“Your Highness, how did it go?” When Xiao Changyan returned to the county office, his advisors hurried to greet him.
Xiao Changyan turned and sat in the main seat, accepting the teacup handed to him by a servant. With his sword-like eyebrows and star-bright eyes, he replied solemnly, “The Crown Princess acts just as she did when confronting His Majesty at the temporary palace – without any pretense.”
Shen Xihe had openly demanded to take over the disaster relief responsibilities from his hands, and Xiao Changyan couldn’t understand her purpose. Almost all roads into Wengdeng County were cut off. Even Shen Xihe’s group had to take numerous mountain detours and travel mostly on foot, expending considerable effort to arrive.
Transporting large quantities of grain, medicine, and cloth was simply impossible. The entire county’s supplies couldn’t sustain the people for five days. Even if the rain stopped tomorrow, the following four days spent clearing roads wouldn’t be enough time.
Moreover, Xiao Changyan felt this rain wouldn’t stop anytime soon. How could Shen Xihe not see this? Yet she chose this moment to take over this hot potato, giving him a perfect opportunity to cut his losses.
It should be known that since his arrival, not a single citizen had died from illness or starvation. Now that Shen Xihe had taken over this mess if future supplies proved insufficient, she would bear all responsibility! While he would forever remain the meritorious official!
“This…” After hearing Xiao Changyan’s detailed account of what had transpired, his advisor was dumbfounded, equally unable to comprehend Shen Xihe’s actions. “Unless… the Crown Princess can conjure supplies for all of Wendeng County.”
“Conjure?” Xiao Changyan responded as if hearing an absurd fantasy, his expression extremely disdainful.
He had been here for several months, and not just Wendeng County, but nearly all of Dengzhou was under his control. Unless this Crown Princess had heaven-defying abilities, she absolutely couldn’t resolve the impending crisis.
The advisor also didn’t believe Shen Xihe could conjure supplies – wouldn’t that make her a supernatural being?
“What was Prince Xin’s attitude?” the advisor asked instead.
“Fifth Brother seemed to remain uninvolved, not saying a word.” Xiao Changyan recalled after a moment. “He didn’t stop the Crown Princess, and even the Crown Prince helped her.”
This left Xiao Changyan even more bewildered. He would refrain from commenting on Xiao Huayong, but Xiao Changqing surely understood the consequences of taking on disaster relief now, yet he didn’t say a word.
Could Shen Xihe truly have some heaven-defying method? Had she already informed Xiao Huayong and Xiao Changqing, leading to the current situation?
Thinking of this, Xiao Changyan couldn’t sit still. He set down his teacup, stood up, and ordered, “Bring me the maps.”
He needed to carefully check if he had truly overlooked something.
If Shen Xihe managed to bring in supplies, his crimes would have been severe. The wealthy households he had pressured for disaster relief would surely unite to petition against him, and these government grains he had requisitioned would need to be compensated in the future under the court’s name to appease public resentment.
He had presented His Majesty with a major problem!
Xiao Changyan carefully studied the routes throughout Wendeng County and its surroundings, only relaxing after confirming it was impossible to transport large quantities of goods through any remaining paths.
“Go spread word about the county’s current storage quantities of grain and medicine. Also let them know about the Crown Princess’s dissatisfaction with my borrowing from wealthy households to aid the common people, and how she’s using this to prevent me from interfering with disaster relief.” Xiao Changyan instructed.
The advisor’s eyes lit up: “Yes, Your Highness.”
While Xiao Changyan was inciting public pressure against Shen Xihe, Xiao Huayong’s memorial was copied onto silk and attached to a palace messenger pigeon. At this point, messenger pigeons were the only way to send messages to Wendeng County.
The pigeons were very fast, delivering the message to Emperor Youning that same day. After reading it, Emperor Youning’s expression remained unchanged. After pondering for a moment, he summoned several ministers.
Shen Xihe had requested His Majesty issue an edict, in the name of benevolence and righteousness, to announce to the world their efforts to help Dengzhou by gathering grain, medicine, cloth, and other supplies. Emperor Youning was quite satisfied with this method, as the national treasury could no longer provide disaster relief supplies.
