Updated: 2012-09-16

Chapter 543 First visit to Wuchang Prefecture

Tan Zong knew nothing about Shi Shi and Manluo's identity. After returning to the boat, he was waiting for news from Hangzhou. He had already begun to contact passenger ships from Yangzhou to Changsha. As soon as the matter in Hangzhou was completed, he immediately went to Huguang as Li Qinglan.

Since leaving the capital, Tan Zong, Shi Shi, You Hongsheng and others have memorized the situation of the Li family in Hangzhou and carefully looked down from the eight generations of ancestors. Not only are they trivial and petty matters, but they even have disgusting things like adultery and ashes.

When the people from Hangzhou come back, they will also bring portraits of some characters in the Li family and simple topographic maps of the Li family. With this information as a backing, Tan Zong really becomes Li Qinglan in front of outsiders.

As You Hongsheng said, Yangzhou City has really become a "dragon pond and tiger den". The shopkeeper of the teahouse went to Tan's mansion early the next morning to report what happened in the teahouse to Shi Shi.

Shi Shi smiled and rewarded the shopkeeper with five taels of silver, allowing the shopkeeper to leave. From the description of the shopkeeper in the teahouse, she could be sure that the rude middle-aged man saw the same person as she in the square. He dared to say in Yangzhou City that Tan Zong won a lucky chance at the Xiayou Conference and could say that, Tan Zong was probably the only one in the world. Even those arrogant literati had to accept Tan Zong's literary talent.

On the 19th day of the first lunar month, while Tan Zong and others were waiting anxiously, the people who went to Hangzhou to do business finally came back, bringing good news:

After the Lantern Festival, Li Qinglan was successfully kidnapped the next day and forced him to write a letter to do business and stay at home. He came out of Li Fushun with thousands of taels of silver notes, creating an illusion that he ran away from home. He was so angry that Old Master Li was seriously ill and called him a prodigal son and almost died.

As the saying goes, family scandals should not be made public. Besides, Li Qinglan took away all the money used by Li’s mansion to do business this year, so the people of Li’s mansion naturally blocked the news that he had left home with money. If this spread, the Li’s family’s business would be ruined. Therefore, he just told the public that he was going out to do business and secretly raised funds for business.

Coincidentally, on the same day, the emergency documents sent from Jingzhou Prefecture in Huguang were sent to the court meeting in the capital. A mob team broke through the Honghu County under Jingzhou Prefecture on the tenth day of the New Year. The county magistrates, including the county magistrate, were slaughtered by the brutal mob, and their heads were cut off and hung on the wall above the city gate.

As the mob became larger and larger, the strength of the city defense troops in Jingzhou Prefecture was pale in comparison with the number of mobs. Therefore, the prefect of Jingzhou requested Emperor Qingping to draw the city defense troops in the surrounding prefectures to Jingzhou Prefecture to quell the city defense troops in Jingzhou Prefecture.

After hearing this, Emperor Ping of Qing was shocked. At the court meeting, he angrily criticized the officials of Jingzhou Prefecture for being ineffective and could not even defend a small county town. He simply lost all the face of the court and was also very worried about the violence and chaos in Jingzhou Prefecture.

Just when Emperor Ping of Qing was still angry, Cao Qiaomu submitted a report. According to the report from the Huguang Supervision Office, he suspected that officials in Huguang were greedy for disaster relief funds, which caused the Huguang disaster victims to be displaced, and thus caused the Huguang disaster victims to be violent and chaos. Emperor Ping of Qing was asked to investigate clearly.

Cao Qiaomu's comments made Emperor Ping of Qing furious, and then ordered Guan Haishan, the Grand Secretary of Wenyuan Pavilion, to go to Huguang as an imperial envoy to thoroughly investigate whether the Huguang officials were greedy, and to restrain the city defense forces in the prefectures around Huguang and quell the rebellion against the mob.

The imperial decree of Emperor Qingping was to be undercurrents in the capital city. The forces of various factions were waiting for Guan Haishan's thorough investigation results. The world united, taking the matter of Huguang as an opportunity to engage in a new desperate game.

Guan Haishan set out from the capital three days later. Like Tan Zong, he chose the water route, passing through Yangzhou to Huguang. However, due to the large number of entourages, the trip was slow. When he arrived at Wuchang Prefecture on the edge of Huguang, it was more than half a month slower than Tan Zong.

Just as Guan Haishan left the capital, the passenger ship that Tan Zong was riding had arrived in Wuchang Prefecture and was eating delicious Wuchang fish in a restaurant on the edge of the Yangtze River.

