Su Muyao touched her nose, feeling quite pleased to be praised to her face...

As the group walked forward, they saw a person standing on a chair and banging a gong in front of the porridge distribution area.

"This is the last day of distributing porridge. After you finish receiving yours today, any new villagers who have returned should register at the registration office at the street corner, and then we will distribute food and money to you."

The houses are all built. Newcomers can register for windows and doors and then take them home, but they'll need to install them themselves.

The Emperor was greatly comforted by the orderly scene. He had long heard how well the Southern Prefecture was governed, and now he saw that it was indeed as the legends said.

Standing on the street, people would occasionally talk about the young princess, saying that she was beautiful and kind-hearted, and was indeed a universally recognized lucky star of the great dynasty.

Su Muyao's cheeks were flushed as she walked.

When everyone reached the street corner, they discovered a monument had been erected.

When the emperor arrived with a group of ministers, he discovered that the document listed which ministers had donated how much gold and silver!

The Duke saw the line that said his name was on the map. He had donated half of his family fortune—thirty chests of gold and silver, and five chests of rare treasures—to help with the flood in Nanzhou.

Next are Prime Minister Xu, Minister Li, Minister Wang...

Su Muyao came here not only thinking that everything here should be completed, but also to see the dam being repaired.

The situation was most severe in Nanzhou, followed by the Five Prefectures, although the Five Prefectures were not yet in a very serious condition.

Su Laosan walked the whole way with a smile as bright as a chrysanthemum.

He was practically crawling up to those people who were gathered together chatting about their daughters, just to show off a bit.

They found a restaurant and everyone planned to rest for the night.

The next morning, everyone headed towards the Wansha River.

After returning to the restaurant yesterday, Su Muyao told the emperor that she wanted to completely solve the flood problem.

When everyone arrived at Wansha River, they found that the Fenjiang Weir had been roughly constructed using stones.

The most important thing now is to split open the mountain next to us so that the water in this area can also flow into the river.

The emperor gazed at the Wansha River, still marveling at its grandeur.

The surging river roared down, churning and rushing forward.

The emperor was thinking that the ponds dug in the palace would require a lot of manpower, and with such a big mountain blocking the way, how many years would it take the villagers to dig through?

Upon closer inspection, it became apparent that the levee was remarkably low.

The emperor frowned, thinking that the annual allocation for building river embankments and raising dikes had amounted to at least several million taels of silver over the years, so why was the work so poorly done now?

"Don't I remember the dike at Wanjiangsha? It was built to a height of over three zhang (approximately 10 meters)."

A group of ministers stood there at a loss, while Su Muyao burst out laughing.

"Of course this is an exaggeration! Uncle Emperor, have you ever considered how tall 'three zhang' would actually be?"

Those officials who collude with those in the court are all rotten to the core; they're all in cahoots to deceive you!

Upon hearing this, all the ministers broke out in a cold sweat.

In all honesty, aside from the occasional bribes from their subordinates, these ministers have never embezzled any of the court's funds!

Upon hearing this, the emperor instantly flew into a rage: "What are you doing? I allocated so much silver, and in the end, this dike hasn't even been repaired!"

The emperor grew increasingly frustrated. Even if it was just for show, and the repairs were only so-so, it couldn't have been left completely untouched!

Look at this, it's been quite a few years.

Then he looked at Su Muyao and asked, "Why didn't you fix this last time you came?"

Su Muyao was speechless for a moment: "Your Majesty, have you forgotten that you didn't allocate any money to me?"

"I came here to provide disaster relief, and that's all I did. The little bit of silver I squeezed out of the ministers wasn't enough at all; I, the princess, have contributed quite a bit myself!"

Upon hearing this, the emperor quickly shut his mouth, realizing he had inadvertently said the wrong thing.

"Go and summon all the people in charge here to me."

When the person in charge, Lord Shangguan, arrived, he discovered that the man was fat and had a large belly, swaying as he walked towards them.

Lord Shangguan thought they were just people coming to inspect the follow-up, and he was quite pleased with himself.

This young princess has caused such a commotion all at once, making this place look absolutely wonderful.

No matter who comes, you have to say hello.

Seeing this group of people, dressed in ordinary clothes, I figured their official positions weren't that high.

Upon seeing the newcomer glancing at him sideways, the emperor immediately scolded, "Fool, take your disrespectful look out of your head."

Why isn't the government building the dikes when they've allocated so much silver?

Then Lord Shangguan walked up to the emperor with a simple smile and nudged him with his elbow.

"What is your official position? Are you an inspector sent down here? Since you're here, don't worry about so many things. Look how well these things are being done under the leadership of our little princess!"

"Quickly, you must be tired from your journey. Let's go to your residence for a short rest."

Su Muyao covered her eyes and peeked at the person through her fingers, finding the greasy adult rather uncomfortable.

Most importantly, not only was he greasy, but he also looked at the emperor with that coy, shy expression. Oh my god!

Then, Lord Xu took the opportunity to say to the emperor, "Your Majesty, if this money isn't used to repair the dikes, what will we do if it rains again?"

Lord Li nodded in agreement: "Jiangnan is warm, why build a house? Even if you live outside, you won't freeze to death."

But if there's another heavy rain, these houses will still be washed away, and then it would be a waste of time building them!

Su Muyao, caught up in the drama, scolded herself, "Back when we were doing disaster relief, you all kept quiet like quails."

The money used to build this house wasn't the Emperor's money; it came from my own pocket. Furthermore, most of the money for distributing porridge and disaster relief to the people also came from my own funds.

You people who only know how to enjoy yourselves at home, how could you possibly know how many people have suffered from this disaster? How many have perished in this merciless flood?

Su Muyao glared fiercely at Lord Xu and Lord Li, who had spoken up.

"What an idiot," were the words spoken by the Duke.

The Duke thought to himself, "Even I wouldn't dare provoke someone, yet you're all eager to do so. You're utterly foolish."

The official who had previously tried to bribe the emperor was now kneeling on the ground, trembling.

He never imagined that the man would be the emperor. The journey was so long, and he hadn't heard anyone mention how they had arrived.

The emperor couldn't bear to look at this eyesore. He had already imprisoned several important figures in Nanzhou, but unexpectedly, there were still some who had escaped.

Give the General of the Nation a look, and he won't have to worry about the rest.

Su Muyao looked at the mountain not far away and said, "We could just cut this mountain open!"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone immediately looked at the little bundle of milk.

The Duke asked, "Young Princess, it will take several years to clear this mountain!"

Su Muyao said, "Since I've already said it, of course I have my own way. I'll come in person today, but we still need to see how big we need to open it."