Qu Huaiyuan led several bodyguards into the cave cautiously. Because the passage was too narrow, each of them had to crouch down to get in.
The cave passage wasn't long; it only took a few minutes to reach the destination. By then, one-third of the grain had already been moved away, leaving a large open space.
"This... there's still so much grain left?" One of the bodyguards stepped forward quickly, pointing to the mountain of grain in surprise.
Everyone present was shocked. They had been assigned to work outside the day before and had not been inside. This was the first time they had ever seen so much grain.
They suddenly remembered the incident yesterday in which villagers killed each other over grain, and upon closer reflection, they realized that most of those who committed the act were the people who had come in to move the grain.
They were initially confused as to why people would fight over food when there was clearly enough to go around. It wasn't until they saw the mountains of food with their own eyes that they vaguely understood the selfish motives of those people.
This is clearly a case of coveting grain and wanting to monopolize this mountain of grain!
Nowadays, with famine and war, those who have food are the bosses, and even the rich and powerful can hardly buy a single grain of rice.
If you resell this grain, you can definitely make a fortune and live a life of plenty, enjoying wealth and luxury for the rest of your days.
Now everyone understood.
However, none of the people present had any ulterior motives. They were all rescued by Chief Escort Lin, and without him, they wouldn't be where they are today.
With everyone on the same page, they turned their attention back to the cave, tapping and knocking around to look for any mechanisms or traps.
"Mr. Qu, look at this..."
Someone noticed something amiss at the left corner and called Qu Huaiyuan over. The others stopped looking for the mechanism and rushed over to check for clues.
Upon hearing the noise, Qu Huaiyuan got up and moved closer to the source of the sound.
"Why would there be government markings on this?"
There were several holes in the wall in the corner, and a wad of paper was hidden inside. Qu Huaiyuan took them out of the holes and unfolded them, only to find that there were words written on the paper.
The document clearly stated that the government was providing disaster relief grain, enough for the villagers to eat for two years, but the distribution date made Qu Huaiyuan frown.
With trembling hands, he read through the documents one by one. The relief grain was first distributed two years ago, during the worst period of famine in Xinyang Prefecture.
The document specifically instructed Prince Yang to distribute the grain to the people. Upon reading this, Qu Huaiyuan felt as if his heart was about to leap out of his mouth.
He couldn't hold on for a moment and collapsed to the ground, the documents falling to the ground as well.
This scene terrified the bodyguards present. They stared in shock at Qu Huaiyuan's seemingly dazed appearance, and some shook him anxiously, calling out, "Mr. Qu! Mr. Qu!"
Qu Huaiyuan came to his senses, but when faced with the honest, kind, and righteous bodyguards, he couldn't bring himself to say anything.
None of the bodyguards present were literate; those with even a little education could only recognize their own names.
The others are completely illiterate.
"Mr. Qu, what's wrong? What's written on that paper? We're so worried!"
The impatient bodyguard picked up the document, looked it over from all angles, and couldn't recognize a single character. He could only anxiously ask Qu Huaiyuan, "Sir, please explain this to us..."
Knowing he couldn't hide it any longer, Qu Huaiyuan told them the contents of the document in detail: "This is a document issued by the imperial court to Prince Yang, intending to use these grains as disaster relief supplies, and it should have been sent out two years ago..."
This statement caused an uproar. If it was relief grain, why did it fall into the hands of bandits?
The disaster relief supplies were delayed for two years and never reached the people. The people had no way to survive, and there were countless people starving to death on the roadside.
They were all ordinary people who had personally experienced hunger. In the past two years, they had traveled around escorting goods, almost dying on the road, all for a few bushels of rice to support their families.
The Prince of Yang received the grain and fodder but deliberately withheld it, disregarding the lives of the people, intending to use the disaster relief grain and fodder as capital for rebellion.
This is... utterly ridiculous.
They were utterly disappointed with the royal family at this moment. In their struggle for power, they treated human life as worthless. Prince Yang was even more ruthless, colluding with foreign enemies to achieve his goals, forcing the people to become displaced, and even lose their lives.
Are these high-ranking royal relatives and nobles really worthy of our loyalty?
The anger and hatred of the crowd were ignited, and everyone harbored a desire to kill the King of Yang.
"You bastard, you're a real piece of trash." The hot-tempered bodyguard spat on the paper, his eyes blazing with fury, wishing he could tear Yang Wang apart.
Qu Huaiyuan thought further ahead, wondering why the Prince of Yang didn't just move the grain to his fiefdom, but instead chose this godforsaken place, a bandit's den.
Now that he has raised an army, how is he supplying his troops without food and provisions?
He kept these things buried deep in his heart and told no one. He had to figure out the relationship between them, otherwise they might get into trouble by taking the grain.
Seeing the镖师's indignation, Qu Huaiyuan had no intention of interrupting. He waited until everyone had vented their anger before speaking, "The most urgent thing is to find Chief镖师 Lin and the others. We can discuss how to deal with these provisions later."
Everyone could distinguish between what was important and what was urgent. No matter how dissatisfied they were with Prince Yang, they had no choice but to put aside their dissatisfaction and focus on finding the person.
Qu Huaiyuan knocked and tapped around the wall for a long time, but got nothing. The others did the same. They all began to suspect that Lin Biaotou and his men had already left the cave.
If that's the case, even if they turn the cave upside down, they probably won't find a single person. This place is so wide that they can see the whole thing from one end to the other. They really can't think of anywhere else a person could have gone except for hiding in a grain sack.
A person cannot simply disappear into thin air.
Qu Huaiyuan walked towards the entrance and carefully observed the layout of the cave, finding nothing unusual.
He racked his brains and checked every corner thoroughly. Although the others didn't understand, they followed his example and checked the areas they were looking for.
Just when everyone was about to lose hope, Qu Huaiyuan stepped on a protruding rock, and a deep pit suddenly appeared in the ground, so dark that nothing could be seen.
What's going on?
"Holy crap..."
This unexpected incident terrified everyone, and they couldn't help but utter a few lines of traditional Chinese poetry.
"Watch out!" Someone accidentally stepped into a hole and almost fell into the deep pit, but was pulled back by Qu Huaiyuan.
The man, still looking shaken, cupped his hands in thanks to Qu Huaiyuan, saying, "Thank you, Mr. Qu, for saving my life."
"It's alright! Everyone, please be careful. I suspect that Chief Escort Lin and the others accidentally fell in!"
After all, they had searched other places, and only this unexpected deep pit could have hidden so many people.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com