After the immortal disappeared

"The new account and the old account don't match. Zhao Qi heard from his subordinates that even if the old account was used, the grain in the government warehouse was overstated by more than half."

"There is an old saying, old sesame seeds and rotten grains. It refers to the grain in these public warehouses." The lady glanced at him, "He wouldn't think that this is a new thing in the past two years?"

Huang Rulin pursed his lips: "Brother Zhao didn't listen to my advice and planned to write this matter into an internal reference report. Before he finished writing, he was gone."

"What do you want to do?"

"I just think that Brother Zhao died too unjustly." Huang Rulin sighed, "It's obvious that the warehouses are all a mess, and everyone is trying to whitewash it. It's a lot of trouble. How long can this be concealed? Once the king orders to open the warehouse to release the grain, won't it be exposed immediately?"

"That was then, and now is now. Even if it was a thunder, it shouldn't explode in your hands!" The wife The man hit the nail on the head, "Before the king personally exposes it, whoever dares to detonate it will be blown to pieces! Isn't Zhao Qi a lesson from the past?"

"His death is a warning to us. You and Zhao Qi are usually close, and you may be targeted by someone now!" The lady said coldly, "Who knows what Zhao Qi experienced before his death, whether he was tortured. He told you the secret of the loss of grain in the military warehouse, and you are in danger too."

Huang Rulin asked with a stiff face, "Wait a minute, didn't you just say that these are all semi-public secrets?"

"Semi-public secrets cannot be brought to the table, let alone presented to the king." The lady glared at Huang Rulin, "If you are an official for a day, you must abide by the rules for a day. You should stay quiet and avoid trouble. My son and I don't want to become orphans and widows!"

"No, no." Despite this, Huang Rulin still looked sad.

After serving as an official for several years, not only can he not share the worries of the king, but he also has to work together to conceal it. Zhao Qi knew about the things in the warehouse, how could other senior officials not know?

If everyone didn't talk about it, it wouldn't happen.

Alas.

"You get that little salary, which is not enough to make me three hairpins a month, and you worry about the king?" The lady sneered, "Did the government warehouse empty out in one day? Why didn't you worry about it in the past?"

Huang Rulin was scolded speechless.

"Besides, which year does the price of grain not rise? Which year does the refugees not make trouble? Which year does the granary not expose? So what? No matter how big the hole is, it will be filled in the end; no matter how hard life is, won't we get by in the end?" The lady almost reached out to poke Huang Rulin's forehead, "Tell me, how different is this year from last year and the year before last?"

Every word she said made sense. Which year does the treasury not have a deficit, which year does the money and grain not have a shortage, and refugees making trouble is also commonplace. There will always be a big one every two or three years. Tianshui City has summed up a routine to deal with it. Huang Rulin stammered, "I know."

"Don't be the first to speak out, keep your mouth shut, and don't follow suit even if someone takes the lead!" The lady gave her instructions, "By the way, ask someone to buy another 1,000 kilograms of grain. If the family is short of it, stock up some more! Don't you have a colleague who can buy cheap grain?"

"He, he doesn't have much, and the discount has also increased." Huang Rulin was also thankful that no matter how high the grain price outside was, the people had to endure it. Fortunately, the officials still had ways to ensure a basic supply, and the price was 20% to 30% lower than outside.

20% to 30% is probably the dividing line between being able to afford and not being able to eat.

"Then go quickly!" The lady sighed, "The price of grain changes every day, and life is really hard."

Relying on her husband's meager salary, the family is now having trouble eating.

When the Huang couple left the house, a small spider jumped onto the wall and quickly slipped out of the Huang residence.

Someone was waiting by the high wall behind the house to send it back to Yongquan Villa.

￥￥￥￥￥

"Far news, far news!"

There was a sound of flapping wings outside the house, and He Lingchuan knew as soon as he heard it that a large bird had landed in the garden.

Sure enough, a few breaths later, a long-beaked crane poked in from the window and tilted its head at him: "Island Master He?"

This was a blue-gray hooded crane, with an elegant posture and a cluster of white ear feathers behind its red eyes. It was smaller than other cranes, but it was a long-distance flyer.

"It's me."

"Far news from the Yangshan Islands!" This hooded crane was very straightforward, and without saying a word, it spit out a small copper tube from its crop.

Lingguang quickly handed over two bottles of elixir, and asked it: "I have a pot of yellow meal larvae, which I originally kept for experiments. Do you want to eat it?"

"Eat!" Winter is not a good season for foraging, and this crane is not picky.

He Lingchuan took the copper tube and opened it, pulling out two letters from it.

When he heard that it was a letter from Yangshan Islands, he was a little worried, wondering if there was a change around Yangshan. So far, this archipelago is still his foundation, and nothing can happen.

However, the content of the first letter has nothing to do with Yangshan itself, but it forwarded a piece of information to him.

This information came from the more distant West:

Yuan Kingdom.

After King Yuan "died of illness", all the royal troops under his command were under the control of He Chunhua, and the royalist party headed by General Zhao Pan only obeyed He Chunhua's orders, and their momentum became more and more powerful.

