Chapter Six: Channels of Information

The young attendant’s eyes lit up, and his smile instantly became sincere.
“Oh, so it’s Boss Li! Long time no see, what an honor, please come inside. Our manager is in the backyard. I’ll go call him for you.”
Di Ying nodded and strolled to a room reserved for distinguished guests.
This carriage and horse company was his own establishment.
The proprietor on the surface was Di Shun, his childhood friend.
From a young age, Di Ying had a master skilled in medicine and forensic science, and together they often pondered their greatest concern: the circulation of information.
His master had said: no matter what Di Ying wished to do in the future, this was essential.
And the most inconspicuous yet frequent travelers between regions were the carriage and horse merchants.
If Di Ying wanted to build such a network, he needed a public face for the business, and the choice was crucial.
He’d spent over a decade carefully selecting in Di Family Village, finally choosing Di Shun from the group of friends who had grown up together, wearing split-crotch pants as children.
Di Shun had once nearly choked to death on an apricot pit as a child and was saved by Di Ying.
Di Shun proved to be highly capable.
He was never much for book learning, but he was quick-witted and clever. And, ever since Di Ying saved his life, he followed Di Ying’s every word.
Di Ying wanted to cultivate him well. Whenever he went out for exams—whether for the preliminary, provincial, or capital tests—he always brought Di Shun along.
Not only could they engage in small business ventures like transporting goods from south to north or west, making a bit of money, but it also helped them get familiar with local situations and improved Di Shun’s eloquence and social skills.
After Di Ying’s name appeared on the golden list, the first “All Roads Carriage & Horse Company” appeared in Bingzhou.
This had been his master’s final instruction before passing.
His master had told him, “If you aim to uphold the law and serve the people, you cannot turn a blind eye. Once you have trained your network, you must put it to use. The first branch should open in Bingzhou’s capital.”
Di Ying remembered, so Di Shun came to Bingzhou at that time and founded this company.
“Brother Ying, you finally made it! Just look at you—already months since you took office in Bingzhou, and only now you come to see your brother. Don’t you know how hard I’ve been working through wind and rain? Heartless, you are!”
Di Ying had just sat down in the reception room when Di Shun came breezing in like a gust of wind.
He closed the door and launched into his “complaints,”
Yet his eyes shone with excitement.
Di Ying was excited too.
The brothers had not seen each other for over a year.
It felt as though many years had passed.

Yet, at the same time, as if they had only parted yesterday.
Di Ying raised his fist and bumped it against the other’s.
Then his expression grew serious; he lowered his voice and asked, “Do you know what’s really going on with the grain seeds?”
“Knew you’d come asking about something. Sigh, never mind how your brother’s been living.”
As soon as Di Shun heard the question, he resumed his complaints.
His plump face, darker than Di Ying’s, also grew serious.
He replied quietly, “I’ve been waiting a long time for you. You should’ve come and asked about these matters sooner.”
As he spoke, he grabbed the paper and brush kept ready for guests’ orders, sketching as he explained.
“Bingzhou’s waterways are abundant—not just the Wei River to the southeast, but even the Fen River outside the city both connect directly to the canal.
You know, upstream of the canal there’s an embankment.
If a heavy rainy season hits, that embankment is sure to collapse.
When the floods come, the Fen River also overflows, destroying a great number of villages and fields north of the capital.”
Before he finished, Di Ying stood up abruptly.
“You mean… they use this as a pretext to ask the court for disaster relief grain, then keep it all and resell it.
And the people get only old, stale grain?
But it’s more than that, isn’t it? Those men usually collude with grain merchants, collecting large quantities of old grain from everywhere, replacing the new harvest each year.
According to the canal’s route, all the new grain is shipped westward. Am I right?!”
As he spoke, Di Ying slammed a fist onto the table.
His chest heaved as he said, “To ensure a good harvest, they never tampered with the grain seeds before. But last year brought no heavy rain, so the harvest was poor.
And their greed has grown without bounds—they’d already sold off all the new grain.
Now, with no rain to break the embankment, the grain seeds became a problem.
If I’m not mistaken, those unruly peasants have already been seized by the governor’s troops and locked in the magistrate’s prison.
The grain merchants are scrambling in other cities, waiting for good seeds to arrive before releasing those people.
Several shipments must have arrived by now…
Today, at Liwan Wharf, I saw grain ships docked and unloading.”
“Yes, that’s exactly it.”

Di Shun took up the thread and continued, “Their plan was to wait for this year’s rainy season, break the embankment, and when the imperial relief grain arrived, use it as seeds to replenish depleted warehouses.
But man proposes, heaven disposes. This year’s rainy season came late and weak—only a persistent misting drizzle.
The river barely rose. They couldn’t justify breaking the embankment, so they had to seek supplies elsewhere.”
“No,”
After his furious outburst, Di Ying quickly calmed himself.
He sat down and analyzed further, “Given their greed, it’s impossible they’d spend their own money to buy quality seeds.
Now that the drizzle has started, they’ll stop at nothing to break the embankment as soon as possible.
The rice they’ve procured is almost all cheap, old grain.
No wonder the price of grain has remained so high. The good grain they collected—they still refuse to distribute it to the people, and now can make another fortune.”
“What are we going to do?!”
Di Shun grew anxious at once, his round eyes opening even wider.
The drizzle had lasted two days already; if things were as Di Ying said, then the embankment would be broken within a day or two.
After all, imperial relief grain would still take time to arrive.
A great number of people would riot over prices and seeds, and then the governor’s office would send troops to “suppress” them…
Those were lives, every one of them!
“Don’t panic. Sit down and listen to me.”
Di Ying pulled Di Shun into a seat, his mind racing. Then, he assigned him a series of tasks.
…
Night fell, and the drizzle continued, just as the largest flower boat on the Fen River rocked gently in the mist.
On board, Ma Xinggui—the legitimate eldest son of Bingzhou’s governor Ma Guangjin—sat with She Yanbo, the eldest son of Bingzhou’s magistrate She Jianhong, listening to music and drinking wine with women in their arms.
The room was filled with warmth and indulgence.
Also present were Meng Zhenyao, son of the chief secretary of the magistrate’s office, Meng Zenglu, and Wu Jicai from the lieutenant governor’s family.
Ma Xinggui’s father held military power in Bingzhou; naturally, Ma Xinggui paid little heed to anyone else.
After a couple of drinks, he smiled at Meng Zhenyao and asked, “You’re still able to come out and drink wine with the courtesans—your stepmother must be quite broad-minded.”