"There's grain! There's grain! It's rationed grain!"
The commoners spread the news to each other.
"How is there grain? Has the Li grain shop opened?"
"How is that possible? Old Master Li is still locked up in the government prison!"
"Quick, wife, quick, go grab the bags and let's go buy grain!"
Grain was the most important of commodities.
Whenever there were drastic fluctuations in grain prices, it was often accompanied by natural disasters, human-made calamities, unrest in public order, and military crises. The commoners were extremely sensitive to this. Based on this knowledge, even if other livelihood-related commodities were not actually in shortage, their prices would also fluctuate along with the grain prices.
An area would then become unsettled.
But as long as grain prices stabilized, the prices of other commodities would calm down as well, and these disturbances would vanish without a trace.
Ye Sizhu and Jiang Yingwu had transported grain into Biyang City. The prefectural government had posted notices selling rationed grain. In almost a single day, Biyang City had stabilized.
Other daily necessities like salt, cloth, and lamp oil were also sold alongside, and sold quite well too.
Ye Sizhu also brought news for Ye Suijin: "There is news of Zhao Jingwen."
No matter if it was Third Son Ye or Duan Jin, everyone who heard paused for a moment.
Tenth Son Ye even exclaimed, "Ah!" and scratched his head with an embarrassed laugh, "I'd actually forgotten completely about brother-in-law!"
Not just him, everyone then realized they had not thought about this person for a long time.
Even Duan Jin was the same. He swiftly glanced at Ye Suijin, and suddenly understood—
Because Ye Suijin had never mentioned that man.
Not once since they left Ye Manor.
It was as if that man had disappeared from her life.
Ye Suijin smiled, feigning ignorance, "Has he returned?"
Impossible.
Zhao Jingwen was the kind of person who would seize any opportunity at any time. Before he left, she had already clearly implied to him—Ye Manor had no room for his advancement.
He was so smart, once out he would realize, in order to turn around this predicament, he could only seek it outside of Ye Manor.
The fact that he had not returned the previous time and only sent someone back with news of his safety had already proven this point.
Indeed, Fourth Uncle Ye said, "No, he hasn't returned."
"But Jingwen is quite capable." Fourth Uncle Ye happily told everyone, "Outside, he has actually occupied a foothold for us."
"When we're done here, we can go over and expand our territory westward too."
The young masters naturally sang praises of their brother-in-law.
They were currently fighting to seize territory, battling ardently and vigorously, feeling that the most interesting thing in the world was nothing other than this. Hearing that brother-in-law was achieving merits outside, occupying a foothold, they were all sincerely delighted.
Duan Jin inhaled deeply, barely stopping himself from letting out a dissatisfied "hmph".
But he immediately grasped the key point.
"So Master Zhao won't be returning for a while?" he probed.
"That's right, he said not to return first. To stabilize that side." Fourth Uncle Ye said, "He has also gathered some people."
Fourth Uncle Ye fiercely praised: "Jingwen is the most capable, not asking the family for money or grain no matter what. Truly capable!"
Fifth Son Ye chuckled, "Father, look at you being so stingy."
"What do you know!" Fourth Uncle Ye craned his neck and said, "The family has been recruiting troops, and you're all outside, do you know how much money and grain is spent per day to feed the men and horses?"
"You should all learn from Jingwen, he can be self-sufficient outside, this is what it means to be capable!"
Ye Suijin smiled faintly, "Fourth Uncle works hard."
She gently steered the topic along: "Let's not worry about him for now, let's discuss the current matters first. Did Jiang Yingwu bring the accountant I wanted?"
"Where's Jiang Yingwu? Call him to see me."
The topic was brought aside just like that, and no one mentioned Zhao Jingwen again.
Duan Jin's gaze circled around Ye Suijin.
This was good as it was.
With Zhao Jingwen not around, the mistress could wholeheartedly focus on her own matters, on big matters.
Radiating light from her entire body.
This was so good.
Li Er could no longer care if he would be detained or not. He personally hurried to the government prison to see Master Li, anxiously telling him about this matter.
Master Li's expression was dark.
"Where did she get so much grain?" Master Li asked, "Did she empty out the granaries at Ye Manor?"
Li Er said, "After inquiring, it seems she opened the national granaries at Dengzhou."
During the previous Wei dynasty, when the court was suppressing a rebellion in the Biyang region, the general leading the troops had coerced military provisions and imposed temporary additional taxes from wealthy households. His great-grandfather had then led all of Biyang City in a market boycott, directly resulting in soaring grain prices and shortages of commodities in several surrounding counties. The commoners had swarmed the prefectural government offices to protest, and public sentiment had surged.
