Shangguan Wanning closed her eyes subconsciously.
"Spare his life."
A sharp arrow shot over and hit the executioner's wrist, and the sword fell to the ground.
The supervising officer was stunned for a moment, then became extremely annoyed. He stood up and rushed over, shouting at the man on horseback: "Who are you? How dare you stop the execution at the execution ground?"
The sudden change made Shangguan Wanning's heart beat faster.
The man jumped off his horse, took out a token from his bosom, and said calmly, "I am the personal guard of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and I am here on His Royal Highness's orders to delay the execution."
The executioner looked at the token carefully, and his momentum weakened a lot.
"But... even if you are His Royal Highness, you must abide by the laws of the country..."
"The Emperor's imperial decree of amnesty is on the way and will be delivered to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince tomorrow evening at the latest."
When Shangguan Wanning heard this, a relieved smile broke out on her face.
She was overjoyed, holding Mu Jingrui's hand and winking playfully. "Great, it's okay."
Mu Jingrui's expression remained the same, unperturbed.
"General Mu, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince asked me to tell you that Miss Mu came with him. Everything is fine. You don't have to worry."
"Thank you very much."
Mu Jingrui clasped his fists in thanks calmly, but Shangguan Wanning, who was standing beside him, saw the dissatisfaction that flashed across his eyes.
Shangguan Wanning realized that although what she was experiencing now was different from that in her previous life, people's destiny did not seem to have changed much.
For example, Mu Jingyan.
She remembered very clearly that in her previous life, Mu Jingyan married the prince, but her character was too straightforward and she did not know how to please or tactfully approach others, so she was framed and died in a palace fight. Her ending was not good.
"Ning'er?"
Mu Jingrui noticed that Shangguan Wanning was in a daze, so he called her softly. "It's freezing outside, let's go back first."
Shangguan Wanning nodded, and the three of them returned to the yamen as if nothing had happened.
At noon the next day, Xiao Yujue arrived with a large amount of disaster relief food and the emperor's decree of amnesty.
Shangguan Wanning finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Xiao Yujue rested for only an hour before summoning the provincial government and all the officials under its jurisdiction to learn about the specific disaster situation and the number of victims in the northwest region.
The more he listened, the more uncomfortable he felt, and his brows furrowed even more.
After all the officials had reported and left, Xiao Yujue was left with only Mu Jingrui and his sister, Shangguan Wanning, and his two personal guards.
"Miss Shangguan, the Prime Minister told me that after seeing you, he will send someone to send you back immediately." Xiao Yujue decided to do the simplest thing first.
"That's easy to say," Shangguan Wanning smiled, "Your Highness should deal with other serious matters first."
Xiao Yujue didn't care too much and sighed deeply.
"There are two most troublesome things at the moment. The first is the attack from the two small border countries, Cangying and Wuxiong. According to the intelligence we received yesterday, they have captured three border cities and the generals defending the cities were killed. Although the people in those three cities have basically fled, the court cannot let them occupy them."
"After all, the people still need a home to return to after the disaster. Moreover, those three cities are the only way out of the country. If they are occupied by these two small countries, we will become very passive."
Xiao Yujue looked at Mu Jingrui and continued, "Father's intention is to hope that Jingrui can redeem himself and lead the troops to recover the lost territory."
Mu Jingrui bowed his hands and saluted. "Leading troops to fight is the responsibility of a military commander. I will obey your orders without hesitation."
“That’s my second question.”
Xiao Yujue's face became even gloomier. He hesitated for a long time without saying anything. Finally, he let out a long sigh.
"I have brought a lot of disaster relief food with me this time, and I have distributed a lot of it along the way. However, there are too many victims, and the relief food from the court is just a drop in the bucket. And I didn't know until I got here that there are countless more victims if we go further."
"The worst thing is that the blizzards are still continuing in various places, and none of us knows how long this snowstorm will last. Not long ago, Jingrui, in order to give the people a way out, you opened the granaries to release grain, which led to the empty granaries."
"If we ask you to lead the troops to war at this time, the imperial court will not be able to provide you with much assistance. Food and fodder...are all problems."
When Xiao Yujue learned about this, his hair almost turned white with anxiety.
Under such circumstances, letting Mu Jingrui lead the troops to war is actually no different from asking him to die.
But if he didn't go, there would be no general in the court who was willing to take over this mess.
Everyone turned their eyes to Mu Jingrui.
"I am willing to lead the troops to fight." Mu Jingrui answered firmly.
"Brother..." Mu Jingyan was worried about this issue all the way.
She walked forward and held Mu Jingrui's arm, tears welling up in her eyes. "Then... I'll go with you. Even if something really happens, we brothers and sisters must be together."
Mu Jingrui gently patted the back of his sister's hand to comfort her.
Shangguan Wanning had already expected his attitude.
"Your Highness, the imperial court's disaster relief grain is not enough. Actually... there is another way."
"oh?"
Xiao Yujue looked at Shangguan Wanning. He really wanted to know what kind of turnaround this eldest daughter of the Prime Minister's Mansion could bring him.
"Your Highness, have you ever heard of Zhang Yide?"
Xiao Yujue was slightly startled and shook his head. Instead, his personal guard asked tentatively, "Miss Shangguan is talking about the largest rice merchant in Central Plains?"
"Yes, that's him."
Xiao Yujue was a little puzzled and didn't understand why Shangguan Wanning mentioned Zhang Yide at this time.
"As far as I know, Zhang Yide is not only the largest rice merchant in the Central Plains, but the Zhang family's business also involves silk fabrics. In order to facilitate the transportation of grain to various places, they also have their own escort agency and transport ships."
Shangguan Wanning had already investigated Zhang Yide thoroughly.
"The Zhang family has been operating for three generations, and only then has it become so prosperous today. Zhang Yide is a well-to-do businessman. If His Royal Highness can find him to cooperate, and buy food and cotton-padded clothes and quilts from him, perhaps there is a chance to survive this snowstorm."
In fact, as early as the beginning of food preparations after the snowstorm, court officials had proposed to mobilize food from the south.
However, the cost of mobilizing food is too high, and the escorts themselves have to eat, so most of it will be consumed on the way.
Since the Zhang family trades grain all over the country, they must have surplus grain in their warehouses.
It is much better to mobilize troops nearby than to mobilize them from the south.
"But... will Zhang Yide be willing to cooperate with us?" Mu Jingrui questioned. "There is no business without fraud. The grain in his granary can be sold at a high price right now. If he uses it for disaster relief, won't he lose all his money?"
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