NOVPUBIn Jiaodong County, Beihai of Qingzhou, Guan Hai chewed on some unidentifiable chunks of meat, chewing incessantly before swallowing them down.
"Boss, this isn’t working out! Our spring in Qingzhou arrives early, and it seems like those at Mount Tai are busy with other things and have stopped road construction. Our brothers have all run out of food," a minor canal commandant named Jiang Qian said, struggling to accept the situation after swallowing a vegetable dumpling and a bun.
Speaking of which, many Yellow Turbans disguised themselves as refugees during the winter and went to Mount Tai to move bricks and scrape by with meals. Even a Yellow Turban Commander and expert like Guan Hai had to work on road construction. It was for that reason alone that they had a little spare cash to buy some buns and vegetable dumplings at the start of spring when they ran out of food and work.
"What’s the deal with Liu Xuande? Why did he stop attacking the North Sea last year? It’s left us in limbo," Guan Hai scratched his head and said. He actually wanted to surrender to Liu Bei, but he couldn’t even find Liu Bei, let alone surrender to him.
"No idea?" All the minor canal commandants shook their heads. "It’s a good thing that working on Mount Tai during winter came with provisions and silver coin, otherwise many of our brothers really wouldn’t have survived this winter. And who knows when they’ll start developing the western part of Qingzhou this year."
"We should find a way to get them to take us in. Right now, we’re basically getting by on Qingzhou’s work-for-relief program, but we don’t have household registrations. We’re begging for them to grant us citizenship!" Guan Hai was also somewhat frantic.
Guan Hai couldn’t understand what Liu Bei was up to. Regarding the Yellow Turbans who blended in with the refugees and relied on work-for-relief for food, Liu Bei simply turned a blind eye, but rarely issued them household registrations.
Without household registration, without land, without housing, they could only mix in with the refugees for food. Seeing the Yellow Turbans who had left Qingzhou last year for food now securing basic household registrations under Liu Bei, even Guan Hai, with his limited brain capacity, couldn’t help but entertain a rather foolish idea.
"Boss, we’ll do whatever you say," a minor canal commandant said to Guan Hai. They were helpless as Liu Bei hadn’t taken them in. For the Yellow Turbans who had nothing but their physical strength, the life in Qingzhou with ample food, dwellings, and good farmland seemed wonderful.
Of course, this was after a year of confirmation. Qingzhou seemed to genuinely pardon the past of the Yellow Turbans as long as they worked hard; not only could they earn a basic residency, but they could also get intermediate and even rumoured higher levels of citizenship.
From the information Guan Hai got from Zhou Cang and Liao Hua, it appeared their children would be able to go to school for free in the future. Where was the justice in that? When Guan Hai heard about this, he was so envious he wished he could take their place. They all came from peasant backgrounds; why should those few who moved faster have children who could ascend the social ladder?
"Let’s attack Kong Rong. With over a million Yellow Turbans encircling North Sea, I don’t believe Liu Xuande won’t send troops. If he does, we’ll surrender. I refuse to believe they won’t take us in if we give up," said Guan Hai, sharing his plan with his subordinates, who all gave him a thumbs-up.
"Boss, we should make this seem bigger. While we each still have a bit of spare cash, let’s buy up all the food, and then all the Yellow Turbans in Qingzhou should converge on North Sea. This will make a bigger statement, and when necessary, our numbers will give us an advantage. Worse comes to worst, we could even ask Kong Rong for a loan of grain," suggested a minor canal commandant as his eyes whirled with the proposal.
"Good, let’s do that. Everyone use the money earned over the winter to buy grain. Then we’ll inform all the other canal commandants of our plan and have them bring their own provisions to join us in the siege of North Sea. Tell them there will be no waiting for latecomers," Guan Hai decisively ordered. He’d been waiting to be taken in by Liu Bei for so long that he was growing desperate.
"Recently, has grain been selling quickly?" Lub Su asked, looking at the message sent by Mi Zhu with bewilderment, "Is someone hoarding it?"
"I don’t know, their methods are very strange, and I haven’t the slightest way to catch them red-handed. As for hoarding grain, these past two years have always been bumper years. Hoarding seems to have no practical significance, as grain prices have been falling. Even to prevent grain from being too cheap and harming farmers, Zichuan has been purchasing grain." Mi Zhu also spoke with a headache, for although many grains were sold, there were no major transactions.
"Madame Zhang, is the Zhen Family experiencing the same thing?" Lub Su asked, looking at Zhang Clan, who was sitting in her chair somewhat listlessly.
"Our Zhen Family hasn’t noticed anything different either, but grain is indeed selling quickly. I think since the other party is buying grain, we might as well try to sell to test them out. The amount of grain stored in Mount Tai is so vast that we need not worry about these matters," said Madame Zhang, straightening up her body and speaking indifferently.
The Zhen Family’s commercial network had already fully covered Jizhou. For Madame Zhang, there was no longer any pressure for survival, and therefore many things were no longer handled with the caution of the past. Similarly, the family no longer stressed over money as before. The Zhen Family had entered its most prosperous era.
"No, that’s the grain prepared for rolling out the Yellow Turbans of Qingzhou, we are going to eliminate the remaining threats at once, without leaving any hidden dangers," Lub Su firmly stated, not willing to let Madame Zhang act rashly.
"Then I will try selling some to see, consider it a relief effort. Anyway, buying at fair prices and selling at fair prices, for our Zhen Family now, there is no longer any loss," Madame Zhang said nonchalantly, outright ignoring storage fees, labor costs, and such.
"I’ll give it a try as well," sighed Mi Zhu, knowing how vast the Zhen Family’s wealth was becoming, even without calculating deliberately.
Neither Mi Zhu nor Madame Zhang had considered that this was actually the Yellow Turbans of Qingzhou buying grain for storage. Because there was no bulk shipment, nobody suspected this, which enabled the Yellow Turbans of Qingzhou to secure a ten-day supply of military rations, preparing an army of over a million to encircle the North Sea.
After Madame Zhang left, Mi Zhu swayed a little before returning.
"Does Zizhong have something to say?" Lub Su curiously asked, watching Mi Zhu circle back.
"It’s like this, I have a younger brother who is neither scholarly nor martially inclined, yet he still likes to cause trouble. I was thinking of sending him to the military to toughen him up, but I’m not sure which general to recommend him to," Mi Zhu said, slightly embarrassed. He was a man with the demeanor of a gentleman and disliked such dealings. However, when he thought about his brother Mi Fang’s situation, he felt somewhat distressed.
"Mi Zifang? Zizhong can rest assured, Zichuan had already made arrangements before leaving. He said that Zifang has a generous spirit, values loyalty, and can endure hardship; he is bound to achieve greatness," Lub Su said, while wondering about Mi Fang, that carefree fellow. He couldn’t see how Mi Fang matched Chen Xi’s description of being bound to achieve greatness. But thinking back, Chen Xi had a keen eye for people, which everyone acknowledged, so Lub Su did not want to discourage Mi Zhu.
Upon hearing this, Mi Zhu himself felt a bit embarrassed, thinking Lub Su was giving him face, so he gave a dry laugh twice and didn’t respond, knowing full well what his own brother was like. (To be continued. If you like this novel, you are welcome to vote for it on Qidian (qidian.com), where your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please go to m.qidian.com to read.)