Forcing the prefect to intervene and mediate, the matter of increased taxes had ultimately been dropped.
This was the power of local gentry.
He didn't understand, they were doing nothing different from back then, so why was it not working now?
Why was the Ye woman not following the proper conventions? Li Er could not comprehend it.
Master Li closed his eyes.
That she could mobilize the national granaries at Dengzhou in such a short amount of time meant she had Dengzhou's actual authority in her grasp. It meant the officials across Dengzhou were deferential to her.
He should not have looked down on her for being a woman.
"Father," Li Er asked apprehensively, "What should we do now?"
It was very quiet in the prison, only occasionally the sound of coughing. It was cold now, not as warm inside the prison as at home. The chill penetrated through. Elders found it a little hard to endure. Many were waiting for the new prefect to come and for them to soften their stance. This belief was supporting them to bitterly endure being in the prison.
Now, suddenly hearing that their plan to boycott the market had actually been broken, at once many could no longer endure. They immediately felt chest pains and waist pains setting in, leg cramps flaring up, aches and pains all over.
It was clear they could not hold on any longer.
"Brother Li..." someone called hesitantly.
The unsaid meaning was very clear.
Master Li's chest heaved for a moment before he controlled himself. Opening his eyes, he said: "We've lost this round. Right now there's no other way. Obediently soften our stance."
With his words, many in the prison conversely felt relieved.
Ten thousand dan of grain, it wasn't impossible to scrape together after all.
Immediately some voiced: "I'll put up six hundred dan."
There were those who put up five hundred, and those one thousand. Largely still in accordance to each family's capacity. A dozen or so families dividing it up, actually wasn't a lot per family.
Finally, two thousand dan was left to the Li family.
Who told them to be the biggest, swallowing the most over the years.
Master Li also did not argue over this with them. Given the current circumstances, if they argued further, people's hearts would scatter like sand. He could distinguish priorities.
Thus, he instructed his second son: "Do as this."
Li Er accepted his orders and left.
Master Li closed his eyes again to nurture his energy. Although resentful through gritted teeth, there was no other way for the moment.
He constantly circulated his inner energy, telling himself: wait until after getting out, then we'll see!
However, Ye Suijin had no intentions of letting these people out at all.
Footsteps sounded, Duan Jin hurriedly entered. His eyes were bright, the corners of his lips raised in a smile.
Seeing him, Ye Suijin knew: "You found it out?"
With the turmoil from the market boycott smoothed out, and each family understanding that such coercion would not work on her, deferentially preparing to soften their stance. Then naturally, they would need to prepare for her lion's gaping maw of "ten thousand dan" of grain.
Such a huge amount of grain certainly could not be directly carried out from their kitchens, it would certainly need to be taken out from their granaries.
"Mapped it all out clearly." Duan Jin nodded.
While each family went to prepare grain themselves, little did they expect there were yellow orioles behind them. Duan Jin had sent people to secretly follow and track them, clearly finding out where each family's hidden granaries were.
In a city so big, with the national granaries emptied enough to starve rats to death, where had all the annual taxes over the years gone?
Naturally, they had been hidden away.
Ye Suijin smiled, then looked over at Third Son Ye: "Third brother, you can unsheathe your blade now."
Ever since Nanyang, Third Son Ye had never been without his blade by his side. Hearing this, his lips thinned, and he grasped the hilt of the blade.
Fourth Uncle Ye exclaimed: "What are you going to do?"
Ye Suijin said: "Naturally, kill people."
Fourth Uncle Ye was a little lost: "But...haven't each family started preparing the grain?"
Since they were preparing the grain, that meant they were capitulating right? Since they were capitulating and bowing their heads, then why still...
"Father." Third Son Ye's tiger eyes emanated a cold light. "If we let such people off, it only leaves hidden dangers for our own family, who knows when they will bite back again. It's best to eliminate them completely."
Hearing these words from his usually honest and steady eldest son, even carrying an uncompromising tone, it made Fourth Uncle Ye falter.
"But, but..." he mumbled, "How can this be done?"
He felt in his heart this could not be done.
The gentry families of Biyang were not rebel troops and chaotic bandits. They were law-abiding commoners. And not just ordinary commoners, they had the same status and standing as local gentry.
They were people who should be appeased and pulled closer.
Look, the younger brothers on the front lines have all been tempered, while the uncles in the rear are still the same as before.
Ye Suijin said, "Fourth Uncle, just watch for now."
"Father," Third Son Ye said, "listen to Sixth Sister."
Fourth Uncle Ye opened and closed his mouth.
