Chapter 1366
It turns out we were quite well-off [2]
Chapter 1366 It turns out we were quite well-off [2]
Tch! Gao Zhenzhi was very disdainful of Shi Songxin: We study to climb the social ladder, what are you pretending to be without desires? Can you pretend forever?
Gao Zhenzhi was secretly watching Shi Songxin, waiting to see when Shi Songxin would break down so he could jump out and mock him.
Shi Songxin ignored him and continued to focus on his work.
Meanwhile, the Wu Garden was also extremely busy. The officials and soldiers from both the Imperial Guard and the Imperial Envoy, Qiong Lao, Lord Yan, Magistrate Qu, Ambassador Yu, Prefect Fei, Magistrate Zheng, and Boss Xue, among others, had not slept all night and had been taking stock of the available supplies in the city.
And guess what happened?
Hey, the more we take stock of these supplies, the more there seems to be!
"I thought they were poor, but I never imagined the capital city would be so well-supplied. Tsk tsk tsk..." Uncle Qin sighed again, praising Si Pei: "Peiwa did a good job. You should have gone door to door to pry open doors and ask for supplies. Otherwise, if the city falls, all these supplies will go to the enemy! The powerful families will become criminals! Lord Yan, Prefect Fei, Magistrate Zheng, don't you agree?"
Lord Yan and Prefect Fei have suddenly developed ear ailments.
Judge Zheng changed his attitude from the past and nodded, saying, "Brother Qin is right... Supplies are meant to be used, otherwise they are not supplies, but a batch of waste."
He breathed a sigh of relief: "With these supplies, we can give the people of Wei an explanation."
"Report! Young Master Si Pei has sent a new list of supplies. Please review it, Prince Ye, Imperial Envoy Qi, Lord Yan, and Magistrate Qu!" a royal guard reported.
Chief Wei took the list and unfolded it for the King of Ye and his men to see.
"Copy this and add this batch of supplies to the list," the Prince of Ye ordered. Then, still worried about Si Pei, he said to Chief Wei, "Send three imperial guards to protect the brothers."
To prevent Si Pei Si Feng from being eliminated.
"No, and there's no need for that," Old Qiong objected, saying, "In these circumstances, it's the responsibility of every Wei citizen to open their private granaries and hand over supplies to the government and military for the war effort. It's no longer the case like it was back in Mr. Rong's time."
At that time, a war didn't break out because the controversy surrounding opening private warehouses was too great.
The reason why it is not permissible is that the Imperial Guard, representing His Majesty... the Emperor of the Dynasty, would participate in opening private granaries, which would be akin to robbery, and the legitimate court would not do such a thing.
"Let Si Pei and the others fully display their youthful spirit," Elder Qiong said in the end.
Uncle Qin glanced at him sideways... Old sir, you're quite cunning.
The King of Ye had no choice but to give up: "Alright, I'll listen to Elder Qiong."
Uncle Qin glanced at his brother-in-law and said, "You're quite cunning too!"
He started to worry about his younger sister again. With her husband like this, would she be able to fight back?
"Stop daydreaming, get to work." Qi Tianshi tapped on Uncle Qin's desk, urging him on, acting like a supervisor.
Dead eunuch!
Uncle Qin changed his mind to crickets and angels... In short, he never had a moment of peace, but his accounts were never wrong.
Throughout the morning, Si Pei sent someone to deliver a new list every few quarters of an hour.
Qi Tianshi even started to believe in superstition: "Si Pei is quite lucky."
Old Qiong laughed and said, "There are always some people in the world who are born lucky."
Si Pei is this kind of person. He was born into a good family and was pampered by his family. When he was studying, his teachers doted on him. When he went to the countryside for study, his fellow villagers doted on him. When he came to work, his elders all thought he was good and wanted to protect him.
Compared to that unlucky Uncle Qin, he was incredibly lucky!
"Gentlemen, it's getting late. Let's speed up the inventory and accounting... calculate the consumption of the entire city so we know how long these supplies will last for the whole city," the Prince of Ye ordered. Everyone got busy again, and the entire Wulou was filled with the sound of abacuses being turned and accounts being calculated.
That's right. It wasn't just Uncle Qin and his group who were working; there were hundreds of clerks and minor officials from the yamen working in the other rooms of the entire Wu Building.
