The housekeeper followed behind Prince Xiang and earnestly advised: "Your Highness, since the Queen Mother wants you to go to Qianzhou to provide disaster relief, she must have her own considerations. The Queen Mother will definitely not harm you, right?"
King Xiang snorted coldly, and the more he thought about it, the more unhappy he became about the mission to go to Qianzhou for disaster relief.
"Everyone in the court knows that the Minister of Revenue was promoted by Yuwen Ran. He is a stubborn guy."
"Even giving him some money during festivals is not enough. It's obvious that Yuwen Ran is deliberately trying to make the Minister of Revenue come and make me unhappy!"
Before Prince Xiang returned home, the butler received a letter from the Queen Mother from the palace, saying that no matter what happened this time, he had to keep an eye on Prince Xiang and treat this mission well.
"Since Your Highness has already received the mission to carry out disaster relief, you should first think about how to get there faster so that you can return to the capital to enjoy your life sooner."
The Minister of Revenue set off first after receiving the mission to go to Qianzhou for disaster relief. However, he argued with the Prime Minister in the court, saying that it was the Prince of Xiang who the people of Qianzhou could not wait for, and delayed for several days before setting off from the capital with a team of carriages.
The Prince Xiang's Mansion, which had been silent for many years in the capital, became a hot spot overnight. In the few days before Prince Xiang's departure, there was a constant stream of traffic and visitors in front of the gate.
King Xiang was very generous in accepting gifts. Although the ministers could not go to Qianzhou for disaster relief, they also prepared some supplies and sent them to Qianzhou. They wanted King Xiang to add some more things to the supplies they gave them and then present them to Yuwen Ran.
In this way, even if they did not go to Qianzhou to provide disaster relief, they would have achieved political achievements.
Prince Xiang traveled slowly along the way. In addition to the palace guards given to him by Yuwen Ran, Prince Xiang also brought dozens of guards from the palace, for fear that he would encounter bandits on the road and have them rob all the things he brought to Qianzhou.
By the time Prince Xiang arrived, the riot of the refugees in Qianzhou had been suppressed. Several ringleaders were arrested and locked up in the government office, and would be punished after the disaster was over.
The Minister of Revenue who arrived earlier had already prepared a batch of food and set up porridge stalls all over Qianzhou, distributing porridge to the refugees at regular times and in fixed quantities every day.
The Qianzhou provincial government received the news early and sent people to welcome him thirty miles away. Although the Minister of Revenue and Prince Xiang were both imperial envoys, Prince Xiang was probably the most treated imperial envoy in Qianzhou.
Who is this Prince Xiang? He is the brother of the current emperor Yuwen Ran, and he stays in the capital all year round.
I didn’t expect that when there was a severe drought in Qianzhou, Yuwen Ran would actually send Prince Xiang.
With Prince Xiang in Qianzhou, we have a living signboard that can appease the people of Qianzhou.
After all, King Xiang came in person, which shows that the court has not given up on Qianzhou or the people of Qianzhou.
Qianzhou had just suffered a severe drought, and hundreds of thousands of disaster victims had nowhere to go. In the autumn and winter of this year, it seemed as if God had done it on purpose. It was extremely cold and it looked like it was going to be unbearable.
It was only November, and Qianzhou, which in previous years hadn't seen a single snowflake throughout the winter, had experienced a rare heavy snowfall this year, and the snow was expected to get heavier. After this snowfall, who knew how many more bodies would be lost in Qianzhou.
The time when King Xiang came was really unfortunate. It snowed particularly heavily on the day he arrived in Qianzhou. The highest snow pile was higher than the waistline of an adult man.
The governor of Qianzhou was afraid that Prince Xiang had not brought any heavy clothes and would be very cold after entering Qianzhou.
In order to prevent King Xiang from getting cold, the provincial government urgently recruited more than a thousand people from other provinces. Within a few days, they built a shed from the gate of Qianzhou City to the provincial government. Many braziers were also placed along the way, for fear that King Xiang would feel that Qianzhou was too cold and turn around and return to the capital.
Before the cavalry reached the city gate of Qianzhou, the provincial government sent people to greet them from afar.
A group of people blocked the official road and paid their respects to King Xiang. Although King Xiang knew that it was just a formality, he was still very pleased.
No matter how heavy the snow was outside, he got out of the carriage wearing only four thin pieces of clothing and looked at the sea of heads kneeling outside. This was a treatment that only Yuwen Ran could enjoy in the capital.
He cleared his throat several times before saying, "Everyone, please don't be so polite. Please stand up."
After they all stood up, King Xiang finally realized he was cold. He rubbed his hands, tightened his cloak, and said with a smile, "At this time of year every year, I always thought the capital was the coldest. But when I arrived in Qianzhou today, I didn't expect the snow in the capital to pale in comparison to the snow here. I'm really sorry to trouble you all, you braved such a heavy snowstorm to come out to meet me."
The governor of Qianzhou hurriedly offered an apologetic smile to Prince Xiang, saying, "Your Highness, what are you saying? You have traveled all the way from the capital to Qianzhou, and I would like to thank you on behalf of the people of Qianzhou! Qianzhou is a poor place, and now we are experiencing a severe drought and heavy snow, so the city is inevitably short of manpower. If there are any areas where we have not provided adequate care, I hope Your Highness will forgive me."
"No, we are all here to serve the Emperor. I already had a general idea of the situation in Qianzhou before I came here, so I won't be surprised."
On the first day that King Xiang arrived in Qianzhou, he went straight into the Qianzhou provincial government's palace.
The Qianzhou government went to great lengths to entertain Prince Xiang. At a time when food was in short supply in Qianzhou, they even held a grand banquet to welcome Prince Xiang.
He couldn't see what King Xiang was thinking, but at least he looked very happy on the surface.
Officials from Qianzhou and nearby states, hundreds of officials in total, were all present. The ceremony was even grander than those in the palace.
Prince Xiang was a fun-loving person, and he was sent to this poor place, Qianzhou, unwillingly by the Queen Mother. However, after being tormented by the Qianzhou government, he felt that Qianzhou was much better than the capital.
After a few drinks, his true colors were revealed. He drunkenly pulled the governor of Qianzhou to eat, drink and have fun with him.
The governor of Qianzhou was named He Shuhuan, who had won the third place in the imperial examination three years ago.
Without any real learning and practical work, he used money to buy this official position in Qianzhou. He originally thought that he would just eat and wait for death in Qianzhou for the rest of his life, but he did not expect that Qianzhou would suddenly suffer a severe drought this year and there would be no food.
Seeing that Prince Xiang treated him like a brother, he became bolder and hugged Prince Xiang together, "Your Highness! When I'm done with this busy period, I will definitely take you to visit Qianzhou."
"Don't despise Qianzhou because it's a poor and remote place, but most of the wealthy merchants here are very wealthy! Just during this severe drought in Qianzhou, I made a lot of money from them. All of this today was bought with the money of those wealthy merchants. Otherwise, how could my small state afford to eat such delicacies..."
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