Chapter 73: Defeat
Chapter 73: Chapter 73: Defeat
Chen Shouheng was young, after all. He sucked in a cold breath and cried out, "A hundred thousand shi?"
Zhang Chengzong glanced at Shouheng with a smile, then his gaze returned to Chen Li. "Precisely. A hundred thousand shi."
Chen Li set down his teacup and looked at the man.
A hundred thousand shi of grain was no small amount.
One *mu* of land produces about three shi of grain, which means this was the annual harvest of over thirty thousand *mu* of fertile farmland.
Lingxi was considered a large village in the area, and even it only had about eight thousand *mu* of fields.
This was basically an impossible task.
’But what could he possibly want with so much grain?’
Chen Li shook his head. "Brother Zhang, it’s not that I am trying to shirk my duties. A hundred thousand shi of grain... even in a bountiful year, forget about our few villages, not even Jingshan could produce that much surplus grain."
Zhang Chengzong gave an awkward laugh. "Brother Chen doesn’t need to procure all of it. Just collect as much as you possibly can. I’ll figure out a way to get the rest. As for the price, whatever the market rate is, I’ll pay ten percent more! Payment in silver, with no delays!"
Chen Li pondered for a moment, his gaze fixed on Zhang Chengzong. "Brother Zhang, forgive my forwardness, but may I ask what such a massive quantity of grain is for?"
Zhang Chengzong’s expression stiffened slightly. He chuckled evasively, "Hehe, Brother Chen needn’t ask about that. My father has his reasons; we just need to follow his orders. This is my father’s will, and if you handle it well, it will be a great service. In the future, here in Jingshan County, Brother Chen’s Kao Mountain will truly be secure!"
His eyes darted about and his tone was perfunctory, clearly unwilling to reveal the truth. His words were soft on the surface but held an underlying hardness.
But Chen Li wasn’t buying it. Several relatives of the Official Family in the county were all collecting grain, and grain was also the primary target of the Water Bandits’ raids.
’It’d be a miracle if there wasn’t something fishy going on!’
He immediately said, "Since it is the County Magistrate’s will, I will naturally do my best. However, for such a large purchase of grain, I’ll need to front the silver coins for cash flow. Could Brother Zhang perhaps advance a portion of the silver, so that I can begin the purchasing?"
Hearing this, a trace of vigilance flashed in Zhang Chengzong’s small eyes. He then demurred with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, "Brother Chen must be joking. As for the silver coins, payment can only be settled according to the amount after the grain has been counted and stored. For now... I’m afraid an advance is not possible."
Chen Li didn’t insist. "Since Brother Zhang has his difficulties, I won’t force the issue. I am new to this position of Village Chief. Allow me to return and consider carefully how to raise the funds."
The smile on Zhang Chengzong’s face faded a little, and a cold, barely perceptible glint flashed in his small eyes. "Then I will await Brother Chen’s good news. Just... it would be best not to make my father wait too long, lest he be disappointed."
"Of course."
Chen Li stood up, cupped his hands in farewell, and said, "Brother Zhang is a busy man, so I won’t disturb you any further. I’ll head back now and think of a way."
Zhang Chengzong made a couple of perfunctory remarks to ask him to stay, then called for the Shopkeeper to see his guest out.
After leaving the Fengyu Grain Store, Chen Shouheng immediately and impatiently lowered his voice to ask, "Father, a hundred thousand shi of grain! What on earth is he planning?"
Chen Li’s expression was calm. "This matter runs deep. Not a single word of what was said today must be mentioned to any outsiders."
Chen Shouheng nodded heavily. "I understand. Father, that man doesn’t look like a good person. And the County Magistrate..."
"Say no more!" Chen Li reminded his eldest son. "Let’s go. We’re going home."
...
The position of Village Chief that the County Magistrate had given Chen Li was, in reality, just an empty title.
All he received was a single document from the County Magistrate’s Office.
He had to raise all the money, grain, and manpower himself.
’It was impossible that he’d risk his life for an empty title.’
He would deal with it perfunctorily if he could.
After returning home, Chen Li put the matter to the back of his mind.
The new year was approaching, and there were many things to attend to at home.
Amidst all the hustle and bustle, the new year arrived!
The 23rd year of Yuan Jia.
After the new year celebration, Chen Li spent a great sum of money to buy the houses of four families adjacent to his own residence.
Although these families were reluctant to part with their ancestral homes, they couldn’t resist the tempting price Chen Li offered, which was enough for them to build two or even three spacious new houses elsewhere in the village.
After weighing their options, they quickly signed the deeds and moved out of their old homes.
The reason for buying the houses was simple.
To store grain.
For the past two years, Chen Li’s family hadn’t sold any of their grain.
Nearly eight thousand shi of grain, even with the newly built granaries, had almost filled them to capacity.
He had originally planned to sell some grain this year, but now it seemed he had no choice but to hoard it as a precaution against the unexpected.
