My wife, Wei Gui, was 1.9 meters tall and fought against the Tang dynasty for the throne.

Li Ju neither refuted nor explained.

He simply stood there, his expression unchanged.

Li Xiaochang stared at him for a moment, then suddenly sighed.

"That's enough. You're all grown up now, your father can't control you anymore." He stood up and walked out, but stopped at the door. "Huairun, it's not that your father doesn't care about you. But some things can't be solved by caring. You'd better take care of yourself."

he's gone.

Li Ju stood in the duty room, listening to her father's footsteps gradually fade into the distance.

Wang Yu peeked out from next door and asked cautiously, "Li Cheng, are you alright?"

"It's nothing." Li Ju sat back down behind his desk. "Get back to work."

The front lines have begun frantically requesting supplies again.

The official documents from Zhuojun no longer arrived three times a day, but three times every hour. Boats lined the canals, sails touching sails, and the two-thousand-mile-long Yongji Canal from Luoyang to Zhuojun was packed with grain ships.

However, less than 60% of the grain actually reached the front lines.

Li Ju personally escorted the ship northward. What he saw along the way was shocking.

At the dock in Ji County, a batch of military rations had just been unloaded from the ship when the warehouse supervisor arrived with his men. The ledger recorded it as "losses during transit," but in reality, the rations were moved directly into the warehouse supervisor's own warehouse.

Outside the transshipment warehouse in Liyang, several laborers lay dead from starvation by the roadside, their bodies unclaimed. The clerk guarding the warehouse said that there was grain, but they had to wait for orders from above before it could be distributed.

North of Lingchang, a batch of military uniforms had been sitting at the dock for half a month, with no one to transport them. The escorting officer said there weren't enough boats. But Li Ju saw more than a dozen empty boats moored on the river. The boat owners said that these boats had been "requisitioned," but they dared not say who had requisitioned them.

Many laborers suffered frostbite on their hands and feet, and boatmen died from exhaustion beside the oars; their bodies were thrown directly into the river and floated away with the current.

Wang Yu's eyes reddened as he looked at the laborers who had starved to death.

"Li Cheng, are these sons of bitches even human?"

Li Ju remained silent.

He squatted down and reached out to close the eyes of a laborer. The laborer was about forty years old, skin and bones, and clutched a handful of wild grass in his hand.

He took out a few coins from his pocket and placed them on the laborer's chest.

"Make a note of this place." He stood up and said to Wang Yu, "When we come back, build him a grave."

Wang Yu paused for a moment, then nodded.

The fleet continued north.

Li Ju sat at the bow of the boat, with paper and pen spread out in front of him. The wind blew across the river, carrying the smell of decay.

He picked up his pen and began to write a letter.

Ze Niangzi's Appreciation:

Ju traveled north from Luoyang, along the Yongji Canal, and what he saw and heard was too horrible to describe.

The granary supervisor of Ji County embezzled military rations; outside Liyang City, corpses of the starved lay everywhere; at Lingchang Wharf, military uniforms sat idle for half a month, unattended. Of the thousands of sails on the river, only six or seven out of ten could reach Zhuo County.

Officials are corrupt, and granaries are empty. Soldiers have no food, and laborers have no grain. The so-called prosperous age is nothing but an empty shell.

Ju Xixi once wrote a poem at the Luoshui Conference: "The fortress is strong in vain, yet ants burrow inside." Today I realize that this poem is not weighty, but rather insignificant. The ants' burrow is not inside the wall, but in the human heart.

Ju is of low rank and his words carry little weight; he cannot save the world. He can only do his best to protect the grain supplies on the few ships he holds. Those who can go to the front lines will not lose a single bushel; those who can protect the people will not abandon a single laborer.

I only wish my wife to know: though I am but a humble servant, I dare not forget my roots.

Spring is in full bloom; may you take good care of yourself, my lady.

Li Ju bowed deeply.

Five days after the letter was sent, a reply arrived.

Wei Nizi followed the Wei family's merchant ship and found Li Ju at the dock in Wu'an County. The little girl was tanned, but her eyes were still bright and sparkling.

