Chapter 157 Fang Jue: 800,000 taels will hurt the muscles and bones
"it's over."
The army returned to Xueguguan. This sudden war resulted in the loss of more than 6,000 people in Beiliang and the loss of some incomplete grains.
The war in the north has ceased.
It looks like he won.
The Beiliang army retreated, leaving more than 5,000 people behind. Deputy General Chen Zhi was also captured.
Such a feat is astonishing enough.
But Fang Jue felt a little disappointed.
Luo Yang was indeed a famous general. He seemed to be aware that he had some special means and never dared to confront him head-on.
Chen Zhi was left as a test, but Luo Yang's own core strength did not suffer any loss.
In addition to obtaining grain seeds, Luo Yang also contributed a lot.
Win-win.
"What's going on in Suzhou?" Fang Jue asked.
Ye Hongyi said: "After interrogating the Beiliang Army who set out from Suzhou, we learned that the situation in Suzhou... is very tragic."
"The Northern Liang army massacred the city?"
"No, but they took away the food that could be taken away, and burned the ones that couldn't be taken away. Although they didn't kill many civilians, many people will starve to death this winter because of the loss of food reserves." Bai Qing said lightly.
He was responsible for the interrogation and did not accompany him to the direction of Lizhou this time. By the time the army came back, he had obtained the confession he wanted.
"Send a message back to Beijing immediately and let the Ministry of Household Affairs organize disaster relief?" someone suggested.
Fang Jue shook his head: "When the money from the Ministry of Household Affairs comes, all the people in Suzhou will starve to death."
"What should we do..."
"Who is the largest grain merchant in the north?" Fang Jue asked.
Everyone looked at Wei Ran.
Naturally, the northern guard knows this kind of thing best.
As expected, Wei Ran knew it and named him: "Andalun."
"This person has a background in Emperor Zun Pavilion and is the largest grain merchant in Beiliang and Daxia Beijing."
"His granary was built in the Ganzhou area, and even the imperial court often purchased grain from him for disaster relief or for military ration, so this person also had wide connections within the imperial court."
As he said that, Wei Ran gave everyone a "you understand" expression.
Ye Hongyi pretended not to see it.
Not everyone dares to investigate the Xuanjian Division.
Andalun is obviously a towering figure.
"Young Master, we can't take advantage of him. Even if it's for disaster relief, we can't kill him." When Lin Bei heard that it was this person, he quickly reminded Fang Jue.
"I have met this man in the capital. He has a very close relationship with the cabinet. Your Majesty has also met him. This relationship is really..."
Babel!
No wonder Ye Hongyi pretended not to know about the interests of An Daolun and the officials in the capital.
Fang Jue said: "Don't worry, I just want to buy, not rob."
"But, with a population as big as Suzhou, how much food do we need to buy... we don't have money?" Wei Ran touched his empty pockets.
"Now it seems that Luoyang did not massacre the city, but only took away the food. It was not a kindness... but it wanted to leave us a mess, leaving us unable to provide disaster relief. We could only watch the people starve to death or watch them riot..." Ye
Hongyi thinks very far, and his mind is filled with conspiracy theories.
But this time, Fang Jue also felt that she had an idea.
"So, we not only have to catch this mess, but we have to catch it beautifully."
"No one in Suzhou can starve to death this winter!"
Fang Jue looked at everyone with firm eyes.
Everyone was determined, but still had no choice.
"But we have no money..." Everyone reiterated this key point.
The people in a state need to survive the winter, plus spring plowing...the losses involved are really too great.
Of course the imperial court could afford it, but it was too late. By the time the imperial court's disaster relief efforts arrived, Suzhou was already a hell on earth.
The story of traveling thousands of miles from a bare land and changing one's sons to eat is no longer just a few words in history books, it will become a reality again.
"How much does it cost?" Fang Jue asked casually.
No one answered, no one had done any disaster relief, and they didn't know how much it would take.
Seeing this, Ye Hongyi could only say: "I once supervised disaster relief in a state, and the court allocated 800,000 taels of silver, but thousands of people still starved to death."
Everyone was silent and there was no curse.
In many cases, it's not that the court is reluctant to give up money, but that it has no money and the people below are plundering it.
"Immediately send a message back to Beijing. The Yulin Army will not return to Beijing for the time being and will take over Suzhou. I will provide disaster relief first, and the imperial court will follow up..."
Having already made great achievements, Fang Jue could have taught him a lesson, but he still couldn't stand this miserable situation.
"Relief first? How will the young master provide relief? We can't feed a hundred people together, right?" Lin Bei said helplessly.
As an official in Beijing, he does not dare to go overboard. His salary is limited, and the funds he can bring out are even less.
If it weren't for serving the young master along the way, Lin Bei wouldn't even have brought more money.
Everyone expressed that it was not that they were unwilling to pay, but even if they did, it would be a drop in the bucket.
"Well... I'll pay it forward first, and when I get back to the capital, I'll have Shangshu Yan make up for it for me." Fang Jue said nonchalantly, that's all he had for now.
