Yun Chengxuan: “……”
He did have money. Jiang Jin gave him three taels of silver every month as wages—or rather, spending money. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to give him more; it was just that he couldn’t save any of it even if she did.
Whenever he had money, he would go shopping at the general store, the pastry shop, the beverage shop—in short, he bought things everywhere.
Jiang Jin was worried that he would eat too many snacks and refuse to eat proper meals, so even the three taels had to be divided into three payments each month. Otherwise, he would spend it all in less than two days.
Even so, Dong Si and Zhou Sui both thought she was giving him too much. After all, this was purely snack money. He didn’t have to pay for clothes or anything else, and aside from eating, he had no other hobbies.
An ordinary laborer earned only about two hundred copper coins a month. Yun Chengxuan’s monthly spending money was equivalent to more than a year’s wages for an ordinary worker. One could imagine how much purchasing power it had.
But he was her own nephew, after all—and a boy who could really eat—so Jiang Jin naturally wasn’t stingy with him. Most of the time, she simply let him do as he pleased.
Yun Chengxuan scratched his head. “Then I’ll borrow next month’s wages in advance and donate the whole amount.”
Qiu Liao couldn’t resist teasing him. “Then you won’t have anything tasty to eat next month.”
Yun Chengxuan waved his hand with an air of profound wisdom. “I’m not a child anymore. I’m not greedy for food. If I don’t have any, then so be it.”
Everyone: “……”
He certainly wasn’t a child anymore, but did he really believe what he’d just said about not being greedy?
Sure enough, Yun Chengxuan’s voice rang out again. “We should be returning to Fengzhou soon, right? I’ll just borrow some money from Little Dong when we get there.”
Qiu Liao didn’t even know what to say. Probably only this man would dare to call Lord Dong “Little Dong.”
In a village somewhere in Qinglian County, the soldiers of the Ji Army showed little reaction when the Jinyang Army arrived to take over. They had already accepted reality after three days.
Meng Chong’s attitude was also quite cordial as he made small talk. “Have you eaten?”
The Ji Army soldiers: “……”
As the defeated side, who were about to withdraw, they couldn’t understand why being asked such a question by the victorious side didn’t feel friendly at all. It felt nothing but deeply sarcastic.
The Ji Army soldiers turned their heads away, unwilling to speak.
Meng Chong didn’t mind. He ordered his own soldiers, “Go and see how many farmers are working here.”
“All right!” a soldier shouted excitedly.
The young Ji Army officer in charge of the area frowned. “What do you mean by that?”
Meng Chong looked puzzled. “Count them. Didn’t you hear me?”
The officer: “……”
He silently turned his head away again and decided never to speak another word.
Meng Chong, however, was in the mood for conversation. “These crops should be harvested soon. Once they’re harvested, you’ll be leaving, right? Have you finished packing everything?”
The officer’s expression darkened instantly, and his tone turned stiff. “We will withdraw within the stipulated time.”
Meng Chong patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t be nervous. That’s not what I meant. I just came here from Fengzhou and don’t know the situation in this area yet, so I was asking.”
The officer nearly drew his blade when Meng Chong suddenly patted his shoulder, but he managed to restrain himself.
Seeing that the officer was still on guard, Meng Chong sighed.
“All right, then. We’re not on the same side, after all, and your Grand Chanyu is still in my lord’s hands. It’s only natural that you’re nervous. I understand.”
The officer’s face grew even darker, as if ink were about to drip from it.
You understand?
You’re obviously bragging! Threatening me!
I understand your whole family!
Of course, he didn’t say any of that aloud. He didn’t dare. He merely cursed the Jinyang Army and Meng Chong inwardly.
“Reporting in! There are 1,652 people working here,” a Jinyang Army soldier soon came over to report.
Meng Chong grunted and looked at another soldier beside him. The man hurriedly took out paper and brush and began calculating.
Perhaps he was too nervous, or perhaps he was simply bad at arithmetic. Even after a quarter of an hour, he still hadn’t managed to work it out.
