Chapter 165
Beijing, Imperial Palace
As soon as winter came, the brazier in the main hall was burning very brightly.
The prince was reviewing memorials with red ink. After he finished reviewing one, he saw his confidant Huaian hesitating and wandering at the door. He wanted to come in but hesitated, and wanted to turn around and leave but couldn't make up his mind.
The prince put down the red brush and asked, "What's wrong? Is there any bad news?" Not only was the prince's tone cold, but even his eyebrows were extremely cold.
Huai'an hesitated, not daring to speak, and could only say in advance, "Prince, you must not get angry."
The prince laughed at himself, it was indeed bad news, "Tell me, did Xing Changfeng and his men seize Huanhua or did Prince Ruyin and his men take over somewhere else?" The plans against Xing Changfeng failed again and again, and the prince no longer had any hope of hearing any good news.
"The Huo family and Xing Changfeng have formed a marriage alliance. The angel group sent to deliver the decree encountered bandits on the way and unfortunately died."
The prince held his breath, then sneered. This was a blatant attempt to put the blame on the horse thieves. "Very good, they have two generals in charge of the four directions, and Yichun has captured them." Unexpectedly, a small military settlement would eventually become a big problem.
Huaian hung his head low.
"Ahem, these people, none of them are optimistic about the imperial court." The Huo family's abandonment of Daliang for Xing Changfeng completely caught the Crown Prince by surprise. General Huo was the backbone of Daliang. Without him and the Huo family army, Daliang would be like a half-toothed dog. Furthermore, his current choice would only cause panic among the people of Daliang.
"Add more troops to Mitigation."
"Where will the troops be dispatched from?"
The prince said, "Transfer the Wei family army from the army attacking Ruyin." We can't let Xing Changfeng and his men occupy Suihua and Jiachuan, and then connect with the northwest, connect Yichun and other places with the northern border, and dominate the northern region.
"Has the Huo family's rebellion against the imperial court been officially announced to the world?"
The Crown Prince said somewhat dejectedly, "That's unnecessary." What if he issued an imperial decree to interrogate and condemn them? The successive rebellions of Ruyin King, Annan King, Xing Changfeng, and others could still be called traitors, but with the rebellion of General Huo and others, the people would probably find it strange and say that Daliang's lack of morality led to the rift between the emperor and his subjects. Furthermore, at this point, it was clear that he could no longer protect Daliang's vast empire. It was time to make a decision.
Xuzhou, Ruyin
Countless people who had difficulty surviving due to disasters and wars flocked to Yichun. Along the way, you could see people carrying simple bags, walking alone or in groups.
Along the way, they encouraged each other.
"We've reached Wuzhou. Just hold on a little longer and we'll be in Yichun."
"I heard there's a magical grain in Yichun that yields 1,000 kilograms per mu. I wonder if it's true?"
"It's more than a thousand pounds. I heard it's more than three thousand pounds."
The locals were stunned when they heard this. Such a high yield was indeed a divine seed. If they only planted one acre of this divine seed, it would be enough food for their family for a year.
Yao Chunnuan wasn't surprised by the leak of the sweet potato news, as sweet potatoes weren't just grown in Yichun; they were also grown in the northern border. Even if Yichun could keep it a secret, the northern border wouldn't necessarily be. Yao Chunnuan was already quite satisfied that the news had been kept secret until now.
Ruyin Palace
Prince Ruyin and others also received news that the Huo family and Xing Changfeng were continuing their alliance.
King Ruyin sighed and said, "Among the generals who guard the four directions, Yichun has got two of them. They are formidable enemies." A formidable enemy in his life.
Sima Xian waved his fan and did not agree with this. In his heart, he agreed with what King Ruyin said, but as a counselor, he could not boost others' morale and destroy his own prestige when his master was obviously discouraged or uninterested.
"My lord, Yichun is developing rapidly, and we are not slowing down either. Moreover, we have been carrying the main force of the imperial court. We have also conquered the entire Xuzhou, and our military strength has grown to 300,000. It is very impressive."
After hearing his words, the King of Ruyin was indeed happy, but when he thought about the current situation of refugees heading north, he frowned again. "How can Yichun have so much food and dare to accept so many people?" Too many people have flocked to Yichun. What's worse, many people are very sad that Xuzhou, which they manage, has passed by without entering.
He knew that Yichun had been working to stabilize food prices over the past few days, and coupled with the existence of Bayuan, Yichun was the most attractive to the people.
As for stabilizing food prices like they did in Yichun? Honestly, they couldn't do that in Xuzhou either. The food they had stored was already struggling to feed an army of 200,000 or 300,000. They could only open porridge stalls and distribute porridge to win over the people. But it didn't seem to be working very well.
Sima Xian pondered for a moment and realized that if Yichun continued to accept refugees without restriction, it would definitely consume a lot of its grain reserves.
He knew that Yichun had a considerable amount of grain in reserve. As the saying goes, low grain prices hurt farmers, high grain prices hurt the people. Maintaining a stable corn price, or grain price, was a top priority for a country.
