Chapter 315 Open the Door

Tian Yu and Yan Rou looked at each other and followed his orders.

Yan Rou didn't have much contact with Yuan Xi, and thought that Yuan Xi really didn't want these people to have a good end, but the leader of the Black Mountain Army over there shouldn't fall into the trap so easily, right?

These cavalrymen who were released would be more or less suspected. The best way to deal with it is to disperse these people and monitor them. Otherwise, what else can we do? Can we just kill them all?

If this were to happen, the Montenegrin Army would lose their morale and might even collapse without a fight.

Just when he thought that Yuan Xi's plan might fail, Yuan Xi turned around and arranged another thing for Guo Jia who had arrived.

Nearly a thousand refugees who were previously planned to be expelled from Beixincheng were also mixed in and released.

In recent days, quite a number of refugees have escaped from the Black Mountains, and they are of varying quality.

Although there are those who abide by the law and work honestly, there are also those who have never changed their bandit habits and have repeatedly committed robberies and caused trouble in the city.

These criminals were caught and detained, awaiting Yuan Xi's decision. However, Yuan Xi decided to drive them back to Montenegro along with the cavalrymen captured today.

Yan Rou seemed to be thinking about something. It seemed that this envoy had a lot of ideas. This way, the Black Mountain Army would have a headache facing this group of people.

And maybe there are spies sent by Yuan Xi mixed in!

After doing all this, Yuan Xi left the city, mounted his horse, and led everyone directly to the city garrison to meet Xu You.

When the refugees who were traveling into the city saw them, they stood by the roadside and saluted the team, with awe in their eyes.

Some of them were quick-witted and wanted to enter the city to cause trouble, but when they saw Ji Dagen's head hanging on the top of the city wall, they were secretly chilled and unconsciously restrained themselves.

Xu You had been waiting in front of the mansion. He had known long ago that Yuan Xi came back this time to take inventory of the grain accounts of Beixin City!

So these days, he racked his brains to find ways to fill the vacancies so as to avoid being made a sacrifice to scare the monkeys by Yuan Xi.

He killed his own nephew without hesitation and hung his head on the city wall. This vicious tiger from the Yuan family is mentally ill and doesn't care about the face of the gentry at all!

Xu You felt a little regretful that he had followed Yuan Shang's orders and came to Youzhou to work as a clerk. If he had known that Yuan Xi was so cruel, he would never have come here even if he was beaten to death!

When Xu You heard about the Black Mountain cavalry harassing the city outside, he was relieved, thinking that the battle would last until night and the audit would have to be postponed until tomorrow.

As a result, within two hours, all the Black Mountain cavalry outside the city were wiped out and their leader was beheaded. Hearing that Yuan Xi was leading his men to the official residence, Xu You hurriedly took his subordinates, straightened their clothes, and stood at the door to welcome Yuan Xi.

Soon, Yuan Xi arrived with his men. He jumped off his horse and said to Xu You with a smile, "Mr. Ziyuan, you have worked hard. Please move the accounts out. I want to see them."

When Xu You saw that Tian Yu and Yan Rou, who were beside Yuan Xi, were covered in blood, his heart skipped a beat. He quickly led everyone to the backyard and opened a few rooms. They were full of accounts and rolls of bamboo slips that were almost piled up to the roof.

When Yuan Xi saw it, he ordered Ju Su to take the lead and the officials to read it separately.

Seeing everyone's serious expressions, Xu You thought that it might take several days to finish reading all these things, and he had almost made up for all the losses, so there shouldn't be any problems, right?

Thinking of this, Xu You was filled with hatred. The reason why the nobles became officials was to make a fortune. Otherwise, what was the point of working so hard?

If he hadn't known that Yuan Xi would definitely target him, he wouldn't have risked bleeding profusely and spit out the money and grain again!

Contrary to Xu You's expectation, Ju Shou and others simply took out the summary of the cash flow accounts for the past six months, glanced over them, and asked people to write down the approximate figures. It took less than half an hour, and they finished and left the house.

Xu You was extremely surprised. It seemed that Yuan Xi was just putting on a show to get everyone to be harmonious?

He smiled at Yuan Xi and said, "Your Excellency has traveled a long way, so please prepare some wine."

Yuan Xi smiled and said, "Mr. Ziyuan, you have worked hard, but everyone is tired and it is wartime. As a governor, I can't take the lead in drinking."

"I appreciate Mr. Ziyuan's kindness. I will have to rely on you for the logistics and food supplies in the future."

Xu You quickly agreed, and saw Yuan Xi taking everyone away. Xu You felt as if he was in a dream. Is this the end?

It seems that Yuan Xi is still very afraid of Yuan Shang. Maybe he doesn't want to fall out with Yuan Shang?

Xu You couldn't help but feel a little complacent, but as a top strategist, he was clearly in the right mind and always felt vaguely that something was wrong.

He thought about it, called a few trusted men, and asked them to leave the house and secretly follow Yuan Xi's team to see if they would go directly back to the house.

Soon, a confidant came back anxiously and reported: "The envoy has not returned to the palace. He is with some people and is talking to the people in the market!"

Xu You's heart skipped a beat and he quickly changed into casual clothes, ruffled his hair, and quietly left the house through the back door.

He trotted all the way and followed the location given by his confidant. Soon he saw Yuan Xi, Zhao Yun and others talking to an old man selling straw mats on the street, surrounded by several circles of people.

Xu You's eyes rolled around, and he slowly approached with his back turned sideways, and when he was several dozen steps away, he pricked up his ears to eavesdrop on what Yuan Xi was saying.

