Chapter 74: Opening Porridge Stations, Establishing Poorhouses

"Heh heh."

The scene unfolding before him had played out before Hao Wanfu's eyes more than once—many seemingly upright constables, as long as they saw silver, would go against their conscience and take the money.

Once it reached this point, the initiative was no longer in the constables' hands. Hao Wanfu had ten thousand ways to kill these constables without leaving any fault to be found, so naturally there was no need to keep up the pretense. His attitude did a complete one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn, and as he turned to leave he said casually:

"Head Wang, you heard that too—don't make things difficult for your brothers. Take the silver, however much it is!"

Watching the servant bring the tray to him, Wang Ping, in a fit of rage, shoved the tray directly to the ground, trembling finger pointing at these constables, unable to speak a word.

The constables normally called each other brothers and shared deep bonds, but every family has its own hard luck story—taking the silver was also an act of helplessness. The constables seemed to know what they had done, and without much explanation to Wang Ping, they slunk away amid the angry curses of the surrounding commoners and Wang Ping's furious glare.

Matters having reached this point, this so-called grain collection was once again resolved by Yongchang Firm with a sum of silver. As the saying goes, money can make the devil turn the mill—and this was exactly that.

But the matter was far from over. The constables had just left, and while Wang Ping was caught in a dilemma, a squad of dark figures moving at a rapid pace appeared at the entrance of Wenchang Street in the distance. As these people drew near, they turned out to be camp soldiers of the Capital Camps clad in armor, and the man at their head was none other than the Chongzhen Emperor's trusted confidant, the newly enfeoffed Earl Wang Xiantong.

"Hmph, what kind of trick are they trying to pull now!"

Hao Wanfu also gave a cold snort at the sight, suppressed his extremely impatient temperament, and piled a full-faced smile on as he stepped forward intending to try the same trick again—but Wang Xiantong gave him no chance to speak at all.

Upon arriving, Wang Xiantong looked up at the 'Yongchang' sign overhead, then immediately bellowed:

"Seal it for me! No one leaves!"

Hao Wanfu hadn't expected this to happen. After a long moment of shock, he asked:

"What are you doing? Even if you're capital troops, you can't seal my Yongchang Firm without cause!"

"Manager Hao!" Wang Xiantong pushed half an inch of his saber out of its sheath with his right thumb, warningly:

"Do you know what things have come to outside right now? Yongchang Firm is a major grain shop of the capital region. At this time of crisis, thousands of refugees are waiting at the five-city porridge stations for relief! This is exactly the time for you to make your contribution to the court."

"Men, move it all out—don't leave a single grain of rice behind!" As he spoke, Wang Xiantong saw that Hao Wanfu seemed to still have something to say, and immediately snapped back coldly:

"Manager Hao! Don't think your Yongchang Firm is completely in the clear. The Son of Heaven is wise and enlightened—it's not that there's no reckoning, it's that the time hasn't come. A man should store up virtue for himself!"

"Keep moving!"

The Capital Camps soldiers were clearly not joking. Several big soldiers directly drew their blades and stepped forward to block Yongchang Firm's clerks and bookkeepers. The killing intent in the camp soldiers' eyes made it believable that if anyone dared make a rash move, they would not hesitate to strike them down!

The words 'soldier' and 'constable' differ, and what they represent differs as well. Logically speaking, the Capital Camps had always been a place where noble scions and the sons of the powerful went to idle away their time.

Once soldiers drew their blades, it meant matters had escalated to an entirely different level. These big soldiers had always killed without batting an eye, and moreover, the Capital Camps were different from ordinary garrison troops.

Hao Wanfu did not know that the Capital Camps no longer contained any nobles. He only knew that the man leading this expedition was the newly enfeoffed Earl Wang Xiantong, and that the one in charge of the Capital Camps was also the foremost noble of the capital—"Duke of Ying, Zhang Shize."

"The Capital Camps very likely have the capital's nobles behind them—otherwise they wouldn't dare be so bold."

The grain and flour brought out for sale were of a rather coarse grade, and in actual quantity there wasn't much either. The soldiers quickly moved it all out, but this amount was still far from enough.

