Ma Gui and Mei Guozhen would never have thought that the disaster they encountered was an undeserved one.
That's right, yes, it was an undeserved calamity, because no matter the initiator, executor, or promoter, none of them had expected the final outcome of this calamity.
Xiao Ruxun was the only one who understood the meaning of the disaster. Of course, that was something that would happen a long time later.
At that time, when Xiao Ruxun looked back on the past, she truly realized that this calamity was the explosive appearance of a variable that she had brought to the Great Ming Dynasty by flapping her wings. It was an unpredictable variable that had changed the direction of the entire situation.
A loud bang in Ningxia tore the past and the future apart, creating a crack between the two. The Wanli Northern Barbarians' campaign to the south was the final battle that split the past and the future.
From then on, the direction of the future became confusing. No one could see it clearly, including Xiao Ruxun, a person who should not have appeared in the first place.
No one knew what would happen in the future.
Xiao Ruxun had no idea what those familiar people would do or whether those familiar things would happen again. He became an orphan in history.
For the people at present, they obviously wouldn't pay too much attention to this.
"The cause of this incident was a dog-eat-dog fight among the Jin merchants. They were competing with each other and disliked each other. Some of the vicious ones used the power of the Northern Barbarians to get rid of their competitors for profit. They didn't care about the lives of the soldiers and civilians."
Xiao Ruxun began to slowly tell Mei Guozhen about the cause of the series of events and the current results.
"I already know about this. After the Northern Barbarians besieged the city, there were only three days' worth of food in the city. I asked the civilians to hand over their rations and arrange for a unified arrangement. These big families led the resistance, so I arrested all the big families of the Jin merchants and found two days' worth of food. I wanted to interrogate them to find out more about the whereabouts of the food, but I didn't expect to find out about their plan."
Mei Guozhen said slowly.
"I see. Do you know what happened after that, Duke Mei?"
Mei Guozhen shook his head.
"That was all. After that, it was time to defend the city. I had no time to take care of these people, so I left them to starve to death in the prison. After the city ran out of food, the prisoners in the prison were the first to starve to death and were also the first to be eaten. Their corpses were dragged out by the hungry soldiers and eaten. When I found out, there were only bones on the ground."
Xiao Ruxun nodded.
"This is their retribution. I've heard of people sacrificing their lives for money, but I've never heard of someone sacrificing so many lives for money.
One of them was called Liu Xi. After he was captured alive by Lalik, he gave up the location of their food storage in order to stay alive. This allowed the Northern Barbarians to obtain a large amount of food in an instant, causing the Northern Barbarians to become even more ambitious. That's why the Northern Barbarians came south. "
Mei Guozhen frowned.
"Liu Xi? Isn't that the person in charge of the Liu Clan of Taiyuan in Datong? I've met him before! I heard that he has a good relationship with the King Of Jin and has a very special status among the merchants in Shanxi and Datong. As for the food storage cave … that's … "
"I see …"
Xiao Ruxun thought for a moment and said, "This person can be said to be one of the main culprits of Lalik coming south to Shanxi. He was the one who gave the food storage cave to Lalik so that Lalik would have enough food. As for the food storage cave, Brother Ma, you should know about it, right?"
Xiao Ruxun looked at Ma Gui.
Mei Guozhen also looked at Ma Gui.
As a member of the Ma Clan who had lived in Datong for a long time, there was no reason for Ma Gui not to know all this.
As expected, Ma Gui nodded.
This was not a great secret in Datong or Shanxi. Every household had their own grain storage cave. It was just a matter of scale. However, the grain storage caves of the Jin merchants could not be explained by the size of the caves.
The food they hoarded and hid could no longer be placed in any random storage cave. They could only find suitable caves in the mountains to store it. The amount was so large that it was shocking.
At first, I also wondered why the Northern Barbarians had so much food. I vaguely guessed that it might have something to do with these storage caves, but I didn't dare to think about it. If this kind of thing were to be exposed, I'm afraid it would not be as simple as one or two people dying. "
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Mei Guozhen didn't know until now. He looked at Ma Gui.
Ma Gui shook his head.
"I'm afraid that even His Majesty doesn't know about this. Many people know about it, but they don't dare to say it out loud, especially to the non-local officials sent by the imperial court. They can't say too much, so it's best to keep their mouths shut. Otherwise, their lives will be in danger. There will be another storm in the imperial court, and we don't know how many people will die. With our humble status, we really don't know what to do, so we can only do nothing."
"You …"
Mei Guozhen let out a deep sigh. "You have to bear the king's worries. Commander Ma, I thought you were a loyal and brave man, but you actually …"
Ma Gui didn't continue to pester him. He admitted honestly, "Futai, even if we know about this, what can we do? With the influence of the Shanxi merchants in the imperial court, who wouldn't be afraid of them? Can His Majesty solve this matter? "
"Of course."
Xiao Ruxun suddenly interrupted. "Because His Majesty already knows about this matter and is dealing with it. I think these Shanxi merchants and their minions won't live past this year."
Ma Gui was stunned, while Mei Guozhen was curious.
"His Majesty already knows? Ji Xin, you're not lying to me, right? This … "
"I told His Majesty about it. It was sent directly to His Majesty through the Imperial Bodyguard's spies."
Xiao Ruxun looked at Ma Gui calmly. Ma Gui's face was filled with disbelief.
"Ji Xin, do you know what you've done? You've committed a taboo in the imperial court!! "
Looking at Ma Gui's anxious face, Xiao Ruxun just shook his head and smiled.
"Taboo in the imperial court? These shameless bastards have done such a shameful thing and they don't want others to talk about it? Since they dared to do it, they should have known that this day would come. I don't care about the taboo. I only know what's right and what's wrong.
If there is a need, I will lead the army south to flatten their lair and kill them directly. Even if I am torn apart by five horses later, I will have gotten rid of a scourge for the country. I already have this awareness, so I am not afraid of anything. "
Ma Gui looked at Xiao Ruxun in disbelief.
"Ji Xin, do you know what you're saying? You're going against the entire imperial court!!! "
Xiao Ruxun nodded.
"Of course I know what I'm talking about. But Brother Ma, you don't know what you're talking about. This is wrong. Since it's wrong, we have to correct it. We can't hide it for them even though we know it's wrong. We can't just sit back and watch them develop to an unmanageable stage.
At this point, the only way to rectify the situation is to shed blood. Big Brother Ma, have you thought about it? It's precisely because you people who knew the truth didn't report it and allowed these shameless bastards to do as they pleased that we've finally led to today's disaster.
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