Grain prices at three or thirty taels, a winter claiming fifty thousand or one hundred thousand lives – such realities felt distant in the capital, Beijing.

After Li Pin's departure, the capital was once again shrouded in lingering autumn rain. However, this rain couldn't dampen the city's exuberant festive mood. Amidst countless gatherings and banquets, one almost had the illusion that the raindrops never even touched the ground. The news of Guo Yaoshi's capture of the Alutai Grand Tutor, along with the seizure of Emperor Taizong Yelu Deguang of Liao's honorary sword and grand seal, spread like wildfire throughout Beijing. Commoners discussed topics such as triumphal returns and presenting captives. They also pondered whether they were now invincible, and when the ultimatum to the Jin nation to fully reclaim the Sixteen Prefectures would be issued.

Amidst this atmosphere, the Right Chancellor's mansion hosted several grand banquets, a couple of which were attended by prominent Beijing officials such as Grand Tutor Cai, Privy Councilor Tong, Wang Fu, Liang Shicheng, and Li Gang, creating a lively scene.

On another front, the numerous pleasure quarters in Beijing were experiencing a boom in business. Fan Lou was exceptionally busy. Ning Yi initially intended to meet Li Shishi but repeatedly delayed it, mainly because it wasn't urgent. Later, he learned that Lady Shishi was working on a case of injustice within the Beijing brothels.

It was said that a courtesan named Tong Shu'er, from a Beijing brothel, had been deeply in love with an impoverished scholar. She often used her own money to support him, providing him with food and lodging. However, the scholar recently became an official and began to ignore her. This was, in itself, a common tale of heartbreak. But recently, while entertaining a guest, Tong Shu'er encountered an irascible secretary from the Ministry of Personnel who, for some unknown reason, accidentally killed her. When the brothel sought help from Tong Shu'er's former lover, they discovered he had already abandoned her. Meanwhile, the secretary from the Ministry of Personnel, using his connections, was evading responsibility. The combination of these events stirred up a great commotion. The two officials involved incurred public wrath, and a group of brothel women went to the government office to seek justice. Many literati joined in, writing articles condemning the two officials. This became a hot topic in Beijing for a time.

As the capital, Beijing often saw such topics arise. Tragedies stemming from romantic entanglements, especially those touching on human nature, were most likely to resonate with onlookers. Amidst this bustling and noisy environment, Ning Yi and others' intense underground operations seemed more like a clandestine effort hidden in the shadows of society.

Qin Si Yuan had carefully negotiated with Cai Jing and others and, in a sense, obtained their approval—though this approval was, in reality, meaningless. This was how the leaders or representatives of large families operated. Qin Si Yuan had merely informed some necessary people: "Regarding the grain price issue, I'm going to take action. If there's any offense caused, please don't take it to heart." After saying this, superficial relations could be maintained, but the true victory would depend on the actions of those below.

Almost simultaneously with Li Pin's departure, Yao Zunian, Monk Jueming, and others also left the capital, embarking on a journey to persuade various regions. Qin Si Yuan had already sent a letter south to inform Kang Xian of the entire plan. Ning Yi, for his part, gathered the eighteen large carts of Zhu Ji merchants traveling in all directions and dispatched them to various locations.

The time was approaching the Mid-Autumn Festival, around the fifteenth day of the eighth month.

****************

The thirteenth day of the eighth month, Heng County, one hundred and fifty miles from Bianliang.

"...The general situation is as I've described. The areas of Hedong and Huainan are currently experiencing grain shortages – severe shortages. That's why the Right Chancellor's office is leading this effort. Frankly speaking, as long as Steward Hou can provide grain and send a responsible person to accompany it, the price in the destination will be at least ten times higher for the first batch of grain. The hope is to drive down the price there and provide a way out for some people."

In the reception hall of the Hou family, the person speaking appeared young but spoke with sincerity and a gentle demeanor. He held his hands together slightly, watching the old steward nod as he sipped his tea.

"...Our master is a kind-hearted person and knows that Steward Hou is also kind-hearted. The memorial arch at the entrance of the village, the bridges and roads built nearby – Steward Hou's name is on them all. That's why he asked me to come early. Steward Fang of Beijing, do you know him? He heard about the situation in the affected areas and said he wanted to donate grain directly, selling it at a low price or giving it away for free. But our master said that won't work – it won't drive down the price. Steward Hou, you understand the reasoning behind that. So, the main thing is to have people do business. The official routes are like this..."

The young man took out a map: "We're closer to Hedong Road here. You can transport the grain to Qiaoxi first. The government will coordinate the allocation there. The boats are arranged by the government, and the freight is the current market price, calculated based on how much grain you provide, five hundred *shi* per shipment. This matter should already be formally announced in Qiaoxi. You can inquire about it. We're just intermediaries..."

