Chapter 519 What kind of daydreaming is this bastard having?
Less than a day after the incident on the farm, rumors of revenge against the Xu family caused public unrest.
Although the situation was calmed down at the time, many people chose to leave because they were afraid of rumors.
Sang Zhixia looked at the booklet sent to her and found that the number of people working on the farm originally exceeded a thousand.
Within three days after the accident, more than 400 people left, causing considerable losses to the farm which was in urgent need of manpower to rebuild.
And those who choose to leave are not all people with ulterior motives.
Xu Yu entangled a lock of Sang Zhixia's hair with his fingertips and spoke slowly, "The arsonist wasn't caught, but I found the source of the kerosene. I traced it back to a man named Liu Sheng. There were several wooden barrels where he lived, and traces of kerosene were left on the ground."
It is impossible to bring so much kerosene into the farm at once without leaving any trace. It must be brought in quietly in small amounts over multiple times.
Sang Zhixia's eyes narrowed slightly.
Xu Yu sneered, "On the eighth day after the incident, I found Liu Sheng's body in the wilderness of South City, with a heavy jar of gold in his arms."
The investigation seemed to have ended here, but Sang Zhixia knew there was more to it than that.
Sang Zhixia lowered her voice: "Only one Liu Sheng died?"
Xu Yu smiled, and with a touch of emotion, he kissed Sang Zhixia on the side of her cheek, saying with a smile, "Zhizhi is indeed smart."
"I've carefully questioned everyone on the farm. The origin of the revenge rumors after the incident has nothing to do with Liu Sheng. It was first said by Liu Qiang, and there were six other people shouting along with him."
"Five bodies have been found so far, and there are two more to go."
However, they all knew in their hearts that these two people might not still be alive.
The person is dead, it's obvious that he was murdered to silence him.
The person behind the scenes might have thought of destroying the body a long time ago, but his actions were not as fast as expected, and a flaw was still left.
Xu Yu seemed to be feeling uncomfortable sitting like this. He leaned forward on his long, boneless legs and leaned directly on Sang Zhixia's legs. He said calmly, "I checked and found that the families of these people left the northwest two months ago. Their former relatives and friends don't know where they are. They have long since gone into hiding."
This conspiracy against the farm was long-planned and was by no means a spur-of-the-moment act.
Several possible guesses raced through Sang Zhixia's mind, and then she heard Xu Yu say, "But there's a place building a farm there too. It looks about 95% similar to ours, and they're actively recruiting people from our farm to work there. Zhizhi, guess who it is?"
Since Sang Zhixia is determined to make the farm bigger and stronger, his attention to this aspect cannot be weakened.
Sang Zhixia narrowed her eyes at Xu Yu's reminder. "I heard a while ago that there's a wealthy businessman from Jiangnan who's been building a lot of wasteland in Nancheng, seemingly intending to establish roots in the northwest. Does this man's surname seem to be Peng?"
"clever."
Xu Yu closed his eyes, snapped his fingers, and said with a smile, "There are many interesting things about Peng Yuanliang. This is not his first time in the northwest."
"To be precise, he is actually our family's old enemy."
Sang Zhixia reacted quickly, a flash of light in his mind, and he frowned and said, "You mean the famine that year was..."
"It's him."
Xu Yu's eyes flashed with sarcasm. "Back then, he sneaked into the northwest under the guise of a grain merchant, bought up all the autumn harvest here, and single-handedly caused a famine. Then he disappeared without a trace."
"I didn't expect that he would come to the Northwest again at this time."
Peng Yuanliang had been in the northwest for about half a year. At first, he did not act rashly. Instead, he quietly moved into the south city until such a big show happened.
Sang Zhixia stroked Xu Yu's temples with her fingers and whispered, "Are you sure it's Peng Yuanliang?"
"It is tentatively confirmed that he is among them."
Peng Yuanliang had not been in the Northwest for long, but relying on his strong financial resources and his ability to socialize, he had close contacts with some of the most famous merchants in the three cities of the Northwest, and had accumulated good relationships in a short period of time.
This time, Peng Yuanliang was not the only one involved in the farm incident.
