Chapter 424 Yuan Shao Counts Wheat
It is absolutely impossible to return the grain with interest!
Seven years and two months—
This is the time since Qiao Yan borrowed grain that year.
Even if we remove the one year in the agreement where no interest is charged, there are still six years and two months left.
Not to mention six years!
Two months! In just two months, the debt could be turned into a number calculated in billions. It was not counted in grains as in the original agreement, but in stones!
Even if all the government treasuries in Jizhou and Qingzhou were added together, there would not be this amount of grain!
Then what about the saying "Either return the grain with interest, or pay with your life"?
She could have clearly killed Yuan Shao directly on the pretext of conquering Ye City, but she chose to bring up old accounts again. If she didn't want to humiliate the Yuan family of Runan again, there would be no other possibility.
Anyway, when Yecheng was broken, he had already prepared himself for death. When he failed to escape from there, he had already realized in his heart that the worst that could happen was that he would be beheaded.
But if Yuan Shao didn't answer, there would always be someone else who couldn't sit still.
In the silence of questioning Yuan Shao's decision, someone suddenly stepped out and asked, "Your Majesty, Yuan Shao should repay the debt he owes you. Why do you want us, the nobles of Hebei, to pay with our lives?"
"We went to Yecheng to support the foundation of the Han Dynasty. We didn't know what the Yong Dynasty would be like under its rule. We were deceived by Yuan Shao and ended up fighting with you. If we die today because the city was broken, it's because we didn't know people well. However, we have never caused trouble to our hometown. On the contrary, we have helped a lot. If Your Majesty implicates us for such crimes, it will be difficult for the people of Hebei to accept!"
Qiao Yan raised his eyes and looked at the other person.
The sentence "It is difficult to convince the people of Hebei" sounds very righteous when it comes from the other party, and it is probably not a lie.
However, it is hard to say whether it is because they helped their fellow villagers that Qiao Yan found it difficult to convince the people to punish the Hebei noble families collectively, or because they have already penetrated into the complex power structure of Jiqing Province.
She asked, "Who are you?"
The man replied, "Geng Bao from the Geng clan of Julu."
Geng's family in Songzi County, Julu...
Since Emperor Guangwu, there have been four marquises and nine people with the rank of two thousand stones in one family. Some of them followed Deng Yu in the western expedition and died in Yunyang, some served as generals, and some served as prefects of Dai County. Although the family gradually declined due to changing circumstances, it was still considered a famous family in Jizhou.
He is qualified to ask questions in the court.
As soon as he said this, he immediately received a response from the other party.
"Yes, Your Majesty wants to hold Yuan Shao accountable, why do you want to implicate all the Hebei families!"
What kind of collective responsibility is this? There is no such thing in the world!
The person who spoke felt that he was more qualified to speak than Geng Bao. This could be seen from the fact that he was sitting in the hall without any restrictions and was dressed as a military general.
It was because when Yecheng was breached, he was stationed at one of the city gates because he was the nephew of Shen Pei. After realizing that he was unable to defend the city, he immediately chose to surrender to Qiao Yan with a sense of the times and directly opened the city gate that had not yet been broken open.
If it were just that, it would be fine.
Yuan Shao, who was hiding in a civilian's house, was actually found by this person, so he should be credited with a great achievement.
However, Shen Pei fought to the death to defend the city for Yuan Shao, but his nephew had the ability to turn sides so quickly. In a sense, this may be considered funny.
Shen Rong felt that since he had made such a decisive decision to abandon darkness and join the light, and had the important contribution of capturing Yuan Shao, even if he could not gain an outstanding military merit in the court of Dayong, with this opportunity for promotion, he should be able to wipe out the negative impact of his service as a general under Yuan Shao.
But if we consider personal matters first and official affairs later, wouldn't Yuan Shao be dragged into the mess because of his inability to repay his debts?
This won't do!
The Yin'an Shen clan is not the only stubborn person like Shen Pei. Although they have supported Yuan Shao before, it is not too late to untie them now!
Qiao Yan asked, "If it weren't for Yuan Benchu's performance during the Dong Zhuo Rebellion, you and other Hebei noble families wouldn't have chosen him and helped him take over Jizhou and Qingzhou. Or did you choose him because he advised Dong Zhuo to be useful in front of He Jin, because he joined forces with his brother Yuan Shu to burn the Luoyang Palace, or because he gave Dong Zhuo the opportunity to enter the capital in order to force Lu Zhi to leave?"
