Before the Queen Consort of Chu could even burst into tears of joy, a servant came to report that Jiangzhou City had been besieged by refugees.

The situation inside the palace was alright, with the King of Chu's three thousand soldiers firmly guarding the area around the palace, but Jiangzhou City was already in chaos.

As soon as Ling Changshi and the others entered the main house, they knelt down: "Your Highness, the epidemic has spread to Huizhou, Yangzhou and other places. Now refugees are flocking to Jiangzhou. Commander Chen has already requested an audience three times."

What did he want to see? Of course, he wanted to ask the King of Chu what should be done about these refugees.

Shoot him? What if that provokes even greater public outrage?

If we don't shoot them, these refugees will surround Jiangzhou, and it won't be long before Jiangzhou falls without a fight. Besides, things are starting to get chaotic inside Jiangzhou now.

It turned out that the continuous gloom in the Jiangnan area had lasted for more than four months, and the sky finally cleared up completely at the end of June.

Tens of thousands of people in the Jiangnan region who suffered from the disaster died of starvation, drowning, or fighting and killing each other over a little food.

The surviving people are all hoping that the rain will stop so they can go home again.

After all, not all ordinary people are willing to risk everything to go to the capital.

However, it seemed as if God truly didn't want them to live. The torrential rain continued until mid-June, and the desperate refugees finally turned into rioters.

Huizhou was the first to suffer. Without the King of Chu in charge, Huizhou lacked sufficient troops to defend the city. In just a few days, the people inside and outside the city joined forces to break through the city gates. The first to be affected was the residence of the Huizhou prefect, followed by the wealthy merchants of Huizhou.

By the time the news reached Jiangzhou, more than five days had passed since the Huizhou riots, and by then the rain in the Jiangnan region had finally subsided.

The King of Chu naturally did not take the Huizhou riots seriously. On the surface, he had three thousand guards, a thousand city garrison troops, and government offices, but in secret, the Jiangnan Navy was all his men!

The Huizhou riots were suppressed by Gu Yufan with exceptionally strong measures in less than half a month.

But at this time, the King of Chu was also puzzled. So much time had passed, why hadn't news of disaster relief from the capital come yet?

He wrote to the emperor again, explaining the recent riot in Huizhou and requesting that the emperor send people to provide disaster relief.

But before the imperial court's relief personnel arrived, a plague broke out, starting in Huizhou.

The floods ended, but more and more corpses were exposed. Coupled with the riots that had occurred in Huizhou earlier, where corpses were everywhere, the epidemic quickly spread.

The temporary prefect of Huizhou was one of Gu Yufan's advisors. He originally thought he could make a fortune here, but unexpectedly, an epidemic broke out as soon as he arrived in Huizhou.

The advisor knew that if the plague spread to Jiangzhou, even if he wasn't infected, he would be beheaded by the Prince of Chu on the spot.

He acted decisively, summoning officials from the government office to seal off Huizhou City. At the same time, he searched the city and found all the corpses, burning them on the spot. He ordered the doctors in Huizhou City to search each household one by one, arresting the entire family of anyone found to have contracted the plague and confining them to a mountain villa outside the city.

The advisor was a truly capable man. After a series of tough measures, Huizhou City was brought into a brief period of calm. Only then did he quickly send a letter to the King of Chu, informing him of the epidemic in Huizhou and urging the King to take precautions.

To the staff's surprise, the refugees from the epidemic area broke through the blockade overnight, not only recapturing Huizhou, but also capturing Yangzhou and other places, and death loomed over these two cities.

Whether they were sick or not, no one wanted to die, so Jiangzhou became their next target.

However, Gu Yufan had no time to pay attention to any of that. Instead, he handed over the secret letter he had received earlier, saying in a hoarse voice, "Take a look at this, everyone."

After reading the contents of the secret letter, Chief Secretary Ling was so shocked that he stood up abruptly: "Your Highness, is the content of this secret letter true?"

The King of Chu glanced at them coldly: "Do you think I would joke about something like this?"

Chief Secretary Ling shook his head. Of course, His Highness wouldn't joke about such a thing, but that's precisely why he felt afraid!

He had previously disagreed with His Highness's decision to send these refugees north to the capital to cause trouble, because there were too many of them. If they were discovered, His Highness's deliberate attempt to conceal the floods in Jiangnan would be impossible to hide.

Moreover, the Emperor will definitely take the opportunity to replace the naval commanders.

But the prince insisted on his own way, ordering people to open the door for thousands of refugees to go to the capital, just so that these refugees could enter the capital...

But Your Highness doesn't even consider what kind of place the capital is. With only a few thousand refugees, what kind of trouble can they possibly cause?

Once the Emperor has dealt with the refugees, the first people he won't spare are the prefects of the cities from Jiangnan to the capital!

If the prince's plan succeeds, then so be it; they can simply rise up in rebellion and lead their navy northward.

But now the prince's plan has not only failed, but he has also been outmaneuvered by the emperor, who has sent so much grain and silver to the northern desert as if it were nothing.

Upon seeing Chief Secretary Ling's reaction, the others hurriedly took the secret letter and examined it carefully, their faces filled with shock.

Some of the more timid ones simply collapsed to the ground.

Now that the refugees have been dealt with, shouldn't the Emperor deal with them next?

The King of Chu glanced at his advisors, a hint of impatience flashing in his eyes: "I'm not dead yet, so who are you trying to impress with your long faces?"

He and Gu Yuchen have been at odds for ages. This time, he just handed over a small handle, and Gu Yuchen wouldn't dare to do anything to him!

The King of Chu was extremely confident about this. He was only angry at that dog Gu Yuchen for daring to send all his men to the Sixth Prince!

"The letter says that the imperial envoy sent by the Emperor and the disaster relief funds are expected to arrive here in about a month. In the meantime, try to stabilize Huizhou for me and make sure to treat these people well, so that they can come in good spirits and leave in good spirits!"

Ling Changshi was covered in cold sweat. Hearing the King of Chu's confident words, he subtly closed his eyes and whispered his advice: "Your Highness, I'm afraid it won't work. You've been unconscious for the past two days, and Huizhou and Yangzhou have already fallen. Now the people of Jiangnan all know that you are in Jiangzhou, and the refugees have already surrounded Jiangzhou."

"What?" King Chu was so angry that he threw off the covers and got out of bed. However, he hadn't eaten for several days and got up too suddenly, causing his vision to go black and him to almost collapse again.

It was Chief Secretary Ling who quickly helped him sit down again: "Your Highness, you must take care of your health!"

In just a few short days, His Highness the Prince of Chu had changed from the spirited prince he once was to his current state. He had a feeling that the Chu Prince's Mansion was doomed.

However, it's not entirely the King of Chu's fault. After the new emperor ascended the throne, he did a series of things that were hard to understand. His Highness the King of Chu acted as arrogantly as ever. If this continues, they will only become more and more passive!