He punched the yellow mud wall beside him in his fury. Already riddled with cracks from the tremors, it crumbled to a cloud of dust and rubble with a loud rumble.
Qin Yining took Pang Xiao by the arm. His hand was balled into a tight fist, veins protruding. A mixture of blood and dirt covered skinned knuckles, making for a ghastly sight.
However, she didn't nag, only wordlessly took out their water pouch to clean his hand. She rubbed onto his wounds the medicinal ointment that Bingtang had given her, then bound a light-green silk handkerchief around them.
Pang Xiao’s spate of fury dissipated like smoke beneath Qin Yining’s gentle care; his heart now calm as still water. He lowered his eyes to gaze at the woman attentively tending to his injuries.
Come what may, he would be strong enough to handle it all, so long as he had her by his side. He had to—he was a man with a family to support. For her, he would hold up the sky.
“My darling, I...” Pang Xiao trailed off with remorse.
Qin Yining took a fingerful of his stubbled cheek. “Don’t hurt yourself like this next time.
This is a disaster zone. Even healthy people are afraid of catching disease, yet you injure yourself without cause? If you do this again, I'll hurt myself with you.”
“That won’t do. I have thick skin, you can’t say the same for yourself.”
“Does thick skin mean you don’t feel pain? Even if you don’t, my heart does.” Qin Yining turned and walked in the direction of the yamen. “If you keep doing this, I won’t let you sleep inside.”
Chapter 453.2: Riots
Now that was an immense threat. Living under such nerve-wracking circumstances with only porridge and wild berries to fill their bellies, Pang Xiao was under colossal stress every day. His only solace was to hold Qin Yining at night when he slept and be embraced in return. This couldn’t be allowed to happen!
However, he didn’t dare defy Qin Yining for fear of upsetting her.
“My darling, I was wrong. I won’t do it again.” Pang Xiao’s apology was sincere. To win back her favor, he smiled and tugged at her arm.
A night of tossing and turning marked fretful sleep for Qin Yining. Despite this, she pulled herself together the following day and visited the soup kitchens with Magistrate Li.
Meanwhile, Pang Xiao visited the Dings and the Peis in hopes of convincing them to sell their rice at lower prices. However, there definitely seemed to be an agreement in place between the two. When they saw Pang Xiao, they immediately turned antagonistic.
The patriarch of the Peis had served in the Great Yan court as a scholar of the Hanlin Academy. A mulish man of antiquated ideologies, he actually spat at Pang Xiao.
“Pah! You murdering demon, how dare you come negotiate with me? I have rice, but I won’t be selling any of it to you! Don’t tell me to lower my prices! I won’t accept anything you offer, even if you offer me a golden fish for half a kilogram of rice!
“It serves you right that Great Zhou is about to meet its end, scum!”
Pang Xiao swallowed his rage and attempted a calm reason. “It’s the government buying provisions from you. We’re not taking them by force. If you sell them to us, you will be saving countless citizens. Even if you resent this prince, Great Yan exists no longer. The emperor of Great Zhou is the one who sits on the throne and rules in the interests of the people now. If you continue with this obstinacy and insult me, do you really think I won’t wipe out House Pei?”
“Hah! Look at your true colors shine so easily! All this talk is nothing more than a ploy for you to swindle your share from so-called procuring provisions!”
Lord Pei’s words grew uglier with every breath. In the end, he managed to curse all of Pang Xiao’s ancestors, paying special attention to his female elders.
Pang Xiao clenched his teeth all the while—how had someone this addlepated managed to secure a position at the Hanlin Academy? No wonder Great Yan had fallen!
“No matter what you say, the prices you seek are exorbitant. I see no honor in effectively leaving the people for dead. If you truly love Great Yan so, why won’t you save the people of your great nation?
“Do you really want to see people starve to death right before your eyes? I realize House Pei has many mouths to feed, but if you’ve stored your provisions properly, you’d be able to feed all of the Dragon Riders with the amount you’ve hoarded! Yet you cling onto your surplus at all costs!
