Yang Fan took the bamboo tube in his hand and was about to return to his quarters when he heard a tender call from behind him, "General Yang!"
Yang Fan turned his head and saw Wan 'er wearing a moon-white, round-collared robe and a soft-legged headgear. Like a jade tree, she stood next to a cluster of blooming flowers and looked at him with a faint smile on her face.
The flowers were bright purple and bright red, each flower the size of a bowl. He didn't know what species it was. Presumably, it was a rare flower that Wu Sansi had people transplant from other places. But when the flowers bloomed and competed with each other, they couldn't compare to Wan 'er in men's clothing, charming and enchanting.
Yang Fan smiled and waved his hand at Ren Wei. He walked toward Wan 'er. Wan' er waited for him to come closer and turned around. She calmly said, "The Emperor has just arrived at the Summer Palace. Wan 'er has something to discuss with General Yang. Please come into the room to talk."
Walking along the pebbled path among the flowers, two or three palace maids slowly walked by. On the way, they met Wan 'er and quickly retreated to the side of the road, bowing to her. Wan' er walked straight ahead, only nodding her head slightly in acknowledgment.
Yang Fan followed behind Wan 'er and watched her slender waist swaying gracefully. Although she was dressed in men's clothing, it still couldn't hide the full moon's beauty. He suddenly remembered the time when he was caught by Wan' er carrying a stack of memorials to the Historian's Library. He couldn't help but smile knowingly.
Wan'er walked gracefully, not dignified, but she seemed to know that Yang Fan was watching her from behind. She walked to the front of a quiet little pavilion with the words "Orchid Fragrance Pavilion" written on it. Suddenly, she held the door with one hand and looked back with a smile. Then, like a butterfly, she flashed in. Only this glance back, that limitless beauty and allure was really something that a mature and charming woman could not do.
Yang Fan's heart warmed and he quickly followed in. As soon as Yang Fan entered the room, he closed the door. As expected, as soon as the door was closed, Wan 'er, who was hiding behind the door, threw herself into his arms. Her fiery red lips covered his mouth.
Yang Fan held Wan'er's slender waist. As he kissed her, he half-carried, half-dragged her into the bedroom. Only then did Wan'er let go of Yang Fan's lips that were like magnets. She panted slightly and said, "You are a bad person. I was walking next to you the whole time, but I couldn't even look at you. Now that we are at the Three Yang Palace, you still haven't come to see me."
Yang Fan smiled and said, "Aren't I here now?" He gently pinched her cheeks. The jelly-like texture felt soft and smooth to the touch. This kind of skin had the elasticity and vitality of a young girl, but it also had a kind of softness that a young girl did not have. Although it was partly because she had just taken a bath, it was also because she had taken good care of herself.
Wan'er rolled her eyes at him and said coquettishly, "If I didn't call out to you, wouldn't you have slipped away again?"
Yang Fan said, "Of course not. I just received a secret letter, and I wanted to go back and read it first. I know that you are tired, and I don't want you to worry anymore." As he spoke, Yang Fan pulled out the stopper of the bamboo tube in front of her.
Yang Fan naturally wouldn't hide anything from Wan'er. Furthermore, in this battle with the Hidden Sect, Luoyang's side would need the Shangguan Clan's help. As the Shangguan Clan's Clan Head, even if Yang Fan wanted to hide it from her, he wouldn't be able to.
Yang Fan sat on the couch while Wan'er's soft arms wrapped around his neck. Her perfectly round buttocks were sitting on his lap, and she looked very comfortable as she accompanied him to read the letter.
The letter was written by Gu Zhuting, and the words were very small and neat. It could be seen that Gu Zhuting wrote it very seriously. Although the words weren't nice to look at, it was especially so for the lady sitting on Yang Fan's lap. She was an expert in poetry, painting, and calligraphy. In her eyes, the words weren't even worth mentioning. However, every stroke of the words revealed her thoughts.
