The daughter of the first wife grew up in the countryside and was extremely powerful

Those beautiful eyes were shining brightly at this moment, like the brightest stars in the night sky, staring straight at the man in front of her.

Shi Jinyan's heart also trembled a little, and his eyes unconsciously became much gentler.

Before I knew it, it was noon.

After the two of them enjoyed lunch at the manor, Shi Jinyan took the opportunity to quietly instruct the guards around him to mobilize several people with high martial arts skills and extraordinary abilities to come and secretly guard the manor.

After everything was arranged, Shi Jinyan returned to Beijing with Gu Fanchu.

However, the news soon spread throughout the streets and alleys, and people liked to talk about these gossips in their spare time.

"I heard that the Grand Tutor loves his fiancée, Princess Lingyu, so much that he even went to the manor to greet her personally."

"That's right. I've never seen Master Shi smile like that before. He seems to be much gentler now."

I think that the master was usually cold and indifferent to other women, but he was so caring and well-intentioned towards this princess. I think the two of them must be truly in love and have already been deeply in love.

Gu Fanchu seemed to be out of touch with the world and was not affected by the troubles in the outside world at all.

When she returned, she was still thinking about the item with great destructive power.

So, without hesitation, she went to her grandfather again and revealed the matter to him in a tactful and implicit way.

When my grandfather heard this, he looked solemn, but he didn't ask too many questions about the details.

He just stared at Gu Fanchu with deep eyes and warned:

"This is a confidential matter. You must keep it strictly secret and do not act rashly."

Gu Fanchu nodded solemnly, indicating that he would follow the instructions.

In the days that followed, Gu Fanchu rarely went out, and was as quiet as a girl in the boudoir.

Originally, she wanted to bring her two masters to the capital to reunite, but unexpectedly, the two masters said that the scenery around Zhuangzi was pleasant and the environment was quiet, and they would rather stay there for the time being.

Faced with the masters' decision, Gu Fanchu felt a little disappointed, but he did not force it.

Time passed quietly, and suddenly a severe famine broke out in the southern region.

For a time, countless hungry and displaced refugees poured into the capital like a tide.

The news soon reached the palace, and the emperor was furious when he learned about it.

Furious, he immediately ordered a thorough investigation into the incident.

As the investigation deepened, the shocking truth gradually surfaced.

A series of officials were involved in this famine.

They either embezzled relief funds or neglected their duties, causing the disaster relief work to come to a standstill.

Soon, the officials involved in the case were arrested and brought to justice.

Despite this, the disaster in the south has not been effectively alleviated.

During the daily morning court session, officials in the court racked their brains and offered suggestions, trying to find a foolproof solution that could completely solve the problem.

However, the biggest challenge facing everyone is how to collect and transport enough food to the disaster area in a short period of time.

After all, it is not easy to meet the food and clothing needs of so many disaster victims.

In fact, the grain shop owners in the capital had already vaguely smelled a hint of something unusual when they reported the situation to the court.

With their keen intuition and experience gained from years of business, they judged that this time they might be facing a big storm.

So, these shrewd businessmen all made the same decision - to hold back their grain stocks and quietly raise the selling price of grain.

At the beginning, they were quite cautious and did not raise the price too high to avoid causing panic and attention among the people.

But as time went on, when the truth of the matter gradually surfaced and the situation became increasingly clear, these grain shop owners could no longer suppress their greed and began to unscrupulously raise grain prices.

In this way, in a short period of time, the price of food soared to more than three times its original price!

What's worse is that there was a serious shortage of food supply in the market at that time. Even if someone was willing to pay a high price, it was often difficult to buy a bucket of rice, resulting in an embarrassing situation of having a price but no market.

Two small towns adjacent to the disaster-stricken area also suffered the same degree of damage.

Although there was still some food in the local granary, after some estimation, everyone found that this amount of food could not last for too long.

In desperation, officials from the two towns urgently wrote to the court, requesting the allocation of food and fodder for support.

Unfortunately, things did not go as planned. At this moment, even the national treasury is not as abundant as imagined. Facing such a huge demand, we are really unable to meet the needs...

Therefore, in recent days, some ministers in the court have proposed that the grain that is about to be shipped to the border should be transferred to the disaster-stricken areas first to solve the current urgent problem, and the subsequent matters can be considered in the long run.

As soon as this advice was put forward, it was immediately met with strong opposition from the vast majority of officials in the court.

However, faced with such fierce controversy, His Majesty did not give a clear response.

But even if it was just this, it was enough to chill the hearts of many generals.

In the Gu family study.

When Gu Qingming heard this story from Gu Xunzhou at home, he could not help but stare at his granddaughter in astonishment, whose face was as calm as water.

He never expected that, just as Gu Fanchu said, the imperial court would actually set its sights on military rations.

You know, those foods are the lifeline for the soldiers guarding the border!

If Your Majesty agrees to this measure, it will undoubtedly chill the hearts of hundreds of thousands of soldiers fighting on the border.

They left their homes, risked their lives and fought bravely on the front lines, just to protect the peace of the country and the safety of the people.

But now, the imperial court is trying to abandon them. How can the soldiers feel at ease with such behavior?

However, despite his many worries, Gu Qingming still held on to one last hope for the emperor.

After all, he had followed loyally for many years and sincerely hoped that the monarch he served would remain sober and wise and would not easily do such a self-destructive act.

"Your Majesty...you wouldn't do that."

He muttered to himself, a complex look in his eyes, a mixture of worry and hope.

Gu Xunzhou's face was also filled with sorrow at this time:

"More and more people in the court are supporting this idea. I'm afraid Your Majesty..."

Gu Fanchu knew very well that His Majesty was now in a desperate situation and was completely helpless.

She knew very well that if a few more people dared to make repeated suggestions to His Majesty, that batch of vital food would never be delivered to her uncle and his family smoothly.