In the spring of the 39th year of Yongping, which was the second year after Ding Youtian took office in Xinggang County, Emperor Yongping finally fell ill because he was completely cut off from the elixirs refined by Feng Qingzi!
All court affairs were handed over to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. He had been in power for only a month when several major prefectures in the east and west were hit by floods the worst in a century. Torrential rains continued for more than half a month, destroying countless homes. For a time, corpses littered the ground, and many civilians were displaced.
Many disaster victims poured into the provinces and counties of the north and south. On the official roads, one could see ragged refugees walking together everywhere. Some even poured into the capital.
In mid-June, rumors suddenly spread in the capital, saying that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was immoral and that a disaster had been brought upon the banquet. Many people flocked to the foot of the imperial city, kneeling and begging His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to abdicate and save the people from the dire situation. Such voices gradually spread to all provinces and counties.
Upon hearing the news, Qin Yifan rushed to Xing'an County overnight to discuss matters with Ding Youtian. That same evening, Huo Jincheng also arrived on his horse, Qiu Ge. The first thing he said to Ding Youtian was, "Brother, I'm sure you're fully aware of the situation in the capital. Do you have any good ideas for resolving this crisis?"
Xing'an County was a small, border town, and Ding Youtian had only just learned of Qin Yifan's arrival. All three of them knew exactly where the rumor originated. Ding Youtian folded his arms, pondered for a moment, then looked at Huo Jincheng.
"The best way to quell the rumors is to allow the victims to return home. Although the court has stepped up efforts to expedite the delivery of relief grain, it's far from enough. Both the north and the south have ample surplus grain. Xing'an County alone has over 20,000 dan of surplus grain. With just the court's order, I can immediately arrange for its dispatch to the disaster-stricken areas."
"Zhuling County also has tens of thousands of dan of surplus grain." Qin Yifan glanced at Ding Youtian, hesitated for a moment, and then continued, "Ever since the floods in the eastern and western prefectures, I have issued a clear ban on the sale of grain. Before coming here, I had the chief clerk calculate that there are nearly 50,000 dan of surplus grain available."
Ding Youtian patted him on the shoulder. It was because Blind Liu had been to Xing'an County before the flood. He would observe the celestial phenomena when he followed Emperor Yongping to conquer the world. During the years he lived in seclusion in Dingxian Village, he devoted himself to studying the celestial phenomena and became more advanced in this area than before.
He revealed that there would be large-scale floods this year, and accurately calculated that they would be in the eastern and western regions, so Ding Youtian informed Qin Yifan in advance.
Zhuling County is a large county with a population twice that of Xing'an County, so it naturally has more surplus grain.
"Brother Ding, please continue. I'd like to hear your opinion." Huo Jincheng was extremely anxious. He wanted to know what tricks he had to quell the rumors, so he urged him.
Ding Youtian raised his eyebrows. "Quickly recruit craftsmen from all prefectures and counties to rush to the disaster-stricken areas to help the victims rebuild their homes. Also, if His Royal Highness the Crown Prince can fast and thank the gods and induce some strange phenomena on that day, it will surely convince the people and the rumors will be refuted."
Triggering a strange phenomenon? Huo Jincheng clasped his fists at Ding Youtian and said, "The imperial court has already distributed disaster relief funds, and hundreds of craftsmen have already gone to the hardest-hit counties. Don't keep us in suspense. The Empress and His Highness have already offered sacrifices to the gods, but they didn't expect to trigger a strange phenomenon. How did they manage to do this with all that manpower? I'd love to hear the details."
Ding Youtian curled his lips slightly and said, "You don't have to worry about this. Just report to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince when you return. He will know the situation."
If the crown prince of a country couldn't even handle such a small matter, Ding Youtian thought there was no need for him to bother assisting such a king.
Although Huo Jincheng didn't understand what he meant, seeing Ding Youtian's confident demeanor, he didn't ask any more questions. He clasped his fists towards him and Qin Yifan, and said goodbye to leave. Ding Youtian asked him, "There's no rush right now, right? Why don't we wait for my wife to come back and get some food so we can have a few drinks before leaving?"
