Chapter 33
Chapter 33
Some fool had spread a rumor through the counties that Jiangdu County held enormous grain reserves. In no time, refugees from nearly a dozen counties flooded toward Jiangdu County all at once!
Despite every precaution, it still happened!
This time, however, the rumor mentioned only that Jiangdu County had grain, not that the Second Prince was there. Remembering how Xie Chengze had remained holed up in the prefectural yamen and refused to reveal his identity, Shen Yuan was so enraged that he kicked open Xie Chengze’s door and bellowed his full name. “Xie! Cheng! Ze! Was this your doing?!”
Xie Chengze had deliberately concealed his princely identity for his own safety. Luring tens of thousands of refugees here with rumors of grain, meanwhile, was clearly meant to create an enormous disaster for Shen Yuan – one that would make His Majesty dismiss him from office or even take his head!
Xie Chengze had even learned to kill with a borrowed blade!
Xie Chengze was inside slurping thin porridge. When Shen Yuan burst in, he startled so badly that the bowl jolted in his hand and nearly spilled.
He rolled his eyes dramatically and began speaking with exaggerated sarcasm. “Oh my~ Lord Shen discovered it anyway~ How amazing you are~”
“Have you lost your mind?!” When Xie Chengze admitted it, Shen Yuan’s eyes turned scarlet. Both hands clamped around his shoulders so tightly they nearly crushed him.
It was one thing for Xie Chengze to refuse the money. Shen Yuan could find another solution. He had lowered his expectations of Xie Chengze again and again, until he would have been satisfied if the man simply remained obediently tucked away in the prefectural yamen and caused no trouble.
But he had forgotten that he was the man who had personally killed Xie Chengze. How could Xie Chengze not resent him and seek to make his life difficult?
He simply had not expected Xie Chengze to use the lives of tens of thousands of people to take revenge on him!
He was utterly mad!
Shen Yuan was bitterly disappointed, though he did not even know where that disappointment came from. He only hated himself for being temporarily blinded by Xie Chengze’s disguise, letting down his guard and allowing this present catastrophe to occur.
“Your Highness.” His eyes scarlet, hatred and disappointment churned within them as though swallowing him whole. “This subject has lost. This subject should never have believed Your Highness intended to repent.”
Only after Wuhen drove him out of the prefectural yamen that day did Shen Yuan suddenly realize that not one person in Jiangdu County had died in the latest flood. Not only that, the people were rebuilding their homes with tremendous enthusiasm. The gloom that had once smothered the city under famine had vanished completely, leaving him incredulous.
After asking for details, he learned that Liang Wanda had foreseen the approaching storm and led the people from the nearby counties up the mountain before the flood erupted. Mount Yuji was stable enough to withstand the floodwaters, saving both their lives and their cattle and sheep.
But how could Liang Wanda possibly have done such a good deed? Given the man’s nature, if he truly could foresee the future, he would have fled the city alone and taken shelter elsewhere long ago!
Xie Chengze’s hand had to be behind it.
Shen Yuan regretted the slanderous things he had said before Xie Chengze. He had believed Xie Chengze truly meant to repent and become a Second Prince who cherished the people anew.
Now he discovered that he had been wrong.
Utterly wrong. Xie Chengze had not repented. He had merely grown much cleverer and learned how to truly send someone to their death.
He had won.
Seeing Shen Yuan’s dazed, devastated expression, Xie Chengze set down his bowl of porridge, rose, and unhurriedly pried the trembling, tightening hands from his shoulders.
He stepped closer, forcing Shen Yuan back, and stared directly into his eyes with a calm, mocking smile. “An intention to repent? Why should this prince have any intention of repenting? This prince owes Lord Shen nothing, and Lord Shen has never had any grievance with me.”
He spoke softly, his voice carrying a trace of indifference and disappointment. “On the contrary, I am the one who is truly disappointed in Lord Shen.”
“What makes Lord Shen think this prince ordered those rumors spread? And what makes you believe that I, Xie Chengze, would gamble with tens of thousands of lives merely to spite you?”
Xie Chengze extended an index finger and jabbed him hard in the chest, his voice cold. “You, Shen Yuan – are you even worthy of that?”
–
The two parted on bitter terms.
Xie Chengze sat in a rosewood chair, flicking his gold-threaded fan. Even his captivating, peerless beauty could not conceal the coldness and hostility spilling from the depths of his phoenix eyes.
These refugees coming to Jiangdu County were both part of Xie Chengze’s plan and not part of it.
Or rather, they had arrived far, far earlier than he intended.
In contrast to Xie Chengze’s composure, Liang Wanda was on the verge of tears. Slapping his thigh, he wailed, “Your Highness, what are we going to do? Nearly thirty thousand refugees… If they charge together, they could tear down the city walls!”
Liang Wanda and Xie Chengze were now grasshoppers tied to the same rope. It was already impossible for him to flee the city, so all he could do was count on Xie Chengze to devise another plan.
“Prefect Liang, do not panic.” Liang Wanda’s noise was giving Xie Chengze a headache, so he decided to silence him first. “This prince already has a solution. Send men at once to gather every yamen runner from all the nearby counties in Jiangdu County. Have them bring weapons – the more, the better.”
“Does Your Highness intend to block the road by force?” Liang Wanda wiped away his tears and ventured the question cautiously.
Xie Chengze smiled mysteriously. “Simply do as you are told.”
Liang Wanda hastily accepted the order. Only after he left did Xie Chengze spring to his feet and begin pacing the room in anxious agitation.
“Why now? Why did it have to be now?!”
While traveling down to Yizhou, he had exchanged the illicit silver for banknotes and quietly released word that Yizhou was short of grain after the flood. Anyone who transported grain there and took advantage of the shortage to raise prices would make a tremendous profit.
Merchants had efficient channels of information and sharp instincts. The moment even one person began buying grain in bulk, others would sense something unusual and rush one after another to sell grain in Yizhou.
He had then sent Wuji to spread word through the prefectures around Yizhou that Prefect Liang was willing to purchase grain at high prices. With official yamen credentials Wuji had “borrowed” along the way, some bold merchants would surely transport grain to Yizhou for sale even without a deposit.
Even the embezzled relief grain would take the opportunity to slip into the shipments, disguised as commercial grain as it entered Yizhou.
According to Xie Chengze’s plan, merchants from across the region would arrive in Yizhou with massive grain convoys once the second flood receded. Grain would then be abundant to the point of oversupply, and the artificially inflated price would be forced down. As soon as grain prices returned to normal, the famine could be fully resolved.
The well-fed labor force could then be committed to the vast, complex reconstruction of the river embankment.
His chess game had been proceeding perfectly. Then his opponent, having nothing left to lose, shamelessly dumped every black stone in the bowl onto his board, disrupting his formation and ruining the entire position!
If the arriving grain convoys happened to run into the starving refugees outside the city, Xie Chengze could hardly imagine what would happen!
“What do I do? What can I do?”
Xie Chengze closed his folding fan and paced back and forth, repeatedly tapping it against his forehead. His earlier claim that he already had a plan was merely a lie to calm Prefect Liang. In truth, he had no idea what to do.
Thirty thousand refugees…
Could Jiangdu County… possibly hold them all?
Something suddenly occurred to Xie Chengze. He stopped in his tracks, and his expression turned strange.
What if… they did this?