Since Wuchang Prefecture is located in the easternmost part of Huguang, the drought it suffered is the lightest among the many prefectures in Huguang. In addition, it is the intersection of the Yangtze River Waterway and the Han River Waterway, which has driven the prosperity of water transportation. Therefore, the streets of Wuchang City are bustling with pedestrians and the market is still prosperous.

Tan Zong had to wait here because after passing Wuchang Mansion, the water would be a little uneasy. They had to wait here for passenger ships or cargo ships that were heading west and heading forward with them.

Due to the impact of the drought, many victims became water bandits and plundered the passing ships. As the overlords on the water, the Cao Gang had no good idea about this, because there were too many victims and they could not catch them. After a group of arrests, another group would soon appear, which was a big headache for this.

Therefore, only by traveling westward can we avoid being robbed by those water bandits by walking together and enhancing the fleet's escort force.

Tan Zong, Qiao Yu and You Hongsheng sat in a private room facing the street, drinking, chatting and laughing while looking at the surging river water not far away.

Tan Zong returned to his original appearance at this time, but he only stuck two beards on his lips, looking much older. Although Qiao Yu's appearance has not changed at all, she has a lot of charm in her words and deeds. Her beauty is the best cover. No one could have guessed that such a madman-like beauty would be a cold top killer.

Although You Hongsheng has been an official in Changfa Mansion for many years, he has been exhausted in the capital for the past few years and has undergone physical and mental fatigue. His appearance has changed dramatically. If the tailor had not had the good eyes and was deeply impressed by him, it would be difficult to recognize him.

To be on the safe side, Qiao Yu put on makeup for You Hongsheng and stuck a fake beard on his face. In this way, no one could recognize him.

"Young Master, as you expected, the city defense army blocked the victims outside the city gate." Just as the three of them were chatting and laughing, the door opened, Shen San walked in quickly and said to Tan Zong in a deep voice, "I inquired about it. The disaster relief supplies distributed to the victims were pitifully small and there was not enough food at all. According to the government's explanation, the disaster relief food funds were snatched by the mob."

"Mob?" Tan Zong put the wine glass in his hand on the table, and a hint of mocking expression appeared on the corner of his mouth. "I'm afraid they forced the victims who were unable to eat into mobs, and then put the blame on the victims."

"Sir, since they said that, they must have prepared some things. I'm afraid that the books of the disaster relief materials will be perfectly made by them. Even if there is something strange, they can push them onto the mobs." You Hongsheng also put down the wine glass in his hand, pondered for a moment, and looked at Tan Zong with a serious expression, "This case is not easy to investigate!"

"The official family has already thought of the dark side of Huguang, so they sent their official to investigate secretly." Tan Zong looked up at You Hongsheng and smiled slightly, "There is a saying that goes. If you don't know, unless you don't do it yourself, since they have done those illegal and disorderly things, they will be found out sooner or later."

"The Lord is right, this paper cannot contain the fire after all." You Hongsheng nodded, then frowned slightly, and said with concern, "Although the city defense forces outside Wuchang City can stop the victims for a while, as the victims continue to increase, in time, it may eventually lead to a disaster. Wuchang Mansion doesn't know when it will open a warehouse to help those refugees."

"There are people who have starved to death outside the city. Wuchang Mansion has not opened a warehouse to provide disaster relief. It is extremely hateful." Hearing this, Qiao Yu couldn't help but look cold and hit the table. Shen San said that the bark outside the city had been gnawed by the victims. The bodies of people who died of cold and starvation could be seen everywhere. Not only were their clothes removed from the cold to prevent the cold, but some of the bodies were also eaten by the hungry victims, revealing their bones, which was shocking.

In order to prevent the influx of disaster victims, the counties under Wuchang Prefecture gathered a large number of villagers recruited from townships at the county boundary and were on high alert at the county boundary. Fierce conflicts between villagers guarding the country and the victims had broken out in some places, resulting in many victims who died in the conflict.

The reason why counties do this is forced to do this is that these victims are like locusts, and wherever they pass, they are in a mess. They not only eat everything they can eat, but also cause a series of violent incidents such as burning, killing, looting, and other violent incidents, causing the social security situation to decline sharply. No one wants their homes to be harmed, so they organize villagers to protect the country.

"Wuchang Prefecture is not afraid to open a warehouse for disaster relief now. Once the disaster victims know about the disaster relief in Wuchang City, a large number of disaster victims will flock to you. Not to mention whether the food stored in Wuchang Prefecture will be eaten by the hungry disaster victims. So many disaster victims gather together. Once someone with ulterior motives incites, Wuchang Prefecture will face a catastrophe." You Hongsheng shook his head helplessly. It is easy to open a warehouse for disaster relief, but in fact there are very big risks.

