Ming: I am fake, walking on thin ice

Chapter 95: Killing officials in a row, full of murderous intent

The Yellow River is magnificent, like a mighty army, roaring and unstoppable. The river is surging, the waves are rolling, and it is rushing away into the distance.

The huge group of dragon boats sailed with such momentum, just like a giant dragon cruising. Zhu Qizhen stood at the bow, looking at the long river in front of him, and couldn't help but sigh: "Don't you see, the water of the Yellow River comes from the sky, rushes to the sea and never returns."

Yang Guifang, who was standing behind him, smiled and said, "Your Majesty, you have broadened your mind after walking out for a while."

"That's right." Zhang Lun spread his hands, "Just now I peed into the Yellow River, and I peed out the aura of a great master."

"You are a crude warrior." Yang Guifang was speechless.

Zhang Lun turned to Zhu Qizhen and bowed respectfully: "Your Majesty, Yang Guifang is scolding you. As everyone knows, I, a warrior, have been defeated by Your Majesty. Then Your Majesty, you are the best warrior in the world."

Zhu Qizhen glanced at him and said, "Don't pull me to your side. I am a man of both civil and military abilities."

Yang Guifang held her forehead helplessly: "There has never been such a boastful emperor in history."

Zhu Qizhen smiled and pointed at the dragon boat behind him: "With such a big fanfare, we will definitely not be able to see anything. How about this, the three of us travel light and go by land. As for the dragon boat, we will continue to move along the Yellow River to attract the attention of local officials."

Zhang Lun waved the knife in his hand to show his approval. However, Yang Guifang looked hesitant: "Your Majesty, you are worth a lot of money. If something goes wrong, then..."

"What can go wrong?" Zhang Lun was full of confidence. "Your Majesty is a master of martial arts. No one can hurt him. Besides, don't you have me?"

Yang Guifang glared at him angrily: "There are only three of us. If something goes wrong, who should we turn to?"

Zhu Qizhen smiled calmly and said, "Before we left the capital, Yu Qian had already sent Shi Heng to serve as the commander of Henan. When the time comes to use troops, just look for him!"

……

Xiangfu County is one of the counties that was flooded when the Yellow River burst its banks.

Zhu Qizhen, Yang Guifang and Zhang Lun rode their horses to enter the city, but before they entered, they saw the endless stream of disaster victims outside the city, and they couldn't help but feel an indescribable heaviness in their hearts.

These disaster victims are all emaciated and skinny, as if they have been deprived of all vitality and energy by the ruthless wind and rain and suffering. Their faces are numb and desperate, and their eyes are empty and lifeless, as if they have become accustomed to the suffering before them and have lost the will to fight.

Some people lay powerlessly on the ground, letting the mud erode their tired bodies; some people barely supported themselves to sit up, hugged their hands on their chests, trying to draw a bit of warmth from their thin bodies; even worse, some had a weak breath, like a candle in the wind, which could be extinguished at any time, or they had already passed away quietly in endless torture, and their bodies lay quietly among the crowd, with no one paying attention.

The sky was not kind at this time, and the drizzle continued, adding a bit of sadness to this already desolate scene. Outside the city, there was not even a house that could shelter from the wind and rain. The victims could only helplessly expose themselves to the wind and rain, allowing the cold rain to mercilessly wet their already thin clothes and penetrate every inch of their skin.

Zhu Qizhen looked at the scene in front of him, and his heart was like being hit by a heavy hammer, and the pain was unbearable. He had never seen so many and so miserable victims, and the shock and grief made him almost unable to breathe.

"Your Majesty, there is a porridge stall ahead." Yang Guifang pointed.

Zhu Qizhen walked quickly to the porridge stall and saw dozens of people from the government office cooking porridge. One of them, a middle-aged man dressed in the uniform of a county magistrate, was sitting on the side, drinking tea calmly. There was also a special guard standing behind him, holding an umbrella for him.

……

Zhu Qizhen walked to the big pot, picked up the spatula and scooped up a bowl of porridge. He took a closer look and shouted angrily: "Is this porridge? It's just a pot of watery soup."

"Who are you?" The bailiffs surrounded them.

Zhu Qizhen picked up the bowl, walked up to the county magistrate angrily and asked, "There are two iron rules for disaster relief: porridge will not fall over if chopsticks are stuck into it, and it will not leak if a towel is wrapped around it! You call this porridge?"

The county magistrate slowly raised his head, looked up and down at the heat in front of him, frowned and asked: "Who are you? How dare you interfere in the affairs of this county?"

Zhu Qizhen was so angry that he was about to hit someone, but Yang Guifang and Zhang Lun quickly held him back.

At this time, the sound of hurried horse hooves was heard, and a group of people in official uniforms rode over. The county magistrate saw the leader and hurriedly went to greet him, bowing respectfully: "I am Wang Zhong, your humble servant, and I pay my respects to Lord Wan."

