Miao Chu

Chapter 349 Letter
Cai Xiu had been in Chanzhou for some time, frequently traveling between Liutahe and the prefectural government office, and had made quite a few acquaintances.

He calculated the time and instead of going to the officials who always seemed to appreciate him, he turned to a registrar known in the yamen as a nice guy.

Recently, there was an accident at Liutahe, and Li Zhai has been in charge of the affairs of the prefectural government.

This man entered the government office many years ago by making great contributions to pacifying refugees in Chanzhou. He was known for his strict management of his subordinates and his emphasis on both rewards and punishments. Now, wearing a purple pendant and carrying a cool umbrella, he has returned to his old place to resume his old duties. It is easy to imagine that he cannot be perfunctory as before.

He didn't even need to make an example of someone; his subordinates were already working diligently and cautiously.

Because every day at the appointed time, all the superiors had to report their progress to Li Zhai, the registrar arrived early, probably because he had something to ask him.

As soon as the man entered, he was about to ask a servant to bring him breakfast from the kitchen when, before he could even sit down, Cai Xiu followed him in, knocked on the door, and casually offered him two food boxes of breakfast under some pretext.

Since they were acquaintances, the two started chatting while eating.

Cai Xiu's words naturally flattered people, making them feel comfortable.

As they chatted, the topic inevitably turned to the missing young masters in the capital. The registrar offered a word of comfort, saying, "You suffered an undeserved misfortune, but with your talent and character, you will surely rise to the top. Don't worry too much about it. Once you return to the capital, you will be promoted and have a chance to make a name for yourself!"

Cai Xiu smiled wryly and said, "I only hope to receive your kind words, Lord Tian!"

After they finished eating, he rushed to clear the table. When no one was around, he took out a small sachet from his sleeve and casually placed it on the table in front of the other person.

"I participated in a literary gathering the other day and won some prizes. When I brought them back, I found they were all for my child to play with, and I couldn't use them myself. I heard that you had a daughter last month. I am currently under punishment and cannot come to congratulate you. So I'll just give you some small gifts here. Please accept them!"

The sachet was made of excellent materials, with embroidery on both sides. The front featured blooming peonies, while the back depicted a peacock spreading its tail feathers, and the embroidery was quite exquisite.

If that were all, Tian Lushen would have accepted it. But when he saw that the sachet was bulging and heavy, he picked it up and weighed it in his hand. When he opened it, he found that it was full of gold and silver gourds the size of his thumb.

This gourd is no ordinary gourd; it is decorated with patterns that look very intricate. To make one like this, the craftsman would probably have to pay a considerable amount in labor costs.

The man surnamed Tian, ​​true to his surname, was also from a farming background. He quickly stepped back, shaking his head and saying, "Sigh, what do you, a student, want with this?"

He added, “I know you’re anxious right now, but this can’t be rushed. Anyone with eyes can see that you’re being dragged down by someone else, but you can’t say anything because you don’t want to. Just be patient for now, and things will be fine once the storm passes.”

Cai Xiu's eyes immediately reddened, and she said emotionally, "The students have been scolded badly lately. Yesterday, several young masters even called them 'garden boys,' and blamed them for not taking good care of them..."

"They're usually so amiable, but now when they see students, many of them avoid them. I just hope everyone can be as discerning as you, sir. Otherwise, with my family background, how will I ever get ahead!"

Moved by the scene, Tian Lucan felt a pang of sadness and patted Cai Xiu on the shoulder, offering her many words of comfort.

Cai Xiu, looking moved, wiped away her tears and said, "Right now, everything along the Liuta River is in complete chaos. Lord Lü is unable to get anyone to do anything, and Councilor Li has left me hanging. I have no chance to redeem myself through meritorious service. Lord Lü, are you in charge of coordinating the distribution of grain and supplies? If there are any calculations to be made, please assign them to me. Otherwise, I'm really anxious waiting outside!"

Then came another round of self-recommendation.

Lately, all the officials have been extremely busy, doing the work of two people. If any student could fill in, that would be great. Moreover, seeing Cai Xiu in such a state, how could Tian Lushen possibly refuse?

He thought for a moment, sighed, and said, "I'll go ask."

After returning from his rounds, he returned the purse and said, "Your transfer order still belongs to Liutahe, so the yamen probably can't use it. I'll try to find another way. Your family isn't wealthy, so you should do this less often in the future."

Cai Xiu accepted the purse, expressed her gratitude, and then went outside, only to be furious.

It's one thing for Mr. Tian to refuse a kind offer, but to put on such an act is quite another. He's not even a high-ranking official, so why is he acting all high and mighty?

He gritted his teeth and added several times the amount of gifts, finally going to the judge he often interacted with, who had praised him highly in front of many people.

