Tian Yu and Yan Rou looked at each other and followed the instructions.
Yan Rou and Yuan Xi didn't have much contact, and Yuan Xi really didn't want these people to die well, but the leader of the Black Mountain Army over there shouldn't fall into the trap so easily, right?
These cavalry soldiers who were sent back will be somewhat suspicious. The best way to deal with it is to disperse these people and monitor them. Otherwise, what else can they do, and kill them all?
If we really do this, the morale of the Montenegrin Army will be shattered, and they will probably collapse without a fight.
Just when he felt that Yuan Xi's plan would fail, Yuan Xi turned around and arranged another thing for Guo Jia who came over.
The nearly a thousand refugees that Beixin City had previously planned to expel were mixed in and returned.
In recent days, there have been a large number of refugees escaping from the Black Mountains, and the difference between them is huge.
Although there are those who abide by the law and work honestly, there are also those who never change their banditry habits and repeatedly rob and cause trouble in the city.
Those who committed the crime were all caught and imprisoned, waiting for Yuan Xi to be punished. However, Yuan Xi decided to drive them, together with the cavalry captured today, back to Montenegro.
Yan Rou thought thoughtfully, this envoy seems to have a lot of ideas. In this way, the Black Mountain Army will have an even more headache when facing this group of people.
And maybe there are actually spies sent out by Yuan Xi!
After doing this, Yuan Xicai got off the city, mounted his horse, and led everyone directly to the city guard's mansion to see Xu You.
When the refugees who entered the city along the way saw them, they stood on the roadside and saluted the team, with awe shining in their eyes.
Some of them had lively thoughts and wanted to go into the city to cause trouble. When they saw Ji Dagen's head hanging on the city wall, they were secretly chilled and restrained themselves unconsciously.
Xu You had been waiting in front of the house for a long time. He had already learned that Yuan Xi came back this time to check Beixin City's grain and grass accounts!
So these days, he worked hard to find ways to fill the vacancies, so as not to be made a victim of Yuan Xi to scare the monkeys.
His own nephew was killed as soon as he was told, and his head was hung on the city wall. This fierce tiger of the Yuan family was mentally ill and didn't care about the face of the noble family at all!
Xu You regretted accepting Yuan Shang's order to come to Youzhou to work. If he had known that Yuan Xi was so cruel, he would not have come even if he was killed!
Xu You was relieved when he heard about the harassment by the Black Mountain cavalry outside the city. He thought that the fight would have to 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 leaders were also killed. Hearing that Yuan Xi was leading people to the official residence, Xu You quickly took his subordinate officials, straightened their clothes, and stood at the door to greet Yuan Xi.
Not long after, Yuan Xi arrived with his people. He jumped off his horse and smiled at Xu You: "Thank you for your hard work, Mr. Ziyuan. Please move out the accounts. I want to take a look."
Xu You saw that Tian Yu and Yan Rou next to Yuan Xi were all covered in blood. His heart skipped a beat and he quickly led everyone to the backyard and opened several rooms. They were full of accounts and piles of bamboo slips.
It's almost to the roof.
When Yuan Xi saw it, he ordered Jushu to take the lead, and his subordinates started reading it separately.
Seeing everyone's serious looks, Xu You thought to himself that he might not be able to finish all these things in a few days, and he had almost made up for all the shortfalls, so there shouldn't be any problems, right?
Thinking of this, Xu You was itching with hatred. The purpose of becoming an official among nobles was to make a big fortune from it. Otherwise, why would you work so hard to be an official?
If he hadn't known that Yuan Xi would definitely target him, he wouldn't have fought so hard to vomit out the money and food!
Contrary to Xu You's expectation, Jushou and others just took out the summary of the running accounts of the past six months, took a rough look at them, and ordered someone to write down the rough figures. It only took less than half an hour before they left the house.
Xu You was extremely pleasantly surprised. It seemed that Yuan Xi was just trying to show off and prepare everyone to be harmonious?
He hurriedly smiled at Yuan Xi and said, "Your Majesty has been traveling in a dusty way, so I will prepare some wine."
Yuan Xi smiled and said: "Thank you for your hard work, Mr. Ziyuan. It's just that everyone is tired and it's wartime. As a governor, I can't take the lead in making an exception for drinking."
"Xixin accepts Mr. Ziyuan's wishes. In the future, we will have to rely on Mr. Ziyuan for logistics."
Xu You quickly agreed and saw Yuan Xi leading everyone away. Xu You seemed to be 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 break up with Yuan Shang, right?
Xu You couldn't help but feel a little complacent, but as a top strategist, he couldn't be clear-headed and always had a vague feeling that something was wrong.
He thought for a while, called a few confidants, and asked them to leave the house and secretly follow Yuan Xi's team to see if he went directly back to the house.
Not long after, a confidant ran back anxiously and reported: "The envoy has not returned home. He is taking some people with him and is talking to the people in the market!"
Xu You's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly changed into casual clothes, messed up his hair, and quietly left the house through the back door.
He jogged all the way to the location mentioned by his confidant, and soon saw Yuan Xi, Zhao Yun and others talking to an old man selling straw mats on the side of the street, surrounded by several circles of people.
