Chapter 269 He is Xiao Zhen (two chapters in one)
The fourth prince was so frightened that he dared not even breathe.
He is a man who has escaped death, and he is more afraid of death than others.
This time, he did not act rashly and rush to cross the river. He lived quietly in a makeshift tent and waited by the bridge for two days.
Two days later, the bridge was repaired and the carriage drove on carefully. Fortunately, everyone crossed the bridge smoothly without any accidents.
After crossing the bridge, the situation became more dangerous the further they went. Occasionally, human and animal corpses that had been soaked and turned white could be seen on the roadside. The Fourth Prince felt nauseous and vomited all over the place.
After walking for dozens of miles, thick smoke with a strange smell was carried by the wind. Li Qing immediately asked people to check it out. A moment later, he received a report that someone was burning corpses ahead.
"Who is it?" Li Qing asked.
"It was the yamen runners. They were burning the bodies that were salvaged from the flood, both human and livestock."
Li Qing nodded and waved his hand: "Take a rest first."
Everyone was confused and didn't know why they were staying here.
The Fourth Prince didn't want to rest either. What was there to rest for? He had been lying in the carriage and resting all the time. He just wanted to get to the official inn as soon as possible and take a good bath.
Li Qing stepped forward and explained what had happened before: "Wait until those people have burned the bodies and the smoke has cleared, then we can continue on our journey."
Upon learning that the bodies burned included not only human remains but also livestock, the Fourth Prince flew into a rage: "These people have gone too far! Grinding the bones and scattering the ashes would be fine, but they're actually mixing them with the livestock! Have these yamen runners tied up, and I'm going to have them beaten to death!"
Li Qing was stunned and looked at the Fourth Prince in disbelief. He wondered if this man's brain was damaged during the last injury.
"As the saying goes, after a great disaster there will always be a great epidemic. These corpses have been soaking in water for many days. Perhaps they have become an epidemic and must be burned. The imperial court issued a general order to all government offices many years ago, stating that if there is an epidemic, all government offices must follow this order."
The Fourth Prince was stunned. He only remembered two words from what Li Qing said.
Epidemic!
“Is an epidemic going to happen?” The Fourth Prince hesitated.
Li Qing comforted him: "Don't worry, Your Highness, we can still control it for the time being."
The Fourth Prince breathed a sigh of relief and sat back in the carriage dejectedly.
Li Qing sighed and shook his head silently.
He said to one of his men, "Bring over those yamen runners just now."
He needs to understand the local situation.
A moment later, Li Qing saw the visitor. What surprised him was that in addition to several yamen runners, there was also someone he did not expect.
Xiao Zhen?
Is this Xiao Zhen?
Li Qing had seen Xiao Zhen before, although they had never spoken. But at this moment, he could still recognize at a glance that the person in front of him was Princess Jiayi's son, Xiao Zhen, who had died two years ago.
He stared straight at Xiao Zhen, but Xiao Zhen just nodded slightly at him. He knew that this man was from the Jinyiwei, but he couldn't remember his name.
After a long while, Li Qing slowly spoke: "Mr. Xiao, it's been a long time since we last met. I am Li Qing."
Xiao Zhen's heart moved. It turned out that this person was Li Qing!
In his previous life, the Jinyiwei who accompanied the fifth prince to Tongzhou was not Li Qing, but someone else.
But later, the victims of the disaster in Tongzhou rioted, and the court sent the Jinyiwei to suppress the riot. The leader of the team was Li Qing, but Li Qing was killed by bandits halfway before he arrived in Tongzhou.
In his previous life, Li Qing failed to reach Tongzhou, but in this life, Li Qing came alive.
Xiao Zhen's lips curled up into a smile, but he didn't know what kind of unexpected event had happened that allowed Li Qing to escape the disaster.
Li Qing had a lot of questions in his mind. For example, didn’t Xiao Zhen die a long time ago? Why was he standing here alive now, and even appeared in Tongzhou? But he knew that now was not the time to ask these questions.
He simply asked about the current situation in Tongzhou City, and Xiao Zhen told him everything: "The people of the four districts of Tongzhou fled to Gaoping before the flood, but even so, many people were unable to escape in time. Currently, several hundred people are temporarily living on a small hill in the city. Some are in Huangjiazhuangzi outside the city, which is on higher ground. Prefect Qian and several officials are also there. We are still continuing to search for the people in distress, but unfortunately, we are limited in manpower and cannot do anything. In addition, there are limited supplies in the mountains, and there is a shortage of medical care and medicine."
Li Qing nodded repeatedly. The situation in Tongzhou was much better than he had imagined. He thought that the place was already in great mourning, but he did not expect that more than half of the people had fled in advance. Even those who did not flee were resettled.
