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Fei Qian looked at the worn-out fields and the silted-up canal and said, "So, this time when we deal with the Wei clan, we won't take any gold, silver, or treasures. The only things we want are two things: craftsmen and grain."
Jia Qu nodded, then shook his head. "But the Wei clan might not be willing to let those go so easily. They would certainly prefer to give gold and silver vessels rather than people and grain."
Fei Qian smiled. "The Wei clan will give them..."
There was a saying that went something like this:
It's not that something can't be sold; it's just that the price hasn't been met yet. Apart from the bonds of blood and kinship, most things have a price, especially in the current situation.
"Use those surrendered Baibo soldiers to dredge the canal and clear out a waterway as quickly as possible. For these fields, interplant foxtail millet, beans, hemp, and wheat—all crops we urgently need..."
Jia Qu acknowledged each instruction, then said hesitantly, "And what about these fields..." He trailed off. This matter was, after all, somewhat delicate. Speaking too much about it would please some and displease others. But if he didn't ask for clarification, it might cause obstacles later when dealing with various issues.
Fei Qian pondered for a moment. "Leave them for now... Implement military agricultural colonies first. For those with their own oxen and plows, it's a fifty-fifty split. For those borrowing government oxen and plows, it's a sixty-forty split. We'll start with that... We can discuss the other details later."
Military agricultural colonies didn't start with Cao Cao. They existed as early as Emperor Wu of Han. So Jia Qu found nothing surprising or questionable about this method.
Essentially, Fei Qian was becoming the great landowner of the Pingyang fields, renting out these lands to the common people...
Killing and burning brings wealth and status...
Stop, stop. He was just taking advantage of a loophole for now. The official approval from the court hadn't come down yet. Fei Qian was merely residing here temporarily.
Watching Fei Qian's figure before him, Jia Qu tilted his head slightly and blinked. Previously, he hadn't really understood why Fei Qian, Prefect Fei, had come to this pit of a place called Bingzhou. But now, well... it seemed he was starting to grasp something...
×××××××××××××××
"It is not scarcity that causes discontent, but inequality."
When facing benefits, everyone wants a share. So what to do? Come, come, cook a pot of communal rice and everyone divides it. But immediately someone will say, "Damn it, that guy who didn't even work also got a share!"
Then what to do?
Come, come, distribute according to work done...
'Ahem', but who does the work measurement? And doesn't that measurer also want a scoop from the pot?
These problems arise every day, big or small, more or less, always appearing when least expected, recognized yet difficult to control.
"I can still eat one more bite." That is the simplest form of greed.
But when delicacies are placed before someone, who can resist that one more bite?
Or when something even more enticing than delicacies appears?
Now, before Wei Ji lay two completely different treaties.
One demanded an enormous amount of wealth. At first glance, everyone in the Wei clan wanted to throw it aside and tear it up, anger unconsciously rising within them...
The other, however, infuriated Wei Ji personally, while the other branches of the Wei clan would simply respond with a dismissive "Oh" and leave it at that...
"...Did he say anything else?" Wei Ji felt his temples throbbing. But he knew that the more critical the moment, the more he needed calm. So he barely managed to control his emotions and spoke evenly.
"The reply must be given by sunset tomorrow, otherwise..." The Wei clan elder didn't finish his sentence, but both understood the implication.
For scholar-official families, surrendering the clan under normal circumstances wasn't usually seen as overly shameful. For them, the long-term continuation of the family was the most important thing. As for face? Sorry, how much does that cost per pound?
But regarding individuals, it was different.
No scholar-official family member would lightly pledge loyalty to any single person. But once pledged, they wouldn't easily leave. This disparity between family and individual was, for scholar-official families, a contradictory yet unified phenomenon.
The Wei clan elder knew Wei Ji needed time to consider, so he didn't continue speaking. He rose and took his leave. Wei Ji nodded, also rising, seeing his uncle out of the hall. He bowed and watched until his uncle had left before slowly straightening up and returning inside.
This was the first time Wei Ji had encountered such a situation, encountering an agreement so demonic.
It was a thoroughly open stratagem—presenting a choice while calculating the workings of the human heart...
Wei Ji knew this clearly, yet he couldn't find a way to escape this trap, because this open stratagem targeted not one person, but a group—all the members of the Wei clan...
Even if he saw through it, what could he do?
The Wei clan did not belong solely to Wei Ji. Certainly, Wei Ji had the authority to mobilize the clan's resources, but he could not do so without limits or bottom lines, ignoring all consequences. Otherwise, what was the purpose of the clan elders?
In normal times, the clan elders generally kept silent. But at a time like this, Wei Ji could well imagine those men's faces...
The sun gradually slanted westward. The light in the hall slowly dimmed. Wei Ji's white robes seemed to take on a layer of gray, no longer looking so pristine.
Without Wei Ji's orders, the servants dared not disturb him. The darkness within the hall grew thicker, engulfing Wei Ji, leaving only his two eyes, gleaming with an inscrutable light in the shadows...
××××××××××××××
In another, not-so-large room, over a dozen candles as thick as an arm were lit, illuminating the entire space as bright as day.
"This... this... this is utterly outrageous!" A white-haired elder, his beard trembling, slapped the table with his age-spotted palm. His yellowed eyes slanted towards Wei Ji's uncle. "Acting rashly, failing to achieve merit, bringing calamity upon the entire clan—truly... truly...!" He had completely forgotten his own tacit approval when he first learned of Wei Ji's plan to act.
Another elder stroked his beard, his expression blank. "Does the young master have anything to say?"—Isn't it obvious we shouldn't have to spell this out? Be a little self-aware. Wouldn't that save face for everyone?
Wei Ji's uncle simply shook his head silently.
"In that case, we shall await the clan head's decision!" An elder beside him tapped his dove-headed staff on the floor, concluding the matter.
Then, after exchanging subtle glances, the several elders rose, took their leave, and dispersed.
Wei Ji's uncle sighed, looking at the two documents on the table, copied from memory by his own hand. Under the candlelight, the words on the documents seemed about to leap up in a wild, demonic dance...
One document would essentially require ceding about half of the Wei clan's total wealth. The other would require ceding the vast majority of wealth from Wei Ji's own branch of the family...
What a poison-tipped stratagem, aimed straight at the human heart...