Huang Fu believed that his younger sister was favored in the Prince's mansion, but he never thought that his elder sister, Li Yanping, was a concubine of the Prince of Chu. Otherwise, why would the Prince's business be called Li Ji?

Li Yanping went down to inform the King of Chu, who then summoned the city gate guards and inquired about the details of the previous night.

Just as Li Yanping had guessed, his horse and the rest of the things in the carriage were all divided up by the refugees.

Perhaps because they had eaten meat, or perhaps because they were frightened by the ruthlessness of the defenders, these refugees had already headed north overnight, and the predicament of Jiangzhou being besieged was temporarily relieved.

However, the truth about the floods in the Jiangnan region could no longer be concealed.

The King of Chu did not see this as a bad thing; on the contrary, he would make good use of these refugees.

He sent a letter of divorce to the capital, exaggerating the floods in Jiangnan, and at the same time planted his own people among the refugees, encouraging them to bypass various prefectures and counties and head north.

The King of Chu was eager to cause trouble, and the letter he sent out did not reach the Emperor until early June. Qi Chengjun then hurriedly requested an audience.

"Greetings, Your Majesty." Qi Chenglang knelt down and bowed. "Your Majesty, Qi Chenglang has sent me a message saying that a large number of refugees have been discovered in the Jinzhou area. These refugees all came from the Jiangnan region."

It turned out that Qi Chenglang was escorting goods in the Jinzhou area and wanted to buy some grain to take back. Who would have thought that he would see a group of beggars a hundred miles away from Jinzhou.

Qi Chenglang instinctively sensed something was wrong, so he led the caravan around these people. He then had someone inquire a little and learned that it had been raining continuously in Jiangnan for more than three months!

These people traveled a long way to the capital simply because they heard that the King of Chu had entered the capital...

This is ridiculous! Can the King of Chu just enter the capital like that? Even if he did, what could you commoners do if you followed him?

He had someone pretend to persuade them, but they almost got beaten up by the people!

For these people, having already left their homes and traveled a long way for so long, going to Beijing is their obsession, and anyone who tries to dissuade them is a sinner!

What Qi Chenglang found even stranger was that he had never heard of this matter in all the places he had traveled to over the past few months!

Although Qi Chenglang acted like a fool in front of Xie Changshi and the others, he knew something big was going to happen when faced with such an obvious situation!

Qi Chenglang dared not delay and immediately told Qi Chengjun about it.

Gu Yuchen glanced at him with a half-smile and handed the letter to Zhao Xi: "Take a look at this."

Qi Chengjun skimmed through the letter, blinked, and said, "This is His Highness the Prince of Chu's plea for help."

The letter was simple, explaining that it had been raining continuously in the Jiangnan region since the beginning of spring, causing the river levels to rise and the people to suffer. It earnestly requested the Emperor to send people to provide disaster relief, reinforce the river embankments, and reduce or exempt taxes for the Jiangnan region.

Looking at this letter alone, you can't see any problems at all, and you might even think that His Highness the Prince of Chu loves his people like his own children and is a good prince.

But the prerequisite is that Qi Chenglang discovered refugees in Jinzhou!

Qi Chengjun was greatly alarmed: "Your Majesty, I have a bad feeling. The refugees from Jinzhou are not the first batch. If the floods in Jiangnan continue, then even more refugees will flood into the capital. How did these people bypass the various prefectures? Also, apart from Jiangzhou, why has no one from the other prefectures in Jiangnan reported the situation to Your Majesty?"

The more he thought about it, the more terrified he became. A horrifying thought arose inexplicably in his mind: what if this thought was correct...?

Qi Chengjun felt a chill rise from the soles of his feet, making the hairs on his body stand on end.

He looked up and saw the Emperor's calm face, which finally calmed him down a bit: "Does Your Majesty share the same concerns as me?"

Gu Yuchen chuckled and said, "It's not surprising that the third brother has been operating in Jiangnan for many years and has won over the hearts of officials in various parts of Jiangnan. Isn't it a bit too late for you to start worrying about this now?"

Qi Chengjun's face was full of bitterness. Could he say that he never thought things would turn out so badly?

The Jiangnan region was not only the granary of the country, but also the most prosperous place in the country. If the King of Chu controlled Jiangnan, it would be equivalent to holding the economic lifeline of the Sang Kingdom in his hands.

Seeing the Emperor's reaction, Qi Chengjun was both amused and exasperated: "Your Majesty, if you have any ideas, please give me some pointers. I'm really getting anxious."

Gu Yuchen had a rather wicked sense of humor. He rested his chin on his hand and admired the painting for a while before speaking: "Before Qi Chenglang went to Jinzhou, he asked someone to bring me a letter from Xiao Liu. Xinliang has already begun construction. Chief Secretary Xie painted two pictures. Take a look."

Zhao Xi quickly had someone hand over Xie Changshi's painting.

Qi Chengjun looked at the painting with a blank expression.

No, Your Majesty, do you even realize that things have priorities?

If the situation in the Jiangnan region is not resolved, these displaced people are very likely to turn into rioters!

"These two paintings depict the changes on the Xinliang official road. Xiao Liu said that Xinliang is so short of manpower that the construction is very slow."

Qi Chenglang blinked, then suddenly had a sudden inspiration and asked uncertainly, "Your Majesty, do you mean to relocate these refugees to the northern desert?"

He's gone mad! He's gone mad! How could he have such a crazy idea!

However, the next moment he realized that the emperor was even crazier than him.

Gu Yuchen raised an eyebrow slightly: "You're right, that's exactly what I'm planning! The third prince deliberately concealed the flood in Jiangzhou and treated the lives of the people like dirt, so why not send these people to Xinliang?"

"Xiao Liu mentioned new policies in his letter, all aimed at helping people settle in Xinliang."

The third brother didn't care about the lives of these people; there were plenty of others who did.

He believed that Xiao Liu would be eternally grateful to him when he saw so many people working for him.

Qi Chengjun's ears were ringing, and it took him a while to say, "Your Majesty, even if we can persuade these refugees to go to Xinliang to reclaim wasteland, can His Highness Prince Wen handle such a large influx of people all at once?"

If he remembered correctly, His Highness Prince Wen wrote two letters to the Emperor before the New Year, lamenting that he was about to die...

Gu Yuchen glanced at Qi Chengjun, clicked his tongue, and said with disdain, "Did the floods in Jiangnan fill your brain too? The Third Prince said in his letter that I should allocate disaster relief funds! With so many refugees pouring into Xinliang, what's wrong with me giving the Sixth Prince some disaster relief funds?"

He didn't bother to look at Qi Chengjun again, and ordered Zhao Xi to summon the Minister of Revenue to discuss disaster relief. At the same time, he arranged for two groups of people to go to Jiangnan for disaster relief, and the other group to go to Jinzhou to promote the Xinliang relocation policy and escort these refugees to Xinliang.

Just as Qi Chenglang was about to leave, he suddenly received an urgent mission from the Emperor.

Upon reading the contents of the secret letter, Qi Chenglang felt completely numb!

Your Highness, I hope that when you see these refugees, you will feel the Emperor's heavy trust in you!