News of the disaster in Zhongzhou gradually spread to more distant provincial capitals. By midsummer, even the southwestern border cities had heard of it. Most of the people could empathize with the situation and were worried that the people in Zhongzhou would not be able to survive. They hoped that it would rain soon and that the court would provide disaster relief.
After hearing this, Xu Qinyu wanted to do something but was powerless. Her fourth brother had not been home for several months, but he sent letters every month. This month's letter would not arrive until the end of the month.
She actually knew vaguely in her heart that even her fourth brother would be helpless. In ancient times, when such natural disasters occurred, apart from the imperial court's disaster relief, there was really nothing they could do. If no one provided disaster relief, the victims would have almost no choice but to flee from famine or wait to die. Even fleeing from famine would be difficult, and only a small number of people could survive.
Xu Qinyu also hoped that the court could provide disaster relief.
But based on what the court and the two people in the palace have done in recent years, it is probably unlikely to expect the court to provide disaster relief.
Xu Qinyu really didn't understand what the Queen Mother and the new Emperor were thinking. If you really wanted to pursue pleasure, you could be an idle king or a leisurely Queen Mother, eating and drinking all day long, and you would have wealth and glory. As for money, although the national treasury couldn't be used as you wish, you definitely wouldn't be short of silver. Why bother fighting for that position? You used a vicious scheme to get the position, but only enjoyed the glory brought by this position without fulfilling the obligations that required it.
Do you really think that being in a high position means only enjoying pleasure?
What comes with it is endless responsibilities, responsibilities to the people of the world.
However, the extravagant life of wealth and luxury is truly fascinating, otherwise there would not be so many foolish rulers and corrupt officials in history.
Although there was a severe drought in Zhongzhou, it had little impact on the southwest. After all, it was more than three thousand miles away, almost four thousand miles away, which was why it was extremely difficult for Xu Qinyu to donate some food there.
This era is different from later generations. People can donate money online, but it is extremely difficult to donate supplies to this place. First, the officials of the yamen have to come forward and let the dignitaries and wealthy families in the city lead everyone to donate supplies. In this way, there are disaster relief supplies, but on the way to the disaster relief, they may encounter robbers, or some corrupt officials may withhold half of them, and very little can be delivered to the victims.
Xu Qinyu could only wait like this and take care of Xu Ji's business first.
The business of Xu Ji Restaurant was not greatly affected, because after the summer came, Xu Ji was also a good place to escape the heat. Rich businessmen and dignitaries from some wealthy states in the southwest all liked to come to Xu Ji Restaurant to escape the heat, and the three gardens were crowded with people.
Now some ladies who often come to Xu's are also willing to come and soak in the hot spring pool. They are not as restrained as before. The hot spring pool for female guests is very private, so everyone has gradually relaxed. Many women have gotten used to it. They wear small clothes and soak in the hot spring with their good sisters, doing skin care, beauty and relaxing muscles and bones together. It is so comfortable.
Xu's business is going on as usual, and Xu Qinyu's daily life is pretty much the same.
By the end of summer, people in the southwest realized that the imperial court had not sent anyone to Zhongzhou to provide disaster relief.
Some poor people and tenants in Zhongzhou could no longer afford to buy food, so they went to the mountains every day to dig wild vegetables and pick wild fruits. Some of them had nothing to eat, so they even started picking edible leaves and simply boiled them in water to eat.
But the court still did not send officials to provide disaster relief.
"Why hasn't the emperor sent anyone to provide disaster relief?"
"Is the treasury empty? So there's no money for disaster relief?"
"What do you mean the treasury is empty? Every year, we ordinary people pay so much grain and land taxes from our landowners. And then there are the various commercial and land taxes that the wealthy merchants pay. I heard that when the new emperor first ascended the throne, he raided the homes of a large number of officials. Those officials must have been rich, and they must have put all their money into the treasury. Even if the treasury is empty, it's because of the extravagant and wasteful behavior of the person in charge."
"You don't know, but I have a relative who's a merchant caravan driver. He often goes to the capital. I heard there's a Handong King in the capital. He's the Queen Mother's younger brother. He's built palaces everywhere, lives an extravagant life, and even embezzles military pay. Didn't the imperial envoy come to Raozhou last time because of the embezzlement case? In the end, the Minister of Revenue took the blame. Of course, no one dared to talk about it openly, because otherwise, they'd just confiscate your property, just like those officials whose homes were confiscated. They'd accuse you of any crime and have your house confiscated."
