Chapter 933: You Know, I Know Too

The situation in Jiaxiang County was only slightly better than elsewhere; it couldn't support this many refugees. Moreover, after these tens of thousands of refugees had stopped in Jiaxiang County for a few days, even more refugees were converging from all directions.

Inside the county town, they hadn't found any treasures of the Western Heaven Divine Kingdom, but everywhere people were already stirred up. If they wanted to eat their fill, if they wanted to survive, they had no choice but to head for Jining Prefecture. Take Jining Prefecture, and they could eat their fill—and eat well.

At a moment like this, what divine kingdom, what Buddha, all of it was tossed aside. Only a few thoughts remained in their hearts: one, don't starve to death; two, eat; three, live!

When they heard that Jining had food, that they could eat their fill there, no one hesitated. Everyone headed that way. Since they could break through Jiaxiang County town, then Jining Prefecture could be broken through too!

In the fourth month of the second year of the Tianqi reign, refugees rose up everywhere in Shandong. They broke through Jiaxiang City; the magistrate of Jiaxiang committed suicide for the fallen city. The refugees numbered nearly a hundred thousand. Jining was in critical danger. The entire province was shaken. An urgent report was sent to the capital.

"The situation in Shandong is far too chaotic right now. The only safe places are inside a few major cities, and there's still a bit of peace along the Grand Canal. Everywhere else, it's either rebels or mounted bandits. A lone traveler can easily run into trouble, but if the group is too large, it's easy to be spotted and besieged. I took a boat to Jining, switched to a fast horse there, and only then was I able to hurry back."

"Are the roads already cut off?"

"This humble one dares not say for certain, but from the news gathered around Jining Prefecture, nine out of ten refugees are heading for Jining Prefecture. From all directions, they're moving east. The canal will surely be cut off. They say the city gates won't be opened from now on."

The messenger reporting the news was covered in dust and gasping for breath. After arriving in Xuzhou, he hadn't even had time to rest before being summoned for questioning.

Everyone at the He Village had come over. Zhao Jin, Chen Sheng, Wang Zhaojing, Ji Xiang, and Ruhui were all in the room. Every face was solemn. Ji Xiang sat there with a taut expression, suppressing his excitement.

"It just erupted senselessly like this? After the earthquake for so long, haven't things been relatively peaceful everywhere? Only those poles were stirring up trouble outside. How did refugees suddenly start rioting?" Zhao Jin asked.

Sun Dalin poured a cup of tea and brought it over. The messenger drained it in one gulp, wiped his mouth, and said, "Master Lei couldn't send anyone out over there, so the news he could gather is limited. All we know is that the Smelling Incense Sect is definitely inciting things behind the scenes."

This information was of little value—everyone already knew the Smelling Incense Sect was inciting. The messenger added, "Master Lei said that this past year, the Smelling Incense Sect has been working relentlessly in the countryside. This time, the results are showing. In some places, they may have played tricks, but in others, the word simply spread and the common folk followed. Even wealthy households voluntarily offered up grain, oxen, and horses. Often, several villages or several towns would empty out entirely, all heading for the places the Smelling Incense Sect pointed to."

The messenger spoke slowly. The journey had been fraught with too many dangers. To ensure absolute safety, the messenger carried no written letters; everything was committed to memory.

Wang Zhaojing shook his head and sighed, saying, "How can they be so muddled? What Western Heaven Immortal Kingdom, and talk of going to the Western Heaven to see immortals—isn't that just another way of saying go to your death?"

"Those people were already crushed breathless by natural disasters and man-made calamities. These two earthquakes directly broke them. How could they still care about truth or falsehood? Whoever gives them a shred of hope, they'll follow immediately—let alone the fact that the Smelling Incense Sect has been deeply entrenched there for so long," Zhao Jin said in a muffled voice.

Chen Sheng ignored his companions' lamentations and simply asked, "He rushed here through hardship from Linqing Prefecture. The journey took eight days, so this news is already eight days old. In Lei's report, the refugees already numbered over a hundred thousand. We all know that in times like these, the number of refugees snowballs. By now, it must be over two hundred thousand, maybe even more. Will they come to Xuzhou again this time?"

The room fell silent. When the Zhao Character Camp was first established, tens of thousands of refugees had besieged Xuzhou. That was the battle that had shaken everyone the most. The refugees were frail and weak, but their madness and endless numbers on the battlefield gave people headaches and heart palpitations.

And from that time until now, although there had been no open slaughter between the Shandong Smelling Incense Sect and the Xuzhou side, neither had shown any mercy in the shadows. After Zhao Jin led his iron cavalry to rescue Mu Shulan in Yuncheng, the two sides became irreconcilable. With this great chaos in Shandong, everyone immediately thought Xuzhou would become the primary target.

Zhao Jin was silent for a moment, then spoke: "Right now, we know the chaos in Shandong has broken out in three areas. One is north of Yuncheng: Guancheng County, Fan County, and Pu Prefecture in Dongchang Prefecture; Shouzhang County, Yanggu County, Dong'e County, Pingyin County, and Dongping Prefecture in Yanzhou Prefecture. These places all stirred at the first news—generally, they heard the word and headed straight for Yuncheng. Another area is south of Yuncheng County: Cao Prefecture, Cao County, Chengwu County, Dingtao, Juye, and Jinxiang. These are closest to us. The news is already known to everyone; large bands of refugees are heading toward Jining. The third area is east of Yuncheng County: Ningyang County, Wenshang County, Xintai County, plus the Eastern Three Prefectures and scattered prefectures and counties east of Yanzhou Prefecture."

