A few wooden cabins had been erected in an open clearing outside Quliu Town, encircled by a small courtyard. This served as Yuan Qingyan's commandery governor manor.
He sat in the main hall, carefully studying a map spread across his desk. An aide stepped inside and reported, "Lord Yuan, Xu Jingfeng, head of the Ningxi Xu family, requests an audience and has presented a gift list."
Without lifting his head, Yuan Qingyan asked, "Are the gifts valuable?"
"Quite valuable."
Yuan Qingyan's expression softened slightly. "Accept the gifts, tell him to go back, and say I have no time."
The clerk was naturally familiar with his master's habits and felt no surprise as he walked out of the courtyard. On the open ground not far away, Xu Jingfeng stood waiting with over a dozen attendants, accompanied by porters carrying roughly a dozen shoulder-loads of assorted gifts.
The aide called over a squad of soldiers to carry the gifts away, then said to Xu Jingfeng, "Patriarch Xu, please return. My master says he isn't in!"
Xu Jingfeng's smile froze on his face.
When the aide repeated it, Xu Jingfeng finally snapped out of his daze, so furious he laughed. It was one thing for Yuan Qingyan to refuse to see him, but to keep the gifts anyway? Such crude greed was truly revolting, more humiliating than a slap in the face.
Xu Jingfeng gave a heavy snort and said coldly, "Lord Yuan is indeed a paragon of incorruptibility! Since Lord Yuan looks down on me, we shall take our leave!"
"Hold on, Patriarch Xu," the aide called out.
"What else?" Xu Jingfeng's face was as foul as could be; he was doing well just holding back from flying into a rage on the spot.
The aide tilted his head slightly, eyeing Xu Jingfeng from the corner of his eye. "This humble servant dares to offer a word of advice. When Patriarch Xu returns, you should still send gifts from time to time. Even though my master won't see you after receiving them, if you don't send any, it will be all too easy for him to keep you in mind."
Incensed, Xu Jingfeng let out a harsh laugh. "Are you threatening me?"
The aide gave a thumbs-up. "That is precisely what I mean. Patriarch Xu is truly a smart man!"
Xu Jingfeng's face turned black as the bottom of a pot. Glancing at the soldiers glaring like tigers around him, he forced down his anger, returned to the Xu manor, and slammed the heavy gate shut behind him with a crash.
Just then, rapid hoofbeats thundered outside the town as a scout galloped over like the wind, racing straight up to Yuan Qingyan's courtyard.
The rider tumbled from his mount and stumbled into the courtyard, calling out, "Lord Yuan, we've discovered the whereabouts of Quliu Town's commoners! They were raided by horse bandits and sold entirely into the domain. We tracked them all the way to the domain's borders, but were intercepted by the bandits. Out of more than a dozen brothers, only I managed to escape!"
Yuan Qingyan shot to his feet. "Tens of thousands of people were sold into the domain?"
The scout replied, "Indeed. Judging by the tracks left on the ground, there were at least thirty to fifty thousand."
Killing intent flared in Yuan Qingyan's eyes as he muttered to himself, "Playing this game with me? Good, very good! Attendant!"
His secretary stepped in and waited beside him for instructions.
Yuan Qingyan said, "Dispatch fast couriers with official orders to Anbian, Qiao, and Weining counties. Instruct them to confiscate all grain and fodder within two hundred li of their county seats, relocate all commoners in the wilderness into the towns, and establish checkpoints along the main thoroughfares. Not a single grain is permitted to enter the west!
"Furthermore, write letters to Lord Chen and Lord Yue. I need reinforcements here—at least twenty thousand elites. With an army of thirty thousand in my hands, I can completely seal off the south and east of the domain!"
The secretary's brush flew across the paper, and moments later, several official documents were drafted and presented to Yuan Qingyan. He glanced over them and said, "Fine. Send them out as written."
Afterward, Yuan Qingyan summoned the vice generals and deputy generals commanding his forces. He ordered them to advance to different positions, construct military redoubts along the north-south thoroughfares to cut off traffic, and dispatch scouts far and wide to comb through the mountains and countryside. They were to ferret out everyone living secluded in remote villages, confiscate all their grain, and drive them toward the domain.
One deputy general asked, "Lord Yuan, what is the meaning of this?"
Yuan Qingyan said, "Doesn't the domain like commoners? Then I'll send them plenty more! I have already blocked all grain routes—let's see what they will use to feed these hundred-plus thousand mouths!"
The officers looked at one another, all sensing that this was inappropriate. Yet remembering Lord Yuan's past reputation, none dared utter a word.
***
Inside the domain, Wei Yuan was holding a sheet of jade paper, studying it in detail.
Recorded on the jade paper was Yuan Qingyan's complete dossier, in great detail.
Yuan Qingyan came from an ordinary family. At age eight, he passed the Immortal Sect Unified Examination and entered a third-rank blessed land to cultivate. He achieved a Dao Foundation at twenty, passed the imperial examination as a jinshi at thirty-seven, and transferred to the Great Tang Imperial Academy to continue his cultivation. Ten years later, he entered official service in Western Jin, earning some renown over three years, which gained him appointment as a compiler in the Hanlin Academy.
