Chapter 181: Grain Cut-off

Several wooden houses were built on the open ground outside Quliu Town, and a small courtyard was enclosed; this was Yuan Yuan Qingyan's prefectural office.

He sat in the main hall, with a map spread out on the table, looking at it carefully. At this time, an attendant walked into the main hall and said: "Lord Yuan, Xu Xu Jingfeng, the head of the Ningxi Xu family, requests an audience and has presented a gift list."

Yuan Yuan Qingyan didn't even lift his head and said: "Is the gift valuable?"

"Quite valuable."

Yuan Yuan Qingyan's face softened slightly, and he said: "Accept the gift, let him go back, and just say I'm busy."

This clerk naturally knew his master's habits and was not surprised, so he left the small courtyard. On the open ground not far away, Xu Xu Jingfeng was standing and waiting with more than a dozen attendants, accompanied by some porters carrying more than ten loads of various gifts.

The attendant called a team of government soldiers to carry the gifts away, and then said to Xu Xu Jingfeng: "Head of the Xu family, please go back; my master said he is not here!"

Xu Xu Jingfeng's smile froze on his face.

The attendant repeated it again, and Xu Xu Jingfeng reacted, suddenly laughing out of extreme anger. It was one thing for this Yuan Yuan Qingyan not to see him, but he even accepted the gifts. This kind of eating style was truly ugly, even more humiliating than a slap in the face.

Xu Xu Jingfeng snorted heavily and said coldly: "Lord Yuan is indeed incorruptible! Since Lord Yuan doesn't look up to me, then let's go!"

"Head of the Xu family, stay your steps." The attendant called Xu Xu Jingfeng to a halt.

"What else?" Xu Xu Jingfeng's face was as ugly as it could be at this moment; it was already good that he hadn't turned against him on the spot.

The attendant tilted his head slightly, looking at Xu Xu Jingfeng from the corner of his eye, and said: "This little one dares to say one more word. After the head of the Xu family goes back, gifts should be sent from time to time. Although my master won't see you even if you send them, if you don't send them, it's easy to be missed by my master."

Xu Xu Jingfeng was extremely angry and laughed, saying: "Are you threatening me?"

The attendant gave a thumbs up: "That's exactly what I mean, the head of the Xu family is indeed smart!"

Xu Xu Jingfeng's face was as black as the bottom of a pot, looking at the government soldiers eyeing him covetously, he swallowed this breath and returned to the Xu family mansion, slamming the gate shut with a bang.

At this time, the sound of rapid horse hooves rang out outside the town, and a scout came flying like a bird, rushing straight to Yuan Yuan Qingyan's courtyard.

The knight rolled off his horse and stumbled into the small courtyard, saying: "Lord Yuan, the whereabouts of the people of Quliu Town have been found out! They were robbed by bandits and then all sold into the realm. We followed all the way to outside the realm, but encountered bandit interception, and only I escaped among more than a dozen brothers!"

Yuan Yuan Qingyan stood up and said: "Tens of thousands of people were sold into the realm?"

The scout said: "Indeed so. We checked the traces left on the ground, it must be at least thirty to fifty thousand people."

Yuan Yuan Qingyan's eyes revealed a murderous intent, and he muttered to himself: "Playing this hand with this official, good, very good! Someone!"

The private secretary walked in and waited for instructions on the side.

Yuan Yuan Qingyan said: "Send fast horses to Anbian, Qiao, and Weining counties, ordering them to collect all grain and grass within two hundred miles of the county seat, move all the people in the wild to the county seat, and at the same time set up checkpoints on the main traffic roads, not allowing a single grain of food to be put into the west!"

"Write to Lord Chen and Lord Xuan Yue again, I need reinforcements here, at least send two thousand elites. With thirty thousand troops in hand, I can seal off the south and east of the realm!"

The private secretary wrote like flying, and a moment later, several official documents were all written and presented to Yuan Yuan Qingyan. Yuan Yuan Qingyan took a look and said: "Okay, send them like this."

Subsequently, Yuan Yuan Qingyan called in the several Assistant Regional Commanders and Deputy Commanders in charge of the troops, ordering them to advance separately to build military fortifications at the major north-south traffic arteries to sever north-south communication. At the same time, they were to send out scouts far and wide to search the mountains and wilderness, find everyone hiding in remote villages, seize all their grain, and then drive them toward the border domain.

A Assistant Regional Commander asked: "Lord Yuan, what does this mean?"

Yuan Yuan Qingyan said: "Doesn't the realm like people? Then I will send them more! I have already blocked all grain routes, let's see what they use to feed these one hundred and forty thousand people!"

The generals looked at each other, all feeling that this move was somewhat inappropriate. But thinking of this Lord Yuan's past reputation, they dared not say anything.

Inside the realm, Wei Yuan was holding a page of jade paper, reading it carefully.

On the jade paper was all the information about Yuan Yuan Qingyan, which was quite detailed. Yuan Yuan Qingyan came from an ordinary family, passed the immortal sect's unified examination at the age of eight, and entered a third-rank blessed land to cultivate. He achieved Dao Foundation at the age of twenty, became a Metropolitan Graduate at thirty-seven, and transferred to the Great Tang Imperial Academy to continue cultivation. Ten years later, he served in Xijin for three years and became somewhat famous, getting into the Sun Hanlin Academy as a compiler.

