131. The Law of Heaven
Under the simple thatched porridge shed, the officials built a blue brick stove, and eight boiling pots emitted a faint rice aroma.
Wang Daosheng patiently explained to the officer, "In a year of great disaster, even if people don't resort to eating their own children, there will definitely be brothels buying young girls. Don't worry, I won't make it difficult for you. Just tell Master Zhang my name. We're old acquaintances."
Just when Chen Ji thought the officer was about to retort, he saw that the officer had already stopped talking and said with an embarrassed look, "So it's Lord Wang. I don't recognize the great man."
Chen Ji whispered to Bai Li beside him: "Princess, is Mr. Wang very famous?"
Bai Li glanced at her in surprise, then leaned closer and whispered, "Have you never heard of Mr. Wang? He was already famous when he passed the imperial examination a few years ago."
Chen Ji nodded. He really didn't know that his new teacher had such a great reputation. Just saying his name could make the officials in the government office polite to him.
At this moment, the official looked at Wang Daosheng and said with some embarrassment, "Sir Wang, we can do the registration, but as you can see, there are only a dozen officials here at the porridge stall. They will be too busy to handle the porridge distribution later... Can you wait until we can get more people?"
Wang Daosheng glanced at the porridge stall, then at the number of officials: "You go and register, we'll take care of the porridge stall."
The officer was stunned for a moment and said, "Sir, serving thousands of bowls of porridge is a strenuous job. How can we let you do it for me?"
Wang Daosheng didn't answer him, but looked at Chen Ji and others: "Do you have any questions?"
Chen Ji replied: "Don't worry, sir, I'm fine."
Bai Li also smiled and rolled up his sleeves: "Sir, I have no problem with that too!"
Seeing this, Zhang Xia immediately tied Zaozao's reins to the side of the porridge stall and walked over with his sleeves rolled up: "Sir, we are fine."
At this time, the prince said: "There are not enough people."
On the ox cart outside the porridge shed, Chen Wenzong watched this scene silently for a long time.
When the prince's gaze swept over, he immediately stood up, but Chen Wenxiao pulled him back by the arm: "Brother, what are you doing? We are here to study, not to do hard labor. I've seen those officials distributing porridge, scooping thousands of spoonfuls of porridge, and their arms are swollen. Usually, only those officials who are not well-received in the government office are sent to do this kind of hard work in the cold weather."
Chen Wenzong's expression was solemn. "No need to say more. You and I have studied the books of sages for over ten years. How could we not be able to distinguish right from wrong? I didn't get off the car before because Chen Ji made a mistake. The rest of us shouldn't be implicated because of him. But now we are doing things for the people. How can we back down? Let go!"
He shook off Chen Wenxiao's hand, jumped off the ox cart and rolled up his sleeves: "Sir, I'll help too."
Chen Wenxiao sat alone on the cart. After hesitating for a while, he finally lowered his head and jumped off the cart to stand with Chen Wenzong.
Wang Daosheng lifted the lid of a pot and saw clouds of steam rising. When the white mist dissipated a little, everyone frowned: the rice soup was bland and you could see the rice grains at the bottom of the pot at a glance.
Chen Wenzong looked at the official with a serious expression: "Why is the porridge so watery? When I serve porridge to the Iron Law, I can stick my chopsticks in it without it falling over. How dare you cook such watery porridge?"
The official turned pale with fear: "It's not us who asked to cook such watery porridge, it was Master Zhang who ordered it."
"Master Zhang?"
"That's right," the official explained, "Master Zhang said that there is not enough food. If we want the people in the west and south of the city to survive the winter, we must not make thick porridge. If we really want to follow the rules of the court,
If you give out porridge, it will only take fifteen days for the porridge stall to run out of food."
"Is there no more grain in the Luocheng granary?" Chen Wenzong wondered. "I remember the autumn grain was just delivered to Luocheng last month."
The officer quickly replied, "Master Zhang said the grain in the government granary cannot be moved. If the military orders grain transfers and there isn't enough in the granary, we'll lose our heads."
"Is there no other way, Master Zhang?"
"Master Zhang said he's going to find a solution..."
Zhang Xia asked curiously, "What about Lord Chen? I remember Lord Chen is a man of principle. He certainly won't sit idly by."
The officer hesitated.
Zhang Xia asked impatiently: "Why don't you say something?"
The officer hesitated, "Master Zhang has recruited a group of lawyers and old bachelors to sue the government office, and has detained Master Chen in the government office..."
Zhang Xia was stunned: "Ah this!"
Wang Daosheng raised his hand to stop the conversation: "Officials, go and register. We are here to distribute porridge."
Then he said to the victims: "Come forward to receive porridge, the elderly, the weak, women and children will be given priority."
I only heard the sound floating outward. It was not a loud sound, but it spread hundreds of meters away.
Chen Ji was shocked. He saw the victims slowly standing up and actually letting the elderly, the weak, women and children walk at the front of the team one by one!
He had seen free porridge in front of the West City Gate, and he knew what the victims were like. Everyone was starving to the point of being skin and bones, so who would care about respecting the elderly and loving the young?
But Mr. Wang only needed one sentence to make it work!
Could it be that Mr. Wang is also an official?
Chen Ji silently looked at the prince and Bai Li: "Mr. Wang just now..."
Bai Li whispered, "My father said that you are on the path of a sage, speaking the truth of heaven and educating all living beings. However, he also said that there are still some things you haven't figured out, so you can't be considered a true sage."
