Chapter 43 Chapter 43 They've all been killed
An old woman cupped her hands and said, "Young lady, we are fleeing from disaster and have passed through this place. We were caught in a downpour and would like to take shelter and rest in the cave. Would you be so kind as to help us?"
Lu Jinlan quickly replied, "Of course, please go ahead."
She turned her back and wiped her mouth, only to find that Rin was pressed against the edge of the cave and was almost inside the stone wall.
Lu Jinlan found it amusing, but since the situation was already like this, she could only pretend to be nonchalant and chat with the newcomers, "My surname is Lu, and this is my husband. Where are you from? Where are you going?"
The old woman sighed deeply. "The northern prefecture suffered a severe drought. The crops in the fields withered and died as soon as they sprouted. Our entire clan fled together, and more than a dozen people died of illness or starvation along the way. Now, only half of us remain. We want to go to the capital. We've heard that the capital is prosperous and wealthy. If we beg along the streets, we won't starve to death."
Lu Jinlan looked at their thin and frail bodies and couldn't help but sigh inwardly. Beizhou was more than a thousand miles away from the capital, and they had walked all this way with their families on foot. The difficulty was no less than that of the journey to the West to obtain Buddhist scriptures. Seeing that they were all ragged and emaciated, they probably had become beggars along the way before even reaching the capital.
Lu Jinlan frowned. "The climate in Beizhou is dry and there is little rain, so droughts are common. But the imperial court allocates disaster relief funds every year. Why don't you take the funds and stay in your homes, and try planting again next spring?"
The old woman shook her head repeatedly. "Where did the disaster relief funds come from? We've had a drought for three years. In the first year, we received disaster relief funds, enough for us to buy seeds and make a living. But we haven't received a single penny in the last two years. If we weren't so desperate to survive, why would we have left our homes? If there were even a sliver of hope for survival in the Northern Prefecture, why would we have come all the way to the capital?"
“Along the way, my daughter died of illness, my grandson starved to death before he was two years old, and my youngest son fell off a cliff while pregnant, resulting in the deaths of both him and his unborn child!”
The old woman burst into tears as she spoke. The tribespeople beside her joined in the weeping, and the entire cave was filled with their sorrowful sobs.
Lu Jinlan and Song Lincheng exchanged a glance, then each took out their money pouches and gave them all the twenty-odd taels of loose silver.
"Old man, this is a small token of our appreciation. Please accept it. The city gates of the capital are not far ahead. It would be best if you rested here tonight and entered the city at dawn."
The old woman, along with the remaining dozen or so members of her clan, expressed their deepest gratitude, kowtowing and kneeling repeatedly.
Soon after, the rain finally subsided, and Lu Jinlan and Lin Cheng bid farewell ahead of time, leaving the cave to their family.
The two braved the drizzle and returned to the city under the cover of night, where hot water and ginger soup had already been prepared.
While bandaging Song Lincheng's wounds, Qing'er couldn't help but mutter, "Young Master Song, don't blame me for being nosy, it's so late, the city gates are about to close, and you're injured, why rush back? You were alone with the young master in a room, it was such a good opportunity for things to get heated. You're so clueless about romance, don't be so aloof, the young master doesn't like cold and aloof men."
Song Lincheng's face flushed, feeling somewhat embarrassed, yet he retorted defiantly, "When have I ever been aloof? Being reserved was a thing of the past. Now I'm practically serving myself up like a dish to her. Do you think I haven't tried? If it weren't for that group of disaster victims, I..."
Before he could finish speaking, Lu Jinlan pushed the door open and came in. Song Lincheng quickly straightened his clothes.
Qing'er gave him a wink, signaling him to seize the opportunity, and quietly withdrew.
Song Lincheng clutched his clothes, torn between putting them on or not.
As Lu Jinlan approached step by step, he sat on the edge of the bed and couldn't help but feel nervous.
Lu Jinlan: "Why is your face so red? Do you have a fever?"
"No...no, I'm perfectly healthy," Song Lincheng replied hastily.
He looked up at her, pretending to talk to her casually, but his hand was secretly pulling down her clothes little by little underneath.
Just as he was about to pull the clothes off, Lu Jinlan suddenly looked down and pulled them back up for him, saying, "Be careful not to catch a cold."
