It's really hard to just farm peacefully.

Jiang Yan stood up from her chair, and all the people in the room immediately looked at her.

She pointed to her throat, gestured as if she were going out to fetch a kettle to make water, then lifted the curtain and left quickly, taking deep breaths of the cold, fresh air as she walked along the corridor.

A persistent, muffled cough drifted away on the wind.

Inside the room, the two who had been silent all along suddenly began to murmur, ending with the question: "Why would they come to our desolate government office?"

Not long after the old emperor's death, the central court became a mere shell, disintegrating in name only. Although their Grand Minister of Agriculture's office was still preserved, it was just a formality, remaining dormant for many years. Apart from the two of them who were just going through the motions, everyone else had long since gone off to find their own way to make a living.

Just a few days ago, Kyoto was thrown into chaos. Those who wanted to cause trouble found the place deserted and lost interest, so they simply skipped it, which saved many lives.

The Song family and the Xie family haven't even reached an agreement yet, and the Song family has already sent someone to their obscure government office... I wonder what kind of treasure they're hiding.

When Jiang Yan returned after staying outside for a while, she saw the former commander's subordinates and the former Taicang commander's subordinates bent over and pressed against the wall, their movements meticulous as if they were searching for some kind of mechanism or hidden compartment.

She knocked on the wooden door, and seeing the two quickly return to their seats, she asked the empty wooden shelf, "Where did you hide the original documents?"

Jiang Yan and her group had shaken off a group of followers and entered the capital late the night before last, and not long after dawn yesterday, she was urgently dispatched to the Grand Minister of Agriculture's residence.

Jiang Yan was exhausted and the government office had been deserted all day. But today, the Fu family's men brought back the former minor official and sent him over. She could no longer slack off.

They only helped Lord Fu gain an advantage for half a day. Half a day later, Governor Mo of Zhongyuan Prefecture led his troops into the capital through the south gate to take a share. Half a day later, the Xie family, having been notified by Governor Mo, also sent troops to arrive.

Now that the leaders of the Song and Xie families have all arrived, they are reportedly discussing how to jointly govern the capital. However, for important government offices, both families, along with their respective allies Fu and Mo, are vying to occupy them.

Historical records, account books... are all important when there is no conflict, and I don't know when Xie's men will remember this place.

The two men, who had just been temporarily promoted to the positions of Instructor and Granary Officer, led Jiang Yan to the backyard. After many twists and turns, Jiang Yan, who could remember the way, was getting increasingly out of breath from the exertion she had put on earlier.

She suddenly became extremely worried about her safety. What if there was someone who had slipped through the net and was holding her hostage or ambushing her?

Jiang Yan stopped in her tracks: "Please wait a moment, I'll have someone go with you to get it."

……

The data from the Ministry of Agriculture was only in written form; the seed backup that Jiang Yan was hoping for simply did not exist.

Taicang used to have a complete range of grains, but after the capital was surrounded and left barren, it became more difficult and expensive to transport rare ingredients from all over the country. The supply to the people in the capital was far from enough, with no surplus.

Moreover, that place was not spared either; it was looted and burned, leaving only ashes.

The helpers she found transported about ten boxes of books to the office. She casually lifted the lid of one of the boxes and was immediately hit by a cloud of dust.

"These books... how long has it been since you cleaned and aired them out?" Jiang Yan still had a musty smell lingering in her nostrils.

The instructor was embarrassed. He had been working under the original instructor for less than half a year, and the Taicang instructor had been there even less. The two of them sat on the sidelines every day, pretending to be working, but in fact they hadn't mastered any of the tasks.

He thought that he hadn't aired out the books since he arrived, and recalling the thickness of the dust layer inside when he moved the books, he said uncertainly, "Maybe it's only been two or three years... Why don't you look at this box first, the ones inside are newer."

Jiang Yan, feeling helpless, chose the books with the least dust, meaning the most recent ones, to read first. As for the two of them, they huffed and puffed as they carried a pile of books to the yard to dust them off and air them out.

The new booklet contained little useful information. Perhaps due to a lack of focus on official duties, or perhaps due to insufficient material, Jiang Yan quickly flipped through it and found the content perfunctory. Especially compared to the content from the previous two years, the notes were particularly brief, and errors appeared frequently.

There was no other way but to start with the earlier books.

Long-term training has enabled Jiang Yan to quickly locate and extract the information she wants from a large amount of data with ease.

She flipped through the books one after another, spending the entire afternoon and most of the morning to get a general idea of ​​the books from the fourth to sixth years ago.

There were still nearly seven boxes left to be checked, and the Xie family had already heard the news and rushed over to interfere.

The Xie family planned to take all the book boxes away, but Jiang Yan only managed to stop them with a few words before their steward arrived and blocked the doorway with his men.

Jiang Yan stepped aside and listened to the sarcastic remarks and heated arguments between the two sides. The final result of the debate was: "The books will remain in the office for three more days. Anyone can look at them, but no one can take a single one away! How much you look at depends on your own ability!!!"

Jiang Yan counted the Xie family subordinates who entered the office; there were five, almost filling the room, while she looked left and right and still seemed to be all alone...

She walked quickly to the steward and asked expectantly, "How many helpers can I have?"

"Including you, there are two of us in total." Seeing the disappointment in Jiang Yan's eyes, the manager explained a few more words, "Believe in your abilities. The main issue is that we are short-handed and need to focus on important matters."

In other words, they don't think her situation is important...

Moreover, Jiang Yansheng made a comparison, "The Xie family can spare so many people..." while the Song and Fu families don't have enough manpower. What does this mean? It means they lack talent, and further, it means they are very likely to be at a disadvantage when they compete for the world!

The steward was unaware that Jiang Yan had thought so far ahead. He glanced at the Xie family steward, who was still wary of him not far away, and whispered, "There are only a lot of people from our Zanjin faction right now. Once they come to their senses after tonight and find that they can't find anything important, they will definitely call them away. At most, they will leave two behind."

She said it wasn't important... Jiang Yan's eyes were already itching to roll, ready to fire.

The promised new helper wouldn't arrive until tomorrow. Jiang Yan watched as the steward, forcibly acting like a brother, pulled the Xie family steward away without looking back. After exchanging polite but friendly greetings with the two guards left behind, he walked heavily into the office.

She was actually a shy person at heart, and she easily felt uncomfortable around strangers, let alone when those strangers were a group. Now that she was alone in the office, her initial comfortable feeling of being on her own turf instantly turned into discomfort, as if she had mistakenly entered someone else's home and was being stared at and guarded.

Jiang Yan lifted the curtain and was met with this scene: the stares of seven people, including five Xie family subordinates, the guide, and the Taicang magistrate…

Seriously, what are you looking at...?