Han Yunxi had been pondering Long Fei Ye's suspicions the entire time.
"Your Highness, there has to be a trap somewhere." Han Yunxi was certain. Before Nanguo Mingde had arrived, she'd asked the guards and found that South Ning City's four main gates were still open. There was no way the disaster victims had been locked up outside the city walls.
They'd suspected that the victims might be begging for grain on their way here, but that didn't seem to be the case now.
Could it be … that the disaster victims had been controlled?
It was normal for imperial envoys to miss the victims while patrolling the disaster areas. Normally speaking, the local officials would arrange their itineraries and routes ahead of time, so there was no need to chase away the victims. Even if they didn't arrange the routes beforehand, the local officials had plenty of ways to chase the victims to places they couldn't see.
But news of Long Fei Ye's corruption had spread like wildfire. Even if Official Nanguo wanted to hide the disaster victims, his superiors wouldn't agree. They'd definitely use the victims to make trouble and embarrass Long Fei Ye!
Long Fei Ye and Han Yunxi were still lost in thought when Chu Xifeng arrived. Smiling, he said, "Your Highness, I have two pieces of news, one good, one bad!"
Alright, Chu Xifeng obediently told him the news. He didn't have the guts to let His Highness Duke of Qin choose between the good and bad news first!
"Your Highness, the good news is that a messenger pigeon has just arrived. The grain from the other two disaster areas has all arrived without anyone noticing. Right now, they're all waiting outside the disaster areas for your orders! "
Half of the 3 million dan of grain that Long Fei Ye had scammed from the imperial uncle's estate were waiting outside South Ning City in secret. The other half had been divided equally between the other two disaster areas. Now that they'd arrived, they were only waiting for Long Fei Ye's orders to enter the city and distribute the grain.
Long Fei Ye had come to distribute grain, and more importantly, to arrest the corrupt officials. Even though they had scammed a lot of grain from the Imperial Uncle's estate, there were even more disaster victims. There was a limit to the amount of grain that could be distributed to each disaster victim. It was hard to say if they could even last until next month, let alone survive through the winter.
It was already early winter, and in two months, it would be December. At that time, it would be freezing cold, and there wouldn't even be any wild herbs. Who knew how the disaster victims would survive!
Therefore, Official Nanguo's considerations were correct. If His Highness Duke of Qin couldn't get the grain, he would definitely target the corrupt officials and force them to spit out all the grain they had eaten.
Seeing that his master only nodded without giving orders, Chu Xifeng hastened to tell him the bad news. "The guards have already found out that all of the disaster victims in the outskirts of South Ning Prefecture have been gathered together in one of the villages. As this subordinate sees it, they must be part of an organization."
As soon as he said this, Han Yunxi immediately smiled. "Your Highness, it seems that they have been waiting for you for a long time."
Long Fei Ye only said four words. "Let's wait and see what happens tonight."
Time didn't stop for anyone or anything. Six hours passed in a hurry before the sun began to set.
Nanguo Jun was shut up in the senior provincial official's estate as he stared at the setting sun. He wanted to cry, but had no tears.
In the afternoon, he saw his father send people to take away all of the grain stored in the estate's accounts.
The grain stored in the estate's accounts wasn't embezzled, but normal. After all, the senior provincial official's estate had to support a group of officials to manage the entire South Ning Prefecture. There wasn't much grain left, only enough to feed the 500 or so people in the estate for a month.
As far as he knew, there was plenty of grain stored in the cellars of the estate as well. His father hadn't touched a single grain, so he had no idea how his father would deal with the matter. He only hoped that his father wouldn't take it out on him after he returned.
The appointed time hadn't arrived yet, but all of the city's commoners had brought their families to line up in front of the estate's gates to wait for the grain to be distributed.
By the time the sun set, more than twenty thousand people had arrived. Nearly twenty long lines were formed from the entrance of the Prefectural Governor's Manor all the way to the city gates. The scene could be described as overwhelming and majestic!
Even the orderly lines tightly blocked the gates of the estate. It was impossible to imagine what the consequences would be if a riot broke out with so many people gathered at such a high density.
When Long Fei Ye's carriage drove out of the alley, the people on the main road immediately parted to let him pass.
No matter what the rumors were, the one who distributed the grain was their heavens, their earth, and their parents!
When Long Fei Ye arrived at the estate's gates, they were surprisingly still tightly shut.
If it weren't for Long Fei Ye holding the fort, everyone would've already begun to cause a ruckus.
"Does Your Excellency intend to go back on your word?" Long Fei Ye asked coldly.
As soon as he finished speaking, Official Nanguo's voice rang out. "Your Highness Duke of Qin, please calm your anger! Your Highness Duke of Qin, please calm your anger! "
Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw Official Nanguo jogging out of a nearby alley with a few servants. Not long after, carriages loaded with grain slowly drove out of the alley.
What could make the people more excited than seeing grain? In an instant, everyone stepped aside and respectfully opened up a path that was even wider than the one they'd given Long Fei Ye.
Official Nanguo personally directed the carriages and didn't forget to remind the driver to be careful and not to hurt any passersby.
It had to be said that his amiable image was far too different from his son's image of speeding on the road this morning. It was especially pretentious!
Carriages after carriages of grain were transported out of the alley. Everyone was excited to see this, but … not long after, the convoy was cut off!
