The family gathered together and had a happy hotpot meal.
This first snow fell for several days in a row. At first, it was just a few scattered snowflakes and no one paid much attention to it.
Until the light snow turned into heavy snow, and the sky seemed to have a leak, the snow continued to fall for several days without stopping.
The auspicious snow, which was originally regarded as a sign of a good harvest in the coming year, turned into a snow disaster.
The heavy snow collapsed many houses, leaving tens of thousands of people homeless.
During the morning court session that day, Qi Yuanjing frowned as he thought about the memorials submitted by the disaster-stricken prefectures.
He looked up at the civil and military officials in the hall and said, "Do you have any countermeasures for this snow disaster?"
The ministers came out one by one to express their ideas. Some said to open the granaries and release grain, while others said to allocate funds for disaster relief.
Emperor Jing nodded and asked all these people to submit their memorials for detailed discussion.
At this time, the Minister of Rites stood up and said, "Your Majesty, I have a plan."
Qi Yuanjing raised his hand and let him speak his mind.
"Your Majesty, since ancient times, every dynasty and generation that encountered such a natural disaster would first issue an edict of self-blame, asking the heavens for the sin and blaming themselves, and then grant amnesty to the world, reflecting the emperor's benevolence."
Most of the court officials nodded, believing that this was a proper move.
When Zhou Xingyun saw this, a hint of pride flashed across his eyes.
"Heh." A sneer was heard, and everyone turned their eyes over.
The person who sneered was actually the Imperial Master who was standing in the morning court for the first time today.
Zhou Xingyun was a little angry at first, but when he saw that the person sneering was Gu Lingze, he suppressed his anger.
"What is the Imperial Master's opinion?" asked Emperor Jing.
"Your Majesty has been benevolent for many years, why did you issue an edict of self-criticism?" He turned and looked at Zhou Xingyun, "The Minister also said that he would grant amnesty to the whole country to show the majesty's benevolence."
“Is this a move to show kindness to ordinary people or to the prisoners?”
Zhou Xingyun was not convinced in his heart, but he appeared humble on the surface.
"Then, according to the opinion of the Grand Master, how should we deal with this?"
"As those gentlemen just said, calming the people, helping the victims, and releasing grain, which one is not more important than those illusory things?"
Gu Lingze glanced at his expression calmly, "Could it be that Lord Zhou understands the Heavenly Dao more than me, the Imperial Master?"
Zhou Xingyun said he didn't dare and retreated in shame.
The reason why Gu Lingze struggled to get out of the warm bed early in the morning was that he wanted to refute this ridiculous idea in public.
Yesterday, the Minister of Taichang Temple came up with an idea from nowhere, but he actually proposed in public that he, the imperial preceptor, should perform a ritual to stop the snow.
After hearing this, Gu Lingze was both amused and confused. He didn't know whether the Minister of Taichang Temple thought too highly of him or he took the natural disaster too lightly.
Natural disasters involve the destiny of a country. Even though the dragon energy had been attributed to the dragon vein of the imperial mausoleum by Cheng Jiao, this back and forth still produced a significant impact.
After the court session, Gu Lingze went to Tanxi Temple and invited Zen Master Minghai to the palace to pray and chant sutras.
After the Queen heard the news, she and the two princesses also started copying Buddhist scriptures.
The next day, Emperor Jing appointed disaster relief envoys from all prefectures, who quickly went to various places to provide disaster relief with money, food, and troops.
The area hardest hit by the disaster was Linji Prefecture, but fortunately, the local harvest was reported to be good in the early spring this year, so the situation probably won't be too bad for the time being.
Zhao Chengmo was appointed by the emperor as the disaster relief envoy of Linji Prefecture, and Xu Mingyan was also sent there.
Due to his outstanding performance in the past, Xu Mingyan was promoted to the position of fourth-rank doctor in the Ministry of Revenue last month.
The Ministry of Revenue manages the country's money and grain, and the Ministry of Revenue is needed to coordinate and compile statistics for the opening of warehouses for relief. Therefore, among the relief officials sent by each prefecture, at least one is from the Ministry of Revenue.
Zhao Chengmo will set out for Linji Prefecture early tomorrow morning, and all his things have been packed.
After blowing out the candle, he pulled back the quilt and crawled inside.
Zhao Chengmo hugged Gu Lingze from behind. Although he was about to leave, he didn't have any other thoughts at the moment. He just wanted to quietly hold the person in his arms and sleep.
"I'll go with you tomorrow." Gu Lingze turned over and said to Zhao Chengmo face to face.
"It's too cold outside, wait for me at home."
It was so warm at home that Gu Lingze almost didn't want to get out of bed.
It is now freezing and snowy outside. Although he wants to be with her all the time, Zhao Chengmo is still afraid that his little husband will suffer.
Gu Lingze shook his head, "I'll go with you."
Although he did not explain the reason, Zhao Chengmo understood that he must have his reasons for doing so.
She lowered her head and kissed him lightly on the lips, "Okay, let's go together."
Early the next morning, the three of them led the team to set off, and with them went a thousand Black Cloth Army soldiers.
After traveling day and night, they finally arrived at Linji Prefecture, but found that the situation there was much more serious than they had imagined.
Zhao Chengmo looked at the officials of Linji Prefecture kneeling on the ground in front of him with a cold expression.
"Why didn't you open the warehouses to release grain to help the victims? Do you think the imperial edict means nothing?"
After hearing this, the prefect Wu Yuanzhong broke out in a cold sweat and kowtowed repeatedly.
"It's not that I don't obey the imperial edict, but...but..."
"explain!"
Wu Yuanzhong lay prone on the ground, trembling as he spoke: "But there is not a single dan of rice in the government warehouse."
"Nonsense." Xu Mingyan stood up. "This year, Linji Prefecture collected more than 50,000 dan of grain, and now you say there is none."
An Wenhong drew out his sword from his waist with a clang, and Wu Yuanzhong was so frightened that he didn't even dare to breathe.
"My lord, we are innocent!" The judge knelt down and walked forward.
"Oh?" Zhao Chengmo walked over and looked down at him, "How can it be wronged?"
"My Lord, how dare we use the government warehouse's grain and fodder at will? It was all forcibly requisitioned by the Suiyang general. We have asked for it back several times but to no avail, which is why we have the current situation."
The other kneeling officials also nodded desperately at this time, fearing that Zhao Chengmo would chop them all to pieces in a rage.
"Where is the general's granary?"
The most important thing now is not to deal with these things, but to help the victims.
Just after noon, Zhao Chengmo and Gu Lingze set out with eight hundred Black Cloth Army soldiers.
The remaining 200 people followed Xu Mingyan's orders and went to the homes of all the gentry and wealthy people in the city. They wrote IOUs in the name of the court and requisitioned some grain first.
When Zhao Chengmo and Gu Lingze arrived at the place, the other party seemed to have known about their coming and was waiting in Yingkou early.
"I am Cheng Hualong, the general of Suiyang, and I pay my respects to Marquis Xuanyi."
Zhao Chengmo was riding on his horse and didn't want to waste time talking to him, so he asked directly, "Where is the food and fodder of Linji Prefecture now?"
Cheng Hualong laughed dryly and said, "Please come into the camp with me and I will tell you more."
Zhao Chengmo, however, sat on his horse motionless, "I can wait, but the people of Linji Prefecture cannot."
After saying this, he waved his hand and the black-clothed army rushed in directly.
Unexpectedly, Cheng Hualong shouted, "Stop them!"
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