The last three things were clearly stated in Xu You's factual record, and there were witnesses from all over the world. Even Yuan Shao himself could not make excuses for them, let alone these Hebei families.
Hearing Qiao Yan's question, Shen Rong quickly replied, "Of course not the latter."
If he had agreed, he wouldn't have to say how many people he had who were loyal to the Han Dynasty.
However, just as he opened his mouth, Qiao Yan followed up with a question: "How did Yuan Shao perform in suppressing Dong Zhuo's rebellion?"
Shen Rong: “…”
Oops, I fell into a pit.
Qiao Yan did not give him any room to interrupt and continued, "Was it him who ignored his uncle's threat at the Hulao Pass and delayed the advance? Or was it him who failed to resist the coalition forces of Hu Zhen and Hua Xiong, causing the then governor of Dongjun to die in Chenggao? Or was it him who relied on the allied forces to break through Hulao Pass but still arrived in Luoyang several days late, giving Dong Zhuo the opportunity to kidnap the Han emperor and flee to Chang'an?"
Shen Rong: “…”
Of course, he could not say "yes" at this time, otherwise it would only make their Hebei family, who had been officials for generations and had a profound family tradition, seem unworthy of being convinced by Yuan Shao's ugly performance and supporting a man who looked beautiful on the outside but was actually rotten on the inside.
"In my opinion, the only thing that Yuan Shao did well during the campaign was probably one thing. He knew that his army was short of food and had the courage to admit it, which was better than letting his soldiers starve to death. He even took on the debt of 50,000 dan of food himself. This shows that the Yuan family of Runan is quite responsible."
"It's a pity that you all placed high hopes on him, which made him bold and refused to pay back the debt, leading to the debt today. I will count this private debt together with you, what's wrong with that!"
This... this is simply unreasonable!
But for Qiao Yan, who now holds military power, even if she wiped out all the noble families in Hebei and then said that she accidentally killed them all when she attacked Yecheng, given the current situation in the other states of Dayong, would she face any trouble?
I’m afraid not.
But Shen Rong really doesn't want to die!
If he didn't want to die, why would he make such a decision at the side door before the city was broken and become the one who opened the city and surrendered?
When he thought that the debt had evolved to this point because of Yuan Shao's stupidity and arrogance, he couldn't help but look back at Yuan Shao with a look of anger on his face.
They are really going to be killed by Yuan Shao!
If they had acknowledged the demise of the Han Dynasty when Qiao Yan ascended the throne, since Liu Yu in Chang'an had abdicated, their court in Yecheng would no longer exist, and they would have followed the people's wishes and acknowledged that Dayong was the orthodox dynasty. How could they have ended up like this today...
Shen Rong had to use his brain to work rapidly at this moment, wishing that he could still rely on something to gain some merit and resist this fatal disaster.
It's a pity that he was a military general and didn't have the brains of Shen Pei.
Instead, another person standing not far from him suddenly walked out of the queue, bowed to Qiao Yan, and asked, "Your Majesty, if Yuan Shao personally counts out the grain to repay the debt, can we all survive?"
He did not argue with Qiao Yan like Shen Rong and Geng Bao did, asking why all the scholars in Hebei should be dragged into the Yuan Shao affair. This was undoubtedly the right decision.
The other party's relatively calm performance at this moment made Qiao Yan look at him with a higher opinion.
Seeing Qiao Yan signaling him to continue, the young man continued, "Your Majesty has already decided to attack Yecheng. Jizhou and Qingzhou are both part of the territory of Dayong. All the output within the territory belongs to Your Majesty. There is no need to mention the remaining wealth of the Hebei noble families. However, if we work hard for Your Majesty, we should get something in the form of rice or money. If we hand it all over to Yuan Shao and have him count it carefully until Your Majesty's debt is paid off, is that okay?"
The debt owed by Yuan Shao has not yet been repaid. Anyone with a little mathematical ability will understand this, but there is a loophole in this debt repayment!
Yes, the debt cannot be paid off, but is it feasible to keep taking actions to pay it off?
Yuan Shao was startled, looked at the young man who had spoken, and asked sharply, "Ju Hu, what do you mean by this?"
"It means literally." Ju Hu was indeed the son of Ju Shou, a subordinate of Yuan Shao, but the Ju clan in Guangping was so populous that his uncle Ju Zong was also present in the court at the moment.
His father had been captured by Qiao Yan's men because of Yuan Shao, and his life or death was still unknown. The Guangping Ju family had done their utmost to be kind to Yuan Shao, so why did they have to be buried with Yuan Shao?
