Chapter 264 Disaster Relief (Two Chapters Combined into One)

Five days later, the Fourth Prince and his entourage were finally able to set off, but by this time, Tongzhou was already a vast ocean!

In just one day, four urgent reports from 800 miles away were delivered to the capital, reporting floods in Tongzhou, Yuzhou, and Baixian and Xianxian counties were in danger!

There was really a flood in Tongzhou!

Emperor Yongjia asked, "Where is the Fourth Prince now?"

Judging from the time they left the city, the Fourth Prince and the people from the Ministry of Works should have arrived in Tongzhou ten days ago.

Eunuch Liu hurriedly said, "The Fourth Prince fell ill a few days ago and is still in Yanzhou."

"Yanzhou? Why are you still in Yanzhou?" Emperor Yongjia was furious and ordered someone to bring the map.

Yanzhou is not far from Tongzhou. Under normal circumstances, it only takes two or three days to travel. However, the Fourth Prince's illness delayed the journey. First, heavy rain poured down in the Tongzhou area, making the road difficult to travel. Then floods occurred, and a bridge on the official road from Yanzhou to Tongzhou broke. Now people from Yanzhou can't get through, and people from Tongzhou can't get through either.

The Minister of Works looked unhappy. He did not expect that the Fourth Prince and his entourage were still on the way.

Moreover, he had received a letter from his subordinates sent back to the capital. Originally, they were only supposed to stay in Yanzhou for one night, but the Fourth Prince was curious about the Fairy Cao, so they stayed for two more days. As a result, they drank unclean water, and the group suffered from vomiting and diarrhea. The Fourth Prince could not even get out of bed. The result of the delay was heavy rain in Tongzhou, followed by a flood.

To put it bluntly, this has nothing to do with their Ministry of Works. If anyone is to blame, it's only the Fourth Prince.

The Minister of Works reported the Fourth Prince without hesitation.

Don't say that the prince can't participate. At this critical moment of life and death, no one wants to take the blame for him.

Feng Ke seized the opportunity and followed immediately. So while the Fourth Prince was still circling in the official inn, the memorials impeaching him had already been carried into the imperial study in baskets.

Even Xiao Zhen did not expect that in his previous life, the Fifth Prince arrived in Tongzhou after the flood. In this life, he gave an early warning, and the Fourth Prince also left the capital in advance and was still on the road until the flood occurred.

A lifetime later, with advance warning and a new prince, things still unfolded in the same way.

Fortunately, in this life, with him and Zhao Shiqing, sixty to seventy percent of the people in the four areas of Tongzhou rushed to Gaoping before the flood.

Yes, sixty to seventy percent, and the remaining thirty to forty percent of people have not left, either because they don’t want to leave, are unwilling to leave, or are unable to leave.

For example, there was a family of three, a grandparent and grandchildren, who just arrived at the mountain today. Their son was doing business in another place, so only the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law who was in confinement were at home. All the neighbors had left, so they couldn't leave. When Zhao Shiqing was rowing out, he happened to meet them and brought them to the mountain.

"Where is Mr. Xiao? Did he go down the mountain again?" Zhao Shiqing asked.

Xiuxiu nodded: "Well, after Xu Le went up the mountain to meet Master Xiao, they left together."

Since going up the mountain, Xiao Zhen has completely taken off his fake face. Firstly, he was caught in the rain every day, and it was uncomfortable to have the fake face stuck on his face. Secondly, this was also part of his plan.

There is no Young Master Zhen now, he is Young Master Xiao.

As usual, Zhao Shiqing went to the inn at the back first. Although there had been habitable houses on the mountain before, there were only a few of them. The current inn was temporarily built after Xiao Zhen and Zhao Shiqing arrived. Due to limited time, they moved in before the soil was completely dry. The roof was covered with tarpaulin, so there was no leakage.

The smell of mugwort wafted into the air. This mugwort, along with a large amount of quicklime, had been transported up the mountain before the heavy rain arrived, and was now put to use.

"The second young lady is here!"

Someone shouted, and several little girls ran over.

"Second Miss, the family that just arrived has settled in. Their baby is so cute."

"The baby can even blow bubbles."

The people who were talking were a pair of young sisters. Zhao Shiqing knew them. They were the granddaughters of Mrs. Hao. Since settling down in the mountains, the three generations of grandparents and grandchildren had spontaneously helped take care of the new female relatives.

Zhao Shiqing touched his sister's head and asked, "Did anyone quarrel or get upset today?"

My sister thought for a moment and said, "It was Aunt Li. When we had dinner today, she brought her grandson here and tried to eat Xiaohua's eggs. My grandmother scolded her, and she scolded my grandmother, saying that Xiaohua was a money-loser and didn't deserve to eat eggs."