"If the imperial court doesn't provide disaster relief, will the people of Zhongzhou still have a chance to survive?"
"Hey, with an emperor like this, there won't be any chaos in the future, will there?"
"Hey, isn't it obvious? When the new emperor first ascended the throne, there was a snowstorm in the north, freezing many people to death. Many people from the north fled to the capital in the south, and many of them contracted diarrhea along the way. The new emperor didn't care and wanted to kill all the victims fleeing to the capital, regardless of whether they had diarrhea or not. Later, those victims started to flee... Fortunately, a county magistrate in our Raozhou City came up with a solution to diarrhea, otherwise many people would have died that time."
But even so, no one wants the world to fall into chaos. If the world is in chaos, the ordinary people like them will suffer the most. Now at least they have enough food and drink and their lives are still acceptable. If there is really a chaotic world, with wars everywhere and people suffering, there will be no way to survive.
Not only were people discussing this matter in some restaurants, inns and teahouses in the city, but even many of Xu Ji's guests were talking about it.
It was the end of summer in Zhongzhou, and there was only a light rain in Zhongzhou, which was of no help to the dried-up rivers.
Furthermore, it wasn't a matter of whether it rained or not. It was already late summer, and even if it rained, any crops planted would freeze to death in winter, leaving no harvest. If no relief supplies arrived in another two months, the poorer people and tenants would likely have no choice but to flee the famine.
There are some righteous people who ask everyone to raise funds, and there are government officials behind them.
Xu Qinyu also received a letter from her fourth brother at the end of the month, saying that the person in Raozhou City who was soliciting donations was a good and righteous person. She could give him the supplies or money, and he would use all the supplies and money to buy food and send it to Zhongzhou.
Xu Qinyu didn't recognize this man, but she heard that he was the owner of a large caravan named Zhou Yan.
Naturally, I don’t know that he is the eldest prince’s man and now the fourth brother’s man.
Xu Qinyu also had a lot of surplus food.
The hundred acres of land purchased in Yuanbao Town had been given to tenants to cultivate, and a lot of rent could be collected every year.
The tenants of other people's fields were given 40% of the harvest, she gave 60%, and kept the remaining 40% for herself. Some of this grain was not very good, so she kept it for her family to eat. The grain used in the restaurant was all carefully selected high-quality rice, flour and grains.
In addition to the 100 acres of land she had bought in Yuanbao Town before, this year she also bought another 200 acres of land near Raozhou City, bringing her total to 300 acres.
So we also stored a lot of surplus food.
There is no need to donate money now, because what Zhongzhou lacks is food.
Xu Qinyu kept enough of the surplus food to feed her family for a year, and donated the rest.
However, these grains were just a drop in the bucket. Xu Qinyu bought some more grain and sent it over. Fourth brother did not recommend that she use all the money to buy grain and donate it. Even if she used all the money to buy grain, it would be just a drop in the bucket for the people of Zhongzhou. More people would need to be mobilized to donate grain. Even so, it would only allow the people of Zhongzhou to survive for a month. The Ministry of Revenue of the imperial court still had to allocate funds for disaster relief.
However, Xu Qinyu still bought tens of thousands of taels of grain and gave them to Zhou Yan.
She didn't go in person, but asked Gong Ge'er to go.
Gongger is now seventeen years old, tall and strong. With him in charge of the restaurant, he helps her a lot.
In this way, food from the southwest was gradually transported to Zhongzhou.
Some officials in other places could no longer tolerate the court's actions and called on wealthy businessmen, dignitaries and ordinary people to donate grain.
For ordinary people, even if they donate a handful or two of food, it will add up to a lot.
…
Three thousand miles away in the capital, the court had been arguing all day long for the past few months, and had been asking the new emperor to go to provide disaster relief. Emperor Sheng Yuan had lost a lot of weight in the past few months due to being scolded by civil and military officials. He was thinking of pretending to be sick to avoid the daily lessons and scolding from these important officials in the court. However, before he could pretend to be sick, he really fell ill, and this illness lasted for two months.
Emperor Shengyuan was really ill in the early period, but in the later period he was just pretending to be ill and didn't want to attend court.
