Chapter 350

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Protagonist:

Song Miao

Cai Xiu had been in Chan Prefecture for some time, frequently traveling between Liu Ta He and the Zhou Ya, moving up and down, and had quite a few acquaintances.

He calculated the time, did not go to find those officials who had always shown appreciation for him, but turned instead to a recording officer and military aide in the yamen famous by the nickname of old good man.

Recently Liu Ta He had met with disaster, and within the Zhou Ya Li Zhai was in charge.

This person had long ago entered the Political Affairs Hall by virtue of great merit in relieving refugees in Chan Prefecture; his strictness in managing subordinates and his equal emphasis on rewards and punishments had long been famous abroad. Now wearing purple robes and carrying a pouch, with a cool umbrella, he had returned to his old post and taken charge of old affairs again. One could imagine that compared to before, he could not be perfunctory.

He did not even need to kill a chicken to scare the monkeys; his subordinates were already all doing their work with tight skins.

Because every day at the Mao hour, a group of superiors had to report progress to Li Zhai. This recording officer and military aide had come early, fearing that something would be asked of him.

When this person entered the door, he was about to have a miscellaneous servant bring breakfast from the canteen, but who would have thought that before his buttocks had even sat down, Cai Xiu followed him in knocking at the door, casually found an excuse, and respectfully presented two food boxes of breakfast.

Since they were acquaintances, the two began chatting while eating.

When Cai Xiu spoke, he naturally made people feel very comfortable.

Chatting and chatting, they inevitably spoke of the missing young masters in the Capital. The recording officer and military aide comforted him with a sentence, saying: "You are also suffering an undeserved disaster. However, with your talent and integrity, an awl in a bag will surely stand out. You need not worry too much. Once you return to the Capital and receive your official appointment after taking off the coarse hemp, there will surely be a chance to stand out!"

Cai Xiu smiled bitterly and said: "I only hope to be able to accept Lord Tian's noble words!"

After finishing eating, he snatched the table to clear it, and taking advantage of no one being around on either side, he took out a small sachet from his sleeve and casually placed it on the desk in front of the other person.

"I participated in a literary gathering the other day and happened to win some prizes. When I took them back and looked, they were all things for children to play with, which I could not use myself. I heard that Lord Sir was blessed with a thousand gold 【a son】 last month. As a student, I am currently under guilt and it is not proper to go to the door to offer congratulations. So I simply give the young guest some small things here—please accept them with a smile, Lord Sir!"

The sachet was made of excellent material, with embroidery patterns on both sides. The front had blooming peony flowers, and the back had a peacock displaying its tail. The embroidery work was quite exquisite.

If it were just like this, Tian Lu Can Jun would have accepted it. But he saw that the sachet was bulging, picked it up and weighed it—it was heavy. When he opened it, inside were all thumb-sized gold and silver gourds.

The gourds were not ordinary gourds; they had patterns printed on them and looked very exquisite. To make them like this, the craftsman's wages would surely not be small.

The man surnamed Tian, true to his surname, was of field-mu origin. He hurriedly returned it, shaking his head and saying: "Alas, you are a student. What do you give me this for?"

He added: "I know you are anxious right now, but this matter cannot be rushed. Actually, discerning people can all see that you are being dragged down by others. Out of reluctance to say anything, just endure for now. Once the wind passes, it will be fine."

Cai Xiu's eyes turned red all at once, very moved, and said: "These past days, the student has been scolded severely. Yesterday, several young masters even called me a 'garden-irrigating child,' and blamed me for not watching over them well..."

"Usually they are all harmonious, but now when they see a student, many dodge and make way. I only hope everyone can be as clear about right and wrong as Lord Sir. Otherwise, with my family background, where would there be a day to stand out!"

Moved by the scene, Tian Lu Can Jun felt heartache, patted Cai Xiu's shoulder, and advised him with many words.

Cai Xiu looked moved, wiped away tears, and said: "Right now, Liu Ta He is in utter chaos above and below. Lord Lu cannot direct people, and has been left aside by Canzheng Li. It even makes me want to achieve merit and atone for guilt but have no opportunity. Is Lord Sir here responsible for overall planning of grain and fodder and distribution of supplies? If there are matters of calculation, why not arrange them for me? Otherwise, waiting idly outside, I am truly anxious in my heart!"

Then he recommended himself again.

Recently, all the offices were truly too busy, one person doing the work of two. If there were a student who could be used to fill in, it would naturally be good. Seeing Cai Xiu in such a state, Tian Lu Jun could not bring himself to refuse.

He thought for a moment, sighed, and said: "I will go ask."

After making a round and returning, he returned the purse to them, saying: "Your transfer order still belongs to Liu Ta He. The yamen probably cannot requisition you. I will try to find a way. Your family is not wealthy either. Acting like this, you should do less of it in the future."

Cai Xiu took the purse, offered thanks verbally, and after leaving the door, he was simply driven mad with anger.

Good intentions and kindness—surnamed Tian not accepting it would have been forgivable, but he put on such airs. He was not even a high official, what was he pretending to be so lofty for!

