"Ah? My lord...which two Generals Li?"
Sun Jian's words left the minor officials completely bewildered. He had been working in the Prime Minister's Office for half a month and knew everyone in the palace, from the captains at the gate to the messengers.
I've never heard of anyone with the surname Li, let alone two of them.
The surname Li is very common in Dagan.
Those with the surname Li who could become generals must have some imperial bloodline!
Sun Jian rolled his eyes at him, annoyed. "They are two Jinwu Guard generals from His Majesty's side! His Majesty ordered the Left and Right Jinwu Guard generals to accompany me to handle disaster relief matters. They are not ministers of the General Office and have no right to enter this palace. They can only wait at the main gate."
"They're right outside the palace gate. Go and call them in!"
"Your humble servant obeys!"
After hearing this, the minor official looked at Sun Jian with even more admiration.
Without further hesitation, he bowed and withdrew, then immediately rushed out to summon Generals Li You and Li Mu.
Before long, Generals Li You and Li Mu appeared in the main hall.
After everyone paid their respects, Sun Jian immediately said to them without hesitation, "General Li You, quickly take my token and go to the Sun residence to find Gu Hu and Old Jiang."
"Have them bring 50,000 taels of silver and 20 cartloads of potatoes, and assemble at the east gate of Kyoto! Remember! The money must be in copper coins. Exchange as much as you have first, and send the rest later if you are short! Do not delay!"
hiss!
Upon hearing this, everyone present gasped in shock.
They all looked at each other in disbelief, their faces filled with shock.
What shocked them was not the twenty carts of potatoes, but the fifty thousand taels of silver!
The fact that potatoes were a new crop invented by Sun Jian was known to all the officials in the court.
However, before the locust plague occurred, none of the ministers knew why they had not tried planting it.
They have never tasted it, nor do they know whether its yield and characteristics are truly as described by the people...
Since potatoes were a new type of grain developed by Sun Jian, it's not surprising that he would bring twenty cartloads from his own home to the region; it's acceptable!
But 50,000 taels of silver is a bit scary!
Damn it!
The entire project was so large-scale that even taking 100,000 taels of silver from the national treasury was considered extremely difficult!
If others were unaware, how could Mi Zhu, the Minister of Revenue, not know?
To what extent did Emperor Ganwu take the locust plague seriously?
However, years of war had already depleted the national treasury. This time, they had to squeeze out 100,000 taels of silver to deliver to the Prime Minister.
The remaining 100,000 taels will have to wait before it is disbursed.
It should be noted that of these 100,000 taels of silver, 40,000 taels were originally intended to be paid to the soldiers at the front lines…
But what about Sun Jian?
He immediately produced a full 50,000 taels of silver!
One person almost single-handedly drained a country's treasury...
This needs to be converted to kilograms.
That 10,000 taels is equal to 1,000 catties!
50,000 taels is equal to 50,000 catties!
Holy crap!
50,000 catties of silver...
Where did he get so much money?
The most crucial question is, is this even human?
Do we even want anyone else to live?
Everyone here is intelligent, and each of them is exceptionally intelligent!
Sun Jian could produce so much silver at once without batting an eye, yet he was penniless before coming to the capital…
Everyone immediately guessed the answer: it was the "Qiankun Hall," which was now thriving in Kyoto!
In the capital, the name of Qiankun Hall was comparable to that of Sun Jian.
Apart from Zhuang Qishi, all the ministers present had tasted and enjoyed the wine from Qiankun Hall and the fine salt from Qiankun Diagram…
So many fantastical artifacts were created, so many strange and wonderful things...
Besides Sun Jian, who else could have this ability?
The group exchanged glances, and they already understood each other's intentions.
But right now, disaster relief is the priority. Even if you understand the situation clearly, it's best not to say it aloud.
At this moment, Sun Jian paid no attention to the reactions of his ministers, but instead repeatedly instructed Li You.
"General Li, remember, you only have one hour!"
"Your humble servant obeys!"
Li You looked serious and clasped his hands in a fist salute.
He then took the Tiger Warrior token from Sun Jian and stormed out the door.
Li You knew that Sun Jian's insistence meant that the matter was extremely urgent!
The Tiger Warriors' token was merely proof of Sun Jian's identity!
The most important thing is to gain the trust of Lao Jiang and Gu Hu, and to transfer money and grain within an hour!
Sun Jian's words were like an imperial edict to him at this moment, because His Majesty had said that during the disaster relief period, all their orders and actions had to be obeyed by Sun Jian! "Minister Sun, you are to carry out my duties!"
After arranging Li You's duties, Sun Jian continued to arrange Li Mu's tasks.
"General Li Mu, quickly gather a thousand Imperial Guards, escort ten thousand dan of grain from the Prime Minister's Office, and head to the east gate of the capital!"
"You only have one hour. Remember, you must announce one thing to all the people along the way: the imperial court will send Lord Sun Jian to distribute grain and silver to relieve the locust plague outside the East Gate!"
"Your humble servant obeys!"
After receiving the order, Li Mu quickly left and made arrangements.
Sun Jian no longer hesitated and continued to make arrangements for the others.
"Lord Yao!"
"I am here, sir. Please give your orders!"
Yao Tianzheng gave Sun Jian plenty of face, directly clasping his hands in a fist salute with a serious expression.
Sun Jian smiled and said, "Please ask Lord Yao to take Xiong Juzheng, along with all the officials and clerks of the capital prefecture, and lead two thousand guards to spread the news of relief throughout the city!"
"At the same time, you should also take silver and grain, and when you spread the word, tell the people that as long as they inform each other and bring people to the destination, each person will receive a day's ration and ten copper coins."
"Whether he brings his relatives or neighbors, once the appointed time is chosen, there will be relief sites outside all four gates of the capital city!"
"Furthermore, if any of their relatives or neighbors have fled, officials from the capital prefecture may lead a hundred light cavalry units with copper coins and grain to pursue them!"
"Although the roads out of the capital are extensive, most of the refugees travel in groups and can only cover less than thirty li a day! Light cavalry can catch up in half a day!"
"Two thousand guards can be divided into twenty teams to pursue them from different directions!"
"Whenever they arrived at a place, they set up camp and disaster relief stations there!"
"Use the same method as at the four city gates mentioned above! Give them grain and money!"
"I, Yao, obey!"
Sun Jian then turned to Mi Zhu, the Minister of Revenue, and said, “Lord Mi! Your task is simpler: organize all the communications soldiers in the General Office to transmit this message to all the counties and prefectures in Daqian as quickly as possible. They must change personnel and horses along the way to relay the message!”
"If they can't contact us, we'll contact them ourselves!"
"At each location, execute the above strategy without fail!"
"Yes, sir!"
Sun Jian continued, “Lord Xing, you are the Minister of Works. Manufacturing, land reclamation, water conservancy, civil engineering, and transportation are your specialties!”
"I hereby order you to take command of the Ministry of Works and, with the remaining funds and provisions, cooperate with Lord Mi to ensure that disaster relief stations are set up in all prefectures, counties, and districts!"
"At the same time, we must spread the word that we want more money and food, and even catch locusts in Kyoto!"
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