Yang Guifang explained to Zhu Qizhen in a low voice: "This person should be Wan'an, who has just been promoted from Henan Province's political advisor to Henan Province's governor. Fortunately, he has never been to Beijing and does not know us."

Zhu Qizhen remembered that the previous Henan governor had been dismissed, and the cabinet selected a local councilor to be directly promoted to governor, and it turned out to be this person.

The memorial said that this person was a capable official and it would be interesting to see how he would handle the current predicament.

"Wang Zhong, why is there only one porridge stall?" Wan An asked coldly.

"Sir Wan, there is nothing I can do. The relief grain has not arrived yet." Wang Zhong smiled bitterly, "I don't know how long this porridge stall of mine can last."

Wan An dismounted and went to the porridge shed. He frowned and said, "Master Wang, do you know what bran is?"

Wang Zhong listened and nodded immediately: "I know, it's for livestock to eat."

"Then I will teach you a method." Wan An said, "One pound of food rations can be exchanged for three pounds of bran. You can add bran to the porridge, and then you can wait for the relief grain from the court."

Zhu Qizhen, who was standing not far away, almost jumped up when he heard this. Bran? That's for livestock, how can it be eaten by humans?

However, Yang Guifang stopped him and whispered, "Your Majesty, let's observe for a while. It will be useless even if we go up and kill him now."

"Yes, we'll settle with them later." Zhang Lun agreed.

Zhu Qizhen was surprised. Zhang Lun seemed impulsive at ordinary times, but he was actually very steady when facing things.

……

The three of them walked to a corner and observed secretly.

Zhu Qizhen squatted down and said to a middle-aged man with a numb expression next to him: "Brother, the governor is here, and the relief grain will arrive soon. Hang in there."

The middle-aged man shook his head, his eyes still empty: "My wife is dead, my son is dead, I don't want to live alone anymore."

Suddenly, resentment rose in his eyes, and his face was ferocious: "But I can't accept it. What kind of world is this? Why are we the ones who starved to death?"

"Brother, it's a natural disaster. Even Your Majesty can't do anything about it." Zhang Lun interrupted him.

"Your Majesty? The emperor and father? Haha, all people in the world regard Your Majesty as a father." The middle-aged man sneered, "But in the Ming Dynasty today, although there is an emperor, there is no father, although there are officials, they are like thieves. The two capitals and thirteen provinces are all babies waiting to die of hunger and cold, and fish waiting to be cut by knives. Emperor and father, do you know?"

Zhu Qizhen clenched his fists so tightly that his nails dug into his flesh.

The rain was getting heavier, but the victims remained motionless. Perhaps they did not have the strength to get up and hide from the rain, or perhaps they did not care and thought it would be better to die.

Wan'an looked at the disaster victims in the rain, and then found Zhu Qizhen, Yang Guifang and Zhang Lun who did not look like disaster victims. He strode towards the three people with suspicion in his eyes. County Magistrate Wang Zhong hurriedly followed to explain: "These three people just arrived and blocked us from distributing porridge." Zhu Qizhen looked at Wan'an approaching, and a hint of coldness appeared in his eyes. Wan'an saw that these three people had extraordinary temperaments, so he raised his eyes and asked: "Where are you from? What are you doing in Xiangfu?"

Yang Guifang knew that His Majesty was furious, so he stepped forward and smiled, "The three of us brothers are from Jiangnan, and we were going to Kaifeng to do business. I didn't expect that this place would encounter such a serious flood."

"It's raining heavily. You might as well take shelter under the porridge shed." Wan'an stretched out his hand and made a gesture of invitation.

Yang Guifang winked at Zhu Qizhen and Zhang Lun, and then walked towards the porridge shed. Several people sat down under the porridge shed, and the county magistrate Wang Zhong also ordered people to serve hot tea.

"Sir Wan, I just heard you mention adding bran into the porridge?" Yang Guifang looked grimly.

"That's right!" Wan An nodded calmly.

Zhu Qizhen, who was standing by, finally couldn't help but interrupt and snorted, "Don't you feel ashamed, Lord Wan?"

Wan An shook his head and smiled, spreading his hands and said: "Not only am I not ashamed, I also plan to promote this method to the whole of Henan."

Yang Guifang seemed calmer and asked in confusion, "Why?"

Wan An gulped down a cup of hot tea with a complicated expression, "You three may not know that one pound of food rations can be exchanged for three pounds of bran. This means that the food that could only save one person can now save three people."

Yang Guifang stared at Wan An and said coldly, "But bran is for livestock, not for humans."

"Can the disaster victims still be considered human beings?" Wan An pointed at the disaster victims scattered all over the place, his tone revealing helplessness and heaviness.

Zhu Qizhen, Yang Guifang and Zhang Lun were all surprised when they heard this. They never expected that such words would come from the mouth of a provincial governor.

