Carrying chests full of silver, the wagons were quietly transported into the county yamen under the moonlight.
Inside the yamen, the county magistrate ordered the chests to be opened. The moonlight shone on the dazzling white silver, reflecting a blinding glare. Twenty chests of silver, piled together, would have reached the height of a small mountain.
"My lord, where is the grain?"
The grain merchant from Yuzhou squinted, looking at the greedy county magistrate, and asked.
The magistrate clapped his hands, and the yamen runners pushed cart after cart of rice in sacks. Ten thousand catties of rice, fifty catties per sack, filled two hundred sacks.
...
Outside the prefectural yamen.
"What are you doing? Do you have the guts of a leopard to dare storm the prefectural yamen? All of you, get back, or don't blame my blade for being unforgiving."
The yamen runners drew their sabers, blocking the disaster victims who were trying to force their way into the yamen.
"Pah!"
The man at the forefront spat fiercely. He pointed at the yamen runners and cursed, "We are all starving to death, what is there to be afraid of? We initially thought that with food shortages, Lin'an county wouldn't have much grain stored. We, starving, only wished for our children to survive. But what is the reality? How much grain does our 'azure sky overlord' truly have stored? What has he done with the disaster relief silver allocated by the court? Yes, our lives are cheap, but we are not ants on the roadside. If you want us to die, you won't allow us to resist."
"Today, even if I die here, I will charge in and see if there is any grain stored inside."
As the man spoke, he charged forward recklessly.
The yamen runner instinctively swung his saber, but in the darkness, a stone cut through the night sky, striking the saber from the yamen runner's hand and sending it flying.
The man lunged forward, tackling the yamen runner to the ground. Those behind him surged forward one after another, storming into the prefectural yamen without regard.
The inner courtyard of the prefectural yamen.
Everything happened so suddenly.
Before the county magistrate and the Yuzhou grain merchant could react, the disaster victims, as if intimately familiar with the layout, followed the leading few and expertly rushed into the rear courtyard.
Seeing the piles of silver and hundreds of sacks of grain, the disaster victims froze in their tracks, a mist seeming to rise in their eyes.
They remembered their deceased relatives, and their relatives who were currently lying in cold tents, barely clinging to life.
Their eyes turned bloodshot, and they let out indescribable sounds.
Part lament, part roar.
They looked at the impeccably dressed Lin'an county magistrate standing amidst the silver and grain, wishing he could experience the pangs of hunger, wishing he could feel the pain of loved ones dying before his eyes. If Lin'an county had no grain, they would die without regret, but here, there was enough grain to see them through an entire winter.
"Are you mad? How dare you storm the prefectural yamen? Guards, drive them all out!" The panic in the county magistrate's eyes flashed for a moment, then turned into a sharp, cold glint. He berated them loudly, ordering the yamen runners to expel them.
The yamen runners drew their sabers and advanced towards the disaster victims.
They intended to use their sharp weapons to instill fear and drive the victims back, but as they approached, the disaster victims did not retreat. Instead, they stepped forward.
Before hundreds of disaster victims, even with sabers in hand, the yamen runners stood no chance of victory.
Seeing the disaster victims unyielding, the county magistrate knew the situation could not be resolved peacefully. However, if he were to slaughter his own people, his tenure as the county magistrate of Lin'an would be over.
This matter could not be suppressed by force today.
With this thought, he suddenly spoke, questioning them, "What are you doing? Why did you trespass into the prefectural yamen? Do you know the severity of this crime? What extreme punishment you will face?"
"Crime? Extreme punishment? We are starving to death, what is there to fear? Since you give us no way to live, we will drag you down with us even if we die."
"What?"
The county magistrate was taken aback, as if he hadn't understood. He pressed on, "When did I not give you a way to live?"
Seeing him still quibbling, the disaster victims shouted angrily, "You used the disaster relief silver to buy grain, yet you refused to open the granary and release the provisions. Instead, you sold the grain at a high price to the Yuzhou grain merchant. And now you ask us when you didn't give us a way to live?"
Damn it! How did they find out?
The county magistrate scanned those around him suspiciously, then his mouth fell open in surprise, his face showing a mixture of anger and sorrow from being slandered. "Utter nonsense! While I may not be a capable administrator, I am certainly not a corrupt official. Where did you hear such preposterous lies?"
"Preposterous lies? How do you explain the money and grain scattered on the ground?"
"Explain?" The county magistrate scoffed. He glared at everyone present, but a hint of hurt from being wronged lingered in the corners of his eyes. Pointing at the money and grain, he said with a pained voice, "Am I not using the disaster relief silver to purchase grain?"
"Ah?"
The disaster victims' eyes widened.
Was that how it was?
Had they wrongly accused the county magistrate?
From within the crowd, someone shouted, "Don't listen to his nonsense! This is absolutely not disaster relief silver. If you don't believe me, you can all rush forward and see. Disaster relief silver bears the seal of the national treasury. These silver coins definitely do not have it!"
Another person shouted, "Magistrate, if what you say is true, do you dare to let us inspect the silver?"
Damn it!
Of course, he couldn't let them inspect it.
He frowned and commanded, "Don't cause trouble. How can you inspect disaster relief silver? If even a little goes missing in the chaos, even with eight lives, you wouldn't be able to compensate for it. I shall spare you this once, considering you were misled and acted without malicious intent. But should there be a next time, I will not show leniency."
"Alright, all of you, withdraw. Tomorrow morning, I will release the grain."
Hearing that the grain would be released tomorrow, the disaster victims began to waver. After all, their intrusion into the yamen was merely to beg for a way to survive.
"Heh, you speak smoothly of releasing grain. How much do you plan to release? That's just a tactic to deceive us. Everyone, don't be fooled by him. What if he only releases a few dozen catties? What will become of us in the future? If we believe him and retreat today, and then our relatives die because of it, won't we regret it for the rest of our lives!"
"Today, we must take all the grain away!"
"Yes, take it all!"
"Don't listen to him!"
With shouts of incitement, the disaster victims' extinguished rage was rekindled. They angrily shoved aside the yamen runners blocking their way and charged towards the county magistrate.
"Block them, block them!"
The county magistrate's angry roar was finally drowned out by the crowd.
Nan Shiying sat on the wall, watching the chaotic scene unfold, and let out a faint yawn.