kvmb Chapter 158 The Marquis of Chengen Gets a Slap in the Face
Chapter 158 The Marquis of Chengen Gets a Slap in the Face
The secret letter was a thick stack of pages, in which the prefect wrote down in detail the deeds of Shen Qingtan and Zhao Yi, as well as the situation in Guanzhou.
Just by reading his letter, one can understand the surging emotions he felt when he wrote it.
After carefully reading the secret letter, Emperor Jing'an burst into loud laughter, his laughter exceptionally clearing away his previous somber mood.
The ministers looked puzzled, not understanding why Emperor Jing'an was laughing so heartily.
They had just discussed how to resettle the disaster victims in Guanzhou, but had not yet come up with the most suitable strategy.
This was because the national treasury and grain depots were all subject to restrictions.
Emperor Jing'an's face was gloomy, clearly showing signs of anger.
Could it be that the matter of the disaster victims in Guanzhou has been resolved, thus pleasing Emperor Jing'an?
"My esteemed ministers, the matter of Guanzhou has been resolved satisfactorily." Emperor Jing'an arranged seven or eight sheets of plain paper, suspecting that the prefect had used the level of his essays from the imperial examinations to praise Zhao Yi and Shen Qingtan to the skies.
He was deeply impressed by this prefect, who wrote lengthy memorials every time, elaborating on a lot of unimportant matters.
By simply looking at the beginning and the end, one can clearly understand the core content of the memorial.
This letter concerned Shen Qingtan and Zhao Yi, and it was quite truthful; he read it with great interest.
Emperor Jing'an casually handed the secret letter to Eunuch Cao: "Have your ministers take a look."
Eunuch Cao held the secret letter and handed it to the nearest Grand Secretary.
The Grand Secretary held the secret letter, felt its thickness, and immediately guessed who had written it.
It was his talkative student.
He moved the camera a little further away, glanced at it, and only looked at the core information.
After reading a few lines, the Grand Secretary slowed down his reading pace and read the letter word by word.
In his letter, the prefect of Guanzhou explained that after the people of Guanzhou returned to their hometowns, they had nowhere to live and relied on relief porridge to fill their stomachs every day.
The disaster relief supplies and donated grain sent by the imperial court seemed to be a huge amount, but the disaster-stricken area of Guanzhou was very extensive, and it could only guarantee that the disaster victims would have food to eat in the short term.
Because the people of Guanzhou had long been oppressed, most of them abandoned their farmland to flee famine, leaving only wasteland. Therefore, unlike the people in other places who had reclaimed wasteland and were about to reap a bumper harvest.
Even if there is a bumper harvest, it will have to wait until the second half of the year.
However, for nearly half a year, disaster relief supplies alone are simply not enough.
Every grain of rice needs to be carefully calculated.
Therefore, everyone has a fixed amount of food, so they either don't get enough to eat or get hungry quickly.
Unscrupulous merchants in Guanzhou sensed a huge profit opportunity and hired disaster victims to work for just a bowl of sweet potato rice or two cornbread buns. One person was made to do the work of two, and the laboring disaster victims suffered terribly.
Afterwards, Yongkang Trading Company hired disaster victims and paid them fair wages and food. The disaster victims, who were being exploited by the unscrupulous merchants, began to riot, causing the merchants to suffer heavy losses.
They discovered that the owner of Yongkang Trading Company was Zhao Yi, and harboring thoughts of revenge, they arranged for someone to assassinate him in Xishan.
Zhao Yi believed that a merchant could not possibly possess such power, and suspected that there were still remnants of corrupt officials in Guanzhou assisting the unscrupulous merchant behind the scenes. If these remnants were not completely eliminated, they would resurface and continue to cause trouble in Guanzhou.
More importantly, they are in the open, while the assassins are in the shadows, and they may be assassinated again.
If we want to find out who did it, we must not alert them.
