Chapter 788 Xue Mei and the Yellow Bird are behind

This year, the Chu State has good weather.

However, a drought occurred in Xiangcheng area located in the northwest.

The drought was not particularly severe, but the wheat harvest fell by two-thirds.

This drought is a man-made disaster.

Five years ago, a large-scale drought occurred in Xiangcheng, and the imperial court allocated grain to provide disaster relief.

After the disaster, in order to solve the problem, the court officials thought of a solution to build a canal in Xiangcheng, and energy conservation and control of wheat fields during drought.

Building a canal in Xiangcheng in the northwest is huge and the project is difficult.

In order to avoid natural disasters in the people, Emperor Jianhong still gritted his teeth and paid the money from the national treasury.

When the money arrived in Xiangcheng, the officials did not build the canal as required by the court, but exploited it layer by layer. They got benefits from top to bottom.

Even the people who supervised the imperial court bought them.

The canal is a face-saving project, but it has never been repaired.

What the officials were thinking was: "When the next natural disaster, I may no longer be an official here, so what does it have to do with me?"

Some people don’t want to be with the crowd, but their own lives and family are here. If they weren’t really determined, they would soon be pulled together and sink.

In this way, Xiangcheng was full of oil and he was eating up and down, and he divided the money for building the canal. However, there was no construction on the canal, just doing it.

God has also taken good care of Xiangcheng, and there has been no drought in recent years until this year.

This year, the drought has decreased significantly, and the officials in Xiangcheng are panicked.

If they report to the court, they will all lose their lives, lose their official positions from top to bottom, and may even lose their lives. If they do not report to the court, what should they do if the grain collection this year and what should the people do?

Just as they were in a state of turmoil, the prefect blocked the mouths of several insiders.

Cheng Lanqing's secret report found out about this before the prince arrived in Xiangcheng. She and the prince secretly arrived in Xiangcheng in advance and caught the local prefect off guard.

"...I don't want to make things difficult for you. The weather is good every year, and the food that is lacking this year will be replenished next year. As for the canal, it will be left to a prefect for worrying about a magistrate. Isn't it great?" said the prince.

This was what Cheng Lanqing taught him.

The prince grabbed this task and wanted to show off. If something big happened to Xiangcheng, the prince would not make any achievements at all and might be implicated by Xiangcheng.

He regretted it to death.

If I had known that Xiaojiu would have been able to cheat him. Now, the prince himself was the one who was cheated.

Cheng Lanqing did not expect that the prince’s luck would be so bad.

However, what she had to do was to help the prince make up for it.

In addition to himself, the prince also has two auxiliary officials.

"...Xiangcheng is the largest city in the northwest, and there are many wealthy families in the city. It is better to borrow grain from them and fill it in the granary first, and at the same time let His Highness transport the old grain from the warehouse last year.

When we leave, we will return the grain in the granary back, and we will not have to take responsibility." Cheng Lanqing said to the prefect.

The prince has collected grain; the officials can also get through; but the official granary is temporarily spaced.

Just one year left.

Although the official grain is gone, the people and the big households still have surplus grains in their hands, which will not cause a great famine.

As long as the prince does not pursue the matter, this matter will not be serious at all.

In order to make this grain collection smoothly, the prince made achievements for the court and the emperor. Local officials hit it off for their own lives and black hats.

Those who followed the prince saw the granary full of food; and the grain that the prince wanted to transport back was never short of weight.

Satisfied twice.

On the way back, the prince was still a little worried, but Cheng Lanqing convinced him.

"...You see that the officials in Xiangcheng are doing so skillfully, you know that this is not the first time they deceive their superiors and subordinates. When the emperor asks, you will say you know nothing.

Once the matter is exposed, I will send someone to kill a few people for you to silence you, and the custody of the matter will not be pushed to you." Cheng Lanqing said.

The prince finally felt at ease.

But he never expected that this incident had already fallen into the eyes of Jiyan Building, and they also told Xue Mei.

Xue Mei asked Xue Chi to report it secretly to the emperor again.

Before the prince could hold a celebration banquet, the emperor sent a secret envoy to Xiangcheng.

In the next half month, the memorials kept flying into the palace.

First of all, Xiangcheng did empty its official granary, but fortunately, the grain market is stable and the people and merchants have surplus grain in their hands. As long as there is no natural disaster next year, there will be no major chaos.

Secondly, the officials in Xiangcheng insisted that the matter was decided by the prefect, and they were coerced and tempted. The prince knew about it and was involved.

For this reason, there are still people who have witnessed it.

The prince was furious.

Cheng Lanqing was also slightly caught off guard. He bit the prince out and sent someone to assassinate the witness, which was already a step too late. But she still had to do so.

All the civil and military officials in the court were shocked.

This is the first time in this dynasty for such a big corruption case.

The court sent an imperial envoy to Xiangcheng again to investigate the matter thoroughly.

The official who was prosecuting the prince died in prison for no reason. There was no silver here, but without the witness, the prince was a little confused.

The prince tried his best to complain.

"...The evidence is false. He wants to frame the son minister. The person who instructed him to lie behind him to silence him again. The son has no chance to confront him. The father clearly understands!" the prince cried.

It seems to make some sense if you say this.

But the emperor knew it very well.

The court officials also spoke for the prince and asked the emperor to observe clearly.

After more than a year of temptation, the emperor had already decided to change the prince, but he had not yet decided to choose the new prince, so he let this guy continue to sit in the position of the prince.

"The person is dead, and now you can't argue." The emperor said to the prince, "You are punished to stay in the East Palace and think about it for three months, and you will not leave the East Palace for half a step."

The court officials were a little confused when they heard this punishment.

Some people think that this incident has a great impact. The emperor is already very protective of the prince if he does not abolish the prince; some people think that three months of confinement means "death penalty" for the crown prince, and it will be sooner or later for the crown prince to be deposed again.

Everyone has their own words.

The emperor sent the fifth prince, King Ji and Xue Chi, to Xiangcheng to try the case, and then re-estimated the cost of the canal.

"The future prince will definitely be one of these two princes."

"It's not that King Zhuang, right? He is disabled."

"If he doesn't say it, who can tell that he is disabled?" Someone retorted, "He is so decent, he is more arrogant than a normal man."

No one said that disability cannot inherit the throne.

Of course, it is hard to say that the court officials are not happy about timidity, but King Zhuang did not do this.

However, there is no doubt that the Fifth Prince's faction will attack King Zhuang on this.

Xue Chi went on a business trip again.

Xue Mei stayed in the Zhuang Prince's Mansion and accidentally went shopping with Yuan Qin. She accompanied her to visit some high-ranking families. For the rest of her days, Xue Mei was preparing to open a pharmacy.

At this time, Xue Mei also remembered Cheng Lanqing.

"I don't know how Cheng Lanqing will recover the losses this time." Xue Mei was a little gloating.

She actually met Cheng Lanqing at the Pei family.

The prince was confined, but Cheng Lanqing did not. Her identity as a concubine was so useful. She did not have to be implicated by the prince, and it also made people understand that she was in the prince's heart, and it was even more legitimate when she represented the prince.

They have already planned everything.

"Mr. Marquis, I haven't seen you for a long time." Cheng Lanqing smiled and greeted Xue Mei, "Mr. Marquis looks full of spring, and there must be something good recently."
Chapter completed!