As mentioned in Li Ling's letter, shortly after the Yuan Dynasty, he had returned to the Central Plains and entered the boundary of Huaibei. It was only a day or two away from his destination Yingzhou.

This was indeed quite unexpected to him. He thought that after leaving Beijing, he should go straight north, and then dispatch all the grains from it to the north. But who expected that the two news came one after another, but his original abacus was completely lost.

After thinking about the disappearance of military rations in the southwestern Shanxi, Li Ling decided to hand over the Yang Chen and Yang Zhen brothers who finally cooperated with him again to solve the problem. Because as far as he thought, this matter was mostly related to some rebels or local bandits, and in the final analysis, it was possible to use force.

Even though Li Ling has experienced many storms over the years, he is just a civil scholar. He has no ability in his personal martial arts or leading troops to fight. He has no effect after going there. It is better to delegate power to the Yang brothers who can better solve the problem.

However, the situation in Yingzhou, Huaibei made him even more concerned because this fact is unreasonable. The Dayue court is now at its peak, and it is impossible for local forces to act independently in the middle and late Tang Dynasty. Now a small prefecture dares to disobey the court's orders, but who gave them the courage, Liang Jingru?

So as long as you think about it carefully, you can infer that there must be some inside story. If you don’t want to cause greater trouble, Li Ling felt that he had to go to the place to understand in depth before solving the problem. Moreover, there is another point that is the key to his plan to go to Yingzhou, that is, he is from Huaibei, so he must be more calm in his actions, right?

So, shortly after receiving the news, Li Ling turned to Huaibei and arrived in front of this not-so-famous Huaibei Prefecture City on the 20th day of the first lunar month.

Compared with Hengzhou, Yingzhou City is much smaller in scale. If it weren't for knowing that this was a prefecture, Li Ling would have mistakenly regarded it as a larger county. Indeed, this Central Plains Prefecture City looks slightly larger than some major counties in Jingjin and Jiangnan.

The surrounding city walls are only five or six feet high, and they are mostly damaged. They are not scars left after the war disaster, but traces after years of wind and rain, and the walls are eroded and peeled off by wind. From a distance, they show a meaning - destruction.

The defenders on the front of the city also looked at it and corresponded to this broken city. Not only were there only twenty or thirty people, but they were all listless, as if they could barely support their bodies by leaning against the wall. And even such a dilapidated state capital, the tax on entering and leaving the city gate was ridiculously high. According to the people below, they would have to pay thirty cents to enter the city without bringing any goods, which was equivalent to the three-pack of goods in a big city like Jinling.

Because of this, the entire Yingzhou City seemed particularly deserted. On this winter afternoon, you could hardly see anyone coming in and out. The deep city gate was open like the big mouth of a monster who chose to eat, just waiting for someone to hit him and go in.

Li Ling brought a hundred confidant elites outside for a while, then pointed to the city gate with a horse whip: "Let's go, let's reveal our identities now, and meet with the local officials, and ask them why they dared to disobey the imperial court's order to collect grain!" As he said that, he clamped his legs and urged the horse forward. The others did not fall behind. They rode horses and followed them to the city gate.

The defenders on the city and under the city had long discovered that this large group of people were lingering outside, but they didn't care. They lazily wanted to quarrel from these people. Until the people came over and the person who led the lead revealed their identity, the soldiers realized that they were imperial guards in the court. They immediately changed their appearance and bent down to salute. They were so polite.

Li Ling did not respond much to them. The Central Plains had been in peace for a hundred years, and not only Yingzhou, but also the officers and soldiers in other prefectures and counties were not much higher, so they walked into the city and went straight to the local government office.

Raising military rations in the prefecture has always been a job in the people-friendly yamen, so he naturally came to find the local magistrate first. Before them, there were already two clever ones who ran back to the yamen to report.

So when Li Ling arrived in front of the prefect's office, a green-robed official was waiting there with a dozen officials. When he saw Li Ling at the core, the slightly thin and narrowed Yingzhou prefect, he rushed forward and arched to the ground from a distance, saying, "I don't know that Shangguan Dajia has arrived, and the lower official Ma Bangwen has missed the welcome. I hope the Lord will forgive me."

No matter what, this person's attitude was still very low. Li Ling immediately turned over and fell off the horse and helped him: "Master Ma is too polite, there is no need to be too polite."

Then both sides introduced their identities and the accompanying officials. They were led by Li Ling and Ma Bangwen to enter the government office, and sat down in the living room of the second hall, and then gave another polite greeting.

