mtl008 Chapter 312 He Qi's Goal
Chapter 312 He Qi's Goal
To avoid arousing He Qi's suspicion, Xie Chong did not dare to keep the original list. Instead, he made a copy and had Quan Feng send the original to He Qi.
After Quan Feng left, Xie Chong held the copied list and laughed excitedly like a pig.
Anyone who has been to school knows the principle that "if secrets are not kept, one will suffer the consequences." But Yu Shao did something else: he prepared a list before even starting anything. Did he want to die even faster?
No wonder the Yu family of Yuyao couldn't compare to the He family of Shanyin; the problem lies here. The Yu family really can't function without Yu Fan.
Xie Chong muttered to himself, "It seems General Guan was right. Scholars can't rebel in three years, so there's no need to worry too much. In that case, I, the prefect, will play along with you."
As he spoke, he rolled his eyes and began to think of a solution. Having a list wasn't enough; they had to wait for them to take action, to catch the thief red-handed and the adulterers in the act.
But what actions will they take?
What should be done with these people afterward?
Don't worry about the first question, there's full wind. As for the second question...
Xie Chong quickly devised a plan and began to make arrangements. During the day, he hosted banquets for Yu Shaoquan and other advanced individuals on the list to lower their guard, while at night he secretly mobilized manpower to prepare for the arrest.
Three days later, Yu Xing reappeared and bowed, saying, "Prefect, Quan Feng asked me to report to you that He Qi has been communicating with Yu Shao recently and has already discussed the action plan. He plans to attack the granaries in Shanyin and Zhuji simultaneously tomorrow night and burn all the grain inside."
"He Qi wrote to Yu Shao that food is the most important thing. At present, the Han army is facing off against the Wu army in the Damo Corridor and is constantly consuming food. If the granaries in Shanyin and Zhuji are burned, the food supply at the front will be in short supply. If there is no food at the front, you will have to levy taxes. This will go against our land reform and tax reduction policy, thus arousing public resentment. As long as public resentment is aroused, you and General Guan and your group of outsiders will lose support and become rootless. At that time, they will cooperate with Governor Lü Dai and easily drive you out of Kuaiji."
Xie Chong's face darkened instantly upon hearing this. The Han army was indeed an outsider, and to quickly gain the support of the local people, they had to give them benefits. Therefore, their taxes were very low. However, war is a money pit, and money flows like water. Those taxes simply could not support it.
Currently, the Han army's provisions are mainly seized from the Kuaiji gentry such as the He family of Shanyin, the Yu family of Yuyao, and the Quan family of Qiantang. The remaining portion is obtained by exchanging salt, farm tools, and even cloth from the common people. After all, Kuaiji is located by the sea and has salt fields, which Xie Chong also took back from the gentry, providing the Han army with considerable income every day.
However, no matter how many salt fields there are, they cannot make up for the fact that the grain supply in Kuaiji is also limited. The current grain supply is only enough to barely make ends meet and there is no surplus. If the granaries in Shanyin and Zhuji are really burned, there will be a huge shortage of grain in Kuaiji, resulting in a terrible consequence similar to the broken capital chain of later bosses.
Moreover, it's not autumn harvest time yet, and the crops in the fields haven't been harvested. Guan Yu is probably also living frugally. If a dire situation like a broken cash flow were to occur, Guan Yu and Deng Zhi of Wu Commandery might not have the resources to rescue him.
Thinking of the food shortages in the army and among the people, and the dire situation where no matter how much they tried to patch things up, they couldn't make up for it, Xie Chong gritted his teeth and cursed, "They've got our Achilles' heel. That damned He Qi is truly vicious."
To put it bluntly, Guan Yu and his son ruled Jiangdong for too short a time, and the regime they established was still very fragile and needed a lot of funds to maintain. However, the land reform in Jiangdong had not been carried out for long and had not yet generated any benefits, which made Jiangdong's economic system too weak to withstand any damage. If we wait another two or three years until the crops grow and the benefits of the land reform are deposited into the granaries, I really wouldn't care if you burned down a few granaries.
If I have 10,000 yuan in my account and you take 200 yuan from me, I don't care. But if I only have 200-something yuan in my account and you take 200 yuan from me, then I will definitely fight you to the death.
Yu Xing asked, "Prefect, what should we do now?"