“How dare you fashion yourself as a loyal and courageous patriot when you care nothing for the people? You disgust me!”
Frustration had boiled in Pang Xiao’s veins all morning; his patience finally wore thin.
At the end of the day, Lord Pei was a scholar. The murderous aura emanating from Pang Xiao, nursed from his days in the battlefield, had the lord trembling like a leaf and nearly fainting in terror.
Naturally, Pang Xiao wasn’t about to stop at that. He summoned twenty Dragon Riders to take a menacing stance before the front doors and growled, “It was my mistake to suddenly call upon you today. I didn’t come prepared. However, the people still need to eat. If you will lower your prices by ten percent, that would be a great kindness to the citizens. You would be bringing honor upon yourself and prosperity upon your descendants.”
If they still draw breath, that is.
Pang Xiao didn't need to spell it out, for Lord Pei understood what he was implying. The old patriarch broke out in a cold sweat.
This Faithful Prince of the First Rank was truly a force to behold! It took just a few words to shake him to his core like this. But he wouldn't back down here. He was willing to bet that the prince didn’t dare lay a finger on him!
“I won’t agree to anything Your Highness has to say. Either fork over the ten taels per stone or eat dust! Now see yourselves out!” With a flourish of his sleeves, Lord Pei turned and went back inside.
Pang Xiao watched the old man go, his eyes darkening as he smiled. Only those who knew him well would know the tempest brewing behind his phoenix-shaped eyes.
Not only had he been unsuccessful in his negotiations with the Peis, he’d been thoroughly humiliated. A visit to the Dings brought about the same outcome.
Pang Xiao had tried for days and days. The provisions Qin Yining brought back were running low. Li Qitian had secretly arrived in the area, yet he refused to show himself and certainly hadn’t brought any food.
Every meal was a smaller portion than the last. The people started agitating.
“Isn’t the Faithful Prince of the First Rank the disaster relief ambassador? Has His Majesty given us nothing?”
“Are you corrupt government dogs hoarding food behind our backs, so you can sell them at raised prices to people who don’t have money? Are you going to have us starve if we don’t have any silver for you? You’re sentencing us to death!”
The crowd grew incensed—initially, they were content to mutter amongst themselves, but grumblings turned to curses, which turned to protests in front of the soup kitchens, sparking the flames of a violent riot!
Chapter 454.1: Spies
Qin Yining had witnessed before the effects of famine with her own eyes, so she knew better than anyone what crazed things that starving people would try.
She stood next to Pang Xiao, looking at people who were skin and bones, fury and desperation twisting their sallow, gaunt faces. Arms that were more accurately described as dried branches brandished bowls and chunks of pottery. It felt like someone had dug out her heart; she was so distressed she could barely breathe.
Life shouldn't have been like this for them!
Great Yan’s trash emperor hadn’t treated them well and Great Zhou’s emperor likewise didn’t value their lives. Rage and despair brewed in their hearts, but they kept such emotions firmly in check because of their low status.
They would be saints if they could keep their cool after enduring all sorts of disaster and having their liege lord treat them as less than human!
In any case, Qin Yining herself
didn’t think she wouldn’t harbor a single trace of hate at this juncture, especially when she faced the fear of starvation.
“What should we do, what should we do?” She subconsciously fished for Pang Xiao’s hand.
The prince could feel the coolness of her fingers, and he gripped her hand tenderly, transferring warmth with his palm. This was too much hardship to have her observe such a scene.
He stroked the back of her hand comfortingly with his thumb and called out, “My friends and countrymen, please calm down and listen to this prince!”
“No, we won’t listen!”
“You’re all corrupt bastards! You stole the provisions that the imperial court sent us! You play us for fools by giving us that watery porridge everyday!”
“Are we not people in your eyes just because we’re surrendered Great Yan citizens??”
“We want to eat! We want food!”
