Chapter 724

"Y-you-you, what nonsense are you spouting? What Hongmen Banquet? I'm sincerely inviting you."

Pan Yun: "I believe Lord Cai is sincerely inviting us, but they don't believe it, and I can't exactly force them to nod along, can I?"

Cai Cheng fell silent, then said after a long pause: "I can only promise them a reduction in corvée labor, the rest…"

"Not enough," Pan Yun shook her head directly, cutting him off, and said with a light smile: "If my lord can't make the call, then go find someone who can."

Yu Qian could make the call too, but how would Cai Cheng dare go find him?

Gritting his teeth, Cai Cheng turned and left, taking lavish gifts to Guangxin Prefecture.

Pan Yun and Yu Qian waited quietly, continuing the disaster relief matters.

Collapsed houses had to be rebuilt, washed-out farmland had to be re-measured, ridges mounded, boundaries clearly divided.

In less than two days, Yu Qian's already-dark face had darkened two more shades.

When he came looking for her at night, Pan Yun could barely see his face.

Yu Qian had come to deliver good news to Pan Yun—Cai Cheng had returned.

Since it was good news, naturally it meant he had smoothed things over with the Prefect's government office and secured the three most important conditions.

Sure enough, early the next morning, Cai Cheng, having lost a great deal of weight and looking utterly exhausted, came to find Pan Yun and told her: "I can agree to their three conditions. One, absolve them of their crimes, do not implicate their families, and do not bring disaster upon their future; two, the county's corvée labor shall follow the old precedent—long-term labor draws one household out of thirty, short-term labor draws one out of ten, the elderly widowed and childless are exempt, and at most one able-bodied man may be conscripted per household; three, the additional two-qing tax silver shall be waived."

Pan Yun appeared to deliberate with difficulty for quite a while before reluctantly nodding: "Alright, I'll arrange a meeting with Song Dalin. Tomorrow at noon, at the Ten-Li Pavilion outside the city to discuss—how does that sound?"

Cai Cheng frowned: "Don't you need to consult Song Dalin first?"

Pan Yun: "Song Dalin will agree on account of me."

Cai Cheng: ……So the reason he couldn't get Song Dalin to agree before was because Pan Yun wasn't giving him face?

The opportunity Cai Cheng had traded half his fortune for naturally called for him to go claim credit before Yu Qian.

Yu Qian insisted on going with him to meet Song Dalin.

Mainly, he was afraid Cai Cheng would botch the negotiation.

Cai Cheng had smoothed things over everywhere and had a record on file with the Prefect—once the deal was struck, half the credit would be his, so naturally he wasn't afraid of Yu Qian going.

He also needed Yu Qian there to intimidate Song Dalin, fearing he would truly cling to the other conditions and refuse to let go, making the amnesty talks fall through—and in the end, the unlucky one would still be him.

So he agreed at once.

Of course, amnesty wasn't Cai Cheng's only path.

Having given up half his fortune, he was feeling very uncomfortable, and still wanted to prepare a second option.

So, that very night, he went to borrow troops from Colonel Fang.

The next day, the group gathered at the county government office gate.

Pan Yun knew both Seeing Miao Zhen and Tao Yanbai were worried about Wang Xiaojing, so she brought all three of them this time: "Go out and see the world, see how the government amnesties bandits."

Tao Yanbai was puzzled: "Are we supposed to learn this?"

Pan Yun: "Let's learn it. More skills never weigh you down."

Miao He muttered: "Why would we learn this?"

Seeing Miao Zhen: "In case one day the Japanese government office wants to amnesty us?"

Everyone: ……

Pan Yun tapped her on the head: "Can you have any ambition? Put it this way—we're the suzerain state of Japan, so why can't we be the ones amnestying them?"

Seeing Miao Zhen muttered: "We can't represent the imperial court either~~"

Pan Yun pretended she hadn't heard, exchanged a word with Wang Feiyin, and headed out.

Yu Qian brought only Lu Yuan and two Embroidered Uniform Guards; Cai Cheng brought Advisor Wu and a squad of government office Runners. Apart from the two Embroidered Uniform Guards, Pan Yun was acquainted with all of them, and she cheerfully greeted them.

Everyone else was very solemn—except Yu Qian, who smiled and returned the greeting with a clasped fist.

Pan Yun didn't mind at all, turned and said: "Let's go, don't be late."

Of course Cai Cheng couldn't walk from the city to the Ten-Li Pavilion—it was quite far on foot—so he had prepared a horse carriage and… an ox cart.

Pan Yun voluntarily took a seat on the ox cart.

Yu Qian then sat down beside her.

Cai Cheng's outstretched hand froze in midair. If Yu Qian wouldn't ride in the carriage, how would he dare? So he went over and squeezed in with Yu Qian.

So in the end the horse carriage was left behind, and six people sat on the ox cart. Advisor Wu could only wipe his sweat as he trotted along on his two short legs to catch up.

Oh, the cart driver had been replaced by Lu Yuan.

The Embroidered Uniform Guards and government office Runners were used to walking—they even found the ox cart too slow and had to hold back their pace to keep up on either side.

In the end, the only one suffering was Advisor Wu.

Pan Yun smiled and looked away. Good—some people were better off being tired; when tired, they had no mind for unnecessary thoughts.

The streets were still sparsely populated, but much better than before. Shops had already opened—scattered though they were, there was a hint of life returning.

Even Yu Qian couldn't help sighing: "The common folk are resilient~~"

Pan Yun: "When officials don't cause trouble, the common folk generally live well enough."

Cai Cheng, sitting at the tail of the cart: ……

Yu Qian said: "Your way of thinking has a certain Daoist carefreeness to it—much like a young friend of mine, despite our age difference."

After a pause, he added: "You know him too."

Pan Yun hadn't known who he meant at first, but once he said that, her mind started working, and she asked with a smile: "Xue Shao?"

Yu Qian nodded: "Right. Before leaving the capital I spoke with him. He believes the common folk are like fish—fish born in river and sea will find their own way to live."

Pan Yun nodded: "People all have hearts of compassion. They unite, they help one another. Since the wind and flood disasters, regardless of past grievances, villagers from every settlement have generously given what they can. Some families had only two bowls of rice at home, yet were willing to donate one to relieve the victims.

Since the flood, apart from the chaos when the rebel army entered the city, twelve people have starved to death within the city. Eight of them were trapped after the flood, undiscovered, and died of hunger; the other four were elderly or young children, the only person in their household, and thus starved.

This shows that when natural disasters strike, the government office need only organize things a little, and many subsequent disasters for the common folk can be avoided."

Yu Qian fell into thought.

He had also noticed this time.

After the great disaster, the county office could not put up grain for relief; Cai Cheng's mind was entirely on fighting the rebels, with no time left for disaster relief.

Relief efforts in Yushan County basically relied on the cooperation of local villagers and low-ranking clerks such as the Registrar and bailiffs.

Without the mandatory orders of a county magistrate, the clerks mostly just lent a hand; once a little organized, the rest of the work was done by local gentry, village elders, and li-zheng leading the people.

Taken together, Yushan County's post-disaster reconstruction work turned out to be the best carried out, and its post-disaster casualties were also the smallest.

The only county that could match this rate was Kunshan County, and that was because the Kunshan County Magistrate took personal charge, exhausting his energy and effort, and truly devoted his whole heart to the welfare of the people.

In the other prefectures and counties, the officials were not exactly idle — but the more they acted, the more severe the subsequent casualties among the people seemed to become, and the slower the reconstruction.

So, is the best way to govern either that of the Kunshan County Magistrate, or that of Yushan County?

To act, and not to act…