With a million soldiers, the empress begged me not to rebel

Qiao'er didn't dare say anything else and had to do as he was told.

Watching the victims scrambling for dry food, Chen Qingwan felt mixed emotions.

She knew that this little bit of food was just a drop in the bucket and could not solve the fundamental problem at all.

"Your Majesty, the Qingzhou governor requests an audience."

A guard came forward to report.

"Let him come over." Chen Qingwan said.

After a while, a fat man with big ears and a greasy face came over.

Nodding and bowing:

"I am here to see you, Your Majesty!"

Chen Qingwan glanced at him and sneered in her heart.

The Qingzhou area can still remain so "rich" at this time.

It can be seen that they often squeeze the people's money.

"No need for formalities." Chen Qingwan said lightly.

"Qingzhou is suffering from a drought. As the governor, do you have any plans to deal with it?"

The governor wiped the sweat from his forehead and said with a sad face:

"Your Majesty, this drought...is rare in a century! Even your humble servant...your humble servant is powerless to do anything!"

"Powerless?" Chen Qingwan said in a cold tone.

"I think you are just sitting there doing nothing!"

"The drought is a natural disaster, but the people are displaced and starving everywhere. Isn't that your responsibility as the governor?"

The governor was so frightened that he fell to his knees.

"Your Majesty, please spare my life! Your Majesty, please spare my life! Your humble servant...your humble servant has tried his best!"

"Did you try your best?" Chen Qingwan sneered.

"So what you mean by doing your best is to fatten yourself up while letting the people starve to death?"

"Your Majesty, I am innocent!" the prefect cried.

"Your humble servant...your humble servant has already submitted a petition to the imperial court, requesting disaster relief!"

"Report it to the court?" Chen Qingwan laughed in anger.

"When will the relief grain from the imperial court arrive?"

"By the time we get there, how many people in Qingzhou will be left alive?"

The prefect didn't dare to say anything more, but just kept kowtowing and begging for mercy.

Chen Qingwan looked at the corrupt official and wished she could kick him away.

But she knew that now was not the time to blame anyone, and the most urgent task was to resolve the current dilemma.

"Qiao'er, go and tie up this bastard official for me!"

Chen Qingwan shouted sternly.

"I want to see how much grain is left in the Qingzhou treasury!"

Chen Qingwan snatched the guard's sword.

Pointing at the governor's fat belly, he said viciously:

"Lead the way! If you dare to play tricks, I will open a hole in your stomach first!"

The governor was so frightened that he ran towards the treasury...

The governor's fat was shaking like a meatball.

He rolled and crawled all the way, fearing that if he ran a little slower, the empress's sword would pierce him through!

Chen Qingwan and Qiao'er were also very angry and followed closely behind.

The treasury door was closed and covered with cobwebs.

A rotten smell hit my nose, it was obvious that it had not been opened for a long time!

"What? The food is rotting in there?"

Chen Qingwan sneered, with a murderous look in her brows.

The prefect was so frightened that he fell to his knees with a thud.

He took out the key tremblingly.

The key was rusty and made a harsh creaking sound when rubbing against the keyhole.

"Can't open it? It seems that the grain in this treasury is really rotten."

Chen Qingwan's voice was cold, with a cold light flashing in her eyes.

The prefect's face was pale, sweat was pouring down, and he was twisting the key desperately.

Finally, with a "click", the lock opened.

Chen Qingwan kicked the door open.

A musty smell hit her in the face, almost choking her to death.

The treasury was empty.

Except for a few fat rats scurrying around in the corner.

Where is the trace of food?

silence.

Deathly silence.

Chen Qingwan's face was terribly gloomy.

She slowly drew her sword, the tip of the sword pointing directly at the governor's throat.

"Where's the food?"

Her voice was low and dangerous, as if it came from the depths of hell.

The prefect was shaking all over, his lips quivering, but he couldn't utter a single word.

"say!"

Chen Qingwan shouted angrily, scaring the prefect so much that he wet his pants on the spot.

"Your Majesty... Your Majesty, please spare my life! This... this food..."

The governor spoke incoherently as if he had drunk some fake wine.

Sweat drops like a waterfall

The whole person looked like he was fished out of the water.

"Where's the food?"

Chen Qingwan raised her tone and moved the tip of her sword a little closer.

"This...this...was...stolen..."

The prefect squeezed out a few words tremblingly.

"Stolen? The Qingzhou treasury is as solid as a rock, who could possibly steal it?"

Chen Qingwan sneered, obviously not believing his nonsense.

"It's true...it was really stolen...I...I don't know..."

The prefect cried and screamed, his forehead was broken and blood was flowing down his cheeks.

"Qiao'er, beat him! Beat him until he tells the truth!"

Chen Qingwan was furious and threw the sword to Qiao'er.

Qiao'er took the sword and sneered.

The prefect was dragged away, and his shrill screams echoed over the government office.

Chen Qingwan stood in the empty treasury, her heart boiling with anger.

How dare this corrupt official be so bold as to embezzle all the grain!

After an unknown amount of time, Qiao'er came back.

He was still holding the half-dead prefect in his hands.

"Tell me! Where is the food?"

Chen Qingwan shouted sternly.

The governor was dying, and he spoke incoherently:

“Sold… sold…”

"Sold? Sold to whom? Where's the money?" Chen Qingwan pressed on.

The prefect's calves were cramping.

He trembled and blurted out his name and the place where he hid his money!

When Chen Qingwan heard this, her face turned green and she shouted sternly:

"Drag this bastard official out and chop him up!"

At the command, the guards pounced on him like wolves and dragged the prefect out like a dead dog.

She waved her hand and said, "Search the house! Take out all the money this corrupt official has plundered from the people!"

Sure enough, boxes and boxes of gold, silver and jewelry were found in the mansion, which were so dazzling!

Chen Qingwan looked at the mountains of gold, silver and jewelry.

There was no joy in my heart, only endless anger.

These are the people’s blood and hard-earned money!

She snorted coldly and ordered:

"Ship all this dirty stuff out, exchange it for food, and use it to help the victims!"

Upon hearing this, the guard commander Li Dazhuang's face suddenly became uglier than if he had eaten bitter melon.

He rubbed his hands and walked cautiously to Chen Qingwan.

"Your Majesty, this...this food problem is probably difficult to solve..."

Chen Qingwan glared with a cold light in her eyes:

"Why is it so difficult to solve? I have money in my hands now, so why should I be worried about not being able to buy food?"

Li Dazhuang made a bitter face and continued:

"Your Majesty, there are millions of disaster victims in Qingzhou, which is not a small number.

Even if you have money, you can't buy so much food in a short time!

The price of grain is skyrocketing in the market right now, and the little money we have is probably just a drop in the bucket..."

"What I want is to solve the problem, not let you create problems for me!"

Chen Qingwan shouted angrily, scaring Li Dazhuang so much that he trembled and almost fell to his knees.

He was sweating profusely and stammered for a long time, but couldn't make any clear explanation.

Seeing this, Qiao'er said weakly:

"Your Majesty, I have an idea..."

"Speak!" Chen Qingwan said unhappily.