Chapter 115: Chapter One Hundred and Eleven: Response
Translator: 549690339
-Wind Media” derives its name from the process of wind-pollinated flowers, a metaphor for wandering martial artists who are tasked with gathering intelligence and circulating information. Much of the news that circulates in the martial arts world originates from Wind Media and gets disseminated throughout the land.
A seemingly unremarkable piece of information can be worth a fortune in another region.
For clans, having access to timely information is of utmost importance. It can guide decisions, ward off calamity, and ensure victory in battles.
Large clans like the Tang and the Mi Clan maintain dedicated Wind Media units and establish a Wind Media Department for overall control.
One November, an important piece of information landed on the Mi Clan’s desk, leading to another emergency meeting.
Three consecutive months of heavy rain churned up the Han River and resulted in a flood that swept across three thousand miles of Chengzhou, a disaster that came once every hundred years. This affected hundreds of cities and millions of fertile fields were submerged.
It was easy to predict that tens of millions of people would soon be displaced as refugees.
“How did Tang Zhi get wind of this so soon!” Mizhu kept questioning in his mind as he went through the urgent report from the Wind Media Department and fully grasped Tang Zhi’s plan.
Every person in the Mi Clan’s authority structure wore a grim expression, a stark contrast to their smug satisfaction during the fall harvest.
They had thought they were getting a bargain by raising the price of grains.
Now it seemed like they had shot themselves in the foot.
All the new grain in Xiling was in the hands of Tang Clan, and with winter approaching, there wouldn’t be a new harvest until the following spring. Although the Mi Clan had plenty of refined grains in storage, it wouldn’t be enough to accommodate the large influx of refugees.
For the present Tang and Mi Clan, growth in population equated to a surge in power.
The frustration among the clan members was palpable as such a golden opportunity was potentially lost due to a lack of food.
Hence, the purpose of this emergency meeting was to find a viable solution to accommodate the refugees. Even if that couldn’t be done, they needed to prevent the Tang Clan from accepting large amounts of them!
Mizhu looked around at everyone and decided to initiate the discussion, The situation is not as severe as we anticipate.”
“Not severe? After accounting for the grain consumption of our clan members and grains to be sold next year, we can barely feed a hundred thousand people. Meanwhile, the Tang Clan has at least a million tons of new gram in storage. How much worse could it get?” said Mi Hu, the leader of the clan, who didn’t even treat his own son with kindness.
He thought it necessary to make Mizhu realize how pressing the situation had become.
The other elders nodded in agreement, none of them had anticipated that the Tang Clan would prepare so early, putting the Mi Clan in a passive situation. Mizhu nodded calmly, “We do have a shortage of grains, that’s a fact. But, do we really need that much grain to accommodate the refugees?” Everyone was taken aback and asked, “How do we accommodate refugees without enough food supplies? Even if we forcefully get them on board, won’t they starve without food? What we need are warriors, not slaves.” “New grain? Old grain? Or grain mixed with bran? These are our distinctions.” replied Mizhu with an unmistakably indifferent expression, “But to the refugees, all these can fill their stomachs and save their lives!”
“Mix ten catties of old grain with a hundred catties of bran and pack them in bags. Who’s to say that’s not grain?”
Bran is the husk of wheat and millet, usually used as animal feed.
Mizhu’s idea was to let people eat animal feed to survive and reduce gram consumption.
But Mizhu couldn’t understand his strategy, because if the old grain was mixed with bran, some ordinary people who had nowhere else to turn might get on board. But how would they convince the warriors, who wouldn’t stoop to the level of eating animal feed, with this strategy?
“What about those warriors?”
Mizhu, who knew his inflexible-minded clan brother well, explained, “We will certainly take some new and old grains to attract refugees to get on board. I believe Tang Clan would do the same.”
“We failed to act sooner this time, and we are short of grains. But the warriors are limited in number. Even if we use some new grains mixed with old grams and label them as fine grains, it will be enough to get by. As for the refugees, we will feed them old grains and bran. In this way, we will not fall behind the
Tang Clan.”
Everyone nodded, quite satisfied with Mizhu’s strategy. But Mi Hu knew another issue lay ahead.
As the true masters of waterways, the Wancheng Treasure Ship rightfully earned its title as the peak of warships. It could travel at a speed of forty nautical miles per hour, meaning it could cover one thousand five hundred miles in twenty-four hours. This implied that distances spanning thousands of miles, which seemed daunting to others, were only a matter of seven or eight days for the treasure ship.
Collecting refugees would take a lot of time, and the first round of collection and return was estimated to take a little over a month.
Given the ice thaw in the spring, the Mi Clan had about three months to gather refugees. It was forecasted that several hundred thousand refugees could be accommodated.
But the sudden influx of population would put a great strain on Xihng’s food resources. The clan leader and Mizhu could overlook this, but as the head of the family, Mi Hu had to point it out.
-What about next year’s food supplies? Xiling has a population of three million, and most of the current crop yield is for people in Xiling.” Mi Hu was worried. Faced with the sudden surge in population, the food supply may not match the demand, meaning that several hundred thousand people in Xiling would be starved.
“Why should the Mi Clan care?” Mizhu cruelly smirked, his star-like eyes reflecting icy coldness, “The grain of the Mi Clan has to first feed the people of the Mi Clan. If we don’t sell, is anyone daring enough to steal it?”
Mi Hu got the hint. Mizhu didn’t care at all if the people in Xiling had enough to eat or not, since these people didn’t matter to the Mi Clan. Meanwhile, those refugees who would be gathered would become the property of the Mi Clan, contributing to their power.
And he also understood that the ones who would be starving were never the clans in Xiling, small or large, because they all had reserved farmland. Even if they had none, they could make a temporary arrangement to buy grains from neighboring cities, ensuring self-sufficiency. At most, there would be some grumbling.
From this perspective, the ones who wouldn’t be able to buy food next year would be ordinary civilians in Xiling, along with small traders and peddlers. Even if these people gathered, they posed no threat to the Mi Clan.
“I agree.” Mizhu was the first to express his approval, before Mi Hu could respond.
As the clan leader, his ultimate goal was to strengthen the clan, and Mizhu’s strategy was highly agreeable in his eyes.
When the clan leader agreed, the other elders followed suit. Like Mizhu said, the prosperity of Xiling was good, but it didn’t provide much power to the Mi Clan.
The refugees they were about to accommodate, once they arrived in Xiling and accepted the indoctrination of the clan, could become part of the Mi Clan’s power.
On one hand were useless civilians, on the other hand were the clan’s fighting servants. The difference was clear at a glance.
With the unanimous agreement of the council members, Mizhu felt a sense of pride swell up in his chest. He wanted to let out a hearty laugh to express his triumphant feelings.
The fate of hundreds of thousands of people was decided in an easy conversation that drove the actions of a distinguished clan in Xiling with a hundred-year history.
This was the feeling of ruling the world, far more exhilarating than defeating a single adversary, a thousand or even a million times more exciting. With a flip of the hand, he could cause clouds to appear and disappear, and with the reversal of the hand, he could bring rain. The world was at his command and the people followed him with devotion.
This was the path of royal domination that Mizhu aspired to achieve!
“How can you, Mi Chu and Tang Luo, even compare to me?” Mizhu thought to himself disdainfully, his brilliant eyes sparkling with contempt..
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