The dense foliage of the forest made it somewhat difficult to distinguish north, south, east, and west.
But Song Jiyun had brought a guide, so everyone tiptoed along the narrow paths between the trees.
An hour went by, and Yuan Yunzhong couldn’t help but regret his decision.
It was no issue for him to travel thus far, but Song Jiyun, who usually traveled either by sedan or carriage, could hardly endure such haste. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢
He grabbed Song Jiyun and whispered, "Let me carry you."
Song Jiyun was surprised.
Indeed, Song Jiyun hadn’t traveled such a long distance by foot before. She had had many speculations about Yuan Yunzhong’s situation and had prepared for the worst. Now that Yuan Yunzhong was standing before her unharmed, she wanted for nothing. Naturally, she hadn’t minded the journey at all.
Pulling up her skirt, she showed him how she had wrapped her legs: "I had planned ahead! See, with my legs wrapped like this, walking is much easier."
But it was certainly not the same as traveling in a sedan or carriage.
Remembering her leisurely time in Jingde Town, Yuan Yunzhong insisted, "I’ll carry you!"
Saying so, he crouched in front of her.
Song Jiyun was somewhat skeptical whether Yuan Yunzhong could actually carry her, but he had already hoisted her onto his back and was striding forward with light steps.
His manner was as if he wasn’t carrying a person but a bundle.
Song Jiyun, feeling more at ease, no longer refused. She immediately felt much lighter, wrapped her arms around Yuan Yunzhong’s neck, swung her legs, and took the opportunity to whisper with him, "I was always worried that something might happen to you here... so I had Xu Guangzeng send me news if anything happened... And you know what, Xu Guangzeng isn’t great at legitimate affairs, but he’s sharper than most when it comes to underhanded things. He was escorting Lord Shi back to the Capital City, didn’t send your documents to the Director of Communications nor to the Imperial Cabinet, but passed them onto his own brother to deliver into the palace... Unexpectedly, the Duke of Ding waited for a long while in the palace but didn’t get to meet the Emperor. Seeing that something was amiss, he rushed to find Master Jinghu."
Yuan Yunzhong frowned but did not interrupt Song Jiyun.
"His message couldn’t leave the palace though. Xu Guangzeng waited outside for several Shichen Chinese Time and didn’t hear any news from the Duke of Ding, so he immediately ran to find me."
Yuan Yunzhong said in a deep voice, "So, you managed to get me some grain?"
"Yes!" Song Jiyun laughed softly, her laugh in the night air tickled his ears—he barely managed not to touch his ears.
"Speaking of which, you have to thank yourself for this," Song Jiyun giggled, "Didn’t you leave me a lot of notes? I thoroughly examined the notes you left me. I found one from the Five City Armed Forces Office. Isn’t that the office that manages the market? I had Wang Hua inquire about the grain prices in the city and the state of several granaries in Tongzhou. It turns out that just yesterday, the Ministry of War had requested an imperial decree because the Imperial Court started a conflict with Goryeo, and as our forces are being defeated in Liaodong, they might levy Goryeo. The Ministry of Revenue was ordered to inspect the granaries across the regions, but they found that in Tongzhou, new grain was being counted as old, with shortages in weight. The Emperor was furious and sent the Right Metropolitan Censor to inspect the granaries nationwide. Now the six ministries, the Ministry of War, and the Metropolitan Censorate are all busy with this matter!"
Yuan Yunzhong chuckled quietly, "Tough for them, in their attempt to deal with me, they’ve revealed the Ministry of Revenue’s shame. The Ministry of Revenue must hate the Ministry of War to death now."
"Who cares whether they uncover it or not," Song Jiyun said. "But it’s tough on you, 50,000 refugees are less important than a campaign in Goryeo? Who would dare lend grain to you under these circumstances? Especially since they’ve held onto your memorials."
Caught by curiosity, Yuan Yunzhong asked, "So where did you get the grain from? And how much did you manage to get?"