Hearing this, the steward nodded, revealing a compassionate smile: "Young Luo, what you're saying is a great act of kindness. I'll definitely provide grain. However, my family has lived in Heng County for generations. I have two stewards and three sons who haven't been to any big places. Listening to you, this journey is so long...

I've heard that the affected areas have poor security. If something goes wrong on the way, there's no way for us to appeal to the government. Since, as you say, both north and south are short of grain, why doesn't the government collect it directly and transport it in a unified manner..."

"Steward Hou is absolutely right." Hearing this, the young man named Luo Luo nodded with a slight smile, recalling the words that Ning Yi had taught him when he left Bianliang. "But what we know is that if the government takes full responsibility, one, it's not good for their reputation, and two, Prime Minister Qin said that disaster relief is a great act of kindness and a major battle. We can only win if we have a lot of support. Frankly speaking, if the government directly intervenes, the situation will be different..."

He lowered his voice, "Other people will also get involved."

After saying this quietly, Luo Luo looked outside the door before continuing: "As for Steward Hou's concern about something happening, frankly, if you go to the yamen, it's troublesome if something really happens. But this time it's different. Steward Hou, I'm telling you this, you can send someone to inquire. Before the first batch of grain is transported, anyone who provides more than one thousand *shi* will be personally received by the Prime Minister at a banquet, and will receive a piece of calligraphy in his own handwriting."

"Oh?" The old man was moved, then thought with some difficulty, "One thousand *shi*..."

"Steward Hou, this one thousand *shi* doesn't mean it has to be from one person. It can be combined. For example, within Heng County, if your Hou clan gathers one thousand *shi*, then one person can be personally received by the Prime Minister. You can also tell this to others. Everyone is doing good deeds. If one person doesn't have enough, a group of people is also a sincere intention..."

Whispers, the sky outside was overcast, giving the feeling that rain was about to fall. More than an hour later, when Luo Luo and the accompanying tailor came out of the courtyard, a cart with the Suning marking also arrived. His companion asked, "How did it go?"

"Oh, oh, oh." Luo Luo tapped his forehead. "It's the same. He said he'll consider it. He bought over thirty taels of silver worth of goods from me... you know, like the previous ones, they want to sit at home and have someone come to collect the grain, then pay the money. They're reluctant to send people to Hedong or Huainan themselves. These people don't lack money... but this one seems like he might succeed."

"Then how did you persuade him, Brother Luo?"

"Hehe." Luo Luo smiled. "He has three sons. I told him there was an opportunity for the family to see the world. Doesn't the book say... uh, traveling ten thousand miles is better than reading ten thousand books. And they can get to know some officials. That's what the master taught me. Anyway, I said I'd come back in a few days."

As he spoke, he took out a small notebook from his pocket and pulled out a charcoal pencil, drawing a line through the crooked handwriting in the notebook. As he put the notebook away, he turned back and sighed.

He had been out of Beijing for three days. He had sold many expensive things, but he hadn't made any progress in persuading anyone to sell grain. Before this, he was the most outstanding of the stewards that the master had trained. Now, he worried that he might be surpassed by others...

In fact, in the first few days, all that the people on persuasion missions could obtain were indications of interest. This wasn't a bad start, but the real problems appeared elsewhere. As a dozen groups gradually fanned out from Bianliang, and various indications of interest were brewing, Luo Luo's side almost lost Steward Hou's business.

That was a few days later, when Steward Hou personally went to Qiaoxi to inquire about the situation. However, the matter of the government uniformly collecting and escorting the grain was not being implemented. The yamen secretary drove him out directly: "Our county yamen is a national instrument, how could it participate in your merchants' pursuit of profit? You are already old, and it seems you are not a foolish person, so how could you suddenly become confused and meddle in such merchant affairs, aren't you afraid of losing your reputation!"

Although the trend of commerce was very popular at this time, and there were many big merchants everywhere, the position of merchants in books and officialdom was still very low. Steward Hou had built bridges and paved roads locally, and his status was already between scholars and farmers. At this time, being suddenly scolded as a merchant pursuing profit almost made him sick.

And in Qiaoxi, the county magistrate had originally received a notice from the Right Chancellor's office. The magistrate was a cultured scholar and also had some connection with Qin Si Yuan. Qin Si Yuan had arranged several commercial routes this time, not wanting the impact to be too great, and arranged for him to come in, originally believing that he could understand. But after the magistrate returned, he thought about it, discussed it with the secretary, and finally decided not to comply. He also wrote a letter of advice to Qin Si Yuan, solemnly stating that the resources of the court should not be used as public tools, and that merchants pursue profit, which is a vulgar path, and violates the teachings of the sages. The court's disaster relief should also use a dignified method.