Xu You rolled his eyes, and slowly approached with his back turned, until he was a few dozen steps away, and then pricked up his ears to eavesdrop on what Yuan Xi was talking about.
Yuan Xi's voice came, "I remember Mr. Zhou, you used to make rice buckets, why are you selling straw mats now?"
After hearing this, the hawker smiled happily and said, "Young master actually remembers the villain!"
He immediately sighed: "Forget it. Since the Chinese New Year a few months ago, for some reason, almost no one has come to buy rice buckets. I still have hundreds of rice buckets in my house, and I can hardly put them down."
"I don't think that's the solution, so I will change my career as soon as spring comes and make some reeds to make into mats and sell them, so I can make a living."
Yuan Xi said with a smile: "Zhang Zhou's rice barrels are made to fit perfectly. He is a carpenter. It's a pity."
"I am short of carpenters under my command now. Do you want to work with me? If you can lead an apprentice and teach one more person, I will give my father-in-law more money."
After hearing this, the hawker smiled and said, "Is there such a thing?"
"Then I'll be shameless and follow the young master for 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 barrel two years ago. It was very strong. Does any of you know why no one bought it?"
Everyone was silent for a moment, and then someone muttered: "During the Chinese New Year, it is difficult to buy food. Everyone's buckets are empty, so why buy buckets?"
Yuan Xi heard this and said: "Why, don't the shops on the street supply rice per capita every 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 can buy food?"
Zhao Yun nodded and said: "Indeed, there are unique marks on the bamboo chips, so it is difficult to identify them."
Someone in the crowd said: "We all have bamboo chips, but we are often short of food. They are gone halfway through the queue. One day's food is enough for three days."
Someone laughed and said: "I have been hungry for several days now than before. We are satisfied and we can finally survive. We all believe in the young master."
After hearing this, Yuan Xi smiled and said: "This is my fault. There were many wars in the past few days, and I adjusted the army rations to make you suffer."
Everyone hurriedly said: "Where is the young master? Without the young master's soldiers guarding the city, we don't know where we would have died."
Xu You broke out in cold sweat. Only then did he understand why Yuan Xi didn't look at the accounts. He knew that he had adjusted the account numbers and couldn't find any major problems, so he simply gave up looking for problems in the accounts!
Then he started directly from the common people and asked them about their living conditions in the past six months!
Around the Chinese New Year, it happened that Jushou left Beixin City and Xu You mobilized grain and grass in the city to make up for the shortage. Although he could ensure that the 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 the food would be mobilized every few days, so that no one in the city would starve to death. Since he had food to eat anyway, he didn't think it was a big deal, but the people below remembered the hunger very clearly.
Xu You saw Yuan Xi in the distance with a smile on his face, but his brows were slightly wrinkled, and his heart felt cold. 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 the young master to say this. We know in our hearts that as long as the soldiers are well-fed and win the battle, and those who are well-fed and hungry, we will all survive more or less."
"If we lose the battle, our family will have hundreds of stones and thousands of dendrobium grains, but we will not survive."
Someone echoed: "This is quite clear. Besides, no one in our family is a soldier. They all came here hungry with the young master."
"So even though we were hungry a few times a year ago, we didn't panic at all, because the young master had promised that he would not abandon us."
After hearing this, Yuan Xi was suddenly touched.
What about Zheng Beke and Duan Yu Yan? Although his strategy was good, it was the people in front of him who suffered the hardship.
They trust themselves so much, can they bear to abandon them?
He said decisively: "Okay! If you have any difficulties, you can come to my house at any time. Even if I am not here, someone will listen to your words and I guarantee that they can preach to my ears!"
After hearing this, everyone cheered.
The cold sweat on Xu You's face in the distance started to flow even more.
He discovered that he had misjudged one thing!
When there was a shortage of food in the city, there was no turmoil. He was complacent, thinking that the people in Beixin City were docile. Unexpectedly, it was because they trusted Yuan Xi that they did not gather to cause trouble!
Yuan Xi asked the onlookers to disperse, and then led them into the restaurant and food store. Xu You could clearly hear that he was checking the accounts of the past few days.
His mouth was full of bitterness, and he knew there was no need to listen any more, so he sneaked away.
Things can no longer be hidden, we have to find a way to protect ourselves!
Yuan Xi looked at the restaurant's accounts and said to Guo Jia: "I just listened to the people talking, and I got an idea."
"The common people are in trouble, but there is no way to get in when they go to the government. Even if they can get in, it is difficult to find the person in charge."
"Everyone has high hopes for me. After I return, I will keep the side door of the mansion open, find a room behind the door, and put a few servants there to receive people who have something to say."
"At that time, every matter will be written down, and those that can be handled will be sent directly to the relevant officials for processing. Any disputes will be reported layer by layer until the person who solves the problem is found."
After hearing this, Guo Jia smiled and said, "Young master, this idea is quite unique."
"There is a custom among the nobles to receive visits from famous people, but the young master pays no hesitation and does not reject anyone who comes. In this way, the popularity will inevitably rise."
Yuan Xi thought to himself that he really wanted to solve the problem. After all, this model was of great reference for future generations.
The door of those in power should always be open to the people at the bottom. The purpose of government decrees is to benefit and facilitate the people, not to disturb and harm the people.
Otherwise, how are they different from people like Xu You?