The famine drama of that year was orchestrated by the Eastern Palace, and the sword was pointed directly at Chen Nianhe, the then commander-in-chief of the Northwest. Peng Yuanliang was at best a pawn.
Peng Yuanliang came to the northwest at this time and spared no effort to make such a fuss. It was impossible that he was just jealous of Sang Zhixia's prosperous farm and wanted to get a piece of the pie.
Sang Zhixia felt an inexplicable chill in her heart, frowned, and said, "Could it be that this was instructed by Kyoto?"
"Didn't you say before that he couldn't protect himself? And his hands are so long?"
"It's hard to say how much influence the East Palace guy holds, but I suspect his goal isn't just the farm."
Xu Yu blinked and said in an ambiguous tone, "Zhizhi, don't forget, there's also the Northwest Camp here."
Chen Nianhe, the thorn in my side, has been brought back to Kyoto.
For some reason, the emperor did not send a new general in time. The military power of the Northwest Camp is now in the hands of the deputy general, and there is no main general yet.
Lieutenant General Wu was an old acquaintance of Sang Zhixia. He had brought his men to the farm to eat and drink a lot of chickens, ducks, geese, and pigs. However, few people knew about this friendship where they had gone hungry together, but the food they ate counted.
Xu Yu flicked his fingertips and concluded lightly, "During the famine, you ruined Peng Yuanliang's plan to save food. Then, the news of the farm's bumper harvest spread everywhere. Furthermore, since he knew that most of the food in the Northwest Camp came from here, it's no surprise that he would take action."
If the Spring Hunt in Kyoto is really going to make a splash, then the more soldiers and horses we have in our hands, the better.
If the Eastern Palace wants to take advantage of the fact that the Northwest Camp has no commander and seize it in one fell swoop, making it a bargaining chip in the hands of the Crown Prince that can be used at any time, it must first shake the morale of the local army.
Destroy the largest farm in the Northwest Camp that currently provides the most grain, then build a farm that is no less powerful than the farm, and then use tricks to replace it.
Therefore, no matter whether it is by bribery or coercion, there will always be a place to start.
Moreover, in the eyes of others, when Chen Nianhe was the general, he could still rely on the power of the Chen family to make a three-point wave.
Deputy General Wu, who is currently acting as the general, is of humble origin and has no strong family background to back him up. It is not surprising that he would defect and surrender in the face of a series of misfortunes.
As far as Xu Yu knew, Peng Yuanliang had sent visiting cards to Lieutenant General Wu several times under the names of other people, but he had not received a response yet.
Sang Zhixia quickly grasped the various strange details and pieced together the thread. Surprised, she couldn't help but scoff, "I never thought that just wanting to dig a piece of land and grow some food would be considered a dish ready to be served in the eyes of these powerful figures."
"Do you think so highly of me?"
The first move of this killer move was actually aimed directly at her?
Xu Yu was amused by the irony in Sang Zhixia's words. He grabbed Sang Zhixia's hand and shook it. "Zhizhi, I told you a long time ago that food is the foundation of the army and the foundation of the people."
"You think you're just a farmer, but that's not the case in the eyes of others."
The amount of grain produced by the farm is astonishing. The annual income of one city in the north is enough to match the output of three or five other cities.
The farm in Luobei Village is the largest rice bowl in the three northwestern cities and the largest granary in the Northwest Camp.
This may seem inconspicuous, but it is the most important lifeline of the northwest.
Sang Zhixia looked eccentric, her expression unclear. She tutted and rubbed the tip of Xu Yu's ear, saying, "Do you think Peng Yuanliang knows that the secret to our farm's high yields lies in the use of the same grain varieties from one generation to the next?"
The rice seeds used by the Xu family are bred once a year, and they would be useless without this process.
Even if some of the grain seeds were stolen, the effect would be no less than pouring a cup of water into a lake, which would hardly cause any splash.
Sang Zhixia thought about it and said in a subtle tone, "He doesn't think that as long as he does a good job of land reclamation, he will be given thousands of grains and rice, right?"
"If you burn down my farm, he'll be the next to have a good harvest?"
"What kind of daydreaming is this bastard having?"
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