Moreover, the opening of warehouses and disaster relief was not something that Wuchang Prefecture could do. It had to be reported to the court and could only be implemented after obtaining permission from Emperor Ping of Qing. Moreover, the Ministry of Revenue would send people to supervise the entire process. It was not something that Wuchang Prefecture could open warehouses and disaster relief if it wanted to open warehouses and disaster relief.

Furthermore, the drought in Wuchang Prefecture was not seriously affected, and there were no victims in the counties under its jurisdiction. The share of the disaster relief funds allocated by Emperor Qingping to Huguang was also very small. If it was assigned to each county, it would be even smaller. Therefore, the officials of Wuchang Prefecture should not be interested in greed for those disaster relief funds, because the benefits obtained by greed for me are too small and the risks are too high, which is not worth their risk.

Therefore, since the victims are from other places and the officials of Wuchang Prefecture "have a clear conscience" during this disaster relief, of course they will not take the matter of opening warehouses and disaster relief to heart. Anyway, they will not be the ones who are unlucky at that time:

The officials of Wuchang Prefecture are very clear about the filthiness in disaster relief. If the officials of Huguang and those prefectures were not making trouble, how could they trigger such a huge disaster?

To put it bluntly, why do the officials of the prefecture get the benefits and throw these victims to Wuchang Prefecture and consume the resources of Wuchang Prefecture? Is there such a good thing in the world?

Besides, no one knows how long the impact of this drought will last. If the people of Wuchang Prefecture also need relief, what will they use to help the people of Wuchang Prefecture? At that time, they can only ask the court for relief, and the political achievements of Wuchang Prefecture officials will be affected.

Therefore, the interests involved in opening a warehouse and disaster relief were complicated and beyond the reach of people. Therefore, without issuing a disaster relief order, the officials of Wuchang Prefecture naturally turned a blind eye to the victims and kept their worries.

"Young Master, I just saw a group of victims being taken into the city below and walking towards this side." Just as Tan Zong and You Hongsheng were talking about the victims, a pretty young woman dressed in maid walked in and said to Tan Zong with a delicate voice.

The person who spoke was Xiaolian, carrying a few bags of snacks in her hand. Just like in Kunshan County, her current identity is still Qiao Yu's maid. She just went to the pastry shop to buy special pastries from Wuchang Mansion to try for Tan Zong and Qiao Yu.

Since Tan Zong was called the young master by Xiaolian, Qiao Yu naturally became his wife, while You Hongsheng became the master. Since leaving Yangzhou City, everyone has been using their current name in public or in private.

Upon hearing this, Tan Zong walked to the window facing the street and looked down. He saw a group of unkempt, pale and thin, ragged men and women slowly walked over from a distance by some big men holding knives in their hands.

The weather in February is still extremely cold. The men and women who are being held are thin in clothes, holding their arms in their hands, trembling with coldness in the blowing of the river breeze.

The appearance of these men and women immediately attracted pedestrians along the way. People gathered on both sides of the street and pointed at the men and women and talked about them.

"Beggar, beggar..." A group of children followed the group of men and women curiously, shouting loudly at them. The naughty children even picked up small stones on the roadside to hit the men and women, causing the people to hide in a mess, causing the children to laugh.

Seeing this, the big man who was escorting him immediately walked over and grabbed the children who threw stones the most vigorously and scolded them. Only then did the naughty children become honest and stop throwing stones at the men and women.

When the men and women walked to the street in front of the restaurant, they huh, and some steamed buns and meat suddenly threw out from some windows and landed at the feet of the men and women in front.

The men and women in front were stunned for a moment, then rushed up and wrestled together, scrambling for steamed buns and meat on the ground.

The big man who was escorting him quickly rushed forward and punched and kicked the men and women, trying to separate them, but at this moment, several windows in the restaurant threw out the food. This time the food was thrown far and fell into the middle of the men and women team.

This made the men and women in the team become in chaos in an instant, completely ignoring the fists and feet of the escort man, and rushed forward to compete for the food that fell on the ground. Regardless of the soil stained on the food, they grabbed it and stuffed it into their mouths.

"Haha..." Seeing this, a sarcastic laughter suddenly sounded from several windows in the restaurant. The diners looked at the men and women snatched food on the streets with interest and enjoyed their fun from the men and women.
Chapter completed!