Gao Yiye leaned in slightly, her shoulder almost brushing against San Shier's ear as she relayed Dao Xuan Tianzun's words with painstaking accuracy.
To the watching Liang Shixian, this gesture screamed elitism. It looked as though the noble Lady found it beneath her dignity to address a mere seventh-rank Magistrate directly, choosing instead to filter her divine will through a servant.
Quite the set of airs she's putting on, Liang Shixian thought, though he didn't dare say it aloud.
---
San Shier, who had been wavering just moments ago, felt his spirit surge like a rising tide.
He had briefly feared that Dao Xuan Tianzun was turning his back on the common folk, but now he realized he had been overthinking. The Old Man was still the same benevolent deity he had always been; He just had a very specific, very cynical view of government finance.
I definitely followed the right God, San Shier gloated internally.
---
He straightened his back, his confidence radiating outward.
"Excellency, the First Wife has spoken. The Li family is more than willing to provide grain for the starving. In fact, we will ensure that every single grain finds its way into the belly of a refugee.
However, as for the tax silver... well, heh heh... Lord Liang, you are a scholar of the world. You know as well as we do that the silver we send up usually ends up lining the pockets of corrupt eunuchs and greedy officials.
Therefore, I must apologize: not a single copper coin will be leaving this estate for the treasury."
---
Liang Shixian's breath hitched.
This was a direct slap to the face of the imperial administration.
He stood up abruptly, his voice rising with defensive heat.
"I am not a corrupt official! If your family is willing to pay the taxes on behalf of the people, I personally guarantee that every mace of silver will be delivered to the capital!"
---
San Shier tilted his head, a mocking, pitying expression crossing his face.
"And then what? Once you deliver it, whose hands does it fall into? Can you guarantee it actually enters the national treasury? And even if it does, do you truly believe it will ever be used to help the starving people of this province?"
---
Liang Shixian opened his mouth to retort, but the words died in his throat.
He slumped back into his chair, his momentum shattered.
He stared at the floor for several agonizing seconds before murmuring,
"If the taxes are not paid... I cannot clear this hurdle. This office, this mission... it will all end in ruin."
---
Gao Yiye tilted her head, listening to the booming silence from the sky.
She leaned in again and whispered a few more words into San Shier's ear.
---
San Shier's eyes lit up.
"Lord Liang, tell me something. A man of your education, assigned to a godforsaken crater like Chengcheng County at a time like this... you must have offended someone powerful in the capital, haven't you?"
---
Liang Shixian stiffened, then let out a long, weary sigh.
"The Eunuch Faction would like nothing more than to see my head on a pike."
---
"Ah? The eunuchs hate you?"
San Shier leaned in, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper.
"Then you must be one of the Donglin Partizans?"
---
Liang Shixian's spine snapped straight. A look of righteous fury washed over his face.
"I am no 'partizan'! Only petty men engage in factional squabbles for power!
I merely attended a few lectures at the Donglin Academy and found myself of one mind with several of the scholars there. We are men of principle, not a political party!"
---
San Shier: "..."
---
Outside the box, Li Dao Xuan let out a snort.
Pfft. Classic Donglin behavior.
In history, the Donglin members never referred to themselves as a "party." In their own minds, they were the "Pure Stream", lofty, independent intellectuals who were above the grubby fray of politics.
Of course, once they finally toppled the Eunuch Faction, they became the very thing they hated, losing their ideals in the pursuit of absolute control. The boy who slew the dragon eventually became the dragon himself.
---
Seeing the Magistrate's genuine anger, San Shier decided to tread more carefully.
"Since you have friends within the Donglin Academy, Excellency, then you might not be in a dead-end after all."
---
Liang Shixian looked up, hope flickering in his eyes.
"Oh? Explain yourself."
---
San Shier listened to Gao Yiye's soft prompts and continued.
"You should write a detailed memorial about everything you've seen in Chengcheng. Send it to your friends at the academy. Show them the skeletons on the road, the parched earth, the sheer misery.
They are 'men of conscience', aren't they?
Once they read your report, they'll feel the pain of the people. They can then rally their... ahem... their 'fellow scholars' to petition the court.