"Advance payment?" Everyone teased.
Ye Hongyi also coughed: "The eight hundred thousand taels I just said are not eighty taels... and it may not be enough."
And glared at Fang Jue.
Fang Jue nodded: "I heard clearly, eight hundred thousand taels... This is really going to hurt your muscles and bones."
Everyone: "Huh?"
…
Inside the camp, Fang Jue was packing his luggage.
Dianyi came back from the pigeon house and took the pigeons with him.
"Master, the capital has replied and your Majesty has approved it."
Fang Jue took one look at it, nodded, and said, "Go and send the message again, telling the Yulin Army to temporarily take over Suzhou and inform the capital of the disaster relief."
"good……"
As soon as Dian walked out of the door, he bumped into Ye Hongyi who was coming in.
Dianyi stepped aside and Ye Hongyi came in.
Seeing that Fang Jue really wanted to pack his things and go to Ganzhou, he suddenly burst out of anger:
"Fang Jue, will you die if you don't brag?"
In private, she still used to call him by his first name and seemed close to him.
Fang Jue knew who it was without looking back. Only Ye Hongyi dared to call her name directly.
But he still looked back.
"That's 800,000 taels. Even if it's 80,000 taels, Emperor Zun Pavilion may be able to support you, but 800,000 taels are afraid that the old pavilion master won't be able to get it easily, right?"
Ye Hongyi said anxiously: "If you still say in public that you won't be able to get the money by then, your reputation in the north will be ruined. Do you know that?"
Fang Jue smiled: "You... still underestimated the foundation of Emperor Zun Pavilion."
"Ah?" Ye Hongyi was stunned for a moment, "What do you mean?"
"You don't really have 800,000 taels, do you?" Ye Hongyi shook her head, unable to believe it.
"Why isn't it possible?"
…
Prisoner of war camp.
In a beautiful prison car, Chen Zhi was detained alone, and no one could approach him.
Chen Zhi originally wanted to die, but he kept thinking about what Fangjue said that day.
The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. Even though he knew that Fang Jue was deliberately stirring up trouble, he couldn't help but feel that Luo Yang did it on purpose.
He deliberately allowed himself to lead troops as bait to buy him time, and also deliberately sold himself as his lieutenant.
As a result, Luo Yang became even more powerful among the Beiliang frontier troops.
"Luo Yang!"
"As long as I can go back alive, Luo Yang, I want to see if you mean it!"
"Fang Jue wants to drive a wedge, but I can't let you succeed easily."
Chen Zhi said coldly: "He should let me go back to Beiliang and take the opportunity to provoke an internal fight between me and Luo Yang. What a naive prodigy, haha..."
At night.
A black shadow rushed into the prison camp and split open the stainless steel cage with a knife.
"Who?" Chen Zhi was startled.
"It's me." The visitor lowered his voice and lifted the veil.
Chen Zhi exclaimed: "Long Hua, why is it you?"
He was very frightened. He originally thought that Fang Jue would find a way to release him, but he didn't expect that one of his own would come to rescue him.
Long Hua, deputy chief of Long Xuewei!
"Brother Chen, come with me quickly." Long Hua said seriously.
"No, I won't leave... You, you actually conspired with that Fang Jue and thought I was a fool?"
How could it be such a coincidence!
Unexpectedly, Long Hua said: "That Fang Jue made a deal with our Beiliang royal family. We spent huge sums of money to secretly redeem you. We just asked ourselves to pick you up. We can't let Daxia know that he made this deal."
"Deal?" Chen Zhi was startled, "How dare he do this?"
Long Hua said: "Suzhou wants to provide disaster relief. He has no money, so he wants to sell you for a sky-high price."
"How much?" Chen Zhi subconsciously wanted to know how much he was worth.
Long Hua stretched out two fingers.
"Twenty thousand taels?" Chen Zhi nodded, "It's quite a lot. I really cost Your Majesty..."
"Brother Chen, it's two hundred thousand taels of silver. I personally escorted it outside Liangzhou Pass a few days ago to cash it in cash."
Chen Zhi's eyes widened.
He never dared to think: "Am I worth so much?"
"Brother Chen, you are from the royal family, and as the deputy commander of the border army, you can restrain the tiger of Luoyang for His Majesty. You are certainly worth ten thousand taels of gold in His Majesty's eyes."
"Stop talking and follow me quickly. The horse is already outside the camp."
Chen straightened up, looked at the prisoner camp again, frowned and said, "What about the other brothers?"
"Brother Chen, don't worry, they will also be redeemed. It's just that I didn't bring enough money this time. Someone will redeem them later. However, it will be us and the Daxia court who will make the decision, not Fang Jue."
After hearing what Long Hua said, Chen Zhi breathed a sigh of relief.
But he asked in a strange way: "How much are they worth?"
Long Hua said: "Your Majesty cannot pay a ransom of more than 50,000 taels."
After listening, Chen Zhi was silent for a moment.
