Chapter 178 Situation

The winter in the capital city in the fourth year of Yongchang was exceptionally cold. It was only the middle of October in the lunar calendar, just a few days after the beginning of winter, and the cold wind was howling, making people shiver.

Even though two large pots of charcoal fire were lit, the prime minister, several cabinet ministers and officials from the Ministry of Revenue who were sitting around the charcoal fire still felt cold, cold from the bottom of their hearts.

Since the beginning of winter, the cabinet has received urgent couriers from Shandong, Anhui and Jiangsu over a period of 600 miles. In just over a month, dozens of granaries in the three provinces were set on fire by the White Lotus Sect. Among them, several transit granaries along the canal were burned down, causing serious losses.

Generally speaking, there are two canal transports every year, namely the early canal and the late canal.

After the autumn grain was collected every year, the provincial governments were responsible for organizing the transportation of the grain to the secondary technical granaries along the canal, and then the grain was transported to Beijing by the grain transport office’s grain ships.

Not to mention the official granaries in the provinces, the transit granaries along the canal were burned, and there was not enough grain to supply the capital.

In addition, the fires were too strange. No matter how elusive the White Lotus Sect was, it was impossible for them to burn so many granaries.

The Prime Minister didn’t say anything, and the others were even less willing to speak. The duty room was as silent as a stagnant pool of water.

After a long time, the Prime Minister finally opened his mouth, but only sighed softly.

At this moment, the sound of running came in along with the shouting of “Lift the cotton curtain! Lift the cotton curtain!”

A corner of the thick cotton door curtain was lifted, and a gust of cold wind blew in immediately. Everyone shivered and looked over.

A eunuch in red appeared outside the door, his face covered in sweat.

Eunuchs were not allowed to enter the cabinet duty room, not even the Prime Minister Dai Quan.

Seeing his expression, everyone knew that something big had happened, and they all stood up and stared at him.

The red-robed eunuch panted, “Your Majesty, Your Majesty has ordered that the elders should go to the study room to discuss matters.” He then turned to the Minister of Revenue Zhao Tangguan, “Minister Zhao, come together.”

The Prime Minister was the first to walk out quickly.

Zhao Tangguan and several cabinet ministers hurriedly followed him out
Yuqing Palace

Outside the bedroom door, the eunuch Zhao Tong was squatting in front of a small charcoal stove, fanning himself and boiling some medicine.

Inside the door, Li Hu was sitting on a stool outside the curtain, which was now drawn.

The prince did not catch a cold, but was coughing up blood again. He sat on a recliner, holding the princess’ hand and coughing non-stop.

Li Hu lowered his head slightly, but listened carefully to the prince’s coughing and wheezing, which seemed to be getting worse. He sighed silently. After the cold, the prince’s body, which had just recovered, became weak again. He had been resting for more than half a month, but his condition had not improved.

The Crown Princess cried, “Your Highness, please ask the Emperor to summon a famous doctor to see you.”

The prince said, “Medicine cannot cure fatal diseases. Even if we summon all the famous doctors, what can we do?” At this point, he forced a smile and said, “Don’t worry, I will not die until I make arrangements for you and your son.”

“Your Highness.” The Crown Princess hurriedly covered her mouth to hold back the tears that were about to burst out, but she could no longer control the tears that were flowing from her eyes.

The prince was still smiling, with a hint of bitterness. He gently patted the princess’s hand and whispered, “Go, I’ll have a few words with General Li.”

The Crown Princess wiped her tears, turned and walked out.

Li Hu raised his head and looked at the prince. Seeing that his face was as yellow as wax, he felt a little uneasy.

The prince laughed: “Look, my body is not as strong as before. I got a little cold and this happened.”

“Your Highness, let’s call in a folk doctor to take a look.” At this point, Li Hu lowered his head, “What if?”

“Look, even you don’t have the confidence.” The prince smiled tiredly.

Li Hu opened his mouth, but didn’t know what to say, and remained silent for a while.

The prince also remained silent.

“Your Highness, it’s time to take your medicine.” Zhao Tong came in with a bowl of medicine and helped the prince drink the medicine. Then he said softly, “Your Highness, the imperial physician said that you need to rest. Take a rest.”

The prince waved his hand lightly and Zhao Tong had to retreat.

