My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 77 Zang Ba's Test

After being kicked out of the inn, Sun Yu slunk away.

Liu Feng stayed alone in the room for a long time before slowly exhaling a breath of stale air.

Sun Yu's arrival was truly bizarre.

Besides, Liu Feng knew this Sun Yu.

This man is Sun Guan's eldest son, who will inherit Sun Guan's title and become the governor of Runan. He should not be a fool.

His father, Sun Guan, was Zang Ba's most trusted confidant. Although he was also an independent military leader, he stood on the same side as Zang Ba in everything and could be considered Zang Ba's right-hand man.

The fact that the son of such a person would steal military rations in the middle of the night seems suspiciously like a conspiracy.

Liu Feng patiently continued to talk nonsense with the other party until the other party said that the amount of grain they wanted to sell was as high as two thousand shi (a unit of dry measure). At that point, Liu Feng felt that the other party had simply gone mad.

Zang Ba was no fool, and Liu Feng didn't believe that Sun Yu, who was in his early twenties, could embezzle two thousand shi of grain right under Zang Ba's nose.

It is clear that Sun Yu was so greedy that he was willing to risk his life.

Either Sun Yu has someone behind him, and that person is very likely Zang Ba himself.

Liu Feng believed the latter possibility was more likely. Zang Ba might have become suspicious, or he might simply feel that something was amiss and sent Sun Yu to test the waters so that he could feel at ease.

If Liu Feng were to orchestrate this, the two thousand shi of grain mentioned by Sun Yu would definitely just be a bait.

As long as Liu Feng shows interest, Sun Yu will go along with it, and then his demands will grow bigger and bigger. Eventually, he will offer 3,000 shi, 5,000 shi, or even 10,000 or 20,000 shi, allowing Liu Feng to take whatever he wants.

Only when it came time to deliver the grain did Liu Feng discover that the end of the passage was Zang Ba's ambush, not actual grain.

Therefore, after realizing what had happened, Liu Feng immediately turned against Sun Yu and kicked him out.

The next morning, after Liu Feng got up, he went to pay his respects to Zang Ai.

Zang Ai had just arrived at the Kaiyang County government office when he heard that Liu Feng had come. He was somewhat surprised and didn't understand why Liu Feng wanted to see him so early.

Liu Feng and Zang Ai had met several times during this period and had a good impression of each other.

Liu Feng admired Zang Ai's talent, propriety, and diligence.

Zang Ai was amazed by Liu Feng's extensive knowledge and far-sighted vision, and felt inferior to him, and wanted to get to know Liu Feng better.

The two became friends.

Unexpectedly, Liu Feng came this time and directly requested to have a detailed discussion in a private room.

Zang Ai was taken aback and quickly led Liu Feng to a secluded place.

Liu Feng's face was full of anxiety, and he somewhat rudely stepped forward to grab Zang Ai's hand: "Brother Shizheng, I never expected that your family would produce such a big rat!"

"A giant rat!?"

Zang Ai's expression changed drastically, caught off guard: "What does this mean?"

Liu Feng recounted the events of the previous night when he returned to the inn and encountered Sun Yu and others in his room, telling Zang Ai the whole story without embellishment or omission.

“This Sun Yu claims to be the warehouse manager of Kaiyang County and actually has two thousand shi of grain to sell to me.”

Liu Feng's face was filled with anger, yet his expression was righteous and awe-inspiring: "This scoundrel dares to underestimate me so much. Does he think I, Mi Feng, am a petty person who would abandon morality for personal gain?"

"Brother, there may be more to this than meets the eye."

Zang Ai grasped Liu Feng's hand and explained, "Sun Yu is my elder brother. His father is Sun Guan, the commander of a separate division who is my father's right-hand man. Sun Yu is two years older than me. Since we came to Langya, we have lived together and are no different from brothers."

"Although Brother Sun is not fond of classical texts, he is quite chivalrous and tolerant. He is certainly not a petty thief."

