Noble Lady

After coming out of the prison, Xue Chenyu didn't care about the sour smell on his body, and went to find Situ Zhen first.

"Would the Crown Prince be willing to provide an additional batch of disaster relief grain?"

Situ Zhen was stunned by her question, "What's this, Miss Xue?"

The smell on her body made it clear that she had been to prison and had just been released from there.

Of course, he himself also has a smell.

"Zheng Duoqi was recruited by Feng, the manager of the Haicheng branch, and the man behind the scenes was Wu Fang, the county magistrate. Almost all officials in Haicheng County were involved."

Xue Chenyu said this and gave him Zheng Duoqi's confession.

Situ Zhen took a quick glance, and his handsome face, which was originally sunny, suddenly turned gloomy and covered with dark clouds.

"What do you want?"

"I spent all my wealth to buy this much food for disaster relief. My original intention was to save people, but I was used as a butcher. Prince, I only ask you to make sure these people die a miserable death."

"Marquis Xue's eldest daughter mobilized all the resources of the Haicheng merchants to donate 380,000 taels of silver worth of disaster relief grain. This greatly helped the court stabilize the people's morale."

Situ Zhen hesitated for a moment before opening his mouth and asking, "What do you think, Miss Xue?"

"can."

Situ Zhen lowered his head and thought for a moment before saying, "The disaster situation in Zhushan and Huaiyuan counties has been greatly alleviated, and the people are now feeling reassured."

"Only in Haicheng County have the disaster relief grain been embezzled by corrupt officials. They are hoarding goods at high prices, making exorbitant profits and betraying the emperor's grace. They deserve death! As for the internal affairs of the Haicheng merchants, they will handle them on their own. If you need any assistance from the government, please feel free to contact this prince."

Xue Chenyu slowly exhaled, "Thank you very much, Prince. I will take care of the matter of Haicheng Trading Company."

"Fortunately, I have fulfilled my mission. I will take my leave now."

Situ Zhen nodded, appearing calm on the surface, but in fact he was so happy that he wanted to wrap Xue Chenyu up and spin around in circles.

After she left the house, she realized belatedly that she hadn't even asked what the county lieutenant and the other two had said.

She has a great sense of proportion.

Prince Cheng was a little annoyed that she was too clear about the distinction between public and private affairs, but he was also glad that she did.

Then I wanted to punch myself for being so contradictory so that I could wake up.

Shopkeeper Feng was temporarily detained in the Haicheng Trading Company.

Xue Chenyu went back to change her clothes and wash off the sour smell. Then she wrote the complaint with her own hands, stating that Manager Feng had embezzled the company's property and colluded with officials to steal and sell relief grain.

Then he personally took Manager Feng to the county government office.

As for the corrupt officials in the county government office, such as the clerk Zhang Feng, the chief clerk Wang Tao, and the county lieutenant Song Daping, they were directly imprisoned and dealt with uniformly after their crimes were verified.

As for those clerks, such as the squad leaders, they were dealt with directly. Those who should be dismissed were dismissed, and those who should be beaten were beaten.

However, these people cannot escape death.

Not only did they have all the previous incidents, such as collusion between officials and businessmen, and the murder of the county magistrate, but the case of stealing and selling disaster relief grain and killing countless civilians was enough to make them die several times over.

Later, Situ Zhen wrote in a memorial to His Majesty: "Marquis Xue's eldest daughter has mobilized the resources of her Haicheng merchants to donate 380,000 taels of silver worth of disaster relief grain. This has greatly helped the court stabilize the people's morale."

"The disaster situation in Zhushan and Huaiyuan counties has been greatly alleviated, and the people are now at peace. However, in Haicheng County, the relief grain has been embezzled by corrupt officials, who are hoarding the goods and making huge profits. This betrays the emperor's grace and they deserve death!"

Of course, he also wrote that the caravan of Haicheng Trading Company originally sold grain for profit, but later, when they saw the dire situation in the south, they used all the grain for disaster relief.

Your Majesty is a benevolent and magnanimous monarch who does not demand that good things must be done perfectly.

This also led to Miss Xue being given the title.

But that’s another story.

Xue Hou, who led his troops to Miaoshan Village in Dongshui Town, also received good news after Xue Chenyu sent Manager Feng to the county government office.

"Teacher said that the county magistrate, He Yuanju, has been found, and several of the lesser leaders have been apprehended. We'll have to wait for him to return to find out the details."

It is not appropriate to send back the mastermind behind the scenes in black and white like this, but if you say so, it will be very smooth.

Xue Chenyu finally showed a look of joy: "That's great."

Two days passed.