After half a cup of tea, Li Ling lowered the smile on his face and looked at Ma Bangwen, who was sitting at the bottom of his head, said: "Prince Ma, you should know why I came to Yingzhou today, right?"

"This...is the military rations that the court requested for the previous court's writing?" Ma Bangwen asked carefully.

“That’s right.”

Hearing Li Ling answer without hesitation, the man suddenly showed uneasiness and embarrassment on his face. After hesitating for a moment, he quickly stood up and bowed: "I would like to punish you, the official... I really have no way to avoid it."

"Hmm? How do you say this?" Li Ling frowned. This person gave him a pretty good impression since he met. Did he encounter any difficulties that he could not overcome?

"Mr. Li, you don't know anything. I, Yingzhou, is a small place, with few people and poor people, and the annual harvest is not good. It can be said that every year, it is only enough to pay taxes and support the people of the government. It is not as rich as elsewhere, and can also hoard a considerable amount of grain."

"You mean that you can't get the three thousand stones of food needed by the imperial court in the treasury?"

Facing Li Ling's direct inquiry, Ma Bangwen became more and more uneasy. He hesitated for a moment before nodding: "That's right... that's true. To be honest, the subordinates have been in office for five or six years, and their annual income and expenditure will be able to reach a balance, with almost no savings. Especially last year, due to a locust plague, the land was not collected. If it weren't for the help of some local wealthy households, they would have to ask the court for silver and grain to help the people."

Li Ling listened silently to his crying poor, and there was no expression on his face. After a while, he said slowly: "What about Changquan's position? If the official remembers it well, whether it is disaster relief or grain price, Changquan's position in various places is of great use. Moreover, the court has also considered the difficulties in this regard in some places. It is particularly clear that the grain from the warehouse stockpiled last year can be used to support northern Xinjiang. You won't even have food available for Changquan's position here, right?"

Unexpectedly, Li Ling was so serious. Ma Bangwen's heart sank slightly, but his face showed bitterness: "What the lord said is very true. Logically speaking, the local area can still be used to close the warehouse for the people and the court. However, my Yingzhou is really poor. Over the years, the grain in the warehouse has been sold out due to various sudden changes, either to provide relief to the people or to supplement taxes.

"This time the imperial court has an order, but the officials want to get grain from Changping Warehouse. Why... I would like to forgive me..." As he said that, he stood up again and almost knelt down for Li Ling.

As prefects, all the other government officials have acted in this way, so how can the other government officials sit down again? So, after a huh, more than ten government officials all stood up and knelt down, accompanied their superiors, and said in unison: "It's all that we are not doing our jobs well, and it has nothing to do with the prefect. If the lord really wants to punish us, please punish us..."

So many people are scrambling to admit their mistakes and punishments, which really makes Li Ling a little difficult to deal with. You can't really take everyone down and punish them. Then the entire Yingzhou Prefecture will not be in chaos?

Thinking of this level, a hint of vigilance suddenly flashed in Li Ling's heart. This seemingly honest Yingzhou prefect Ma Bang Wenhua plays the role of retreating to advance, and the law does not blame the public!

He obviously knew his origin, and believed that his identity and rights were enough to punish him because the military rations were not moved, so he dragged out all the yamen. Moreover, he had to see that the Prefect Ma did manage the Yingzhou government office in a solid manner, and all his subordinates obeyed him and did not dare to disobey him. This was really a bit tricky.

After pondering for a while, Li Ling smiled again: "What are you doing? Do you really think that I am here to provoke a military officer? If this is the case, I wouldn't have brought only a few people here. Come on, get up and talk quickly, otherwise it would be a damaging to your prestige." As he said that, he came forward in person and helped Ma Bangwen up.

His reaction finally made everyone feel a little relieved. He felt grateful again, and Ma Bangwen even blamed himself a few words.

It was not until everyone's mood stabilized that Li Ling smiled and said, "Since it was because he was not able to save military rations. I thought the court could understand it. After all, although the northern border is heavy, it is not as important as the people."

"Thank you for your understanding. I am grateful to you. On behalf of my more than one million people in Yingzhou Prefecture, I thank you for your care..." Ma Bangwen felt confident and quickly bowed and thanked him. Unexpectedly, Li Ling changed his mind: "But this matter is of great importance after all, and even the official dares not make decisions without authorization. If you want the court to agree and pardon your sins, you still need to provide some evidence to prove that Yingzhou does not have any food to adjust."
Chapter completed!