Ever since he took this position, Emperor Sheng Yuan has never been happy. He has to attend court all day long, review a pile of memorials, and be scolded by the censors from time to time. He has been advised by court officials that it would be better for him to be a prince or a leisurely prince. He really doesn't understand why his mother insisted on letting him take this position.
Emperor Sheng Yuan lay in his bedroom, feeling completely bored. Then he ran to the pet garden where his fourth brother kept pets, petted a few of them, and then went back.
The pets were still the same as before. When Emperor Sheng Yuan came over, they were very affectionate. As soon as Emperor Sheng Yuan left, they ran to the pond and started cleaning their wings and fur.
Obviously he still dislikes Emperor Sheng Yuan.
The young eunuchs guarding the gardens were already used to it. They thought these real pets were very smart, and they treated them better every day.
Emperor Sheng Yuan stayed in his bedroom for two months without attending court, and he usually handed the memorials to the empress dowager for review.
He lay there like this for two months, and his two months of leisure ended with the blood of a civil servant spilled at the palace gate.
Officials came to the palace to beg the new emperor for disaster relief, and the new emperor and the empress dowager had no choice but to bite the bullet and ask the Ministry of Revenue to allocate funds to buy grain for disaster relief.
This time, the Queen Mother did not dare to allow her own brother and other officials to embezzle money, so this batch of disaster relief food was safely delivered to the people of Zhongzhou, giving them a way to survive.
It was almost autumn, and with the relief grain from the imperial court and the grain donated by various provincial capitals, the people of Zhongzhou could only afford two bowls of mixed grain porridge with beans every day. This was barely enough for them to get through the cold winter and wait until the next year to start planting new crops...
In the mansion of Marquis Dechang.
Xu Qinhui hadn't expected the new emperor and empress dowager to actually have the Ministry of Revenue allocate funds for disaster relief. In her previous life, they had dragged their feet and never provided disaster relief, which ultimately led to many people starving to death in Zhongzhou. Many others fled the famine, leaving Zhongzhou desolate and desolate. Uprisings broke out in various places...
Xu Qinhui didn't understand why this life was different again.
However, in the previous life, no officials had ever caused bloodshed at the palace gate.
The official who tried to crash into the palace gate this time did not die, but was seriously injured. He was treated and is still lying in bed. I heard that the imperial physician who treated him said that his injuries were quite serious and he would probably need to recuperate for a long time, and he might not be able to recover completely in the end.
Xu Qinhui also felt that it was this blood-spattered official who forced the empress dowager to send the Ministry of Revenue to provide disaster relief.
With such a leader, if the new emperor and the empress dowager continue to turn a blind eye to the people of Zhongzhou, more officials in the court will begin to rebel. Even if the empress dowager kills all these officials who cause trouble, she will still suffer a lot, which is not worth it.
Xu Qinhui sighed. She actually hoped that things would remain the same as in her previous life. Only then could the King follow the same trajectory as in her previous life, mingle with the rebels, slowly expand his power, and finally return to the palace.
Otherwise, if Prince Shu cannot inherit the throne in this lifetime, wouldn’t she have made the wrong choice again?
Just like now, everything is different from the previous life. Will Prince Shu be able to come back and inherit the throne?
She can no longer enter the palace and there is no turning back.
However, Xu Qinhui still remembered one thing. Next year, the King of Handong would meet a beautiful young woman dressed as a woman on the road. He would have someone secretly take this young woman back to the palace and humiliate her. However, this young woman was the married daughter of the Grand Tutor.
Of course, every time the King of Handong robbed someone, he didn't dare to do it openly, and always asked the servants in the mansion to do it. Even so, the dignitaries and wealthy families in the capital city all knew that it was the King of Handong's method.
The King of Handong was already in his forties. He liked to snatch away beautiful women whenever he saw them. In the past, apart from some beautiful commoner girls, he even snatched away the granddaughter of Duke Chongming and brought her back to the palace. In the end, the Queen Mother issued an edict to marry Miss Zhang Si from Duke Chongming's mansion to the King of Handong as a concubine.