In the first few days, this kind of feedback was sent to the Prime Minister's office from more than one place. The first wave of obstacles began to appear. And the Prime Minister's response, in the following days, came down like a thunderbolt!

Ning Yi's so-called disaster relief strategy that combines economics and administration is similar to macroeconomic control in later generations. The initial concept was casually mentioned in a gathering, but Ning Yi himself knew the troubles involved. After realizing the seriousness of this grain price increase, it took Qin Si Yuan and others more than a month to formally decide to adopt it. In this process, Qin Si Yuan didn't know how much psychological construction he had done.

This old man understood Confucianism best, but that was also why,

At the moment he truly raised his hand and placed his chess piece, he could no longer be shaken by this little bit of obstruction.

At the same time, Li Pin had arrived at Hedong Road.

The carriage went *kuang kuang kuang kuang*, moving forward on the uneven dirt road. The scenery on both sides of the road was desolate. Occasionally, one could see ragged passersby heading in the opposite direction, toward the south. As he approached Shangdang, there were more and more of these people, some on the road, dragging their families, walking like zombies. When they saw the carriage coming, they stretched out their hands toward it to beg. Some would cry twice and say a few words, but most didn't speak.

At the time of the grain price increase, the autumn harvest had not yet arrived. The areas truly affected by the disaster on Hedong Road were not widespread, but the sudden increase in grain prices led to carelessness and chaos in the autumn harvest. It was said that people had been killed in some places. Now, the inflation of grain prices here had lasted for two months, rising from the original two and a half strings of cash per *shi* to the current thirty strings of cash per *shi*. Everything had become like the scene before him. According to Ning Yi, the grain price would probably stabilize for a period of time, and inflation would not be very fast. This situation would continue until winter, at which time the truly deadly moment would arrive.

He would occasionally lift the curtain of the carriage to look at this scene outside.

They were approaching the city. In front of the road, he vaguely heard a commotion. The cries of people, shouts, and curses rang out. The carriage stopped near there. Li Pin looked out from inside the carriage. There were ragged people injured by beatings by the roadside, blood flowing everywhere. A cart was lying on the ground. The man who seemed to be the owner of the cart was dressed slightly better, and was surrounded by three or five men with sticks, glaring angrily, but the owner of the cart was also crying.

After a few glances, Li Pin understood what was happening. This cart was carrying some things, originally to go to the city. Because of the recent times, the owner had also hired a few men to follow, to avoid being robbed. But when they got here, the wheel suddenly broke, the cart fell over, and some vegetables and grain that were being transported on it fell down. At that moment, the people on the side of the road began to snatch it. The men who were following first tried to stop them, then picked up sticks and started hitting people, but even so, most of the few things on the cart were still snatched away.

Some people on the side of the road who snatched things were beaten away, some were beaten until their heads were bleeding. They also knew they were in the wrong, didn't argue, and just fell on the road crying. As they cried, the owner of the cart was also crying. The woman in his family had a serious illness, and these things were originally to be taken to the city to sell at a high price, and to find a doctor to take back, but now it was all in vain.

Li Pin and the accompanying staff and guards watched this scene. Not far from the carriage, a dirty, skinny little girl fell on the road, her mother holding her crying loudly. The little girl had been hit, and her head was already bleeding. She was holding two rotten vegetable leaves in her hand. She was probably very hungry and injured, she opened her mouth, but no sound of crying could be heard.

The Chen staff following him hesitated to speak. Li Pin looked at him a few times, and finally opened his mouth dryly, asking the guard who was skilled in bone-setting to quickly take medicine down to treat people. The surrounding people shifted some of their attention to this side.

Li Pin sat there, remembering a few words of conversation with Ning Yi when he left Beijing: "For this disaster relief, is Liheng going to the south or the north?"

"I'm not going, that's your business, I'm staying in Beijing."

"Oh, Liheng understands this best, so it's only right to sit in the middle and direct things."

"Heh, not really, just out of sight, out of mind."

"Hmm?"

"Because..." He remembered that at that time, Ning Yi paused for a long time before speaking, "Because this time when you go, you will see many people, you are going there to help them survive. But at the moment you see them, you will understand that many of them will be starved to death alive. Definitely... there will be some people that you are powerless to help..."

At the time, he felt a sigh for these words, but at this time, he truly knew what Ning Yi was talking about.

He watched for a while, Chen staff called him not to get out of the car, fearing it would cause any trouble, but he finally went down, looked at the little girl whose head was bandaged, secretly put two steamed buns in her clothes, then returned to the car. At that moment, he knew that it meant nothing.

After that, the carriage started *kuang kuang dang dang*, heading toward the city...