At the age of fifty-nine, Yuan Yuan Qingyan accidentally achieved Dharma Form, which was quite sensational at the time. Later, he was promoted to Sun Hanlin Academy scholar and censor, and at the age of sixty-three, he was sent out to be the prefect of Ningxi Prefecture.

Wei Yuan had a headache; this guy was actually a Dharma Form! Although he might be like the dean of Bai Feng Academy, belonging to the bottom-tier Dharma Form, he was still a Dharma Form.

This Yuan Yuan Qingyan's temperament was paranoid, believing that the teachings of the sages were eternal truths, which could not be changed or questioned. He had always been known for daring to speak, speaking unscrupulously, and because he was incorruptible and his private morality was exemplary, no one in the imperial court could catch a handle on him, so everyone felt extremely headache, fearing to provoke this mad dog.

This information did not use words like "hating evil as a foe" or "upright and unyielding." The information materials of the aristocratic families had always been extremely rigorous in wording, comparable to historical books. Not using these words meant that in the eyes of the person who wrote this information, Yuan Yuan Qingyan was not such a person.

After reading the information, Wei Yuan put the jade paper aside. The Prince of Jin put this mad dog in front of Wei Yuan, and the intention was obvious. However, Wei Yuan had already made his move, and next, it depended on how he responded.

Ningxi Prefecture now had a total of more than two hundred thousand people, and Wei Yuan estimated that it should fluctuate between two hundred and twenty thousand and two hundred and fifty thousand. Now Wei Yuan had already mastered one hundred and forty thousand people, and that Yuan Yuan Qingyan could only be a prefect without subjects for the time being.

Wei Yuan ordered his attendants to find Xiang Xiaoyu, and a moment later Xiang Xiaoyu appeared in front of Wei Yuan.

At this moment, Xiang Xiaoyu's eye circles were actually somewhat blue, and his eyes were full of bloodshot, a dignified Immortal Foundation cultivator actually looked like he hadn't slept well for several days. It's just that he was born extremely well, and this look made him look more pitiful.

As soon as he saw Wei Yuan, Xiang Xiaoyu said angrily: "If you have something to say, say it quickly, if you have a fart, let it go! I'm busy!"

!.

Wei Yuan put on the most sincere and warm smile, kneaded Xiang Xiaoyu's shoulders, and said: "Junior brother is indeed too hard-working!"

Xiang Xiaoyu slapped Wei Yuan's hand away and said angrily: "Take your claws away, don't move your hands and feet! You also know that I'm hard-working?"

"How could I not know?" Wei Yuan looked aggrieved.

Xiang Xiaoyu said: "I just made Yong'an look a bit like a city, and you threw two more cities at me! Do I owe you?"

Wei Yuan apologized with a smile: "Others simply can't do this! Those guys, I'm not saying, are all armchair strategists. Look, I can't leave these things to them at all, and if I'm not careful, it will cause a big mess."

Xiang Xiaoyu stared at Wei Yuan vigilantly and said: "You wouldn't be thinking of giving me those three cities in the west and north, would you? Don't even think about it!"

"Absolutely not!" Wei Yuan swore, and Xiang Xiaoyu's face looked better. Then he heard Wei Yuan say: "I asked Wang Yu and Xu Yi to manage one each for those three cities, and the last one will be managed by people from five aristocratic families."

Xiang Xiaoyu frowned immediately: "That group of guys is ignorant and incompetent, how do they know how to manage a city of ten thousand mortals? They can't even manage a village."

Wei Yuan slapped his thigh: "That's what I'm saying! But I really have no one to use, after all, there are eighty thousand more people. How about this, when you are free, go to those three cities and turn around, and if you see them doing something wrong, give them a little guidance?"

Xiang Xiaoyu thought for a while and nodded reluctantly.

Wei Yuan breathed a sigh of relief and asked: "The grain has arrived, right? Is the quantity enough?"

"Are you talking about the batch from the east?" Xiang Xiaoyu shook his head, frowned and said: "The people we sent have bought out all the inventory of all the merchant teams in that direction, but only bought 1.1 million catties of grain, which is only enough for seven or eight days. I was just about to find you to talk about this, there is not much grain left in the warehouse, it can only support ten days at most, we must find a way quickly."

"It doesn't matter, I asked Xu Xu Jingfeng to arrange two large merchant teams to buy grain in the pass, they should have arrived at Hanyang Pass by now, and they will be back in three days. With these two merchant teams back, we can at least hold on for another month."

Xiang Xiaoyu's face looked better, and he said: "Tell me when the grain team is back, I want to see what varieties and quality they are, so I can arrange how to distribute the grain."

"No problem."

Xiang Xiaoyu had many things to do at this time and didn't stay long, leaving on his own. However, after flying for a while, he remembered that Wei Yuan didn't seem to manage a single city himself!

After Xiang Xiaoyu left, Wei Yuan continued to ponder over the map. At this time, an attendant knocked on the door and came in, handed over a letter, and said: "Realm Master, a secret letter from the Ningxi Xu family."

Wei Yuan took the letter, opened it, and his face gradually became solemn.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 182 =====