Chapter 6: The Prince of Zhenbei is Poor and Stingy

Jia Shun dared not stand up, kowtowing with loud thuds.

"Your Highness, spare my life! It is not that this official refuses to open the city gates, but there are over five hundred thousand commoners in the city, all of them unarmed, and the grain in the granaries is scarce. This official worries for the people and truly does not dare to open the gates..."

"Cut the crap!" Xiao Dabao interrupted sharply, pointing at the table. "His Highness has braved the bitter cold with us, shedding blood to kill the enemy, eating grass roots and chewing tree bark, while you hid in the city like a coward! You even poured out the food and refused to lend a single grain!"

On the table sat a spread of rich dishes: soy-braised pork knuckle, osmanthus chicken, preserved vegetable pork belly... and even a whole roasted lamb, the skin charred and the meat tender, with a mouth-watering aroma!

Behind the screen, a group of women dressed in Silk and Satin were hiding.

They were Jia Shun's eight concubines, kept with delicate skin and tender flesh.

Qin Zhan spoke coldly, "You coward, do you know that several starving people have already frozen to death outside your Taishou Mansion?"

Several soldiers stood behind Xiao Moting, all gripping their Long Sword hilts, glaring at Jia Shun with seething hatred, their teeth gritted!

They had been starving and freezing in the snow to defend Xuancheng, with countless brothers dead or wounded, yet Jia Shun, as the Prefect, had been hiding in the city drinking and eating meat, and even keeping eight concubines!

Even the concubines were eating better than the Fourth Prince!

Xiao Moting's expression was cold, a fierce glint flashing in his eyes.

"Report!" A scout rushed in and knelt on the ground. "Reporting to Your Highness, the granaries in Xuancheng are indeed empty."

Xiao Moting's face showed anger as he slammed the table. "Jia Shun, you have such gall, how dare you steal from the granaries privately?"

*Swish! *

Qin Zhan immediately drew his Long Sword and held it to Jia Shun's throat.

"Spare me!" Jia Shun screamed in terror. "Fourth Prince, please investigate! It has nothing to do with this official; it was... it was the Second Prince who secretly transferred it away. My wife and only son are both in Shengjing; I dared not disobey."

Xiao Moting's eyes turned icy!

The Second Prince, Xiao Rui?

He never expected that not only did he withhold military rations, but he even dared to steal from the granaries!

Xiao Rui was extravagantly wasteful; he had recently spent one hundred thousand gold to build Zhaixing Tower, claiming it was to beg the gods to protect Daliang. The Emperor was very pleased, rewarding him with one hundred taels of gold and issuing an edict praising him for his heart for the people and his passionate spirit!

As it turned out, all that silver came from Xiao Rui privately selling military rations!

The grain in the granaries was all emergency reserve grain!

Now that one hundred thousand barbarian cavalry were pressing on the border, and with the blizzard, if Xuancheng were besieged and the granaries were empty, the five hundred thousand civilians in Xuancheng would have no food and could only starve to death.

This was simply treating human lives like grass!

Xiao Moting's fury soared to the heavens, and he slashed his Long Sword at Jia Shun!

"Ah!"

Jia Shun screamed wildly, clutching his head in fear.

A flash of the blade passed, and the desk beside him was chopped in two.

Jia Shun collapsed to the ground, clutching his chest and gasping in terror.

"Your Highness, let your subordinate execute him!" Xiao Dabao gritted his teeth.

Xiao Moting suppressed the rage in his chest and raised a hand to stop him.

"Prefect Jia is an official of the Imperial Court; do not be rude."

"I have come to Xuancheng today only to deliver something."

He still had to support thirty thousand personal troops and could not afford to lose his temper.

Jia Shun looked up and was stunned to see a basket of peaches at the door, his eyes fixed on them.

"Fresh peaches!"

Xiao Moting remained calm. "The Empress Dowager loves fresh peaches. The Xichuan Regional Commander entrusted me to find them with a reward of one thousand taels of silver so he could offer them to the Empress Dowager."

"What? He wants to give them to the Empress Dowager?" Jia Shun grew anxious the moment he heard this.

He wanted to be transferred back to Shengjing, but the Xichuan Regional Commander also wanted to return, and the two had been locked in a power struggle.

If that fellow curried favor with the Empress Dowager, what chance would he have left?

Jia Shun gave a fawning smile. "Fourth Prince, this official is willing to pay one thousand five hundred taels to buy this basket of fresh peaches."

"Very well." Xiao Moting leaned back in his chair with an imposing air. "But the price must be raised."

"How much?"

"Five thousand taels!"

Jia Shun's eyes nearly popped out of his head—why didn't he just go rob someone?

"Your Highness... is this price not..."

Xiao Moting interrupted, "If I sell the fresh peaches to you, I lose the Xichuan Regional Commander as an ally and must bear the reputation of being untrustworthy! Do you think my ally and my reputation are not worth five thousand taels of silver?"

"This official would not dare." Jia Shun felt a pang of pain. "How about one thousand seven hundred taels..."

