Chapter 378: His Highness Duke of Qin embezzles (1/2)
Chapter 378: His Highness Duke of Qin embezzles
Han Yunxi and company received some bad news before the silver from the Ministry of Revenue arrived. All across the country, rumors were flying that His Highness Duke of Qin was incapable of quelling the famine in the disaster areas. That’s why he was tarrying on the road on purpose instead of heading straight to the troubled places. The news was the wildest at the three major disaster areas. What’s more, there were even smears against His Highness Duke of Qin, claiming him to have embezzled the funds from the charity auction. Instead of using the silver to buy grain, he was drinking, eating, and enjoying himself on his road trip while paying for all sorts of extravagant expenses for the conniving Qin Wangfei.
Han Yunxi’s mouth couldn’t stop twitching at the news. They’re rather impatient with their hearsay, aren’t they? A total of 7,400,000 taels had been raised from the charity auction, with 5,000,000 taels coming from Long Feiye’s own pockets. Moreover, the imperial uncle’s estate still hadn’t sent over half their silver! Accusing us of embezzling the funds? That was a direct insult to His Highness Duke of Qin! Was it worth it for the loss of 1,200,000 taels on their end? Han Yunxi didn’t even know whether she should feel unlucky or honored by the attention.
Fine. She ended up smiling optimistically at Long Feiye. “Your Highness, it seems chenqie is a femme fatale who endangers the country and its people.”
Long Feiye gave her a cold look, showing his disdain for public opinion. A single bracelet on Han Yunxi’s wrist was already equivalent to the wealth of an entire nation. Would embezzling a mere 1,200,000 taels be enough to take Han Yunxi drinking, eating, and playing? It was obvious that the people in charge of the smear campaign had vastly underestimated his financial resources.
Although they’d avoided the disaster areas in favor of the black market, Long Feiye had sent people to spread false news the entire time to fabricate an itinerary for Emperor Tianhui’s eyes. The only ones who could spread such rumors across the nation in such a short time would be either the emperor or the imperial uncle.
“Your Highness, it’s laughable that they’re accusing us of embezzling such a paltry sum, isn’t it? Who’s going to believe it?” Even Chu Xifeng knew how to do math like that!
But Wu Shu was more solemn. “Your Highness, it’d be best if the peasants knew how to do arithmetic. Spreading such unfounded rumors was ruthless on their part!”
Wu Shu didn’t mean to look down upon the peasants, but the fact was that their access to the factual truth was limited. It’d be hard for them to learn of the real facts behind the stories. Humans were natural-born to echo each others’ opinions. That’s why even the most preposterous of rumors found a willing audience to spread its lies. Eventually, lies became truth and finally, lies became history itself. The mouths of the commoners and the brushes of the scholars were both knives that could kill people without a trace.
It was already no secret that the imperial court hadn’t done its very best to relieve the people in the disaster areas, or that much of its grain stores had been embezzled away. Under these circumstances, the discontent peasants wouldn’t care a whit about the feud between His Highness Duke of Qin or Emperor Tianhui. In their eyes, His Highness Duke of Qin was simply the imperial envoy sent to relieve them, a representative of the imperial court. If rumors of his embezzlement spread, it was very likely that riots and revolts would break out.
As soon as Chu Xifeng heard Wu Shu’s words, he cried, “Your Highness, as this subordinate sees it, their next step will be them instigating the disaster victims into an uprising!”
Han Yunxi nodded in agreement. The struggle for the people’s hearts had just begun! “Your Highness, as chenqie sees it, the famine is most severe in the three main disaster areas in the south. The people there will be the fiercest as well.”
“You knew?” Long Feiye was caught off-guard.
“Chenqie didn’t know where Your Highness would go first, so I did a little investigating of my own,” Han Yunxi admitted.
This woman is indeed an exceptional assistant. Although he hadn’t given her anything to do, she’d thought of everything anyways. Long Feiye gave Han Yunxi a deep look, enough to make her self-conscious.
“Chu Xifeng, starting from tomorrow you’ll hide all signs of your lordship’s movements! Head to the southern regions in secret with the 1,500,000 dan of grain. The rest shall be divided evenly between the other two major disaster areas. Everything will be transported undercover!” Long Feiye ordered.
Han Yunxi grew amused. Long Feiye was truly the craftiest one of the bunch! Even though the rumors were flying left and right, he had even chosen to hide his falsified travel records. Once he covered up everything regarding himself so that Emperor Tianhui couldn’t find a hint of his whereabouts, Heaven only knows how much the rumors would grow! In short, Long Feiye was helping to embellish his own story. Without a doubt, he’d soon become the center of attention for all the people across the country. Imagine the effects he’d cause if he personally delivered grain to the various regions in order to clear his name. Long Feiye was an expert at self-promotion, but this time he chose to borrow Emperor Tianhui’s work and create an even bigger name for himself.
“Your subordinate understands! This subordinate will start on it right away!” Chu Xifeng left in high spirits. He couldn’t want to see the scene of His Highness Duke of Qin personally giving away his grain! Even the mere thought of it cheered him up!
Despite this, both Han Yunxi and Long Feiye remained perfectly self-possessed. Long Feiye personally poured her a cup of tea as they silently sat tasting their drinks. Wu Shu watched them from off to the side and couldn’t help but secretly sigh with feeling. In truth, each of this duo was more black-bellied than the other. It would be best to never face against them. Otherwise, the victim would be played to death.
—
The next day, Long Feiye and Han Yunxi headed covertly to the southern regions at the same time the carriage that was assuming their identity elsewhere suddenly disappeared. Emperor Tianhui and the imperial uncle got wind of the disappearance very swiftly.