Seizing people’s land and destroying their houses.
These two words sound simple, but they represent a family of separated wives and children.
If a farmer wants to survive, he needs farmland and a house.
All those who occupied people's fields and houses were destroyed by them.
No wonder they wanted to disrupt the winter festival.
For a time, this was forgivable.
Someone in the court immediately realized that the person who was caught trying to disrupt the Winter Festival last time was the Third Prince.
Those people have been in the hands of the Third Prince all along, and unexpectedly they happened to be involved in the snow disaster.
From what Xie Pei said, calling those farmers who tried to disrupt the winter festival heroes means that he has already taken sides, which means he sympathizes with these farmers.
If a person wants to survive, he must have a place to live and food to eat.
They have lost everything, so what is the point of offering sacrifices? They just disrupted the sacrifices, which is good enough and not too extreme.
When the Third Prince said this, the whole court was shocked, and the Saint was speechless for a moment.
Originally they thought it was just a minor disaster and it shouldn't be a problem if they dealt with it in advance.
But now, it’s been snowing for just two or three days and three thousand people have been displaced, not because of natural disasters but because of man-made disasters.
Some perceptive people even heard something in the words of the Third Prince.
First of all, we learned that the snow disaster was caused by someone occupying farmland and houses at the beginning of winter, and the people whose houses were occupied deliberately disrupted the winter festival presided over by the great master.
The implication here is needless to say.
The farmers had grievances to avenge themselves on the great wizards.
When we think about it, since the saints believed in Buddhism, it has become a trend to build temples all over the country.
But who would have thought that this evil wind had already blown to the vicinity of Kyoto.
Several ministers looked at the sage, only to hear him say, "How can you speak nonsense without any evidence?"
"It's not a lie." The Third Prince said directly, "On the night of November 27th, we found the farmers in the northern suburbs and took them directly to Kyoto for interrogation. The winter festival team returned on the night of the 29th, and only then did we learn a little bit of the truth."
"Today is the first day of December. I went to the northern suburbs to provide disaster relief. Combining the information from both sides, I am now fully confident. Otherwise, I would not dare to come to the palace to report."
As Xie Pei spoke, he handed over the evidence he had collected.
In just a few days, he had managed to get the matter settled. Others were still wondering why there were so many more victims in the northern suburbs. It was only two days of wind and snow, but it left more than 3,000 people homeless.
When others were confused, he had already gotten things done.
They also directed their attacks at the Archmage.
Or it could be aimed at the monks who occupied people's land.
The saint looked grim.
This Xie Pei was born to be against him. He was born to embarrass him and to bring shame to him.
Now that he knows that he believes in those wizards, he still deliberately finds trouble with them.
Even mentioning this matter in front of so many people.
Didn’t you see that several university scholars looked unhappy?
The Grand Secretary of the Dongge government came forward and asked, "Are the monks occupying the people's land?"
"yes."
This question is straightforward and the answer is also straightforward.
Xie Pei added: "If they hadn't occupied the people's land and property, there wouldn't be today's snowstorm."
The saint stared at Xie Pei, as if he wanted to find a flaw in his face, but in the end he found nothing. He only ordered people to investigate the case thoroughly and not to tolerate it.
But there is nothing to investigate since the evidence is already here.
The Saint looked at Concubine Jiang's brother and was about to speak when Xie Pei said, "Since I have been investigating this matter, please allow me to continue investigating. I will definitely return the land to the people and not delay the spring ploughing next year."
Dongge Grand Secretary continued, "I think it's great. The Third Prince is upright and fair, so he is the most suitable person for the job."
Everyone says that he is upright and fair, so what else can others say? They just say that they should not let an upright and fair person handle this case.
Concubine Jiang's brother stepped forward and said, "I think it's inappropriate. The Third Prince is still young. This is an important matter that affects the livelihoods of more than 3,000 people. If it is not handled properly, there may be civil unrest."
"The resettlement of so many households is not easy. Not to mention the investigation of the accomplices of the land occupiers, which is even more complicated. I'm afraid that the Third Prince is too young to handle it."
Resettling 3,000 disaster victims is not just talk. Not only do we have to solve the problems of food, clothing, housing and transportation for these people during the winter, we also have to solve the problem of the return of the land in the future, and we also have to eliminate all the gangs that occupied the land.
It will take at least two or three months to handle this case, and the spring ploughing cannot be delayed, otherwise the year's harvest will be delayed.
At the age of fourteen, Xie Pei is still too young.
This is what Concubine Jiang's brother meant.
He now serves in the court, but is just a minister with a leisurely post, but his words seem to carry a lot of weight.
After all, the court has its ups and downs, and many things are beyond the ability of officials to handle, and many things cannot be handled by oneself just by having the title of prince.
Minister Jiang's words were actually hinting at something: if Xie Pei really continued the investigation and found out that it was the great wizard, what should he do then?
Even if it’s not the great wizard, what about the disciples around him?
After all, if there was no one in Beijing, who would dare to seize the real estate of thousands of people in the suburbs of Beijing?