"No, I'm not in the mood." He didn't ask where Jian Ning had gone so late at night. He stepped out and called out a few times. Brother Qiu and Guoguo were having a great time and didn't want to pay attention to him.
"You beast, are you looking for death?" He drew out the sword from his waist. Brother Qiu raised his heads, stood up a part of his snake body, and nodded at him several times, as if asking him to stay a little longer.
"Aren't you afraid that it will be thrown off you halfway?" Ding Youtian stood in the corridor with his hands behind his back, glanced at him sideways, and said with a smile.
"It dares!" Huo Jincheng pointed his sword at Brother Qiu, "Hurry up and grow bigger!"
Although Brother Qiu was a snake, and a two-headed snake at that, he had an extremely docile temperament. He turned his head and looked at Guoguo in a cute way, then slowly crawled to Huo Jincheng, twisting his body a few times and expanding several times in an instant.
Guoguo yelled at Huo Jincheng ferociously.
"Guo'er, ignore him. Baimei'er will be back soon." Ding Youtian said, then looked up at Huo Jincheng and shouted, "Be careful, don't fall down and get your head and body separated. That would be very ugly!"
Huo Jincheng ignored him. When he arrived earlier, he had noticed that there seemed to be countless torches lit outside the city's west gate. Because he was preoccupied, he didn't pay much attention. Now, after flying out of the city, he patted Qiu Ge and pointed in the direction of the west gate, signaling him to fly west and lower.
When he arrived outside the west gate, he looked down and saw many simple straw huts and the shadows of people swaying around.
"Hey, look, what's that in the sky?" Some victims found what looked like a big snake in the air with a person riding on its back, and they shouted in panic.
Jian Ning was distributing medicine to the disaster victims in a straw hut when she heard the commotion. Just as she was about to go out to check, Bai Mei had already flown out, followed by Ding Yang, who came running over. "Fourth sister-in-law, Brother Qiu is here, he's in heaven."
"Let's go and take a look." Jian Ning came out and saw Baimei flying towards Brother Qiu in mid-air. She looked up and called out, "Brother Qiu! Huo Jincheng!"
Tong Bajin, Xu Dali and Erlangzi were the three who came to Xing'an County last year when Ding Youtian first arrived. Huo Jincheng came here riding on Qiu Ge. The three of them comforted the victims, telling them not to panic, as the man and snake in the air were friends of their county magistrate.
The victims then turned from panic to amazement, and looked up at the sky as if they were looking at a peep show.
Qiu Ge was extremely excited when he saw Jian Ning and Ding Yang, and he flicked his tail several times. Huo Jincheng patted the snake's belly. If he patted the top of its back, it would descend, and if he patted the top of its back, it would fly away.
In desperation, Brother Qiu circled over Jian Ning and Ding Yang's heads three times, and carried him towards the capital.
"Father Ah Man is such a weird guy." Ding Yang looked at Brother Qiu who was flying away. "He didn't even bother to let Brother Qiu down even though we're all here. After all, Brother Qiu and I used to work together!"
"He may have something urgent to do. It's getting late. Let's go back after delivering the remaining medicine. We'll go back and ask him why he came." Jian Ning turned around and walked towards the straw hut.
For several days, a steady stream of disaster victims had arrived in Xing'an County, most of them arriving for Princess An Ning, and most of them had contracted illnesses while fleeing the famine. To prevent the sudden influx of people into the city and the spread of infectious diseases, all victims arriving in Xing'an County were required to remain outside the city for a few days before being examined by Jian Ning and the city's doctors.
Jian Ning led Ding Yang, Tong Bajin and the others back to the county government office. Qin Yifan and Ding Youtian were still discussing matters in the flower hall. "Oh, Brother Qin is here too. When did you get here?" Jian Ning asked him. "Are Mei Niang and the others all okay?"
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