The day after Lu Ping and his group left, a team sent by Jiang Jin to transport supplies arrived at the liaison point, led by Wen Ping.
Qingming was stunned. "You, you actually used wheelbarrows?"
The mountain paths were rough and hard to traverse, and wheelbarrows were even more difficult to maneuver on them, so he had assumed the group would carry the supplies on their backs just as Lu Ping's party had done.
Wen Ping looked helpless. "Our lord thinks carrying grain on our backs is far too inefficient, so he decided that using wheelbarrows for transport would be much faster."
The main issue was that Wen Long City was not just short of grain, salt and oil. It lacked everything, including clothing and weapons, so there was a massive amount of goods to move.
Recently, the Ji Army had unstable morale and was busy dealing with internal problems, so their external control was not particularly tight. This was the perfect opportunity for them.
Qingming nodded in understanding. "So are you going to unload all the supplies here with me?"
Wen Ping shook his head. "We're transporting them straight to Wen Long City. There are also some supplies here set aside to replenish your stock."
A portion of the grain in the cave had previously been sent to Wen Long City, leaving very little remaining, so it was necessary to refill their stores.
Qingming warned, "Then you all must be very careful on the road, and keep your movements hidden."
Wen Ping nodded. "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. Once our lord takes the entire Chongzhou region, things will be much more convenient then."
A bright glint flashed in Qingming's eyes. "That day will come soon. I'm fully confident our lord will seize Chongzhou before long."
Back in Wen Long City, everyone was throwing themselves wholeheartedly into farming.
With the grain Yue Qiu and his companions had brought, the city now had a certain level of logistical security. Over the past two days, the quality of everyone's meals had improved slightly.
They still could not eat as much as they wanted, because the grain Yue Qiu and his party had brought was not a large amount.
But now there was hope. Everyone knew more grain was on the way, and they no longer had to pinch every single grain of rice to get by each day.
The era of surviving by eating bird droppings was well and truly over.
Shangguan Mao also began leading the soldiers to resume their training gradually.
It was not that they had been lazy before. Back then, there was no food, and they could barely sustain long patrols, let alone training.
It made far more sense to conserve their strength to stay prepared in case of a sudden enemy attack.
Even Yu Mo's energy and spirits had improved significantly. He had himself carried outside the city.
Watching the soldiers and the common people who had fled from Panxun County busy themselves digging soil and making compost, he felt as if the entire city had come alive, even though only a dozen or so outsiders had arrived.
"Can things really grow here?" There was a look of hopeful anticipation in his eyes.
Yu Mo's mother sat beside him, mending a piece of clothing in her hands.
"Of course. The people sent by the princess said it would work, so it will. We have to give it a try. If we can really grow grain here, we'll never have to worry about food again."
Yu Mo smiled faintly, though his gaunt face made his furrowed brows look even more pronounced. "But Wen Long City is full of rocks. There's barely any land suitable for farming. It's impossible to grow enough grain to feed all of us."
Yu Mo's mother did not stop her needlework. "Even just easing the food shortage a little would be a huge relief. I just hope everything goes smoothly, and the princess's people can get here as soon as possible. Then we'll truly be saved."
Yu Mo looked out at the busy people in the distance. "According to our calculations, they should arrive in a few more days. There's no need to rush."
As the sky grew dark, Wen Long City, which was so poor it could not afford oil for lamps, sank into total darkness. Meanwhile, the Zhang Family Fort in Xiao County was brilliantly lit.
Steward Zhang was reporting the situation in the main hall.
"Princess Jinyang's people have really come to provide disaster relief. They brought with them large quantities of grain, doctors, and medicinal supplies. For those showing symptoms of what looked like the plague, they just placed them in quarantine and gave them herbal medicine."
Zhang Balang's eyes darkened with a thoughtful glint. "Princess Jinyang certainly has remarkable boldness. She's not even afraid that His Majesty will take issue with her actions."
He was born to a concubine, but he was quite capable, so Patriarch Zhang had left him behind to guard the fort and oversee all matters within its walls.
Steward Zhang shook his head. "Even if His Majesty has a problem with it, he's too far away to do anything. Besides, Princess Jinyang's power base in Fengzhou is already fully established."
The hall fell into a moment of silence. After a while, Zhang Balang spoke again. "Have all those lowly commoners left? Have they all gone to the county town?"