Song Jiyun, with a tone tinged with smugness, said, "They thought they had made sure you couldn’t borrow grain, right? So, I decided to buy it!"
"Buy grain?" Yuan Yunzhong was quite surprised.
"Buy grain!" Song Jiyun whispered, "Everyone knows that the issue of refugees surrounding the city has been resolved. Grain prices have returned to normal, and it is already June. New grains will soon be transported into the city. Many of the large grain merchants in the Capital City still have plenty of stockpiled grain. I have cash, so I simply sent Zhou Zheng with real silver to buy the grain. At first, those big merchants were somewhat reluctant, but with so much silver on offer, at a price ten percent above the market rate, they immediately opened their granaries. Zhou Zheng quietly bought over forty shi of grain."
This would feed the refugees for about five or six days.
Yuan Yunzhong breathed a sigh of relief.
The Duke of Ding was held up in the palace by their ploys, which was not a long-term plan. By tomorrow at the latest, the Duke of Ding would be free. The fear was that the Ministry of War might use the recruitment of troops for Goryeo as an excuse, entangling matters with the emperor. The emperor intended to immediately allocate grain to him, but the Ministry of War could also find ways to delay for a few days.
He asked, "Whose soldiers did you borrow?"
These men were all clad in chain mail, which was armor only regular Guard Stations possessed.
Song Jiyun smiled and quietly told him, "They are from the Canal Transport."
Yuan Yunzhong was startled and paused in his steps.
Song Jiyun smiled and said, "I know someone was making things difficult for you, so of course I had to use some unconventional tactics, right? They disregard the safety of the world for their own personal desires, setting up this huge trap just to prevent you from recruiting refugees. I definitely couldn’t swallow that. The way they calculate against you, I planned to calculate against them the same way."
Her tone slowly became more serious, "Whether it’s true or false that the grain in the Tongzhou storehouses was short on weight, the Ministry of Revenue cannot escape responsibility, and the people from Canal Transport might not be able to explain clearly. I simply reached out to the people from the Tongzhou Patrol Inspection Office and contacted the Canal Transport Governor’s Office, promising them that if the investigation of the grain shortage falls on them, I would be willing to cover the deficit. But they need to help me transport the grain in their hands to Shijingshan."
"The person responsible for the Canal Transport didn’t expect that he would claim to be in good relations with your Yuan Family, saying he was the fourth son of the Gusu Wang Family, who entered service by imperial favor and had once worked under your cousin. Out of respect for Master Jinghu, he agreed without a second thought."
She also specifically told Master Jinghu about this matter.
It’s just unknown if Master Jinghu would feel like he shot himself in the foot by using his connections, and might be furious.
However, even if he were furious, it would be useless. She just wanted to irritate him.
Of course, these matters of challenging Master Jinghu didn’t need to be disclosed to him.
When he finds out that due to his inaction, Yuan Yunzhong was almost killed, he will probably be even more angry.
Song Jiyun was in good spirits and continued, "Because of this relationship, we also had a new gain."
Yuan Yunzhong, feeling her joy, felt his heavy heart lightened by a warm current.
After thinking for a moment, he asked, "Did he help you source more grain?"
"You are indeed clever!" Song Jiyun, in a good mood, did not skimp on her praise, "According to him, their grain transport ships travel all over from south to north, and they don’t need to pay taxes when passing the Patrol Inspection Office. They often carry things for others. Sometimes it’s tea, sometimes it’s silk, sometimes it’s porcelain. Coincidentally, this time they brought a batch of aged grain for a few major trading houses. The Ministry of Revenue is about to inspect all the state granaries, isn’t it? They were worried about how to handle this batch of aged grain. If I don’t mind, he is willing to sell it to me at a low price."
Yuan Yunzhong couldn’t help but smile, asking, "How much grain did they sell to you?"
"One hundred and twenty thousand shi," Song Jiyun cunningly stated, "and we even agreed not to use cash for the transaction, but to exchange it for porcelain."
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