Emperor Zhaode did not speak but thought to himself, "A bloodless victory, lifting heavy as if it were light? If the previous emperor had really resolved that crisis, why would he have died in his prime..."
However, he was also aware that what Wang Jiangling had said was indeed the words of an experienced and prudent statesman.
In his heart, he did really want to seize the opportunity of this famine crisis to have the Embroidered Guards investigate thoroughly, to apprehend high officials in the court, punishing them as an example to others.
But as he governed longer, his understanding of the court deepened, and he increasingly felt as powerless as a bird caught in a web...
For many years, Wei had placed civil administration over the military, and the connections among the court factions were tight. All the high officials were like wolves and tigers with deep roots and connections spread all over, the borders relied upon generals they recommended for defense, the localities relied upon people they employed for governance, and the treasury relied upon people they utilized for raising funds... Without full certainty, taking action against them would be tantamount to destroying one’s own mighty rampart.
And Wang Jiangling, who could have served as a firewall between the emperor and his court officials as the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, due to his promotion of new policies and his relatively short time in the Cabinet, had far less power and connections in the court than his predecessors. He could only rely on his ability to devise strategies, not his ability to contend with the full court of civil and military officials.
Of course, if he were willing to abandon the new policies, he might instantly gain the support of many influential officials.
But if a man dies, his policies vanish. How could the previous emperor rest in peace under such circumstances? And how would future generations view him, Zhao Hong?
Even the individual from Yuelai Inn would probably come to the capital to beat him up, right?
"Enough enough, let’s take it slowly, then!"
Emperor Zhaode sighed deeply in his heart and nodded, saying, "Listening to your words is better than reading ten years of books; let us do as you advise!"
Wang Jiangling sighed with relief and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty is wise!"
...
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"Fang..."
In Hangzhou, Wu Eryong crouched on the street side, gnawing on a hard roll while he looked at the passing pedestrians, and said to Fang Ke beside him, "Could Er Yong be wrong this time? There doesn’t seem to be anything unusual here?"
Fang Ke, with his head down, focused on flipping through the account book in his hands, did not even lift his head as he replied, "In matters like this, Er Yong’s judgment has never been wrong. If he determined that those corrupt officials have more tricks up their sleeves, then those corrupt officials surely have more tricks up their sleeves—we just haven’t found them yet!"
He had been in Hangzhou for three days. With the help of Lianhuan Fort, the local power, he had investigated all the major grain distributors in Hangzhou. The results were that the grain was indeed in the granaries, all the grain merchants were anxiously waiting for the canal to thaw to transport the grain north quickly to make a huge profit...
He certainly couldn’t just take these grain merchants at their word; he had personally sneaked into those granaries to check, and the results matched what the grain merchants had said.
After flipping through several account books, Fang Ke still had no leads.
He closed the account book in his hand, and after a moment of intense thought, he suddenly replied, "Lao Wu, there haven’t been any upheavals on the Jianghuai Waterway recently, have there?"
Wu Eryong glanced at him sideways and said, "Do you think our Lianhuan Fort is so easy to bully? Anyone can just show up and cause trouble?"
Ann
>> annoyed, Fang Ke grabbed his neck and shook him vigorously back and forth, "Will this never end? Is it never going to end?"
Wu Eryong stuffed a hard roll into his mouth, saying, "You’re the one who talks without thinking, and you blame me?"
Fang Ke let go of him, snatched the hard roll from his mouth and tore into it, saying, "If there’s nothing wrong with the grain, then it must be the grain route. The Jianghuai Waterway is under your Lianhuan Fort’s control; if I don’t ask you, should I go ask Navy Chief Wang?"
Wu Eryong waved his hand and said, "There’s no problem with the Jianghuai Waterway, there simply is no problem; even if there were, with Er Yong’s word, it would have to become no problem! Who would dare cause trouble at this critical time? It’s not only about crossing Lianhuan Fort but crossing Er Yong as well. No matter how big the world is, there would be no place for them!"
