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 people in Zhongzhou and were worried that they would not survive. They hoped it would rain soon and that the court would provide disaster relief.
After hearing about 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. However, this month's letter would not arrive until the end of the month.
In fact, she knew vaguely in her heart that even her fourth brother would be helpless. When such natural disasters occurred in ancient times, apart from the imperial court providing disaster relief, there was really nothing they could do. If no one provided disaster relief, the victims would have no choice but to flee or wait to die. Even if they fled, it would be difficult and only a small number of them would survive.
Xu Qinyu also hopes that the court can provide disaster relief.
However, based on what the court and the two people in the palace have done in recent years, it is probably unlikely that we can 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 indulge in pleasure, you could be a leisurely king or a leisurely Queen Mother, eating and drinking all day long. You would have wealth and glory. As for money, although you couldn't use the national treasury as you pleased, you would definitely not be short of money. Why bother fighting for that position? You used a vicious scheme to gain the status, but you only enjoy the glory brought by this position without fulfilling the obligations that required it.
Do you really think that being in a high position is all about enjoyment?
Along with this comes endless responsibility, the responsibility to the people of the world.
However, the extravagance and decadence of society are truly fascinating, otherwise there would not have been so many incompetent rulers and corrupt officials in history.
Although there was a severe drought in Zhongzhou, there was no significant impact on the southwest. After all, it was more than three thousand miles and almost four thousand miles away, which made it extremely difficult for Xu Qinyu to donate some food.
This era is different from later generations. Donations can be made online, but it is extremely difficult to donate supplies in this place. First, the officials of the yamen have to let the dignitaries and wealthy people in the city lead everyone to donate supplies. Even if there are relief supplies, they may encounter robbers on the way, or half of them may be withheld by some corrupt officials, and very little can be delivered to the victims.
Xu Qinyu could only wait like this and take care of Xu's business first.
The business of Xu's Restaurant was not greatly affected, because after the summer, Xu's Restaurant was also a good place to escape the heat. Some wealthy businessmen and dignitaries from the prefectures in the southwest liked to come to Xu's 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 springs. They are not as restrained as before. The hot spring pool for women is very private, so everyone is gradually relaxing. Many women have already gotten used to it. They wear small clothes and soak in the hot springs with their good sisters, doing skin care, beauty treatments and relaxing muscles and bones together. It is so comfortable.
Xu's business was going on as usual, and Xu Qinyu's daily life was pretty much the same.
By the end of summer, people in the southwest realized that the 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 pick wild vegetables and 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 national treasury empty? So there is no money for disaster relief?"
"What do you mean the treasury is empty? Every year, we ordinary people pay a lot of grain and land taxes to the government. There are also various business taxes, store taxes and land taxes paid by wealthy businessmen every year. I heard that when the new emperor first ascended the throne, he also confiscated the homes of a large number of officials. Those officials were very rich, and they must have put all their money into the treasury. Even if the treasury is empty, it is because of the extravagance and wastefulness of the person above."
"You don't know, but I have relatives who run caravans and often go to the capital. I heard that there is a King of Handong in the capital. The King of Handong is the Queen Mother's younger brother. He has built palaces everywhere and lives a luxurious life. He also embezzles military pay. Didn't a royal messenger come to Raozhou last time for the military pay embezzlement case? In the end, the Minister of Revenue took the blame. Of course, no one dared to talk about it openly, otherwise it would be like those officials whose homes were confiscated. They would arbitrarily accuse you of any crime and have your home confiscated."
"If the imperial court does not provide disaster relief, will the people of Zhongzhou still have a way to survive?"
"Well, with an emperor like this, there won't be any chaos in the future, right?"
"Hey, isn't it obvious? When the new emperor just ascended the throne, there was a snowstorm in the north, freezing many people to death. Many people in the north fled to the south and the capital. Many victims on the way contracted diarrhea, but the new emperor didn't care and wanted to kill all the victims who fled to the capital, regardless of whether they had diarrhea or not. Later, those victims began to flee... Fortunately, there is a county magistrate in our Raozhou City who 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 tolerable. If the world is really to fall into chaos, with wars everywhere and lives destroyed, there will be no way to survive.