But this time is different. The Taifu this time is from a real century-old family, or even more than a hundred years old. The Taifu's ancestors followed the first emperor of the Great Sheng Dynasty to expand the territory. Not only that, in addition to the status of dukes, the Taifu's lineage relied on their own abilities, studied hard for more than ten years to take the imperial examination and enter the cabinet, and finally sat on the position of Taifu. The Taifu family is completely different from the new nobles and princes and marquises in the capital.
The King of Handong did not even ask any questions, but directly took the daughter of the Taifu who had returned to her parents' home back to the palace.
In fact, even if King Handong had inquired about it, he would have ignored it.
He felt that his own sister was the current empress dowager, his nephew was the emperor, and the empress dowager doted on him. Apart from these two, even if he was a tutor, he was still just a minister.
In order to avoid being humiliated, Qi Zhiqing from the Taifu family hit her head and died in the palace.
Later, the Grand Tutor found out and reported it to the palace, but the Empress Dowager shifted the blame onto Qi Zhiqing.
Taifu Zhi was disheartened. After resigning from his post, he left the capital with his family and returned to his hometown.
But the Taifu did not actually return to his hometown. He went to other places. The first uprising team was led by the Taifu. The Qi family had a two-hundred-year-old history and had great appeal.
However, Xu Qinhui knew that even if the Grand Tutor later revolted, it was because of the emperor's stupidity and ignorance, who wantonly massacred the victims in the north and disregarded the safety of the victims in Zhongzhou.
However, the people of Zhongzhou have at least survived the crisis this time. I don’t know if Qi Zhiqing will be abducted to the palace and killed, and the Grand Tutor will resign. In the end, it may not be a good idea to use the disaster victims in Zhongzhou to start an uprising.
But Xu Qinhui still had no intention of helping Qi Zhiqing. For her, only by letting these things happen in her previous life and letting Prince Shu inherit the throne could she avoid the fate of her previous life.
…
Southwest Raozhou City.
Xu Qinyu finally breathed a sigh of relief when she learned that the court had finally sent officials to provide disaster relief. It was already winter and the twelfth lunar month was approaching, so she started to busy herself with her own affairs and began to pickle ham.
In a few days, my fourth brother will also come back to celebrate the New Year.
This year, restaurants and hotels are still open. A month ago, the restaurant’s New Year’s dinner reservations were fully booked.
During the New Year's Day, the restaurant became increasingly busy, and Pei Weixuan also returned. He was busy with a lot of things this year and only became free at the end of the year. He planned to rest at home for half a month during the New Year to accompany Yu Niang.
Xu Qinyu was busy at the restaurant during the day, and she liked to stay with her fourth brother at night to cultivate their relationship. They would cuddle together on the carpeted couch and chat.
Xu Qinyu was also quite curious as to why those two people in the palace had delayed for so long before finally agreeing to allocate funds for disaster relief.
Pei Weixuan told Yu Niang about the official in the palace whose blood was splattered at the palace gate.
Only then did Xu Qinyu understand the reason. The empress dowager and the new emperor did not care about an official whose blood was shed at the palace gate, but if such an official came to the fore, it would force other aristocratic families and dignitaries in the capital to confront the court officials even more angrily, and other officials would follow suit. In the end, even the people of the capital would become rebellious, so the new emperor and the empress dowager compromised and provided disaster relief.
Xu Qinyu admired this official very much.
But she didn't know that the official whose blood was splattered at the palace gate was also the one left by the eldest prince to her fourth brother.
Pei Weixuan had not planned to use the people left to him by his elder brother in the capital.
In the past, in order to avenge his father and the eldest prince, he might have ignored the people of Zhongzhou, allowed the situation to develop, allowed the new emperor and the empress dowager to pretend to be ignorant, and put the victims of the disaster in Zhongzhou in dire straits, ultimately resulting in countless casualties and the people's resistance.
But this time, he couldn't let the people of Zhongzhou suffer. He began to empathize with others and changed. He seemed to be able to feel the perceptions and touches brought by various emotions.
His state of mind seemed to have changed unconsciously under the influence of Yu Niang.
Even if he couldn't do anything about what happened in Zhongzhou, at least the people in Zhongzhou were alive and had safely survived this disaster.
Xu Qinyu naturally didn't know this.
She is also content to have her fourth brother accompany her during the New Year this year.
This is her fifth year here, and she just hopes her family is safe, healthy and well.