At fifty-nine, Yuan Qingyan unexpectedly achieved a dharma idol, causing quite a stir at the time. Afterward, he was promoted to Hanlin academician and imperial censor, and at sixty-three, he was dispatched to serve as governor of Ningxi Commandery.
Wei Yuan felt a bit of a headache. This fellow was actually a dharma idol! Even if he was among the weakest tier of dharma idols, like the headmaster of White Maple Academy, a dharma idol was still a dharma idol.
Yuan Qingyan was paranoid and obstinate by nature, firmly believing that the teachings of the sages were eternal truths beyond change or question. Known for speaking his mind without restraint, and held to be entirely incorruptible with an exemplary private life, no one in the court could ever seize the slightest leverage against him. As a result, everyone found him an utter headache, terrified of crossing this mad dog.
The dossier did not use phrases like "hating evil like an enemy" or "upright and unbending." The intelligence compiled by great aristocratic clans was always rigorous with its wording, comparable to historical annals. The absence of such terms indicated that in the eyes of whoever wrote the report, Yuan Qingyan was not truly that kind of person.
Having finished reading, Wei Yuan set the jade paper aside. The King of Jin had placed this mad dog before Wei Yuan with blatantly obvious intent. Yet Wei Yuan had already made his move; now it remained to be seen how Yuan Qingyan would respond.
Ningxi Commandery currently had over two hundred thousand residents, estimated by Wei Yuan to fluctuate between two hundred and twenty thousand and two hundred and fifty thousand. Now that Wei Yuan held a hundred and forty thousand in his hands, Yuan Qingyan would temporarily have to be a governor without subjects.
Wei Yuan ordered an attendant to fetch Xiaoyu. A moment later, Xiaoyu appeared before him.
At this moment, dark circles rimmed Xiaoyu's eyes, which were laced with bloodshot veins. A dignified immortal foundation cultivator looked as though he had gone without decent sleep for days. Yet his features were remarkably handsome, giving his weary appearance a touch that invited pity.
The instant Xiaoyu saw Wei Yuan, he snapped, "Say what you have to say and spit it out! I'm busy!"
Wei Yuan put on his warmest, most sincere smile and began massaging Xiaoyu's shoulders. "Junior Brother has truly worked too hard!"
Xiaoyu slapped Wei Yuan's hands away, grumbling, "Get your paws off me—stop touching me! So you know I'm working hard?"
"How could I not know?" Wei Yuan replied with an aggrieved look.
Xiaoyu said, "I barely got Yong'an into decent shape, and you dump two more cities on me! Do I owe you something?"
Wei Yuan smiled placatingly. "No one else can do this job! Not to demean them, but those fellows only know how to wage war on paper. See, I can't entrust matters like this to them at all—the slightest lapse would cause major chaos."
Xiaoyu glared at Wei Yuan with deep suspicion. "You aren't planning to dump those three cities to the west and north on me as well, are you? In your dreams!"
"Absolutely not!" Wei Yuan swore an oath, and Xiaoyu's expression finally eased somewhat. Then Wei Yuan continued, "For those three cities, I'll have Wang Yu and Xu Yi manage one each for now, and the five aristocratic clans can co-manage the last one."
Xiaoyu immediately frowned. "Those fellows are utterly unlearned. What do they know about running a mortal city of ten thousand people? They couldn't even run a village properly."
Wei Yuan slapped his thigh. "Exactly my point! But I truly have no one else to use—after all, eighty thousand people were added all at once. How about this: when you have some free time, take a stroll through those three cities, and if you see anything they're doing poorly, just offer a few pointers?"
Xiaoyu thought about it and reluctantly nodded.
Wei Yuan breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "The grain has arrived, right? Is the quantity sufficient?"
"You mean the batch from the east?" Xiaoyu shook his head, frowning. "Our people bought out the inventories of every merchant caravan from that direction, but only managed to purchase 1.1 million jin of grain—barely enough for seven or eight days. I was just about to look for you regarding this. The grain remaining in the storehouses isn't much either, enough to last ten days at most. We need to find a solution immediately."
"Don't worry. I had Xu Jingfeng arrange two large merchant caravans to buy grain from inside the pass. They should have reached Hanyang Pass by now and will be back in three days. Once those two caravans return, we can hold out for at least another month."
Xiaoyu looked slightly relieved. "Let me know when the grain caravans return. I need to see what varieties and quality they are so I can properly plan the grain distribution."
"No problem."
Burdened with a mountain of affairs, Xiaoyu did not linger and took his leave. Only after flying some distance did it dawn on him: Wei Yuan himself didn't seem to be managing a single city!
After Xiaoyu left, Wei Yuan continued pondering over the map. Just then, an attendant knocked and entered, offering up a letter. "Domain Lord, a secret letter from the Ningxi Xu family."
Wei Yuan took the letter and opened it. As he read, his expression grew increasingly grave.
Chapter 181