When a message arrived from the imperial capital, Xiao Man was the first to pick it up, open it, and read it at a glance, a hint of understanding flashing in her eyes.
"His Majesty truly favors the Prince of Chu, bestowing Miss Pei upon him as consort. The Duke of Chen's estate is now aligned with the Prince of Chu..." As she spoke, Xiao Man recalled the spring hunt and the rumors circulating outside. The betrothal, the wedding, all so hasty. Why?
In a time of natural disasters and widespread suffering, the Prince of Chu quietly married Miss Pei Qianyun, daughter of the Duke of Chen, as his consort. Given the Duke of Chen's influence, such a hasty wedding was uncharacteristic. What prompted them to rush the marriage?
Xiao Man opened another piece of intelligence. It contained only one sentence: Pei Qianyun was pregnant!
Xiao Man immediately understood. The person who had violated Pei Qianyun's purity in the spring hunt grounds was the Prince of Chu. Neither family had publicized the matter, and they had then married quietly to conceal this scandal. Pei Qianyun had been hiding this fact to prevent the Prince of Qin from knowing?
But now that she was married to the Prince of Chu, was there any need to keep it from the Prince of Qin? Based on Xiao Man's understanding of Nangong Yu, he might not even care if he was told.
She genuinely couldn't figure it out. When this incident occurred, the two families had secretly conspired, believing that with His Majesty's favoritism towards the Prince of Chu, the matter would surely succeed. Yet, neither family had made any move. Later, when she saw the Prince of Chu at Baihua Pavilion, she hadn't heard him mention it...
A thought, a very dangerous thought, flashed through Xiao Man's mind. She then put down the message. It seemed the drama unfolding in the imperial capital was quite interesting.
In the western military camp, a middle-aged man in armor, looking quite heroic, regarded the prefect of Jiangzhou, who was pacing nervously in the room, with a mocking expression.
"You're flustered by mere a beardless brat, have no ambition." The man was Pang Tong, the commander of the western military camp.
"General Pang, although the imperial envoy sent this time is just a beardless brat, he is backed by the current Prime Minister!"
"So what if he's backed by the Prime Minister?" Pang Tong said coldly, "If we were in the imperial capital, I might show him some respect. But this is Jiangzhou, my territory!"
"Wen Mohan is the heir cultivated by Prime Minister Wen, and he will undoubtedly become a powerful minister second only to His Majesty in the future. His Majesty sending him to handle Jiangzhou's affairs suggests he might have ulterior motives," Prefect Zou Yang of Jiangzhou frowned. If it were an ordinary person, killing him would be one thing, but this was the heir of the Prime Minister's estate. Killing him would bring endless trouble.
"Jiangzhou is currently a lawless land, filled with lawbreakers and thugs. No one can guarantee that there won't be an accident," Pang Tong said slowly. "If he's sensible, then everyone will be safe. If he's not sensible, accidents are very easy to occur in this lawless land."
"I originally intended to block him outside of Jiangzhou, but those scoundrels like Qiu Lao Er are so unreliable. They actually let him enter Jiangzhou safely!" Zou Yang was deeply troubled. "If Wen Mohan meets with an accident in Jiangzhou, whether we are involved or not, we will be held accountable."
"I heard that this Master Wen is quite kind to the disaster victims?" Pang Tong picked up an apple from the table and took a big bite. "Are disaster victims easily able to approach him?"
"General, what are your plans?"
Pang Tong slowly chewed the apple and said, "If he's killed by the disaster victims, it will have nothing to do with us."
"You mean, hire assassins to disguise themselves as disaster victims, get close to Wen Mohan, and then take the opportunity..." Zou Yang made a throat-slitting gesture.
Pang Tong smiled eerily, "Prefect Zou, it will be the disaster victims who are dissatisfied and vent their anger on the imperial envoy!"
Zou Yang instantly understood, and a lewd smile appeared on his sharp, monkey-like face. His two thin mustaches looked particularly comical as he smiled.
"General Pang, one more thing," Zou Yang said again. "The granaries."
Pang Tong carelessly replied, "This flood was fierce. The granaries were washed away, and the grain was swept away. Now, there isn't a single grain in the granaries, not even the walls are left."
"Brilliant, truly brilliant!"
Thus, someone dismantled the granary walls overnight, feigning that they had been washed away by the flood. They then filled them with mud, mixed with some grain for realism, as if the granaries weren't empty but had indeed been flooded.
Zou Yang's problem solved, he happily returned to the county office. To show that he had indeed inspected the disaster situation, he deliberately smeared himself with mud before returning to the prefectural office.
Upon his return, he went straight to the courtyard where Su Cheng and the others were resting. He woke them up in the middle of the night. Su Cheng thought it was a thief, but when he opened the door, he realized it was the prefect.
Su Cheng opened the door and looked at the person in front of him, who had clearly rolled around in mud countless times and was unrecognizable. He tentatively asked, "Prefect Zou?"
"This humble official, Zou Yang, is the prefect of Jiangzhou. I have just returned from an inspection and heard that the imperial envoy has arrived, so I hurried to pay my respects. I have eagerly awaited your arrival, and now the hundreds of thousands of disaster-stricken people in Jiangzhou can finally be saved!" Zou Yang shook Su Cheng's hand with his dirty hands, smearing mud all over Su Cheng.
"Prefect Zou, the imperial envoy has not yet arrived. I am the commander of the guards escorting the imperial envoy, named Su Cheng."
"So you are General Su. General Su, where is the imperial envoy?" Zou Yang said, wiping away tears, which streaked his face, making it black and white. "Jiangzhou has never been so tragic. I thought that even with the flood, at least we had the granaries, and we could save the people from hardship. Who knew that heaven's cruelty would wash away all three major granaries, and all the grain was swept away by the flood, with none spared. Now, all of Jiangzhou awaits relief supplies to survive!"
Su Cheng looked shocked. "The granaries were washed away?"
"Yes, for ease of transport, the granaries were mostly built near the docks. When this flood came, the granaries were the first to be hit. Hundreds of thousands of dan of grain were all lost. The people of Jiangzhou are suffering." Zou Yang said with great sorrow. "I don't know what to do. Fortunately, the imperial envoy arrived at this time. General, how much longer until the imperial envoy arrives? I will personally go to welcome him."
Su Cheng was stunned by the news from Zou Yang. The granaries were empty. They had prepared for the worst before coming, but they never expected that their worst-case scenario would come true. The granaries were empty, but according to Zou Yang, the grain wasn't embezzled but washed away by the flood!
"Prefect Zou, are there really no grains left in the granaries?"
Zou Yang shook his head with great difficulty. "Gone, all gone."
"Could you take me to see the granaries?"
"It's too late now. How about this: tomorrow morning, I will take you to see the granaries. You see, I need to..."
"Alright, as soon as dawn breaks, I'll trouble you to take us to see them."