My elder sister is so noble, this time it's my turn to strike back

Chapter 125 Disaster, urgent

Qiu Ning thought for a moment and then explained, "That's right. These pieces of evidence were collected with great difficulty by Qi Niang. I can't let them fall into the hands of thieves."

However, right after she finished speaking, the carriage suddenly fell into silence, as if filled with low pressure.

The moment Qiu Ning raised her head, she happened to bump into the other person's dark eyes, as if she was about to be sucked in.

"Uncle Gu..."

She propped herself up and instinctively shrank back.

Seeing this, Gu Li immediately withdrew the pressure emanating from his body and instructed:

"Next time you encounter something like this, remember to protect yourself first, okay?"

Qiu Ning nodded blankly, indicating his agreement.

So, Gu Li was concerned about her just now?

This realization made Qiu Ning feel a faint joy in his heart.

It has been a long time since anyone cared about me this much since the Prime Minister's Mansion was raided.

Since her rebirth, she has been walking on thin ice with every step, fearing that if she takes a wrong step, she will repeat the mistakes of her previous life.

Fortunately, God was kind to her this time. When she faced the thief just now, she was even ready to bite her tongue to commit suicide. Fortunately, at the last moment, Gu Li appeared in time and saved her from the water and fire.

At this time, Gu Li flipped through the contents of the booklet. When he saw the amount of gold and silver counted at the back, his brows unconsciously frowned, and a barely perceptible light flashed in his eyes.

Qiu Ning hurriedly asked, "Uncle Gu, is there something wrong?"

Why did she see a hint of solemnity in Gu Li's eyes? Could it be that the Guo family was engaged in some hidden enterprise that even Gu Li found vexing?

"Nothing, I will find a chance to tell the emperor about this matter, you'd better not interfere."

If he guessed correctly, the Guo family and Prince Yong must have some kind of private connection.

Qiu Ning was a little dissatisfied when she saw that he wanted to leave her alone.

"Uncle Gu, I know this matter is very dangerous, but I don't want to be kept in the dark and passively wait for news. Please let me participate as well. I will definitely pay more attention."

Gu Li looked up, wanting to say something, but she was met with the girl's serious and persistent eyes. It was as if she would be committing a heinous crime if she didn't agree.

At this moment, Qiu Ning was still unconsciously tugging at the corner of his sleeve, and said nervously, "Uncle Gu, I beg you, even if it's just for the sake of redressing my father and brother, I will do my part."

Gu Li pinched her eyebrows with a headache.

Why did he feel as if he had another daughter?

After a while, I heard him sigh helplessly: "Let's talk about it after you recover from your injury."

After saying this, Gu Li decided not to pay any more attention to Qiu Ning and started looking at the account book.

Qiu Ning, who was standing by, was so excited when she saw that he finally softened his attitude, as if she had discovered a new world.

It turned out that the famous Commander Gu was actually afraid of women's coquettishness.

Especially when he saw the small patch of light pink on the edge of Gu Li's earlobe, his guess was confirmed.

Well, it's good to have weaknesses. I can do the same thing next time.

After Gu Li personally sent the person back to the Crime Bureau, he turned around and went to the emperor's study.

At that time, the emperor was worried about the flood in the south of the Yangtze River. When he saw Gu Li suddenly coming over, he seemed to have found his backbone and began to complain to Gu Li.

Previously, Daxia had suffered from severe drought for three consecutive years. People thought there would be a good harvest this year, but instead, floods broke out in the most fertile area of ​​Jiangnan, submerging a large number of farmlands and crops, and the people were displaced.

Local officials wrote to the court one after another requesting that grain be sent to relieve the disaster, but the Ministry of Revenue cried poor to them, saying that the treasury was empty and that they simply could not come up with so much silver.

Not only that, the emperor was also worried that even if he managed to raise relief grain with great difficulty, it would be good if only one tenth of it could reach the victims.

Therefore, who the court should send to provide disaster relief and where the relief food would come from became the primary issue.

"Gu Li, you've arrived just in time. I'm sure you've heard about the flood in Jiangnan. The situation is urgent and grain needs to be shipped over urgently. However, these wealthy merchants have been hoarding goods and trying to raise prices. In just a few days, grain prices in Lin County have more than doubled. If this continues, it may shake the foundation of the country. What should we do?"

"Right now, petitions are being sent from all over the country, urging the court to distribute disaster relief funds. However, I'm worried that these aristocratic families will exploit the people at every level, just like they did during the time of the previous emperor. A large amount of food will go into their pockets, leaving the victims of the disasters everywhere unattended, leaving them starving. There's even a phenomenon of people exchanging their own children for food!"

As the emperor spoke, a look of deep worry appeared between his brows.

Although he is the ruler of a country, the imperial power and the aristocratic families have always been in a delicate relationship of mutual restraint and mutual dependence.

The most representative of the aristocratic families are those headed by families like the Guo family, with rich heritage and countless wealth.

Over the years, the emperor has always wanted to weaken the power of the aristocratic families and consolidate the imperial power, but he has always encountered various obstacles.

In today's court, if Gu Li had not stood on the emperor's side, the entire court would probably become a one-man show for the Guo family.

After hearing this, Gu Li also frowned.

Although he was often away from the court leading troops in battle, it did not mean that he did not understand these tactics of abusing power.

As long as Gu Li wanted to, he could say that no one in the court, whether civil or military, would be his opponent.

It's just that he just wanted to be a loyal minister and didn't want to show off too much and be feared by the emperor.

Gu Li knew that as a subject, he had to allow himself to have flaws and shortcomings. This was the only way to reassure the superiors.

Another point is that the reason why Gu Li has been able to gain the emperor's trust for so many years, besides being loyal, is that he is an upright person and has not fallen into the same group with those aristocratic families.

It was precisely because of this that many aristocratic families attacked him and isolated him, causing Gu Li to make countless enemies in the court.

But Gu Li didn't care about these things at all. He commanded the emperor's black armored army, each of whom was trained by him personally and could fight ten enemies at once. If these noble families wanted to harm him, they would have to think twice.

"Your Majesty, I have come here to report to you on the matter of the disaster relief funds."

Gu Li thought of his own guess, took out the booklet that Qiu Ning had given him earlier from his arms, and handed it to the emperor.

Meanwhile, the harem.

The news of Qiu Ning's injury soon reached the ears of Wan Rongyue and the Sixth Prince.

As a noble concubine in the harem, Wan Rongyue was not in a position to go to the cold palace in person, so she sent the sixth prince, bringing with her a lot of fine medicine and an imperial physician.

Qiu Ning first expressed his gratitude, and after sending the imperial physician away, he finally had time to talk to the Sixth Prince for a while.

It turned out that the Sixth Prince, despite being so young, looked as if he had encountered some huge problem, with a frown on his face.

Qiu Ning couldn't help but jokingly said:

"Who has upset our Sixth Prince? Look, if he frowns any further, he could kill a mosquito."

However, the Sixth Prince did not feel happy because of her jokes as usual, but became even more sad.

"Aunt Qiu Ning, I'm afraid even you can't help me this time. Alas!"