Night fell.

It was the same mansion as during the day, but now it was quite quiet, as the wealthy families had already left.

"Has the inventory been tallied yet? Approximately how much money was collected?!"

"Old Meng, if you can't do it, don't force yourself. Let me do it."

At the table, Ying Zheng and his wicked husband watched Meng Can rummage through things for a while, and couldn't help but urge him on.

"Don't rush us, don't be impatient. Such a large sum needs to be properly accounted for," Meng Can retorted without even looking up.

At this moment, the three of them didn't look like ruler and subjects at all; instead, they looked more like bandits waiting to divide the spoils.

A short while later.

Meng Can exhaled a breath of stale air and raised his hand to wipe the fine beads of sweat from his forehead. "I've finally figured it out. It's equivalent to two hundred million Qin Ban shares."

[Please don't take this too seriously, I'm not sure if this is accurate. I did some research and it says that sometimes the reward can be as high as a million Qin taels, which seems a bit like inflation?]

hiss....

Upon hearing this, Ying Zheng and his wicked husband gasped in shock. The wicked husband, who was the instigator, had never expected to embezzle so much money.

"It's out!"

"It's out!!!"

Meng Can gripped Ying Zheng and her wicked husband's hands tightly, her face flushed with an unusual redness, and her voice trembled.

"Calm down!" The wicked husband and Ying Zheng's expressions changed drastically. They both reached out to pry Meng Can's old hand off, feeling an overwhelming sense of disgust.

Meng Can's fingers were almost broken by the two men, and he immediately let go of their hands.

"Now we're truly richer than a country!" A sly glint flashed in Ying Zheng's eyes. He knew the significance of this enormous sum of money and kept winking at Meng Can.

“Yes, the development of Kucha will definitely not cost this much money. The rest can be put into the national treasury.” Meng Can’s voice was tinged with excitement. He had already begun to plan how to use this windfall.

The wicked husband, having witnessed their illicit affair, sneered, "That's exactly what I planned. Why put on an act in front of me?"

"However, this money cannot be used for the time being; it will be kept in the national treasury for a great purpose."

When the two women saw that he agreed, they immediately smiled broadly and nodded vigorously, afraid that the wicked husband would change his mind.

Looking at the two of them looking so foolish and useless, the wicked husband revealed a speechless smile, "The disaster relief work is up to you two. Tomorrow morning I will lead people to Kucha. When we pass through Longxi County, I will stop briefly to check the disaster situation and whether the officials have been negligent."

Ying Zheng nodded slightly, "It's good for you to go and take a look, but you must be careful. Qin and I cannot do without you."

Don't worry!

......

The following morning.

Thirty thousand soldiers, with a large number of carriages, left Xianyang and headed straight for Longxi County. Because they had to bypass the flood-stricken areas and the weight of the coins, their journey was extremely slow.

This journey took almost half a month, progressing so slowly that the heavy rain was about to stop.

The sights and sounds along the way weighed heavily on the wicked man's mind. Even though the rain had stopped, the earth was already riddled with holes, and the people did not know how long they would have to suffer after the disaster.

As night fell, the wicked man and his party finally arrived at the territory of Longxi County.

"Grand Commandant, Gan City is just ahead. Shall we enter the city to rest?" Zhang Erhe's voice came from outside the carriage.

"We've been in the wilderness these past few days since we entered the city, and the brothers need a good rest."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Erhe immediately turned his horse around and charged to the front, leading his troops toward Gancheng.

A short while later, the group arrived at Gancheng.

The city gates were wide open, but the floodwaters were still knee-deep, and the receding waters were a muddy mess. Apart from being an empty shell, it didn't look like a city at all.

As they entered the city, the few ordinary people they occasionally saw on the streets looked at them curiously, their eyes filled with hope as they gazed at these weary soldiers.

"May I ask, Sir, who is the esteemed person sitting in the carriage?" an old man asked cautiously.

Zhang Erhe smiled slightly, "He is the Grand Commandant!"

"Grand Commandant?!"

Exclamations of surprise rang out, and a glimmer of life appeared on the withered and lifeless faces of the people.

"Grand Commandant!"

"Why did you take so long to arrive? We... Waaah..."

The people knelt down and began to wail loudly. As the sound spread, more figures slowly emerged.

"Gentlemen, allow me to rest for the night. We can discuss this tomorrow morning." The wicked man leaned out of the carriage and said in a deep voice, his eyes firm. "Rest assured, this Grand Commandant has brought a considerable amount of disaster relief supplies with him, and the court will not stand idly by."

"Yes, Grand Commandant!" The people were relieved to see the wicked man's promise and, seeing the Qin soldiers looking exhausted, they immediately made way for them.

Upon hearing the news, officials from within the city arrived and tried their best to arrange a clean place for the soldiers to camp and rest, and also found a place for the wicked man to stay.

It was late at night, but the wicked husband couldn't fall asleep.

He stood by the window, gazing at the starry sky outside, pondering how to make better use of this huge sum of money and how to help the people of Qin recover from the disaster as quickly as possible.

You can't truly understand something without seeing it for yourself. He had prepared himself mentally in Xianyang, but he was still shocked by the devastation caused by the flood.

The following morning, the wicked man, accompanied by several soldiers, headed to the worst-affected area. They traversed muddy fields, their hearts heavy with sorrow at the sight of houses and land destroyed by the flood.

The wicked man personally spoke with the disaster victims, trying to appease them, but the people's words were like a knife, cutting him piece by piece.

"The house was washed away by the flood, and my wife was crushed to death..."

"The children were swept away by the flood, and the parents who went to rescue them were also swept away. To this day, not even a single body has been found."

"There were six people in my family, and now I'm the only one left."

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