Sun Ruowei's expression changed. What a bold dog slave, he dared to speak like this!

She was about to let people take Xing'an, but Qian pulled her arm. Sun Ruowei was panting like an ox, but did not give the order to take Xing'an.

On the Golden Brick Square, all the guards were standing, and these guards were obviously following Xing'an's orders.

Ma Shun, the commander of the Jinyi Guards, was shot dead by the palace guard, and the current commander, Nie Zhong, chose to take sides and stood on the side of King Tan.

"The Queen Mother, the Queen, and the ministers have been inspecting the inside and outside of the palace all night. At present, only Cining Palace and Kunning Palace have not been checked. Please ask the Queen Mother and the Queen to atone for their sins."

It's a serious matter, but it's really cruel.

Searching the palace of the Queen Mother, how treasonous is this?

However, Xing'an received an order to clean the palace, and the Queen Mother's and Queen's bedrooms were naturally within the scope of the palace.

"You!" Sun Ruowei's expression suddenly changed. She was so angry that she flicked her sleeves and left Fengtian Hall.

Zhu Qiyu found out through the eunuch Cheng Jing that the Ming Dynasty did not go to court every day.

To be precise, during the periods of Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di, there were not only morning dynasties, but also noon dynasties and evening dynasties every day.

When Zhu Gaochi became the Renzong Dynasty, the noon and evening dynasties were cancelled. Then under the famous "Cricket" Emperor Zhu Zhanji, the late emperor, the morning dynasty became a three-day dynasty.

When Zhu Qizhen was in court, he would not go to court every five days or even for a month. When he went to court depended entirely on Zhu Qizhen's mood.

Zhu Qiyu did not go to the palace. He used the study room of Prince Tan's Mansion as a place to process official documents. The Secretary of Li Li and Wenyuan Pavilion's memorials all came to him.

"Your Highness, I'm back." Xing'an's eyes were bloodshot and he handed the account book to his Highness, King Xi.

There have long been rumors about Guo Jing and other eunuchs who went to various towns to smuggle goods to Wala and Yuanyi people, but with such a huge deal and profit, where did the money go?

Most of them went to Zhu Qizhen.

When Zhu Qiyu looked at the account book, his scalp felt numb and his whole body was agitated.

Smuggling and selling firearms and steel feathers will eventually turn into arrows and firearms aimed at the Ming Dynasty!

How can you, as the king of a country, take the lead in communicating with foreign countries?

He had exhausted his imagination to imagine Zhu Qizhen's lower limit, but in the end, this person still exceeded Zhu Qiyu's expectations.

It is not uncommon for monarchs and ministers to collude to make money. For example, Qianlong and Heshen teamed up to create a method called "criminal silver" to blackmail courtiers from time to time.

The courtiers were blackmailed and were naturally assigned layer upon layer, which accelerated the corruption of Qing court officials. Eventually, corruption became common in the Qing court after Qianlong and never ended.

It’s okay for Zhu Qizhen to love money, but you can go engage in fleet sailing! Isn’t it good to buy low and sell high at both ends? Do you have to collect this little money?

Zhu Qiyu closed the account book with a bang, feeling so angry that his head ached.

Tiqi came out of the capital to catch Jing very quickly. Yu Qian pulled out all the people on the list, but not one of them was pulled out. Within five days, they were thrown into Beizhen Fusi.

There are sixteen people, including palace officials, generals, civil servants, and relatives.

As the case progressed, a group of Ming Gongs were also added to the list, totaling about fifty-three people, and about several thousand people were exiled to Qiongzhou, Lingnan.

Zhu Qiyu fulfilled his promise and personally supervised the execution. He sat on the big banquet and came to the Meridian Gate, looking at the execution ground in front of the Meridian Gate.

The news of today's beheading had already been spread by the officials of Shuntian Prefecture yesterday. At this time, many people were surrounding the execution ground.

Zhu Qiyu was very sure that those were ordinary people, because most of them were wearing relatively worn-out clothes, and their shoes were mainly straw sandals.

"Where is Yu Qian?" Zhu Qiyu looked at the sun. It was not yet three quarters noon. He tilted his head and asked Xing'an. Yu Qian was not there on such an important occasion.

Xing'an bowed his head and said: "Master Yu went to Tongzhou to transport grain. He personally supervised it. However, Master Yu offended many people."

Zhu Qiyu frowned. Why did he offend someone when he shipped grain to Beijing?

Isn’t that food all taxes from the imperial court?

From Tongzhou to the capital, the entire distance of fifty miles is still used for Qian to go out personally?

"Jin Shangshu." Zhu Qiyu turned to ask Jin Lian, the Shangshu of the Ministry of Revenue, and asked the doubts in his heart.

Jin Lian had a confused look on his face, so he briefly explained the secret.

