Upon hearing this, Pang Xiao suddenly sat up, but getting up too quickly, he forgot about his wounds and hissed as he sucked in a sharp breath from the pain.
Qin Yining was startled and quickly supported his arm to help him find a comfortable position. “How could you be so reckless? You forgot you’re still injured?”
But Pang Xiao raised his hand. “I understand now. Before departing the day after tomorrow, I must carefully and publicly inspect all the disaster relief supplies.” He pulled Qin Yining into his embrace and gave her a gentle shake. “Yi Jie’er, you truly are my treasure.”
“You might not have been unable to think of this yourself. You were just momentarily confused.”
“Not at all. A man with a virtuous wife won’t encounter misfortune—countless people envy me.” Pang Xiao whispered something in her ear.
Qin Yining’s face flushed red, and she hit him once. “How can you be so annoying!”
But Pang Xiao didn’t mind and continued looking at her with a smile.
A day passed in the blink of an eye. Pang Xiao arranged all travel matters properly, and advisors like Xie Yue and Xu Weizhi departed separately ahead of schedule.
To prevent danger, Pang Xiao also arranged for Tang Xiu to lead people to follow and protect them.
Qin Yining gathered the female servants of the inner residence and gave them double their monthly wages.
“This disaster relief mission—who knows when we’ll return? Perhaps a year and a half, perhaps three to five years. During such a long time, the prince’s mansion only needs people to watch the house. When the prince and I return, we’ll invite everyone back.”
The servants naturally all obeyed, took their silver, and dispersed.
The remaining people were all those who would accompany them on this journey.
Although Li Qitian had given them urgent timing—only one day—Pang Xiao and Qin Yining had prepared everything properly.
Early on the morning of the eleventh, just as Pang Xiao and Qin Yining’s group had finished dressing, someone came to report from outside: “Your Highness! His Majesty has personally come to see you off!”
Qin Yining and Pang Xiao exchanged a glance, having already guessed what Li Qitian intended to do. The couple led everyone out of the prince’s mansion gates and knelt respectfully at the entrance to welcome him.
Li Qitian stepped down from the imperial palanquin, looked down at the respectfully bowing couple, and approached with a smile. “What is this? Zhixi, your wounds haven’t fully healed yet. Besides, between you and me as brothers, why must you be so formal?”
As he spoke, many people had already gathered in front of the prince’s mansion gates, with carriages slowly arriving one after another, stopping in sequence along the main road in front of the mansion.
Pang Xiao’s peripheral vision swept over that row of carriages—there were exactly twenty of them. He turned back and said respectfully, “Though Your Majesty says this, the protocol between ruler and subject cannot be abandoned. A subject is a subject, and the Son of Heaven is the Son of Heaven. How could this subject be casual about proper etiquette?”
Li Qitian nodded with a smile and glanced at Qin Yining behind Pang Xiao. “We haven’t seen the princess consort for many days either. Where did you go to enjoy yourself recently?”
Qin Yining knew that Li Qitian had once ordered people to track and kidnap her as a threat, but she had been fortunate enough to avoid Li Qitian’s people. This Son of Heaven was so petty that he would even make moves against women—Qin Yining felt considerable disdain for such a person.
“In response to Your Majesty, I merely walked around casually. With natural disasters and man-made calamities becoming increasingly severe, I returned to the capital.”
Li Qitian thought for a moment but ultimately didn’t pursue the matter further, nor did he mention Pang Xiao and Qin Yining’s disrespectful behavior that day. He only smiled and said, “Zhixi, the importance of disaster relief need not be elaborated by me, right? On this journey, you must spare no effort to relieve the people’s suffering. I don’t wish to see those common people displaced and living in misery.”
Yet it was the very person before them who had caused this.
Qin Yining lowered her long eyelashes, perfectly concealing the contempt in her eyes.
Pang Xiao said, “Your Majesty speaks truly. This subject fears he will do his utmost to share Your Majesty’s concerns.” He then looked toward the carriages parked by the roadside and smiled. “These are the supplies for disaster relief?”
Li Qitian nodded with a smile. “Yes. These have all been recorded in the registry. Take them all with you.” He gestured behind him as he spoke.
Xiong Jinshui immediately presented a small booklet with a dark blue cover with both hands.
Pang Xiao received it, respectfully thanked the Emperor for his grace, took the account book, and turned to walk away, handing it to Huzi. “Take people to inventory the supplies on the carriages. Open them publicly for display.”
“Yes.” Huzi nodded respectfully and quickly departed.
Li Qitian’s brows furrowed tightly, his face grew hot, and his heart became somewhat flustered.
Pang Xiao begged pardon and led Qin Yining forward to help.
Li Qitian hurriedly said, “Everything recorded in the registry has been brought over. It’s nearly time for the auspicious departure time—you should prepare yourselves.”
But Pang Xiao seemed not to understand Li Qitian’s words, smiling as he said, “Yes, this subject is preparing.”
Seeing Pang Xiao getting busy alongside the others, Li Qitian’s frown deepened so much it could crush a fly. “What I mean is that the auspicious time has arrived and we cannot delay the departure time. Otherwise, according to the Imperial Astronomical Bureau’s calculations, this would be most inauspicious. Zhixi, you and the princess consort should quickly board the carriage and depart immediately.”
Though Li Qitian’s tone was consultative, he was the Son of Heaven, so his words were golden edicts.
Pang Xiao couldn’t resist the imperial decree in broad daylight before a crowd, so he could only lead Qin Yining toward the carriages.
But Huzi conducted his inspection with great fanfare, completely uncaring whether the originally packed carriages would be disrupted.