Zhao Yi arranged for Shen Qingtan to pretend to have been assassinated and gone missing. He handed over the jade token from Yongkang Trading Company and the dragon-patterned jade pendant given to him by Emperor Jing'an to Shen Qingtan, so that she could take the tokens to the prefect and give him the letter he had written.
He returned to the capital wounded, arriving in Guanzhou a day late to meet up with Shen Qingtan.
Seeing the plight of the people of Guanzhou, Shen Qingtan felt compassion and, on behalf of Zhao Yi, discussed with the prefect about leasing the abandoned farmland of the people and hiring them to cultivate it for the Yongkang Trading Company.
They are paid wages regularly every month, and three meals a day are provided for them.
Under Shen Qingtan's leadership, the Qin and Gu businesses joined in and properly resettled the disaster victims.
Not only that, Shen Qingtan also suggested that he lure out the unscrupulous merchants who had committed evil deeds, and find out that they had colluded with corrupt officials in Guanzhou. The government arrested them all, confiscated their property, and seized a huge sum of silver, which has already been sent to be transported back to the capital.
The people of Guanzhou regarded Shen Qingtan as a living bodhisattva who saved them from suffering, and everyone was grateful to her.
Finally, the prefect emphasized that he had only spoken with Shen Qingtan, a woman, because he saw the dragon-patterned jade pendant she presented.
Indeed, she is worthy of the Emperor's high regard; she is a woman who is just as capable as any man.
When the Grand Secretary saw this sentence, his temples throbbed; he simply couldn't bear to look.
That's some serious flattery...
He couldn't help but look at Emperor Jing'an, who was looking at him and praising him: "You have taught this student very well."
Grand Secretary: "..."
If a monarch loves flattery, it's no wonder his subjects love to fawn over him.
Although that's what I thought in my heart, a huge weight was lifted off my chest as I passed on the secret message.
The letter was passed around among the officials, and each person who read it had extremely mixed feelings.
If they heard praise for Shen Qingtan and Zhao Yi from the common people, they would certainly not believe it and would suspect that someone was deliberately trying to clear Shen Qingtan's name.
No one involved came forward, and no one in the community leaked the news. It was the prefect of Guanzhou who first sent a secret letter praising Shen Qingtan's achievements. It is easy to see how credible it was.
Unless the prefect is tired of living, he would not deliberately fabricate such a story that can be easily verified.
Everyone present was shrewd and quickly realized that someone had deliberately framed Shen Qingtan.
After all, the initial news of Zhao Yi's assassination attempt followed by the news of Shen Qingtan eloping with someone clearly indicated that someone wanted to harm Shen Qingtan.
If Shen Qingtan were truly assassinated and disappeared, her reputation ruined, even if she returned to the capital alive, she would still face certain death.
The person hiding behind this is extremely ruthless.
Fortunately, when she went to Guanzhou to hunt down the murderer, she helped the disaster victims out of kindness, which allowed the prefect to commend her and clear her name.
The ministers couldn't help but look at the Marquis of Chengen in the corner. If the Marquis of Chengen hadn't publicly severed his father-daughter relationship with Shen Qingtan, they wouldn't have believed the rumors outside.
Shen Qingtan is now going to Guanzhou to do good deeds. I wonder what Marquis Chengen will think when he sees the secret letter.
Marquis Chengen keenly sensed something amiss and looked at his colleagues, puzzled.
Their eyes held a deep meaning, subtly revealing their scrutiny and even sympathy for him.
Marquis Chengen was puzzled and was about to ask his colleague when his colleague handed him a secret letter.
He suppressed his confusion and began to peruse the secret letter.
The further down he looked, the uglier his expression became.
"How can this be……"
Marquis Chengen could not believe that Shen Qingtan had gone to Guanzhou to provide relief to the disaster victims.
It is more likely that Zhao Yi bribed the prefect of Guanzhou and wrote this letter specifically to praise Shen Qingtan.
He immediately stood up: "Your Majesty, the prefect of Guanzhou is lying!"