A thousand-year-old family begins with one fighting against ten thousand.

Yuan Jie nodded and followed Sima Haoren to a place further away, where they could still clearly see if anyone was cooking porridge.

"What is it?"

Yuan Jie looked at the constables cooking porridge and the people holding bowls with hopeful faces, and said calmly.

"My lord, you are unaware that the county's grain reserves are indeed less than ten days' worth."

Sima Haoren whispered to Yuan Jie.

"What?!"

Yuan Jie's expression changed drastically upon hearing this. "What about the prefectural granaries?"

"I remember that the imperial court set up granaries in every prefecture in order to prevent famines."

"Several days have passed, why hasn't the grain been distributed?"

"My lord, without the imperial order, who dares to open the granaries and distribute grain?"

Sima Haoren smiled wryly. "Moreover, I heard that the Yangzhou granary caught fire and suffered heavy losses, so I'm afraid they are unable to provide assistance."

"What?!"

"snort!"

"Was it an accidental fire? Or is someone trying to cover it up?!"

Yuan Jie said angrily!

He couldn't believe such a coincidence; the imperial court was just preparing to use the Ever-Normal Granary when it caught fire.

He was almost certain that someone was reselling grain from the granary during a normal year, and now that they were about to be exposed, he decided to go all the way and burned down the granary.

It seems that many things in Yangzhou are quite serious, including corrupt officials at the grassroots level who embezzle and accept bribes, and corrupt officials who resell state grain.

Who knows what other monsters and demons will pop up next.

Just then, Yangzhou was hit by a once-in-a-century flood, and many things came together. Under normal circumstances, he would have had enough time to sort out this complicated situation, but now he lacked the time.

The lives of the disaster victims are the most important thing.

Yuan Jie could only suppress his anger. "How much grain is left in the Ever-Normal Granary?"

"How would I know?"

Sima Haoren gave a bitter smile, a smile that came from the depths of his heart, but not because of the provisions, but because of Yuan Jie's arrival.

Yuan Jie gave Sima Haoren a deep look. "I'll figure out the grain supply. What you need to do is make sure no one dies, or I'll hold you accountable."

Seeing that the government was indeed cooking large quantities of porridge, Yuan Jie left with a heavy heart.

"My lord, should we stop distributing the porridge? Are we really going to do as this imperial envoy says? If this imperial envoy can't procure enough grain, the entire county will run out of food in less than three days. What if the court blames us then?"

The magistrate's advisor asked the magistrate.

"Don't stop, do as this imperial envoy says."

"If you defy the imperial decree, how many heads do you have to chop off?"

The magistrate glanced at the clerk and scolded him.

"As long as we do as the Imperial Envoy says, whatever happens will be the responsibility of this official. We are just lowly officials who follow the orders of the Imperial Envoy."

"The imperial court can't blame us."

"Procuring grain?!"

County Magistrate Sima Haoren scoffed, "It would be strange if Yuan Jie could even raise enough grain."

Yuan Jie planned to visit other counties to see if the situation was the same everywhere.

At the same time, they wrote to the county closest to Yangzhou, requesting that a batch of grain be transferred over.

Unfortunately, no one paid any attention.

Aside from a few old friends in the capital, who knows who Yuan Jie is?

Of course, they didn't completely ignore it. If they did, it would be disobeying the imperial decree, and they wouldn't be able to bear the punishment from the court afterwards.

However, delaying the process—verifying the imperial envoy's identity and allocating provisions—would take time.

But what Yuanjie lacks most right now is time. Every day the grain supplies arrives later, the people face an increased risk of starvation.

He had to procure food locally.

The Changping Granary in Yangzhou had only a few thousand shi of grain left, which was undoubtedly a drop in the ocean in the face of the grain shortage in Yangzhou.

He has already ordered his men to distribute all of these several thousand bushels of grain, but it is only enough for one day, and even if he saves some, it will not last for two days.

He must gather enough food within a day, or something bad will happen.

It is extremely difficult to extract grain from these powerful families.

These greedy powerful families even targeted the imperial granaries, demonstrating the extent of their avarice.

Why would such a greedy family offer up grain and fodder for no reason?

We must lure them with benefits.

Jiangdu County, Guangling Prefecture, Yangzhou.

This place is home to more than half of Yangzhou's prominent families, and many powerful clans also have branches here.

Yuan Jie gathered them all together and, in his capacity as imperial envoy, hosted a banquet for the heads of these families.

The Lai family of Jiangdu, the Gao family of Guangling, the Yu family of Jiangling, the Lü family of Poyang, and the Zhang, Liu, Sun, and Chen families who controlled the Grand Canal.

Branches of the Wang clan of Taiyuan, the Du clan of Jingzhao, the Gao clan of Bohai, and the Li clan of Zhaojun.

In addition, families from other counties had branches and businesses in the state capital.

"What does Patriarch Gao believe this imperial envoy intends to do?"

Lai Ming, the head of the Lai family in Jiangdu, asked Gao De, the head of the Gao family in Guangling.

"It's nothing more than procuring grain."

Gao De sneered, saying that their family's grain and fodder were all painstakingly plundered, and they had spent a lot of effort bribing officials at all levels. They were finally able to make a fortune when the heavens opened their eyes and a flood occurred.

Every disaster is a feast for these powerful and wealthy families.

This imperial envoy just had to show up and cause trouble this once, how despicable!

If the imperial envoy is willing to cooperate with them, then naturally everyone will be happy and peaceful, and the imperial envoy can return to the court after completing his mission.

But now Yuan Jie clearly doesn't want to do this, so they can only feel embarrassed.

Need grain?

No!

How could they possibly hand over such a large sum of money for no reason?

The price of grain on the market has already increased fivefold, and in a couple of days, the price could increase several times more.

In just a few days, they exchanged grain for more than a thousand acres of fertile land, and the more they could exchange for it, the more they could get.

They're just talking nonsense; they'd better tell us what benefits they've gained. Even a fool would know that's impossible.

The fertile land was the lifeblood of these powerful families, and they would never donate a single grain.

"It wouldn't be good not to donate anything. We came to your house to donate 300 shi (a unit of dry measure), which is already a lot of money we managed to squeeze out from our home. We can't donate any more than that."

Lai Ming sighed.

"Isn't 300 koku a bit too much?"

"Our family is only prepared to donate 100 shi (a unit of dry measure)."

Gao De said with some heartache.

He felt a pang of regret even at the cost of 100 stones.

When grain prices are at their highest, 100 shi (a unit of dry measure) can be exchanged for dozens of acres of fertile land.

Their family's vast fortune was accumulated little by little through these small acts of kindness.

The thought of having to give up 100 shi of grain for nothing made his heart ache so much he could hardly breathe, and he felt like a spendthrift.

"After all, Li Bai is behind this imperial envoy, so we still have to give face to the Wei family. We can't make things too ugly, though. 100 shi is not too bad."

Gao De thought about it and agreed. Although Yuan Jie was just a friend of Li Bai, as long as he was associated with Li Bai, he couldn't be treated with a normal attitude.

"Alright, Brother Lai is quite right. Then our Gao family will provide..."

"200 koku!"

Gaode gritted his teeth, but still couldn't bring himself to give out more food.