……
A muted din rose from the crowd. If this had been in normal times, emotions would’ve ran high a long time ago. The air would throng with shouts and roars. But starving people didn’t have much strength to make a fuss, and they even had to stop after every sentence to catch their breath.
They weren’t purely rioters, so Pang Xiao couldn’t bear to use violence on them. He could only yell back, “Please settle down, everyone. We all know that years of war have plagued Great Zhou. We inherited the mess that was Northern Ji, and Great Yan’s emperor specialized in robbing the people. He even sold off the tax grain and hid the proceeds!
“All of these people were highly intelligent, if lacking in the ability to run a country. But they were all very skilled in scheming and plotting. Great Zhou received none of the treasure!
“The emperor is wholeheartedly dedicated to the people, but we all know that even the greatest housewife can’t cook without rice. We’re also in a disaster zone. The earth dragon turning over blocked off the roads with enormous boulders, or just straight up cracked them open. Carriages with provisions can’t make it into the city at all.
“The princess consort, a weak girl, traveled over land and water for an entire day to obtain more food for everyone. She finally got her hands on some rice and sweet potatoes, and her only hope was that more people would survive until the emperor’s rations arrived. That’s why we’ve had to make such watery porridge with the limited provisions, so that no one starves to death.”
Pang Xiao’s resonant voice traveled far into the distance, instilling some calm into the scene.
“This prince promises everyone that whether it’s the emperor, this prince, or every official and soldier here—we all have the same goal. We want you to live on. We want more people to live on.
“His Majesty constantly thinks of this area. Silver and rice will be here shortly, and I fully understand how hungry everyone feels. But no matter what, we should persevere and live on.”
At this point, the prince laughed self-deprecatingly. “Everyone knows that I’m a demon who kills without blinking. So let that be. I only hope that everyone can maintain cool heads and conserve as much energy as possible to wait for rescue from the capital. In order to make sure most people survive, I don’t mind being a villain. This prince will harshly punish anyone else who seeks to start trouble.”
His words quieted everyone in the end. It was now that they recalled Pang Xiao wasn’t some sort of foppish dandy used to swimming in the lap of luxury. He was a solemn and principled soldier. Any promise he gave might bear more weight than those in the jianghu.
If he said he would do something, then he would do it.
This sentiment rose in many hearts, but what had they received after time and time of offering up their trust and hopes? Abandonment and betrayal from the imperial court!
That was how the previous dynasty had treated them and Great Zhou was no better. Pretty words were used to lull them, but they were always the chosen sacrifices when push came to shove.
Some in the crowd were already crying, and angry shouts ripped out, “You’re threatening us! But there’s so many of us, so what can your men do no matter how strong they are!?”
“That’s right! Hand over the food! Hand over the food!”
Chapter 454.2: Spies
……
No one anticipated that Pang Xiao’s heartfelt words wouldn’t pacify the rioters, but add more fuel to the flames instead. Spurred by the forces of starvation and anger, the crowd surged forward like the tidewaters.
It’d be one thing if the prince had his old Valiant Tigers to command. The two dozen Dragon Riders present didn’t have that kind of coordination with him at all. Even factoring in the soldiers from the yamen, all of the troops wading in with kicks and punches wouldn’t be able to stem the flood.
Seeing people sprint toward the yamen, Pang Xiao hastily retreated to the side with Qin Yining. The crowd charged into the ramshackle government building like a plague of locusts swarming the crops. Perhaps shocked by the tents and collapsed walls in the yard, the intruders came to a half after entering the complex.
A shocked sob rang out from the crowd. “This isn’t right. Magistrate Li has stuck with us through thick and thin. He invites us to stay in the yamen if our homes are destroyed. He eats the watery porridge right along with all of us.”
“That’s right! The imperial court didn’t give us silver to buy rice. What we’re eating these days is donations from the prince and princess consort. They’ve always been with us too.”
“What kind of people would we be if we ran over everything now?”
