The county magistrate was equally surprised. He had assumed that Princess Jinyang was merely putting on a show, sending over a token amount of supplies to win people’s favor. He had never expected her to take disaster relief seriously.
“Princess Jinyang certainly has deep pockets.” His expression was complicated, carrying both a hint of mockery and a trace of admiration.
“Should we open the city gates for them?” he asked the county commandant.
At first, they had not intended to open the gates for the Princess Jinyang Army, but now that the army had brought such a large quantity of supplies, treating them too coldly seemed somewhat unreasonable.
After all, they were here to save the people of Tao Commandery.
The county commandant frowned. “Let’s wait and see. If we can keep the gates closed, we should. This food won’t end up in our hands anyway.”
He had seen everything clearly. Besides the grain, there were large numbers of Princess Jinyang’s soldiers escorting it. Even if they wanted to tamper with the supplies, it would not be easy.
The county magistrate sighed. “We’d only heard that Fengzhou was impoverished. It seems we were all mistaken. To be able to produce so much grain for disaster relief, Fengzhou must be quite prosperous.”
The county commandant mused, “I heard that the high-yield grain seeds the Sheng family has were provided by Fengzhou.”
The county magistrate gave a cold laugh at the thought. “These refugees are starving mad. They think disaster relief is that easy? We’d better hope the food isn’t snatched away the moment it arrives.”
That was entirely possible. People driven to desperation by hunger would stop at nothing.
There were tens of thousands of refugees here. If they all surged forward at once…
The county commandant sneered. “Then we’ll have to keep a close eye on things. If it really comes to that, perhaps the Princess Jinyang Army will have to beg us for help.”
The county magistrate’s mood brightened. He said nothing more, simply watching the procession draw nearer and looking forward to seeing how things would unfold.
Yet the relief convoy did not approach the city walls. Instead, it stopped on a broad stretch of flat ground two or three miles away.
“Food!”
“They’re carrying food!”
The refugees realized what was happening as well. Their eyes gleamed like those of starving wolves, and they surged toward the relief convoy in a frenzy.
Even Song Erniang, who had been beaten until every part of her body ached and was lying on the ground, suddenly found unprecedented strength. She picked up her son and charged forward.
She had to move faster. As long as there was food, her child could be saved.
But how could a frail woman like her outrun the starving young men? Before long, the crowd shoved her so hard that she nearly fell.
Fortunately, the thin man caught her by the arm. Otherwise, she would surely have been trampled.
Xie Nanxiao watched as tens of thousands of refugees swarmed toward them, clearly intent on taking the food by force.
He raised a hand. Several hundred soldiers from the Princess Jinyang Army stepped forward in a line, crossbows in hand, and shouted in unison, “Halt, or you will be shown no mercy!”
Their voices rang out like thunder, instantly drowning out the chaotic cries of the refugees.
But the starving people paid no attention to the soldiers’ warning. At the sight of food, they were like wolves catching the scent of blood.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—
Arrows rained down, embedding themselves in the ground just ahead of the running refugees. At the same time, the soldiers issued another thunderous warning.
“Halt, or you will be shown no mercy!”
Most of the refugees gradually came to a stop when they saw what had happened, but quite a few continued charging forward recklessly.
The soldiers raised their crossbows and aimed at those who were still running. Their voices turned stern.
“Halt, or you will be shown no mercy!”
The soldiers behind them joined in, shouting, “Kill! Kill! Kill!”
In an instant, a murderous aura swept over the scene, carrying the metallic resonance of battle.
These were true soldiers who had come straight from the battlefield. The killing intent they carried in their very bones was now on full display.
When had the refugees ever encountered such blood-and-iron authority? Even those at the very front stopped in their tracks, staring in terror at the soldiers before them and the rows of dark crossbow bolts aimed directly at them.
Only after seeing that the refugees had stopped did Xie Nanxiao leap onto a wooden cart. In his hand was a large loudspeaker newly developed by the industrial district.
“We are the Princess Jinyang Army, under the command of Her Highness Princess Jinyang. Her Highness is benevolent. Upon learning that the people have suffered through natural disaster and are struggling simply to survive, she ordered us to come from Fengzhou to Sizhou to provide relief.”