In the letter, Gu Zhuting described in detail to Yang Fan what they did and the problems they discovered after they arrived at the Feng Province. Especially after the Feng Province's granaries caught fire, she gave a detailed description.
In the letter, it said that after the Feng Province's granaries caught fire, Prince Pei decisively detained Cang Ling, Cang Cheng, and all the granaries in the Feng Province. He also sealed up the granaries and checked the grains one by one, hoping to find conclusive evidence.
However, because the granaries in the Feng Province were guarded by the granaries, the local grain merchants always bought their goods locally. Once the Feng Province's granaries were sealed up, the few grain stores in the city were sold out in less than two days. Subsequently, the prices of the grains rose. When the news spread out, the grain merchants from Yan Province, Feng Province, and other places all rushed here. They took the opportunity to raise the prices of the grains, causing the people to be filled with resentment.
At this moment, there were some counties and prefectures under the Feng Province that used early ripening autumn grains to pay taxes that arrived at the Feng Province. However, because the grains were paid taxes and hadn't been accepted into the treasury, they couldn't be sold. However, because Prince Pei had sealed up the granaries, the grains couldn't enter the treasury. The citizens who transported the grains to the Feng Province stayed in the prefecture city and were responsible for their own food and lodging expenses. They were also anxious to return to their hometown to participate in the autumn harvest. Therefore, there were many complaints.
Not long after, someone enticed the people to go to the inn to petition the outgoing Provincial Governor Li Hao. Li Hao generously accepted the people's petition. He led the officials of his prefecture, the gentry of Feng Province, and the petitioners to the Provincial Governor's mansion to plead on behalf of the people. Prince Pei left the mansion to answer, but unexpectedly, a quarrel broke out, almost inciting a revolt. Prince Pei was chased, beaten, and cursed by the people. In a panic, he retreated into his mansion and didn't dare to come out again.
In order to appease the people, the Feng Province's Chief Prefect, Bie Qi, and the other assistant and chief officials immediately ordered the Feng Province's granaries to be reopened. Everything in and out of the granaries was carried out as usual. They also sent a report to the Taoist Observer Inside the Pass. In one day and one night, the Feng Province's granaries received no less than a hundred thousand dans of grain.
Gu Zhuting accidentally learned from the local people's discussions that the person who delivered the grains didn't speak like the people of Feng Province. Instead, he had a slight Yanzhou accent. Suspicious, she secretly investigated his whereabouts. Sure enough, he was a person from Yanzhou. A farmer said that Yanzhou had abundant rain and a good harvest every year, so it had a lot of grain stored.
From this, it could be seen that the corrupt officials, in order to avoid punishment, bought a large amount of grain from Yanzhou to make up for the deficit. But Yanzhou didn't have a regular granary, so it couldn't have been embezzled from the government. If the grain came from thousands of households, it would be difficult to distinguish right from wrong.
In the end, Gu Zhuting said that now it could be concluded that the so-called foreign grain merchants who drove up the prices were actually in cahoots with the local corrupt officials, and they were here to create momentum. As for the so-called tax payers, they were actually not the people of Feng Province. However, the officials of the Feng Province's granaries were all in prison, and the matters of the granaries were controlled by the Chief Prefect, Bie Qi, and other officials, so there was no evidence to investigate.
Now, the deficit in the Feng Province's granaries had probably been replenished. If they wanted to investigate again, there would be no evidence. Gu Zhuting had failed the sect leader's trust and felt ashamed. She didn't know what to do and so on.
Gu Zhuting only described the course of events, without any embellishments. But Yang Fan could imagine how the officials of Feng Province colluded with each other, plotting day and night. They also took advantage of Pei Junma's newly appointed position, and the local government was still full of their eyes and ears, connections, and teeth. They controlled the grain merchants, drove up the prices, incited the people, and secretly bought large amounts of grain from outside.
Later, Li Hao thought that the people were petitioning to see Pei Junma. Under the pressure of the people, it was too easy to create some trouble to provoke the people. When the people rebelled, these corrupt officials would stand up and 'respond to the will of the people.'