Everyone had already studied the map. Zhao Jin's account gave them all a clear picture. Using the Grand Canal as a dividing line, the counties west of Yanzhou Prefecture and south of Dongchang Prefecture were in complete chaos, while the area east of Yanzhou Prefecture plus the Eastern Three Prefectures saw scattered uprisings. Strictly speaking, it was less than two prefectures, but the most densely populated region of Shandong was precisely Yanzhou Prefecture and Dongchang Prefecture. With these two areas in chaos right along both sides of the vital grain transport artery, it was tantamount to the entire province of Shandong in upheaval—likely to shake the whole realm.

"If they were targeting us, with Jinxiang, Yutai, and Shan County all being our territory now, they would drive the refugees to surge straight at us, then advance south along the canal, taking the same route the refugees took to Xuzhou last time. These three counties are at the southernmost edge of Shandong. They could drive wave after wave of refugees pressing down from north to south—that would be the most effective method," Zhao Jin said in a deep voice.

The room fell silent again. Everyone who had experienced the refugee siege could imagine exactly what Zhao Jin was describing: wave after wave of refugees pressing down from north to south, those behind driving those in front, the front wave smashing through every fortified village and stockade, sweeping up the local populace into refugees. If they encountered any obstacle, they would either bypass it or keep piling up and swelling in numbers until they broke through.

With such a vast number of refugees, regardless of whether they could fight or not, the sheer mass of people was itself a devastating force—consuming everything, destroying everything. The mountains of corpses would also cause plague. It was no different from a locust plague, and the destruction and disaster far surpassed a locust swarm's passage.

"On this whole journey, is there any grain? How many of them will die? Surely the leaders of the Smelling Incense Sect wouldn't go so far as to..."

"Do refugees even count as human beings in their eyes?"

Ji Xiang and Wang Zhaojing exchanged question and answer. Ji Xiang scratched his head and fell silent.

Zhao Jin continued, "Doing it that way would be the quickest method, and the one most likely to succeed. But they didn't do that. Instead, they took a detour toward Jining Prefecture. That means their target probably isn't us."

The brothers had grown accustomed to trusting Zhao Jin's judgment. Hearing this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Zhao Jin traced a circle in the air with his hand, then tapped four times, saying, "This is Jining Prefecture. This is Qufu. This is the Yanzhou prefectural seat, Ziyang. This is Zoucheng. These four places are the canal hub, the seat of the Duke of Yansheng's estate, the seat of the Prince of Lu's estate and Yanzhou Prefecture, and the seat of the Meng family. These four cities share one thing in common: they are amply stocked with grain and fodder."

Jining Prefecture had vast stockpiles of grain and fodder. The Duke of Yansheng's Kong estate and the Prince of Lu's estate were the first and second largest landowners in Shandong. The Meng family of Zoucheng was also descended from a sage. Naturally, these places were untouched by harsh taxes, levies, or the Liaodong surtax. They also bore none of the heavy corvée labor the court imposed on Shandong. Naturally, they lived quite comfortably, without hardship. Moreover, these four cities had suffered only lightly in the recent earthquake, with little damage, so their granaries were certainly full.

"These four cities are very close to each other. Their move toward Jining Prefecture is likely to break through the city and seize grain and fodder. By occupying the canal transport hub, they'll seize the throat of the Grand Canal, allowing them to mobilize even greater forces and break through the remaining cities one by one. By then, they'll have taken the most prosperous part of Shandong, and plotting to seize the entire province won't be difficult," Zhao Jin spoke with assurance.

Hearing Zhao Jin's words, everyone's expressions grew even graver. If the Smelling Incense Sect gained control of Shandong—an entire province, with a population of millions—and those millions were driven by the madmen of the sect, it would be terrifying beyond measure.

"Big Brother, you can figure out all these critical points. How could those local thugs in the Smelling Incense Sect possibly think of them!" Ji Xiang couldn't help saying.

"You see others as local thugs; others see us the same way. Plan for the enemy at their strongest—do you think the enemy is a fool who can't think of anything?" Zhao Jin replied.

Ji Xiang was momentarily speechless, but then immediately asked, "Big Brother, if the Smelling Incense Sect takes Jining Prefecture, if they take all four of these cities, what will they do next? Will they head north to Linqing Prefecture?"

Linqing was also along the Grand Canal. After taking Yanzhou Prefecture, heading north to Dongchang Prefecture and striking at Linqing—another wealthy, major city with ample grain supplies—seemed like the logical next step.

Zhao Jin shook his head and said in a muffled voice, "They'll head straight south, straight for our Xuzhou!"

Everyone jolted as one, but no one voiced a denial. Zhao Jin spoke as if explaining to others, and also as if speaking to himself: "To the north, there's only Linqing Prefecture worth taking. Everywhere else has been ravaged by refugees to roughly the same degree. They'd starve every step of the way. Besides, if they break through Linqing Prefecture, not only will the provincial capital Jinan be shaken, but Northern Zhili and the capital will be shaken too. They'd immediately face a joint encirclement by the realm's government troops. But heading south, the route is still relatively intact, and all they'd face is our Zhao Character Camp. What's more, how much money, grain, and population does Northern Zhili have, and how much does Southern Zhili have? If it were you, which would you choose?"

Ji Xiang sucked in a breath of cold air. Though the others didn't react so dramatically, their faces all showed worry and unease. This time, Chen Sheng spoke: "Since we can foresee it, we won't let them succeed."

Thanks to old friends "Yuan Heng Li Zhen" and "Wu Liulang" for their tips. Thanks to everyone for your subscriptions and monthly tickets. Thank you all.