Song Lincheng: "..."
"Oh, right, I came to give you this." Lu Jinlan placed the white jade hairpin into his hair bun. "Don't do anything foolish in the future."
Song Lincheng nodded, and mustered his courage to ask, "So... do you want to stay here tonight?"
Lu Jinlan glanced at him and couldn't help but smile. "You're practically wrapped up like a mummy, what are you trying to seduce me for? Just focus on healing your injuries, we'll have plenty of time in the future. By the way, write another letter to your mother-in-law tomorrow to discuss a date for our engagement."
Song Lincheng's uneasy heart calmed down instantly because of these words. "Okay, I'll do whatever you say."
*
In recent days, the once peaceful capital city has been thrown into turmoil by the influx of refugees.
The Royal Academy was originally a place for studying politics, so naturally everyone had to follow the recent topics in the court, and the refugee issue was being discussed both in and out of class.
In the evening after school, everyone sat on the lawn in front of the dormitory, still discussing.
Yan Yu asked curiously, "Lu Jinlan, why didn't you speak up in class today? What's your opinion on whether refugees should be allowed to stay or driven away?"
Lu Jinlan sighed, "I didn't speak because I felt this discussion was meaningless. Neither harboring refugees nor driving them away solves the problem at its root. As long as the root problem isn't addressed, new refugees will continue to emerge."
"Is the imperial court so eager to solve the refugee problem because it truly cares about the refugees? No! It's because refugees have appeared in the capital. They're everywhere, disrupting the city's peaceful and prosperous atmosphere, so it has to be addressed."
"But what about before? Wasn't there a single memorial reporting the disaster situation in Beizhou? Didn't the officials in the capital know that the people of Beizhou hadn't received disaster relief funds for two years?"
"The high-ranking officials in the government decide the life and death of hundreds of millions of people in this country, but do these officials really care about the lives of ordinary people?"
Lu Jinlan grew increasingly angry as she spoke, "The disaster victims are surging in front of us, and we're in a hurry to deal with them. Why don't we think about where these disaster victims are from? We only care about cleaning up the immediate situation. What kind of concern for the people is that? Beizhou is far away. Do you think those adults can sleep soundly every night just because they can't hear their cries?"
Yan Yu lowered his head and remained silent for a moment. "Perhaps... I really didn't know before."
Xiang Ruzhen said, “I think it’s not that they don’t know, but that they don’t want to care. The imperial court has never been very attentive to the governance of remote areas. I come from Mianzhou and I know this all too well. Many policies are often implemented haphazardly or not at all when they reach the local level. This has been the case for years. Haven’t the officials in the capital heard about this?”
Yan Wuxin said, "The region is remote, and the imperial court inevitably has no way of reaching it. There's nothing we can do about it."
Xiang Ruzhen hurriedly said, "No, that's not the point. No matter how remote the place is, it's still Hua Kingdom's territory. No matter how poor the people are, they're still Hua Kingdom's subjects. If there's no way to deal with it, we should find a solution. What's the difference between passively letting things slide and letting the people fend for themselves?"
Lu Jinlan said, "That's right. Remote areas are like a person's hands and feet to a country, while the capital is like a person's heart. If you let the hands and feet rot, the heart may beat normally for a short time, but sooner or later it will cause serious problems."
"The strength of a country does not depend on how rich its richest places are, but on whether its poorest villages can have enough to eat and wear and live a normal life."
Yan Yu frowned. "I admit that what you said makes sense. Since you two have raised the issue, let's talk about how to solve it right now."
Sun Lewen, who had been listening for a long time, spoke up at this moment: "What's the point of bringing this up? We're all still students, we can't control what's going on in the world."
Yan Yu thought for a moment, "I have connections; perhaps I can reach the Emperor's ears. Just tell me what you need to say. If this can truly solve the problem, then we'll have done a good deed for the country and its people, won't we?"
Xiang Ruzhen said, "Then let's do as Jinlan said and solve the problem at its root. The court's current focus should not be on how to deal with the refugees. A refugee camp and a few soup kitchens can stabilize the current situation. The court should focus on the northern prefectures."
Lu Jinlan nodded and said, "Although the drought is a natural disaster, the failure to distribute disaster relief funds is a man-made disaster. I suggest that we first distribute the disaster relief funds, and second, send an imperial envoy to investigate the embezzlers of the disaster relief funds. If we do these two things, the refugees will naturally disappear."