At this point, fearing that Liu Feng would turn hostile, Zang Ai quickly reassured him, "Don't worry, my brother, I will investigate this matter immediately and give you an explanation."

Since Zang Ai had already put it this way, Liu Feng naturally couldn't refuse. So, Liu Feng took his leave first, leaving Zang Ai standing there in a daze.

After a long while, Zang Ai stomped his foot angrily, then turned and left the county office to go home.

Upon arriving home, Zang Ai inquired about her father's whereabouts and then hurried towards the study.

Upon arriving at the study, I unexpectedly encountered an acquaintance.

This person was none other than Sun Yu.

Sun Yu was standing in front of Zang Ba at this moment, recounting in detail what had happened last night.

Sun Yu did not embellish the story; he simply recounted it truthfully.

After listening, Zang Ba glanced at Zang Ai, who appeared outside the door, and asked with some surprise, "Shizheng, why are you back?"

Zang Ai walked in, glanced at Sun Yu, and then fell silent again.

Zang Ba raised an eyebrow and said to Sun Yu, "What is it? Why don't you just say it? Xiu Lang is your elder brother, don't you trust him?"

Zang Ai was also angry, but she wanted to save face for Sun Yu.

Since Zang Ba now told him to speak frankly, he told him in detail how Liu Feng had gone to the county government office to find him early in the morning, and how Sun Yu had stolen military rations from the warehouse, intending to resell them to Liu Feng.

After finishing her speech, Zang Ai turned to look at Sun Yu, expecting the latter to feel ashamed or even apologize on the spot.

To his surprise, Sun Yu looked at him with a look of astonishment, without the slightest bit of shame on her face, let alone the shame of having her bad deeds exposed.

Zang Ai felt a surge of anger. He never expected that his brother of many years would become so shameless.

What is the most serious crime of embezzling and reselling military rations?
This is a capital crime.

Zang Ba always distinguished between public and private matters when managing his army, being lenient where appropriate and strict where necessary, which is why he was able to gain the loyalty of his soldiers.

Now that the matter has come to light, isn't Sun Yu afraid of being beheaded by his father?
Just as Zang Ai was about to reprimand Sun Yu, Zang Ba spoke first.

"Shizheng, you've misunderstood Xiulang."

A hint of embarrassment flashed across Zang Bawei's stern face: "Xiu Lang's visit to Mi Feng last night was arranged by me. His so-called theft of military rations was just a test."

Zang Ai was bewildered: "Why is that?"

Zang Ba explained to him, "Military rations are the lifeblood of an army. Although the Mi family has offered many benefits in the deal, I still cannot rest easy."

"Sending Xiulang to test the Mi family this time can be considered the final test."

"As I suspected, if the Mi family had any schemes, they would definitely target the military rations. Therefore, I sent Xiulang to steal and sell the military rations. If the Mi family harbored malicious intentions, they would surely bribe Xiulang with a large sum of money to obtain more military rations."

Zang Ai suddenly realized why Sun Yu showed no shame or fear when he complained to him; it was all an act, a test.

After Zang Ai understood what was happening, she felt a sense of indebtedness towards Liu Feng.

"Father, do you now think the Mi family is trustworthy?"

Hearing Zang Ai's question, Zang Ba relaxed: "Now that we see it, the Mi family was able to decisively dismiss the retired Lang, and then went to you to complain after dawn. They must have no ulterior motives and can be trusted."

Thank you all for your support, and thank you for your tips, monthly tickets, and recommendation votes.

Whether he can make it to Sanjiang is still unknown, but the old man will remember everyone's support.

I'll let the old man rest for a couple of days. Once it's officially released, I'll definitely add extra chapters to thank everyone. I'll also remember the extra chapters from Alliance Leader AD1.

Finally, thank you again to all the readers!

In addition, starting today, the old man will try his best to update at noon, with two chapters updated every day at 12 noon.

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(End of this chapter)