"Li Huairun! You can really run! I chased you for three days!"

She shoved the letter into his hand, turned and ran back to the merchant ship, waved to him, and left.

Li Ju opened the letter.

Li Langjun's esteemed assessment:

I have received your letter and read it repeatedly, unable to sleep at night.

"The fortress is impregnable, yet ants burrow within." — When I first read your poem by the Luo River years ago, I only felt its excessive murderous intent, thinking it was the ramblings of a young man filled with cynicism. Only now do I realize that your vision far surpasses mine.

Official corruption and the suffering of soldiers and civilians are not problems that arose overnight. You alone uphold integrity amidst the turbid current, and hold a lamp in the darkness; this is something no ordinary person can do.

Gui dares not claim to "know you," but only wishes you to know: Heaven and Earth bear witness to your actions. If the starving laborers and hungry soldiers could know from beyond the grave, they would surely not forget that there was once a man named Li Langjun who did not withhold a single grain of rice or a single coin from them.

Your Majesty says, "It is difficult to save the world," but I disagree. The world cannot be saved by one person alone, yet it can be saved by each and every one of you. If Your Majesty upholds your principles, you will save those you can save.

Gui firmly believes that good and evil are rewarded accordingly. The likes of Li Zixiong are arrogant today, but they will surely face divine retribution one day. You should remain calm, do your own thing, and the rest are not worth discussing.

As for Gui—while you are risking your life on the front lines, I am in Luoyang, unable to offer any assistance. I only wish you to know: no matter what, the Wei family is here. And I am here too.

Though this letter is short, my feelings for you are deep. Take good care of yourself.

Wei Gui bowed.

The last line of the letter was written with slightly darker ink, as if the writer hesitated before putting pen to paper.

Li Ju read the letter three times, folded it carefully, and put it into his pocket.

Wang Yu poked his head out of the cabin: "Li Cheng, it's time to set off."

Li Ju stood up and walked to the bow of the boat.

The fleet slowly left the shore and headed north.

The water in the Yongji Canal was murky and heavy, while the wheat fields on both banks were lush and green. The April wind blew from the south, carrying warmth, but it could not dispel the stench that permeated the riverbed.

Li Ju stood at the bow of the boat, one hand resting on the letter in his bosom.

She is there. The Wei family is there.

enough.

With sails billowing, the grain ships sailed into the depths of the river.

The road ahead is still long.

The fleet reached Wu'an County as night was falling.

Li Ju was standing at the bow of the boat, looking at the river ahead, when he suddenly heard a commotion on the bank. Wang Yu ran over from the stern, his face pale.

"Li Cheng, there are soldiers on the shore, their armor is disheveled, they look like defeated soldiers."

Li Ju looked in the direction he was pointing. On the riverbank, there were about twenty or thirty people, dressed in rags and with pale faces. Some were leaning on guns, while others were helping each other, and they were walking towards the dock.

The leader was a burly man with a full beard, carrying a chipped sword in his hand.

"Stop them," Li Ju said.

Just as Wang Yu was about to lead his men ashore, the routed soldiers spotted the grain ships. A glint of light flashed in the leader's eyes, and he suddenly brandished his sword: "Brothers! Grain ships!"

More than twenty people swarmed forward, some jumping onto the bow of the boat, others crawling into the cabin.

Wang Yu drew his sword to block the attack, shouting, "How dare you! These are grain ships from the Imperial Waterways Bureau. Are you planning a rebellion?"

The leader laughed loudly: "Rebellion? I'm risking my life on the front lines, while those corrupt officials in the rear are embezzling all the grain! My brothers have been starving for days. If we don't seize the grain, are we just going to wait to die?"

Li Ju parted the crowd and walked up to the man.

Which part are you from?

The man sized him up, and seeing that he was a young civil official, he sneered, "Zhang Yi, Left Guard, Eagle Strike Captain. And who are you?"

"Li Ju, Assistant Director of the Water Conservancy Bureau."

Zhang Yi paused for a moment, then sneered: "The Water Conservancy Bureau? It's you corrupt officials who embezzle military rations—"