Chapter 1627: A Refreshing Revenge Drama

"There is an old saying, 'old sesame and rotten grains.' That's what these public warehouses are talking about." His wife glanced at him sideways, "He wouldn't think this is a fresh thing that only happened in the last two years, would he?"

Huang Rulin pursed his lips: "Brother Zhao didn't listen to my advice and intended to write this into an internal reference report. Before he finished writing, the person was gone."

"Then what do you want to do?"

"I just feel that Brother Zhao died too unjustly." Huang Rulin sighed, "Clearly, the storage is a mess, and everyone is still trying to whitewash the peace, spending so much effort up and down. This, how long can this be hidden? Once the King orders the warehouse to be opened to release grain, it will be exposed immediately, right?"

"That was then, this is now. Even if it's a loud thunder, it shouldn't be detonated in your hands!" His wife hit the nail on the head, "Before the King personally exposes it, whoever dares to light the fuse will be blown to pieces! Wasn't Zhao Xiao a warning?"

"His death was meant to warn us. You were close to Zhao Xiao, so who knows if you are being watched now!" His wife said coldly, "Who knows what Zhao Xiao experienced before he died, whether he was forced to confess. He told you the secret of the military warehouse grain loss, so you are also in danger."

Huang Rulin asked with a stiff scalp: "Wait a minute, didn't you just say that these are semi-public secrets?"

"Semi-public secrets cannot be brought to the table, let alone presented to the monarch's desk." His wife glared at Huang Rulin, "If you are an official for one day, you must follow the rules for one day. You stay safe and sound for me, and cause less trouble. My son and I don't want to become orphans and widows!"

"Understood, understood." Although he said so, Huang Rulin still looked sad.

Having been an official for several years, not only could he not share the worries for the monarch, but he also had to work together to hide it from above. Zhao Xiao knew about the things in the warehouse, could other high officials not know?

If everyone didn't say anything, then it didn't happen.

Sigh.

"You receive that little salary, not enough for me to get three hairpins a month, and you want to worry about the monarch?" His wife sneered, "Is it easy to empty the warehouse in one day? Days ago, years ago, why didn't you worry then?"

Huang Rulin was scolded until he was speechless.

"Besides, which year does grain not rise in price? Which year do refugees not make trouble? Which year is the granary not exposed? So what? No matter how big the hole is, it will eventually be filled; no matter how hard the days are, won't they eventually pass?" His wife almost reached out to poke Huang Rulin's forehead, "Tell me, how much difference can there be between this year and the year before last?"

Every word she said made sense. Which year was the national treasury not in deficit, which year was money and grain not tight, and refugee trouble was a common occurrence; every two or three years there had to be a big one, and Heavenly Water City had summarized a set of coping routines. Huang Rulin muttered: "I know."

"Don't be the bird that sticks its head out, keep your mouth shut, even if someone takes the lead, don't follow them!" His wife exhorted, "By the way, call someone to buy another thousand catties of grain, the family is short of it, and hoard some more! Don't you have a colleague who can buy cheap grain?"

"He, he doesn't have much left there either, and the discount has gone up." Huang Rulin was also rejoicing; no matter how high the grain price was outside, the people had to endure it. Fortunately, the officials still had ways to ensure basic supply, and the price was two or three percent lower than outside.

Two or three percent might be the dividing line between being able to eat and not being able to eat.

"Then go quickly!" His wife sighed, "Grain has a price every day, these days are really hard."

Relying on her husband's meager salary, it was becoming a problem for the whole family to eat.

Huang and his wife walked out of the room, and a small spider jumped onto the wall and flew away outside the Huang residence.

Someone was waiting by the high wall behind the residence, and it was sent back to Yongquan Villa.

￥￥￥￥￥

"Distant news, distant news!"

The sound of flapping wings rang out outside the house, and He Lingchuan knew as soon as he heard it that a large bird had landed in the garden.

Sure enough, a few breaths later, a long beak poked in from the window, tilted its head at him: "Island Master He?"

This was a blue-gray Demoiselle Crane, with an elegant posture, the cluster of white ear feathers behind its red eyes was particularly eye-catching, and it was smaller than other cranes, but it was a master of long-distance flight.

"It's me."

"Distant news from the Yangshan Archipelago!" This crane's personality was very straightforward; without a word, it spat out a small copper tube from its crop.

Ling Guang hurriedly handed over two bottles of medicine and asked it: "I have a basin of yellow mealworm larvae here, originally left for experiments, do you want to eat them?"

"Eat!" Winter was not a good season for foraging, and this crane wasn't picky.

He Lingchuan took the copper tube, opened it, and pulled out two letters.

Hearing that it was a letter from the Yangshan Archipelago, he was a little worried, not knowing if something had changed around Yangshan. Up to now, this archipelago was his foundation and must not have any accidents.

However, the content of the first letter had nothing to do with Yangshan itself, but was a piece of intelligence relayed to him.

This piece of intelligence came from the far west:

The Yuan Nation.

After the Yuan King "died of illness," the royal army under his command all fell under He Chunhua's control, and the royalist party led by General Zhao Pan also followed He Chunhua's orders, and its momentum became increasingly grand.

Over the past year or so, He Chunhua had been fighting endlessly with the former father-in-law of the Yuan Nation and Grand Marshal Dong Hao Ming, fighting eleven battles of various sizes, gradually gaining the upper hand.