Supplies on the mountain were limited. Pregnant women, breastfeeding women, and children under seven years old were given one egg or one piece of dried meat each day, but no one else got any.

Zhao Shiqing remembered Aunt Li, a very aggressive woman. On the first day she arrived, she heard that the living conditions for the women were much better than those for the men, so she asked to live with her grandson. However, it was the rule on the mountain that men and women lived separately, and her grandson was already twelve years old, so he could not live with the women. She started to make a big fuss, and Lingbo went over to scold her, saying that she would get out of the mountain if she made any more noise. Only then did she give up.

Zhao Shiqing asked, "Where is her grandson now?"

As soon as she finished speaking, she heard a little girl crying from a room. The little sister pointed to that room and said, "Aunt Li's grandson is still there."

Zhao Shiqing walked over quickly. The door was open. A tall and fat boy was gnawing on the stolen dried meat with a proud look on his face. The person who was robbed was a little girl of four or five years old. She was being held in the arms of a woman and crying sadly.

When Aunt Li saw Zhao Shiqing coming in, she didn't feel guilty at all. Instead, she looked very proud. Her grandson was so capable!

As for this Miss Zhao Er, Aunt Li didn't take her seriously. Kind-hearted people are easy to bully. Besides, she is just a little girl.

Zhao Shiqing narrowed her eyes. Dried meat, like eggs, is used to supplement nutrition for pregnant women and children. Aunt Li's grandson first snatched eggs from one child and now he is snatching dried meat from another child.

Originally, these were all small matters that Zhao Shiqing didn't need to worry about, but every small matter could potentially turn into a big matter. What's more, in Xiao Zhen's dream, bad guys sneaked into the mountains and killed the entire family of the teahouse owner, so Zhao Shiqing asked people to pay attention from the beginning and solve any problems immediately.

There is no need to argue with people like Aunt Li, because they are unreasonable.

"Lingbo, throw this grandparents and grandchildren out. There's no room for them here!"

Before she finished speaking, Ling Bo rushed over, dragged the boy who was almost as tall as her and walked out. Aunt Li didn't expect Zhao Shiqing to let someone drag her grandson away without saying a word. She screamed and rushed over to grab her grandson: "Yaozu, you money-loser, put my Yaozu down!"

Seeing this, Zhao Shiqing reached out and grabbed Aunt Li's shoulder: "You and your Yaozu go out together!"

The master and servant dragged the grandparents out of the inn. Although the mountain was not flooded, it was muddy everywhere. The grandparents were thrown into an open space. A moment later, Aunt Li's son was also dragged out.

Zhao Shiqing looked at the family of three with a cold gaze. Every family that came here had a detailed registration. This family saw some people going up the mountain and followed them. They were registered as people from Dahe Village at the time. When they heard about the flood, they went to the city to seek refuge with their relatives. They didn't find their relatives and were trapped in the city by the heavy rain.

Zhao Shiqing didn't think anything of it at the time, but now he became suspicious.

She looked at Aunt Li's son, Li Dazhu: "Where's your wife?"

Li Dazhu was dragged out while he was sleeping soundly, and he still doesn't know what happened.

“Dead, dead!”

Zhao Shiqing asked again: "You only have one child?"

The child is already twelve years old. Unless the mother died when the child was very young and Li Dazhu never remarried, this situation rarely happens. Most children will have younger brothers and sisters.

Li Dazhu avoided his gaze and subconsciously looked at Aunt Li: "Yes, yes, there is only one."

Zhao Shiqing looked at Li Yaozu again: "Where's your mother? If you don't tell the truth, I will throw you off the mountain!"

The biggest shock Li Yaozu had ever received was being dragged out of the house like a dead dog. He was so frightened that he hid behind Aunt Li and whispered, "My mother was sold."

Aunt Li hurriedly said, "That's not true. That bitch died a long time ago."

Zhao Shiqing sneered: "To die or to be sold, tell the truth!"

As she spoke, she drew her sword and pressed it against Li Dazhu's chest.

Li Dazhu was so scared that he swallowed his saliva. "It has nothing to do with me. It was all my mother's idea. She said that the bitch had damaged her body when she gave birth to those two girls and couldn't have any more children. There was no point in keeping them, so she packed them up with the two girls and sold them."

Zhao Shiqing: "Girl? You have two daughters?"

Before Li Dazhu could say anything, Aunt Li shouted, "Don't you need money to escape? How will you get the money if you don't sell those two worthless items? If that bitch won't let us sell her, then sell her too. What's the point of keeping an old hen that doesn't lay eggs?"

Zhao Shiqing: "No wonder you guys are heading into the city while others are fleeing. You're not coming to seek refuge with relatives, but to sell your wives and daughters? Bah, who the hell brought these three bastards up the mountain?"