The prince looked at Li Hu again. Li Hu knew that he had something to say, so in order to save him some energy, he carried a stool and walked in, sat down beside him, and waited for him to speak.

The prince said softly: “There is something I just heard. Bai Hongzhi was let go by the fourth brother.” Li Hu was shocked.

Prince: “I couldn’t believe it at first.” He looked out the door and waved.

Li Hu turned his head away.

The prince lowered his voice and said, “It was the third brother who discovered this matter and then revealed it to Prince Zhongshun, hoping to reap the benefits. Prince Zhongshun was brainless, but he was not a fool either. He sold the third brother for a good price, two hundred thousand silver coins.”

Li Hu was stunned and didn’t say anything for a long time.

“The fourth brother couldn’t afford the money, so he wrote an IOU to King Zhongshun.”

The prince shook his head, “My uncle has evil intentions!”

Li Hu also shook his head. This family, not a single good person! I wonder what the emperor’s reaction will be when he finds out. Zhongshun Wang, what a good title!
“There is also the matter of the Zhen family in Jiangnan. I heard from my mother that the old concubine personally pleaded for mercy, and the emperor had no choice but to approve Zhen Yingjia’s resignation. The imperial edict will be issued in the next few days.”

“What should we do with the deficits of the two major weaving bureaus in Jiangning and Suzhou?”

“.All of the Zhen family’s properties in Jiangnan will be mortgaged to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, whatever they have will be taken.”

Li Hu nodded. Zhen Yingjia was a courageous man who cut off his own arm. But it was better than having his house confiscated!
The prince lay back, and Li Hu quickly helped him and placed him on the backrest of the recliner.

The prince went on to say, “The emperor has decided to abolish the Ti-Ren Yuan, set up the Jinling Garrison, and select eunuchs to take charge.”

Li Hu’s eyes flashed. This was the eunuch who guarded the city during the former Ming Dynasty.

At this moment, Zhao Tong hurried in, holding an official document in his hand.

Zhao Tong said softly, “Your Highness, this is a copy from the study. It was sent from Huai’an 800 miles away. Changying Warehouse was burned!”

The prince’s expression changed immediately: “Quick, help me up.”

Li Hu quickly helped him up.

The prince took the copy and looked at it. His expression became uglier and uglier as his eyes moved across the copy.

Li Hu was somewhat shocked, and stared at the prince and the copy in his hand.

The prince slammed the armrest of the recliner and said, “How cruel!” Then he started coughing loudly again.

Zhao Tong was startled, and hurriedly knelt down beside the chair and gently stroked his chest with one leg, while asking: “Your Highness, should we call the imperial physician?”

The prince closed his eyes, shook his head slightly, and tried his best to regulate his breathing.

Li Hu also gently massaged his back.

The prince slowly opened his eyes and handed the copy to Li Hu: “Take a look.”

Li Hu quickly scanned the area and was also shocked.

The Grand Canal runs through the north and south, and Huai’an is a transit center for grain. Changying Warehouse is an extra-large grain transit warehouse that can accommodate up to 1.5 million shi of grain. It is known as the “World’s Granary”. But even such an important granary was burned down by the White Lotus Sect. More than 100,000 shi of stored grain, as well as 64,000 shi of grain from Jinling Prefecture, 43,000 shi from Yangzhou Prefecture, 51,000 shi from Zhenjiang Prefecture, 150,000 shi from Suzhou Prefecture, and 51,000 shi from Huai’an Prefecture were all burned to ashes!

The Huai’an Canal Transport Office is not a county government in a small place. It has more than 20,000 canal soldiers. They also say that the cold wind is extremely strong and the north wind never stops blowing. They are kidding!
Li Hu closed the copy and thought that maybe they themselves had set the fire. It was the end of the year and it was time to settle the account!

The prince spoke: “What’s going on in the upper study?”

Zhao Tong: “They said they would send important officials to Huai’an to investigate the matter and report it to the court.”

After a pause, he said, “Your Highness, you can’t talk anymore. Go back to the couch.” Then he looked at Li Hu again.

Li Hu understood: “Your Highness, please take a rest.”

The prince sighed, “Alright. When you have nothing to do, come and talk to me.”

Li Hu: “Yes.” He bowed and walked out.

(End of this chapter)