The emperor was so angry that he vomited blood.

“Father…” Nangong Qing went over to help him with concern.

Su Luo also stepped forward and took the emperor's pulse; he was so angry that he felt his heart was about to break.

"Your Majesty, with turmoil looming ahead, you must remain calm and composed."

The emperor also wanted peace and quiet, but how could he possibly find peace?

"I'm tired, so tired..."

Several sons met with misfortune one after another: the crown prince was deposed, the second son rebelled, and the third son was seriously injured.

"Qing'er, we are surrounded by dangers. I am old and now I am counting on you."

The emperor can do nothing but wait for news.

"Father, no matter what happens, I will protect you."

The Imperial Guards brought up a junior commander to report the situation.

"Your Majesty, when the capital's defenses went to pursue the Regent of Northern Liang, the Second Prince's troops took advantage of the chaos to escape from the city."

Prince Yu has now divided his forces to pursue the Northern Liang envoy and to confront the Second Prince at the city gate.

"I have come specifically to request Your Majesty's decree: should we send troops against the Second Prince?"

"Chase!"

"yes!"

If His Majesty does not act today, Nangong Jingyao's blade will be on his neck tomorrow.

Nangong Qing and Su Luo stayed in the palace that night, waiting until dawn before news came from outside.

However, none of the news was good; Nangong Jingyao had escaped.

They scattered and fled, and the few troops Nangong Chiyu left in the capital were simply not enough to pursue them.

"Report..."

The messenger rushed in and knelt in the main hall: "Your Majesty, something terrible has happened! All the rice along the route from the capital to Beichuan has been burned."

The winds were strong last night, and almost the entire area suffered a complete crop failure this year.

Su Luo was startled; the emperor couldn't even stand up.

"You're saying the people's rice was all burned?"

The burned route led to Beiliang, so it's obvious that it was Ye Beihan who did it.

It's harvest time for rice, and the fields are golden, but his fire destroyed a year's worth of hard work by the farmers.

"hateful……"

"Vice Minister of Agriculture, what should we do?"

"Your Majesty, please don't worry. We harvested a good amount of rice last year. If the affected people can survive until the second rice planting season, we can overcome this calamity."

The emperor had many thoughts on this. The imperial advisor predicted a drought next year, and the emperor had originally planned to purchase a large quantity of rice this year.

But another unexpected event happened last night. We've made it through this year, but what about next year?

"This is the only way."

In the following days, Su Luo, Nangong Qing, and the Grand Minister of Agriculture all went to deal with the rice that had been burned along the way.

Not only should grain be allocated from the national treasury to the people, but they should also be appeased.

"Your Highness, the carrier pigeon has arrived." Su Zuo brought the carrier pigeon to Su Luo.

"Take this note up with it and let the carrier pigeon contact Butler Shi."

The Chen family had two granaries. Su Luo instructed Steward Shi to keep only enough grain for the family and take the rest to the Prince Yu's residence in the capital.

The Grand Minister of Agriculture looked worried and distressed, while the people north of the capital were filled with complaints.

"This is outrageous! They burned the rice paddies and aren't they afraid of being struck by lightning?"

"Yes, food is the most important thing for people. Such disrespect for food should be met with the destruction of their ancestral graves. They are worse than animals."

"My lord, my lord, you must save us! Without food, we can only wait to die."

More than a hundred people surrounded the Grand Minister of Agriculture and Su Luo, pleading and begging for help from the imperial court.

"My lord, we pay so much grain tax every year, the imperial court can't just ignore us."

The guards protected Su Luo and the Grand Minister of Agriculture in the middle, trying their best to prevent the people from harming the two officials.

"Please don't worry, everyone. Once we have a summary of the disaster situation and the approximate amount of grain lost, the imperial court will definitely provide you with compensation."

Please don't panic. We will not abandon any citizen of Nanning.

The Grand Minister of Agriculture raised his hands to quiet everyone down, trying his best to persuade them.

"Yes! The Grand Minister of Agriculture assured everyone that as long as we wait two more days and we get the statistics on the affected area, we will definitely not let everyone have a hard time this year."

The affected area is very large, and tens of thousands of dan (a unit of weight) of grain are needed to sustain the people until the second rice harvest.

"Sir, we are already facing a food shortage. We cannot rest easy until we see food."

"As I said, in two days, just two more days, the imperial relief grain will arrive soon. In these two days, submit a tally of your land area, and the grain will be distributed according to the yield of your land."

The Grand Minister of Agriculture possessed a righteous and upright character, and his words were precise, which immediately put the people at ease.

"Alright! You can't go back on your word, sir!"

Su Luo and the Grand Minister of Agriculture returned to the Ministry of Agriculture to take stock, and found that the grain in the national treasury was simply not enough to distribute.

“Deputy Minister of Agriculture, the region with the most grain in our country is located in the south. Due to the turmoil outside, we can only purchase last year's second crop of rice from the south.”

"The Grand Minister of Agriculture has considered all aspects; this is the only option for now."

Su Luo looked worried. She had gathered enough food for the people, but she was afraid that something unexpected might happen.

Seeing Su Luo's worried expression, the Grand Minister of Agriculture asked.

"Vice Minister of Agriculture, is there anything else you need?"

Su Luo simply shook her head and slowly said, "We're trying to solve our current predicament, but I'm afraid it might be something someone else has planned."

If the Northern Liang were to invade now, would our dynasty still have enough food supplies?

This is what Su Luo is most worried about. As the saying goes, "When a great battle is imminent, supplies must be prepared before the troops move."

Ye Beihan had also planned it all out. He knew that burning the rice fields in Nanning would not allow the people of Nanning to starve to death.

Last year, the second rice crop was just getting on track, and this year they chose this time to burn the grain. Su Luo increasingly felt that this was all planned.

“The Deputy Minister of Agriculture is right. If we were to go to war now, we really wouldn’t be able to produce that much grain. The people are just about to start living a good life. If things really turn out as you think, the sky over Nanning will fall.”

Su Luo had Steward Shi transport the grain to the capital, precisely because she feared this day might come.

If Nangong Chiyu really is going to lead his troops away, having an extra load of provisions would be a good thing.

For two days, Su Luo was busy preparing food supplies.

But in those two days, the capital city underwent a dramatic transformation.

A city outside Beichuan City was captured by Beiliang.

Nangong Chiyu is not there, and Beichuan City will soon fall as well.

"Guards, Prince Xuanyu is here to see you."

Nangong Chiyu has captured quite a few of Nangong Jingyao's men in the past few days.

They were too cunning and stubborn; no matter how he questioned them, he couldn't get the location of their hiding place out of them.

Nangong Chiyu also received the news from Beichuan City. It was truly a case of misfortunes never coming singly.

"His Majesty!"

Without saying much, the emperor ordered the chief eunuch to read the imperial decree.

"By the grace of Heaven, the Emperor decrees that today the Northern Liang have invaded. Prince Yu is ordered to immediately reorganize his troops and proceed to Beichuan City to meet the enemy. He is determined to recapture the lost city."

Nangong Chiyu knelt down to receive the imperial decree: "Your subject receives the decree."

After receiving the imperial edict from the chief eunuch, Nangong Chiyu still spoke about the current crisis.