Chapter 99: Praying for Rain
They had no other options.
For things like this, the only way to deal with it is to pay money.
"Lin Feicun, you speak." Seeing that no one spoke, Emperor Jiacheng could only call on the name.
"Your Majesty has already sent the governor and the censor Zhang to the south to provide disaster relief the day before yesterday. However, floods can be helped, but droughts are difficult to deal with. If God doesn't send rain, it is beyond human power." Lin Feicun, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue, said stiffly, "If...if we can find a way to transfer water from the south to the northwest, that would be great. I wonder if the Ministry of Works has a solution."
Minister of Works Zhao Jing cursed in his heart, and stood up and said, "Don't say there is nothing now. Even if there is, such a large project cannot be completed in a short time. Distant water cannot quench nearby fire. The most important thing now is to control the disaster first!"
Emperor Jiacheng said: "However, what Lin Feicun said does make sense. You should go back and think about how to improve this problem. Disaster relief is always worse than preventing disasters in the first place."
"Yes." Zhao Jingke could only agree reluctantly.
"Your Majesty, I am willing to take the lead in donating money for disaster relief to solve the urgent problem." said Grand Tutor Liu.
"Yes, the palace will also cut expenses and save money for disaster relief." Emperor Jiacheng nodded. "Besides this, is there any other solution?"
Master Liu suddenly said, "Master Shen is always smart. I wonder if Master Shen has any good ideas?"
Su Jinshi cursed Master Liu into the phone, "This old fox is trying to trick Shen Shilang!"
"By the way, Shen Shilang." Emperor Jiacheng also called out.
"I'm here." Shen Shilang stepped out.
"Grand Tutor Liu is right. You always have many ideas. Please share them." Emperor Jiacheng was also looking forward to it. He didn't know what Shen Shilang would say.
At this time, all the court officials were waiting to see Shen Shilang's performance.
They also disliked Shen Shilang very much.
"Your Majesty and the other lords have already given us an excellent solution. As Changyuan said, we need the lords of the Ministry of Works to devise a way to divert the excess water in the south to the drought-stricken areas in the northwest, so that the problem can be solved once and for all." Shen Shilang said slowly, "From a short-term perspective, we need to solve the urgent problems of drought in the northwest and floods in the two rivers first. There is no more effective way to solve this urgent problem except to send people and money for disaster relief."
"Your Majesty has already given the best solution." Shen Shilang bowed and said, "I really have nothing to add."
Emperor Jiacheng felt somewhat pleased with himself.
Yes, he has given the best solutions, what else is there to add?
What if anyone can come up with a better solution?
Doesn't it make him seem incompetent as an emperor?
"Heh!" A sarcastic voice came over, "Lord Shen is really good at taking advantage of others. Regardless of whether your idea is good or not, you deserve your current position only if your words are meaningful. Otherwise, did His Majesty promote you just to eat dry food?"
Shen Shilang turned around and saw that the person who spoke was Zheng Wenlang, the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate.
Speaking of which, he is Shen Shilang's former colleague.
However, after Shen Shilang was appointed as the Censor, he never served in the Censorate and went directly to the Northwest Army, so they never really worked together.
This group of censors have long disliked Shen Shilang.
After Shen Shilang won the third place in the imperial examination, he no longer paid any attention to his classmates. They thought Shen Shilang was a snob.
And now, for the sake of his own future, he actually took action against Wei Zhaoxian.
It's simply ungrateful and shameless.
Anyway, as long as the censors don't make mistakes in principle, even a dog emperor like Emperor Jiacheng can't do anything to them.
Now they are the only ones in the court who dare to openly express their dissatisfaction with Shen Shilang because of Wei Zhaoxian's affairs.
Emperor Jiacheng looked on coldly, and without saying a word he took out the palm-sized jade ruyi from his sleeve and played with it coldly.
"Mr. Shen, there is no need to worry too much. Just say what you think." Emperor Jiacheng said slowly.
Everyone thought that Emperor Jiacheng was really good to Shen Shilang and was so kind to him.
Shen Shilang showed a look of gratitude, and a little shame, and said: "I do have another idea in my mind."
"Oh?" Emperor Jiacheng raised his eyebrows, a little surprised. Did Shen Shilang actually have some other ideas? Shen Shilang took a deep breath and said, "Your Majesty is a real dragon sent from heaven, and you have studied the method of cultivating immortals with the national master. If you let the national master divine an auspicious day, and your Majesty pray for rain in the northwest, the people will also see your efforts for the common people. Otherwise, your Majesty usually works hard for the people, but they don't know about it, and they always complain because they don't understand. I feel sorry for your Majesty!"
"Hmm?" Emperor Jiacheng paused while playing with the jade ruyi, and leaned forward slightly on the dragon throne with interest, "Pray for rain?"
"If we succeed, it will bring rain to the northwest, which will solve the drought in the northwest." Shen Shilang said, "The only thing left to solve is the flood in the two rivers, which can also solve half of the pressure on the court."
"Sir Shen, have you ever thought about what if the rain doesn't come?" Zheng Wenlang said coldly.
"Who says that praying will definitely lead to success?" Shen Shilang said slowly, "Ever since ancient times, emperors have prayed for blessings, but not every time they succeeded."
Please...collect 6...9...books...!
"The key is to let the common people see that Your Majesty is worried about them." Shen Shilang said, "What's going on..."
Shen Shilang bowed his head slightly. "The Imperial Master has great magical powers and will surely be able to predict an auspicious time for Your Majesty. The so-called auspicious time does not necessarily mean that it will rain. If it fails to rain, but it wins the hearts of the people, it is also an auspicious time."
Everyone: “…”
Except for this dog emperor, who in the court doesn't know that the imperial teacher is a swindler?
What auspicious date could he predict? Maybe the imperial teacher was just a pretext put forward by the dog emperor to eliminate dissidents.
But even so, no minister in the court dared to offend the imperial teacher, for fear that the evil Taoist would accuse them of some false charges.
Shen Shilang deceived the demon Taoist like this, isn't he afraid of the demon Taoist's revenge?
For a moment, everyone was a little confused about Shen Shilang's purpose.
Given Shen Shilang's cunning and mercenary nature, he should have tried to please that evil Taoist priest. Why would he try to cheat that evil Taoist priest on the first day of his promotion?
"It's indeed a good idea." Emperor Jiacheng nodded.
Shen Shilang continued, "It just so happens that the Fengshan Terrace has just been completed. Doesn't this coincide with the timing for praying for blessings and rain? How can this not be a hint from heaven?"
Emperor Jiacheng's eyes lit up, "That makes sense. Someone, please call in the Imperial Master!"
Everyone: “!!!”
I didn’t expect that the dog emperor actually listened to it!
When everyone looked at Shen Shilang again, their eyes changed.
This Shen Shilang, I'm afraid he has a big plan! He is not trying to compete with that demon for the position of the number one person in front of the dog emperor! Looking at his flattering face just now, every word he said was cast into the heart of the dog emperor, it seems that he is trying to win favor!
However, Shen Shilang had just been promoted, and he was already vying for favor. Wasn't that a little too hasty? (End of this chapter)