The concubine escaped and cried when she met the prince again

She knew what he wanted to ask, but there was no need to answer him. If the news that she was not dead reached the capital, all her hard work these days would be in vain.

Seeing Shen Ruolan like this, Lan Zhiying was discouraged for a moment. He wanted to drop the knife in his hand and walk out, but when he thought of this hard-earned place to stay, he hesitated for a moment.

The head of the family hates the Lan family, so why doesn’t he do the same?

If it weren't for Lan Mao's irresponsibility and Mrs. Lan's cruelty, how could he have ended up like this?

After Lan Zhiying figured it out, he suddenly looked up at Shen Ruolan and said, "I am willing to sell myself as a slave and serve the master, but I have a small condition."

Shen Ruolan looked at him and said, "Speak."

Lan Zhiying said: "Regarding the people of the Lan family, you can ask me to deal with anyone you want, but can you please not ask me to kill my father?"

His father was indeed incompetent, but at least he was okay with him. He could ignore him, but he couldn't help outsiders deal with him or kill him.

Shen Ruolan snorted at him and said, "He's just a selfish old man. He's not worth getting my hands dirty with."

After Shen Ruolan finished speaking, she looked at Lan Zhiying and warned him, "Since you are willing to sell yourself as a slave, then please forget everything related to the Lan family and don't have any dealings with them in the future. Otherwise, I will never let you off easily!"

"Yes, Boss." Lan Zhiying replied with his head down.

Soon, Shen Ruolan wrote a contract of sale and placed it in front of Lan Zhiying, saying, "After signing, you will be called Shen Jing and belong to me, Shen Ruolan. You are not allowed to have any dealings with the Lan family in Beijing anymore."

Lan Zhiying bowed his head and replied, "Yes, Boss."

After he finished speaking, he bit his finger, wrote his name on the indenture, and pressed his fingerprint.

Shen Ruolan took out five taels of silver from her bosom and gave it to him, saying, "This is the money you earned from selling your body. You can spend it as you wish."

After that, she told him some matters about guarding the village and let him leave.

After Shen Jing left, Shen Ruolan told Ji Han outside the door: "Ji Han, get ready. We will leave early tomorrow morning."

"Yes, master." Ji Han outside the door responded loudly.

In the capital, as the county magistrate of Cangling City sent letters more and more frequently, the court officials began to pay attention to the refugees' affairs.

During the morning court session, a minister stood up and said, "Your Majesty, the county magistrate of Cangling City and General Su sent a letter saying that many refugees went to the border and never returned. What should we do?"

If only eight or ten people go, it won't make any difference to them whether they come back or not, but if they go in groups and never come back, that would be very abnormal.

After hearing what the minister said, the emperor frowned and said to the ministers below: "Aren't General Su and his men guarding the border? Why let them go?"

After hearing what the emperor said, Qin Zhen couldn't help but stand up and explain: "Your Majesty, our country is suffering from severe drought right now. The people have no rice, no food, and no water to drink. So, I guess the reason why the refugees never return is entirely because of the boundary river in Cangling City."

After Qin Zhen finished speaking, he felt quite sympathetic towards General Su in his heart. He was right under the emperor's feet, but his military pay had not been paid yet, not to mention that he was far away at the border. They probably couldn't even protect themselves there, so how could they dare to leave any refugees there!

After hearing what Qin Zhen said, the emperor looked at the ministers and asked, "Have the people of our country really reached the end of their rope?"

After saying this, he couldn't help but wonder in his heart, the common people have it so hard, why didn't anyone mention it to him?

Also, the people are having such a hard time, so where do the taxes come from every year?

The more the emperor thought about it, the heavier his heart became. If the people's lives were really as difficult as the magistrate of Canglingcheng said, then there was no doubt that someone must have tampered with the annual taxes.

After hearing what the emperor said, the ministers all looked up at him. Seeing that he looked unhappy, they quickly lowered their heads and said, "Your Majesty, our country has been suffering from severe drought for three consecutive years. The people in the north have not had any harvest for nearly two years. Now more than half of the people are migrating to the south."

After the emperor heard what the ministers said, he slammed the dragon throne and shouted at the ministers below, "Nonsense, why didn't you report such a big thing to me?"

The ministers in charge of this area knelt down immediately and said to the emperor: "Your Majesty, I thought these were trivial matters and there was no need to alarm Your Majesty, so I never reported them."

The emperor listened to the ministers and said to them with a gloomy face: "My people have all left. Is this still a small matter?"

After he finished speaking, he ordered the guards, "Come here, Wang, Li, thank you for your incompetence, take you away and lock you up."

"Yes, Your Majesty." A group of guards came into the hall and answered loudly.

"Your Majesty, we know we are wrong. Please forgive us." Seeing that they were going to be imprisoned, several ministers hurriedly begged for mercy from the emperor.

"Take him away." The emperor said angrily.

"Yes." The guards did not dare to delay any longer and quickly took a few ministers away.

The angry man was dragged away, and the emperor looked at the newly promoted prime minister and asked, "Prime Minister Yin, how much grain is left in the treasury now?"

Prime Minister Yin stepped forward and reported to the emperor truthfully: "Your Majesty, the food in the national treasury can barely sustain the army for about two years."

The emperor couldn't help but frown when he heard that the national treasury was running low on food. He rubbed his brows and asked Prime Minister Yin, "Taxes have been collected normally over the years. Logically, the national army should have more than this little food."

You know, just in case, the national treasury usually stores enough food to feed the entire nation for about five years. It is very abnormal that there is so little food this year.

Prime Minister Yin bowed his head and told the emperor the truth: "In reply to your Majesty, when I took over the government, the national treasury had this much grain."

He took it over from Prime Minister Lan, and he had no idea where the grain had gone over the years.

The emperor heard what Prime Minister Yin said, and the eunuch beside him ordered, "Come here, summon Imperial Censor Lan to the palace to see the emperor."

The eunuch who was in charge of serving the emperor shouted in his special voice: "Summon Imperial Censor Lan to the palace to see the emperor!"

Not long after, Lan Mao, who was sleeping soundly at home, was brought up to the palace hall by the guards.

Lan Mao, who had no idea what was going on, quickly knelt down and saluted the emperor, saying, "Your Majesty, long live the emperor."

The emperor slapped the dragon chair with a bang and asked Lan Mao in a cold voice: "Censor Lan, you are so bold. Where did you hide my food?"

The emperor's words startled Lan Mao. He kowtowed to the emperor and said, "Your Majesty, I am innocent. Every grain in and out of the national treasury is recorded. Even if I had a hundred guts, I would not dare to hide the national grain. Please understand, Your Majesty!"