Chapter 722

If even Song Zhang couldn't be protected, let alone a mere county magistrate like him?

What a coincidence—here in Yushan County it was also silver mine miners rebelling, and once the trail was followed, not to mention Yushan County, even the Prefect of Guangxin Prefecture would be implicated.

Cai Cheng decided on the spot that this matter absolutely could not be reported to Jingcheng; it had to be contained within Yushan County.

Cai Cheng's eyes flickered slightly, and he immediately softened his expression: "Temple Keeper Pan, I will do my best to meet their demands, but some matters are not for me to decide. How about this—you arrange a time for me to meet with Song Dalin, and we can talk it through in detail?"

Pan Yun raised an eyebrow: "County Magistrate Cai wants to talk with Song Dalin? Where?"

"The county seat!" Cai Cheng paused, then stepped back: "Of course, if he doesn't dare come, somewhere outside the city would also do, but the place must be my choice."

Pan Yun nodded and smiled: "Very well, I will pass it along to Song Dalin. Magistrate Cai, I heard the Imperial Commissioner has arrived. For a matter as important as an amnesty, shouldn't you discuss it with him?"

Discuss my ass.

Cai Cheng hurried back to the county government office and immediately told Yu Qian: "I have already granted amnesty to Song Dalin and Wang Xiaojing. The rebel threat is resolved."

Yu Qian slowly raised his eyes to look at him: "Oh? Already settled?"

"Yes, settled."

Yu Qian asked: "What conditions did they have?"

"How would they dare have conditions?" Cai Cheng said: "They were bewitched into rebellion by Deng Maoqi. After I went up the mountain several times to lecture them, they repented in their hearts, knew they were in the wrong, and as long as the government office spares their lives, they would be content."

Yu Qian said slowly: "This is something I did not anticipate. Since they are willing to surrender, when will they lay down their arms and come over?"

"To avoid any misunderstanding, I want them to disband on the spot. Only Song Dalin and Wang Xiaojing need come to the county government office to answer for their crimes; the rest of the followers are just small fry incited by them, not worth mentioning. What does my lord think?"

Yu Qian nodded slowly: "That is not wrong. Then when will Song Dalin and Wang Xiaojing come to surrender?"

Cai Cheng said tensely: "I will arrange a time with them again—three days at the shortest, five at the longest."

He asked carefully: "May I ask when my lord has decided to depart?"

"Originally I planned to stay here three days. Since the rebel matter looks likely to be resolved through amnesty, I shall remain here and wait until the amnesty is concluded before leaving. In any case, it will take at most five days—I can afford to wait."

Cai Cheng was dumbfounded. Didn't everyone say Yu Qian stayed at most two days in any one place?

Inspect the people's conditions, select local officials to carry out disaster relief, then open the granaries to distribute grain or purchase grain for distribution.

The grain transported from Jingcheng was not much, but the silver brought from Jingcheng was considerable.

Before coming, Yu Qian had already contacted grain merchants in the Shandong and Henan regions, purchasing grain directly from those two places and shipping it to the disaster areas.

And local officials, as long as they had grain, could carry out disaster relief—there was no need for Yu Qian to personally oversee it.

The regulations were all right there.

Local officials did not dare embezzle at this time either—after all, Yu Qian would still inspect afterwards.

Cai Cheng himself had never thought of touching this batch of disaster-relief grain; right now he only wished Yu Qian would leave quickly.

That was why he had deliberately pushed the amnesty to three days later.

Three days from now, whether it was amnesty or simply killing Song Dalin and Wang Xiaojing, it would all be decided by him alone.

Yu Qian saw his face turn ugly and asked: "What, is there a difficulty?"

Cai Cheng hurriedly forced out a smile: "No, no, no difficulty at all…"

Yu Qian: "Since there is no difficulty, go and bring all the account books of the county government office here, Magistrate Cai. And give a detailed account of the disaster damage in each part of Yushan County."

Cai Cheng swallowed hard and said quietly: "My lord, the county government office's account books only cover the most recent period. The earlier ones were burned—the rebels entered the city, killing and looting, and set fire to the storehouses and the document archive. Everything was reduced to ashes."

