Chapter 383: Time to give up the grain (2/2)
“Is that enough to split between everyone? Could it be that we won’t each get a share?”
“Was it two jin? They said two jin this morning!”
At first, the commentary was only about the quantity of grain, but someone from the crowd suddenly shouted out, “Everyone, don’t panic. His Highness Duke of Qin will definitely do as he promised.” Immediately, the topic of the discussions turned to Long Feiye.
“That’s right, His Highness Duke of Qin promised. We shouldn’t get impatient.”
“His Highness Duke of Qin is the imperial envoy. If he promised everyone, then he won’t shirk on the goods!”
“His Highness definitely has ways to get enough grain.”
If Han Yunxi was there, she would’ve rolled her eyes at these words. These people could sure make things up! It was clearly Nanguo Jun who agreed to provide the grain, so when it did turn into Long Feiye’s promise instead? Unfortunately, she was currently absent from the scene, leaving Long Feiye by himself. Even Chu Xifeng wasn’t around. Dressed in long brocade robes, Long Feiye stood at the top of the steps leading to the provincial official’s house with his hands clasped behind his back, facing the comments from the crowd below. His lofty, towering position stood steadfastly in place, as staunch as Mt. Tai; those wintry eyes had fixated themselves on Official Nanguo since the very start.
Official Nanguo made a show of supporting himself with the carts as he made his way to the door. Huffing and puffing, he didn’t even rest but hastened to pay his respects. “Blessings to Your Highness Duke of Qin. For the sake of finding this grain, this official came late. I ask that Your Highness forgives me.”
All of the commentary stopped as the crowd re-focused its energies on the scene before them. Even the ones at the end of the line came closer to see what was going on. For now, they were still an orderly bunch with no thought of fighting over the grain.
“How much grain did you find?” Long Feiye’s glacial voice turned the air chillier by a few degrees.
“To reply Your Highness, this official personally left the city this afternoon and managed to find a total of 80 dan of grain. Add that to the 100 dan stored in the provincial official’s estate and that’s a total of 180 dan, which is equal to 1,000 jin of grain.” As Official Nanguo spoke, he knocked on the front doors, which opened to reveal a few men carrying out dan after dan of grain. At his words ‘1,000 jin of grain,’ the crowd grew silent again.
1,000 jin was quite substantial for a single person or one family. However, it was something worth crying over when 1,000 jin was to be split between 20,000 some people. How much could 1,000 jin be worth between them all? Not even enough to fill a single bowl of rice! Very soon, the crowd grew restless and broke into hushed conversations. None of them dared to raise their voices, since His Highness Duke of Qin hadn’t said anything yet.
“Nanguo Mingde, do you take your lordship to be someone who doesn’t know mathematics? Or are you simply cheating these 20,000 and some odd people instead?” Long Feiye’s angry tone silenced the crowd again.
Nanguo Mingde immediately fell to his knees. “Your Highness Duke of Qin, have mercy! If every person in South Ning City gets two jin of grain, that’s 40,000 jin for around 20,000 citizens. Even if this official had Heaven-sent skills, there’s no way I can dig up that much!” As he spoke, he raised his voice even higher and cried, “Your Highness, all of this grain came from various governmental offices. It was left by the imperial court to raise the officials and soldiers. Currently, South Ning Prefecture oversees four counties and eight townships. All of the grain from the government offices were emptied out by this official, as well as my estate’s own stores. This official really has no other way. If Your Highness Duke of Qin still thinks this isn’t enough, then take this official’s life! My son is the only blood heir to my Nanguo Clan, so I beg Your Highness to spare him on behalf of his youthful ignorance!”
Nanguo Mingde’s words were remarkable in both word and expression, his face covered in tears. When he finished, he turned to kowtow towards the citizens. “Everyone, I, Nanguo Mingde, am the official who oversees South Ning Prefecture, but I couldn’t even protect a single mouthful of grain for you all. I really have let you all down!”
His choice of words really were quite interesting. By using ‘protect, he seemed to be hinting at other possibilities behind the scene. The peasants had heard so many rumors, from the Duke of Qin embezzling everything to the senior provincial official stealing grain and the minor officials joining in the corruption. But they had no idea which ones were true or false. When they saw Nanguo Mingde looking so wretched as he offered up his life, they began to question the rumors accusing him of stealing their grain. Perhaps they’d all misunderstood this senior provincial official. If he could gather grain from all the government offices at a time like this and even offer up his private stores, it was already a job well done.
In the end, the peasants were still softhearted! At this moment, someone shouted from the crowd, “Official Nanguo can’t die! Official Nanguo’s already tried his best! It’s not his fault that he couldn’t find the grain!”
Following that, a young pageboy rain out of the senior provincial official’s estate in tears to kneel in front of Long Feiye. He shouted, “Your Highness Duke of Qin, have mercy! Please spare Official Nanguo, he even took grain from his old mother! There’s not a single grain left in the estate!”
All of the people starting talking at the revelation, making Nanguo Mingde a target of public sympathy and even someone to be respected.
This…