Yuan Shu resolved to save the penniless, starving, and infirm people of southern Liaodong. Unlike the generals who lived by the sword, Yuan Shu was a man steeped in classical learning. Mencius had taught him that the difference between humans and beasts was but a sliver; commoners might lose it, but the gentleman preserves it. To Mencius, the gap between man and beast was minute, defined solely by the four "sprouts" of morality that beasts lack: the heart of compassion (the sprout of benevolence), the heart of shame (the sprout of righteousness), the heart of deference (the sprout of propriety), and the heart of right and wrong (the sprout of wisdom). When a man loses these four, he is no better than a beast.
Yuan Shu’s heart of compassion was heavy. He could not bear to watch tens of thousands of people in southern Liaodong perish, especially from starvation. Yet, saving one person is easy; saving ten thousand is a monumental task. It was not merely a matter of money—it was a situation where pulling one hair could move the entire body.
Before the landing in southern Liaodong, the Imperial Court had prepared sufficient supplies for Huang Fei’s navy. Now, with this sudden influx of destitute refugees, saving them required transporting tens of thousands of shi of grain to the region in a very short time. The Imperial Court’s shipping capacity was fixed, limited by the number of vessels and the capacity of each ship. Without an increase in transport, every grain given to the p…
Chapter 1025