Unfortunately, the people of Broken Gold Beach were not afraid at all.
"Go ahead and complain wherever you want! We're not from the imperial court or any government office! We only came to lend a hand because our lord took on this task. Now that our lord has fallen ill from anger, who's going to put up with you anymore!"
"Exactly, a bunch of ingrates! They eat our food but don't do our dirty work!"
"If we had known you would act this way, we would have fed all our grain and vegetables to the pigs rather than given them to you!"
The mouths of the old and young in Suijintan are not just for show; while they are working, they don't miss a single curse.
Some of the refugees were still relatively rational and shouted, "What are you talking about? Who made the Lord sick? We didn't even speak to the Lord!"
The village chief shouted to the villagers, "Get on the bus, or get on the guards!" Then he turned around and gave a cold laugh.
"The Princess Kang Le you've been talking about these past few days, the one who's supposed to be sacrificed to pray for rain, is only a teenager! She's our Lord's niece, the apple of our Li family's eye, and the mistress of Broken Gold Beach!"
With that, he waved his pipe, and the convoy set off to go home.
The refugees remained silent for a long time, looking at each other in disbelief.
"Aunt Zhang, you said yesterday that the princess who wanted to burn the rain-praying princess alive, is she the master of these people?" a woman asked her temporary neighbor.
The temporary neighbor was terrified and quickly waved his hands.
"No, no, I was just kidding! And I heard it from Zhang Dashuan. He said that if it rains sooner, we can go home sooner!"
"No, no, I only heard it from others." The man named Zhang Dashuan also refused to admit it and pushed the matter away as well.
This back-and-forth passing of the buck has been a constant cycle, with everyone saying what they've heard, yet everyone's only hearing it from others.
It doesn't matter who the source is anymore!
They've offended everyone, and now nobody cares about them!
Some of the refugees were clever; they secretly took a bowl and filled it with the half-cooked porridge.
As a result, someone saw it and joined in the robbery.
The refugees, who had been arguing just moments before, immediately started fighting like madmen again.
Only a small portion of the porridge went into their stomachs; the majority was wasted in the struggle for it.
Some people, starving and momentarily confused, went and grabbed the bags of grain...
The minor officials assigned by the Ministry of Revenue used to just sit in the shed drinking herbal tea and watch others work while they received their wages.
Now that the Li family has left, only they remain. Before they could even react, the refugees turned into a mob!
I simply can't live like this!
They couldn't stop them, and they dared not, for fear of losing their lives.
Left with no other option, they could only hurry back to report the news.
The official in charge of the Ministry of Revenue was leisurely sipping his tea when he suddenly heard a messenger from a junior clerk who had run back, and realized that he had delayed something important.
He immediately found Li Lao Er's leave request and ran to find the Vice Minister, who then went to find the Minister...
So, in the middle of the afternoon, while the Crown Prince and several important ministers were discussing matters, news came in that Li Lao Er had simply abandoned his post!
Before anyone could speak, news of the city's defenses arrived.
It turned out that some of the refugees who had looted the grain had run away, while those who hadn't managed to get any were afraid of going hungry later, so they were making a fuss about wanting to enter the city, and had already surrounded the city gates so tightly that they were completely blocked.
Those inside the city can't get out, and those outside the city can't get in.
The commander on duty for city defense, fearing something might go wrong and unwilling to take responsibility, also reported it.
This made the senior officials frown and displease them.
"Why did Lord Li suddenly fall ill, causing chaos outside the city?"
"Yes, even if they are sick, it doesn't mean we have to withdraw all our staff."
The crown prince lowered his head and drank his tea without saying a word. After a few moments of thought, he guessed the purpose of the Li family's actions.
A glint of light flashed in his eyes, but when he looked up, he frowned.
After the senior officials finished speaking, the Crown Prince hesitated and said with a hint of helplessness, "Originally, those people were just villagers from Broken Gold Beach. They were just following Lord Li's orders and were not assigned by the government."
"Now that Lord Li is ill, it is understandable that they all went back to serve him. However, the incident happened suddenly, and the refugees were left unattended, which caused the chaos."
Upon hearing this, the senior officials exchanged glances, their feelings a mix of emotions.
The Crown Prince grew up in Suijintan, so it's only right that we accommodate Suijintan and protect it a bit more.
This shows that the Crown Prince values loyalty and righteousness, and his future ascension to the throne will be a good thing for them.
But at this moment, such loyalty and affection are rendered helpless in this situation.
Finally, the senior officials discussed the matter and sent a vice minister from the Ministry of Revenue to visit the sick.
Of course, the visit was just a pretext; the real purpose was to get Li Lao Er and the Li family to take over the care of the displaced people again.
The vice minister was initially somewhat reluctant, as he had always looked down on Li Lao Er's background. Now that he was condescending to "beg" Li Lao Er, how could he possibly be happy?
Then……
"What? Lord Li is seriously ill and won't see any guests?" The Vice Minister, sitting in the carriage, was so hot and dizzy that he was practically fuming when he heard what the Earl's servant said.
The servant of the Earl's mansion replied with a grin, "Yes, sir, our Earl is indeed very ill. He can't even open his eyes and is truly unable to receive guests."
The vice minister wanted to curse, but after thinking about it, he slammed the carriage window and turned back...
The Crown Prince and several high-ranking officials listened intently to the Vice Minister's spittle flying as he berated the Li family as if they had committed some heinous crime.
Several senior officials were all troubled, and it seemed that Li Lao Er was indeed faking illness and had completely given up.
Even if they knew it was fake, they couldn't just drag him out of bed and force him to continue taking care of the refugees!
After listening to the vice minister's incessant chatter, the crown prince spoke directly.
"Since the Vice Minister says that taking care of the refugees is a minor matter, and Lord Li should not be so irresponsible, then from now on, the Vice Minister should take over the refugees."
The vice minister was stunned, his mouth agape, as if he could fit an egg in it, and he was filled with regret.
How did such a hot potato end up on his head?
He was about to say something more, but the Crown Prince added, "Don't worry, the Ministry of Revenue will allocate funds and grain in the same way as before, and not a single grain of rice or a single coin will be shortchanged."
The egg stuffed into the vice minister's mouth immediately turned into bile.
He was the Vice Minister of Revenue, so he knew best how much grain the Ministry of Revenue allocated.
The food and supplies for the ten or twenty thousand refugees outside the city are simply not enough!
In the past few days, Li Lao Er tried every means to "beg for alms" from various households in the city, and even used the Crown Prince to his advantage, in order to barely feed the refugees.
Now it's his turn, what should he do...?
Leaving aside the unfortunate vice minister who ultimately harmed himself, let's just say that because the Xindu Wharf was outside the city and there was no curfew, it remained bustling even after nightfall.
The vendor was trying his best to sell the remaining fish and shrimp, hoping to find a buyer who would give him a perfect ending to his business today.
There were also enthusiastic tavern waiters calling out to attract customers, "Newly opened Xinghua Village! Fine wines, gentlemen, don't miss out!"
A few mischievous kids, wearing cropped pants and shirtless, tanned like black eels, ran around the street. Occasionally, passersby would bump into them and couldn't help but laugh and curse.
The mischievous children didn't take it seriously and continued playing.
One of them looked up at the distant dock and suddenly exclaimed, "Wow, what a huge ship!"
Hearing the sound, everyone looked in the direction indicated. In the dark twilight, a large ship, like a giant beast from ancient times, slowly appeared before them with a ferocious look!
Today's update is here!
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