Volume 2: The King's Way Chapter 165 Thank you for your hard work
"Governor, rumors are spreading throughout the city. If this continues, Guangling will lose the support of the people!" Yuan Lin reminded Yuan Huan with a gloomy face.
"I have ordered the city guards to prohibit discussion of this matter in public places such as taverns. Fengji doesn't have to worry." Yuan Huan comforted him.
"What's the point of simply banning discussion? Isn't public opinion still declining?" Yuan Lin said angrily.
"Oh? Do we have to forcibly recover the Jiangdong relief grain picked up by the people as you said? Haha, if you really want to do so, then go and give the order yourself. I won't stop you!" Yuan Huan said unhappily.
Although Yuan Lin also had the surname Yuan, he was indeed a member of the Runan Yuan family, and was even a nephew of Yuan Shu. After Shu Shao was dismissed, he was arranged to serve as the county magistrate of Guangling County.
It is obvious that Yuan Shu no longer trusts outsiders, so he arranged for one of his own to be the deputy of the Guangling governor...
"You...I was inconsiderate, Lord Yuan, please forgive me." Yuan Lin was annoyed when he heard this, but he suppressed his anger.
Yuan Lin had indeed proposed this before, but it was rejected by Yuan Huan at that time. In fact, Yuan Lin had figured it out shortly afterwards - forcibly confiscating relief grain would only make the conflicts more acute and the public resentment more intense.
"Well, after that...you draft a notice and post it in the city to reassure the people." Yuan Huan didn't stimulate him too much.
However, this was obviously another tough task. At least Yuan Huan felt that if it were him, this notice would be really difficult to write - how to criticize the act of sending relief food to the people?
Yuan Huan felt that if it were him, he would be at a loss for words, just like Bai Tu when he saw the wealthy and powerful families giving cattle and wine to the common people during festivals.
At this time, how could Yuan Huan not know the purpose of Chen Gong and others' actions yesterday!
If this continues, Guangling will collapse before the battle even without the Jiangdong soldiers taking action - even if it weren't for the founding buff, the people's morale would already be on the verge of collapse.
Once the city princess leaves the city, the outer city wall will probably "disappear" directly, leaving only the inner city wall that cannot be defended.
Lu Bu had enjoyed this kind of treatment when he was in Yanzhou before.
Before Bai Tu traveled through time, Chen Gong set fire to Puyang and defeated Cao's army, and even almost killed Cao Cao in the city. However, this was a desperate act in itself. Since Cao Cao escaped, naturally, the city belonging to Lu Bu, under the resistance of local governors , saw the situation of city girls fleeing the city.
In this case, the outer wall will "disappear" until the castle princess returns...
As a result, Lu Bu had to hastily withdraw from Yanzhou and Yuzhou. This was also the reason why Bai Tu easily escaped from the city at the beginning of his time travel and did not even pass through the Wengcheng.
When Yuan Lin heard Yuan Huan's words, she didn't feel it was a chore, but felt relieved instead.
He understood his position clearly, that is, as a member of the Dazhong royal family, he represented the emperor to look after these local officials who were sent out.
He was originally worried that Yuan Huan's previous negative response was a sign of rebellion, but now he feels relieved.
That day, Yuan Lin wrote a long chapter of 3,000 words, defining Bai Tu's feeding as a humiliation to Da Zhong, a man of integrity, from the perspective of "food given out of pity".
Moreover, they were well prepared. They had found a few people to help them. After reading the notice, they would present the relief grain to the government in public, and would mock the spineless people who accepted the relief grain from Jiangdong in words and deeds.
After arranging the clerks to carry out the announcements at various notice boards tomorrow, Yuan Lin felt somewhat pleased with himself.
Then……
On the afternoon of the day the notice was posted, Chen Gong came to the city again to deliver relief grain to Guangling City. After the delivery, there were still very few people willing to hand it over. On the second day after the notice was posted, official documents in various places were destroyed by unknown persons.
Just when Yuan Lin heard the news and cursed the "troublemakers", Yuan Huan looked at him strangely, and after a little thought, he said, "Should we send the city guards to investigate every household to see who did it?"
"Of course... No, Your Excellency the Governor, please calm down. Wouldn't that only cause more public resentment?" Yuan Lin reacted in time.
After hearing this, Yuan Huan did not try to persuade her any further.
Yuan Lin discovered that Yuan Huan seemed to have finally understood that the Yuan family of Runan was the master of Da Zhong, and they respected his opinion very much... Well, after all, when Da Zhong conquers the world in the future, with his noble bloodline and some merits, he should be able to be made a prince.
On the other hand, Yuan Lin also had some doubts in her heart - was trying to trick me?
But like this time, after Yuan Lin said not to do it, Yuan Huan immediately gave up the idea, and at the same time, naturally, Yuan Lin's doubts were also given up.
On the seventh day, Chen Gong still came to deliver relief food on time. During this time, Yuan Huan and Yuan Lin discussed whether they should go out for a battle. After all, the number of troops in Guangling City was advantageous!
However, Yuan Lin thought it was too risky and did not "agree" - at some point, Yuan Lin felt as if he had become the one in charge of Guangling City?
"Fengji, we have collected a lot of relief grain in the past seven days. Should we use it as military supplies or give it to the people?" Yuan Huan asked.
Yuan Lin quickly got used to Yuan Huan's negotiating tone and said, "Of course it's for military supplies! Those things that taste like grass, no matter how they are disguised, people will know that they are relief food from Jiangdong after eating them. Even if they distribute them in the city, they won't be grateful to me, Da Zhong!"