Thinking of the Fourth Prince in the carriage, Li Qing asked, "How many people are there in the Huang Family Manor you mentioned?"
When Xiao Zhen heard him ask this, he guessed that he wanted to send the Fourth Prince to the Huang family farm.
That won't work.
If the Fourth Prince goes to the Huang Family Manor, the people currently living there must vacate. It would be ok for Prefect Qian and the officials' families, but there are still many homeless people there.
"Besides officials and their families, there are currently over 200 civilians living in Huang's Manor, all with their families. However, the Huang's Manor is located on higher ground, and that piece of land belongs to the Huang family. Besides the manor, the Huang family also has a large house there, and this one is even higher up. It's been vacant for a long time and is a bit dilapidated, but it's safer than the manor."
Li Qing thought to himself, why did Qian Zhizhou and others prefer to squeeze into the village with the disaster victims instead of living in such a nice house?
There must be something fishy about this house!
It’s most likely a haunted house!
Li Qing was right in his guess. The reason why the Huang family preferred to lend the house and the farm to the government office and take refuge in Gaoping was because both the house and the farm were unlucky places for the Huang family.
Because the house was haunted and more than a dozen people died, the murderer fled into the village and injured many people.
From then on, there were still tenants in the farm, but the house was empty, without even anyone to look after it.
Now that all the official post stations and inns were no longer habitable, Xiao Zhen thought of the haunted house. He even asked Qian Zhizhou to send people to clean up the haunted house and wait for the fourth prince to move in.
Although Li Qing was suspicious, he did not ask.
If not here, where else can I live?
Even Qian Zhizhou has moved there. Is there any place in Tongzhou that is safer and quieter than here?
As for whether this house is a haunted house, as long as he doesn't ask, he won't know. As for the Fourth Prince, if even he doesn't know, how could that idiot Fourth Prince know?
The matter was decided just like that. The Fourth Prince had been vomiting all the way and was in urgent need of rest. Li Qing looked at Xiao Zhen meaningfully: "Master Xiao, I hope we can meet again."
Xiao Zhen smiled slightly: "Yes."
Li Qing brought the fourth prince and hurried to the Huang family farm. Xiao Zhen had already asked the yamen runners to report the news, and Qian Zhizhou and a group of officials were waiting outside the farm to greet them early.
Li Qing had no good feelings towards Qian Zhizhou. While they were still on the road, Mrs. Qian ran to the inn and tried to seduce the Fourth Prince. Qian Zhizhou thought that his cuckoldry would not be known to the capital, but he didn't know that this matter of his had already been known by the Jinyiwei.
Li Qing knew more about Mrs. Qian's lover than Qian Zhizhou himself.
Li Qing was too lazy to pay attention to Qian Zhizhou, and the Fourth Prince was also too lazy to pay attention to anyone as he walked unsteadily, so everyone just said hello and went to the house.
Qian Zhizhou was already sweating profusely. If the Fourth Prince and the Jinyiwei knew that the house was a haunted house, he would lose his head.
Xiao Zhen is so wicked. It was clearly his idea, but he is made to bear all the consequences.
The Fourth Prince had never been so contented as he was now. He fell asleep almost as soon as he lay down on the not-so-soft bed.
God knows that he hasn't seen a bed since he came out of Yanzhou. For two nights, he even slept in a tent that was drafty.
Now that you have a bed to sleep on, if you still pick it up, you're being hard on yourself.
Li Qing looked at the roof with dim light coming through it. Even he didn't expect that the Fourth Prince didn't cause any trouble and just went to sleep so obediently?
Li Qing couldn't sleep. His mind was full of Xiao Zhen.
He simply went out of the house and wanted to take a walk in the village at the foot of the slope, but he found that there were yamen runners patrolling outside the village.
He called a yamen runner to inquire about Xiao Zhen. This yamen runner had followed Xiao Zhen everywhere to rescue people since the beginning of the flood. He knew a lot about Xiao Zhen.
"Young Master Xiao is a kind-hearted man. He saves people everywhere. The hundreds of people living on the mountain now were all saved by Young Master Xiao. Even the people in the village were sent here by Young Master Xiao. After the flood, the prefect hid here and didn't care about anything. It was Young Master Xiao who dragged him out of the house and made him see the flood outside and the suffering people. He forced him to gather us, the yamen runners, to help rescue people. Oh, and I heard that the reason the people went to Gaoping in advance was also thanks to Young Master Xiao and Miss Zhao Er."
"Miss Zhao Er? Who is that?" Li Qing asked.
"Miss Zhao Er is a young girl. I met her once at the city gate. It was raining heavily at the time. Miss Zhao Er came to the city gate wearing a straw raincoat. Seeing those who wanted to risk their lives to escape the city, she patiently persuaded them to go to the mountains. Alas, Miss Zhao Er looked delicate, but what she did made us men admire her wholeheartedly."