Xiao Moting glanced at Qin Zhan.

Qin Zhan held up a bloody severed head and shoved it right in front of Jia Shun's nose.

"Prefect Jia, what do you think of the Fourth Prince's sword technique for beheading? Is the cut on this head not clean..."

Jia Shun's face turned pale with fright.

"Five... five thousand taels it is."

The Prince of Zhenbei was here to take his life today; he couldn't afford to provoke him!

Jia Shun handed over the silver notes with trembling hands.

Xiao Moting smiled faintly and took the notes. "Prefect Jia, let us cooperate again if there is an opportunity."

After saying this, he tilted his chin toward the table.

"Since Prefect Jia does not care to eat, take these things away."

A dozen personal soldiers rushed forward without a word, some grabbing and some snatching.

Jia Shun's eyes widened. "Your Highness, this..."

Having just fleeced him, he still wants to rob him?

Xiao Moting patted his shoulder, "Magistrate Jia, if you do too many wicked things, you will be struck by lightning."

Boom—!

A bolt of thunder struck down!

Jia Shun was so scared he dove straight under the table.

When he looked up, he saw two bloody human heads, baring their fangs and brandishing their claws as they glared at him.

Jia Shun rolled his eyes and fainted.

A moment later.

Jia Shun woke up to find his reception hall completely empty, and he was so miserable he could have wept!

He had long heard that the Prince of Northern Suppression was stingy and poor, and it was truly so!

Not only had he ransacked his reception hall and snatched all the food, he had even taken the silver wine vessels used for sacrifices before his ancestral tablets!

Even bandits wouldn't act like him!

He would never do business with Xiao Moting again, even if it killed him!

Xiao Moting walked out of the Taishou Mansion and handed the silver notes to Qin Zhan.

"Pawn Jia Shun's things and go to the grain shop to buy rice."

Xiao Dabao was indignant, "Prince, Jia Shun is heinous; he should be beheaded."

Qin Zhan said, "Jia Shun's wife and children are in the hands of De Guifei; he dares not disobey. Beheading him is useless and will only saddle the Prince with the charge of murdering an Imperial Court official."

Xiao Moting's dark eyes sank slightly, "Xuancheng is a vital commercial hub. It connects to the Xiongnu in the north, the Western Regions in the west, and Daliang in the east; many large merchants have shops here. Jia Shun is not deep-scheming; keeping him will be useful to me in the future."

A basket of fresh peaches could not feed his soldiers.

But five thousand taels could buy over two thousand shi of brown rice, allowing thirty thousand soldiers to eat a few full meals.

In the Imperial Court, there is De Guifei at the top, the Second Prince in the middle, and countless lackeys like Jia Shun at the bottom.

As for the murder of imperial descendants, the withholding of military rations, and the private theft of grain granaries...

Even if these matters were taken to Shengjing, the Emperor would not believe him.

In the eyes of the Imperial Court, soldiers are just cannon fodder, their lives to be used to fill the battlefield at any time.

But in Xiao Moting's heart, these people are all brothers who live and die with him; he cannot ignore them.

Xiao Dabao suddenly realized that the Prince wanted to use Jia Shun as a blood bag.

He felt a bit regretful, "If I had known, I would have stolen a peach to give to my younger brother, Xiao Liujin, to nourish his body."

Xiao Liujin had been brought to the military camp as soon as he could walk; he had never eaten a full meal from childhood to adulthood and had grown up sallow and thin, so Xiao Dabao felt heartache for his brother.

Xiao Moting glanced at him, "I left half a basket for the wounded soldiers; the basket Jia Shun got was padded with grass at the bottom."

"What?" Xiao Dabao was stunned.

... As expected of the Prince!

If Jia Shun found out that he had spent a huge sum of five thousand taels to buy half a basket of peaches, he would probably be so angry he couldn't sleep.

Qin Zhan admired him, "For a greedy and cowardly thing like Jia Shun, this is exactly what should be done!"

The group left the city under the cover of night.

The night wind was icy, mixed with snowflakes.

By the roadside, there were corpses of those who had frozen to death, buried by the white snow from time to time.

Xiao Moting saw this, his mood heavy.

He wanted to save the common people, but he was suppressed everywhere; even feeding his own soldiers required fleecing Jia Shun to exchange for grain.

Passing by a paper-offering shop, he stopped his footsteps, lost in thought.

"Xiao Dabao, go buy some things."

He had kept the silver wine vessels of the Xuancheng Prefect, intending to buy some paper money to offer to the Guishhen.

Xiao Dabao was puzzled, "Prince, paper money can't be eaten; why buy it?"

Xiao Moting was about to speak when a scout came flying over.

"Reporting to the Prince, over a thousand deserters have been captured in the camp. Li Junshi is furious and requests your immediate return to the camp."

Xiao Dabao was furious, "The military situation is urgent; they actually dared to betray the Prince at a time like this, it is simply outrageous..."

"Your brother Xiao Liujin is also among the deserters; according to orders, he must be beheaded!"

Xiao Dabao was stunned.

"How... could... this be..."