Two guards came out with red faces. Not only did they bring the family of three up the mountain, they also carried Yaozu up. Originally, they wanted to carry Aunt Li, but Aunt Li asked them to carry Yaozu, so they had no choice but to carry him up.

Zhao Shiqing's face was gloomy. "How did you bring them up here? No matter how you get them down, I won't tolerate any sand in my eyes. This kind of beast who sells his wife and daughter first when he gets into trouble is not worthy of being taken in!"

Li Dazhu finally reacted. He pointed at Aunt Li and shouted, "This is all my mother's idea. It has nothing to do with me! I don't want to go down the mountain! I don't want to go down the mountain!"

Two guards came over to drag the man away. Li Yaozu hid behind Aunt Li and said, "My father said this was all my grandmother's idea. You should throw my grandmother down, not me!"

......

Looking at the ugly appearance of the family of three, Zhao Shiqing felt angry and amused. He didn't know where the mother and her two children were sold to. Anyone who wanted to buy people at this time was probably trying to take advantage of the opportunity to lower the price. It wouldn't be a good place.

The family of three was taken away and the crowd of onlookers dispersed silently. Some people felt relieved, while others did not take it seriously.

"This Second Miss Zhao has gone too far. I heard it all started because Li Yaozu stole the other children's food. She's probably just exploiting the situation. Does she think there are too many people on the mountain? If not, then she's narrow-minded and intolerant."

"Shh, stop talking now. Do you want to be driven off the mountain too?"

Zhao Shiqing soon found out about these whispers, but she didn't care. If she did this today, there would definitely be people who would think she was wrong, but she didn't think she did anything wrong. If she had the chance to do it again, she would do it again.

Xiao Zhen returned to the mountain very late. The light in the shed was dim and Zhao Shiqing was still waiting for him.

"Hey, why haven't you gone to bed yet?" Xiao Zhen asked softly.

Zhao Shiqing: "I'm worried you'll be washed away by the flood."

Xiao Zhen smiled: "I am blessed with a long life, and it cannot be washed away."

"Where have you been?" Zhao Shiqing asked.

"The yamen runners and I went to rescue people. We found dozens of them today and temporarily housed them in a house belonging to the Huang family. The land there is higher and there is no danger for the time being. The Huang family has already gone to Gaoping and lent this house to the yamen before leaving. Prefect Qian is hiding there."

Zhao Shiqing was amused and almost forgot about Qian Zhizhou. She didn't expect that he had found a place to hide by himself.

Zhao Shiqing told him about how they had driven the three members of the Li family away today. Xiao Zhen said, "The place where the group gathered has been flooded, and their whereabouts are unknown. Some of them are likely among the disaster victims. Anyone who has been up the mountain recently should be carefully interrogated. Also, don't go down the mountain; stay here."

God knows how he felt when he saw the floating corpse after coming down the mountain today.

Among them was a young woman!

Zhao Shiqing knew that Xiao Zhen cared about her, and the sweet words he spoke sounded dry.

"Okay, I understand. Starting tomorrow, I will stay on the mountain."

"Also be careful in the mountains and bring guards with you wherever you go."

......

Two days later, the heavy rain finally stopped, but the flood at the foot of the mountain did not recede. At this time, the scene in Gaoping City was completely different.

The disaster victims who fled from four places in Tongzhou have settled down.

Those who had relatives went to live with them, those who had money bought houses and land, and those who had no money received relief food according to the assignment of the yamen and followed the head of the village to the village. Some chose to open up wasteland. For these newly established villages, the yamen not only provided relief food, but also agricultural tools. In addition, when it was time to farm, they could also get seeds from the yamen.

The farmers cannot live without land, and they were reluctant to leave the place where their ancestors had lived for generations. But now they know that whoever reclaims the land will own it, and they can also get a year's supply of seeds. Everyone is very happy and full of energy, and they can't wait to rush to their destination and work hard.

At the same time, a name was spreading among the victims.

Master Guanyue!

Not only was the relief food donated by Master Guanyue, but even the money for buying farm tools and seeds was paid by Master Guanyue.

What a kind person! This is a kind person!

Some people among the people have seen Master Guanyue.

"He is a young man in his teens, who looks just like the golden boy under the seat of Guanyin."

Soon, there was a legend that the Bodhisattva Guanyin sent a golden boy to the earth to rescue the people, and the saying that Master Guanyue was the incarnation of the golden boy also spread among the people.

Many disaster victims came to Gaoping, including poor people, but also many rich people.

Whether poor or rich, they must have taken all their gold and silver valuables with them when fleeing.

Gaoping, which was once avoided by everyone, is now flooded with businessmen who want to make money from the disaster victims.

As a result, the legend of Master Guanyue spread out of Gaoping City and to all corners of the Dayong Dynasty as these merchants came and went.