Chapter 1108 Supplies
Hearing this, Pang Xiao sat up suddenly. However, he got up in such a hurry that he forgot that he was still injured. He let out a hissing breath from the pain.
Qin Yining was startled, and hurriedly held his arm to help him find a comfortable angle: "Why are you so reckless, forgetting that you are still injured?"
Pang Xiao raised his hand and said, "I understand. Before leaving the day after tomorrow, you must carefully inspect the disaster relief items in public." He held Qin Yining in his arms and shook her, "Sister Yi, you are really my treasure. .”
"You may not have thought of this. It's just a temporary whim."
"That's not true. I have a good wife and a man who doesn't get into trouble. I don't know how many people envy me." Pang Xiao whispered something in her ear.
Qin Yining's face turned red and she punched him: "Why are you so annoying!"
Pang Xiao didn't take it seriously and still looked at her and smiled.
The day flies by in the blink of an eye. Pang Xiao made arrangements for the trip, and Xie Yue, Xu Weizhi and other counselors left first.
To avoid danger, Pang Xiao also arranged for Tang Xiu to lead people to follow him for protection.
Qin Yining gathered the servants in the inner house together and gave them double their monthly money.
"I am going to provide disaster relief this time. I don't know when I will return. It may be a year and a half, maybe three or five years. For such a long time, the palace only needs people to look after the house. I will invite you all when the prince and I return."
Naturally, all the servant girls obeyed, took the money and left.
The rest of the people were all brought along on this trip.
Although the time given by Li Qitian was tight, with only one day, Pang Xiao and Qin Yining had everything ready.
In the early morning of November 1, Pang Xiao, Qin Yining and their entourage had just finished dressing up when someone came from outside to report: "Your Majesty! Your Majesty has personally come to practice it for you!"
Qin Yining and Pang Xiao looked at each other and guessed what Li Qitian was going to do. They led the crowd out of the palace gate and knelt down respectfully in front of the door to greet him.
Li Qitian stepped down from the chariot, looked down at the couple who were bowing respectfully, and stepped forward with a smile: "What are you doing? Zhixi, your injuries have not healed, let alone between me and your brother, why do you have to do this?" .”
While he was talking, many people gathered in front of the palace, and carriages came slowly one after another and stopped on the roadside in front of the palace.
Pang Xiao glanced at the row of carriages from the corner of his eyes, there were twenty taels in total, he turned around and said respectfully: "Although the Holy One said so, the etiquette between monarch and minister cannot be abolished. A minister is a minister, and the emperor is the emperor. How can I be careless? rule?"
Li Qitian smiled and nodded, glancing at Qin Yining behind Pang Xiao, "The princess has not been seen for many days. Where did she go to play a few days ago?"
Qin Yining knew that Li Qitian had ordered people to track and kidnap her as a threat, but she was very lucky and did not let Li Qitian's people meet him. This emperor was so petty and willing to attack women. Qin Yining was quite ashamed of such people. .
"When I returned to the Holy Land, I just took a casual walk. Natural and man-made disasters became increasingly serious, so I returned to the capital."
Li Qitian thought for a while and did not ask any more questions, not to mention the rude behavior of Pang Xiao and Qin Yining that day. He only smiled and said: "Zhixi. I don't need to say more about the importance of disaster relief, right? What are you doing this time?" Go and do your best to alleviate the sufferings of the people. I don’t want to see the miserable scene of the people being displaced."
But this was caused by the person in front of me.
Qin Yining lowered her long eyelashes, perfectly hiding the contempt in her eyes.
Pang Xiao said: "What the Holy One said is that I am afraid that I will do my best to relieve the Holy One's worries." Then he looked at the carriage parked on the roadside and said with a smile: "Are these supplies to help the victims?"
Li Qitian smiled and nodded: "Yes. These have been registered in the register. You can take them with you." He turned around to signal.
Xiong Jinshui immediately touched a booklet with a dark blue cover with both hands.
Pang Xiao took it, thanked the saint respectfully, turned around and left with the account book, and handed it to Huzi, "You and others will count the supplies on the cart, and you must open them and display them in public.
"Yes." Huzi nodded respectfully and hurried away.
Li Qitian frowned, his face felt hot, and he felt a little flustered.
Pang Xiao apologized and took Qin Yining forward to help.
Li Qitian said hurriedly: "Those who are registered in the book have been brought here. The auspicious time for departure is approaching, so you should also prepare."
Pang Xiao seemed not to understand Li Qitian's words, and said with a smile: "Yes, I am preparing."
Seeing Pang Xiao getting busy, Li Qi frowned so hard that he could pinch a fly to death, "What I'm saying is that the right time has arrived and we can't delay the departure time. Otherwise, Qintian Supervisor has calculated that this will be a very bad thing." . Zhixi, you and the princess should get in the car quickly and set off immediately."
Although Li Qitian's tone was one of discussion, he was the emperor and what he said was true.
Pang Xiao couldn't resist the order in public, so he had no choice but to lead Qin Yining to the carriage.
However, Huzi inspected it with great fanfare, not caring whether the already loaded carriage would be overturned.
Li Qitian's forehead had veins popping out, and he said immediately: "I ordered you to set off immediately, you can't hear it!"