He gritted his teeth, added several times more generous gifts, and finally went to find the Judge whom he had more frequent dealings with, and who had once praised him highly in front of many people.

The latter happily accepted it and said: "There are plenty of things to do in the yamen. I will say a word to those above—go back and wait for news!"

Cai Xiu then said: "Actually, one should not be picky. Having work to do is already very good. But if it is convenient, please help me say a few good words, asking to let me do more writing and calculation work. These two are what I am very good at!"

The Judge understood and said: "You want to show yourself in front of Canzheng, right?"

Cai Xiu was very embarrassed and wanted to explain, but the Judge opposite already laughed hehe and said: "Young people should naturally perform well. Being overly modest all the time, how can one see good or bad!"

He added: "Little Cai, this official has always thought highly of you. With your qualifications and talent, your future is boundless. A temporary setback, do not take it to heart!"

Although this person did not guarantee anything, he accepted heavy gifts and praised him so much that Cai Xiu breathed a sigh of relief. After returning, he immediately inventoried the students at hand who could do work.

He had already calculated that the work most likely to be assigned to him was calculating grain and fodder and how to distribute supplies.

Right now, supplies in Chan Zhou Cheng were scarce and prices were skyrocketing. If left to continue developing, sooner or later the Imperial Granary would have to be used.

But the stored grain in Chan Prefecture's Imperial Granary was originally limited. Once used, if something went wrong, even if one was a Canzheng, encountering a situation where grain transport was not smooth and land transport was difficult, it would be hard to come up with a good solution in a short time.

For this reason, Li Zhai had overall planned all the grain and materials of the government office. After totaling them up, they were uniformly distributed by the Chan Zhou Ya.

This work was naturally not easy to do. Every place said they lacked this or that. So how to distribute, why distribute this way, how much could be saved by distributing this way—all became a big problem.

To solve this problem, or even just temporarily alleviate it a little, the best method was to have enough experience to support it.

Currently, the yamen did not have enough people even to simply distribute according to the existing situation, making it hard to summarize past situations as reference support.

This work was completely made for him!

If he could get it into his hands, relying on his own literary talent and ability, as long as there was a chance to stand out, why worry about not being seen?

It was just that the totaling was too troublesome. He needed to have those students below be careful.

The opportunity was right before his eyes, fleeting. Cai Xiu naturally would not sit idly.

Although he had not yet received news, he had already summoned the students, assigned the work, and had everyone first write an article each, analyzing the existing situation, analyzing how existing supplies should be distributed, and so on.

After the disaster at Liu Ta He, this group of students first felt sad that they were forced to return to the city and could not have a chance to perform. But after learning that the young masters had been swept away, everyone felt like survivors after a calamity.

But they had not been happy for long before someone reacted.

If not to achieve merit at Liu Ta He, who would be idle and come to Chan Prefecture?

Right now, Liu Ta He had met with such a big disaster. Let alone rewards, not being held accountable would already be not bad!

Everyone was anxious and flustered when suddenly Cai Xiu piled a heap of work on them and said he would take it to ask for merit for everyone. Although they inevitably complained in their mouths and were half-believing, everyone still exerted much effort to write.

Cai Xiu collected the manuscripts, examined them one by one, took the strengths and made up for the shortcomings, and soon wrote a first draft. He was just waiting for the Judge above to have news, to get many numbers, urge the students to total them well, fill them into his draft, and then revise it—at that time it would become an excellent memorial!

He arranged everything clearly here, just waiting for news from the Judge above. But he did not know that the very day he left, the other person had called his confidant into the room and had those many gifts sent back home.

The confidant took the things and could not help but remind him: "Lord Sir, Cai Xiu has offended many nobles and dignitaries. Do you really want to go to trouble for him? If not done well, I fear you yourself will be implicated."

The recommending official smiled and said, "Just watch. It's just a matter of me moving my lips."

He also pointed at those many gifts and said, "This garden-tender knows how to handle things a bit. If the Canzheng is willing to give him an opportunity, who knows, he might really rise up."

The next day, he sought an opportunity and went to find the superior official.

This person first said that right now he was too busy to handle it, could he add some manpower? After being refused on the grounds that no manpower could be added, he then brought up this group of students who had come from the Capital and asked if they could be used.

The superior official thought for a moment and asked, "Does this group of students still belong under the Liu Ta He's jurisdiction?"

Receiving an affirmative answer, he then said, "You send a greeting to the Liu Ta He side. Don't move the ownership; just borrow them for a while. Don't use too many people either; just pick a few suitable ones."

He also said, "Arrange for them to do some miscellaneous work in the back. Don't let them run around; it's very conspicuous. So many people died, and there are people from the Capital coming to claim corpses, and people coming to salvage bodies. These people have kinship ties with prominent figures. If they see something displeasing and make a big fuss, it will be hard to clean up."

These words meant not giving them official status, using them for free.

That recommending official instantly didn't dare let out a fart, agreeing repeatedly, saying, "Rest assured, sir. I know propriety here!"