It was Ye Suijin who took Fang City, it was Ye Suijin who took Deng Prefecture, and today, the one who took half of Tang Prefecture was still Ye Suijin.
If it had been him, he wouldn't have had the ability to achieve this much, he probably wouldn't have even dared to think about it.
Since this was the case, they should listen to the person with ability.
After the grain prices stabilized, the rumor that "the female prefect wanted to distribute the military provisions" naturally fell apart on its own.
The common people watched coldly and whispered among themselves: "Hey, the Li and Ke families are busy again."
What were they busy with? Naturally, they were busy preparing grain.
Once they got started, it moved quickly. After all, the old men were still in jail, and it was so cold today that although winter clothes and bedding had been sent, it still couldn't compare to being home. They had to quickly gather the military provisions and get the old folks out as soon as possible.
In two days, ten thousand shi of grain was gathered, and the convoy stopped outside the city. The people temporarily in charge of each family's affairs came together to see Ye Suijin, all bowing their heads and bending their waists: "Due to the delay in collecting grain, we hope the official will be magnanimous."
Ye Suijin asked, "Is my military grain complete?"
Duan Jin smiled and said, "We've checked it. Ten thousand shi, not a single shi less."
Li Er bowed and said, "How could we dare to neglect the official's order?"
"Official," he raised his head, trying to start a new round of bargaining, "Now that the military provisions are prepared, could our fathers be..."
Shouldn't they be released now?
Even bandits who kidnap people exchange hostages for money. A proper prefect and military governor should have some credibility.
Who knew there were actually shameless people with no credibility.
The proper military governor, officially appointed by the court, Ye Suijin actually said, "Since this is the case, arrest them."
Li Er and the others were stunned.
The guards had already pounced on them like wolves and tigers and arrested everyone.
Li Er was shocked, "Official! Official! We have already followed your order and prepared the grain!"
"What is the meaning of this? Please tell us commoners!"
"Official! Official!"
"Official——"
Amidst the cries for justice and shouts of "Official", the group was dragged away.
Fourth Uncle Ye couldn't help but say, "At least give them an explanation."
It seemed something was missing in the process.
In operas, when the Eight Ministers brandish the Emperor's sword, glare angrily, shout "Men!", the men step forward to receive the order and capture the villain, the main character still has to righteously sing a long verse enumerating the crimes of the villain, shaming him until he doesn't dare raise his head, and only then is the villain dragged away.
With Ye Suijin, why didn't she say anything? The transition was missing!
Ye Suijin said, "He's not someone who deserves me wasting words on."
Look how she talks.
Fourth Uncle Ye scoffed. "You think you're the Empress?"
Ye Suijin rolled her eyes. "What's so special about that broken Empress."
Such an arrogant attitude.
Fourth Uncle Ye folded his arms to admonish her: "Don't roll your eyes, just like Twelfth Sister, so unbecoming for a young lady."
Old Master Li could never have dreamed that the people temporarily in charge of each family would also be thrown into jail by Ye Suijin.
He had thought that bowing his head on this matter would make it pass, at most paying more compensation to Ye to apologize.
He never imagined this woman, this woman...
"What's going on?" he asked in shock, "Wasn't the military grain prepared?"
Li Er struggled all the way, was thrown in bloody and bruised, and said with snot and tears: "It was prepared. Prefect Ye arrested us without saying a word."
Everyone gathered around to ask for details, and Li Er answered them one by one.
The more Old Master Li listened, the more alarmed he became.
He had a very bad premonition.
It seemed that he and Ye had never been on the same level at all. The game they were playing wasn't even the same one.
Although the shops weren't open yet, with the affordable grain, oil, and salt from Deng Prefecture, the common people's anxiety was gone.
On the contrary, they gathered to discuss, "When will the old masters be released?"
"I heard ten thousand shi of grain was transported to the city for Prefect Ye."
"Pah, ten thousand shi is nothing to them. Have you calculated how much tax they've collected over the years?"
Suddenly the sounds of hoofbeats and marching echoed in the streets.
Something was happening.
The commoners all craned their necks to watch.
The blue-clothed troops, fierce as wolves and tigers. They pounced in all directions.
The locals recognized at a glance: "Aren't those the old masters' homes?"
Sure enough.
The troops charged in, and not all families surrendered without a fight. At least the Li and Ke families resisted.
Third Son Ye knew there were still women and children in these households.
But he knew even better what kind of Beiyang Ye Suijin wanted.
She made decisions and set direction.
Someone had to share her burdens and execute on her behalf.
Here, Third Son Ye of Deng Prefecture grasped his sword hilt and looked up—"Kill!"
Elsewhere, Duan Jin also raised his eyelids with a cold smile—"Kill!"