Yan Wuxin, on a sudden inspiration, quickly raised his hand and said, "There should be three more: build water conservancy projects and divert a river into the northern state to completely solve the drought problem."
Everyone fell silent in unison. Lu Jinlan smiled and said, "Beizhou has a special geographical location. Even the river closest to Beizhou would take at least one or two years to dig before water can be brought into Beizhou."
Yan Wuxin said, "Then dig! At least we won't have to worry about drought in a year or two. Why haven't we dug?"
Xiang Ruzhen smiled and said, "It's probably because that river is within the territory of Qu Kingdom."
Yan Wuxin clicked his tongue, "Why didn't you say so earlier?"
Everyone burst into laughter. Just then, Ling Zhaoren returned from outside and began to tell them something interesting.
"Have you heard? Erlang's carriage ran over and killed a refugee child. Erlang was also shocked. His family members lost control and clashed with the guards. The streets are quite lively now."
Lu Jinlan was taken aback: "Who is the Second Master?"
Yan Yu said, "It is the Emperor's second son, Zhao Jun'er."
Lu Jinlan nodded, and Xiang Ruzhen quickly asked, "And then?"
Ling Zhaoren said, "Then the emperor ordered them all to be killed."
"Who did you kill?"
"Of course it's the refugee family, who else could it be?"
Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. Suddenly, Yan Wuxin stood up and said to Lu Jinlan and Xiang Ruzhen, "I just remembered that I haven't done my homework yet. You two hurry up and come with me to do my homework."
Xiang Ruzhen couldn't help but nag, "I urged you to write it yesterday, but you kept putting it off. Now look what's happened, you have to stay up all night to finish it."
The three of them walked to a secluded spot, and Yan Wuxin suddenly turned around: "I finished my homework last night. I called you two out because I was afraid that you would get carried away and make some ignorant and presumptuous remarks."
Lu Jinlan said, "I thought about everything I said today. I'm being careful."
Xiang Ruzhen said with a stern face, "I do have something to say, though I may not know the implications. Do you think the Emperor is a benevolent ruler?"
The two men nervously glanced around, then pulled her away for a while. Seeing that no one was around, Yan Wuxin said, "You're not just ignorant of the situation, you're courting death."
Xiang Ruzhen said helplessly, "I can only say this to the two of you. But I just don't understand, even if a princess breaks the law, she should be punished the same as a commoner. He was just a lowly prince who killed someone in the street, and he was the culprit. Even if it was manslaughter, he should be punished. Why did the emperor execute the victim's family instead?"
Lu Jinlan sighed softly, "The royal family has never been punished the same as commoners when they break the law; this has always been the case. As for whether the emperor is benevolent or not, that's even more complicated."
Lu Jinlan had read history books extensively, and she was surprised to find that even famous benevolent rulers had done many things that treated human life as worthless.
She agrees with the statement of a modern historian: "The vast majority of ancient emperors were tyrants; there were almost no benevolent rulers."
Thinking of this, she could only say to Xiang Ruzhen, "Don't judge the emperor as a person. People who hold supreme power have long since deviated from moral standards in their actions."
Xiang Ruzhen was taken aback. "Then what do we do? Are we just left with no choice but to support a tyrant?"
"Let me think about it."
This is a huge problem. Lu Jinlan can't very well tell her, "Let's fire the first shot in the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal struggle."
The social environment simply does not allow for drastic changes. From a scientific perspective, it is impossible to transform from a feudal society to a democratic society overnight, as this would violate objective laws.
Lu Jinlan pondered for a moment, then suddenly thought of another way to answer Xiang Ruzhen's question: "Actually, a prosperous era has little to do with whether the emperor is a benevolent ruler, but rather depends on whether there are capable ministers who can govern the country well."
After a moment of deep thought, Xiang Ruzhen put her hands on Lu Jinlan and Yan Wuxin's shoulders and said, "Then let's be the capable ministers who govern the world."
Yan Wuxin said guiltily, "Don't drag me into this, I'm a military officer."
The two chuckled, when suddenly Sun Lewen shouted, "Lu Jinlan! Your family is frantically looking for you; your young man has fainted in the street!"
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