Chapter 182

Hearing Li Xinyue say this, Jiang Ze finally set his mind at ease; even without Brother Xiao Hu, he wasn't a pushover himself.

"You may come in!"

Jiang Ze waved at the few people outside the gate.

"Boss, should we go?" A subordinate looked at the Vice General with some worry, suspecting a trap.

"Hmph! It's fine, put away your weapons, let's go in and take a look."

The Vice General was not worried about the other side playing tricks; as long as these bandits weren't fools, they would know how much trouble it would cause them if he and his men died in the city.

Having followed the Prince of Zhenbei for many years, he understood that since this was a bandit den, yet no troops had been directly mobilized to suppress them, there might be reasons he didn't know about.

Seeing that the matter was resolved, Li Xinyue turned to leave, instructing Xiao Hu to accompany Jiang Ze before she departed.

Jiang Ze also understood that this was to have him monitor these people, so he immediately walked up to greet them.

"Since you are all visiting Jiangcheng for the first time, let me take you around!"

"Hmm!"

The Vice General did not refuse; holding his status in high regard, he was unwilling to interact too much with bandits and only responded coldly.

Jiang Ze didn't mind, following by their side, and didn't even mention having them put down their weapons.

After entering the city, the Vice General noticed a large area under construction; he wanted to ask Jiang Ze but was too embarrassed to speak, so he eventually walked toward that area.

"Old fellow, what are you doing here?"

"Oh! I'm busy... don't block... Oh, Captain Jiang is here too?" A man carrying lumber was walking forward and was unhappy about being blocked, but suddenly noticed Jiang Ze in the group.

Jiang Ze was now responsible for the city defense of Jiangcheng and often patrolled the city, so many people knew him.

The Vice General hadn't expected that in the hearts of the commoners of Jiangcheng, he wasn't as useful as a bandit captain.

Jiang Ze looked at the Vice General's darkened face, smiled inwardly, and responded to him: "Oh! These few are our guests; if you have time, you can answer his question."

The man was confused; why didn't Captain Jiang explain it himself instead of asking me to do it?

So the man said with some hesitation: "Isn't this to build houses for the refugees in our city?"

The Vice General stopped asking others and asked Jiang Ze directly: "There are refugees in the city too?"

"Yes! The refugees in the city were the first batch to arrive, so they get priority for household registration certificates."

"Ah?" The Vice General was bewildered; aren't you a bunch of bandits? You even issue household registration certificates to refugees?

Besides, what use is a household registration certificate issued by bandits without an official seal?

Jiang Ze saw through what the man was thinking at a glance and patiently explained: "The household registration certificates we issue are naturally useful! For example, for some jobs, we give priority to hiring people with certificates, and there are other benefits that only they can enjoy."

"What benefits?"

"Buying grain! There is a weekly limit per person, and we at Yangguangzhai sell affordable grain at harvest-year prices." Jiang Ze responded very calmly.

"This... how is this possible?"

The Vice General was no longer calm; never mind this year, even last year or the year before, the entire Beijiang had never seen such grain prices!

"Don't believe it? I'll take you to see it and you'll know!" Jiang Ze felt smug inside, finding it satisfying to watch the other party's shocked expression.

"Then let's go take a look!"

The Vice General wouldn't believe it without seeing it with his own eyes; never mind that the other party were bandits, even official government grain wasn't that cheap!

Jiang Ze took the group to the grain shop, and only after the Vice General saw the commoners buying grain with his own eyes and counted how many coins they paid did he truly believe it.

The Vice General couldn't help but think more deeply; if the Zhenbei Army could also purchase grain at such prices, wouldn't the Great General no longer be at the mercy of those commandery governors?

"Do you sell this grain to outsiders?"

Jiang Ze gave a disdainful snort: "What are you thinking? We at Yangguangzhai are selling this at a loss just so the commoners can have a full meal; if we sold it to outsiders, what would the commoners eat?"

Never mind the commoners, even the captains of Yangguangzhai all believed that selling grain at this price was a loss, so how could they easily give it away?

"Sigh! What a pity!" The Vice General couldn't help but sigh, knowing that this price must be subsidized by Yangguangzhai, otherwise, how could grain be so cheap!

But then he thought, the Zhenbei Army hadn't been paid for months; even at this price, they couldn't afford it.

"Record all of this down!" The Vice General turned and ordered his men.

"Yes!"

The shock of the men was far greater than the Vice General's, but they still diligently performed their duties.

Looking at the bright smiles on the faces of the queuing commoners, the Vice General suddenly felt a bit dazed.

Isn't this what the Zhenbei Army exists for?

Yet, what the Zhenbei Army failed to do, a group of bandits had actually accomplished; who would believe this if told?

Now, their perception of Jiang Ze had changed quite a bit; although the other party were bandits, the things they were doing were much better than those officials!

They were all men who had come out of the military camp and never cared for reputation; what they hated most were those scholars who talked about "this and that" all day but couldn't see the suffering of the people.

"Brother Jiang, what your Yangguangzhai has done commands my respect!"

The men were frank; at first, they had indeed looked down on the other party's identity as bandits, but after learning what they had done, they didn't hide their admiration.

This made Jiang Ze feel a bit embarrassed, and he waved his hands repeatedly, saying: "I am just following orders; these are all my brother's arrangements!"

"Is your brother in the city?" The Vice General's eyes lit up; he really wanted to meet the man.

"No! He should be in Qingcheng right now." Jiang Ze answered truthfully.

The Vice General thought of the three cities the Great General had mentioned; Qingcheng was among them, so the last remaining city was not hard to guess.

It seemed the Great General had sent them here for the sake of this Yangguangzhai.

Then Jiang Ze took the group for another stroll; looking at the vibrant, smiling commoners, the men almost forgot the blood and carnage of the battlefield.

Seeing that it was getting late, and having chatted more and more congenially with the men, Jiang Ze immediately said: "It's mealtime now, would you brothers like to come with me and try the food at our Yangguangzhai?"

The men hadn't felt it until Jiang Ze mentioned it, but now they were indeed a bit hungry. "Alright! We just hope we aren't troubling Brother Jiang."

"No trouble at all, we have logistics personnel cooking every day!" Jiang Ze led the way, a warm smile on his face.

Suddenly, Jiang Ze paused his steps and continued: "It's not that I'm stingy and unwilling to take you brothers to a restaurant, it's just that the food at the restaurant isn't as good as what we have at Yangguangzhai!"

"Is that so? Then I must try it!" The Vice General didn't take it to heart; after all, eating at a restaurant wasn't cheap, and not everyone had extra silver to spend.