novelraw Chapter 231
Chapter 231
Chapter 231 Rumors
The epidemic in Xinghua Village was not something difficult to solve.
After Tan Lin and Doctor Shi joined the anti-epidemic medical team, it took only a few days for them to find a remedy to cure the disease.
Such a quick speed made Yu Pufan, who had been staying in Xinghua Village for over half a month, feel somewhat useless. But to be honest, it was just a difference in background.
Yu Pufan was a wandering doctor; many of his treatment methods were developed step by step through his own practice. Whereas Tan Lin and Doctor Shi were typical successors who inherited knowledge from their predecessors and masters.
In general, it was roughly the difference between starting from scratch and having a wealthy family background.
When Wei Yu heard that a cure had been found—that just some time and medication were needed for the sick in Xinghua Village to recover—he breathed a sigh of relief.
As long as the solution was found, he no longer had to fear the epidemic spreading and harming other civilians.
However, Wei Yu was a habitual loafer. For tasks that did not require his personal involvement, he would generally save effort wherever possible—just like now, handling the aftermath in Xinghua Village.
It was impossible that none of the patients in Xinghua Village had died after so many days; tasks like dealing with corpses, preparing medicine, and calming people’s minds were all supervised by Ding Facai, as arranged by Wei Yu. Of course, even if he wanted to do it himself, Fang Sheng would probably try hard to stop him.
With the situation in Xinghua Village resolved, after replying to his father’s letter, Wei Yu directly detoured to Qian City Commandery.
—
At Qian City Commandery, dusk was about to fall. In a certain forest outside the city, a group of people dressed in rough hemp clothing were counting the copper coins in their hands.
Under a certain tree, two men resting against the trunk were talking.
“Old Sun, how much did you make working today? I only got eleven.”
“Hah, same as you.”
“Tsk, the people in this big city are way too stingy. After carrying loads all day, they only give eleven copper coins!”
The two grumbled, when suddenly a voice came from nearby.
“You’re lucky, I heard from another group that they only got nine copper coins a day transporting grain for the county’s Fu’an granary!”
The two looked over, making eye contact with the neighboring workers, and both spat lightly, each showing anger and disdain in their eyes.
“This is ridiculous! Grain sells so expensive, yet they pay so little for labor. Do they think we are beggars? How are people supposed to live!”
One shouted curses, and more among the resting crowd joined in complaining.
Not only were they angry at the person in charge of the city’s granary, but also showed contempt and dislike for the Prefect of Qian City Commandery.
“That damn Prefect is useless! Grain prices in the city are so high that people are starving by the roadside, yet he doesn’t even open the granaries to serve porridge! Even the master at the cloth shop is more suitable!”
Normally no one dared to curse the Prefect, but the people gathered here were peasants who could no longer make a living in their villages, coming to the city for glimmer of hope. All were rough and had suffered for a long time, with pent-up grievances, so they couldn’t hold back much.
Hearing someone curse the Prefect, many people nodded in agreement.
However, amidst the cursing, someone suddenly whispered mysteriously.
“I heard a rumor today from the Prefect’s office, not sure if it’s true.”
The group suddenly quieted.
Except for the speaker, others looked at each other, with small unsaid expressions—clearly, most seemed to have heard this rumor before.
Someone swallowed nervously, glanced around, then whispered to others, “Is it the one about the Prefect having connections with Japanese pirates, and the backer behind Fu’an granary also being Japanese pirates?”
As soon as this was mentioned, the group lowered their voices and leaned in to discuss.
“Oh, so you all heard that too! I thought only I knew!”
“Who told you? I heard it from a servant at the Prefect’s Office. If a Prefect’s office servant says it, it must be true!”
“What? You heard it from a servant? I heard it from a beggar on the roadside!”
“No way! I heard it from my coworkers.”
The group compared their rumor sources and, realizing they were different, seemed enlightened.
“Looks like this rumor is known to everyone in Qian City Commandery!”
One suddenly understood, “No wonder, no one dares to cause a big commotion inside the city. So the city people all know it’s connected to Japanese pirates behind the scenes!”
The so-called Japanese pirates were a group of bandits living at sea.
They lived on islands and loved to hijack merchant ships floating on the sea. They frequently appeared in the coastal territories of Great Wei. The areas most often disturbed were the coastal states of Xu and Hu.
Not mentioning Xuzhou, the nearest were Xunyang County of Huzhou and Donghai Commandery.
Qian City Commandery borders Donghai Commandery, which lies just below Qian City Commandery in this year’s flood disaster.
Any rumor linking Japanese pirates to the Prefect was not something that could be publicly known.
If even migrant workers coming into the city knew this, it was entirely thanks to Yi Shisan.
This guy Yi Shisan, could only be said to have been relatively well-behaved when staying by Wei Yu’s side, but once sent away, he started a bunch of small schemes.
He led a group of people whose daily consumption of supplies was huge.
Short of money, thinking of ways to rob the rich to help the poor, Yi Shisan did not just think about it.
He really took action!
Scaling walls to enter others’ homes, gathering intelligence about corruption and crime was a piece of cake for Yi Shisan and his intelligence people.
Whoever had money through legitimate means, who exploited and oppressed others, who appeared poor but was deceitful inside—Yi Shisan had all the information under control.
He didn’t go overboard robbing wealthy families; just casually took some small wealth from dishonest households to tide over the emergency.
Of course, Yi Shisan didn’t feel like he was embarrassing his lord in any way.
He honestly wrote IOUs.
— He, Ding Facai, on such and such date, borrowed such and such amount. It was all clearly written on the IOUs!
As for the reactions of those whose money disappeared when they saw the IOUs, Yi Shisan said he didn’t know.
If they wanted to get their money back, they should look for Ding Facai. He was not Ding Facai; he was Yi Shisan
After borrowing money and solving his immediate worries, Yi Shisan began sending people to find trouble for the Prefect.
They investigated the backgrounds of rich people, and of course the Prefect, such a big target, would have been investigated by Yi Shisan before.
The news about the Qian City Commandery Prefect having ties with Japanese pirates was completely uncovered by Yi Shisan.
However, having seen so much, he no longer found it unbelievable. He only worried about the common people rioting violently due to high grain prices and causing too many casualties, so he started spreading the rumor in secret.