Chapter 05
One Hundred Thousand Hu of Grain
As the governor’s “young master” and the “little immortal” to the outside world, Liu Yi commanded great respect in the household. With her presence, most people gradually calmed down and gathered under the trees to wait quietly.
For those who were especially frightenedâmainly families where everyone worked in the residence, afraid of being wiped out in one sweepâLiu Yi offered special reassurance.
The search didn’t last long. Whether they found what they were looking for or not, they left behind a scene of devastation and departed.
Liu Yi promised the servants that the household would pay to replace all damaged items, then sent them back to their quarters one by one before walking away alone.
She turned a corner, made sure she was out of the servants’ sight, and immediately broke into a sprint!
A short figure suddenly darted out from behind a tree. The two nearly collided, but Liu Yi managed to stop just in time.
“Xiao Shan!” She recognized the newcomer and immediately asked, “How is my father?!”
Xiao Shan was the maidservant who had grown up with herâor rather, more of a “sidekick.” She knew Liu Yi’s mind best and had long gone to gather information about Governor Liu’s situation.
“The governor is in the reception hall. There are many people there.” Xiao Shan was also out of breath from running. “I overheard a few words from afarâit seems the military grain we prepared isn’t enough. We can’t supply the amount Guangyang demands. That Master He lost his temper and said the grain was embezzled by the governor, and he wants to hold him accountable.”
So that was it.
Hearing this, Liu Yi actually felt less anxious. Whether they wanted grain or money, as long as they had a goal and weren’t purely trying to frame her father, there was a way to deal with it.
“Miss…” Xiao Shan grew more worried seeing her silent.
“It’s nothing.” Liu Yi collected herself and gripped Xiao Shan’s shoulders. “From now on, you must do everything I say. Don’t sleep tonight. If anything really happens in the residence, immediately guide the others to leave through the West Gate.”
“As for youâyou know where all my valuables are hidden. Pack them all up and flee for your life.”
Xiao Shan was stunned: “Miss! How can that be…”
Running for her life when the master’s household was in trouble was one thing, but taking the master’s belongings as wellâthat was just adding insult to injury!
But Liu Yi pressed her index finger to Xiao Shan’s lips, stopping her from speaking further.
“Listen, I don’t have time to explain right now. I have to go help my father immediately.” She said in a low voice. “In times of chaos, life is more important than money. If nothing happens today, good. But if something does happen, take care of yourself and stay alive.”
She exchanged one more glance with Xiao Shan’s wide, blinking eyes, then turned and hurried toward the reception hall.
As Xiao Shan had said, there were indeed many people in the residence, mostly soldiers in the same attire as those she’d seen in the courtyard that afternoon. It seemed this Master He had brought troops with himâthough she didn’t know how many.
But the number didn’t really matter, because Yuyang Commandery had no standing army.
In earlier years, Liu Yi had also considered asking her father to recruit some soldiers to defend against future wars, but she soon realized it was impossible.
The founding emperor of the Eastern Han, Liu Xiu, had risen from a local warlord himself. Fearing that later generations would follow his path and seize his throne, after ascending to power he directly abolished the position of “Commandant”âthe military officer in charge of each commandery’s armed forcesâthat had existed in the previous dynasty.
In other words, he explicitly forbade all commanderies from maintaining their own troops.
Then what if someone rebelled, or bandits appeared?
The court would allocate funds for the governor to recruit soldiers on the spotâmeaning they’d hire young, able-bodied men to fight the enemy, then disband them after the battle.
So if nothing was wrong and you still kept troops, the court would suspect you of plotting rebellion and charge you with a grave crime.
The Eastern Han revered the Confucian principles of loyalty and filial piety. Her father naturally would not, and dared not, commit such an act of great disloyalty.
—
At that moment, the reception hall’s doors were wide open, but many guards were posted, making it hard to get close. Liu Yi circled around to the east side near the bushes and peered through the gap in the window.
From this angle, she couldn’t see Master He and his party, but she had a clear view of her father.
