Chapter 213 [VIP]
It's no wonder Li Mu was puzzled. Not to mention whether Shanzhou still had any surplus grain, even if it did, it would be too late by the time it was transported over. The Turks would be attacking the city within three days at the latest.
Chen Qingyan looked around and asked, "Is there a spacious open space?"
"The backyard is empty..." The place where he is currently camping is the Liangzhou government office, and there is a large open space behind it.
Chen Qingyan dismissed the servants, walked to the courtyard in the central courtyard, silently chanted to open the experimental field, and began to take out the grain bags from inside. Bag after bag of millet was pulled out of the experimental field.
Startled, Li Mu stumbled and nearly fell. He rubbed his eyes, making sure he wasn't seeing things, and muttered, "Heavens above..."
As the grain increased, filling the entire courtyard, Li Mu's expression changed from surprise and excitement to confusion. Just how much grain had his cousin brought?
As the last bag of wheat was thrown out, Chen Qingyan, covered in sweat, asked, "Is this enough? If not, I'll have them buy more."
"That's enough, more than enough! As long as we hold out until reinforcements arrive!" Li Mu's eyes burned with rage. He rushed to Chen Qingyan's side and grasped his hand firmly. "With this grain, my soldiers and I can survive!"
Chen Qingyan breathed a sigh of relief, "Luckily, I didn't arrive too late."
Li Mu wiped his eyes and said, "But where did this grain come from?"
“They were all collected by Sui Di and A Ying in Jizhou.”
"Jizhou? How could Jizhou be thousands of miles away from here..."
Chen Qingyan said, "Please send someone to settle the grain first, and I will tell you the whole story later."
"Alright!" Li Mu hurriedly called his trusted subordinates to come and collect the grain.
Lang Qianping was stunned when he heard the news. "What did you say?"
"The Marquis said that you should take some men to the manor to fetch grain so that the soldiers can have a good meal tonight."
He hurriedly got up from the couch, putting on his shoes as he said, "Has the Marquis gone mad? This city has already been ransacked; where would we find any more grain?"
With over 20,000 troops, the daily food consumption was enormous. They had already requisitioned all the grain from the surrounding prefectures. If they had any grain, they would have used it long ago; it wouldn't have been left until now.
A short while later, he arrived at the government office with several commanders. They found the Marquis and Chen Tongzhi chatting. The men asked in confusion, "Where is the grain?"
Chen Qingyan pointed to the courtyard behind him, and everyone was stunned by the mountain of grain piled up in front of them.
"My goodness! Where did this grain come from?!" Several commanders rushed over like madmen, opened the burlap sacks, and found them full of golden millet and wheat. Tears streamed down their faces without warning. "My lord, this grain..."
Li Mu said, "There's no need to ask anything. This is a case of heaven never closing off all doors. Quickly store the grain and conserve our strength for the next few days while we wait for the barbarians to attack the city!"
"Yes!" Several officers, their eyes bloodshot, ran back and forth carrying grain. They were saved! They were saved!
Heaven knows that these past few days they've only been able to eat one meal a day, and it's just porridge. They're so hungry they're seeing stars. The little bit of food they have is saved for the day they defend the city.
Li Mu even joked with his men, saying that they should eat their fill before they went on their way, and that they should die well-fed.
Now that so much grain has suddenly arrived, the siege of Liangzhou can be lifted!
That very night, a portion of the rations was given to the soldiers for a hearty meal, while the rest was stored away to last at least four or five days. This meal seemed to give the soldiers a strong boost of morale, making them no longer afraid of the battles to come.
*
Late at night, in the study.
"Cousin, can you tell me the origin of this grain now?"
"My lord, come with me to a place first, and you'll understand when we get there." Chen Qingyan took his arm, and in the blink of an eye, the two arrived at the experimental field.
Li Mu, worthy of being a general, remained outwardly calm despite his inner shock. After looking around, he asked, "Where is this? Why did you bring me here?"
"It's a long story," Chen Qingyan said, walking to sit down on a stone bench. Li Mu also sat down to listen to his detailed explanation.
"I wonder if Your Excellency is aware that in my early years I was framed for cheating in the imperial examinations and was disqualified from taking them."
"I've heard a little about it." This matter was discovered during the investigation of Lin Sui back then.
Chen Qingyan lowered his head and smiled bitterly, "At that time, it was no less than losing my life for me. After that, I fell seriously ill, and there was no cure. Several times I almost died. My mother was worried about me, so she went to a Taoist temple to have her fortune told. She said that I needed to find a woman or man with a water element in my birth chart to bring me good luck in order to recover."
It just so happens that Ah Ying was a person with a water element in her destiny, and my mother spent ten strings of cash to buy her into marriage. Coincidentally, my illness gradually improved after that, and it was around that time that this land suddenly appeared.”
Li Mu pondered for a moment and then said, "So, this land is inside your body?"
"I suppose so." Chen Qingyan took all the experimental fields upon himself, so that even if the truth came out later, he could protect Wang Ying.
"However, only Ah Ying and I can open this experimental field, and we can only bring in six or seven people at most. No more than that. We have never shown this ability to anyone for so many years, for fear of arousing jealousy. So we hope that you, Lord Marquis, will help keep it a secret."
How could Li Mu not understand? If it weren't for helping them, his cousin might never have shown this ability to others in his entire life.
"Don't worry, I've already told my subordinates that this grain was found in the city. No one else knows about what happened today except you and me."
"Thank you for your trouble." As soon as Chen Qingyan finished speaking, Wang Ying brought Lin Sui in.
"My lord!"
