Qianhuang City is not a place you can go to or leave whenever you want.
He sent out so many people, but none of them returned. If he had not surrendered to King Qianhuang, Master Lu and the others would probably have been imprisoned for who knows how long.
Master Lu, who had always been loyal to him, had been imprisoned in Qianhuang City for such a long time, and when he came back he was full of lies. This shows how good King Qianhuang was at winning people's hearts.
He didn't mind that Master Lu had defected to King Qianhuang, after all, he himself had also defected to King Qianhuang.
What bothered him was that Master Lu still looked as if he had a mortal enmity with King Qianhuang and was clamoring to report King Qianhuang.
If the imperial envoy heard about this, he would definitely ask about it.
He didn't have enough time to explain things in detail to Master Lu, so he simply locked the man up first to avoid any trouble.
Qu Yutang frowned, sighed deeply, and looked at Prefect Liu.
"Master Liu, do you know what the situation is like for the people in Fire Extinguishing City?"
He was a little worried that if too many people in Fire Extinguishing City starved to death, it might cause a plague.
Droughts usually cause large numbers of deaths, and now it is a hot summer, so it is very easy for plagues to occur.
If there really is a plague, it would be a bit difficult to deal with.
"......" Prefect Liu looked at Qu Yutang in surprise, "They should be similar to the people in Bailong City."
It's a drought, what else can the people do? They just have little food and drink.
Since you are asking this question, you might as well go and see it yourself.
You just ask dryly about the people's situation, but there is no relief food being delivered. What's the point of asking?
These officials from the capital like to show their care for the people.
They just pay lip service to the concern but don't take any actual action.
"Then..." Qu Yutang pursed his lips and was unable to speak for a moment.
Magistrate Liu stared at Qu Yutang with his eyes wide open, but did not ask any further questions.
Qu Yutang pursed his lips, but for the sake of the officials who came with him, he made up his mind and asked,
"There hasn't been a large-scale death from disease or starvation in Fire Extinguishing City, right?"
"This weather is so hot, if too many people die of starvation, it's very likely that a plague will break out."
"I don't want this kind of thing to happen either. I'm just reminding Magistrate Liu to be careful and take precautions."
Prefect Liu, "!!!"
If you are afraid of death, just say it directly. Why bother telling him such nonsense?
Speaking of which, if King Qianhuang had not suddenly occupied the Fire Extinguishing City, it is estimated that a lot of people would have died in the Fire Extinguishing City by now.
Many people in Bailong City have died of thirst. If it weren't for so much water from Qianhuang City, even more people would have died.
If there is no food to eat, the people can still eat some hay and carry it on their backs, but if there is no water to drink, they really can't survive.
Especially now that it is the hot summer, water shortage is even more unbearable.
"That's not what I've heard of. The drought is so severe, there must be people dying of thirst."
“But most of them are elderly people who can’t make it.”
"As far as I know, most of them were buried and there was no random dumping of bodies."
As long as the capital doesn't add insult to injury by asking them to pay taxes, the people won't become chaotic so quickly.
For this, he still admired Magistrate Deng of Fire Extinguishing City.
As early as when there were signs of drought, the Fire Extinguishing City directly stopped all taxes that the people needed to pay, and also encouraged the people to stockpile water.
Otherwise, the people of Fire Extinguishing City would not be able to survive the arrival of King Qianhuang.
As far as he knew, Fire City had run out of food and water a few days before King Qianhuang arrived at Fire City.
If King Qianhuang had not arrived at the Fire Extinguishing City in time, many people would have died in the Fire Extinguishing City.
He admired even more the decisiveness of Governor Deng, who, without any delay, went straight to King Qianhuang and saved the lives of the millions of people in the Fire City.
He was now extremely grateful that he did not risk his life fighting with King Qianhuang that night.
Now the people of Bailong City can be saved, thanks to the water and salt provided by King Qianhuang.
He had only sold two thousand kilograms of salt, but he had already exchanged it for one million kilograms of grain from those wealthy businessmen and wealthy families.
If these grains are distributed to the people, they will be enough to last for a month or so.
"So..." Qu Yutang nodded and swallowed the word "very good".
How can we say anything good about such a tragic situation?
All we can say is that the drought is not yet so severe that people don’t have the energy to dig graves.
But if we delay any further, it will be hard to say.
As more and more people die, people will become numb, and there might even be cannibalism.
The practice of exchanging children for food has occurred during previous droughts.
Thinking of this, Qu Yutang immediately stood up and said solemnly,
"I will set out immediately to extinguish the fire city."
He also had to make a quick decision and not drag it out any longer.
If the drought is so severe that it causes a plague, it will be difficult for him to go back.
Emperor Tianwu did not send an imperial physician to follow him, nor did he give him any medicine or anything.
If he were to be struck by the plague, his life would be in jeopardy...
Prefect Liu was startled, and quickly stood up and tried to persuade him to stay.
"Your Excellency, it's not too late to rest for a while before setting off. I have already arranged accommodations for you. Your Excellency may..."
"No, no, no!" Qu Yutang waved his hand to interrupt Governor Liu.
"The situation in Fire City is extremely urgent and we cannot afford to delay. I will not rest for a while."
Having said that, Qu Yutang frowned and walked out.
Prefect Liu suppressed a smile and quickly followed.
"Your Excellency is devoted to public service. Your schedule is so tight. You must be mindful of the important trust placed in you by Your Majesty, and you are eager to visit Fire City to investigate the people's sentiments and handle official business. Your Excellency is so diligent and dedicated. You are a role model for officials like me..."
Walk well, walk fast.
Magistrate Liu was so excited.
He was afraid that Qu Yutang would think the situation in Fire Extinguishing City was dire and would delay and refuse to go.
It would be fine if it drags on for a day or two, but if it goes on for too long, the people of Bailong City will start to riot.
By then, the people would all be clamoring to go to Qianhuang City to fetch water, and Qu Yutang would hear it. How would he explain it to him?
Fortunately, Qu Yutang was impressed by the food he provided and rushed to Qianhuangcheng without stopping.
Prefect Liu watched Qu Yutang's carriage team leave Bailong City with a smile on his face, and he breathed a long sigh of relief.
"Finally left..."
Zhao Tongpan curled his lips and smiled, "It must be that the food provided by you is good, otherwise you wouldn't be able to scare the imperial envoy away."
The kitchen had already prepared white flour buns and some meat and vegetable side dishes.
Although it is not as sumptuous as the food in a restaurant, it is still a very good meal in a year of famine.
This is because the prefectural government has just sold so much refined salt that we can have such food. Otherwise, we would not have such food ten or eight days earlier.
When Magistrate Liu found out, he immediately ordered someone to put away the food and replace it with a simple meal.
He looked at the imperial envoy swallowing with difficulty and almost couldn't help laughing several times.
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