The harvest season in Taicang's fields slowly passed, and after the hardworking Taicang citizens had harvested all the grain, it was transported to the nine massive grain warehouses beside the royal palace.
These nine grain warehouses had been in existence for over a hundred years, and every harvest, the grain would be stored here.
This year's third harvest season held special significance for Taicang, as it marked the final harvest before the Day of Silence (Ri Ji) arrived in two months. After the Day of Silence, the three suns would rise again, the land would revive, and the people would plant seeds, leading to another harvest season two months later.
This meant that after the third harvest season, there would be a six-month period where no grain would be harvested, and the people of Taicang would have to endure difficult times.
"The unexpected grain shortage in the third harvest season caught everyone off guard," reported Gu Shu, the Minister of Agriculture, in the Hall of Taicang. "In fifty-nine days, the Day of Silence will arrive. The Agricultural Bureau, in cooperation with the various ministries, has already calculated the food rations for the next six months for the people of Taicang..." Before he could finish, a minister stepped forward, pointing at the Agricultural Minister and scolding him, "The Agricultural Bureau failed to detect any signs of a poor harvest! And now, with such a poor yield, is your only solution to reduce the food rations of the citizens?"
Several other officials joined in, holding the Agricultural Bureau accountable.
Gu Shu's face turned pale with anger. He could not help but argue back, "My colleagues in the Agricultural Bureau have been working day and night to monitor the fields. There was no sign of any problems, but the grain simply grew much less than in previous years! What more can we do?"
"Ultimately, this is your failure as the Minister of Agriculture!" one official retorted. "The inability to identify the problem shows your lack of agricultural expertise!"
Gu Shu felt furious at the attack on his pride and was about to respond when Ji Xia, lazily sitting on the throne, slowly spoke up: "How much grain is stored in the fourteen grain warehouses of Taicang's two cities?"
Gu Shu replied, "Approximately forty-eight million pounds."
Ji Xia furrowed his brow. "With over six hundred thousand people, only forty-eight million pounds of grain? That means each person will only have about three taels per day?"
The situation in Taicang was different from Earth. Apart from grain, the people had very few other food sources. While children could survive on smaller portions, it would be impossible for adults to sustain themselves on just three taels of rice per day.
Moreover, Taicang's food supply was not equally distributed. The officials' salaries and the soldiers' food consumed a significant amount of the grain, leaving even less for the common people.
Hearing Ji Xia's words, Gu Shu felt deeply ashamed and said, "The Agricultural Bureau has failed Taicang."
His admission of guilt sparked another round of criticism from the officials, but Ji Xia waved his hand to stop the uproar. "Enough! Arguing here won't solve anything. Let's go to the warehouses and see for ourselves."
He stood up first and said, "Let's go to the grain storage."
At the grain warehouses, many citizens were busy handling the newly harvested grain, packing it into bags made of strange leaves and stacking them neatly in the storage rooms. The warehouse supervisor was with the King and his loyal ministers, introducing the structure of the warehouse.
As Ji Xia walked through the warehouse, filled with the fresh scent of grain, the hardworking citizens continued to work diligently. It was as if they had no complaints about the limited food supply and showed no sign of slacking off.
Ji Xia gestured for the warehouse supervisor to remain quiet and walked up to a middle-aged man, around forty years old, who was working hard to organize the grain bags.
"Uncle, how does the new grain taste? You must have had a chance to taste it while working here, right?" Ji Xia asked with a smile on his face.
The middle-aged man turned around, and upon seeing the handsome young man, he smiled and said, "I haven't tasted it yet. The grain this year, in the third harvest, wasn't great. So, the warehouse manager didn't follow the usual practice of giving the workers the new grain. We're still eating the old grain from a few months ago."
Ji Xia, concerned, responded, "The royal court failed to monitor the fields properly, and this harvest is indeed poor. The people of Taicang will have to endure hard times. I wonder how many will die this time during the Day of Silence."
The middle-aged man looked at the young man with increasing familiarity, but he couldn't quite place him. Deciding not to dwell on it, he continued, "How can we blame the royal court? My wife also worked in the fields this year, and when she came back, she told me that the officials in the Agricultural Bureau worked just as hard as we did—out in the fields all day in the sun and wind. Their food wasn't any better than ours."
"The people working the fields can rest at night, but the officials work day and night. My wife even saw some of them chewing the soil from the fields, saying they were testing the soil's quality…" He continued, "We can't blame the royal court; the officials have done their best. There's less food, so we'll eat less and give more to the children and elderly. We'll survive. I remember when I was young, we went through something like this."
"That year, the harvest was too poor. My father gave the grain to my mother and me. Afraid we would be scared if we saw him die, he left Taicang and went outside the city to wait for death. But afraid that his body might scare passersby in the dark, he buried himself in the snow. He wasn't found until the Day of Silence had passed, and the snow melted."
The middle-aged man recounted the story as if it were someone else's, with a simple smile on his face. He continued organizing the bags of grain while speaking softly.
Ji Xia listened quietly to the man's words, his face calm, though his eyes rippled with the intensity of a stone dropped into a still pond.
He asked, "Uncle, how much grain do you think it would take to fill one's stomach every day?"
The middle-aged man, hearing the question, waved his hand repeatedly, "I see that your clothes are quite fine, so you must be from an official family, right? We don't think about getting full; two meals of porridge a day is enough. After all, it's the same everywhere—people's lives are tough!"
Ji Xia shook his head, his expression firm, and asked again, "Uncle, for an adult who hasn't cultivated any martial arts, how much grain would they need to be full?"
The middle-aged man, noticing Ji Xia's serious tone, stopped working and thought for a moment before hesitantly replying, "Honestly, I've never had a full meal in my life. For an adult man, to be full, it would probably take a pound of grain a day. Maybe eight taels would be enough."
He smiled ruefully as if mocking himself for such a naïve thought.
Ji Xia took a deep breath and said, "Uncle, do you believe that one day you'll be able to eat your fill?"
The middle-aged man, perhaps annoyed by the question, waved his hand and turned back to the grain, his voice calling out, "Life is long, there will be one or two times when we can eat our fill. But I'm full—it's everyone in Taicang that needs to be full!"
Ji Xia watched the middle-aged man continue working from a distance, standing still for a long time before slowly walking out of the grain warehouse.
Behind him, the ministers, sensing his low mood, kept their distance, not daring to approach.
Outside the warehouse, the sun was shining brightly. Ji Xia looked at the busy Taicang citizens, their faces full of joy despite the scarcity of food. He couldn't help but curse inwardly, "There's hardly any food for you, so what are you so happy about?"
He glared at the three suns overhead, then turned to look at his citizens, "I refuse to believe that with all the help I have, you can't be fed! I'll make sure you have plenty to laugh about soon!"