He pointed toward the rows of grain carts behind him.
“These are grain, medicine, and other supplies that Her Highness has prepared for the people of the disaster-stricken areas.”
“We are about to start fires and cook porridge. There will be enough for everyone. Her Highness will not abandon a single person. You have nothing to fear.”
“Wait half an hour, and you will all receive food. But if you refuse to obey orders and try to seize the supplies, do not blame us for showing no mercy. You will be killed!”
His voice was forceful and resonant, carrying both reassurance and the sharp edge of authority. Through the loudspeaker, it spread across the entire field.
For a moment, the scene fell silent. After a while, someone asked in a trembling voice, “I-Is Princess Jinyang here to save us?”
Xie Nanxiao swept his gaze over the crowd. “That is correct. When Her Highness learned of the flooding in Sizhou, she was deeply concerned. She immediately prepared large quantities of grain and medicinal supplies, then ordered us to travel day and night to provide disaster relief.”
His words brought tears to the eyes of many people. Some began sobbing uncontrollably.
Others fell to their knees and kowtowed toward Fengzhou in gratitude.
The strength that had surged through the refugees at the sight of food instantly drained away. Their bodies felt even weaker than before, and many collapsed to the ground, unable to get back up.
Nearly ten days had passed since the flooding in Sizhou, yet the government of Sizhou had made no move to provide disaster relief.
Even the county seats had tightly shut their gates, leaving the people to fend for themselves.
Xie Nanxiao sighed and raised the loudspeaker again.
“We will set up several tents to serve as temporary clinics. Anyone who feels unwell may come here for treatment.”
“The rest of you, line up and prepare your bowls and chopsticks. Once the porridge is ready, you can come here to receive it.”
The soldiers immediately stepped forward to maintain order, arranging the refugees into orderly lines and beginning to count them.
The soldiers on the other side started preparing the food. Some brought out large iron stoves and iron cauldrons. To speed things up, they had also brought plenty of honeycomb coal, which could be lit and used immediately.
Some soldiers unloaded the grain. Others peeled and chopped potatoes and white radishes, while still others tore Chinese cabbage into pieces. A few went to a nearby water source to fetch water.
Along the way, they had traveled with the people from Yejia Village and learned a great deal about the situation in Bilan County.
As their traveling companions, the villagers from Yejia Village were extremely excited. Anyone who still had even a little strength helped clear and organize the empty ground where the Princess Jinyang Army was making camp, leaving the surrounding area cleaner.
The refugees stared wide-eyed as sack after sack of rice was poured into the cauldrons.
There was far too much. Even in a year of bumper harvests, they would never have dared to eat rice so generously.
And this was disaster relief. They had never seen porridge prepared with so much grain.
Xie Nanxiao had no idea what the refugees were thinking. Once he saw that everything was proceeding in an orderly fashion and the situation had largely stabilized, he turned and issued an order to Qiu Wu.
“Take your men and continue on to the other counties to provide relief. Follow the plan as arranged. There’s no need to rush. Our safety comes first.”
Although he also wanted to split the army up and begin providing relief as quickly as possible, it was impossible to predict what starving people might do.
Each relief site had at least twenty or thirty thousand refugees, while the Princess Jinyang Army had only a little over ten thousand soldiers in total. If they spread themselves too thin, they would lose the ability to intimidate the crowd.
Although the army had repeating crossbows capable of killing anyone who tried to seize the grain, they had come to Sizhou to save people, not slaughter them.
Human nature could not withstand endless testing.
If a show of strength was enough to suppress people’s darker impulses, there was no need to force matters to the point where the hidden blade was revealed.
Thus, the army decided to split into two groups. Xie Nanxiao would lead one, and Qiu Wu the other.
Once one county had been brought under control, they would move on to the next. It might be slower, but it ensured their own safety and kept in check the evil that disasters could bring out in some people.
The county commandant and magistrate standing atop the city wall stared in stunned disbelief. “Th-That’s it?”
