Chaos in the Great Xia: Seizing Grain from the County Granary

When Meng Qi took over Shuanghe, he had only an empty city, a few hundred remaining soldiers, and a prefect appointment that no one took seriously. To the north, the Canglang iron cavalry pressed on the border; to the south, old commandery magnates carved up the land. No one thought he would survive the winter. But Meng Qi did not rush to fight. He first repaired irrigation canals, then distributed farmland, established fair scales, and opened a bank. Others laughed at him, a prefect squatting in the fields all day, not looking like military material. Until one day, someone in the grassland king's tent asked, 'That Meng Qi, who exactly is he?' The tent fell silent for a long time. — 'I don't know. But his grain is already enough to last three years.' — Description from novelcodex.org