The rise and fall of the nation was every man’s responsibility.
The world did not lack righteous causes, and Emperor Youning didn’t feel this would bring shame to the court, after all, the court had already aided Dengzhou once, and couldn’t drain itself dry to supply Dengzhou.
Emperor Youning could lead the civil and military officials to set an example, making gathering supplies not difficult. The challenge was how to transport them into Wendeng County.
Xiao Huayong’s letter hadn’t specified, but since he dared to request supplies, he naturally wouldn’t let them go to waste.
Emperor Youning also studied the maps for a while but couldn’t figure out a solution. He maintained hopeful expectations, wanting to see Shen Xihe’s capabilities.
Yes, Shen Xihe’s capabilities – although this memorial came from Xiao Huayong, the writing style throughout was not his. Not just Emperor Youning, but all the ministers who had reviewed it, led by Cui Zheng, felt this was the work of the Eastern Palace’s consort.
Having just obtained authority over the inner palace, she was eager to add prestige and public support to the Eastern Palace.
Everyone had their thoughts. Shen Xihe and Xiao Huayong had left the residence early, and no one knew where they went. Even the citizens who had gathered after being incited by Xiao Changyan to demand explanations only received one message: the Crown Princess and Crown Prince had gone out to gather supplies for them.
“Here…” Shen Xihe stood at the mountain’s foot, surrounded by flat terrain. They had taken a carriage this far and were still within Wendeng County. Behind the gray rain curtain, the mountain’s silhouette was barely visible. Two mountains stood far apart, with a wide river flowing between them. Due to days of rain, the river surged rapidly, its roaring waves could be heard, creating an impressive spectacle.
“Yes, this is the place.” Xiao Huayong nodded. “The gathered supplies will come by sea from Suzhou’s dock, and upon reaching Dengzhou’s waters, they can no longer sail at sea. They’ll turn into this tributary, entering the river – it’s safest this way. The boats will stop by the mountain on the opposite shore, which isn’t in Dengzhou’s territory and hasn’t been affected by the heavy rains. The river is calm there, allowing boats to dock…”
Xiao Huayong pointed at the map he had brought.
After looking at it, Shen Xihe raised her head to look at the opposite shore. Boats certainly couldn’t reach this side because the river was too turbulent. So if they stopped on the opposite shore, at such a distance, how would they transport the goods across?
Seeming to notice Shen Xihe’s unspoken question, Xiao Huayong gave Tianyuan a look. Tianyuan made a hand signal, and immediately a group of people rushed out from the forest. They carried wooden stakes, selected several locations, and quickly drove the stakes deep into the ground, securing them firmly.
After they finished, Xiao Huayong blew a bone whistle. With one cry, the massive form of the Gyrfalcon pierced through the gray daylight, breaking through the rain curtain as it spread its wings toward Xiao Huayong. In its beak, it seemed to carry a rope – a very thick and ingenious iron chain. The chain was thrown to the people who had driven in the stakes, who threaded it through the thick stakes and secured it tightly.
The Gyrfalcon returned and soon brought another chain. One by one, iron chains were strung through the air, disappearing into the misty haze, connecting to the opposite shore.
“The grain and other supplies will be wrapped in oilcloth, then secured in specially made iron chain nets, sliding from the opposite shore to this side, and then transported to the county seat.”
Though it would take some effort, the speed wouldn’t be slow. With multiple sliding routes and selected strong civilians working together with officials to transport goods, even large quantities of grain and cloth would only take a day or two.
“Xiao Beichen, you’re truly a genius.” Shen Xihe was full of admiration that he could think of such a method.
“No, I just encountered a remarkable bird.” Xiao Huayong raised his eyes to look at the Gyrfalcon carrying another iron chain.
The Gyrfalcon seemed to sense Xiao Huayong’s praise, and tilted its massive body, making an arc, looking just like a child dancing with joy at being praised, making Shen Xihe laugh out loud.