If enough of them shout at once, the taxes for Chengcheng could be waived entirely. Even if they aren't waived, the bureaucratic pressure alone could delay the collection for months, if not years."
---
Liang Shixian fell into a deep silence.
He spent several seconds weighing the suggestion before his eyes widened.
"Do my friends at the Academy truly have that kind of influence?"
---
San Shier was just a local steward; he didn't actually know the first thing about the high-stakes politics of the capital.
But Dao Xuan Tianzun had just sent the intel through the Saintess, so he puffed out his chest and spoke with absolute conviction.
"They do! Their power is far greater than you realize."
---
Liang Shixian struggled to believe it.
Most of his friends were currently being hounded and suppressed by the eunuchs. They lived lives of hardship and constant scrutiny. Why did the Li family think they were so formidable?
He needed to think.
---
The Magistrate activated his mental library once more.
He recalled the lectures, the debates, and the faces of the men he had studied with. He visualized a group portrait of the Donglin lecturers:
Gu Xiancheng, Gao Panlong, Qian Yiben...
---
One by one, he mapped out their former titles and their connections.
He suddenly gasped, a cold sweat breaking out on his brow.
These men... they aren't just scholars. Nearly every one of them has held a high-ranking ministerial position or has students currently sitting in the Grand Secretariat.
---
If these men coordinated their efforts to speak for the people of Chengcheng, it wasn't just possible, it was a virtual certainty that they could force the court's hand.
---
"Very well!"
Liang Shixian declared, his voice regaining its strength.
"I shall pen several letters tonight. I will send them to my friends at the Donglin Academy and beg them to petition the throne.
We will fight to have the taxes for this county struck from the records!"
---
Li Dao Xuan smiled.
This Donglin official was interesting. He actually had a backbone.
As long as you're willing to put your career on the line for these people, I'll treat you as a partner. For now.
---
"Yiye," Li Dao Xuan commanded, "tell San Shier to finalize the relief plan with the Magistrate. We need to ensure that our grain is distributed properly.
Every kernel must reach the refugees; I won't have it siphoned off by some low-level yamen clerk."
---
Inside the box, San Shier and Liang Shixian began hammering out the logistical nightmare of disaster relief.
It was incredibly tedious work.
Li Dao Xuan listened for a few minutes before his head started to ache.
They were debating where to set up porridge stations, who would cook the grain, how many bowls to serve per day, how to prevent embezzlement, and how to spread the news to the remote corners of the district.
---
Boring adult stuff, Li Dao Xuan thought.
---
But for San Shier, this was his specialty.
As the former right-hand man to the previous Magistrate, he knew the inner workings of Chengcheng better than the new guy ever could.
He laid out a plan so detailed and foolproof that Liang Shixian eventually just sat there looking dazed, unable to keep up with the technical jargon of local governance.
---
Liang Shixian eventually had to call up his own Shaoxing Shiye to help.
The second round of negotiations began, two veteran secretaries going head-to-head, debating the minutiae of administration with a level of intensity that was almost frightening.
---
Li Dao Xuan tuned them out.
He had bigger things to worry about.
He picked up his phone to check his TikTok account.
---
Yesterday, he had uploaded a new video: a clip of the Gao Village Headman weaving bamboo baskets by hand.
He had paired it with a somewhat clunky caption:
"The village head is old now. The only work he can still do is weave these tiny bamboo baskets, cradles, and chairs..."
---
The video started with a cinematic drone-style shot from high above the stronghold, slowly descending until the lens "locked onto" the old man's weathered hands as he worked the bamboo.
Then, it pulled back for a sweeping view of the entire Gao Village landscape.
---
He wondered if the "Internet Elders" would appreciate the craftsmanship.
He opened the app and was immediately hit with a flood of notifications.
Thousands of comments were rolling in.
---
"This 'Little People' POV is actually fire! Hahaha, look at that stronghold. It's obviously a model, I can tell just by the texture."
"Yeah, they aren't even trying to hide it. Look at the roof, that's clearly composite pressed-board. And wait, did I just see a wheel peeking out from under the wall? LMAO, why would a real fortress have wheels?"
"I recognize that model! That's the 'Chonglin Estate' kit from the specialty hobby shop!"