Finally, two months ago, He Chunhua defeated Dong Hao Ming's most relied-upon ace army, killing more than 11,000 enemies, chasing them all the way, and driving Dong Hao Ming into the Panlong Desert.

Dong Hao Ming had nowhere to go and committed suicide.

After his death, the Wu Prefecture army surrendered, and officials offered the city, kneeling to welcome He Chunhua's arrival.

He Chunhua exterminated Dong's entire clan, totaling 817 people including close relatives.

Back then, the old Yuan King felt guilty after slaughtering the He family and left He Chunhua as a survivor, but he left a disaster for himself, and his descendants and dynasty were destroyed by him. Such a mistake, He Chunhua of course would not make.

The civil strife in the Yuan Nation ended, but the bloodbath in the capital had just begun.

After He Chunhua consolidated military power, he returned to the capital, or rather, marched his large army into the former Yuan capital, demoting the former Yuan officials to commoners, leaving each official household with a maximum of 100 taels of silver, and confiscating all other family property; those who were treacherous, evil, or corrupt had their property confiscated and were beheaded in public.

Any official involved in the framing of the He family years ago was dismembered by five horses.

One dynasty, one set of officials; in the blink of an eye, the Yuan Nation changed its sky. Those who were above others half a year ago had now become ghosts under the sword.

In those few days, heads rolled in the Yuan capital.

Before this message arrived, He Chunhua ascended the throne as King with lightning speed and set the national title as "Shen."

Seeing this, He Lingchuan exhaled a long breath: "He Chunhua finally got his wish!"

The He family was almost exterminated, and He Chunhua endured humiliation for twenty years, finally taking revenge and ascending to the top! How bad was his start? The He family was almost wiped out, the old Yuan King refused to admit his mistake, the He family's injustice was never redressed, and He Chunhua, as a survivor of the He family, was sent to the frontier before he was an adult. The old Yuan King's guilt for the He family only stopped at not making him a slave, and allowed him to find his own way.

Even so, He Chunhua was able to turn the tide against the wind, step by step to today, and finally ascended to the throne in the name of revenge.

Standing from the perspective of an outsider, He Chunhua's experience was like a revenge drama of a big male lead who had opened a cheat.

He Lingchuan could well imagine He Chunhua's current sense of triumph and exhilaration! Not only to annihilate their clan but also to seize their nation—this was the He Chunhua style of revenge.

For him, hatred was the best motivation, and hatred was also the bitter wine he drank before tasting the fruits of harvest.

The Soul-Absorbing Mirror laughed: "Congratulations, congratulations, in the blink of an eye you've become the Crown Prince!"

"What Crown Prince?" He Lingchuan sneered, "It's just that this body still has a little blood relationship with He Chunhua; he has absolutely no possibility of passing the throne to me, and I don't covet his position."

He Chunhua was in his prime, and now he had ascended the throne as King, full of spring breeze; why would he consider establishing a Crown Prince?

From now on, He Chunhua would be alone; even if he loved his second son He Yue again, he wouldn't rush to confer the title of Crown Prince.

Don't test human nature with interests, don't let your son have inappropriate thoughts; He Chunhua was such a shrewd person, he wouldn't fail to understand such a simple truth.

"However, Lady Ying has truly ascended to heaven in one step." He Chunhua's original wife, Lady Ying, had been conferred as Queen and moved into the palace, "'Flowers are clustered, morning sees purple energy, night roosts in clouds,' heh, the top-grade lottery of the Water Spirit in Immortal Spirit Village was really fulfilled; the Shen Nation abandoned the old capital and set the new capital in Cloud City."

Back then, Lady Ying drew a lottery at the Water Spirit Temple in Immortal Spirit Village; others' lots were not good, but she drew a top-grade one.

He Lingchuan could imagine Lady Ying's smug look now.

But he no longer had any ill will toward Lady Ying, hoping she could be more and more smooth and satisfied in the future.

Back to He Chunhua, He Lingchuan was not surprised that he could defeat Dong Hao Ming. This cheap old father had ambition, means, and ability, and was supported by Naluo Heaven, so his chances of winning were greater than Dong Hao Ming's.

He picked up the letter and read on.

This letter was written by Li Qingge, who briefly described the process of several major battles between He Chunhua and Dong Hao Ming.

She didn't go to the scene, so she lacked details, but He Lingchuan could also judge that He Chunhua's army was relatively well-off in terms of people, money, and grain.

When the Yuan King was in power, the finances were riddled with holes, and the country was crumbling; the Ke Zhao army couldn't even gather rations for the front line and had to come to the Yuan capital to beg; how come when it reached He Chunhua's period, the army could eat their fill and have combat effectiveness? There were of course many reasons and many sayings here.

Besides He Chunhua managing his own territory well and reorganizing the army, He Lingchuan didn't ignore the power of Naluo Heaven. The last piece of intelligence he received said that He Chunhua had received quite a bit of external assistance, such as southern countries and even nearby sects.

No matter how these external forces came about, on the surface, He Chunhua was helped by many, while Dong Hao Ming was fighting alone, lacking the injection of fresh blood, so in He Lingchuan's view, his defeat was only a matter of time. ===== CHAPTER 1628 =====