Not only were there people talking about this in some restaurants, inns and teahouses in the city, but even many of Xu's guests were talking about it.
In Zhongzhou, it was the end of summer and there was only a light rain, which did not help the dried-up rivers.
Furthermore, it was no longer a matter of whether it would rain or not. It was already the end of summer, and even if it rained, the crops would all freeze to death in winter, with no harvest. If no relief supplies were delivered in another two months, the poorer people and tenants would probably have no choice but to flee.
There were some righteous people who asked everyone to raise funds, and there were 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 from everyone was a good and righteous person, and that people 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 and his name was Zhou Yan.
Naturally, I don’t know that he is the eldest prince’s man, and now he is also the fourth brother’s man.
Xu Qinyu also had a lot of leftover food.
Previously, Yuanbao Town had bought hundreds of acres of land and had been giving it to tenants to cultivate, earning a lot of rent every year.
She gave 60% of the harvest from other people's fields to the tenants, and kept the remaining 40% for herself. Some of the food was not very good, so she kept it for her family. The food used in the restaurant was all carefully selected high-quality rice, flour and miscellaneous grains.
In addition to the 100 mu of land she had purchased in Yuanbao Town before, this year she also bought another 200 mu of land near Raozhou City, bringing her total to 300 mu.
So we saved a lot of food.
There is no need to donate money now, because what Zhongzhou lacks is food.
Xu Qinyu kept enough of the leftover food to feed her family for a year, and donated the rest.
However, this amount of food was just a drop in the bucket. Xu Qinyu bought some more food and sent it over. Fourth brother did not suggest that he use all the money to buy food and donate it. Even if she used all the money to buy food, it would still be just a drop in the bucket for the people of Zhongzhou. More people would need to be mobilized to donate food. Even so, the people of Zhongzhou could only 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 food 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 transported to Zhongzhou one after another.
Some officials in other places could no longer tolerate the actions of the imperial court and called on wealthy businessmen, dignitaries and ordinary people to donate grain.
It is said that ordinary people can donate even a handful or two of food, as a small amount can add up to a lot.
…
Three thousand miles away in the capital, the court had been arguing all day long, asking the new emperor to go and provide disaster relief. Emperor Sheng Yuan had lost a lot of weight due to being scolded by civil and military officials in recent months. He was thinking of pretending to be sick to avoid the daily lectures and scoldings from these important officials in the court. However, before he could pretend to be sick, he really fell ill, and he was ill for two months.
Emperor Sheng Yuan was really ill in the early period, but he was just pretending to be ill in the later period because he didn't want to attend court.
Since taking 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 Yu Shi from time to time. The officials of the court have advised him that it would be better for him to be a prince and a leisurely prince. He really doesn't understand why his mother wanted him to 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 little eunuch who was guarding the garden had become accustomed to it and thought these pets were very smart, so he treated them better and better.
Emperor Sheng Yuan stayed in his bedroom for two months without attending court, and usually asked the empress dowager to review memorials.
He lay there like this for two months, and his two months of leisure ended with the blood of a civil servant splashed all over the palace gate.
Officials came to the palace to ask the new emperor for disaster relief, and the new emperor and the empress dowager had no choice but to 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 commit corruption, 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 food from the imperial court and the food donated by various states, the people of Zhongzhou could only have two bowls of mixed grain porridge mixed with beans every day, which was barely enough for them to survive the cold winter months. They could start planting new crops next year...
In the mansion of Marquis Dechang.
Xu Qinhui had never expected that the new emperor and the empress dowager would actually ask the Ministry of Revenue to allocate funds for disaster relief. In the past life, they had dragged their feet and never provided disaster relief. In the end, many people in Zhongzhou starved to death, and many people fled from Zhongzhou. Zhongzhou became a desolate place, and people in various places revolted one after another...
