Chapter 896: Chapter 896: Seizing Grain
Liu Sisi frowned and glanced at Zhang Peng and Qi Yuanzheng, “What do Your Honors think about this?”
Qi Yuanzheng pondered for a mont, “It seems Her Highness is correct; I fear that Prefecture Governor truly harbors so designs against us. His expression was a bit off last night, in my view, it’s best we clarify the situation before taking any action.”
“Easy for you to say, we’re trapped here and simply can’t get out; how can we clarify anything?”
Zhang Peng imdiately rejected Qi Yuanzheng’s suggestion without hesitation. His brow had never unknotted, and after hesitating for a bit, he still decided to speak his mind.
“Do you think the Yingchang Prefecture City Lord has already surrendered to Zhao Heng? Normally, we are supposed to be the reinforcents here to rescue them; there is absolutely no reason for them to treat us this way, unless… they have found a bigger support, right?”
“If they had surrendered to Zhao Heng, would they need to stand off against Zhao Heng’s forces? They would have already entered the city and be feasting by now.” Zhang Peng’s intuition did not believe it.
“Maybe they are deliberately putting on this show, aiming to attract the attention of various forces and rescue teams from around the region.”
Liu Sisi also proposed another viewpoint.
“I don’t think so. Firstly, there are no significant forces nearby. Secondly, this Yingchang Prefecture’s City Lord Dong Yuan has a deep blood feud with Zhao Heng, and he would certainly not choose to align with Zhao Heng,” said Qi Yuanzheng as he gestured with his hands.
Liu Sisi was taken aback, “What deep blood feud?”
Qi Yuanzheng thought for a mont, clearly also sowhat puzzled, “It’s said that Dong Yuan’s entire family was wiped out by Zhao Heng’s forces. In the chaos of war, Dong Yuan survived by sheer luck and then rose to prominence. However, since he is the only remaining seedling of the Dong family, His Majesty, at that ti, bestowed a special decree, allowing him to take office in Yingchang Prefecture. Although there have been so twists and turns in the middle, it is a well-known fact that the Dong family ca close to being exterminated by Zhao Heng’s forces,” he explained.
With only Dong Yuan left from the Dong family, it simply doesn’t make sense for him to surrender to Zhao Heng.
However, another problem arose; since Dong Yuan and Zhao Heng are irreconcilable, why then is Dong Yuan so indifferent to the reinforcents?
Could it be that he is intentionally courting death?
Everyone was baffled.
“Let’s wait a bit more and see if there’s any news from the City Lord’s Mansion later, then decide on the next step. What do you think?”
Naturally, Liu Sisi’s suggestion received agreent from the two n.
“That’s best; before things beco clear, responding to changes without changing our strategy is the best approach.”
“Even so, we still need to address the issue at hand first,” she proposed.
“The food situation is truly unacceptable, that watery coarse grain porridge is too little; our n can’t be filled. Later on, forget fighting, even walking could beco a problem. Since the rchants staying in the sa hostel still have at to eat, we should ask for more coarse cereals and more firewood to cook it ourselves, right?”
Qi Yuanzheng, who was beside her, sprang up from his chair, slapped his chest forcefully, “Leave this matter to , I’ll speak to the Post-house Minister. That Minister had a terribly poor attitude yesterday. Now, catching the opportunity, I’d like to get so grievances off my chest!”
“Hold on, Lord Qi, when you go, take a couple of trusted soldiers with you. If you can negotiate peaceably to get food, then avoid resorting to force. Understood?”
“Don’t worry, Your Highness, we naturally understand,” he assured.
As soon as Qi Yuanzheng left, Liu Sisi began to wander around the small courtyard.
Last night, everyone had squeezed into the common sleeping area to get through one night, but today with the heavy snow seeming to grow worse, and with not enough food to eat, how were they to get through the long dayti? She carefully surveyed her surroundings and finally set her eyes on the hut beside her.
“Does this house seem uninhabited?”
As soon as Liu Sisi asked, a trusted soldier stepped forward, “Reporting to the Princess, this house’s roof has a big hole, so no one lives there.”
“Very good!”
Liu Sisi nodded in satisfaction, “Soone! Take out all the wooden furniture from this house and chop it into firewood. Set up a fire!”
A living person couldn’t let urine be the death of them!
The eyes of the trusted soldiers instantly lit up!
Everyone had been freezing outside all day the day before, and frozen again last night, and on top of that, they didn’t have enough food, the weaker individuals were already unable to hold on. Hearing the Princess’s order to tear down the furniture inside the house to set up a fire, everyone scrambled to get started, quickly carrying out the furniture from the small house, and the banging and clanging sounds echoed nonstop.
Before long, a roaring fire was set up.
Everyone happily crowded together, warming themselves by the fire, and as their bodies ward up, they felt less hungry.
When Qi Yuanzheng returned carrying a bag of grain, what he saw was the blazing fire.
“Princess, I’ve managed it! Look!”
Qi Yuanzheng pointed proudly to the hemp bag being carried by his trusted soldiers, “Initially, the Post-house Minister didn’t want to give any, and no matter what I said, he wouldn’t budge, and he wouldn’t sell it for money either. Left with no choice, I had to put the knife to his throat. That guy was stubborn and still wouldn’t talk, and if we hadn’t encountered him, we’d probably still be at an impasse.”
Following the direction of his pointing hand, Liu Sisi looked up to see faces that were beaming with joy.
“There’s a whole big bag of millet here, and he also gave us half a bag of potatoes. There’s no salt or oil though. I searched the kitchen but found no trace of oil or salt, so in the end, with no other option, I just carried off a pot…”
Looking at the iron pot being carried by two trusted soldiers, Liu Sisi didn’t know what to say—it seed that even the pot had been taken away, indicating that Qi Yuanzheng might not be as honest as he appeared on the surface.
“Alright! Since it’s been brought here, let’s first boil a pot of hot water to warm everyone up.”
Liu Sisi was also very pleased and quickly instructed everyone to set up the iron pot and start heating water.
However, Zhang Peng beside her was deeply concerned, “At present, Lord Qi has been both forceful and threatening, and eventually cheated the other party out of their food. I don’t think that Post-house Minister is a forgiving person. Today, after you’ve dealt with him so miserably, I’m afraid there will be trouble waiting for us all later. Whatever you do or wherever you go recently, you’d better watch out for your safety.”
Liu Sisi looked at him with so surprise, “Are you saying there may be trouble? Or are you saying…”
“That Post-house Minister will most likely go to the City Lord’s Mansion for instructions and will certainly exaggerate our actions against us.”
Zhang Peng nodded slightly, “Just wait, if they really co, it would probably be around midnight tonight. We all can have another round of sleep. But Princess, you must stay with your subordinate beside you to attend to you. However, rest assured, I will protect your safety and will not allow any mistakes to occur.”
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