Sophia's supplies didn't arrive until noon.
Hot buns, corn, boiled eggs, and wrapped wontons were among the food she sent, making sure that the elderly and weak in the line ate first.
After sending the cooked food, Sophia also sent over the sweet potatoes, potatoes, yams, kudzu roots, corn, and other coarse grains from her home to General Yves.
There was so much at once that General Yves had to quickly call for the city guards to help carry everything.
He stayed at the city gate for most of the day.
"General, what should we do with all this food?" the head of the city guards came to ask for instructions.
"Just keep the food here," General Yves answered. "Starting today, we'll give it out to the people. Use the household registration book to confirm each family. Every household can get three jin of grain."
With those orders, the guard captain started organizing everything.
By the time General Yves got home, it was already late.
Since he wouldn't be staying in the city for long, he called for the steward to go over the details of the food distribution.
"Also, set up two more distribution points."
"And make sure the food gets into the right hands."
He was worried that some local officials, rich families, or those who weren't really in need would pretend to be poor just to take advantage and claim a share.
"General, how about we pay people for work instead?" the steward suggested after thinking for a moment.
"Oh?" General Yves raised his eyebrow and looked at him, signaling him to continue.
"After the first batch of water you sent out was actually received by the truly poor, the city officials and noble families caught on. They started sending their servants dressed as beggars to collect it, then resold it at high prices. I tried to stop it, but they always find a way to deceive us."
"Earlier, you mentioned how Chen Province was hiring women to sew clothes for the soldiers. We could do the same here in the capital."
At that, General Yves remembered something else.
Sophia had also sent a lot of drought-resistant seeds and a drilling machine.
"Alright, then don't rush to give out the rest of the food in the warehouse."
"Also, has everything in my storage been counted?"
The steward bowed and said, "Yes, General. Everything's been recorded. Would you like to see it?"
General Yves stood up and told him to lead the way.
"Most of the items in your storage are gold and silver treasures, famous paintings, furniture, porcelain, and such. There are seven thousand taels of gold, sixty-five thousand taels of silver, sixty-four paintings, four hundred seventy-nine decorative items, one hundred and eight pieces of furniture, and six hundred sixty-six porcelain items of various sizes."
General Yves walked toward the storage room, listening to the steward's report but wanting to see everything for himself.
Compared to the princes of other nations, his personal collection wasn't large, mostly because Zhaoguo was a small country to begin with.
The loot from the recent conquests of the Chu and Chen Kingdoms hadn't been brought back yet.
After coming back from the battlefield, General Yves had already given some of the spoils to his soldiers. As for the rest, even if it was brought back, it was hard to say how much would actually reach him.
He also had a large group of people to take care of. The situation in Zhaoguo was not better than in other countries. It might even be worse. General Yves not only had to support himself but also had to help the people who depended on him.
If Sophia knew what was going on, she would probably say this was like starting a game on the hardest level.
General Yves stood tall and straight. There was not much worry on his face.
Soon, they reached the storage room. General Yves glanced around, then turned to the steward and said, "Call another five or six people here."
The steward didn't ask questions. He followed the order right away.
A group of people followed General Yves. They walked along the narrow path cleared inside the storage room. As he walked, he pointed and said, "This one, that one, and this whole pile."
He didn't think too much. He just said directly, "Move all of these outside."
The steward and the workers quickly started working. Their movements were fast and organized. Their steps were quick but steady.
General Yves managed his people well. The people working under him were quick and efficient.
In less than an hour, the whole courtyard was full of things.
There were two coral pieces as tall as a person. The bases were made of heavy wood with a reddish-brown color. The red coral branches looked beautiful and balanced. Just one look, and it was clear they were very expensive.
General Yves took out about one-third of the gold, silver, jewelry, porcelain, furniture, and paintings from his storage.
After Sophia finished sending the last batch of items, she went to rest.
Later, she discussed with Ronin about buying some machines. They were drilling machines, excavators, and earth-moving trucks. All of them cost a lot of money.
"Miss Sophia, the vehicles are almost here. Should we send them to the warehouse in the town first?"
Before Ronin left, the warehouse next to Sophia's home had been full. He didn't expect that while he was away, it had already been filled and emptied several times.
His suggestion made Sophia think. "Okay. Let's send them to the town warehouse first."
These machines were big. If she sent them directly to General Yves' place and they suddenly disappeared, it might make others suspicious. So for now, they couldn't stop using the town warehouse yet.
After talking with Ronin, Sophia arranged the purchase of other supplies too.
Once she finished everything, she went up to the third floor to check if General Yves had sent any messages.
Because she had been sending items more often, she didn't want to miss anything.
When she got to the third floor and saw everything, her eyes opened wide in shock.
The entire floor looked like a mountain of goods.
There were all kinds of solid wood boxes, and some furniture was piled up messily. Most of it was made from purple sandalwood or other strong wood. There was even golden-thread wood. These were large furniture pieces that took up a lot of space.
Some boxes had fallen over, and their contents had spilled onto the floor. Gold was everywhere. The third floor was an attic with a slanted roof. There was a glass window in the ceiling. Sunlight came in through the window and shined directly on the gold-covered floor and the purple-black wooden furniture. A light fragrance from the sandalwood spread through the air. The scene looked very rich and beautiful.
Sophia stood there for a long time before she finally spoke. "Did he really send over everything he has?"
After calming down, she started moving the things. She moved out whatever she could. Otherwise, there was no way to walk inside.
It took her two to three hours to finally organize everything. Among all the valuable things, she finally found the plain and ugly pig trough.
Next to the trough, she saw a letter written by General Yves.
"Sophia, I'm sorry for troubling you. Zhaoguo is suffering from a bad drought. I ask for your help in sending supplies. If you need anything, please feel free to let me know. These are gold, silver, jewelry, and other valuable things I have offered. I hope they will be useful and can be traded for food."
Sophia read the letter. Slowly, her excitement started to calm down.