After fumbling around for quite some time and using up an entire sheet of paper, he finally arrived at an answer. “It should be about three hundred shi of grain.”
Meng Chong didn’t bother checking whether the calculation was correct. He turned to the officer and said, “Have you prepared the wages for our farmers? Not a grain more or less—three hundred shi.”
The officer stared at him in astonishment. “What did you say?”
Meng Chong’s expression turned cold. “My lord explicitly said that our people are to be paid for working for you these past three days. What, are you planning to welsh on the payment?”
The officer gritted his teeth, at a loss for words. There had indeed been such an order. The Jinyang Army hadn’t come to take over for the past two days, and he had nearly forgotten about it.
Naturally, he didn’t want to pay. It was a year of drought, and the harvest was already poor. If they had to hand over grain as wages as well, their situation would become even worse.
But he couldn’t say no. Just as Meng Chong had pointed out, their Grand Chanyu was still in the Jinyang Army’s hands.
He clenched his teeth. “Your calculation is wrong. How could so few people possibly require three hundred shi of grain?”
Meng Chong pointed at the paper in his hand. “It’s written right here. The whole sheet is covered.”
The officer looked over. The writing resembled a mass of ghostly scribbles, and he couldn’t understand a word of it.
He suppressed his urge to cut the man down and called over the Ji Army soldier responsible for managing the grain, ordering him to calculate it.
That soldier wasn’t much better at arithmetic. Still, after stumbling through the calculation, he finally managed to work it out.
“This area will be finished soon. Since they only worked half a day today, it comes to two and a half days in total—172 shi.”
Meng Chong turned to look at his own soldier.
The soldier who had struggled with the first calculation gave an embarrassed laugh. “Er… I’ll calculate it again.”
Meng Chong: “……”
If he hadn’t been bad at arithmetic himself, he would have done it personally.
After another round of calculations, the soldier finally arrived at the final answer. “It’s 172 shi and ten jin. You undercounted by ten jin just now.”
The officer: “……”
He let out a cold laugh. “You started by calculating three hundred shi. What a blatant attempt to extort us.”
Meng Chong knew that his own man had made a mistake, but he couldn’t afford to lose momentum. “You undercounted by a little, and we overcounted by a little. We’re even.”
The officer: “A little? You were almost off by half!”
Meng Chong waved his hand. “You wouldn’t understand. In Fengzhou, our harvests are abundant. A mere hundred-some shi is nothing worth mentioning.”
The officer ground his teeth in fury. “Since that’s the case, then forget the wages altogether!”
Meng Chong looked at him strangely. “Why would you think that? You’re not one of my lord’s people. What gives you the right not to pay the wages?”
The officer felt completely numb. He decided never to speak with Meng Chong again and reluctantly ordered his men to begin gathering the “wages.”
Meanwhile, Chu Qing rode along the official road, looking at the surroundings that were both familiar and strange. His heart was filled with conflicting emotions.
Wei Tai was similarly troubled. “I never imagined that the two commanderies of Punan and Shangjing would return so easily.”
Chu Qing shook his head. “It wasn’t easy at all. Look at every step our lord took—each one was a dangerous gamble. If he had made even one wrong move, he might have been doomed beyond redemption.”
Wei Tai let out a soft breath. “That’s true. Our lord is truly courageous and leaves nothing unaccounted for.”
Chu Qing couldn’t help laughing softly. “I heard that under our lord’s governance, the people of Fengzhou live in peace and prosperity.”
As one of the earliest people to follow Yun Yu in his guerrilla campaigns, Wei Tai knew more about Fengzhou than most.
“I believe Chongzhou won’t fare any worse. Once the Ji Army has withdrawn completely, our lord should begin working on its development.”
Chu Qing sighed. “That will require a great deal of money—and grain.”
Wei Tai shook his head. “Our lord has high-yield grain seeds. I hear some varieties mature in a short period of time. He’ll probably begin planting them in a few days to ease the burden on the local food supply.”
Chu Qing knew this as well. “I really want to go to Fengzhou and see it for myself.”
