After ten days of travel, Nan Wusi and his group finally arrived at their destination, Fanghong County.
The desolate scene was already visible upon arriving around the county town. Although the floodwaters had receded, the submerged farmland remained abandoned.
Nan Wuyu frowned. A month had passed, and Fanghong County still hadn't started to recover.
There were some refugees nearby, thin and with lifeless eyes. When they saw their caravan, they tried to run towards them, wanting to grab the supplies from the wagons, but they were all stopped by the guards.
The faces of the group were all somber. They hadn't felt anything when they hadn't seen it, but now that they had witnessed the disaster and the victims with their own eyes, it was hard for them to feel relaxed.
After entering the city, they went directly to the county government office of Fanghong County.
Upon hearing the announcement from the officers and soldiers, Liu Lin, the magistrate of Fanghong County, immediately came out to greet them.
"Greetings, Your Highness Prince Yi and Imperial Envoy. I am Liu Lin, your humble servant, and I apologize for not greeting you sooner. Please come in, Your Highness and Imperial Envoy," Liu Lin said, bowing respectfully.
Xiao Yi and Nan Wuyu nodded in acknowledgment and followed Liu Lin into the county government office.
"Lord Liu, it has been more than a month since the flood, why have the houses not been repaired and the farmland not been reclaimed?" Nan Wuyu asked directly.
"This..." Liu Lin stammered, "Reporting to you, sir, the disaster relief funds allocated are simply not enough."
"Absurd! The imperial court allocated one million taels of silver, and you're telling me it's not enough?" Nan Wuyu slammed his hand on the table.
"Sir, this... this disaster relief fund only amounts to 100,000 taels of silver when it reaches us." Liu Lin trembled with fear as he spoke.
"Is this true?" Nan Wuyu looked at Liu Lin seriously. If this was true, it would prove that the number of people involved in corruption and bribery was extremely large.
“That’s right. I’ve set up a special ledger for the disaster relief funds, which you can check at any time,” Liu Lin replied.
"Moreover, this time, only the county town was slightly better off. Many villages were completely destroyed, with countless deaths and injuries. Many refugees flocked here knowing that the government was distributing relief grain."
"Although the imperial court allocated some grain from the surrounding counties, it was far from enough for the disaster victims. If you had arrived a few days later, we would have been completely starving." Liu Lin had no way to express his bitterness.
"What about the local gentry and wealthy merchants in the county town? What about the inventory in the rice and grain shops?" Nan Wuyu continued to ask.
"Most wealthy families said they didn't have much grain stored up and had only given out a little. As for rice shops, except for the Ding family which sold to the government at pre-disaster prices, the prices of other rice shops had increased more than tenfold. The disaster relief funds couldn't buy much at all."
"The disaster victims were not getting enough to eat and did not have the strength to work, so the repair of houses and the reclamation of farmland were put on hold."
Nan Wuyu nodded, indicating that he understood the current situation. The situation in Fanghong County did indeed seem rather dire, but fortunately, his younger sister had brought a lot of supplies that could alleviate the immediate crisis.
"Let's distribute the relief grain today." Nan Wuyu also wanted to take this opportunity to see the overall situation of the disaster victims.
"Yes." Liu Lin immediately took his leave and began to handle the matter.
Nan Wuyu has no plans to take out Nan Wusi's supplies yet. He intends to first assess the current situation in the county town and see if it is truly as the magistrate described.
Besides the supplies from Nan Wusi, Nan Wuyu currently only has 100,000 yuan in disaster relief funds, which is for emergency use. Although Nan Wuyu anticipated that some officials would embezzle funds, the amount embezzled is simply too much; how could they dare to do so?
Nan Wuyu suddenly realized that the Emperor knew all of this, which was why he had given him the power of an imperial envoy. He wanted the Emperor to follow the clues and bring all these corrupt officials to justice.
Headache. Na Wuyu had no other thoughts at the moment.
Nan Wusi, who was following Nan Wuyu, naturally overheard her second brother's conversation with Lord Liu. She was somewhat relieved that she had made preparations in advance; otherwise, she would certainly have been unable to turn the tide this time.
Xiao Yi, standing to the side, remained unmoved; he had known about these things for a long time. The court was now riddled with corrupt officials, so nothing was surprising.
However, Xiao Yi was still somewhat surprised by the current situation of these disaster victims. The people were living in dire straits, and the imperial court was doing nothing. Sooner or later, trouble would break out.
Xiao Yi wanted to come along this time not only because he was interested in Nan Wusi's behavior, but also because he wanted to learn about the lives of people in different places.
Thinking about what he had experienced on this trip, Xiao Yi felt that it had truly been worthwhile.
When Liu Lin sent people to distribute porridge, Nan Wuyu and his group also went to the scene.
The area in front of the soup kitchen was crowded with people, and soldiers were working hard to maintain order.
When they went up to check, they found that there was almost no rice in the bowl of porridge; it was just a bowl of white soup.
Nan Wusi was shocked when he saw it. No wonder Liu Lin said that these people had no strength to work. How could they have any strength if they only drank plain soup every day?
These disaster victims couldn't even bear to drink this bowl of plain soup, because it was their only meal of the day, and once it was gone, it was gone.
Although they were reluctant to part with it, they immediately downed a bowl of soup after receiving it, because if they kept it, it would be snatched away in no time.
The two large pots of soup were quickly emptied, but there were still many disaster victims queuing up, and there simply weren't enough to go around.
Seeing the soldiers packing up their belongings, Nan Wusi stepped forward and asked, "What about the remaining disaster victims? Don't they have any food?"
The officers initially didn't want to pay attention, but seeing that Nan Wusi was dressed smartly, they figured she was definitely not a disaster victim, so they respectfully replied, "Miss, we only have a limited supply each day. If you're late in line and there's nothing left, you're out of luck, because the government can't give out any more."
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