The latter readily accepted it, saying, "There's a lot to do at the yamen. I'll let my superiors know—you can go back and wait for news!"

Cai Xiu then said, "Actually, I shouldn't be picky. It would be great if I had any work to do. But if it's convenient, I would appreciate it if you could put in a good word for me and let me do more writing and calculation work. These are two things that I am very good at!"

The judge, understanding the situation, said, "You want to show off in front of the councilors, don't you?"

Cai Xiu was extremely embarrassed and wanted to explain, but the judge opposite her chuckled and said, "Young people should perform well. If you're always humble, how can you tell what's good and bad?"

He added, "Little Cai, I have always thought highly of you. With your talent and ability, you have a bright future ahead of you. Don't take this setback to heart!"

Although the man did not make any guarantees, the generous gift and such praise relieved Cai Xiu. Upon returning home, he immediately took stock of the students he had who were capable of doing things.

He had already considered that the most likely task assigned to him was calculating how to distribute food and supplies.

Currently, there is a shortage of supplies and soaring prices in Chanzhou City. If this trend continues, the Ever-Normal Granary will have to be used sooner or later.

However, the grain stored in the Changping Granary in Chanzhou was originally limited. If it were used and something went wrong, even a high-ranking official would find it difficult to come up with a good solution in the short term, given the current situation of disrupted canal transport and difficult land transport.

To this end, Li Zhai coordinated all the grain and materials of the government, and after a comprehensive calculation, the Chanzhou government distributed them uniformly.

This job is naturally not easy. Everyone says they lack this or that, so how to distribute the money, why distribute it this way, and how much can be saved by distributing it this way have become a big problem.

The best way to solve this problem, or at least alleviate it temporarily, is to have enough experience to support it.

Currently, the government is already short-staffed just by making simple allocations based on the existing situation, making it difficult to summarize past situations as a reference.

This job was designed entirely for him!
If I could get my hands on it, with my literary talent and abilities, as long as there's an opportunity to shine, why would I worry about not being noticed?

The calculations are too complicated, so the students below need to be more careful.

The opportunity was right in front of him and would be fleeting, so Cai Xiu naturally wouldn't sit idly by.

Although he hadn't received any news yet, he had already gathered all the students together, assigned tasks, and asked everyone to write an article analyzing the current situation, how the existing resources should be distributed, and why, and so on.

When the Liuta River was washed away, the students were initially saddened by their forced return to the city and lack of opportunity to perform. However, after learning that the young masters had been swept away, everyone felt a sense of relief.

But before they could celebrate for long, someone realized what was happening.

If it weren't for the need to make a name for oneself at Liutahe, who would have nothing better to do than come to Chanzhou?
With such a major incident happening in Liutahe, it would be good enough if they didn't even hold anyone accountable, let alone reward them!

While everyone was in a state of panic, Cai Xiu suddenly piled up a lot of work, saying he would use it to recommend them for commendation. Although they couldn't help but complain and were skeptical, everyone put in a lot of effort to write. Cai Xiu collected the manuscripts, reviewed them one by one, took the best from them, and quickly wrote a first draft. They were just waiting for news from the superior official, who would provide the students with the necessary figures and urge them to calculate and fill in the figures in their own manuscripts for further revisions—at that point, it would become an excellent report!

He had everything arranged clearly, waiting only for news from the magistrate above. Little did he know that the moment he left that day, the magistrate summoned his trusted confidant into the house and ordered him to send all those gifts home.

The confidant took the gift and couldn't help but remind him, "Sir, Cai Xiu has offended a lot of dignitaries. Are you really going to go to all this trouble for him? If things go wrong, I'm afraid you might get implicated yourself."

The judge smiled and said, "Let's see, it's just a matter of me talking."

Pointing to the many gifts, he said, "This gardener is quite capable and knows how to get things done. If the councilor were to give him a chance, he might actually rise to prominence."

The next day, he found an opportunity to approach Shangguan.

This person first said that he was too busy and asked if he could get more manpower. After being refused because there were no manpower available, he then mentioned the group of students from the capital and asked if they could be used.

Shangguan thought for a moment and asked, "Are these students still under the jurisdiction of Liutahe?"

Having received a positive reply, he said, "Tell the people over at Liutahe that the ownership shouldn't be changed, just borrow them for a while—and don't use too many people, just pick a few suitable ones."

He added, “Arrange for them to do some odd jobs in the back, so they don’t run around and attract attention. So many people have died, and there are people from the capital coming to collect the bodies and others coming to retrieve them. These people are related to some prominent figures, and if they see something they don’t like, they might make a big scene and it will be hard to handle.”

This means that without giving them a title, their use is pointless.