Fang Ke, with a mouthful of hard roll, slapped his hand and said indistinctly, "So, here comes the problem. If there’s nothing wrong with the grain and there’s nothing wrong with the grain route, where could the problem be?"
After a pause, Wu Eryong asked, "It’s not only Jiangzhe that is the land of fish and rice; what about the two lakes? Could the problem be there?"
"Unlikely."
Fang Ke shook his head, "The grain from the two lakes can only reach the capital overland, and the time and losses are much greater than using the waterways of Jiangzhe. Moreover, even if there might be problems there, as long as the grain from Jiangzhe can get through, it can still relieve the famine in the north. It’s not a year of great disaster; as long as we can get through this pinch, no major trouble will arise!"
Wu Eryong picked up another hardtack and chewed thoughtfully before finally speaking, "Could there be a possibility that this grain shortage actually came about by coincidence and that in fact, no one has used this issue to their advantage?"
Fang Ke glanced at him, suddenly gripped his neck with both hands again, and said, "Getting too bold, are you? Are you getting too bold? You think your pig brain has the right to say Er Yong is wrong?"
Wu Eryong’s eyes rolled back in his head as he was choked, "Water, water, water..."
Fang Ke took off the water flask from his waist and threw it into his lap, then helplessly picked up the ledger in his lap and continued flipping through it, "Where exactly is the problem?"
...
"Where exactly is the problem?"
In the gloomy and terrifying depths of the Imperial Secret Police torture chambers, Shen Fa wiped his blood-drenched hands with a clean handkerchief, his brows tightly furrowed as he put down the torture instruments.
He had secretly arrested a few clerks from the Ministry of Revenue in the past few days to investigate the whereabouts of the batch of grain that the Ministry had deliberately hidden.
However, the results revealed that this batch of grain was not intercepted under the orders of any of the vice ministers or the Minister of Revenue.
On the contrary, Minister of Revenue Chen Huaizhen had previously issued a strict order to the lower and middle-ranking officials of the Ministry, forbidding them from intercepting any more grain dispatched from the Han Jia Granary. If he found anyone selling the grains from Han Jia Granary in the capital, they would be severely punished...
Clearly, this serious and stern command was understood by all the lower and middle-ranking officials of the Ministry, and Shen Fa understood it as well.
Not a single leak!
Even more tightly sealed was the fact that the grain, which was distributed through the corrupt officials of the Ministry, remained undetected even by his Imperial Secret Police!
The buyers of this grain, apart from having genuine silver notes, had everything else forged... the names were fake, the grain ticket names were fake, even the destinations were fake!
These dogs of officials from the Ministry, "misguided" into believing that these grain purchasers were actually dispatched by their superiors to share in the profits, turned a blind eye and willingly sold the grains to them.
Absolutely foolproof!
However, the cleaner these dog officials cut themselves off, the more convinced Shen Fa became that their next move... would be extraordinary!
Because with the ranks of the vice ministers and the Minister, a minor mishap could hardly shake them, thus they seldom wiped their slate this clean... after all, the only person who dared to investigate them was the Emperor. Leaving a small loophole for the Emperor to exploit was both an escape route and a way of showing deference.
’Could the problem really be in Jiangzhe?’
Shen Fa thought it over briefly, then quickly discarded the idea.
Yang Ge’s grasp over Jiangzhe was too strong; both the legal and the underworld had to show him face. As long as those dog officials aren’t fools, they would never make a move in Jiangzhe to rebel against the Emperor!
’Not in the south... could it be in the north then?’
A thought suddenly flashed through Shen Fa’s mind, and his eyes narrowed into thin lines.
This year, heavy snowfall had devastated the northern provinces.
The conditions on the plains were likely even more severe than in the northern provinces.
And sometimes, the weakest and the mightiest are equated.
With this thought, Shen Fa immediately grabbed the torture instruments he had just thrown onto the table, turned around, and walked toward the figure hanging on the wall.
"Speak, who instructed you to collude with the enemy, betraying your country for glory?"
"I didn’t, I didn’t collude with the enemy, please have mercy..."