The blood vessels on Li Qitian’s forehead bulged with rage, and he immediately declared, “I ordered immediate departure—can you not hear!”
Xiong Jinshui, following at the emperor’s side, dared not remain silent when the emperor spoke thus.
Xiong Jinshui quickly walked to Pang Xiao and said, “Please hurry—His Majesty’s decree cannot be disobeyed!”
Pang Xiao bore no ill will toward Xiong Jinshui, so his attitude was relatively polite, but his voice was loud and resonant as a great bell.
“Since His Majesty says it cannot be disobeyed, then we should investigate even more clearly to prevent anyone from exploiting loopholes. What if someone takes this opportunity to embezzle disaster relief supplies? It’s better to examine them face-to-face. This way, this subject won’t end up taking the blame for nothing.”
Pang Xiao’s words were indeed direct, shocking everyone present. Even the common people observing from a street away, though kept at a distance by the Imperial Guards, couldn’t help but discuss in low voices.
“The world is already in such chaos, yet there are still people who would embezzle disaster relief supplies? Wouldn’t that be unconscionable!”
“You don’t know—down south, there are even more detestable grain merchants profiting from the national disaster! Perhaps in the blink of an eye, someone might deceive the prince with counterfeit supplies.”
Li Qitian ground his teeth upon hearing this, but having determined to play the benevolent ruler today, he couldn’t explode. He could only nod with a smile on his face. “Fine, since you don’t trust me, counting them clearly face-to-face is indeed proper.”
“This subject is terrified. How would this subject dare doubt Your Majesty?” Pang Xiao immediately dropped to his knees with a thud, no longer caring about his wounds.
Qin Yining also quickly knelt beside him. As a woman, it wasn’t appropriate for her to speak, so she only lowered her head and trembled, as if frightened by Li Qitian’s words.
The common people, not understanding the situation, saw the prince kneel and followed suit.
Prince Zhongshun’s reputation in the court was truly too high. Many citizens who cared about court politics even thought Pang Xiao could march against the Tatars, never expecting His Majesty to assign him to disaster relief instead.
The people felt uneasy, and emboldened by the distance, their discussions grew louder.
Some even whispered that such a meritorious military general as Pang Xiao now had no place to display his heroic talents and had to be suppressed by His Majesty to this extent, only able to kneel obediently and kowtow, not daring to explain clearly.
As the people thought this way, those who acted less cautiously spoke even louder.
Though Li Qitian didn’t know what the people were thinking, he could guess the general sentiment from everyone’s expressions.
How had he forgotten that this fellow Pang Zhixi was most skilled at winning people’s sympathy, thereby making them stand on his side?
Beyond his anger, Li Qitian had already devised a counterstrategy and was no longer flustered.
Originally, today he had merely been opportunistically trying his luck. If this method could subdue Pang Xiao, it would be an unexpected gain; if not, it didn’t matter. He was the Son of Heaven—could he not intimidate a mere prince with a different surname?
After a brief moment of anger, Li Qitian changed his approach. “Your inspection is indeed proper. After all, I handle myriad affairs daily and cannot personally oversee everything. Take this disaster relief supplies—because they were needed urgently and in large quantities, I didn’t have time to examine them carefully. It’s good that you inspect them thoroughly to prevent any problems later, which would be a disservice to the disaster victims.”
Pang Xiao kept his head lowered, looking at the ground. Li Qitian’s shadow was elongated by the early morning sunlight, casting a silhouette on the azure stone bricks in front of him.
It seemed Li Qitian was immediately withdrawing his failed strategy and planning to arrange a scapegoat.
Though Pang Xiao criticized silently in his heart, his expression remained smiling as he kowtowed. “Yes, this subject will certainly inspect carefully.”
Sure enough, before long, Huzi led people to examine the items on the carriages and handed the registry back to Pang Xiao. “Your Highness, we saw no gold or silver on the carriages. These twenty carriages of grain and provisions, when consolidated, could actually fit in just ten carriages. None of the gold and silver listed in the registry is present.”
Pang Xiao presented the registry to Li Qitian, smiling as he said, “Your Majesty, this subject won’t pursue the missing portions. But one thing—Your Majesty must strictly investigate whoever recorded this false registry, or perhaps this person embezzled the court’s silver! This subject believes whoever tampered with this had ulterior motives!”
“Think about it—when this subject goes south on official duty, it represents Your Majesty’s reputation and naturally carries Your Majesty’s favor. This subject is also Your Majesty’s capable person. If this were used to sow discord between ruler and subject, future disaster relief work would be difficult to manage.”
Li Qitian nodded repeatedly, but secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, Pang Xiao had different thoughts and didn’t directly suspect him. Otherwise, not to mention anything else, he couldn’t explain himself even before these common people.
“Rest assured, I will certainly investigate thoroughly!” Li Qitian’s expression was grave as water.
Pang Xiao said respectfully, “Yes, this subject thanks Your Majesty.” After speaking, he turned and instructed Huzi, “Take people to consolidate the grain and provisions for easier management during travel. Otherwise, if the convoy stretches too long, there will always be problems.”
Huzi immediately accepted the order and led people to transport the supplies.
During the transport, the prince’s guards didn’t ask the common people to step aside. Everyone watched with their eyes fixed on the process—no one had any opportunity to tamper with anything.
Only after reloading the grain, provisions, and hemp cloth garments did Pang Xiao count the number of carriages and smile. “Grain and provisions that could clearly be transported in eight carriages—those people in the Ministry of Revenue actually loaded twenty carriages.”
Li Qitian’s mouth corners drooped. He closed his eyes briefly before recovering his clarity. “Rest assured, I won’t lightly forgive those who did such things.”