This is a small fishing village.
Houses collapsed and farmland was destroyed.
The muddy country road was covered with all sorts of odds and ends:
Shrimp, scallops, crabs, sea fish and other seafood, broken sampans, pieces of wood, a large tree that had been rolled up from somewhere, and some corpses.
These corpses were not just those of animals or livestock, but also those of people.
"Oh my, isn't this Awang from the next village? What's he doing here?"
"What else could it be? Of course, it was blown here by a hurricane! Oh, poor thing, he looks only in his early twenties."
"Oh, this person is even wearing a long robe; he must be a nobleman from the city."
"So what if you're a big shot? If a hurricane hits, you'll still be blown into the sky and fall to your death in our little fishing village."
The fishermen, dressed in coarse cloth, picked up seafood with baskets on their backs while discussing it.
It's not that they lack empathy, nor that they don't understand the principle of "respect for the dead."
Rather, they have long been accustomed to such "disasters".
Instead of worrying and feeling sad for others, you might as well collect more seafood to at least make up for your own losses.
Alas, the crops in the fields were just about to be harvested, but then a hurricane destroyed them all.
"My son! My dear brother! Where have you gone? I told you not to worry about the rice in the field, but you wouldn't listen. Now that you've disappeared without a trace, how are your father and I supposed to live?"
"My husband, where are you? Where are you?!"
Besides the fishermen who were listlessly picking up seafood, there were a few families along the beach shouting at the top of their lungs.
It's obvious without asking that their family members must have gone out when the hurricane hit and disappeared without a trace.
"These newcomers don't know anything!"
"Yeah, it's so windy, how dare you go out? Aren't you afraid of being blown away?"
"I guess they're thinking about the crops in the fields. They've worked hard for months and are just waiting to harvest them. They definitely can't bear to part with them."
"You can't bear to abandon the crops, but you're willing to risk your life?"
"Oh dear, they all say they're new here and have never seen a hurricane before, so how would they know how powerful it is!"
"Exactly! Even if the roof still gets blown away while we're at home, at least we're still alive. But if we go outside, there's really nothing left!"
The long-time residents of these fishing villages, and even the indigenous people, already knew the power of hurricanes.
While they couldn't prevent or control hurricanes, they learned from their predecessors and past experiences on how to minimize their losses.
Unlike these families, some fled to Lingnan to escape the war.
Some were exiled by the imperial court and sent to small fishing villages.
They were all from inland areas and had absolutely no experience, which led to this encounter.
"Sigh, they're all pitiful people!"
"I'll understand later, but this lesson was too much to bear."
The group sighed repeatedly as they continued picking up the items.
Xie Yuan, Helian Jue, and their convoy was nearby. They could vaguely hear the conversation and see the grieving and wailing relatives of the victims. The two of them couldn't help but fall silent.
"The power of a hurricane is terrifying!"
Xie Yuan looked at him with pity and sighed.
Helian Jue did not speak, but his beautiful face was filled with coldness.
This is already within the territory of Yuezhou, and the people here are the subjects of his fiefdom.
The Great Zhou Dynasty, which unified the north and south, granted real fiefdoms to its vassal kings.
Helian Jue, the King of Yue, was the "local emperor" of Yuezhou.
The taxes from Yuezhou were to be handed over to Helian Jue.
Even if the people of Yuezhou were not his private property, they were still his tools.
Seeing the heavy losses suffered by the people, Helian Jue felt a pang of sadness.
Moreover, just looking at the miserable state of this small fishing village, Helian Jue couldn't help but wonder: how much land tax could be collected in such a place where hurricanes frequently destroy farmland?
“Father, you really have put a lot of thought into this. As the King of Yue, I not only have to endure the poisonous fog and miasma of my fiefdom, but I also face the crisis of not being able to collect taxes.”
He's called a prince, but he clearly doesn't give us much of a way out.
The vast Yue King's mansion had eight hundred personal guards, as well as officials, eunuchs, palace maids, and so on.
What will so many people eat? What will they wear?
There was no way to rely on taxes, and when they left the capital, the Ministry of Revenue only provided the minimum standard of resettlement allowance.
That little bit of silver ingots is simply not enough for the Prince's mansion to squander its wealth.
Therefore, even if Helian Jue hadn't been killed by miasma or disease, he would have died of poverty and starvation!
Realizing this, Helian Jue's heart grew even colder.
His eyes also showed a hint of coldness and madness.
The last vestige of hope for family affection in my heart was also completely severed.
"Your Highness, the governor of Yuezhou, like the one in Guangcheng, has probably fled inland to 'avoid the storm'."
Xie Yuan observed carefully for a while and found that no government officials came to inquire about the situation before proceeding with disaster relief.
The common people did not discuss the topic.
[This isn't the future; there are no truly lovable people here. Even the governor is leading the way in fleeing; why would the officials in the government offices come to help the disaster victims?]
Xie Yuan realized that he had not yet fully integrated into this fictional feudal dynasty, and was still using the thinking of later generations to consider problems.
She couldn't help but mutter a self-deprecating remark to herself.
But she couldn't bear to watch the disaster victims fend for themselves.
Unlike Helian Jue, who was driven by the controlling desires of a ruler, she was simply soft-hearted and couldn't bear to do it!
“The government will not send anyone to provide assistance, but the work of post-disaster reconstruction is urgent.”
Xie Yuan's gaze was resolute. "You are the King of Yuezhou, and they are your subjects. We cannot abandon them!"
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