Yuan Xi's voice came, "I remember Mr. Zhou, you used to make rice buckets, why are you selling straw mats now?"

The vendor smiled happily after hearing this and said, "Sir, you actually remembered me!"

He then sighed, "Don't mention it. Since the Chinese New Year a few months ago, for some reason, almost no one came to buy rice buckets. I still have more than a hundred buckets at home, and I can hardly put them away."

"I thought this was not a solution, so I changed my job in the spring and started making reed mats to sell to make a living."

Yuan Xi smiled and said, "Mr. Zhou's rice bucket is made to fit perfectly, and he has the skills of a carpenter. It's a pity."

"I am currently short of carpenters. Do you want to work with me? If you can take on an apprentice and teach one more person, I will give you more money."

The vendor heard this and laughed, "Is there such a thing?"

"Then I will shamelessly follow you and make a living!"

Everyone burst into laughter after hearing this, but Yuan Xi turned to the people around him and asked, "I bought Mr. Zhou's bucket two years ago. It was very sturdy. Does anyone know why no one bought it?"

Everyone was silent for a moment, and then someone muttered, "During the New Year period, it's hard to buy food. Everyone's buckets are empty. What's the point of buying buckets?"

After hearing this, Yuan Xi asked, "Why? Don't the rice shops on the street provide rice based on the number of people per day?"

He said to Zhao Yun, "Before Zilong and I left Beixin City, didn't we make bamboo chips so that the people in the city could use them to buy food?"

Zhao Yun nodded and said, "Indeed, there are unique marks on the bamboo chips, which are difficult to forge."

Someone in the crowd said, "We have bamboo chips, but we are always short of food. We run out of food halfway through the queue, and we have to eat three days' worth of food for one day."

Someone laughed and said, "Compared to before when we were hungry for days at a time, we are now content. We can finally make it through. We all believe in you, sir."

After hearing this, Yuan Xi laughed and said, "This is my fault. There were many battles in the past few days, and I transferred military rations, which made you suffer."

Everyone hurriedly said, "Sir, that's not right. Without your soldiers guarding the city, we would have died somewhere long ago."

Xu You broke out in a cold sweat, and he finally understood why Yuan Xi didn't look at the accounts. It was because he realized that he couldn't find any major problems after adjusting the account figures, so he simply gave up looking for problems in the accounts!

Then he started directly with the common people and asked them about their living conditions over the past six months!

Around the New Year, when Ju Shou left Beixin City, Xu You mobilized a large amount of food and grass in the city to make up for the deficit. Although this ensured that people in the city would not starve to death, due to frequent mobilization, there was often a shortage of food on the market.

Xu You thought that food could be transferred every few days as long as no one in the city starved to death. He himself had food to eat anyway, so he didn't think it was a big deal. However, the people below remembered clearly about going hungry.

Xu You saw that Yuan Xi had a smile on his face but his brows were slightly frowned in the distance. He felt cold in his heart. Something bad had happened!

Yuan Xi said to everyone: "Please rest assured, I will try my best to avoid this kind of thing from happening in the future."

Everyone laughed, "It's enough for you to say that, sir. We all know that as long as the soldiers are well fed and win the battle, whether they are well fed or hungry, we will all survive to some extent."

"If we lose the battle, even if we have hundreds of dan and thousands of hu of grain at home, we won't be able to eat."

Someone agreed, "That's clear. Besides, everyone in our family served in the army. They all followed the young master and were hungry."

"So we didn't panic at all when we went hungry before the New Year, because the young master promised that he would not abandon us."

After hearing this, Yuan Xi was suddenly touched.

What about Duke Zheng defeating Duan in Yan? Although the strategy is good, the ones who suffer are the people in front of him.

They trust me so much, how can I bear to abandon them?

He said decisively: "Okay! If you have any difficulties, come to my house at any time. Even if I'm not here, there will be people to listen to your stories and I guarantee that they will reach my ears!"

When the crowd heard this, they cheered.

In the distance, Xu You's face was covered with more cold sweat.

He found that he had miscalculated one thing!

At that time, there was a food shortage in the city but no unrest occurred. He was complacent and thought that the people of Beixin City were docile. He did not expect that it was because they trusted Yuan Xi that they did not gather together to cause trouble!

Yuan Xi asked the onlookers to disperse and then led people into the restaurant and grain store. Xu You could hear clearly that he was checking the cash flow of the past few days.

He felt bitter and knew there was no need to listen any further, so he sneaked away.

I can't hide the truth anymore, I have to find a way to protect myself!

Yuan Xi was looking at the restaurant's account and said to Guo Jia, "I just listened to the people talking and I got an idea."

"When the people have problems, they have nowhere to go to the government office. Even if they can get in, it is difficult to find the person in charge."

"Everyone has high hopes for me. When I return, I will keep the side door of the mansion open. I will find a room behind the door and put a few officials there to receive people who have something to say."

"When the time comes, each matter will be recorded, and those that can be handled will be sent directly to the relevant officials for handling. Those that are controversial will be reported up the chain of command until someone is found to resolve the issue."

After hearing this, Guo Jia smiled and said, "Sir, this idea is very unique."

"It is customary among the noble families to receive famous people, but you are humble and open to everyone. This way, your popularity among the people will surely rise."

Yuan Xi thought to himself that he really wanted to resolve the problem. After all, this model was very meaningful for reference in later generations.

The door of those in power should always be open to the people at the bottom of society, and the purpose of government decrees should be to benefit the people, not to disturb or harm them.

Otherwise, what's the difference between him and people like Xu You?