……
With these voices directing public opinion, violent tendencies quickly dispersed from part of the crowd. Desires for revenge and destruction lessened as well. However, there were still people who wanted to charge in.
In the back, someone shouted, “They must have food! The prince and princess consort is hiding it all!”
That cry stood out too much from the crowd; it was vastly different from the tones of the people before. Its abnormality immediately struck Qin Yining. “Your Highness, I think someone’s stirring up trouble!”
“I know, I’ve already sent someone to investigate.” Pang Xiao easily soothed his wife with real actions and facts, but couldn’t do the same for the starving citizens.
Thanks to that shout just now, some unwilling to accept the situation rampaged through the yamen. Others didn’t want to continue, but they were carried along by the movement of the crowd. The momentum pushed and shoved to the ground those weakened by hunger; some never rose again, thanks to the feet of their neighbors.
It was a chaotic, bloody affair. Roars of adults interwove with cries of children and women, howls from those being trampled to death peppered the din, and citizens smashing and looting the yamen added to the cacophony. It was a sight that Qin Yining couldn’t bear to keep watching.
She shut her eyes and murmured, “This can’t be allowed to continue on. Yang County is only one county, what of the other counties and cities? And the old capital? I also suspect that someone behind the scenes is intentionally making this worse, but the most important thing is that we really have no provisions.”
A ferociously frowning Pang Xiao brought Qin Yining in for a tight hug. “All of the food is in the hands of the rich, but they won’t relax their grasp. I can only continue to negotiate with them.”
When Qin Yining wiggled her fingers, she realized they’d frozen stiff with cold.
Such a frenzied episode of anarchy really shocked her. In fact, the faces of Magistrate Lee and the Dragon Riders behind Pang Xiao were likewise pale. Everyone was having their eyes opened today.
Failing to find food, the rioting citizens began bawling loudly, compelling the magistrate to call out words of comfort and succor. At this time, Huzi and two Elite Tigers escorted over a woman in ragged clothing.
“Your Highnesses, we found a suspicious woman.”
Pang Xiao took a glance and noted that she looked healthy and well-fed, her skin fair and she looked to
be in her early twenties. Though her clothes could be better described as rags and soot was smeared across her face, it was easy to tell that a real refugee wouldn’t be in such good condition.
“Take her to a quiet location and interrogate her closely. Who told her to incite the people? Use military methods to crack open her mouth if she won’t talk.”
“Understood.” Huzi dragged the women away with the help of the two Elite Tigers.
However, Qin Yining remained staring at the back of the departing prisoner. “Why do I feel like she looks familiar? I feel like I’ve seen her before.”
“Can you give it some more thought?”
Brows knitted deep in thought, Qin Yining thought over it carefully. She really had seen this face before, but the prisoner’s current outfit interfered with her memories. Nothing was immediately forthcoming.
At this moment, the citizens rampaging in the yamen spilled back out onto the streets. The man who kept complaining loudly was roaring, “They must’ve hidden the food somewhere! Capture the prince and princess consort! We’ll make them tell us where the food is!”
“That’s right! Those corrupt dogs must’ve hidden the food!”
“Get them and make them tell us where it is!”
……
Screeching and snarling, people rushed at Pang Xiao. The prince’s guards and Dragon Riders partially unsheathed their swords to block the rioters. At the same time, some soldiers infiltrated the crowd to silently arrest the man who’d been fanning the flames.
A livid Pang Xiao declared, “Conserve your energy. The precious little bit of food we got over the past few days isn’t for you to revolt with after filling your bellies! I know everyone’s afraid and I promise that I’ll get food to you! You should believe yourselves, if not me. Ask your conscience, have I not tried my best to protect all of you since I’ve come?”
Chapter 455.1: Raid
Without troublemakers lurking among the refugees, the crowd simmered down when they recalled that the food they’d had in recent days was all thanks to the Faithful Prince and Princess Consort of the First Rank.
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