The magistrate immediately stopped uttering a word, and said hesitantly, "Don't worry, sir, I know what I'm doing!"

But as soon as he turned around and went outside, he had someone prepare a room and, following Cai Xiu's instructions, gathered up all the complicated data, dispatch records, and other information about the grain and supplies this time and threw them over to him for careful analysis.

—When Zuo You came to ask for a favor last time, Xiao Cai said that he was best at calculations and writing.

Since they brought it up themselves and have received money as a benefit, they should try their best to satisfy them.

Whether you get the chance to perform after doing it is not something you can decide.

Cai Xiu didn't think too much about it. He was very proud of the job and called all the students to work day and night to calculate and compare the accounts, urging them to quickly come up with a result and make a comparison so that he could write it into his report.

While he was busy here, Tian Lucan, although he had returned the gifts, did not give up and kept pestering Shangguan several times.

Since it's an official, the advice given is naturally similar. For example, he said that for the sake of a student, there's no need to get involved in this mess.

Tian Lucan then recounted Cai Xiu's appearance that day, saying, "Such a talented person should not have his future ruined by a trivial mishap."

He added, "I think he comes from a poor family..."

The official, unable to bear his nagging any longer, finally asked, "What do you want him to do?"

Tian Lu said, “It’s not appropriate to ask them to go elsewhere, but when they were at Liutahe, didn’t they often measure the hydrology? Now that Liutahe has breached and the river course has changed, I was thinking of having these people go along to measure and draw up the map, and also to go through the map to see if there are any villages or households that have been missed.”

Although this job is a bit tough, it's a real job that yields tangible results.

If we do a good job and manage to find the few people who were missed in the first round of rescue efforts, that would be considered a meritorious service.

Then the official said, "In that case, go and tell Liutahe that you need a few people to help copy the new river channel and visit the disaster victims. Ask if it's possible. If it is, I'll tell the prefect and issue a transfer order."

Tian Lucan took the initiative to go to Liutahe, made some concessions, and settled the matter before sending someone to find Cai Xiu.

He explained the situation and then kindly added, "I've already reached an agreement with Liutahe. You can bring two or three students as helpers. If you can achieve some merit, I can ask the higher-ups to put in a good word for you with the councilor."

Cai Xiu was completely stunned.

Measuring hydrology is hard work on a regular basis. Who would want to do this if they had nothing better to do?

Moreover, with the Liuta River overflowing its banks so quickly, no one can guess which direction the river will take. They will inevitably be exposed to the elements, making their suffering even worse. As for those villages that have been flooded—they are already dangerous places, what if they are swept away as well?
Cai Xiu wanted to take a shortcut, not a dead end.

This is because they're afraid of dying too soon!
He immediately refused, saying that he already had other matters to attend to and was too busy to handle them. He thanked the other party for their help and brushed the matter aside. He then used all his strength to finish the report before the deadline, believing it to be flawless, before handing it over to the judge. He subtly inquired whether the document would actually be delivered to Li Zhai, the councilor.

The judge affirmed, "This is for Councilor Li to see."

He then showered Cai Xiuwen with praise, saying that Cai Xiuwen was exceptionally talented and that his comparisons and calculations were also excellent. He then had the latest data thrown over to him, urging him to quickly calculate it, add the new data, and publish a new version.

But as soon as Cai Xiu left, the magistrate called a junior official in, handed him the manuscript he had just received and praised repeatedly, and said, "Make a copy of it; you don't need to sign it."

He took the newly copied manuscript to find Shangguan.

The latter glanced through it, then handed it to his subordinates, urging them to extract the data for reference and verification. He then took the results to see that Councilor Li.

Inside the room, Li Zhai flipped through the messages that had gathered from various places. His face remained expressionless, but he could not hide his anxiety.

Grain prices in the city skyrocketed. He arrested a group of grain merchants who were raising prices arbitrarily, and also collected supplies for unified distribution by the government. Although this slightly suppressed the unhealthy trend, it was only a temporary solution.

Businessmen need to make money, and people need to eat.

I've recently heard that many grain stores have stopped selling grain to the public and are just waiting to see if they will open their granaries.

If he opens the market, it means he has no other choice. Most people will hold onto their grain and wait, knowing that there will definitely be a time to make big money later.

But if we don't open the gates, the city's grain reserves won't last more than a few days, and we still need to provide relief to the disaster victims...

Without food, it's like water without a source or a tree without roots.

He naturally had many ways to regulate the situation and force grain merchants to put their grain out for sale, but that wouldn't last long. Besides, going too far would cause panic in the city and would be more harmful than beneficial.

As he was pondering how to respond, he looked up and saw an official carrying a stack of letters enter the room.

"Sir, a document has arrived from the Transport Department."

(End of this chapter)