Xie Chong pondered, "The grain supply is of utmost importance and cannot be taken lightly. Moreover, the granary is heavily guarded. If He Qi wants to succeed in burning the grain, he must find the cooperation of the people inside the granary. The internal parasites are the most dangerous. We must get rid of these parasites as soon as possible. Even if we can't get rid of them, we must keep a close eye on them and not let them cause trouble in secret."
"Take my order and head to Zhuji immediately. Order the garrison at the granary to travel in groups of ten from now on. No one is allowed to act alone. Even if they need to go to the toilet, they must go in groups of ten. Also, have the squad leader count the number of people every fifteen minutes. If anyone is found to have left, arrest or kill them immediately without asking for permission."
Human nature is complex and easily tempted by self-interest.
Although all the Han soldiers accepted Guan Xing's ideological reform, the degree of reform varied, and not everyone had the same level of awareness as Yu Xingquanfeng.
He Qi and Yu Shao are local strongmen in Kuaiji. They have dealt with many Han soldiers and are even related to them. If they first use past friendships to morally blackmail them, then threaten them with the families of Han soldiers, and finally lure them with huge benefits, Xie Chong doesn't think anyone can resist.
You should know that these are the things that the aristocratic families are best at. They can be successful in everything they do by using all three methods together, so we must be on guard against them.
It might be easy for you, He Qi, to bribe one of the soldiers, but it probably won't be so easy to bribe all of them.
Yu Xing frowned and said, "The governor is wise, but who will contact Quan Feng if I leave?"
He is currently the liaison between Quan Feng and Xie Chong, and it would be easy to cause problems if he were to be replaced at such a critical moment.
Xie Chong thought about it and agreed. He frowned and pondered, "Then I'll send someone else. You can continue to be your liaison. I'll personally take charge of the Shanyin granary. By the way, where is He Qi now? Does he have any intention of entering Shanyin City?"
When the operation is about to close in, they will definitely need to arrest He Qi, so they need to find out He Qi's whereabouts first. It would be great if He Qi could enter the city.
Yu Xing shook his head and said, "They are still at the family manor and have no intention of going into the city. Moreover, the maid that Wang Fei's wife bribed overheard He Qi talking to his personal guards."
"He Qi was extremely dissatisfied with Yu Shao for compiling the list before even starting any work. He openly called Yu Shao a terrible teammate and said that if they failed, they should immediately retreat and return to Danyang to join Cao Ren. Prefect, is this grandson He Qi planning to defect to Wei?"
Xie Chong said, "Then it depends on whether He Qi has received news of Han Dang and Xu Sheng's deaths in battle. If he has, he'll probably go and curry favor with Cao Ren."
While managing the rear, Xie Chong was also keeping a close eye on the battle situation at the front. Even Guan Yu in Jianye knew about the deaths of Han Dang and Xu Sheng, so how could he not know?
But only he knew this, because due to He Qi's involvement, the latest battle situation had not yet been reported to Yu Shaoquan and others.
The reason is simple: what if these people knew that Han Dang and Xu Sheng had died in battle, and then cancelled their operation and retreated at the crucial moment?
Xie Chong pondered, "Instead of going to Shanyin, he's hiding in the manor and remotely controlling things. It seems that He Qi is quite cunning. But this time, we can't let him escape. We must pin him down in the manor. How many of your retired comrades are in Qiantang? How many can you gather by tomorrow night?"
After thinking for a moment, Yu Xing said, "There are about seven or eight hundred people. If we gather them now, we should be able to gather about five hundred by tomorrow night. Adding those from within Shanyin County, it won't be difficult to gather a thousand people."
Xie Chong said excitedly, "That's great! To avoid arousing He Qi's suspicion, we can't use my people to capture He Qi. We can only rely on you."
"You go and gather your comrades immediately and have them all rush to Qiantang to report to Yu Gang. After the assembly is complete, the person with the highest rank should take command. If there are several people with the same rank who don't know who to listen to, let them play rock-paper-scissors and throw coins to choose a leader as quickly as possible to lead the others in capturing He Qi."
"But remember, you can only make the arrest after Yu Shaoquan and his men have made their move. You must not make the arrest prematurely and alert them."
Yu Xing bowed deeply and said, "Understood, I will go and contact my comrades right away."