This made it even more difficult for the people who were already struggling to make ends meet.
This was the scene Yao Jinle saw when he escaped from the woodshed in the provincial government office. The city of Qianzhou was littered with corpses, and countless people had starved to death or frozen to death. It was a tragic sight that there were almost bones of starving people on the road.
It is not an exaggeration to describe it as a devastated scene.
Before he was locked up in the woodshed, there were many porridge stalls in Qianzhou City. When he ran all the way out from the provincial capital, he didn't see any porridge stalls. What was going on?
To avoid the patrolling guards, Yao Jinle ducked into a small alleyway. There, he finally ran into the people of Qianzhou City and asked, "What on earth is going on in Qianzhou? Why have even the porridge stalls been cleared?"
The people in the city all knew him, and during the days when Yao Jinle was missing, they also tried to find Yao Jinle.
When asked about the last time Yao Jinle was seen, he said that he had never been seen coming out since he entered the provincial government's mansion. He was thought to have been harmed by those black-hearted officials and Prince Xiang.
At this moment, they were thinking of taking their farming tools and going to the provincial government to fight them to the death. This would be better than starving to death in the city of Qianzhou.
Seeing Yao Jinle, they knelt on the ground and begged him, "Sir! Sir! We know that you are the only official in Qianzhou City who truly works for us. Please report the situation here to His Majesty and save us!"
Yao Jinle was shocked when he heard this. "What on earth happened? Someone come out and tell me in detail."
A scholar walked out from among them, bowed to Yao Jinle, and then said: "Sir, this is what happened..."
After hearing the whole story, Yao Jinle didn't expect that King Xiang and He Shuhuan could be so cruel. In addition, he hadn't had a drop of water for several days. In a moment of desperation, he vomited blood and fainted.
When he woke up, he had been taken home by the people and was being taken care of. Yao Jinle saw that even they didn't have much food left, so he gave him a lot of it.
He sat up from the bed and shook his head. "Uncle, I can't accept these. But I will definitely not ignore your affairs! There is just one thing I need your help with."
The uncle put down the bowl of porridge in his hand, took Yao Jinle's hand and choked up, saying: "Master Yao, you said, no matter what, we are willing to cooperate..."
Yao Jinle raised his eyes to the uncle beside the bed, clenched his fist, and said firmly, "I want you and the people of the city to jointly write a letter in blood, accusing Prince Xiang of what he has done in Qianzhou recently. Then I will personally bring it to the capital and present it to His Majesty for review! As long as you believe me, when I return from the capital, I will definitely return to Qianzhou with food and save Qianzhou from this dire situation."
After hearing Yao Jinle's suggestion, he wrote a blood letter and handed it to Yuwen Ran for review. Although this was a good idea, it made the uncle feel troubled: "Sir, no matter what they say, we trust you! But we are just country folk. We can't even recognize a few words, so how can we be considered as people who can write!"
"That's not a big deal. I can draft a document for you, and you can just write it down. It doesn't matter if it doesn't look exactly like the original. Just remember to leave your name at the bottom after you finish writing it. That way it will be authentic and His Majesty will trust us."
Yao Jinle wanted to strike while the iron was hot, so he asked the uncle to find a piece of cloth. He picked up the dagger and cut his finger hard, using the blood instead of ink to draw on the white cloth.
After writing, Yao Jinle stopped the bleeding and handed the cloth to the uncle. Maybe because he had been hungry for a few days and had lost so much blood, Yao Jinle's face was completely bloodless, and his face was even paler than when the uncle first took the cloth.
Yao Jinle didn't pay much attention to it. He just pulled the uncle over and warned him, "Remember, when you write this, don't let Prince Xiang and his entourage see it. If this matter is exposed, there will be no chance to save the people of Qianzhou."
The uncle nodded, indicating that he had memorized everything, and hurriedly asked, "How much time do you need to prepare? If you can't wait, I will go out and find them to write this blood oath."
Yao Jinle nodded, agreeing with his uncle's idea of going out and finding the rest of the people to write the blood oath. "Of course, the sooner the better. The sooner it's written, the sooner I can get to the capital and the sooner I can find His Majesty to come back and save the people of Qianzhou! Besides, it's almost dark now, and I don't think Prince Xiang and the others will come out again, so there's naturally less worry about being discovered."
The uncle worked very quickly. By the afternoon of the next day, all the people in Qianzhou City had written blood oaths, which the uncle took and handed to Yao Jinle.
Yao Jinle carefully put the blood-lettered letters away, tucked them into his clothes, said goodbye to his uncle, and left Qianzhou City at night. On the way, he used the money the people had collected for him to buy a horse and galloped all the way to the capital. When he reached the city gate, the horse collapsed and could not get up.
Yao Jinle didn't have time to go back to his house to change clothes before entering the palace. As soon as he entered the capital, he went straight to the palace, but was stopped by the guards at the palace gate. "Who are you? This is a very important place in the palace. How can someone like you enter?"
After the guard saw Yao Jinle's clothes clearly, he said, "If you're fleeing from somewhere else, you should stay in a shelter, not come to this palace! If you can't find the shelter, we can send someone to take you there."
Yao Jinle took out a token that proved his identity. "I am Yao Jinle, the Minister of Revenue. I am about to go to the palace to report to His Majesty on the severe drought in Qianzhou. If it's too late, more people in Qianzhou will die!"
"Master Yao!"
After the guard saw the token in Yao Jinle's hand, he gave way to Yao Jinle.
"I was not able to recognize you, Master Yao, because of my poor eyesight. Please don't blame me, Master Yao!"
"It's okay, I don't blame you. It's normal for people to mistake me for someone fleeing famine with my attire. But let's not talk about it for now. I'm in a hurry to go to the palace to see His Majesty. Once the Qianzhou incident is resolved, I'll come and treat all the Royal Guards to a drink!"
Yao Jinle bowed to the guard at the door and strode out.
The Royal Guards were chasing after him.
"Sir! Please allow me to accompany you to find His Majesty. If those eunuchs who look down on people with their dog eyes see you in your current attire, you will be kicked out of the palace. I will accompany you and can also protect you on the way."
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