers in the canal gang!"

"If the emperor wants our lives, it won't be solved with just a few words."

Pan Dazhuang picked up his wine glass and said with a smile: "Then let's stop the canal transportation once more!"

The three of them raised their glasses together, and everything was said without words.

They didn't know yet that a "storm" was heading towards the Huai River.

The rain is coming from the wind!

Huai River.

The narrowest section of the Huaihe River.

Chen Li covered his face and hid in the bushes.

After escaping from Yuzhou City back to the headquarters, Chen Li was looked down upon by many people.

The destruction of the Cao Gang's branch in Yuzhou City was a heavy loss for the wealthy Cao Gang.

Without his brothers in Yuzhou City, Chen Li’s identity in Cao Gang was just that of a seventh-level master.

But this time, the gang leader Yu Yuanhui personally assigned him a task.

Chen Li had done this task before, which was to pretend to be a pirate and attack a grain ship.

Chen Li had a bad feeling.

until late at night.

The grain transport ship finally arrived at the center of the river transport.

"Do it!"

Chen Li waved his hand, and all his men took the sampans and rushed towards the canal.

"Kill!"

Shouts of killing rang out!

The attack went surprisingly smoothly.

Chen Li quickly succeeded and robbed five grain ships full of food.

At this moment, another group of men in black suddenly jumped out of the bushes.

This group of men in black rushed up and began to attack Chen Li and his men.

They not only attacked Chen Li, but also attacked the guards and boatmen of the grain transport ships.

Black eat black!

Chen Li now understood everything. He was being used as a gun!

escape!

Chen Li quickly dived into the water.

But soon, a team of archers appeared on the shore!

"Fire arrows!"

These archers shot arrows indiscriminately into the water!

These are not ordinary people from the underworld, they are soldiers!

Chen Li's heart almost sank.

At this moment, a shrill voice sounded in Chen Li's ears.

"Captain Chen, hide under the boat."

Chen Li immediately began to swim towards the bottom of the boat.

Soon, he saw two men in black under the boat.

They held Chen Li and dived deeper into the water.

Drag Chen Li away from the battlefield.

The next morning.

The grain transport ships on the Huai River were attacked by pirates.

The crew fought hard with the pirates, and finally all of them died together.

The grain ship was smashed and sank to the bottom of the river.

"Coincidentally," all the ships sank in the narrowest part of the river.

"What's even more coincidental is that" these sunken ships blocked the river waterway.

The lifeline from Yuhang to Kyoto is blocked!

All these coincidences happened when the censor Tian Liang had just arrived at the Huai River and was planning to investigate the river transport malpractice case.

The hundreds of grain transport ships that followed were also blocked in Yuhang.

at the same time.

At the Sixth Wise King’s Mansion.

The steward of the Sixth Wise King was having secret talks with several major grain merchants in Kyoto.

"Your Highness has received accurate information that the river transportation is blocked."

These big grain merchants had all experienced the famine in Kyoto during the reign of the previous emperor, and their eyes instantly lit up when they heard this!

Food is different from other things.

If it's something else, you don't have to buy it.

But if people don’t eat, they will starve to death.

Food has another characteristic.

Most of the time, food prices are very stable.

But when there is a food shortage, food prices can directly rise tenfold or even dozens of times!

So everyone understands that if this crisis is really like the past, the price of food in Kyoto could increase several times!

These big grain merchants immediately said, "Understood, we will stockpile grain right away."

These grain merchants also knew that as long as the news of the interruption of river transportation reached Kyoto, the price of grain would skyrocket.

The food stored at this time can then be sold at several times the price.

This is national disaster wealth!

If you don't profit from national disasters, can you still be called a profiteer?

All of a sudden, the grain merchants who received the news in advance began to stockpile grain.

The price of food in Kyoto has risen a lot.

The Imperial Censor Tian Liang, who was at the Huai River, immediately sent someone to notify the cabinet in Kyoto and inform His Majesty who was at Binhai.

At the same time, the Yuhang governor had received orders from the cabinet.

The governor of Yuhang was a disciple of the Prime Minister Tang Xiaoren and a die-hard member of the Tang Party.

After receiving the message from his mentor and the cabinet's order, the governor immediately summoned his men:

"Ascension!"

The governor said to his subordinates: "I have received an order from the cabinet. Start immediately and send the grain transported by river to Huajiang!"

Send to Huajiang?

The men looked at each other.

But the governor was carrying out the orders of the cabinet, and his subordinates could only say, "Yes, sir!"

Huajiang.

The newly built giant sea-going ship is moored in the port.

All these officers and soldiers were transferred from Kyoto by the cabinet.

They were responsible for loading the grain onto the ships.

These ships would carry food and travel along the coast to ports.

It then passed through the port and railway and was transported to Kyoto by horse-drawn railcars.

This route has already been tested.

It only takes about a week to deliver the goods from Yuhang to Kyoto!

This is twice as fast as river transportation!

Not only that, the loss in sea transportation is very small.

The interruption of river transportation this time gave the cabinet an opportunity.

Tang Xiaoren has been planning this for a long time.

Taking advantage of the interruption of river transportation, they switched to sea transportation to transport food.

When Jia Renyi learned of Tang Xiaoren's entire plan, he was stunned.

Has Prime Minister Tang designed everything?