Xiong Jinshui followed the emperor. The emperor had spoken like this, how could he dare to remain silent?
Xiong Jinshui walked quickly to Pang Xiao and said, "Hurry up, you can't go against the will of the Holy One!"
Pang Xiao had no ill feelings towards Xiong Jinshui, so his attitude was considered polite, but his voice was as loud as a bell.
"Since the Holy One said you can't disobey, you should investigate clearly. You can't allow others to take advantage of the loopholes. What if someone takes this opportunity to embezzle relief materials? It's better to check in person. Otherwise, I will be betrayed by others when I arrive. Take the blame."
Pang Xiao's words were so direct that everyone present was shocked. The people watching from a street away were separated by the imperial guards and could not help but start talking in low voices.
"The world is in such chaos, and there are still people who would embezzle relief supplies? Isn't that unforgivable?"
"You don't know that there are even more hateful grain merchants in the south who are still trying to make money for the country! Maybe in the blink of an eye, someone will use fake supplies to deceive the prince.
Li Qitian gritted his teeth when he heard this, but he had made up his mind to be a benevolent king today. He couldn't show it, so he could only nod with a smile, "Well, since you can't trust me, it's right to figure it out face to face."
"I'm scared. How dare I doubt your Majesty?" Pang Xiao immediately knelt down with a plop, not caring about the wounds on his body.
Qin Yining also hurriedly knelt down. As a woman, it was not convenient for her to speak, so she just lowered her head and shivered, as if she was frightened by Li Qitian's words.
The common people didn't understand why. When they saw the prince kneeling down, they also knelt down.
Prince Zhongshun's voice in the court was too high. Many people who cared about the government even thought that Pang Xiao could go to conquer the Tatars, but they did not expect that the Holy One would arrange for him to go to disaster relief.
The people felt uneasy, and taking advantage of the distance, the discussion became louder and louder.
Some people are even whispering that a military general with such great merits as Pang Xiao is now useless as a hero, and his ability is suppressed by the Holy Lord, so he can only kneel down and kowtow obediently, not daring to explain more clearly.
When the people thought this way, they started to talk louder about not being cautious enough.
Although Li Qitian didn't know what the people were thinking, he could already guess a rough idea by looking at their expressions.
How could he have forgotten that Pang Zhixi is the best at gaining people's sympathy so that they can side with him?
Although he was angry, Li Qitian had already thought of a countermeasure and was no longer panicking.
Originally, he was just trying his luck today. If he could subdue Pang Xiao in this way, it would be an unexpected gain. If he couldn't, it wouldn't matter. He was the emperor, so he couldn't intimidate a little prince with a different surname?
After a brief moment of anger, Li Qitian changed the topic and said, "You are right to check. After all, I have everything to do every day, and I don't have to do everything myself. For example, the supplies for disaster relief this time were used urgently and in large amounts, so I also I didn’t have time to take a closer look. You might as well check it carefully to avoid anything going wrong, which would be a disservice to the people affected by the disaster."
Pang Xiao lowered his head and looked at the ground. Li Qitian's shadow was lengthened by the early morning sun, casting a shadow on the bluestone bricks in front of him.
It seems that Li Qitian stopped immediately when his plan failed, and planned to arrange for someone to top the tank.
Pang Xiao cursed in his heart, but smiled on his face and kowtowed: "Yes, I will definitely check it carefully."
As expected, not long after, Huzi led someone to check the items on the car, handed the booklet to Pang Xiao, and said: "Your Majesty, there is no gold or silver in the car. In fact, the twenty carts of grain and grass can't be collected together." It can only hold ten taels of carriages. There is none of the gold or silver mentioned in the brochure."
Pang Xiao presented the book to Li Qitian and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, some of the officials who have failed will not be held accountable. Just one thing, Your Majesty must strictly investigate this person who recorded false accounts, or this person has corrupted the imperial court. Money! I think this man who did this has ulterior motives!
"Think about it. It's because of your face that I went to the south on errands. I naturally accept your kindness. I am also a powerful person around the Holy One. If I use this to alienate the relationship between the monarch and his ministers, it will be difficult to handle disaster relief in the future."
Li Qitian nodded repeatedly, but secretly breathed a sigh of relief in his heart. Fortunately, Pang Xiao had different ideas and did not directly doubt him. Otherwise, he would not be able to explain it even in front of these people, not to mention far away.
"Don't worry, I will investigate thoroughly!" Li Qitian's face was as heavy as water.
Pang Xiao said respectfully: "Yes, I thank you, Your Majesty." After saying this, he turned around and ordered Huzi, "Take the people and gather the food and grass for easy management after the trip, otherwise there will always be trouble if the team is too long."
Huzi immediately took the order and took people to carry the supplies.
When it was being moved, the royal guards did not let the people avoid it. Everyone stared closely, and no one had the chance to do anything.
After loading the grain and grass materials or linen clothes into the cart, Pang Xiao counted the number of carriages and said with a smile: "Eight carriages can transport the grain and grass, but the people from Hubu actually loaded twenty carts."
The corners of Li Qitian's mouth drooped, he closed his eyes, and then he regained his composure and said, "Don't worry, I won't forgive anyone who does such a thing lightly."