He organized his words, bowed his head and said: "This Grand Canal runs from south to north and ends in Tongzhou. There should be a river from Tongzhou to the capital called Tonghui River, but this river is blocked."

"Teacher Yu led people to dredge the river. If the Tonghui River is opened, the grain will enter the capital. If the Tonghui River is blocked, the eight million stones of grain will not be as simple as being burned down as the old minister said before."

Zhu Qiyu understood a little bit when he heard it. The reason behind the blockage of Tonghui River was heart-warming!

He felt his mouth was a little dry, so he turned around and said, "Xing'an, please send someone quickly to tell Mr. Yu that we must ensure the food is brought to Beijing. Anyone who obstructs him, no matter who he is, will be killed without mercy."

The more he thought about it, the more angry he became. How much is the price of rice in the capital? One stone of grain costs four taels of silver. How outrageous is this price? One cent of silver is about eighteen copper coins, which can cut a pound of pork.

One tael of silver is equal to ten cents of silver, which can buy one hundred catties of pork, and four taels of silver can buy four hundred catties of pork.

One stone of grain weighs about 180 kilograms in Tiehuping.

Pork is far from enough to eat. There is no doubt that the only thing that can allow the Ming Dynasty to fight this battle to defend the capital is rice.

The price of grain in Tongzhou is six cents for one stone of grain.

Such a big price difference is business, and someone obviously controls this business.

The capital only had less than ten days' worth of food left, and the Tongzhou warehouse food was urgently needed to be brought into the capital. However, someone blocked Yu Qian from transporting the food. Moreover, this matter seemed to have offended more than one person.

"This... Your Highness, I'm afraid..." Xing'an's words flickered and he whispered: "Your Highness, Huangzhuang also has a share in this business."

Xing'an had just turned the palace upside down, so naturally he found some accounts. He picked out some key points and reported them.

Zhu Qiyu's eyes widened. The industry directly managed by the royal family was called Huangzhuang.

In other words, profiting from the difference in grain prices in Beijing today is the result of Huangzhuang taking the lead and Xunqi following, using wealthy businessmen as white-gloves for purposeful economic activities.

But most of the money earned was not taken away by the emperor's estate, but by relatives, Ming Gong, and wealthy businessmen.

A typical business where the squire repays all his money and the common people's money is divided into 30 and 70 cents!

"Among them, Cining, Kunning, Qianqing, and Gongzhuang are taking the lead. The people in the capital know about this, and there are many complaints. I am afraid that Mr. Yu will also come back in vain from this trip." Xing'an sighed.

What's going on here is more than just complicated?

"Does Mr. Yu have any other ideas? The capital has to transport food." Zhu Qiyu looked at the fifty-two people kneeling on the execution ground. After thinking about it, he still decided that there were too few heads to be beheaded.

Destruction in the physical sense is real destruction.

The method of a loving father is always effective at critical moments.

Seeing that King Xi finally understood the key, Jin Lian bowed his head and said, "Master Yu is just trying to dredge the Tonghui River."

"If we can't get through, wait until the Bei Cao Army and the Bei Japanese Army arrive in Beijing, and let them go to Tongzhou to get food on their own."

"Although there will be looting, it is a helpless act."

Jin Lian was not a fool. He said that the grain in Tongzhou warehouse should be burned because he was afraid that the soldiers would turn into bandits because of the word "rob". It was just a matter of a military order.

By then, Tongzhou will probably be in complete chaos.

It's okay to let the Japanese troops and the Japanese soldiers work hard, but you have to let people eat before they work hard, right?

When Zhu Qiyu finally understood why Yu Qian was so important, he was in Tonghui River. He wanted to send food to the capital through a method that was more beneficial to the country and the country.

But Jin Lian and Xing'an always believed that Yu Qian was bound to fail.

Can Yu Qian dredge the Tonghui River?

The answer is also no, he can't.

"Xing'an." Zhu Qiyu thought about it seriously and said, "We must ensure that food enters the capital. Anyone who obstructs it, no matter who it is, will be killed immediately."

"You ask the Ministry of Industry to find some thick wooden poles, as long as they are five or six feet high. After beheading them, hang the corpses to both sides of the Tonghui River to serve as a warning to others!"

"Let Nie Zhong from the Jinyi Guards take Tiqi there. If anyone obstructs them, they will be investigated to the end and will not be tolerated. After all the obstructionists are beheaded, they will all be hanged up!"

Xing'an shuddered and asked in a low voice: "Then if...it turns out that Huangzhuang is found guilty, will he be hanged?"

"Hang!"

Yu Qian could not dredge the Tonghui River, but Zhu Qiyu could.

Yu Qian did not have the power to investigate and deal with the business of Huangzhuang. That would be arrogance. Although Yu Qian did something to abolish the establishment, it was ultimately for the sake of the Ming Dynasty, not for rebellion.
Chapter completed!