It was the New Year, and Xu Qinyu took a three-day break like she did last year. She was too lazy to move during these three days. Taking care of Xu Ji on a daily basis was tiring enough, so when she was resting she just wanted to lie at home and didn't want to go anywhere. If she really wanted to go out and play, she might as well earn more money, have a baby, and when the baby grew up, she could hand over Xu Ji to the baby, and then she could retire and travel.
Although she talks about having a baby, Xu Qinyu has not made any plans yet. She and her fourth brother are just dating right now, and the most intimate behavior they do is just kissing and hugging, nothing else. She is only twenty years old and still a little girl. She has to wait until she is in her twenties at least, and then it will not be too late to have another baby when she is really ready to be a mother.
So Xu Qinyu just thought about it in her heart.
She stayed at home idle for three days and did not go out. During the day, her fourth brother accompanied her to appreciate the flowers in the back garden. Baiyu Moyu also had fun in the back garden, and even Qilin was there.
Ever since bringing Qilin home from the prefectural governor's mansion, Xu Qinyu rarely let it stay in the stable. Like Baiyu and Moyu, it stayed in the garden behind.
This horse is quite smart. You don't have to worry about eating, drinking, defecating or urinating because it has a fixed place to go.
After resting for three days, Xu Qinyu started to get busy. Pei Weixuan also went out after a few days. This year, he planned to let Zhou Yan come forward to discuss with the prefect, and let the prefect come forward to let the people in the southwest buy sweet potatoes and potatoes and start planting them in large quantities. Even if there are natural disasters in other places in the future, these high-yield crops can feed everyone.
He had no intention of relying on the people to gain power. He had his own plans and methods. Now he just wanted the people to live and work in peace and have enough food to eat.
But from his observation of the celestial phenomena, it seemed that the world would still be in chaos.
After Pei Weixuan left, Xu Ji disguised himself and went to the prefectural governor's mansion to meet the prefect.
The prefect was naturally very happy to know that this was a great thing that would benefit the people, but he still had to report this matter to the court and inform the court first.
A few days later, Empress Dowager Fu in the palace saw the memorial submitted by the prefect. Because of the natural disaster in Zhongzhou, she had an impression of the prefect of Raozhou City. It was this prefect Zhu who wrote the memorial saying that a high monk who traveled around the world told him that there would be a severe drought in Zhongzhou. This prefect Zhu specially wrote the memorial to remind him, but the empress dowager did not take it seriously. Now she saw him submit another memorial, which actually said that two kinds of crops with a yield of several thousand kilograms per mu were discovered, and it also stated that a large caravan discovered them during trade with other countries.
The Queen Mother wanted to make a sarcastic remark, saying that she had lived for most of her life and had never seen any crops that could produce thousands of kilograms per mu, but she didn't know what was going on. Thinking of the severe drought in Zhongzhou, she finally kept her mouth shut.
Empress Dowager Fu pursed her lips and approved the memorial, allowing Governor Zhu to try growing these crops in the southwest.
If the crops are not grown, the prefect will be blamed; if they are grown, the credit can be taken by himself.
Empress Dowager Fu was also aware that her and her son's reputation among the people did not seem to be very good, so she naturally wanted to improve it.
As soon as the secret letter was delivered to the southwest, Governor Zhu began to do this.
He knew that no one would believe it, so he had to make a mandatory rule that families with land had to use half of the land to buy seeds for new crops.
The potato seeds Zhou Yan sold to the people were not expensive, and the people could all afford them. The price was about the same as that of ordinary crop seeds.
But the people were still very uneasy and were discussing it in private.
"Is it really possible to produce thousands of kilograms of grain per mu? Isn't this too bizarre? Our ancestors have passed down that a yield of several hundred kilograms per mu is generally considered high. How can there be thousands of kilograms? I just don't believe it. What if the seeds are bad, or the harvest is bad, but it's better than other crops? Wouldn't I be left with nothing after paying taxes next year?"
"Me too, but the governor has always been concerned about the people. I think this crop could really yield two to three thousand kilograms per mu."
"I don't believe it. How can the per-acre yield of crops be so high? I don't grow crops anyway."
"You can't not plant. I heard they'll check every household. If they find anyone not planting, they'll be beaten."
"I heard there are several other vegetable seeds, such as bell peppers, tomatoes, onions, etc. The governor also said that we can try to buy some and grow them in our own vegetable garden."
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