Official Nanguo had only brought ten carriages of grain. Each carriage had eight catties, so it was only eighty catties.
Long Fei Ye watched all of this without saying a word.
Soon, the people began to panic and talk among themselves.
"Is this all the grain?"
"Is it enough to share? Isn't everyone supposed to get some? "
"Is it two catties? They said two catties this morning! "
… …
At first, they were just discussing the amount of grain, but someone suddenly shouted, "Everyone, don't panic. His Highness Duke of Qin will definitely do what he promised."
Immediately, the crowd shifted their attention to Long Fei Ye.
"Right, right, His Highness Duke of Qin promised. Everyone, please calm down."
"His Highness Duke of Qin is an imperial envoy. He'll definitely give everyone what he promised!"
"His Highness will definitely find a way to get grain."
… …
If Han Yunxi was here to hear this, she'd definitely roll her eyes. These people were too good at bullshitting. It was clearly Nanguo Jun who promised, so why did it suddenly become Long Fei Ye's promise?
Unfortunately, she wasn't present at the scene. Only Long Fei Ye was present. Even Chu Xifeng wasn't present.
Long Fei Ye was dressed in brocade robes as he stood on the steps of the senior provincial official's estate with his hands clasped behind his back. Despite the discussions below, he remained lofty and unmoving, as steady as Mount Tai. His icy gaze rested on Official Nanguo the entire time.
Official Nanguo put on an act as he supported the carriage full of grain all the way to the gates of the senior provincial official's estate.
He was panting for breath, but had no time to rest. He quickly bowed and said, "Good luck to Your Highness Duke of Qin. This official came late in order to find grain. I hope Your Highness will forgive me."
At this moment, all the discussions stopped abruptly. Everyone's attention was focused on this. Although the people at the back of the line wanted to get closer to see what was going on, so far, everyone was still very orderly. No one cut in line to fight.
"How much grain did you find?" Long Fei Ye's icy voice chilled the air.
"To reply Your Highness, this official personally went out of the city this afternoon and found a total of 80 dan of grain. Combined with the 100 dan of grain from the senior provincial official's estate, we have 180 dan in total.
Official Nanguo knocked on the door as he spoke. The doors to the estate opened and a few burly men carried out the dan after dan of grain.
The crowd grew even quieter at the mention of "over a thousand jin."
Over a thousand jin wasn't a small amount for a single person or a family. But to the twenty thousand people in the long line, it was a number that would make them cry on the spot.
How much would one person get if more than twenty thousand people were to divide it among themselves? Not even a single meal!
Soon, the crowd began to feel uneasy and whispered among themselves. However, no one dared to raise their voices. After all, His Highness Duke of Qin hadn't spoken yet.
"Nanguo Mingde, are you trying to take advantage of this prince's inability to count, or are you trying to take advantage of the twenty thousand people here?"
Long Feiye asked angrily, which silenced the entire crowd.
Nanguo Mingde immediately fell to his knees. "Your Highness Duke of Qin, please spare my life! There are twenty thousand people in South Ning City. If each person has two jin of grain, that's over forty thousand jin. No matter how capable this official is, I can't find that much grain! "
As Nanguo Mingde spoke, he raised his voice and said, "Your Highness, this humble official brought all of this food from the various yamen. It's the food that the imperial court left for the yamen to feed the officials and soldiers. Currently, this official has emptied all of the yamens' grain reserves in the four counties and eight townships under South Ning Prefecture's jurisdiction. All of the prefectural governor's estate's grain is also here. This official is truly powerless. If Your Highness Duke of Qin still thinks this isn't enough, then you can take this official's life! My son is the only descendant of the Nanguo Clan. I beg Your Highness to spare him on account of his youth and ignorance! "
Nanguo Mingde spoke eloquently, tears streaming down his face. When he finished speaking, he turned to kneel before the crowd. "Everyone, I, Nanguo Mingde, am the magistrate of South Ning Prefecture, yet I can't even protect a single mouthful of grain for everyone. I am truly ashamed of myself!"
The word "protect" was rather interesting, as if it was hinting at something.
The common people had heard so many rumors. Some were about the Duke of Qin's embezzlement, others about the prefectural governor's embezzlement, and others about minor officials' embezzlement. However, they didn't know which rumors were true and which were false.
Seeing Nanguo Mingde's mournful appearance and hearing that he was willing to give up his own life, many people began to question the rumors about Nanguo Mingde's embezzlement.
Perhaps everyone had misunderstood this magistrate. At this critical juncture, it was already quite good that he was willing to contribute the grain reserves of the various yamens and prefectural governor's estate.
In the end, the common people were still soft-hearted!
At this moment, someone in the crowd shouted, "Official Nanguo, you can't die! Official Nanguo has already done his best! It's not Official Nanguo's fault that we can't find any grain! "
As soon as these words were spoken, a manservant rushed out of the prefectural governor's estate and knelt before Long Fei Ye in tears. "Your Highness Duke of Qin, please spare my life! Please spare Official Nanguo. Official Nanguo even took out the grain he gave to his old mother! There's not a single grain left in the estate! "
As soon as these words were spoken, the common people broke out into discussion. Nanguo Mingde had unexpectedly become the target of their sympathy and even respect.
This …
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