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Chapter 113 Borrowing Food

After the generals met, the local officials rushed over. The governor of Hezhou was a forty-year-old man with a round face, thin eyebrows and thin eyes, a goatee, and his body looked very strong. He rushed to King Ji.

"I am the governor of Hezhou, Gong, to welcome His Highness King Ji." The governor of Hezhou paid a great respectful visit, and the officials behind him also raised their respects to pay homage.

"Mr. Zhao is exempted from gifts, everyone is exempt from gifts." King Ji responded with a smile.

The officials led by the governor were straight, but Lu Qi's eyes were looking at the back of the governor of Hezhou. The civil servant was also secretly looking at Lu Qi. The civil servant was forty years old. His facial features were upright, his skin was moist, and his temperament was obviously elegant.

With his eyes facing each other, the civil servant lowered his eyebrows, but Lu Qi turned his head and said, "Your Highness, I want to talk to the Chief Secretary of the He Prefecture."

King Ji nodded after hearing this, Lu Qi took a step forward and politely said to the civil servant: "Is it Lord Xiao?"

The civil servant looked at Lu Qi, and Lu Qi was surprised. After he was slightly stunned, he raised his politeness and said respectfully: "The lower official is Xiao Zhili, pay homage to the general."

Lu Qi replied, "Uncle Xiao is polite, Tianfeng should be a junior."

When Xiao Zhili heard this, hesitated and stopped talking. Lu Qi smiled, raised his hand and waved it. The guard immediately brought a fox fur inner robe. Lu Qi took it and delivered it to Xiao Zhili before leaving.

"Tianfeng knew that Uncle Xiao was in Hezhou, so he prepared a gift." Lu Qi held the fox fur robe in his hand and said with a smile.

Xiao Zhili looked down at the fox fur robe, suddenly reached out to take it, and said in a low voice: "Thank you."

Lu Qi smiled and nodded, turned around and walked back to the left behind King Ji. When the people around him looked at it, they naturally had a different view of the Hezhou Governor and the Chief Commander, especially the Hezhou Governor and the Chief Commander, who were secretly surprised. They were transferred from the northern officials of Zhou State and treated Xiao Zhili from the south as nothing. Fortunately, Xiao Zhili was idle like a wood, so no one was embarrassed.

Next, the governor asked King Ji and Lu Qi to go to the government office. The senior generals of the garrison also accompanied him at King Ji's greeting and went to the Hezhou government office together.

When I arrived at the government office, I saw that the Hezhou government office was quite grand and occupied a wide area. This government office was actually built by the Xia State, and many places were in the style of the Dangxiang nobles.

Entering the spacious lobby, King Ji took the post-campus position, Lu Qi sat in the first left position in front of the case, and down there were the garrison generals sitting in turn, and opposite were the local officials led by the governor.

"Everyone, I came to Hezhou not because of the orders of the court, but because I wanted to come to Hehuang to see it, and also wanted to learn about the military situation of Tubo." King Ji Pinghe said the purpose of the visit.

"Your Highness, I have something to say." The governor of Hezhou said politely.

"Please tell me, Lord Zhao." King Ji said gently.

"Your Highness, the situation in Hezhou is not good, the warehouse is empty, and the people are poor and the people are poor. However, the court has not brought relief. Now not only the people in the city have no rice to fill their stomachs, but also the food is cut off in the army. I am worried that it will be difficult for the whole country of Hezhou to survive the severe winter." The governor of Hezhou cried and said in a poor mood.

King Ji nodded and looked at Du Yuhou, who was the leader of Lu Qi. Du Yuhou hurriedly said, "Report to your highness, the army has not brought much food from Huizhou, so I dare not use it to help the people of Hezhou."

King Ji nodded after hearing this, turned his head and looked at the governor of Hezhou, and asked, "Have you ever asked the court for relief?"

"I wrote a letter to request ten days after I took office, but I have not responded so far." The governor of Hezhou said a little resentful.

King Ji nodded. In fact, when he was in Jincheng, Lanzhou, he already knew the situation in Hehuang. The reason why Hehuang's warehouses were empty was naturally taken away by military forces. Lu Tianfeng robbed a lot, and Shi Zhongfei also robbed some of them. When Pan Mei's military forces left, he also robbed them like a sweeping raid.

"Tianfeng, what do you think?" King Ji asked Lu Qi.

"Your Highness, I believe that the military rations must not be cut off, but the Xining Governor's Office does not belong to the restraint of your Highness. Your Highness can only lend the grain to the Xining Governor's Office, and the court will repay it in the future." Lu Qi replied.

King Ji nodded after hearing this, but he didn't expect that the governor of Hezhou said anxiously: "Your Highness, the food of the people of Hezhou cannot be cut off."

After hearing this, King Ji looked at the governor of Hezhou and nodded helplessly. However, Lu Qi said again: "The food of the people of Hezhou should not be saved by Your Highness. I believe that the land can be exchanged for grain."