They broke through the blockade of the regimental troops and took advantage of the fact that the warehouse officials were all in prison to casually enter and exit the granaries. There was almost no accounting, and it was impossible to calculate how much grain was coming in and going out. They took this opportunity to make up for the deficit, and no one would be able to find any evidence. And even if this matter was reported to the imperial court, they were 'acting in an emergency' to appease the people and calm the situation. Not only were they not at fault, they were also meritorious.
After thinking through the entire matter, Yang Fan couldn't help but be shocked.
These things were easy to say, but to complete this matter, how many officials were needed? Was everyone in the Feng Province not greedy? Their deficit was definitely not a small amount, and they were able to make up for it just like that. How much wealth, resources, and power did they have?
The Obvious Sect could naturally gather so much grain, but it was impossible to do it in such a short period of time. Was the Hidden Sect so powerful?
They asked the grain merchants to not sell the grain, and they sent the grain merchants from outside to drive up the prices to increase their influence. They successfully organized such a large movement, and in the end, created a situation that was filled with flaws but had no weak points. How much power did the Hidden Sect have? How much organization and control did they have?
This had far exceeded Yang Fan's estimation. Yang Fan's expression changed. He originally thought that with his advantage in officialdom and that he was the one who initiated the attack, he would be able to find a flaw in the Hidden Sect and would definitely be able to put the Hidden Sect in a passive position. However, the power that the Hidden Sect displayed through this matter had shocked Yang Fan, and he didn't dare to have any thoughts of getting lucky.
Wan 'er read ten lines at a glance, and she read even faster than Yang Fan. Before Yang Fan finished reading, she had already finished reading. She immediately understood that Langjun's painstaking plan to deal a fatal blow to the Hidden Sect had already failed. The Hidden Sect had already made up for their only flaw, and Langjun could only passively defend. From the strength that the Hidden Sect had displayed in this contest, Lang Jun might very well …
Wan 'er looked at Yang Fan with worry. Yang Fan's expression was gloomy, and after a long time, he slowly tightened his grip on the letter in his hand. Wan 'er lightly leaned into his embrace and faintly said, "Erlang."
Yang Fan patted her soft and powerful waist and smiled faintly, but his eyes didn't have a trace of a smile. "Wan 'er, I … underestimated the Hidden Sect's ability. Now that my greatest support has disappeared, I might follow in Young Master Jiang's footsteps in this battle … "
Wan 'er lightly rested her pretty face on his shoulder and said softly, "It is still too early to say who will win and who will lose. Erlang, just fight with all your strength. It is good if you win, but if you really lose, then you lose. So what if you don't become the Xian Sect Patriarch? So what if you don't become an official? Also, we are not at the end of the line yet. "
Yang Fan said, "I am just afraid that this is not just my matter. I am afraid that all the effort and effort that I have put in these days will be wasted. I am afraid that I will let down people like the Dugu Family and your family who have given their all to support me. If I lose, all the effort that they have put in … will probably be greatly damaged, and they might not be able to recover from this setback. Do you know how many people's success or failure, honor or disgrace, are connected to the backing of an enormous family? I am afraid that when I face Ren Wei and those people who have risked their lives for me, they will not receive anything in return for everything that they have put in. I, alone, carry the hopes of so many people on my shoulders. "
Wan 'er gently hugged him. She didn't know how to comfort her Langjun. She just wanted to use this hug to tell him that no matter if he was rich or poor, in life or death, she would be with him.
Yang Fan said, "There are no other storehouses near Feng Prefecture. I really didn't think that they would be able to gather grain from the people near Feng Prefecture. One bucket at a time, one liter at a time. From thousands of families, they were able to gather one hundred thousand stone grains in an instant. Good move! So powerful! Shen Mu was a formidable person, and I am not as good as him … "
Yanzhou? When this name entered her ears again, Wan 'er suddenly furrowed her curved eyebrows. She seemed to have thought of something, but she couldn't recall it at the moment.
… …
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