"We, and even the rest of the children of the Yuan family of Runan, can work under your majesty. If your majesty thinks that we have poor eyesight and have mistakenly trusted Yuan Shao and are not capable of shouldering the heavy responsibility, then you can send us to the military settlements to farm. As long as there is still that much rice to be produced, with so many children of Hebei's noble families, Yuan Shao will definitely be able to count them himself. If he hasn't stopped counting the rice, it means that we are still repaying the debt he owes to your majesty, and we have no intention of refusing to repay the debt."
He knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Qiao Yan, "Your Majesty, please show mercy and allow us to repay our debts in this way and save our lives!"
In this method of repaying debts, even if these Hebei noble families temporarily lost their property, they had to hand over all their earnings to Qiao Yan. However, several generations of training in the noble families would never allow them to become oblivious to the crowd in an instant.
After Yecheng was broken and the whole country was united, there were still vacancies in so many places. If we only rely on the people trained by Leping Academy, it is still far from enough. Then, are the Hebei families, whose power and lives are in Qiao Yan's hands, the most suitable candidates for her to appoint?
If there was one among them who received a salary of a hundred or a thousand dan and handed it over to Yuan Shao for counting, it would be able to delay a lot of time!
Furthermore, if Your Majesty ever decides to let them go, there is still room for maneuver as they are still alive.
If I die now, it will be truly irreversible!
The only person who was somewhat pitiful among them was probably Yuan Shao.
He was originally a high-ranking general in Yecheng, whose power was even greater than that of the emperor. However, overnight, he not only became a prisoner, but also had to constantly use his pampered hands to calculate the amount of wheat.
But this is the best outcome compared to everyone dying because of his stupidity.
But...will Qiao Yan agree with this idea?
If she was determined to kill Yuan Shao and all the Hebei noble families who opposed her, then Ju Hu's advice at this time would be trampling on Qiao Yan's bottom line. Perhaps not only would it not save his life, but it would cause his entire family to suffer a more severe blow.
But if he sticks his head out, he will die; if he hides his head, he will also die. The character he has developed from his father's teachings will never allow him to hesitate because of cowardice at this moment. He might as well give it a try and fight his way out!
When he raised his head, he carefully looked at the emperor sitting at the top.
The magnificent momentum of the three armies encircling Yecheng made him feel awe. Thinking about her legendary experience of how she got to where she is today, Ju Hu even dared not look at her directly.
But he keenly noticed that after he proposed this solution, what appeared on Qiao Yan's face was not anger, but a very subtle smile.
A smile indeed!
The next moment, he heard Qiao Yan ask, "Yuan Benchu, what do you think?"
The Yuan family of Runan and the other families involved in the incident in Hebei were confiscated and forced to work as laborers, with Yuan Shao being the only one to be responsible for counting grain and paying off debts every day in exchange for most of them saving their lives. What did Yuan Shao think?
Do you want to take this life-saving method?
This was an extremely difficult choice for Yuan Shao.
Considering that he was surrounded by scholars, held a high position with generous salary, and his reputation spread throughout the two states, this result would be worse than death for him!
At least according to the rumors spread by outsiders, it can be said that Yuan Shao and Yuan Benchu lived and died with the Han Dynasty and were killed by the Emperor of Dayong, not like an ant counting grains of wheat in order to survive.
But he did not forget that when Qiao Yan's army was approaching Yecheng, his three sons were taken alive as captives to the outskirts of Yecheng. If there really was a way to survive as Ju Hu mentioned, then they might have been able to survive. At worst, they would have to pay off their debts with him.
This is the way to allow the Yuan family of Runan to survive!
The two sons who were taken away by Ma Lun to Leping had already cut off ties with the Runan Yuan family early on, and the remaining Runan Yuan family members also joined Yuan Shu's army after his death.
If he were to be forgotten and perish from now on because of his efforts in helping Yecheng, he would not be able to explain to his father and grandfather in the afterlife!
The rope of the food bag in front of him had been untied, revealing the grains of wheat inside.
This was something that Yuan Shao had never cared about before, but at this moment it was weighing heavily on the lives of countless people and was weighing directly on his heart.
He... he suddenly reached forward and grabbed a handful, just like he had grabbed a ray of life from the river when he was escaping in Yanzhou before.
"If His Majesty the Great Yong approves, Yuan Shao is willing to follow this method... to repay the debt!"
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