Chapter 38: A Human Tragedy

A month has passed. These bureaucrats, having emptied the granaries, can now easily claim that the grain has been consumed by refugees, prompting the imperial court to release funds and supplies for disaster relief.

Mu Weihu glanced at Xiao Zhi, his expression somewhat strange.

Xiao Zhi touched his own face. "Is something wrong?"

"The goal of the noble clans has not yet been achieved, so why would they provide relief? Those officials were all installed by them; they are certainly of one mind with the clans."

Xiao Zhi was even more confused. "How do you figure that? Don't they want to reap the benefits from disaster relief?"

A thousand-man commander spoke up: "My lord, pray do not take offense at my bluntness, but you do not understand how to be an official, nor do you know how to govern. If you were to govern as you suggest, how much wealth could you possibly plunder?"

Xiao Zhi sneered. "Then tell me, how should one govern to line one's pockets, and what is the real reason the officials of the two provinces are concealing the situation?"

Mu Weihu and the commander both laughed. Xiao Zhi felt they were mocking him for being an idiot, and his face flushed with embarrassment.

Mu Weihu gestured with his chin, signaling the commander to continue. The commander took a sip of wine, pondered for a moment, and gathered his thoughts.

"My lord, if you were starving, what would you do?"

Xiao Zhi knew what he was driving at. The more desperate people are with hunger, the more they will spare no cost and exhaust everything they have just to trade for a morsel of food. Every refugee is the same.

The commander continued, "The initial victims were merely tenant farmers and long-term laborers; what could they possibly have? They had nothing. To save them? You would gain nothing but the futile waste of money and grain."

"Once these starving people coalesce into massive groups of refugees, they must survive, and to survive, they must plunder without regard for anything."

"They dare not plunder the powerful clans or the noble officials; they only dare to strike at those who still have a surplus of grain—like small landowners with a hundred mu of fields, or traveling merchants."

"Once these people are stripped bare, they too become refugees."

Mu Weihu added, "And then, the great landowners are eventually plundered as well."

Xiao Zhi asked, "Why didn't the refugees plunder the great landowners from the start?"

Mu Weihu and the others chuckled. A commander said, "My lord, you are a military man yourself. Would you choose to attack the hardest target first? Once the refugees become numerous—thousands upon thousands, surging like a tide—even households with armed servants and vicious thugs cannot hold them back."

"When the people's grain is exhausted, the noble clans begin their 'relief.' They demand land deeds and house titles; they demand gold, silver, and jewelry; they demand sons as slaves and daughters as prostitutes."

Mu Weihu sighed, looked upward, and said wistfully, "In the twelfth year of the Dadao era, there was a great drought in Hubei, and locusts filled the sky. Countless people starved to death, yet the imperial court delayed providing relief. By that time, it was no longer a matter of swapping children to eat; cannibalism had become a business. My lord, have you heard of 'human vegetables'?"

"There was a small landowner whose family had all starved to death, leaving only him and his eight-year-old son. He had only three copper coins left, and human legs hanging for sale cost fifty coins per catty. He wanted to live, and he wanted his son to live, so he sold his son for one hundred and twenty coins. By the time he went to buy meat, the price had risen to one hundred coins per catty."

Silence. A deathly stillness fell; everyone's heart felt unnervingly heavy.

The disaster victims were no longer human. Xiao Zhi could hardly imagine such a scene.

Mu Weihu sneered, "Do you know what he bought for those one hundred coins? It was the flesh of his own son."

Xiao Zhi was struck with horror, his eyes widening in disbelief.

Mu Weihu continued, "I saw this with my own eyes. My family had over eight hundred mu of land and countless wealth and grain. After the great disaster, I had nothing. It was my father's comrade-in-arms who got me into the Imperial City Guard, and that is how I rose step by step to become a Garrison General."

The commander returned to the main topic. "My lord, only when it reaches this point does the real show begin, and the noble clans open their porridge sheds. One mu of land can be traded for a single bowl of thin gruel."