He stood holding several thick account books, upright in the center of the hall, his face bearing an expression of determination and anger Liu Yi had never seen in all these years.
“Master He, Yuyang Commandery’s tax revenues and expenditures for these past few years are all recorded here. You can see for yourself whether there has been any corruption! My ability to govern may be lacking, but my integrity as an official and my loyalty to the Han Dynasty must not be slandered!”
In the face of Governor Liu’s indignation, Master He seemed unmoved.
Instead, the young man dressed as a scholar beside him quickly stepped down, ordered the soldiers at the door to close the great gates, and then spoke unhurriedly.
“Governor Liu, why can’t you tell good advice from bad?” His voice wasn’t unpleasant, but it was sticky and cloying, making one feel as if there was a lump in the chest that couldn’t be coughed out.
“Our master doesn’t really want to charge you with corruption. As long as you produce a hundred thousand hu of military grain, these ‘rumors’ will naturally collapse on their own.”
Even though Liu Yi had mentally prepared herself, she still felt a jolt of shock at these words!
What did a hundred thousand hu of military grain mean? In the Eastern Han, one hu was equivalent to about sixty modern jin (one Eastern Han jin was roughly half a modern jin). A hundred thousand hu was a full three thousand tons of grain!
Yuyang Commandery was a tiny place, with a population of less than two hundred thousand. Even if the people ate nothing at all, the annual yield was only about forty to fifty thousand hu. How could they possibly produce a hundred thousand hu at once?
Did outsiders have some misconception about Yuyang?
Governor Liu also shook his head: “Yuyang Commandery does not have a hundred thousand hu of grain. I already invited Master He to inspect the granariesâthere are only a little over twenty thousand in total. Earlier, the Provincial Inspector requested thirty thousand, and I could only grit my teeth and agree, trying to scrape it together. Now today you say a hundred thousandâmore than triple that amountâthere’s absolutely no way to gather it!”
When Governor Liu said he’d “try to scrape it together,” Liu Yi could roughly guess how.
One way was to ask the Qian familyâher mother’s natal familyâfor help.
This wasn’t relying on his in-laws; over the years, the Qian family had supported Liu Yi’s father in becoming governor and had gained many benefits themselves. Now that the commandery was in trouble, they had an obligation to help. That was how local powerful clans and government officials had always interacted throughout history.
In modern terms, it was basically “corporate donations.”
But given the droughts in recent years, the Qian family probably wouldn’t contribute much either. If there was still a shortfall, they’d have to buy grain from the common people.
Regardless, no matter how they pieced it together, thirty thousand hu was already scraping the bottom of the barrel. A hundred thousand was utterly impossible.
“If there’s none in the granaries, what about in the hands of the people? We saw with our own eyes that the common folk have surplus grain,” the young scholar said softly.
“Even if they do, we don’t have that much money to buy it.” Governor Liu answered instinctively, then froze as realization dawned on him. “You, you mean…”
Seizing the people’s grainâLiu Yi understood too.
Or to put it bluntly: outright robbery.
“Governor Liu,” the scholar’s voice grew even more syrupy, “you’ve been holed up in Yuyang and have no idea what the outside world is like now. Not to mention surplus grainâmost people in Guangyang don’t even know where their next meal is coming from. In areas ravaged by war, instances of parents exchanging children to eat are everywhere.”
He raised his hand in salute toward the distance: “Thanks to our Provincial Inspector’s intervention, the rebels have been pacified for now, giving us a brief respite. But without sufficient grain supplies, the rebels and refugees could erupt into chaos again at any moment!”
Governor Liu retorted: “But the grain in the people’s hands is what they’ve earned through hard labor, what remains after paying their taxes according to law. On what grounds do we seize it?!”
“Hmph!” The previously silent Master He suddenly slammed the table and stood up. “If not for Guangyang Commandery standing in the way, shielding Yuyang from the ravages of war, you wouldn’t have had the chance to hide away and live this idyllic, prosperous life! While everyone outside is fighting and dying, isn’t it only right for you to contribute some grain? And now you’re lecturing us about the law!”
