0368 Chapter Seven: The Wisdom of Mortals (Section 74)
Long before most civilian workers had gotten up to start their day's work, Ah Si drove his ox cart and took his wife on the road. The ox cart was very powerful and could pull three large boxes and eight small boxes.
Fortunately, the royal court of Fanbaea does not distinguish between day and night, and no matter how early you get up, it will not affect the horse team's work.
There were many caravans working like Ah Si. First, two carts met in the alley. After saying hello, they were discharged and walked together to the street.
Then five people formed a group and ten people formed a group, chatting bustlingly. Along the way, a carriage and an oxen sedan would always appear at the fork in the road going south and north. Gradually, more and more people gathered, forming an incomprehensible situation.
At the end, there was a team like marching ants.
By the time they finally converged on the main road, the convoy already had the appearance of thousands of troops and horses, and there was a lot of chatter and laughter. The wheels and the hooves of the cattle and horses made the whole earth rumble.
At this time, members of the labor gangs and Sheji gangs from various places had also gotten up. They were watching the grand gathering of the caravans, and walked in twos and threes to the fields between the factories.
Ah Si was driving the car, chatting with his colleagues from the same district. In the car behind, his wife was rustling and tinkering with something, and her voice was drowned in the wave of the motorcade, so that Ah Si was unaware of it.
After walking for a while, the cows were tired, so Ah Si drove the cart slowly toward the edge of the road. Along the way, there were fodder and water buckets arranged by the gang in advance for the animals to leave the team and rest at any time.
After drinking the cow, Ah Si suddenly felt his wife poking him through the boxes on the back panel of the car, so he poked his head over. He heard his wife say mysteriously: "Si, what do you think are in these boxes?"
"Rice bran. Didn't Amei from the Craftsman Gang say so, and specially left a bag for our family?" Ah Si looked at his wife with a strange expression:
"This year the Sheji Gang will not increase the harvest. I am afraid that after paying the grain to Shangcheng District at the end of the quarter, the leftovers will not be enough for us to last until the next harvest. The gang leaders specially calculated and imported the grain from abroad."
"Then why are you pulling me back now?" There was something in the daughter-in-law's words.
Ah Si sighed: "It is against the rules for people in the lower city to feed themselves. Your Majesty, the Count, ordered us to go back."
"What about the bag that Amei left for our family?" the daughter-in-law asked again.
Ah Si's expression became tense and he lowered his voice: "Didn't you keep it under the kang? What do you mean?"
The daughter-in-law smiled and lowered her voice: "Look, our family can save food after losing a few hands, but what about Amei? Where is the front of the car?"
I watched the person who came out of the car go to pull grain, and there were only so many people. Now that they are returning, it is still crowded with people. The box has not become lighter, and the rice bran has been replaced. What is in it...?"
"Don't tell me, just drive through it yourself and take a look." Ah Si's voice was trembling. It was a taboo for the caravan to inspect goods privately.
The daughter-in-law smiled strangely: "I did see it. When we were dividing the food, we made a note of it and wrote down how to open the box. What do you think is inside?"
Without waiting for Ah Si's reaction, she hurriedly said it herself: "The big box contains blood wheat, and the small box contains books, the ones that were tinkered with and printed in the factory of the labor gang in our district.
If my guess is correct, I am afraid that the president and the others took it upon themselves to exchange all the goods delivered to Shangcheng District for private use."
"You...you..." Ah Si's face looked obviously panicked.
Gu/span "Oh no, you said that if we tell this matter to the driver, will we get some merit or something? The kidnapper from the eighth district next door reported it to the driver because he saw the people stealing food. As a result, the driver
Give him an extra cow..." The daughter-in-law said with a quick look and wink.
Ah Si's face was as gloomy as water: "Do you think that if we report it, the driver will still report it to the police? Impossible! If this matter is really revealed, the driver's family will also be hungry!
The count doesn't want us to live, so we have to sell ourselves to him? You ignorant old lady, be smart and listen.
If this matter is revealed, it will be fine if it doesn't work out. If it does get any good, we will have to be beaten to death before we get home.
Forget about others, if anyone dares to expose this matter, I will kill him first. This will starve our entire Xiacheng District, and I don’t know how many people will die!
Selling the Earl's goods? If you ask me, I should sell it! Why should we work hard and complain for a quarter, but in the end we have to go hungry?"
"Shh!" This time it was the wife who was frightened, and she repeatedly covered Ah Si's mouth:
"You don't want to live anymore! Let me ask you, this matter must not be hidden. When the time comes, the Earl is eager to find someone to settle the score, what should we do? Could it be that you are still thinking about confronting the Earl with real swords and guns and rebelling?
Can’t do it?”
Ah Si sneered when he heard this: "This matter is obviously planned by the president and the others. What can the earl do if he is so anxious? Kill all the tens of millions of people in our lower city? Who will grow food for him next season?
I will definitely not engage in rebellion with real swords and guns. Even if we tie up everyone in the gang, we won’t be able to kill a few big shots in the city.
But if we don’t use the knife, what can those big shots do? In the end, we can just cause trouble for a few presidents, right?
Let’s eat the food, we won’t be hungry, the pot will be carried by the president, what else do you want?”
Similar conversations often occur in the cavalry. It is simply impossible to hide such a large-scale operation from tens of millions of people.
However, taking advantage of the special political and cultural environment in the Lower Town of Vanbaie, it is not too difficult to hide this from Count Consreimu.
Zhen Cheng had comprehensive information about Xiacheng District. The few blood servants placed at the top of the gang by the count were either eliminated directly like the assassins at the banquet, or they cooperated with the show to deceive them.
After all, the food purchased from Senior Sister Cai was enough to feed tens of millions of people for several months. It would not have any impact on the overall situation to send some of them back intact for the sake of show, which may have been inspected.
As for the people in Xiacheng District who spontaneously reported it, it was even easier. The vast majority of people who discovered something strange knew the power of it and voluntarily refused to cause trouble and reap the benefits. The few who were not enlightened would naturally be stopped by the people around them.
As for those who are really determined to report and get rewards, of course they can't stop it if the forest is too big. But the wonderful thing is that wherever they can go, they will end up with the four presidents.
Under Zhen Cheng's instructions, these guys who didn't know the seriousness of the matter were all "disappeared" after bringing the matter to light. It's rare to be stupid. In the end, tens of millions of people did such a big thing, but they just didn't let it go.
The House aroused a hint of suspicion.
It seems that there are many holes in the plan, but once you take into account Misha's intelligence, the environment of the lower city, and the hearts of the poor, it is actually perfectly calculated by Zhen Cheng.