Chapter 1243 Everyone Is in Danger

There was much less to do on the way back. All the roads have been traveled, and all the temporary stations along the way are there, and they are more experienced than before. You will no longer be as busy and overwhelmed as before. Once again, they are familiar with each other, and they are already capable of hosting 20,000 people for food and accommodation.

Also familiar are the new rickshaw drivers from Shandong. When they went south, they were still novices on the road. They could not grasp the direction and control the speed well when driving an empty truck, and they had serial crashes from time to time.

Fortunately, everyone was wrapped like a bear, and the thick cotton hats and coats played a good buffering role, so there were no casualties, except for the number 100 casualty with broken tendons and bones.

They became much more proficient on the return trip, and the new drivers gradually became accustomed to the old tricks. Even though they were pulling two thousand kilograms of cargo, they could still grasp the direction and not crash.

Of course, another very important reason for not crashing is that the team cannot pick up the speed. One is that the vehicle speed is naturally affected when the vehicle is fully loaded. Furthermore, even though they have been divided into five teams, there are still 20,000 vehicles in each team. Once the speed slows down, traffic jams will occur from time to time, forcing the drivers to move slowly.

There is a saying that nine out of ten accidents happen if you are fast, if you are slow, there will be no accidents.

The result was very different from what Zhu Zhen had expected - he could only advance two hundred miles per day. There were two days in between where we were unable to drive due to heavy snowstorms.

Fortunately, these two days were in Shandong, so the bad weather did not make the drivers too sad. They hid in a house prepared by fellow Shandong fellows, and a room full of people crowded on the Datong bunk, bragging and talking nonsense, and they were extremely happy.

Of course, you can't just stay there all the time. You have to go out and clear the snow every hour, and you can't stop at night. Otherwise, the ice truck, especially the ice sled at the bottom, will be completely frozen by the snow. Not only is it time-consuming and laborious to set off, but the ice sled may also fall off during de-icing, causing the car to collapse immediately.

Afraid that the coachmen would get frozen due to going out to clear snow over and over again, the officials at the temporary post station set up a large pot to cook onion and ginger soup continuously for them to drink to keep out the cold and warm themselves up. This was a powerful guarantee that flattered the coachmen.

Before the convoy left Shandong, on its last night in Dezhou, the provincial government treated the coachmen to a meal of fish head and tofu soup cooked in a large pot. The soup was made from silver carp from Nansi Lake. The soup was stewed milky white. It tastes delicious. The steamed cakes served with three-quarter white flour are delicious and even better than those eaten during the Chinese New Year.

The coachmen all ran out of words to praise during this journey, and those in Peking even said that they would never forget their experience of coming to Shandong and the hospitality of Shandong...

"I thought this trip was a hard job, but it turned out that you all enjoyed it so much." Zhu Zhen was naturally full of praise. While drinking fish head and tofu soup, he smiled at the three giants in Shandong: "It's really expensive. ”

"It should, it should." Hu Rang smiled quickly and said: "According to the regulations of the imperial court, wherever the military rations are transported, they must be responsible for ensuring it. This mission is so important, and the four princes have personally participated in it, so we in Shandong are naturally responsible."

"Don't count us two. We learned from Brother Six." Lao Twelve dealt with the huge fish head without raising his head.

"Lao Hu can't say that. Yes, you are responsible for the guarantee, but if the guarantee is so powerful, then it is not a duty, but a matter of affection." Zhu Zhen shook his head with a smile and said seriously: "This time, the king is serious Thank you for your support. This operation was very hasty and there were many things that were not considered well. If you hadn’t made every effort to fix the leaks, this trip would never have gone so smoothly.”

After a pause, he gave an example: "If nothing else, let's just say that the original plan was for the coachmen to set up tents to sleep at night, but after only two nights, someone got frostbite. If we go back and forth for more than 20 days and sleep in tents every day, Especially during the last cold wave, we don’t know how many people will die from frostbite.”

As he spoke, he said in a deep voice: "I will never forget the sacrifices you and the Shandong elders have made. If you can find any use for me, just ask."

Hu Rang and Wu Yin were waiting for his words, and their eyes suddenly shone with hope.

When Old Eleven saw this, he pulled Old Twelve to his feet and said, "Come on, teach me how to skate."

"I haven't finished eating the fish head yet." Lao Twelve didn't have such sharp eyesight, so he was forced out of the room by Lao Eleven.

Zhu Zhen smiled at Ping An again: "Follow and have a look, don't let them fall."

"Huh? Oh oh." Ping An realized that he had to avoid it, and hurriedly got up and went out.

"My sworn brother was originally a very smart person. Later, he suffered some hardships at Lao Qi's place and became dull sometimes." Zhu Zhen smiled at Hu Rang and Wu Yin and said, "You have to be more tolerant in the future. be magnanimous."

"What the hell." The two of them hurriedly laughed and said, "Captain Ping is a straightforward and heroic man. It's too late for us to get close to him."

"Hahaha, you scholars are still good at talking." Zhu Zhen couldn't help laughing and said: "Okay, let's get down to business. Are you worried about the Guo Huan case?"

It has been nearly a month since the official grain theft case occurred. Guo Huan, the Minister of Household Affairs, was identified as the culprit, so the government and the public referred to the case as the Guo Huan case.

"Nothing can be hidden from the prince, it is true." The two nodded with a wry smile, and Hu Rang emphasized: "But this reception is entirely out of gratitude to the prince and sincerity to the court, not because he is asking for help from the prince. Made.”

"Yes, of course I know." Zhu Zhen nodded heavily and said, "You can say whatever you want. There is no need to be taboo."

"Okay." Hu Rang sighed and said, "This case is getting bigger and bigger now. The Sixth Department and the Metropolitan Procuratorate are involved, so the next step is to investigate the local area."

"Of course." Zhu Zhen nodded and said, "The Ministry of Revenue in our dynasty is just an accountant, and basically does not handle income and expenditure. If we want to investigate the theft of grain in the warehouse, the local areas must be the biggest ones."

"Yes. I heard that the emperor has ordered to send personnel to various provinces." Wu Yinshen agreed and said, "It's just that because the thirteen censors have been arrested, we need to gather more people, so we haven't set off yet."

"But the last thing the Ming Dynasty lacks is people. In a few days, the imperial envoy team will come." Hu Rang sighed.

"Do you have a big problem?" Zhu Zhen asked directly.

The two looked at each other, and Hu Rang smiled bitterly and said, "It depends on how you define it. If it's based on the case value, it's definitely not a big deal. The emperor sympathizes with us in Shandong, which has a lot of work to do, and has been exempting us from taxes and grain. In recent years, the province has just started to pay taxes to the court, and it's only a few hundred thousand shi per year, so the people below can't embezzle that much."

"But," Wu Yin said again, "there is really no difference in nature. We dare not hide a word from the prince... Those people below, they make up excuses to collect more taxes from the people, exaggerate inventory losses, and even speculate."