Wang Xiantong knew that time waited for no one. In his urgency, with a 'shing' he directly drew his steel blade, pressed it against a bookkeeper's neck, and roared:

"Take me to the inner storehouse now, or I'll chop your head off!"

Though this bookkeeper was so frightened he wet his pants, at first he did not directly betray Hao Wanfu, because no one believed the Capital Camps would dare kill someone in public.

"Fine!"

Wang Xiantong let out a great shout, increased the force on his steel blade, and directly chopped the bookkeeper's head off.

In an instant, blood splattered everywhere inside Yongchang Firm's shop—and Wang Xiantong did not stop there. He turned and grabbed a man who looked like a steward, snarling fiercely:

"I'll only ask once—where is the inner storehouse?!"

"Spare me, my lord, spare me! I'll take you there right away..."

This steward was clearly a coward who feared death. Having seen the scene just now, his legs had already gone weak. Feeling the chill of the steel blade against his neck at this moment, he hurriedly led Wang Xiantong and the others to the inner storehouse.

Before long, Wang Xiantong, the Battalion Commander, and the Hundred Commander stood frozen in place, staring at the sight before them.

In fact, this so-called inner storehouse was not far behind Yongchang Firm. Heaven knows just how wealthy Yongchang Firm had become—this entire long street, which should have been commoners' dwellings, had all been converted into inner storehouses for hoarding grain and rice.

"A single Yongchang Firm hoards several times more grain and flour than the court itself—damn them!"

Wang Xiantong, accompanied by the Battalion Commander and a squad of soldiers, strode furiously back into the shop, directly grabbed Hao Wanfu by the front of his clothes, and raged:

"You profiteering merchants—ruining the state, harming the people, oppressing the common folk. You deserve to die a thousand deaths!"

Seeing the thick killing intent on Wang Xiantong's face, Hao Wanfu knew he had murderous thoughts. This newly enfeoffed Earl was, after all, a noble, and moreover the current Chongzhen Emperor's trusted confidant—even Hao Wanfu had to bow his head before him.

He forced an awkward smile, pulled a large gold ingot from his bosom, and presented it with both hands, saying:

"The newly enfeoffed Earl has labored hard and rendered great service. Do accept this for now—more will follow, and I will have someone deliver it to your residence... Please, just show mercy. My Yongchang Firm helping the five-city porridge stations with relief is, of course, an unshirkable duty."

Looking at the gleaming gold ingot before him, Wang Xiantong laughed coldly without end, but said nothing.

Hao Wanfu could not fathom his thoughts and could only follow along with a foolish chuckle—but the next moment, his expression suddenly froze as he felt something suddenly appear inside his body, churning about wildly.

"Pfft..."

Hao Wanfu felt a sweetness rise in his throat and uncontrollably spat out a mouthful of thick blood. He barely lifted his head, only to see Wang Xiantong still sneering, who said with a dark face:

"Yongchang Firm's grain and flour—all confiscated!"

"Why isn't it here yet!"

"Right! It's been several hours already—is the court deceiving us again!"

Outside the South City porridge station, at least several hundred refugees had gathered, with quite a few constables maintaining order around them. The porridge station commissioner in charge of dispensing relief was sweating profusely with anxiety.

Facing the accusations and reproaches of the dense crowd of refugees before him, the commissioner's face had turned red as a monkey's backside. All he could do was spread his hands and say:

"Everyone, don't panic—the grain will be here any moment now. Just wait a bit longer, at most half an hour!"

"Bullshit! You said that half an hour ago!" A man as skinny as a pole suddenly jumped up, pointing at the commissioner and the porridge station officials while cursing loudly.

"This fellow is stringing us along—the court was never going to give out porridge at all!"

In truth, the inner storehouses of the five-city porridge stations had been completely empty since the seventh year of Chongzhen. Occasionally they would open for porridge distribution relying on the 'charitable' relief of the city's great households, but it fundamentally solved nothing.

Faced with this situation, the commissioner was utterly helpless. In the end, the refugees gradually grew more agitated again and began to clash with the constables of the Troops and Horses Office and the Shuntian Prefecture yamen. It looked like another disaster was about to brew.

Suddenly, a refugee in tattered clothes pointed toward the city gate and shouted at the top of his lungs:

"Look! What's that!"

"The grain is here! The grain is here!"