Xu Qinhui didn't understand why this life was different again.
However, in the previous life, no official had ever been involved in a bloodbath at the palace gates.
The official who crashed 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 serious and he would probably need to recuperate for a long time, and might not be completely recovered in the end.
Xu Qinhui also felt that it was the blood-stained officials who forced the Ministry of Revenue to provide disaster relief.
With such a precedent, 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 troublemaking officials, they will still have to bear the consequences.
Xu Qinhui sighed. She actually hoped that things would remain the same as in her previous life. Only then could the prince follow the same path as in his previous life and mingle with the rebels, slowly increase his power, and finally return to the palace.
Otherwise, if Prince Shu cannot inherit the throne in this life, wouldn't that mean she made the wrong choice again?
Just like now, everything is different from the previous life. Will King 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 lady dressed as a woman on the road. In the end, he would have someone secretly take this young lady back to the palace and humiliate her. But this young lady was the married daughter of the Taifu.
Of course, every time the King of Handong robbed someone, he did not dare to do it openly, and always asked the servants in the palace to do it. Even so, the dignitaries and wealthy families in the capital city all knew that it was the King of Handong's trick.
The King of Handong was already in his forties. Whenever he saw a beautiful woman, he liked to snatch her away. In the past, apart from some beautiful women from the common people, he even snatched the granddaughter of Duke Chongming back to his 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. This time, the Taifu is from a true century-old family, or even more than a hundred years old. The Taifu's ancestors were meritorious officials who followed the first emperor of the Great Sheng Dynasty to expand the territory. Not only that, in addition to the status of dukes and marquises, the Taifu's lineage relied on their own abilities, studied hard for more than ten years, and was selected to enter the inner 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.
However, the King of Handong did not even ask any questions and directly snatched the daughter of the Taifu, who had returned to her mother's home, back to the palace.
In fact, even if the King of Handong had inquired about it, he would have ignored it.
He felt that his own sister was the current empress dowager, his own nephew was the emperor, and the empress dowager doted on him. Apart from these two people in the world, even if he was a tutor, he would still be a subject.
However, Qi Zhiqing from the Taifu family ran into a wall and died in the palace in order to avoid being humiliated.
Later, the Imperial Tutor found out and reported it to the palace, but the Empress Dowager pushed the blame onto Qi Zhiqing.
Taifu Zhi was disheartened. He resigned from his post and left the capital with his family, returning to his hometown.
But Taifu actually did not return to his hometown. He went to other places. The first uprising team was led by Taifu. The Qi family was a 200-year-old family and had great appeal.
However, Xu Qinhui knew that even if the Grand Tutor later revolted, it was because he took advantage of the emperor's stupidity and ignorance to massacre the disaster victims in the north and disregard the safety of the disaster victims in Central China.
However, the people of Zhongzhou have at least survived the crisis this time. I don’t know if Qi Zhiqing will continue to be abducted to the palace and killed, and if the Grand Tutor resigns, it may not be a good idea for him to use the disaster victims of Zhongzhou to start an uprising.
But Xu Qinhui still had no intention of helping Qi Zhiqing. To her, the only way she could avoid the fate of her previous life was to let the things that happened in her previous life happen again and Prince Shu succeeded to the throne.
…
Southwest of 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 almost the end of the lunar month, 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, the restaurants and wine shops are still open. A month ago, the reservations for the New Year's Eve dinners at the restaurants were already full.
During the New Year's Day, the restaurant became even busier. 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 in the restaurant during the day, and liked to stay with her fourth brother at night to cultivate their relationship. They would lie on the couch covered with a plush carpet and chat idly.
Xu Qinyu was also curious about why the two people in the palace dragged on for so long before finally agreeing to allocate funds for disaster relief.
Pei Weixuan told Yu Niang about the blood-stained palace official.
