Chapter Twelve: This Is What They Call All’s Fair in War

After a grueling journey under the escort of imperial soldiers, the silver finally arrived at the disaster-stricken region.

When the local people caught sight of the wagons laden with silver rolling slowly into view from afar, their weary, sorrowful faces were instantly transformed by joy. They erupted into thunderous, ecstatic cheers.

"It’s true! The silver has actually arrived!"
"Mr. Wei didn't lie to us!"
"Our county is saved!"

Ping Borui scanned the rows of wagons filled with silver parked nearby, then hurried forward to receive the imperial decree.

The lead officer, his expression stern, unfurled the scroll and read aloud: "By the grace of the Emperor, the imperial court hereby grants the disaster-stricken Long'an County a total sum of 307,000 taels of silver, supplemented by 2,000 dan of grain."

Upon hearing the content of the decree, Ping Borui could not help but feel a surge of suspicion. The sheer number of wagons suggested a total of several million taels; how could it be a mere 300,000?

The officer, his face devoid of emotion, handed the decree to Ping Borui and said, "Magistrate Yu, please arrange for your men to inventory the grain and silver immediately and complete the signing and stamping procedures, so that we may return to the capital to report to His Majesty."

Ping Borui took the decree with both hands and nodded repeatedly. "Yes, yes, of course. I shall dispatch men to count the grain at once."

As Ping Borui turned to call out to the crowd behind him, Zhao Ziheng quickly pried open one of the silver chests. His expression suddenly shifted to one of horror, and he shouted in a rage, "Magistrate! The silver in this chest is fake!"

Stunned, Ping Borui rushed forward to inspect it himself. Sure enough, the chest was filled with counterfeit silver.

Anxious and confused, he questioned the officer, "Officer, what is the meaning of this? How could this silver be fake?"

The surrounding villagers, seeing the commotion, surged forward like a tide, scrambling to look at the chests. Their eyes widened in disbelief, and cries of fury erupted: "This is fake! It's all damn fake!"

In an instant, the scene descended into chaos. The roar of angry voices filled the air as the people vented their frustration.

"We waited so long, counting the days, pinning all our hopes on this relief money to survive, and this is how they treat us? With this trash!"
"What is going on? Why is the silver fake? Are they playing us for fools?"
"If the court didn't want to give us money, they should have just said so! Why trick us with this worthless junk? Do they want us to take the fall for this?"

Amidst the uproar, Wei Tianze climbed onto a wagon, seemingly oblivious to the chaos, and began to carefully examine the silver in the chests one by one.

He opened the first chest, rummaged through it, and then, picking up the box of fake silver, tossed it off the wagon as if it were garbage. He quickly opened the second; it was also fake—tossed aside!

Zhao Ziheng, unable to watch any longer, said with deep concern, "Mr. Wei, don't waste your energy. I’ve checked these boxes; they are all filled with fakes. No matter how much you search, you won't find anything real."

Wei Tianze ignored him, continuing his task with single-minded focus. Fake—toss!

The other villagers sighed, their faces filled with despair. "Mr. Wei, stop wasting your effort. It's useless! Let's just accept our fate; the court never intended to save us poor souls anyway."

"Mr. Wei, you've done your best, but look at how the court behaves... alas, we can only blame our own bad luck!"

Wei Tianze, who had been buried in his search, finally looked up. A faint smile touched his lips as he announced, "Look, here is the silver!"

The crowd turned their gaze toward his hand, where he held a small piece of silver weighing about one tael.

"Is that really real silver?" someone asked skeptically.

Without a word, Wei Tianze handed the fragment to the man, smiling. "See for yourself."

The man carefully took the silver, examined it intently, and bit into it. "It's real silver!"

The villagers crowded around, passing the small piece of silver from hand to hand. Each person inspected it, gasping in wonder. "It really is genuine!"

An elderly man shook his head with a sigh. "Even if it is real, it’s only a single tael. What use is that? I suspect the forgers simply made a mistake and accidentally mixed in one real piece."

The spark of hope, ignited for a moment, flickered like a candle in the wind.

Wei Tianze reached out and grabbed another piece of fake silver. He snapped off the outer layer of foam, revealing a one-tael piece of silver hidden inside the core!

"There is another tael hidden right here!"

Wei Tianze smiled, holding the silver high for all to see.

Seeing this, the crowd, still in disbelief, rushed forward and began frantically tearing apart the fake silver. Sure enough, everyone found that each large chunk of counterfeit silver was stuffed with smaller, genuine pieces.

"What... what is the meaning of this?" someone exclaimed, filled with bewilderment.

Facing their confusion, Wei Tianze smiled and explained calmly, "You don't understand. If we hadn't done it this way, do you think this silver would have reached us safely? Consider the countless checkpoints along the way, and the many greedy officials and bloodthirsty bandits who would be eyeing this fortune. If they had known it was real, they would have seized it long ago. But because it appeared fake, they lost interest, choosing instead to watch from the sidelines to see who was foolish enough to transport such a load of dross and what miserable end they would meet. The people guarding this shipment were not just the soldiers you see here."

The officer smiled broadly. "That’s right. Every time we reached a new territory, local officials would secretly dispatch their own men to shadow us, fearing the silver might go missing on their watch and bring disaster upon them. They were all desperate for us to leave their borders as quickly and safely as possible."

The local officials had known all along that the shipment was "fake." They were terrified that if the truth came out, they would be implicated. So, rather than speaking up, they secretly sent their own trusted men to ensure the convoy's safety within their jurisdiction, waiting for the time when the real silver would be revealed so they could watch the spectacle from a safe distance.

Wei Tianze added, "This was a clever strategy I devised with Prime Minister Wei. We did this specifically to guard against greedy officials and bandits. This is what we call 'using deception in warfare.'"

The crowd nodded in admiration. "Mr. Wei is truly a brilliant strategist!"

"Indeed," another agreed. "Think about it, we are so far from the capital, passing through so many dangerous lands. Without such a clever ruse, this silver would never have made it to Long'an County."

"Alright, everyone," Wei Tianze instructed, "let’s all work together to extract the real silver hidden within these fakes."

"No problem! Leave it to us!" they replied in unison.

The crowd set to work, methodically breaking open the chests. Suddenly, a shout rang out: "This box is entirely real silver!" All eyes turned toward it.

The chest was opened, revealing a trove of shining, genuine silver. Before they could recover from the surprise, another person shouted, "This one is all fake!"

As the chests were systematically opened, they realized there was a pattern: the top layer was all fake, the middle was mixed with fragments, and the very bottom was stacked with genuine, solid silver.

After a meticulous count, the total came to exactly 307,000 taels.

Meanwhile, the women were busy using grain winnowers to separate the sand and gravel from the grain. The total came to exactly 2,000 dan. The totals for both the silver and the grain matched the imperial records perfectly.

Ping Borui, finally understanding why there were so many wagons for such a seemingly small sum, let out a long sigh of relief.

He signed the documents and pressed his thumbprint onto them. The soldiers, their mission complete, began their journey back to the capital to report to the court.