Although he did not look down on the girl, he did not think that she could possess such courage and skills. In his inherent subconscious, the girl would eventually have to rely on the boy.
"Your Highness, do you think His Royal Highness the Crown Prince knows that he has been poisoned?" asked the aide.
Xiao Changyan paused, also a little uncertain: "I should know."
He was more inclined to believe that Xiao Huayong knew it. It was because he knew that he would not live long and he truly admired Shen Xihe that he obeyed her in everything and responded to her requests.
"Have you found out how the Shen family transports grain?" Xiao Changyan asked.
The staff bowed their heads and said, "Your Highness, Shen's subordinates have many elite soldiers. Even if our shadow guards were to fight against them, they might not be able to get away with it."
Xiao Changyan was slightly surprised. He was the one who trained the Shadow Guards himself. Each of them was an elite soldier who was good at fighting and could stand on his own. He did not expect that the staff had such a high opinion of Shen Xihe's men. It seemed that they had fought with Shen Xihe when they sent people to spy on his actions.
Pursing his lips, Xiao Changyan said, "Withdraw everyone and don't investigate any further."
Judging from Shen Xihe's attitude, he will not be given another chance to take over the disaster relief work. Shen Xihe's method will be revealed sooner or later. He just needs to wait and there is no need to really use the shadow guards to deal with it.
"Is there any movement from my twelfth brother?" Xiao Changyan asked again.
The staff also shook their heads in confusion. Logically, someone should have gone to rescue Prince Yan, but by now, the Crown Princess and Prince Xin had already entered the city. Both of them seemed to firmly believe that Prince Yan was in Lin County to provide disaster relief, and did not take any action at all.
Frowning, Xiao Changyan could only order: "Just keep an eye on it."
Now they can only be patient and not act rashly.
Xiao Changyan, who was waiting with all his heart, was once again confused by Shen Xihe's next move. It seemed that she had really handed everything over to Xiao Changqing, who diligently began to understand all matters related to disaster relief in the county.
Shen Xihe seemed to have become a virtuous wife. She only stayed by Xiao Huayong's side, taking care of him closely and ignoring outside affairs.
The grain reserves in the county were already stretched to the limit, and Shen Xihe cut off their legitimate way of obtaining relief from the wealthy families, so the people's food supply was declining day by day. After only three days, the people could no longer eat a full meal and could only eat half full.
The news that Xiao Changyan had deliberately spread before also began to spread among the people whose daily diet was getting worse and worse. The saying "a little bit of rice is a favor, and a big bit of rice is a grudge" probably means this.
In the past, some wealthy families had used their savings to allow them to have enough to eat every day. Although it was not the rich fish and meat, many of the farmers who were brought here from poor areas might not have dared to eat like this at home in the past.
Suddenly, they began to feel hungry and naturally began to accumulate resentment in their hearts. They never thought that they were previously supported by others. They only felt that it was Shen Xihe who was meddling in their affairs, taking the money of these wealthy people and supporting these rich families who were plundering the people, which led to their current hunger.
In the beginning, Xiao Changyan asked these wealthy families to empty their houses because someone had robbed them. They became more and more daring and felt that they should force Shen Xihe to compromise once. Therefore, that night, many people gathered and selected a local gentry in the city to launch a surprise attack.
However, the fact was that they did not even break into the gate. The reason why the people before were able to get in so smoothly was that Xiao Changyan sent his own people to infiltrate them. The real victims were just there to make up the numbers, in order to make it look like the incident was indeed done by the victims.