Chapter 646 Prologue

If the previous clean-up operation was to find out the pests in the Ministry of War and indirectly opened the prelude to the Jingjiu Dynasty’s war against the barbarians again after 40 years, then the Lingwang Yang Shu accepted the emperor’s commission of the "national money and food austerity strategy" The implementation of the power means that the "big test" of the royal family has officially kicked off.

It was the first time in the history of the Jingjiu Dynasty that two major dramas were staged together at the same time.

Those who felt the atmosphere and direction of the wind began to change were the third-rank officials in the imperial city, followed by the centers of various ministries in the imperial city, and then the relevant local systems.

Everyone has to spend money on food, right? No matter whether it is high above or low in the market, money and food cannot be avoided, and this is the same even for those sects that claim to be out of dust.

Yang Shu's actions were very fast. In two days, with the cooperation of Bai Changqing, the Minister of the Ministry of household affairs, he refined the strategy of tightening money and grain. The austerity plan proposed by Bai Changqing was divided into three stages. Each contraction stage corresponds to the three progresses of the southern war situation: smooth, anxious, and declining.

Even Yang Shu went directly to the Yamen of the Ministry of War in a grand manner, and found Wen Mingju, the left servant of the Ministry of War, and several old generals in the Ministry of War who were idle, and brought the strategy that he and Bai Changqing had re-refined to the other party for discussion.

This move shocked many people's jaws. Because how many years have the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Households been in a position of dislike and almost opposition to each other? Can you also do this kind of cross-departmental system discussion?

Surprised to be surprised, even if the Ministry of Households and the Ministry of War do not deal with each other, with Yang Shu as an intermediary, and the refinement of the money and food strategy, people from the Ministry of War who are familiar with the military strategy are indeed needed to make corrections, so things seem to be confusing. Many people outside couldn't believe it, and exclaimed that the household department and the military department did not fight together, but in fact it went smoothly.

Whether it is Wen Mingju, Zuo Shilang who is now in charge of the Ministry of War, or Bai Changqing, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, at least they will not make any trouble in Yang Shu's face.

After a careful assessment, the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of War came up with opinions together, and finally Yang Shu made a final decision, characterizing the current state of the Jingjiu Dynasty as "smooth and anxious", which means that it is neither smooth nor anxious. As for the status of , it can be regarded as taking an intermediate value.

In fact, the conclusion given by the Ministry of War is that "the battle is going smoothly", and the Ministry of Households lowered it by half a level in order to make some room to deal with possible emergencies.

According to this process, Yang Shu began to inspect various places, and at the same time advertised the detailed arrangement of the money and food tightening strategy for this process to the whole country. . And Yang Shu will carry out inspections and supervision in the hub cities one by one. If it's positive and negative, Yang Shu is ready to stand up as a few children to make an example.

Yang Shu left the imperial city on November 21st, and from this day onwards, the entire imperial city became more and more unsettled.

First, on the night of November 21st, a fire broke out in the other courtyard of the Song Mansion in the south of the city. The water beast team from the yamen came to five large water trucks, and nearly a hundred people who came over one after another worked hard for more than half an hour to put out the fire. This is because there happened to be a monk in the water beast team who was good at the five elements of water magic, which strengthened the power of the water wheel, otherwise the Song family's big courtyard would be completely burned down.

The cause of the fire was investigated by members of the Water Beast Team, while the Song family arranged for people to clean up the burned courtyard.

There is nothing to say about this matter itself, but the strange thing is that even the Song family didn't take it too seriously, and just thought it was an accident, but one of the members of the Water Beast team who investigated the cause of the fire burned down in the Song family's other courtyard A secret room was found at the foundation of the firewood house, and there were more than a dozen huge boxes half a person's height glaringly placed in it. And because of the fire, the box was mostly damaged, and the contents inside were leaked out, which left the water beast team stunned.

It's all pan spirit stones!

Because there were too many people present, including people from the local yamen, the water beast team, the Song family's own servants, and even some common people who lived nearby and came to help put out the fire. In addition, the incident happened suddenly, and the Song family didn't have any big names present, so they were slow to react for a while, and they didn't cover the mouths of others, and the news of "a lot of pan-spiritual stones!" go out.

What is Pan Lingshi? Ordinary people can sometimes get access to it. They have seen it in some workshops or when they went to the city wall to serve as corvee. They know that it is a high-end product that is used to replace the real energy to push the magic circle, and it is too expensive. As expected of the Song family, they are really rich. There are probably tens of thousands of Pan Lingshi, right?

Honest people watch the fun, and among the hundreds of people, there are not only honest people, but also people with sharp minds.

So in less than a meal, the local yamen and Xuanqingwei all received news that a large amount of prohibited materials were hidden in the Song family's other courtyard, and it was difficult to understand.

If it was a year ago, even though it was not in compliance with the rules to store pan-spiritual stones in the family, it would not have been put on the line, let alone a wealthy family like the Song family, with intertwined relationships and a lot of patience, it would be difficult for anyone to easily get along with them. But now.

At this time, the people of the Song family came to their senses and came over in a hurry from the big house, but they couldn't enter this other courtyard of their own, it was sealed off. The person who was sealed was a servant of the Imperial City Yamen, and Xuan Qingwei, who also came, just called and said that they would not participate in local affairs and left.

"I'm sorry, Second Master Song, this is the place where the crime happened, and you can't go in for the time being."

"A case? What case?"

It was Song Zhisong, the second master of the Song family, who hurried over. With a straight face, he already felt that something was wrong.

The yamen servant did not bow his knees to the prominent figure of the Song family as he did in the past. Instead, he seemed very tough, and replied with a half-smile: "Of course it is a case of hiding prohibited materials. And the amount seems to be very large at present."

Before Song Zhisong could say anything more, the yamen servant turned around and left, and told the people below to watch over this other courtyard, and not allow other people to enter.

Big trouble. Song Zhisong didn't bother much, turned his head and went back to report, but as soon as he got back to the gate of the big house, he was shocked by the scene in front of him. Because a large group of yamen servants dressed in the costumes of the criminal department's major case department had already guarded the door of the big room, and they didn't ask him when they saw him passing by, they just sent people to follow behind.

On that night, Song Wenqiao, the patriarch of the Song family, and several main direct members of the Song family were all taken away by the Department of Major Cases of the Ministry of Criminal Justice.

This kind of news was not easy, and it spread throughout the entire imperial city immediately.

Pan Lingshi itself is a strictly controlled material, and it was listed as a prohibited material during wartime. Private individuals are not allowed to hold, sell, or transfer in large quantities. If they violate it, they will be punished by the local government according to the law. However, it is not a felony if you just possess a large number of pan-spirit stones.

However, just two days ago, because the first step of the national money and grain tightening strategy was announced and advertised across the country, it was mentioned that materials such as Pan Lingshi would also be included in the "tightening strategy", and all violations of the tightening strategy would be punished. In this special period, the crime will be added to the rank.

Therefore, the Song family looked a little unlucky.