Steward Zhang nodded. "Yes, they've all gone."
He let out a cold snort. "Hmph, they even dared to demand we open our granaries to save them. But what of it? Those lowly peasants are a dime a dozen. We can find more labor anywhere we want."
Zhang Balang frowned. "So what's the point of Princess Jinyang's disaster relief? She can feed and clothe them for a few days, but there's no way she can keep supporting hundreds of thousands of these commoners until next year, is there?"
"We're talking about hundreds of thousands, even millions of disaster victims. If she provides them with free food and drink all the way to next year, how much grain would that even take?"
It was not even certain that Princess Jinyang had that much grain. Even if she did, there was no reason for her to feed other people's subjects for so long out of the goodness of her heart.
Steward Zhang scoffed coldly. "Exactly. I bet she's just here to win over the people's hearts. Once the commoners have eaten a few good meals and are full of gratitude for her kindness, she'll just leave."
A look of sarcasm flashed across his face. "She's nothing but a hypocrite. This so-called 'rescue' makes no difference. All it does is make them die a little later. She's just letting those disaster victims eat their fill before they kick the bucket."
To be honest, he could not make sense of Princess Jinyang's actions. This was not her territory, no matter what she did, she could not stay here and rebuild everything.
The most likely scenario was that she would provide aid for a few days, then leave, and abandon the common people to their fate.
Zhang Balang sighed, and dropped the topic. "Step up the security patrols recently. We have to prevent those starving lowly commoners from getting desperate and trying to rob our grain stores."
Steward Zhang smiled. "Things should be fine for these few days. With the disaster relief team from Fengzhou here, the commoners have food to eat, so they won't come after our supplies."
Zhang Balang shook his head. "It's better to be safe than sorry."
A faint smirk tugged at his lips. "If Princess Jinyang can really cure the plague, she will have done our Tao Prefecture a huge favor."
The most dangerous thing about staying behind in the heavily afflicted disaster zone of Xiao County was the plague.
Once the plague broke out on a large scale, even if the people in the fort never stepped outside, there was no way to guarantee they would not get infected.
If even one person caught the disease, the entire fort would very likely be wiped out.
That was the main reason his father and all the important members of the Zhang family had left in such a hurry.
Steward Zhang laughed. "That's very true. At least we won't risk getting the plague. But then again, if that happens, more of those lowly commoners will survive, which will only lead to more rioters later."
Zhang Balang's expression remained calm. "As long as there's no plague, the Sizhou Army stationed here will dare to come out and wipe out the bandits, and the local government officials will be able to carry out their duties again."
"My father will also come back with the rest of our private armed forces to help defend the fort. With that, what do we have to fear from a few mere rioters?"
"The plague breaking out was the real danger. Just like now, even the garrison troops and the county guards have all shut themselves in and refuse to come out. We've had to rely entirely on ourselves."
"Once the rioters out there have nothing to fear, even if they don't attack us, what if they throw a source of the plague into our fort..."
Just thinking about that scenario made Steward Zhang jolt with fright.
The plague was a situation where nine out of ten people died, or even ten out of ten!
As if remembering something, Zhang Balang asked, "You didn't get close to those lowly commoners when you talked to them today, did you?"
Steward Zhang quickly assured him, "Don't worry, sir. I kept a very safe distance the whole time."
Night had deepened. Most of the brightly lit fort had put out their lamps, leaving only two lanterns hanging at the main gate, glowing like the eyes of a monster, standing out eerily in the darkness.
Zhang Balang was in a half-asleep daze when he had a nightmare. In the dream, he was being chased by a group of people, and he had nowhere to run. Before long, a wild beast pinned him down, its sharp claws pressing against his neck.
He could barely breathe. He struggled for a long time before finally jolting awake. He was gasping for breath, about to call for someone, when he felt a cold, sharp sensation press against his neck.
Zhang Balang's eyes widened in shock. It was the edge of a sharp weapon!
A sharp press of cold steel pressed against his neck!
With life and death hanging by a thread, countless thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant. A chill crept up from the soles of his feet to wrap around his entire body, and cold sweat soaked through his clothes in the blink of an eye. Almost at the same time, a frigid voice rang out.
"Zhang Balang, don't you dare move. Otherwise, the knife in my hand just might sink straight into your neck."