In short, everyone was exhausted.
Qin Xiaomi was quite comfortable. She slept until early noon (11 a.m.) before getting up contentedly. After practicing a set of boxing moves, she went to have lunch with Madam Guan.
Madam Guan said enviously, "You sleep so soundly, much better than me." She had too many things on her mind, which made it impossible for her to fall asleep early on. She sat up all morning, listening to a lot of news from outside.
Qin Xiaomi laughed and said, "It's a rare day of leisure, so we should enjoy it while we can. Otherwise, once the sharp tools workshop opens, we won't be able to sleep in anymore."
"That's true." Madam Guan smiled, glancing at Qin Xiaomi: "You should always be like this, living in the moment and enjoying the present."
"Don't worry, old lady, I will definitely not save this blessing for tomorrow, I must enjoy it now! But you, old lady, don't be like my grandma, I've already had enough of comforting my grandma, I can't comfort you too." Qin Xiaomi was really worried because Guan Azu was becoming a bit like Grandma Qin.
"Hahaha, you silly girl, alright, alright, I won't follow your grandmother's example... Come, sit down, let's eat and drink well and enjoy this moment." Old Madam Guan was amused by her and her mind cleared up. They started eating together and had a lunch full of meat dishes.
They also talked about celebrating Da Bao'er's one-month birthday tomorrow.
After they had eaten and drunk their fill and even took a nap, they set off together to Wu Lou to meet up with the Prince of Ye and his entourage.
Upon entering the lobby on the first floor and seeing them, Qin Xiaomi was startled: "I thought I had seen a ghost in broad daylight. How did you all end up looking so haggard?"
"Don't bother us, let us take a nap." Uncle Qin didn't even open his eyes, leaning back in the armchair as if dozing off, holding a bowl of soup in one hand, taking sips every now and then.
Chewing food is too strenuous; I'm so tired that all I want to eat is this kind of soup that I can drink.
Madam Guan stopped disturbing them and led Qin Xiaomi to sit down in a corner of the hall.
It was almost noon when Uncle Qin and the others suddenly jumped up as if they had risen from the dead. After washing their faces twice with cold well water, they straightened their clothes, checked the accounts and answered questions, and then called Qin Xiaomi and the others to go to the main gate of Wuyuan together.
……
The main gate of Wuyuan was filled with Wei people, all chattering and discussing, but no one dared to cause trouble... Good heavens, just yesterday, troublemakers had their heads chopped off at the main gate of Wuyuan. How could we dare to cause trouble again? Our heads aren't made of iron.
dong dong dong, dong dong dong!
At the appointed time (1-3 PM), drums sounded loudly, and messengers shouted: "His Highness Prince Ye, along with the officials and soldiers from the two gates, have arrived!!"
Oh dear, they've arrived! Quickly, bow to them.
The people of Wei shouted in unison, "Greetings to His Highness Prince Ye, greetings to Envoy Qi, Lord Yan, and Magistrate Qu..."
Boom boom boom!
"Silence! Listen to the King of Ye and Lord Yan answer the questions of the people of Wei!"
No beating around the bush, get straight to the point.
The King of Ye began by reading from the account book: "To date, the capital city has a total of 200 million, 13.66 million catties of grain, including rice, flour, beans, and potatoes!"
"Ten million equals one hundred million," so this two hundred million is not twenty million or two million, but a real two hundred million!
There were 200 million catties of staple grains and miscellaneous grains alone. This amount of grain completely stunned Wei Min, who was present.
"What?! Over 200 million jin? The capital city has that much grain? Where did all this grain come from?! Weren't the supply lines cut off? Where did all this grain come from?!"
"Could it be fake?"
"Yes, Your Highness, Prince Ye, you wouldn't have deliberately given us a false number of days just to appease the people, would you?"
"Given the current situation, Your Highness, you don't need to do this. Tell us the truth, at least let us die knowing why."
dong dong dong, dong dong dong!
"Silence! Silence!"
After all that commotion, the Wei people finally calmed down, but they were still uneasy and simply didn't believe that the capital city could have so much grain.
All I saw were poor people, and food was rationed according to population. Suddenly, they were told, "Hey, we're not poor, we're super rich!" Who could believe it? Who would dare to believe it?!