A full granary puts the mind at ease.
These four families were not wealthy. The largest property was a small, single-courtyard home on half a *mu* of land, while the smallest was merely a few dozen square meters.
After purchasing them, Chen Li hired artisans and directed his men to begin demolishing the old houses and leveling the foundations.
Although he was busy with construction, he did not neglect his Cultivation.
After breaking through the Spirit Realm’s Second Level, the Profound Acupoint Pass, he had already stepped across the threshold of the Third Level, the Inner Mansion Pass.
This level required one to draw upon the Five Elements Qi to temper the five viscera and six bowels.
The heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys correspond to Fire, Wood, Earth, Metal, and Water. One must use the principle of mutual generation among the five elements to construct an internally balanced, solid, and stable "Inner Mansion Little World."
Upon reaching the Inner Mansion Pass, one’s five viscera would teem with vibrant life force, their vital essence would be abundant, and their body’s recovery ability would experience a qualitative leap.
Broken bones could mend, external wounds would heal rapidly, Inner Qi recovery speed would far exceed its previous rate, and both stamina and endurance would be greatly enhanced.
The Five Grains Qi Storage Technique that Chen Li cultivated emphasized the harmonization and nurturing of the Five Elements Qi right from the beginning of Qi accumulation, laying an extremely solid foundation.
Thus, his progress in cultivating the Inner Mansion Pass was now remarkably fast.
Chen Li estimated that at his current pace, he could steadily reach the Inner Mansion Pass in just about three to four years.
Besides his own Cultivation, Chen Li also paid close attention to that of his children.
After Shouheng returned, perhaps due to having experienced a life-and-death battle, he successfully broke through to Blood Refining Perfection in less than a month.
Shouye had achieved Marrow Refining Cultivation Great Success and still needed time to polish his skills to reach Perfection.
As for Shouyue, she had been cultivating the Five Grains Qi Storage Technique for nearly two years.
The child had a calm temperament, excellent comprehension, and was extremely well-behaved.
She meditated and practiced Qi Cultivation daily, never slacking off.
But even so, making no progress for two years had left her somewhat discouraged.
Chen Li could only encourage her to persevere, while also passing on some of his experience to help smooth her path.
「Time passed in the blink of an eye.」
During this period, Zhang Chengzong came several times to urge Chen Li to help with the grain purchase.
Chen Li ignored him every time.
As for the County Magistrate, Zhang Heming, he was currently overwhelmed with troubles and had no capacity to bother with him.
There was a simple reason for this.
The bandit suppression campaign had failed!
During the first month of the year, Linglong had sent intelligence, detailing the process of Jingshan’s campaign to suppress the bandits.
It turned out that after receiving the detailed intelligence brought back by Chen Shouheng and Mu Yuanying, Zhang Heming had quickly assembled a thousand soldiers and temporarily conscripted militia, marching with great fanfare toward the Water Bandits’ lair.
The army’s journey was unexpectedly smooth, and they reached their destination without encountering any significant resistance.
However, when they stormed the desolate village, they found the entire lair was completely empty; it had clearly been abandoned for some time.
Zhang Heming ordered a thorough search, but they found nothing.
Even the warehouses suspected of holding plundered goods were empty.
"Could they have heard we were coming and fled?"
Although Zhang Heming had his doubts, he concluded that the Water Bandits had feared the might of the Government Office’s army and had already fled at the first sign of trouble.
So he ordered the entire army to rest for a short while, preparing to return along the same route.
Unexpectedly, this was a carefully laid trap by the Water Bandits.
As the official army’s column marched into a narrow hollow, countless fierce-looking Water Bandits holding sharp blades charged out, howling, instantly splitting and surrounding the troops.
The official army’s formation was stretched out and completely unprepared, and it instantly fell into chaos.
Zhang Heming was both shocked and enraged, and he tried to organize a resistance.
But two Spirit Realm masters suddenly appeared and besieged him.
Although Zhang Heming also had Spirit Realm Cultivation, he was hard-pressed and in constant peril under the assault of two masters of the same level.
He could only watch helplessly as the troops he had brought were annihilated.
Seeing that the situation was lost, Zhang Heming had no choice but to use a Life-Saving Secret Medicine. His Power surged, and he temporarily forced back the two Spirit Realm masters, allowing him to escape with his life.
In that battle, the Jingshan County Soldiers suffered heavy casualties.
Although Zhang Heming was lucky to escape with his life, he was seriously injured. It was said that he was already at death’s door when he fled back to the County Magistrate’s Office.
When the news reached the Court, they were furious and immediately ordered Zhang Heming to be suspended from his post pending an investigation.
All matters of the County Magistrate’s Office were handed over to the County Captain and the County Deputy to decide.
Now, he could barely protect himself, so how could he possibly be concerned with a trivial matter like his godson collecting grain?
It was for this very reason that Chen Li completely ignored all of Zhang Chengzong’s urgings.