When Chu Fan woke up again and looked at the palace maid helping him get dressed, he began to doubt his life.

Chu Fan stepped into the threshold of Chengtian Palace again with a heavy heart. Since Qin Hui and others had quietly finalized the disaster relief strategy in private, today's morning court was hastily declared over not long after.

After changing into simple clothes, Chu Fan quietly left the palace with a few guards. Chu Fan decided to personally see the situation of the disaster victims in Hedong Jiuzhou. After all, the reason why he had not provided disaster relief before was because he wanted to win over the hearts of the people who overthrew him and let the people who overthrew him use his sweet potatoes and corn to provide disaster relief.

However, no one rebelled at all. Those who were disloyal to Wei thought that Wei was doomed. They also felt that it would be very troublesome and expensive to treat hundreds of thousands of people. Doing so would be a thankless task, so they simply betrayed Wei and fled to other countries to live.

All those who stayed behind were loyal to the State of Wei. Even though they had been given so many chances, these people did not take any action at all.

Now that I am still sitting on the throne of Wei State and since I have decided to save these people, I must try my best to do things to the best of my ability so that the victims who came to Kaifeng City will not starve to death.

The moment Chu Fan stepped out of the palace, he was able to take in the entirety of the Imperial City. Under the personal leadership of the Minister of War, Sun Dechong, many city residents responded and actively participated in rescuing the affected people.

As Chu Fan reached the outskirts of Kaifeng, he witnessed a stunning scene: Disaster victims from the nine prefectures east of the Yellow River had gathered in a massive procession. The sheer number of people was truly moving. Meanwhile, the imperial court swiftly took action, launching a food distribution program. Every disaster victim received a sweet potato or corn cob, along with a carefully prepared dish using sweet potato leaves and a few seasonings.

Looking at the disaster victims receiving food in an orderly manner under the proper arrangements of the city guards, Chu Fan felt a warm feeling in his heart and felt relieved.

In the imperial city, many merchants also began to recruit workers from the disaster victims. Although the wages were a bit low, these merchants promised that as long as the workers worked in their companies, they would have food and accommodation. Seeing such favorable conditions, many disaster victims who had nothing signed up.

Of course, these merchants didn't have much grain, but the Minister of Revenue, Qian Dai, was so clever that he summoned the merchants who remained in Kaifeng and told them that the court was willing to sell them grain at a low price, and they could use the grain to recruit workers.

The court promised to reduce taxes for these merchants in the coming year. With this promise and the fact that these merchants were patriotic merchants, after all, those who were not patriotic would have left with their families long ago, they reluctantly agreed.

Qian Dai knew their patriotic merchants well enough that he dared to sell some of the relief grain to them. If he encountered anyone with ill intentions, Qian Dai was also worried that they would use the low-priced grain purchased from the court to recruit people and plot against them.

This was a brilliant plan jointly planned by Prime Minister Qin Hui, Minister of Revenue Qian Dai and many other ministers.

The court has no money to provide work-for-relief, so it can encourage merchants who remain in Kaifeng City to recruit some disaster victims, which can also provide relief to some people.

Another point is that this can also foster a sense of competition among the disaster victims. Those who are capable can go to work and get food and shelter, and can also get wages. However, those who are not capable can only wait for the government to distribute relief food.

Of course, if Chu Fan had not left the palace and seen this situation himself, he would not have known about it. After all, Prime Minister Qin Hui and others were not afraid that Chu Fan would punish them for knowing the situation but not reporting it.

After all, in their hearts, Chu Fan is so wise and brave. As the emperor, Chu Fan only needs to make major decisions, and they will be able to complete the rest of the tasks. If the emperor has to do everything personally, then these ministers will appear to be too incompetent.

Chu Fan watched as the victims collected their food in an orderly manner, each returning to their own open space to quietly enjoy their hard-earned food. The peace and tranquility before him filled him with an indescribable comfort. After all, back on Blue Star, as the Buddhists once said, "Saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda." The food he was giving away could save hundreds of thousands of lives. Could the depth of his merit be fully expressed in words?

He didn't have many extravagant hopes, only hoping to do his bit in this rescue operation. Perhaps someone would take this opportunity to win over the people, and once the victims were well fed and well watered, they would overthrow his rule as an incompetent emperor.

To Chu Fan, becoming emperor was nothing more than a passing cloud. All he wanted was to successfully complete the mission assigned by the system, then return to Blue Star and live a leisurely and comfortable pastoral life—working in the fields during the day and immersing himself in the world of his phone at night, enjoying the simple and pure happiness.

Chu Fan walked among the victims, watching them eat food bit by bit. After they were full, hope of life gradually appeared in their eyes.

As citizens of the Wei State, these disaster victims were naturally well aware of the current situation. Over the years, the Wei State had been resisting the attacks of the Xiongnu in the north, and the national treasury had been greatly depleted.

This year, however, fate proved even more cruel. A sudden flood ravaged Hedong, severely damaging two county towns and the nine prefectures under their jurisdiction, bringing the grain harvest to near zero. Across the devastated Hedong land, the people struggled to find a single grain of food. Starvation forced them to embark on the arduous journey to Kaifeng, hoping the imperial city would offer a glimmer of hope for survival.

However, among these displaced victims, some harbored ulterior motives. If the imperial court failed to provide timely relief upon their arrival in Kaifeng, they might resort to extreme measures, launching a riot to seize the city gates and plunder the Wei treasury. After their capture, they planned to flee Wei and seek refuge in another kingdom. However, they likely had no idea that the Wei treasury was now dwindling, its wealth even dwindling to that of some wealthy merchants.

However, after the disaster victims from Hedong Jiuzhou arrived in Kaifeng, Kaifeng began to provide resettlement and food distribution, and the city guards were constantly patrolling. This made everyone put aside their petty thoughts. After all, those who had petty thoughts wanted to start a riot just to survive. Now that the court had provided disaster relief after the arrival of the disaster victims, they naturally had nothing to say.

Even if they wanted to start a riot, no one would follow them. Didn't everyone come to Kaifeng City just to have enough food? Since they already have enough to eat, why would they do something that would offend His Majesty?