"Use fields to exchange for grain?" The governor of Hezhou looked at Lu Qi and said in surprise.

"Yes, you can use the fields in the Daxia River area and issue official deeds for relief grain. The price of the fields is 40% of the fields in Huizhou." Lu Qi replied.

King Ji thought for a while and said, "Tianfeng, if you do that, it's better to borrow food."

"Your Highness, the grain you lend to the army can be requested from the court. If you lend the grain to the civilians, it can only be a charity that has borrowed or not returned. Therefore, using fields to exchange grain can be regarded as a disguised replacement of Huizhou's financial resources." Lu Qi replied.

King Ji thought for a moment, nodded and said, "Then exchange the fields for grain."

The governor of Hezhou hurriedly said, "I thank Your Highness for your kindness to Hezhou."

King Ji nodded, but Lu Qi turned his head to Du Yuhou and said, "Chu Yuhou, the spring next year will begin. Please help you to farm in Hezhou. After the reasonable taxes are removed from the harvest of the land, 30% of the land will belong to Huizhou, and 70% will be converted into Zhou money as a reward for the garrison."

Du Yuhou was stunned, and then he immediately saluted and said with clarity: "Subordinate obeys the order."

Lu Qi looked at King Ji again and smiled and said, "Your Highness, if Huizhou's warehouses provide assistance to the Xining Governor's Office and the Longxi Governor's Office, they will be in a hurry. I will let Hexi take over this move of using land to exchange grain in Hezhou."

King Ji was stunned and said, "You talk about the Longxi Governor's Office?"

Lu Qi nodded and said, "The imperial court is to feed the local military supplies for Longxi and Xining, but it is difficult to feed the local area this year. If Your Highness lends grain to the Xining Governor's Office, then the Longxi Governor's Office will be dissatisfied. Your Highness should try to give it fairly."

King Ji frowned. It was already a violation of regulations when he decided to lend food to the Xining Governor's Office. If he lends food to the Longxi Governor's Office, it would be even more suspicious of winning the military power in the western region. Although he was only fifteen years old, he knew that he should not have had the overwhelming behavior of winning the military power.

In addition, King Ji was in a resistant state to give food to the Longxi Governor's Office. He had been in Huizhou for a long time, and of course he had collected various information from the west. Many of the information about Wang Yansheng were evil, so he had a deep impression of Wang Yansheng.

After thinking for a while, King Ji nodded and said, "Okay, I will act fairly."

Lu Qi nodded, looked at the governor of Hezhou, and smiled and said, "Mr. Zhao, I will make a contract with you for the transaction of fields."

"Don't worry, General, I will handle it impartially." The governor of Hezhou responded readily.

Lu Qi nodded, turned his head and looked at King Ji. King Ji smiled and said, "Do you have anything else?"

"Your Highness, can you transport some commercial goods? It is difficult for the soldiers to spend their military pay in Hezhou." Du Yuhou hurriedly responded.

"Yes, after I go back, I will send you what the soldiers are willing to buy." King Ji replied.

Du Yuhou raised his politeness and said, "I thank Your Highness."

"Is there anything else?" King Ji asked with a smile.

"Your Highness, can you send the woman over?" a commander suddenly answered again.

King Ji was stunned when he heard this, but he was unable to answer. He couldn't help but look at Lu Qi. Lu Qi turned his head to look at the generals and said peacefully: "Women can come over, but you can't force them to act."

"Don't worry, the general, the soldiers were able to abide by the rules of Huizhou. Women would not want to do so, and they would never dare to force themselves, and they had to pay." Du Yuhou replied respectfully.

Lu Qi nodded and then said, "Your Highness is tired all the way, so wash your dust and rest first, and we will gather again at dusk."

After hearing this, the people in the lobby stood up to face King Ji, either official or military. King Ji smiled and said, "Everyone, I have invited the wine and meat for today."

"Thank you, Your Highness." Everyone responded and most of them retreated, but only the three officials of the state yamen did not leave.

King Ji walked to the front of the case, and Lu Qi smiled and said, "I know that your highness is unwilling to give food to the Longxi Governor's Office."

King Ji nodded and said, "I heard that Wang Yansheng is a greedy person. If he gives food, he will definitely be greedy for him."

"If Your Highness cannot give food fairly, it will make the military strength of the Longxi Governor's Office resent, and the consequences will be unfavorable to the Great Zhou." Lu Qiping said with kindness.

King Ji nodded clearly and said, "But if Longxi military rations are given, Huizhou's warehousing may not be able to support it."

"Your Highness can retrieve some from other state warehouses. If it is short, then it will be short. The most important thing at the moment is to defend against Tubo." Lu Qi said.

King Ji nodded, and Lu Qi said peacefully again: "In fact, if you lend food to the two governors' offices, 80% of them will borrow or not, but your highness must support the defense of the border."
Chapter completed!
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