Chen Ji glanced at Mr. Wang, silently picked up a large wooden spoon, and scooped rice porridge for the victims in line one by one.
The wooden spoon was too heavy for the girl. Bai Li only swung it a few dozen times before her arms were so sore that she could hardly lift them. She could only grit her teeth and persevere: "If only Brother Maoer were here, he would have endless strength."
Chen Ji suddenly discovered that when he scooped rice porridge to the victims one spoonful at a time... the color of the twenty-six fires in his body actually changed a little. Although it was very small and very slow, every change was real.
It is like the temperature of a downdraft kiln: at 600 degrees it is cherry red, at 900 degrees it is orange, and above 1,300 degrees it turns white.
The twenty-six fires were cherry red when they were first lit. Now the red color is fading away little by little, and what follows is an even more powerful vitality.
Chen Ji recalled that when he was in the Qingshan dream, there was a moment when his whole body was burning with fire, and the fire at that time was white.
Strange, why did the fire change? Could it be because I was helping the victims? But hadn't I helped the victims before at the West Gate?
etc.
The only difference between now and then is that I was wearing a mask back then.
Before Chen Ji could figure it out, the creaking sound of wooden wheels was heard at the city gate.
Dozens of carts carrying sacks of grain were seen pulling out of the city, followed by an official sedan chair. The grain piled up on the carts like small hills, making even the sedan chair seem a bit inconspicuous.
The next moment, the sedan chair bearer put the sedan chair on the ground. Zhang Zhuo, dressed in a red official robe, was very proud.
He stepped out of the sedan chair with satisfaction.
He looked at the people under the porridge stall and asked in surprise, "Hey, why are you here?"
Zhang Xia rushed forward like a gust of wind and hugged his arm: "Dad, where did you find so much food?"
Zhang Zhuo stroked his beard cheerfully, "Your father used magic to transform this! Isn't that impressive?"
Zhang Xia gave a thumbs up: "Great!"
Wang Daosheng walked to the side of the cart, squeezed the sack, and understood what was going on. "It's fresher than the government grain. This is the autumn grain that merchants just stockpiled this year. They're actually willing to donate it to you... No, you bought it."
Zhang Zhuo laughed: "How many years have you led the army? You can actually tell whether the grain is fresh through the sacks? I thought you were a bookworm all those years ago!"
Wang Daosheng couldn't laugh. He frowned at Zhang Zhuo and said, "You did something outrageous when you were in Yangzhou. After you left office, memorials implicating you poured into the capital like snowflakes. If it weren't for Lord Xu suppressing your selling of official positions and titles, you would have been imprisoned. But if you keep doing this, it's only a matter of time before you get into trouble. If the censors find out, they only need to report you to the emperor, and all your efforts will be ruined."
Zhang Zhuo looked arrogant and domineering, "As long as Lord Xu is still the Prime Minister, no censor will dare to report me."
Wang Daosheng sighed: "What if Lord Xu is no longer the Prime Minister of the Cabinet?"
Zhang Zhuo said proudly, "By then, I will be the Prime Minister of the Cabinet!"
Wang Daosheng shook his head slightly and continued, "Even a high-ranking official can hardly control everything. Dong Shi wrote to me saying that he has been promoted to the position of Imperial Censor and is about to inspect your work in Yangzhou. He and the Xu family have been at odds for a long time. If he..."
Zhang Zhuo waved his sleeve impatiently. Seeing that there were no officials or victims around, he shouted angrily, "You're only a few years older than me, so don't keep lecturing me. I'm using the corrupt officials' money to help the people. What's wrong with that? If I didn't do this, how would these victims eat and drink? Are they waiting for money from the court? How long would that take? They'd have starved to death long ago!"
When Chen Ji heard this, he suddenly remembered the rumors about Zhang Zhuo and the account book of Manager Yuan, and finally realized where this batch of grain came from.
Zhang Zhuo continued to say to Wang Daosheng, "If you don't like me, you can report me to Dong Shi. But let me ask you, do you want these disaster victims to survive this winter?"
Zhang Zhuo and Wang Daosheng stood facing each other. One of them was wearing a bright red official robe with a lifelike white pheasant patch on his chest, and the other was wearing a blue Confucian robe that was faded from starching.
It was as if people who were not supposed to walk on the same path met by chance and confronted each other.
Everyone held their breath, as if facing two huge mountains pressing down on them, not even daring to breathe.
Finally, Wang Daosheng whispered, "I'm familiar with Dong Shi. When I return from my study tour in a few days, I'll write him a letter asking him not to investigate the affairs of Yangzhou."
Zhang Zhuo laughed heartily and patted Wang Daosheng on the shoulder. "I knew it. After all these years, you're still different from those corrupt scholars. Dong Shi admires your knowledge and treats you as his disciple. If you're willing to ask, he'll definitely give in. When you return from your studies, I'll go find you for a drink."
Wang Daosheng casually slapped Zhang Zhu's hand away and said, "Sooner or later, you're going to fall flat on your face over this."
Zhang Zhuo's expression changed: "Don't talk nonsense with your mouth, hurry up and say 'Pt. Pt. Pt. Pt.'"
Wang Daosheng didn't bother to pay attention to him. He turned around and walked to the porridge stall and continued to scoop porridge for the victims: "Don't worry, I'm not that powerful."
(End of this chapter)
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