Marquis Xue then brought the men back.

Knowing the news of their return, Xue Chenyu and the others waited at the gate of the government office early, and were able to meet He Yuanju, the magistrate of Haicheng County, who had been heard of for a long time but had never been seen.

Marquis Xue rode a tall horse and walked in the front. He was dressed in armor and looked very majestic. He received cheers from the people all the way.

Next came a young man in plain clothes sitting on horseback.

The soldier was leading his horse, not walking fast. His meticulously combed hair showed his seriousness. His face was pale, his cheeks were sunken, and the wind blowing on him outlined his skinny body.

He was too thin and looked like he had suffered a lot.

People along the way recognized him and asked, "Look, isn't that the county magistrate?"

"Yes, that's our County Magistrate, Mr. He!"

"Why is he so thin?"

There was a lot of discussion.

"Marquis Xue, you have worked hard on the journey." Situ Zhen acted like the prince of Cheng Wang and showed respect to the wise and humble. He personally welcomed Marquis Xue and the soldiers who had returned from suppressing the bandits at the gate of the county government office.

Chen Mingxuan also appeared on stage, but did not steal the show.

"No, no, we are all working for the court and your majesty." Marquis Xue said politely.

"You all have worked hard." Situ Zhen said to the soldiers behind him.

Everyone also said in unison: "Serving the court and His Majesty is not hard."

Situ Zhen nodded, very satisfied with this official response.

Marquis Xue dismounted and saluted him, "Greetings, Your Highness. I have fulfilled my mission and found Magistrate He."

As he was speaking, the soldiers led the horses and brought forward the County Magistrate He mentioned by Xue Hou.

The extremely thin young man got off the horse with great difficulty with the help of the soldiers.

"I'm He Yuanju, your humble servant. I'm honored to meet His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Cheng and Lord Chen." The thin young man bowed respectfully to Situ Zhen and then greeted Chen Mingxuan.

Xue Chenyu was a little surprised to see He Yuanju.

Although she guessed that the person behind her father was the Haicheng County Magistrate, she had always thought that the county magistrate was an old man in his forties or fifties, and she didn't expect him to be so young.

He looks about the same age as Prince Cheng and Chen Mingxuan, right?

"Lord He has suffered a lot, there is no need to be so polite." Situ Zhen raised his hand.

Xue Chenyu has no official position or title, so naturally he would not take the initiative to make do with these things.

He waited until Marquis Xue handed He Yuanju over to Situ Zhen before he stepped forward and asked, "Father, did you have a safe journey?"

"Don't worry, Dad is fine." Marquis Xue was afraid that his two daughters would worry, so he grinned, revealing his big white teeth.

Xue Luoyan pouted and pulled his arm coquettishly, "Dad, you won't go out again this time, right? Are you going back to Beijing with us?"

Just as he was about to praise his little daughter for being well-behaved and sensible, Xue Hou said: "..."

"Father has official business to attend to. It's not up to him to decide whether he returns to the capital with us or not." Xue Chenyu said, pinching Xue Luoyan's little face. "Luoluo, be good. You have to protect your sister."

"Yes, I want to protect my sister." Xue Luoyan happily held Xue Chenyu's arm again.

He Yuanju also exchanged greetings with Chen Mingxuan, Situ Zhen and others for a while, and then went into the county government office to discuss business.

"Your Highness is wise. I had previously been investigating the case of County Magistrate Wu Fang. Later, when the drought became severe, I submitted several petitions to the court, but he intercepted them all. Later, I discovered that he was colluding with grain merchants to hoard grain at a high price."

"But before I could find his lair, it fell into his hands."

Situ Zhen nodded.

Afterwards, He Yuanju also talked about his own perspective on the reselling of grain.

The drought in Haicheng County was not as severe as in Zhushan and Huaiyuan counties, but he found that the price of grain was unusually high and many people could not afford to eat.

He tried everything to alleviate the drought but failed, so he could only submit a memorial to the emperor, hoping that the court would provide disaster relief, and even more hoping that the emperor would allow him to open the granaries to provide disaster relief.

However, the memorials he sent out fell into oblivion again and again, and only then did he realize that his memorials had been hijacked.

They tried every possible means and sent the troops out in several groups, but when they reached the prefect, there was no further news.

He had no other choice but to seek other solutions, and contacted the wealthy and powerful people in the county, hoping that they could come forward to help. However, these people said good things on the surface, but then disappeared without a trace.

When he went to look for them again, they squeezed out a little food and then turned around as if nothing had happened.

After going back and forth, it dragged on for a long time.

He even wanted to raid their house, but that was against the rules, so he had to give up.