Xiao Zhi was silent. A thousand words welled up in his belly, but he could not utter a single one.

Another commander said, "They also build orphanages in every district. We Han people are like this: a person can die, but the family line must not be broken. People would rather starve themselves than not donate everything to the orphanages to ensure their children are raised."

Xiao Zhi asked, "Are these orphanages not meant to keep the children alive at all?"

Mu Weihu replied, "Not one in ten survives."

Xiao Zhi let out a deep sigh, a sense of powerlessness rising within him. "In that case, it makes no difference whether the imperial court provides relief or not."

The commander said, "How could it be the same? They also want the money and grain the court sends for relief."

Just a quarter of an hour ago, Xiao Zhi had been considering retreating. If he could not fit into this era, he would not force it; at worst, he would find a place to live a quiet life. But having heard all this, Xiao Zhi felt that if he did not do something, he would be betraying his own conscience as a human being.

With the knowledge brought by his crossing, Xiao Zhi was the person most capable of changing this era. No matter how much he changed, at least he would have tried.

"Mu Weihu, tell me your plan."

Xiao Zhi no longer took Mu Weihu's previous insolence to heart; in a way, Mu Weihu was right. Xiao Zhi had to become a man of this era before he could change it.

Mu Weihu said solemnly, "Since you ask, my lord, I will speak plainly."

"The true purpose of this mission is to force the officials and noble clans to provide relief and save the people. Only when man-made disasters are gone can natural ones be overcome."

"Therefore, we must kill the rich to aid the poor, and kill the corrupt to aid the people. We must ensure that the money and grain entering Shandong and Jiangsu cannot be siphoned away. No matter how much those officials embezzle, it will never truly be theirs, and the more they take, the faster they will die."

Xiao Zhi thought for a moment; there were no major flaws in the plan, and he nodded in approval. But it was not enough.

Xiao Zhi said, "These officials will naturally not act in the open, and it is the noble clans who run the porridge sheds and build the orphanages. This time, I say we show no mercy—let us simply wipe out the noble clans. Without them, the officials will have to actually do some real work if they want to get their hands on any benefits."

Xiao Zhi and Mu Weihu exchanged glances, then looked at the commanders. The commanders were obedient and immediately pledged to follow any command.

Xiao Zhi said, "In that case, we set out tomorrow and launch a surprise attack at night. Mu Weihu, select your targets."

In a year of great disaster, the noble clans feared attacks from refugees, so they naturally kept many armed servants and private soldiers. Xiao Zhi knew this would be a hard battle. Fortunately, they were in the shadows and would be striking when least expected.

After finalizing the details, Xiao Zhi said, "Tomorrow... no, let's wait until the day after to send word to the capital. That way, the Emperor can send back an imperial decree." Xiao Zhi simply wanted the Emperor to feel at ease regarding him.

Mu Weihu and the others looked awkward but showed no sign of defying Xiao Zhi. Xiao Zhi understood that a general in the field is not bound by every order from the capital, and Mu Weihu preferred it that way—wanting to do as he pleased. Moreover, they were posing as bandits—Shandong horse thieves.

As he stood up to return to his room, Xiao Zhi paused and looked back. "In the future, you may prepare servants to attend to me, but do not prepare any bed-warming maids. Furthermore, provide that young woman with some clothes."

Mu Weihu agreed, and after Xiao Zhi left, he and the commanders shared a knowing smile. They felt that Xiao Zhi was a man just like any other and was merely putting on a facade of being noble. Once a man and a woman sleep together, they become familiar soon enough.

One commander said, "General, Lord Xiao is very displeased." Everyone knew Xiao Zhi was unhappy; the commander meant that they had offended him and a rift had formed.

Mu Weihu replied, "It matters not. Remember what the Lord once said: 'It doesn't matter if a cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice, it's a good cat.' We only need to be that good cat."