“Calm down?”
Listening to Zhao Gao's words, and looking at his trembling body kneeling on the ground, Ying Zheng felt something strange.
Calm down?
Why should he calm down?
The people of Dang County were shouting insults at his son, what was there to calm down about?
Oh!
He understood. Zhao Gao was probably upset that others were insulting his son.
Sigh! Zhao Gao, despite being with him for so many years, still didn't understand him!
Ying Zheng shook his head repeatedly, but still took the document and began to read.
Right now, he wanted to see how the people of Dang County were cursing his son, Ying Su!
He smiled.
However… when he only read the first few words, his expression changed.
When he saw the middle part, Ying Zheng's eyebrows were twisted into a knot!
When he finished reading the entire document, Ying Zheng was furious. He slammed the document to the ground and grabbed Zhao Gao's collar, his anger skyrocketing:
“You… dare to deceive me?”
His anger was boundless!
Zhao Gao was terrified and kowtowed repeatedly: “Your Majesty, Your Majesty, your servant would never dare! These… these are the most authentic situations collected by the Luo Wang spies in Dang County!”
“Your servant can immediately summon Zhen Gang and Duan Shui, and let them report the true situation in Dang County to your Majesty!”
Zhao Gao kept calling out, kowtowing again and again!
Ying Zheng kept taking deep breaths, suppressing the anger burning within his chest!
After a long while… he finally calmed down!
At that moment, his eyes were like lightning, staring fixedly at Zhao Gao, he asked: “This report says that the people were overjoyed and jubilant because… the relief grain was distributed in full?”
“What does this mean? Could it be… that over the years, the relief grain sent from the Qin Empire to the local areas was never distributed in full?”
Ying Zheng asked angrily.
Indeed, that was the reason for his grim expression!
Originally, he wanted to see the people of Dang County curse Ying Su.
But… at the first glance at the report, he saw praise!
And it wasn't just the first part that was praising!
The entire report was filled with praise!
It praised the new emperor's extraordinary wisdom, for thinking of adding sand to the relief grain to ensure that it was fully distributed.
Of course, this level of praise, while unpleasant to Ying Zheng, was far from enough to make him angry!
What truly enraged him was the people's final evaluation: “The new emperor is far superior to the First Emperor!”
“The new emperor is far superior to the First Emperor?”
Just that sentence alone made Ying Zheng explode!
How could they say the new emperor was far superior to the First Emperor?
This made him angry, but it also filled him with confusion. What was there to be so overjoyed about, just because the relief grain was distributed in full?
Why were the people saying the new emperor was far superior to the First Emperor, just because of the full distribution of relief grain?
He was furious, but at the same time, he couldn't help but feel a sense of doubt!
Zhao Gao knelt down and bowed: “Your Majesty, according to the information gathered by the Luo Wang, since the First Emperor unified the world, Dang County has suffered three disasters. But every time, the court's relief grain was not distributed in full!”
“The first time, the court provided 200,000 stones of grain for relief, but when it arrived, there were only 150,000 stones!”
“The second time, the court provided 350,000 stones of grain for relief, but when it arrived, there were only 280,000 stones!”
“The third time was the most outrageous. The court provided 400,000 stones of grain for relief, but when it arrived, there were only 150,000 stones!”
“Why… why would this happen?”
Ying Zheng was stunned. He was completely unaware of this situation!
Zhao Gao knelt down and bowed: “Dang County was formerly Wei territory, far away from the Qin Empire. And on the way from Xianyang to Dang County, there are many mountains and rivers. These areas are full of bandits and rebels. Every time the relief grain passes through these places, they will plunder it!”
“But since it was the court's relief grain, they didn't dare to plunder it all. Each group of bandits would only dare to take a portion. As a result, by the time it reached Dang County, the relief grain had decreased!”
“At first, it was only bandits, but later, some nobles, merchants, and officials saw the profit and joined in!”
“They either pretended to be bandits or used their authority to embezzle the grain!”
“Therefore, the relief grain became even less!”
“Each time the court sent relief grain, after all this exploitation, it would be reduced to a pittance by the time it reached the victims!”
“Thus, the victims cried out in misery!”
At that moment, Zhao Gao bowed his head and spoke.
And Ying Zheng was shocked!
Because he was completely unaware of what Zhao Gao was saying!
Not only was he unaware, he had never even heard of it!
At this moment, he couldn't help but suspect that Zhao Gao was lying to him!
But… looking at Zhao Gao in front of him, how could he possibly believe that he was lying?
Zhao Gao, he had been by his side since he was thirteen years old and became the King of Qin.
Later, he took down Lao Ai and Lu Buwei. Was Zhao Gao not by his side during any of those events?
This was his most trusted eunuch!
Moreover, he wasn't completely oblivious to rumors about this!
He remembered that many years ago, the prefect of Dang County had submitted a report to him, saying that there was a severe shortage of relief grain in Dang County. But because he didn't mention the specific amount of the shortage, and the disaster had passed a long time ago, he didn't pay much attention to it.
Now it seemed that there was something fishy about it!
Someone must have withheld this report. When the disaster was completely over, and he was no longer concerned, they dared to bring this report to him!
“Good!”
“Good!”
At this moment, Ying Zheng exploded!
He was trembling with rage!
He never imagined that there would be people in the Qin Empire who dared to deceive him like this!
Ying Zheng was furious.
But at the same time, he couldn't help but be curious. Why would adding sand to the relief grain guarantee its full distribution?
Would the bandits, officials, nobles, and merchants really let the relief grain pass just because there was sand in it?
Impossible!
They were all greedy and corrupt people. How could they possibly let the relief grain go just because of sand?
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