Over the past year or so, He Chunhua has been fighting endlessly with Dong Haoming, the former father-in-law and Grand Marshal of Yuan Kingdom. They have fought eleven battles of varying sizes and gradually gained the upper hand.

Finally, two months ago, He Chunhua defeated Dong Haoming's most trusted ace division, killed more than 11,000 enemies, chased Dong Haoming all the way, and drove him into the Panlong Desert.

Dong Haoming was desperate and committed suicide.

After his death, the army of Wuzhou surrendered, officials offered the city, and knelt to welcome He Chunhua's arrival.

He Chunhua wiped out the entire Dong family, including 817 close relatives.

When the old King Yuan exterminated the He family, he felt guilty for a while and left He Chunhua alive, which left a source of trouble for himself. His descendants and the dynasty were destroyed by him. He Chunhua certainly would not make such a mistake.

The civil strife in Yuan ended, but the bloody storm in the capital had just begun.

After He Chunhua took back the military power, he returned to the capital, or led the army into the original Yuan capital, and demoted the original Yuan court officials to civilians. Each official family was allowed to keep a maximum of 100 taels of silver, and the rest of the family property was confiscated; all those who were treacherous and corrupt had their property confiscated and beheaded for public display.

All officials who were related to the frame-up of the He family in the past were torn into pieces by five horses.

A new emperor changed his ministers, and in the blink of an eye, Yuan State changed. Half a year ago, he was still a superior man, but now he has become a ghost under the knife.

In those days, Yuandu killed many people.

Before this message came, He Chunhua ascended to the throne at lightning speed and named the country "Shen".

Seeing this, He Lingchuan let out a long breath: "He Chunhua finally got what he wanted!"

The He family was almost exterminated. He Chunhua slept on straw and tasted gall for twenty years, and finally took revenge and ascended to the throne!

How bad was his start? The He family was almost exterminated, and the old King Yuan refused to admit his mistakes. The He family's grievances have never been redressed. He Chunhua was a minor when he was exiled to the border as the heir of the He family. The old King Yuan's guilt towards the He family only stopped at not making him a slave, and allowed him to make a living on his own.

In this way, He Chunhua was able to turn the tide, step by step to today, and finally ascended to the throne in the name of revenge.

From an outsider's perspective, He Chunhua's experience is like a revenge drama with a big male protagonist.

He Lingchuan could imagine how proud and happy He Chunhua was at this moment!

Not only to destroy his clan, but also to seize his country, this is He Chunhua's revenge.

For him, hatred is the best motivation, and hatred is also the bitter wine he drinks before tasting the fruits of the harvest.

The soul-catching mirror smiled and said, "Congratulations, you have become the prince in the blink of an eye!"

"What prince?" He Lingchuan sneered, "It's just that this body has a little blood relationship with He Chunhua. He will never pass the throne to me, and I don't want his position."

He Chunhua is in his prime, and now he has ascended the throne and is in high spirits. How could he consider the matter of establishing a prince?

From now on, He Chunhua will be alone, and even if he likes his second son He Yue, he will not rush to appoint him as the prince.

Don't use interests to test human nature, don't let your son have improper thoughts, He Chunhua is such a shrewd person, he will not understand such a simple truth.

"But Madam Ying really rose to fame overnight." He Chunhua's original wife, Madam Ying, had been crowned queen and moved into the palace. "'A cluster of flowers, purple air in the morning and clouds at night, hey, the best fortune of Shuiling in Xianling Village has come true. Shen State gave up the old capital and set the new capital in Yuncheng."

Madam Ying drew lots in the Shuiling Temple in Xianling Village that year. Others' lots were not good, but she drew the best one.

He Lingchuan could imagine Madam Ying's proud look now.

But he no longer had any bad feelings towards Madam Ying, and hoped that she would be more successful in the future.

Back to He Chunhua, He Lingchuan was not surprised that he could defeat Dong Haoming. This cheap old father had ambition, means, and ability, and he also got the support of Narakutian, so he had a better chance of winning than Dong Haoming.

He picked up the letter and read it down.

This letter was written by Li Qingge, who briefly described the several battles between He Chunhua and Dong Haoming.

She was not there in person, so she lacked details, but He Lingchuan could also judge that He Chunhua's army was relatively well-off in terms of people, money, and food.

When King Yuan was in power, the finances were in tatters and the country was on the verge of collapse. The Ke Zhao army could not even get enough rations for the front line and had to beg for alms in Yuandu; how come during He Chunhua's time, the army could have enough food and become combat-ready?

There are of course many reasons and explanations for this.

In addition to He Chunhua's successful management of his territory and his orderly reorganization of the army, He Lingchuan did not ignore the power of Naluotian. The last intelligence he received said that He Chunhua had received a lot of external assistance, such as the southern countries and even nearby sects.

No matter how these external forces came from, on the surface, He Chunhua had many helpers, while Dong Haoming was fighting alone and lacked the injection of fresh blood, so in He Lingchuan's view, his defeat was only a matter of time.