Wan An looked at the three people who were astonished, shook his head and sighed, his tone full of vicissitudes:

"I can tell from the first glance that you are people who have never experienced famine. Do you know that those who are about to die of starvation are no longer human beings? They are just like animals. As long as they can stay alive, they will eat anything. Bran is already a good thing for them."

"Go ask them, what haven't they eaten? Grass roots, tree bark, Guanyin soil, as long as they can fill their stomachs, they will eat it."

Zhu Qizhen slammed the table and snorted coldly: "Such words actually came from the mouth of a dignified governor. It's really shocking."

"Of course you will be shocked." Wan An chuckled, a hint of mockery flashing in his eyes, "Looking at your delicate skin and tender flesh, you must have never been hungry. That's why you have the energy to criticize our court officials here."

"It's such a tragic situation, shouldn't you be criticized?" Zhu Qizhen asked angrily.

"Hehehe," Wan'an's eyes flashed with pain, "Then I'll ask you, have you ever seen anyone die of bloating after eating Guanyin soil?"

Yang Guifang asked coldly, "What is Guanyin soil?"

Wan'an's face turned cold, his eyes full of sarcasm:
"You don't even know what Guanyin soil is. Let me ask you again, have you ever seen the scene where the bark and leaves of all the trees on the Thousand Mile Plain have been eaten away? You must know the story of cannibalism, right? It's written in history books. But I... saw it with my own eyes! It was a pot of meat in a pot."

"You think I am inhumane for adding bran to the porridge? Haha, only when you have experienced the famine can you know how cruel it is. Not to mention that the relief grain from the court cannot be distributed, even if it is distributed, it is far from enough. If I don't find a way to make it work, then what you see today is not the victims of the disaster, but piles of bones."

The three of them were silent. Yang Guifang frowned and said, "If there is not enough money and food for disaster relief, please ask the court to allocate some."

"The imperial court?" Wan An slowly raised his head and looked at the heavy rain. "I am also waiting for disaster relief grain from the imperial court, but I don't dare to hold out too much hope."

Zhu Qizhen bit his lips tightly.

The imperial court is also unreliable because the treasury is out of money and the imperial envoy is still raising grain in Jiangnan.

……

He stood up and looked at the victims in the rain, feeling angry and helpless.

"Just leave them like this in the rain?" he turned around and asked.

"Where else can we go? There are so many people." Wan An said.

Zhu Qizhen winked at Yang Guifang, who suddenly stood up, raised his foot, kicked over the table in front of him, and shouted angrily: "Wan'an, Wan'an, the court appointed you as the governor of Henan, and this is how you do your job?"

"Who are you?" Wan An asked coldly.

Yang Guifang waved her hand fiercely: "Please give me the royal flag!"

Zhang Lun, who was already prepared behind him, raised a banner and handed a book to Wan'an. Wan'an's face changed drastically, and he took it with trembling hands and opened it, then knelt down and said, "I didn't know the imperial envoy was here, please forgive me, sir."

Zhu Qizhen and Yang Guifang looked at each other. It turned out that they had made preparations in advance. When they encountered an emergency in the disaster area, they let Yang Guifang be the imperial envoy. Zhu Qizhen himself continued to hide his identity.

Therefore, all necessary documents are available.

When the officials around the porridge shed saw the governor kneeling, they all knelt down as well. This movement immediately attracted the attention of the victims, but they just watched and did not come over.

"Wan'an, you stand up first." Yang Guifang raised her hand. "I do not agree with your fallacy just now, but I will settle with you later. Now, I will deal with them first."

He pointed at the county magistrate Wang Zhong and the twenty or so county officials and said in a cold voice: "According to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, if a porridge factory distributes porridge, chopsticks will float and people's heads will fall to the ground!"

Everyone was shocked. Is the imperial envoy going to kill someone?
Yang Guifang's eyes were filled with murderous intent. The most direct reason why he wanted to kill people was that they were numb and watched the disaster victims leisurely drinking tea.

Of course, he also wanted to use these heads to intimidate all officials in Henan.

"Your Excellency, I am innocent. We really have no food." Wang Zhong begged for mercy quickly.

Yang Guifang's tone was as cold as a knife: "All the 21 Xiangfu County officials in this porridge factory, including the county magistrate, will be beheaded!"

Wan An was annoyed and quickly pleaded: "Sir..."

"You dare to defy the orders of this imperial envoy?" Yang Guifang said fiercely, "I will execute you as well."

"Yes, I obey your command." Wan'an bowed.

He raised his arm and smashed it down, and the soldiers behind him grabbed all 21 people including Wang Zhong and forced them to kneel on the ground. The surrounding victims who still had the strength to see this gathered around.

"Behead!" Yang Guifang ordered.

(End of this chapter)