"Brother Fengji has a good idea." Yuan Huan said.
Seeing this, the clerk beside him immediately wanted to handle the matter according to Yuan Lin's instructions...
Yuan Huan's expression flickered for a moment, and then he asked, "Should we check first to see if there is any problem with the relief food? What we collected were all dropped in the city wall. If the other party deliberately made some of the relief food heavier and poisoned it..."
"Ah! As expected of Yao Qing! He is so thoughtful. Xiao Zhao, go and check the relief grain according to what Lord Yuan said." Yuan Lin reacted immediately and said to the clerk beside him.
Yaoqing is Yuan Huan's courtesy name.
Yuan Huan acted very indifferent to Yuan Lin's behavior of not even calling him "Governor", but there was some anxiety in his eyes - wasn't my reminder obvious enough?
A few days later, Yuan Lin finally remembered something and gave a secret order to his confidant.
On that day, Yuan Huan was "supervising the battle" on the city wall, which was actually watching the relief food being thrown into the city. He discovered that there were still people scattering relief food in the inner city...
That night, some people in the city who had picked up relief food during the day suffered from diarrhea and vomiting. The most seriously ill ones were visibly exhaling more than breathing in!
Rumors began to spread in the city that the relief food from Jiangdong was poisoned, and that it was contagious...
In fact, "poison" was still a rare thing in the Han Dynasty when there was some technology for extraction and purification. Not to mention poisoning, even when the emperor gave poison to a guilty minister, the poison often failed to kill the person and needed another piece of white silk.
The "poison" in the army is mainly based on gold juice - a metabolic product produced after the operation of Ji-made soldiers, which is equivalent to human... shit.
Yuan Lin wanted to poison people directly, but for such a large-scale poisoning, she couldn't use feces, right? Only an idiot couldn't detect the smell!
Therefore, they only used some herbal medicines with toxic side effects, which had average effects, but some people were indeed poisoned to death.
However... even if there is an unknown force pushing the rumor to spread, the people still find it hard to believe. After all... there are too many suspicious points, and even the motive is somewhat unbelievable - poisoning everyone in the city to make the city fall without being attacked?
And since some time ago, another unknown force in the city began to make different voices - Yuan Lin poisoned and framed Bai Gong!
In comparison, this rumor seems more credible.
"I never thought that Governor Yuan would be such a person!"
"No, it's not Governor Yuan, it's County Magistrate Yuan. They are not related..."
"Yes, yes, yes. I heard that the governor has been in the Wengcheng military camp recently, and all matters in the city are handed over to the county magistrate."
"No! I heard that it was Yuan Juncheng who took advantage of the fact that he was Yuan... the nephew of His Majesty, and took over the governor's position!"
"What should I do... My family is still relying on relief food to keep the family going!"
The rumor had just gained some momentum when Yuan Lin got the news. He thought to himself: Could it be that the pharmacy leaked the news? Sure enough, it would be safer to silence the witness!
But before he could give the order, a team of city guards rushed in. Without asking any questions, they drew their swords and started hacking at any servants who dared to try to stop them. After a commotion in the mansion, Yuan Lin was dragged out by the city guards by the hair.
"How bold! Don't you know who I am?" Yuan Lin said angrily.
"Mr. County Magistrate, if you have anything to say, please talk to the prefect." The city guard chief said coldly.
Only then did Yuan Lin realize that these city guards were Yuan Huan's confidants.
And when he was being escorted out of the mansion, he discovered that there was another group of people escorting the owner of the drugstore where he got the medicine!
Yuan Lin immediately understood that Yuan Huan came prepared...
Yuan Lin was not a "very" stupid person. At least he had confidants in the city guards. However, when another inspector who served as the chief of the city guards tried to intercept him, he was surrounded by the people instead.
Yuan Huan's confidant who was escorting him also showed his "fangs" at this time, and rushed directly to the city gate and handed Yuan Lin over to Ji Zao's soldiers in the city wall...
Yuan Lin had already understood by now that Yuan Huan was likely to rebel!
"Yuan Huan! How dare you..." Yuan Lin looked at Yuan Huan who was leading the troops over, and felt so angry that his teeth were itching.
However, Yuan Huan looked at him indifferently and said with some gratitude: "Thank you for your hard work..."
"you……"
Yuan Huan's words were sincere and heartfelt. After all...
I, Yuan Huan, will not surrender easily. However, Yuan Shu's nephew, my deputy, is harming the people in the city. As a famous official who loves the people like his own children, I have no choice but to capture him, tie him up and burn him in front of the people... to set the record straight!
Afterwards, I originally wanted to surrender myself and apologize to Yuan Shu, but under the strong request of the onlookers, as a celebrity, I followed the public opinion and opened the door to welcome Chen Gong in, which was also the right thing to do.
This is all the fault of the cruel Yuan Lin and Yuan Shu who didn't trust me. What does it have to do with me, Yuan Huan?
Chen Gong gave a thumbs up to this.
When Yuan Huan opened the city gate and welcomed Chen Gong into the city with the village elders, Chen Gong stepped forward, shook Yuan Huan's hand and said, "Master Yuan is dedicated to the people and justice. The people of the world will surely understand your good intentions!"
When Yuan Huan heard what Chen Gong said, his eyes turned red, and he said sincerely: "I dare not take credit for being a traitor. It is all thanks to Lord Bai's benevolence that the people rushed to join him. Huan was originally loyal and stubborn, but that Yuan Lin... Alas! I have no choice but to be a rebel and go against the will of the people..."