In previous years, harvest season was the peak season for farmers to sell their grain. Grain was at its cheapest during this time, and unscrupulous merchants would even buy corn at a discount. At this time, the state intervened to, firstly, maintain a stable price range to prevent farmers from suffering losses due to excessively low prices, and secondly, to replenish granaries in case of disasters or war. The officials in the Yichun City Lord's Mansion had previously been absorbing the grain sold by the people. When grain prices later skyrocketed due to war and other factors, Yichun's grain prices, on the other hand, remained relatively stable, remaining at a relatively low level.
It was actually Daliang's responsibility to stabilize grain prices, but due to drought, war, an empty treasury, and local corruption, Daliang was unable to fulfill this function well. On the contrary, Yichun had been working to stabilize grain prices.
But their food reserves are limited, yet they are accepting an unlimited number of refugees and victims flocking to Yichun, apparently with no intention of limiting the population. This will inevitably lead to a shortage of food reserves. Yet, they dare to do this. Could the rumor be true? Does Yichun really have divinely grown food?
Yichun
The Northern Di were defeated, the Western Rong retreated, the north was pacified, the troops stationed in Ganhua City remained stationed in Suihua, and Yichun also entered a period of rest and stable development.
Yao Chunnuan and others are no longer so busy and can get off work on time every day.
After winter, Yichun continued to accept and resettle refugees, issuing them new identity documents. From the day they received their new identity documents, they became Yichun citizens. After entering Yichun, they could join the army, or use their new identity documents to get work, eat in the canteen, or buy a quota of food per person at the grain store.
Huining and Songhua Prefectures used the same method to receive refugees, which just proved the saying that under the rule of the Yichun City Lord's Mansion, as long as you have hands and feet and are willing to work, you will not starve to death.
That day, Yao Chunnuan took a rest.
She slept for a long time, from evening until almost noon, a full six hours, and almost scared her family.
Luo Suyi went into her bedroom two or three times and found that she was just sleeping soundly with a rosy face.
After a good night's sleep, she ate a delicious meal and played with her daughter for a while. When she heard the water was boiling, she went to wash her hair. Afternoon was perfect; the nights in Yichun were freezing cold, and she wouldn't dare wash her hair at night. It took her half an hour to finally get her waist-length hair done. Afterward, she let Luo Suyi dry her hair until it was half dry, and then she lazily leaned back on the kang.
At this moment, little Yao Xi came over, a three-headed little guy, hugged her legs and acted coquettishly, "Mommy, Tangtang..." Little Yao Xi can walk very steadily now, and he just walked by himself.
Yao Chunnuan gently tapped her forehead, "It's still candy. If you eat any more candy, you won't get those two little teeth anymore!"
In later generations, her cousin's son was like this. He was spoiled by his family and ate so much candy that several of his front teeth were decayed black. He cried out of toothache all day long when he was three or four years old. When his teeth changed later, he even developed tetracycline teeth.
Anyway, she strictly forbade her child to eat too much candy, but her parents spoiled her and always pretended to obey behind her back. Luo Suyi was also a spoiled child, so she had no choice but to ask Luo Suyi to rinse her mouth and brush her teeth every time she finished eating candy. Little Yao Xi hated rinsing her mouth and brushing her teeth, but this was Yao Chunnuan's strict order, otherwise she would not eat.
And, the little one, don't even think about getting a piece of candy from her! Little Yao Xi had so many sources of candy, she couldn't stop them, but she could be cruel enough not to give it to her.
Just then, Qi Yingshan came back.
The little guy's eyes lit up, and he ran over and hugged his thighs, "Uncle-uncle-, okay--" The word "okay" was drawn out because he was acting coquettishly.
Yao Chunnuan crossed her arms across her chest in amusement, wanting to see what tricks she could come up with!
"Uncle, hold me!" little Yao Xi urged.
Qi Yingshan smiled and picked her up, "Okay, hold our little Yao Xi." This child is so well-behaved that it makes people feel soft-hearted.
Little Yao Xi glanced at her mother, hugged Qi Yingshan's neck, put her little mouth close to his ear, and said, "Uncle, let's talk about seven things."
"It's no use telling you anywhere. Anyway, you have used up all the candy you wanted for today. Just ask your uncle if he dares to give you candy secretly?" Yao Chunnuan snorted twice. You little brat, you want to fight with her?
Little Yaoxi immediately looked at her uncle, and Qi Yingshan gave her an expression that said there was nothing he could do.
Realizing there was no hope of getting candy, little Yao Xi burst into tears, "Wow—Mom is so bad!"
She ignored her daughter's crying and just picked up the book to read. There's no dentist here. If she eats any more candy, she'll get cavities.
It was her mother who ran over when she heard the crying. She saw little Yao Xi crying, and then she saw her daughter reading a book calmly. Then she saw Luo Suyi winking and shaking her head at her, and she knew that it was useless for her to say anything.
A quarter of an hour later, little Yao Xi came over again, "Mother——"
"Have you finished crying?"
"Yeah." As she said this, she wiped her face with her little hand.
"Mom...oh, no more candy, can I have something else?"
"Sure, what do you want to eat?"
"I want to drink milk." After crying for a while, she was thirsty.
"Okay, let your grandma take you to drink."
"Okay." Little Yao Xi walked over and put her little hand into her grandma's hand, urging, "Grandma, please give Xiao Xi a drink."
When Yao's mother took little Yao Xi out, she rolled her eyes at her daughter and said, "Only you can be so cruel to such a lovely child."
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