“Sui’er…”
Having not seen each other for a long time, the two embraced each other excitedly. Wang Ying knew that the two must have a lot to say to each other, so she pulled her husband to wait on the other side.
"They've given all the grain?"
"Yes, you've come at just the right time. I heard from the Marquis that the grain supplies have run out, and he was worried about how to get through the next few days. It's good that we've brought the grain, which has solved our urgent problem."
"That's good. Sui and I bought some more medicinal herbs, which will arrive tomorrow, so we can deliver them together."
"Thank you for your hard work."
Wang Ying reached out and straightened his collar. Chen Qingyan had clearly lost weight these past few days from his travels, and there were dark circles under his eyes. "It's not tiring. When do you plan to come back?"
"Wait a little longer, what will happen to the tens of thousands of people from Shanzhou who have already left..."
"You promised me that you would come back early if the Turks attacked."
"Don't worry, I value my life very much, and I would never do anything that would cost me my life."
Li Mu and Lin Sui had finished catching up and their emotions had calmed down. Lin Sui specially handed him a few clothes, saying, "I know it's inconvenient for you to carry a change of clothes while you're on the march, so I made you a few outfits. The weather is about to turn cold, so take care not to catch a cold."
"Mmm." Li Mu's voice was a little hoarse, and his eyes were filled with an intense longing.
Lin Sui held his hand, and the thought of him fighting the barbarians made her unable to hold back her tears. "You promised me you would come back safe and sound."
"Rest assured, I will not break my promise."
It was almost time, and the two of them didn't want to linger too long. They called over Chen Qingyan and Wang Ying and said, "Thank you, cousin and cousin-in-law, for bringing the grain. I swear I will not reveal the secret of the experimental field. Anyone who dares to break this oath will die a horrible death."
"Don't say that. We're all family. I only revealed the experimental field because I trusted you."
Li Mu said, “My dear sister-in-law, you don’t know, but the Turks are currently stationed ten miles outside the city, waiting for us to run out of supplies before they attack. The city’s supplies are all gone, and we thought we wouldn’t last until reinforcements arrived. Everyone was prepared to die, but unexpectedly… the life-saving supplies you sent, my cousin, saved the lives of over 20,000 of my soldiers! Please accept my deepest bow.”
Li Mu lifted his robe and knelt down to kowtow, startling Wang Ying, who quickly helped him up with Chen Qingyan.
"No, Your Excellency, you flatter us. You are leading troops in battle, and our small contribution is nothing to us!"
"Now that we have plenty of food and supplies, Liangzhou is easy to defend and difficult to attack. We can hold out for another ten days or half a month without any problem. Once the reinforcements arrive, it will be time for us to regroup and fight again!"
Lin Sui was slightly relieved. "That's good. My cousin and I will continue to collect grain these next few days. You can focus on the work ahead and don't worry about supplies."
Li Mu nodded heavily, feeling extremely relieved.
“However…” Lin Sui hesitated before speaking.
"But what?"
Lin Sui scratched her head, "The money used to buy the grain was all yours. I'm afraid you'll spend all the silver stored in the bank."
Li Mu laughed heartily, "It's alright, this money is being spent wisely!"
*
In the following days, the border troops were able to eat their fill every day.
Lunch was served at noon, consisting of gray flour steamed buns and millet porridge. Today, the porridge even had some oil in it, and everyone slurped it down with gusto.
A young man surnamed Mu was eating while secretly glancing at the centurion next to him. When the centurion had almost finished eating, he handed him his steamed bun, saying, "Centurion Yu, please have some."
Aren't you going to eat?
"My child has a small appetite; one bowl of porridge is enough to make him feel full, and he really can't eat anymore."
Yu Baihu laughed heartily, took the steamed bun, and ate it in a few bites. After finishing, he wiped his mouth, let out a satisfied burp, and exclaimed, "It feels so good to have a full meal!"
"Yes, but I don't know where this grain came from. Didn't the higher-ups say a few days ago that there wasn't much grain left?"
Why are you asking this?
"No, it's nothing. I was just asking out of curiosity."
"Hey, I thought you were a Turkic spy. To be honest, I don't know where this grain came from either, but if there's food, we'll eat it. As long as we can have enough to eat, who cares where it comes from!"
The soldier surnamed Mu was so frightened by his two sentences that his back was soaked with sweat. After the man left, he wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. He really was a spy for the Turks. It was also he who spread the news that the army was short of food. Just a few days ago, everyone was eating only one meal of porridge every day. Unexpectedly, they suddenly had food again these past few days.
He decided to sneak into the granary at night to see if there was any grain left.
That night, the soldier surnamed Mu quietly got up and headed towards the army's grain depot. He had scouted the location beforehand and knew that the guards would be lax in the middle of the night and he wouldn't be discovered.
When he arrived near the granary, he saw several soldiers carrying things into the yard. What he saw shocked him.
Truckloads of wheat and millet were transported here from who-knows-where, and besides the grain, there were even pigs, sheep, chickens, and ducks?! Where did all this stuff come from?!
His face turned pale. He was determined to get this message out, otherwise the siege would be much more difficult.
However, before he could slip away, he was caught by several people, the leader of whom was none other than the magistrate Yu who had given him the steamed buns during the day.
"I can tell you're up to no good by your furtive behavior. Take him down!"
"My lord, spare my life! I'm innocent!"
"What injustice? Military Advisor Lang said that anyone who inquires about the origin of the grain should be treated as a spy and taken away!" Without further ado, Commander Yu ordered his men to tie him up.
The following day, the Turks, who had been waiting for several days, prepared to attack the city.
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