In years of famine and drought, their village even rejected fatty meat.

Chapter 382 An Extremely Powerful Person

Chen Dao shrugged and said, "If the Wang family hadn't been wiped out, where would I have gotten these 70,000 shi of grain? It couldn't have been given to me for free by the Wang family, could it?"

Xu Zhiwen: "..."

Li Hu: "..."

The two of them stared wide-eyed again, completely stunned!

They had previously guessed that Chen Dao's team was transporting grain, but when they heard Chen Dao say it himself, they were still shocked!

Even more terrifying was the number Chen Dao reported: 70,000 shi!

What does 70,000 shi of grain mean?

One shi equals 100 jin, so 70,000 shi is 7 million jin of grain...

Assuming an adult eats four catties of grain a day, 70,000 shi of grain could supply the daily rations of 175 million adults.

If we calculate based on the population of 100,000 in Taiping County, 70,000 shi of grain could feed everyone in Taiping County for half a month...

If we include the elderly and children who eat less, this time will be even longer.

Seventy thousand shi of grain could probably feed the county's 100,000 inhabitants for a month without any problem.

This is simply... absolutely amazing!

"Young friend Chen, is this truckload entirely loaded with grain? Is it really 70,000 shi (a unit of dry measure)?"

After a brief moment of confusion, Xu Zhiwen, regaining his senses, asked with burning eyes.

The food problem has always been the biggest challenge for Taiping County. If what Chen Dao said is true, then Taiping County will probably no longer have the problem of food shortage.

After all... this 70,000 shi of grain is more than enough to sustain the entire Taiping County until the next harvest.

"Of course it's true."

Chen Dao nodded, and then slowly recounted what he had done in Taicang County.

After hearing this, Xu Zhiwen and Li Hu's eyes widened even more.

They all knew that Chen Dao had left Taiping County a few days ago, and that he had gone to Taicang County with the daughter of the prefect. But they never expected that Chen Dao would do something so significant in the county town.

Together with the Suiyue Martial Arts School and the Zheng family, they eradicated the Wang family, who had been entrenched in Taicang County for hundreds of years...

If Chen Dao hadn't said it himself, the two of them probably wouldn't have believed it at all.

After all, the Wang family has many mid-level martial artists and a large number of retainers protecting them. Unless the imperial army besieges them, it is impossible to eliminate them.

"Young friend Chen has done something truly remarkable!"

Xu Zhiwen took a deep look at Chen Dao's slightly immature face. He had always known that Chen Dao was no ordinary person, but he never expected that Chen Dao would be so extraordinary that he could cooperate with the prefect to eliminate the Wang family. The power that Chen Dao possessed was probably far more terrifying than he had imagined.

"I'm just playing a supporting role; the main contributions come from the prefect and the Suiyue Martial Arts School."

Chen Dao said modestly.

However, Xu Zhiwen and Li Hu did not believe his words. If Chen Dao was just making empty promises, why would the prefect be willing to allocate so much grain to Chen Dao?

Seventy thousand shi of grain is no small amount. The price of one jin of grain is at least 15 wen nowadays, so seventy thousand shi of grain is worth at least 10 taels of silver. In Xia Kingdom, where an ordinary family of three can live on two taels of silver for a year, 10 taels of silver is an astronomical figure.

This made Xu Zhiwen and Li Hu deeply aware of the Wang family's wealth; the grain Chen Dao obtained could not possibly be all of the Wang family's wealth, meaning...

The Wang family possessed far more than 70,000 shi of grain. For a single family to own such a massive amount of grain demonstrates just how much fertile land the Wang family controlled in Taicang County.

"Your Excellency, Master Li."

Chen Dao looked up at the sky and said, "It's getting late, and I'm in a hurry to get back to Chenjia Village, so I won't stay in the city any longer."

"Wait a minute."

Xu Zhiwen suddenly called out to Chen Dao, and said somewhat embarrassedly, "Young friend Chen, I wonder if it would be possible to grant me a portion of these 70,000 shi of grain?"

"Does the county magistrate need food?"

Chen Dao asked in surprise.

Upon hearing this, Xu Zhiwen smiled bitterly and said, "Young friend Chen, you may not know this, but the price of grain in this city has been consistently high. I have tried countless ways to stabilize the price of grain, but even the most skillful cook cannot cook without rice! I only have a little grain on hand, while there are 100,000 mouths in the city that are crying for food. Even though I have tried all sorts of methods, I still cannot stop the price of grain from soaring."

After saying that, Xu Zhiwen added, "Therefore, I have no choice but to shamelessly ask young friend Chen to spare some grain for me. I can purchase this grain at the market price."

Xu Zhiwen had a considerable amount of money. After eliminating two major families in the county and successively wiping out the bandits outside the city and the Black Tiger Gang inside the city, Xu Zhiwen still had a lot of silver on hand.

But money can't be eaten or drunk, and it can't solve the food shortage in the county. Even if he had money, he would have a hard time buying enough food.

Fortunately, Chen Dao appeared at this time and transported 7 shi of grain from the county town, which undoubtedly solved Xu Zhiwen's urgent problem.

"no problem."

After pondering for a moment, Chen Dao readily agreed: "How much grain does the county magistrate need?"

"About 20,000 shi should be about right!"

After careful consideration, Xu Zhiwen gave a figure: 20,000 shi of grain was not enough to completely solve the food shortage in Taiping County, but it would not be a problem to lower the price of grain.

If we can hold out until the next harvest in Taiping County, the county's food shortage will naturally be resolved.

"Twenty thousand shi... Done!"

Chen Dao nodded in agreement: "I won't take advantage of the county magistrate, how about 10 copper coins per catty?"

"No problem, thank you, young friend Chen!"

Xu Zhiwen's eyes lit up, and he quickly thanked him.

Soon, the grain transport team, led by Xu Zhiwen, arrived at the granary in Taiping County, where officials from the county government directed the unloading of grain into the granary.

Watching bag after bag of grain being carried into the granary, Xu Zhiwen was in high spirits. He stroked his beard and asked a man beside him, "Brother, are you from the county town?"

"Yes."

The man glanced at Xu Zhiwen's official robes and replied, "I am a chivalrous man from the Prefectural Governor's Office. I greet Your Excellency."

"So they were from the prefect's office."

Xu Zhiwen was filled with respect. Strictly speaking, the prefect was his superior, so when he heard that this person came from the prefect's office, Xu Zhiwen's expression became much more serious.

"Brother Ren, how was the journey? Did you encounter any thieves?"

Xu Zhiwen asked in a casual tone.

"no!"

Ren Xia answered truthfully: "With Young Master Chen here, what foolish thief would dare to provoke us?"

"Oh?"

A glint of light flashed in Xu Zhiwen's eyes as he pressed on, "Judging from Brother Ren's tone, it seems you hold Young Friend Chen in extremely high regard?"

Upon hearing this, a hint of awe flashed in Ren Xia's eyes. As a member of the Zheng family who participated in the battle against the Wang family, he had personally witnessed Chen Dao and Xiao Yuan's performance on the battlefield that day, and naturally admired Chen Dao greatly.

"Young Master Chen is an extremely capable person."