But the moment he turned and went out the door, he had someone tidy up a room, and following Cai Xiu's wishes, gathered all the complex data on this grain and fodder supplies, the transfer orders and volumes, etc., and threw them over to him, letting him analyze them properly.

—After all, last time when he came seeking a favor, this young Cai had said he was best at calculations and textual work.

Since he proposed it himself and accepted the money's benefits, he naturally had to try his best to satisfy.

As for whether, after doing it, there would be an opportunity to perform, that wasn't something he could decide.

And Cai Xiu didn't think that much. Having gotten this assignment, he was truly elated and full of ambition. He called the group of students to audit accounts and calculate numbers day and night, urging everyone to quickly produce a result, make a comparison, so he could write it into his own memorial report.

While he was busy here, that Tian Lu Can Jun, although he had returned the gifts, actually hadn't given up. He repeatedly ground the superior official several times.

Since it was the superior official, the advice given was naturally all about the same: just for a student, there was no need to step into this muddy water.

Tian Lu Can Jun then described Cai Xiu's appearance that day and said, "Such a talent should really not have his future buried because of a small mishap."

He also said, "I see he is from a cold family..."

That superior official, ground down by him until he had no choice, said, "What do you want him to do?"

Tian Lu Can Jun said, "Other things aren't suitable to ask him to do. But when they were at Liu Ta He before, weren't they often measuring water conservancy records? Right now Liu Ta He has breached, the river course has changed. I'm thinking of letting these people go along to measure and copy-draw it once, and by the way go through the maps once, see if there are any missed villages and households."

Although this assignment is somewhat hard, it is real, solid work that can produce results.

If done well, really finding those few previously missed commoners who weren't rescued, it could also count as establishing merit.

That superior official then said, "Since it's like this, you go tell Liu Ta He. Just say you need a few people here to help copy-draw the new river course and investigate disaster households. Ask if it works. If it works, I'll tell the Tongpan and have a transfer order issued."

Tian Lu Can Jun then proactively ran to find Liu Ta He, gave some face, negotiated the matter settled, and only then had someone go find Cai Xiu.

He explained the matter, and at the end still kindly said, "I've already talked it over with Liu Ta He. You can bring two or three students as helpers. If at that time you can establish a merit or two, you can also ask the superior official to speak a few good words for you in front of the Canzheng."

Cai Xiu was simply stunned.

Normally measuring water conservancy records is just hard labor. Who would be full and bored enough to want to do this?

Moreover, right now Liu Ta He's waters have breached like this; no one can guess which direction the river course will go. It's bound to be sleeping in the wind and dew, simply suffering upon suffering. As for those villages suffering water disasters—they are dangerous places to begin with. What if I get swept away too?

Cai Xiu wants to take a shortcut, not a dead end.

This is simply fearing he won't die fast enough!

He immediately refused, only saying he currently had other matters and couldn't spare the time, thanked the other party for the help, and brushed this matter off perfunctorily. He then exerted all his skills, rushing to write that memorial report properly before the deadline. He himself thought it was already watertight, then handed it to that recommending official. In his words, he inquired whether this manuscript would really be submitted to Li Zhai Li Canzheng.

That recommending official affirmed, "This is for Li Canzheng to see."

He also praised him extravagantly, saying Cai Xiu's literary talent was brilliant, the comparisons and comprehensive calculations were also done extremely well, and then had someone throw the latest data over as well, urging him to quickly calculate it out, add this new data in, and produce a new version.

But once Cai Xiu left, this recommending official called a minor clerk in, gave the manuscript he had just received, praised and praised again, to the other party, and said, "Copy it once. No need to sign your name."

He took the newly copied manuscript and went to find the superior official.

The latter flipped through it once, casually handed it to his subordinate official, urging everyone to extract the data for reference and cross-checking, and directly took the results to request an audience with that Li Canzheng.

Inside the room, Li Zhai flipped through the information gathered from all places. His face showed nothing, but his heart was hard to hide its anxiety.

Grain prices in the city were soaring. He seized a wave of grain merchants hoarding to drive up prices, and also collected supplies, distributing them uniformly through the yamen. Although this slightly suppressed that evil wind, it ultimately treats the symptoms, not the root cause.

Merchants want to make money; people need to eat rice.

Recently heard that many grain shops have already stopped selling grain to the outside, just waiting to see if he will open the Imperial Granary.

If he opens it, it shows he has no other methods. Most people will then hold onto their grain, wait a bit more; later there will definitely be a time to make big money.

But if he doesn't open, right now the city's grain simply cannot last a few days. Later there are still disaster victims to relieve...

Without grain, it is water without a source, wood without a root.

He naturally has many rectification methods to force grain merchants to take out grain to sell, but that also won't last long. Moreover, doing it excessively, causing panic among the city's people, does more harm than good.

Just as he was calculating countermeasures in his heart, he looked up, and a subordinate official carried a stack of letters into the room.

"Sir, a document has come from the Transport Commission."