Only then did Xu Qinyu understand the reason. The empress dowager and the new emperor did not care about an official whose blood stained the palace gates. However, if such an official came to the fore, it would force other aristocratic families and dignitaries in the capital to confront the officials of the court even more fiercely. Other officials would follow suit, and eventually even the people of the capital would begin to rebel. That was why 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 stained the palace gate was also the one the eldest prince left for her fourth brother.
Pei Weixuan had not planned to use the people left for 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 and allowed the situation to develop, allowing the new emperor and the empress dowager to play dumb, leaving the disaster victims of Zhongzhou in dire straits, ultimately causing countless casualties and leading to 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 feelings brought by various emotions.
His state of mind seemed to have changed unconsciously under the influence of Yu Niang.
Even though he couldn't do anything about what happened in Zhongzhou, at least the people of Zhongzhou were alive and had survived this disaster safely.
Xu Qinyu naturally didn't know any of this.
This year, she is very happy to have her fourth brother accompany her during the New Year.
This is her fifth year here, and she just hopes that her family will be safe, healthy and well.
It was the Chinese 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. She was already tired enough taking care of Xu Ji on weekdays, 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, give birth to a baby, and when the baby grows up, she could hand over Xu Ji to the baby and then retire to travel.
Although she talks about having a baby, Xu Qinyu has not made any plans yet. She and her fourth brother are just in love right now, and the most intimate behavior between them is just kissing and hugging, nothing else. She is only twenty years old, still a little girl, and she has to wait until she is at least in her twenties, when she is really ready to be a mother, and it will not be too late to have another child.
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 back home from the prefect's mansion, Xu Qinyu rarely let it stay in the stable. Like Baiyu and Moyu, it stayed in the garden at the back.
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 common people to gain power. He had his own plans and methods. Now he just wanted the common people to live and work in peace and have enough food to eat.
But from what he saw in the celestial phenomena, it seemed that the world would still be in chaos.
After Pei Weixuan left Xu Ji, he dressed up and went to the prefect's mansion to meet the prefect.
The governor was naturally very happy when he knew that this was a great thing that would benefit the people, but he still had to report the 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 great monk who traveled around the world told him that there would be a severe drought in Zhongzhou. This prefect Zhu wrote the memorial specifically to remind him, but the empress dowager did not take it seriously. Now she saw him submit another memorial, and this one actually said that two kinds of crops were discovered that could produce more than several thousand kilograms per field, and it also stated that they were discovered by a large caravan on a trade trip to other countries.
The Queen Mother wanted to make a sarcastic remark, saying that in her entire life, she had never seen any crops that could produce thousands of kilograms of crops, but she didn't know what was going on. Thinking of the severe drought in Zhongzhou, she kept her mouth shut.
Empress Dowager Fu pursed her lips and approved the memorial, allowing the governor 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 was not very good, so she naturally wanted to improve it.
When the secret letter arrived in the southwest, Governor Zhu started to do this.
He knew that no one would be willing to believe it, so he had to make a mandatory rule that families with land must use half of the land to buy seeds for planting new crops.
The potato seeds that Zhou Yan sold to the people were not expensive. The people could all afford them, and the price was similar to that of ordinary crop seeds.
But the people were still very uneasy and were discussing the matter in private.
"Is it true that grain can produce thousands of kilograms per mu? Isn't this too weird? Our ancestors have passed down the knowledge that a grain yield of several hundred kilograms per mu is considered high. How can there be thousands of kilograms? I just don't believe it. What if the seeds are not good, or the harvest is not good, better than other crops, then after paying taxes next year, won't we be left with nothing?"
"Me too, but the governor has always been concerned about the people. I think this crop could really yield two or three thousand kilograms per acre."
"I don't believe it. How can the yield of crops be so high? I don't grow them anyway."
"You can't not plant. I heard they will check every household. If they find someone not planting, they will be beaten."
"I heard there are several other vegetable seeds, such as peppers, tomatoes, onions, etc. The governor also said that we can try to buy some and plant them in our own vegetable garden."