"What is Mr. Xiao's background?" Li Qing asked again.
The yamen runner shook his head. "I don't know, but he must be from a wealthy family. Look at his demeanor and the way he spoke to our prefect. Alas, you didn't see how afraid our prefect was of him."
"How many people do Young Master Xiao and Miss Zhao have under their command?" Li Qing asked.
The yamen runner said, "Young Master Xiao has a subordinate named Da Zhuang, and he has four guards following him all day long. As for Miss Zhao Er, she has maids and guards around her. Actually, Miss Zhao Er has more guards than Young Master Xiao. This Miss Zhao Er is quite influential."
Li Qing thought to himself, how could a person with the surname Zhao have a small background?
But Li Qing couldn't think of which daughter of a royal family would run to such a dangerous place.
However, a lot of things were learned from this yamen runner, and it can be seen that there are only a few people around Xiao Zhen who can be used. No wonder he wants to cooperate with the yamen.
Also, Xiao Zhen's appearance here was obviously not the idea of Princess Jiayi and Prince Consort Xiao, otherwise they would not have allowed him to come here with only a few people.
The more Li Qing thought about it, the more he wanted to see Xiao Zhen again.
The next day, all the people from the Ministry of Works went out, but the Fourth Prince refused to leave his room, for he was afraid of an epidemic.
It was not until Qian Zhizhou came over that the Fourth Prince reluctantly walked out of the bedroom, covering his mouth and nose with a handkerchief.
Qian Zhizhou was confused and forgot all the flattering words he had prepared long ago.
......
Li Qing soon met Xiao Zhen again. Xiao Zhen asked for money, food and the imperial physician they brought with them.
Because it was not certain that Tongzhou would really be flooded at that time, the Fourth Prince did not bring much money and food with him on his trip, but he had an imperial edict that allowed him to transfer food from the Huiji Warehouse.
Huiji Granary is the official granary closest to Tongzhou. Xiao Zhen had previously asked Qian Zhizhou to submit a petition for grain transfer, but the bridge was broken and the petition could not be sent to the capital. The main reason why Xiao Zhen is still willing to cooperate with the Fourth Prince and Li Qing is for Huiji Granary.
In his previous life, the fifth prince also requisitioned grain from Huiji Warehouse. However, the grain could not be transported to Tongzhou and was replaced halfway. When the grain arrived, more than half of it was sand!
The Fifth Prince was kept in the dark and had no idea about these things. He thought that transferring the grain was a merit and never imagined that the grain he ordered to be transferred would be swapped.
These misappropriated grains were then sold to grain merchants at high prices, who then raised the prices arbitrarily. The people simply could not afford to buy grains, and there was even a situation where one child could only be exchanged for one kilogram of coarse grains.
The Fourth Prince was unaware of Xiao Zhen's appearance. He didn't want to see anyone, especially the local people, as he was worried that he would be infected with the epidemic.
Now the person he trusts and relies on the most is Li Qing.
Li Qing could not only protect him, but also intimidate the Ministry of Works and local officials.
No wonder all emperors trusted the Jinyiwei. Even before he became emperor, he felt the usefulness of the Jinyiwei.
Li Qing said that Tongzhou could not be what it is today without the help of kind-hearted people. The Fourth Prince only heard the three words "Young Master Xiao" from Li Qing. He did not care and did not think of Xiao Zhen at all.
Xiao Zhen, that person is a person who cannot die any more.
As for whether he should meet this Young Master Xiao, the Fourth Prince shook his head repeatedly. A man who fishes out corpses from the water every day has probably been infected with the plague long ago. This prince does not want to meet him.
Li Qing suggested transferring grain from Huiji Warehouse, but the Fourth Prince shook his head at first, as he did not dare.
Li Qing persuaded the Fourth Prince earnestly, and he finally realized that his father might like him to do so.
The Fourth Prince immediately wrote a letter by hand and attached a plaque given by his father when he left the capital, instructing him to act accordingly. Li Qing sent twenty Jinyiwei and two of the Fourth Prince's confidants to Huiji Warehouse.
When they arrived at Huiji Warehouse, they got the grain easily, twenty ships full, and this was the first batch.
As soon as the grain ship left the dock, a small boat appeared behind it, and the small boat followed the grain ship quietly.
Just like in the previous life, the ship stopped at Baofeng Wharf when passing by. The grain ship would stay here overnight to replenish supplies and continue on its journey early the next morning.
Two confidants took the two small leaders of the Jinyiwei ashore to have dinner. They went to the largest restaurant in Baofeng. When they entered the private room, the two small leaders of the Jinyiwei realized that someone had been waiting there for a long time.
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