Yu Qian asked softly: "Burned clean?"

Cai Cheng's heart leapt into his throat, and he answered in a small voice: "Yes, burned very clean."

Yu Qian laughed in spite of himself, turned his head and said to Lu Yuan: "Since he says it was burned clean, leave this matter to Commander Lu." Lu Yuan lowered his head in assent, picked two Embroidered Uniform Guard, then swept his gaze around and picked three government office Runners to follow, and went out.

Cai Cheng stared wide-eyed as he watched them leave.

Yu Qian said slowly: "Commander Lu is a commander of the Northern Garrison Command. Even if Magistrate Cai has never seen the Embroidered Uniform Guard in person, you must have heard of their methods. It's only account books that were burned—just retrieve them."

He said: "The former county captain, Registrar, clerks, and petty officials are still alive, aren't they?"

Cai Cheng's knees went weak; he only just managed not to drop to them.

He had held the post for a short time, while his predecessor Ming Ren had run the county for years, and he had not yet had the chance to bring these government office people under his control.

When the rebels entered the city, he was outside the city. The county captain led the government office Runners in resistance and was gravely wounded on the spot, nearly dying.

Had it not been for Wang Feiyin's intervention, grass would already be sprouting on the county captain's grave by now.

He is Ming Ren's man!

Ever since he took office, the man had opposed him several times. That night the county government office was under his control—who knows what he might have had in his hands.

Cai Cheng regretted it. Afterwards he had been so busy rushing to Guangxin Prefecture to call for reinforcements that he forgot to raid the man's house.

Cai Cheng gripped the hem of his robe tightly, his mind wandering, so that Yu Qian had to call his name several times before he heard. It was only when Advisor Wu gave him a quiet nudge that he came back to himself.

He hurriedly collected himself: "What did my lord say?"

Yu Qian said expressionlessly: "Tell me about the damage in Yushan County."

This part Cai Cheng knew well.

After the incident, in order to take control of the situation, he had gone from village to village, household to household, and had genuinely done the work. On top of that, knowing Yu Qian was coming, he had prepared in advance.

Just last night, before going to sleep, he had still been memorizing his materials. He couldn't recall at all when he had drunk the wine—yet he had gotten drunk, slept it off for a night and a day, and let Wang Xiaojing's family slip away.

Cai Cheng began with the total number of disaster victims, then brought up the results of their relief efforts this time.

It could be said that apart from the initial chaos, the subsequent relief in Yushan County had gone quite well—because in front of them were the grain donated by the various local gentry and landowners, and behind them the large shipment of relief grain sent by Pan Yun.

Before Pan Yun arrived, although the landowners grumbled and scraped, they still contributed a good deal of money and grain, and heeded the county government office's call: whether grain merchants or not, whether they had a grain shop or not, they all sold grain outward.

And under Master Qian's stewardship, grain prices had remained stable, never rising.

So before Pan Yun's grain arrived, although the people went hungry, had no shelter or clothes and could not eat their fill, they did not starve to death.

Apart from children like Little Eleven who hid indoors and went unnoticed, under Master Qian and the others' stewardship, truly no one starved to death.

Because he did not know when Yu Qian had entered the city, nor what he had heard, Cai Cheng did not dare claim all the credit for himself.

He especially praised Master Qian and Mount Sanqing.

Moreover, knowing he would need to cooperate with Pan Yun again later, he made a point of mentioning Pan Yun of Mount Sanqing.

Yu Qian asked, "How much relief grain did Pan Yun transport in total, and how many people did she save?"

Cai Cheng said, "This… the county office only played a supporting role. Pan Yun did not hand the grain over to the county office for distribution, so there are no specific figures."

Yu Qian asked, "Since the disaster began, how much money and grain has the county office's treasury disbursed? There must be a record of that, surely?"

Cai Cheng swallowed hard and hurriedly nodded, "Yes, yes, yes."

He and Advisor Wu carried up a thin account book.

Yu Qian opened it; the ink was still fresh.