No matter who is found, Xie Pei will definitely not give him any face.
The Saint naturally learned of this and said, "In this case, Minister Jiang will take over. All departments will follow his orders and make sure to properly resettle the victims."
Having said this, it seemed like the meeting was about to end and everyone hurried to get back to work.
Xie Pei glanced at Minister Jiang calmly, and then said, "I'm afraid that Minister Jiang is not doing the right thing. According to the information I have, your family is also involved. Are you so anxious to take over? Do you want to take advantage of the opportunity to commit corruption?"
What?!
How could such a thing happen to his family?
Concubine Jiang has been under house arrest since the summer and can only come out for activities during the winter festival. The entire Jiang family has been very well behaved recently and there is no problem at all.
Minister Jiang can swear to heaven on this.
Xie Pei sneered: "If swearing can solve the problem, then we don't need the Dali Temple anymore, we don't need to solve cases anymore, we can just make the criminals swear an oath every day, how about that?"
What kind of talk is that?
Minister Jiang was so angry that he could only refute Xie Pei's slander.
As for whether it is slander or not, Xie Pei, who has done the most in-depth investigation, said that the Jiang family was involved, and others cannot take the risk of actually being involved and let Minister Jiang get involved.
The main reason is that things happened too quickly and fast, and no one knew the inside story except Xie Pei, otherwise they could have made some arguments.
In the current situation, looking at Xie Pei's expression, if anyone dares to take responsibility for these things, he will be able to say who did it.
Although the Third Prince has been in power for less than a month, he is definitely capable of doing such a thing.
After all, he is afraid of nothing and dares to do anything.
In the end, no one dared to take the job, so Xie Pei bowed and said, "If that's the case, it would be disrespectful to refuse."
After saying this, even the elder of Zhongji Palace smiled slightly.
By the time everyone left the Qinzheng Hall, it was already late. It gets dark early in winter, and the sky was even darker at this time, and there was obviously wind and snow.
I don’t know when the snow will stop this time.
Su Wan was thinking about the same thing.
When I first arrived at the northern suburbs, I thought I would only have to cook for a hundred people, but I didn't expect that in the end there would be two or three thousand people. This was because some farmers had already gone to seek refuge with their relatives.
After Su Wan and others finished making the last pot of porridge, it was already dark. Su Wan looked around and then at the little girl to whom she had given Rongzi.
In fact, after giving it to the girl, she felt a little regretful. It was not because she felt sorry for the thing, but giving such a good thing to the little girl in public would inevitably arouse jealousy.
Fortunately, she has her parents to protect her, otherwise she would have thought that she would be criticized.
Who would have thought that the people around her would be so caring towards this little girl.
This situation is a bit strange.
It’s not that Su Wan doesn’t believe that there are good people among the victims, but when a disaster strikes, everyone subconsciously only cares about themselves, or their own people, and may appear to be particularly xenophobic.
But these people don't have that feeling at all.
It seemed like everyone was helping each other, and even if they didn’t help, there was no sense of standing by and watching.
Su Wan asked, "Are they all from the same farm?"
This question was asked to the escort leader Chai Huan.
Chai Huan nodded: "Yes, they are all from the same village."
Their guards were well-informed, and after Commander Qi had made several trips, he already knew the general situation.
At this time, the people led by General Qi were still searching in the collapsed house, and the other two princes were also guarding there. Everything that could be sent here had been sent here.
A hundred people living in a big tent seemed extremely crowded, but fortunately it was winter, so it was warmer.
With the help of the dozen or so tents, the people in the dilapidated Taoist temple were finally able to squeeze in more people, but there were too few beddings and no porridge left.
When the clerks from below came to report, they only reported about a hundred items, so not much was prepared, and many things were temporarily transferred from the Ministry of Revenue.
It was inevitable that there would be a shortage of supplies. Fortunately, Xie Pei put pressure on people to directly transfer things while going to the palace to demand power, thus stabilizing the situation.
While Xie Pei was doing this, Commander Qi was "accompanying" the other two princes to look for someone under the collapsed house.
It was mainly Commander Qi who led the search, and the other two were just watching.
When Su Wan heard Chai Huan say these words, she subconsciously wanted to laugh.
If the two princes knew what Xie Pei had done, would they immediately shake him and say, "Stop involution!" We agreed that the princes and saints would slack off together, why do you want to make progress?
But even though they may not like the idea of making progress, as a common citizen, Su Wan still likes it very much.
After the last pot of porridge was finished, Su Wan looked at the dozen tents, packed up her things, and prepared to come back tomorrow.
Providing porridge to the public is certainly not something that can be done in one day, it will take a few more days.
While packing up, Su Wan heard Aunt Yonglan discussing something with someone.
"Can't go back? The roads are blocked?"
"Yes, it was fine during the day, but now it's dark and it's difficult to clear the snow. I'm afraid the palace servants will have to rest here." The person who spoke was an official from the Ministry of Revenue. He had arranged various accounts and registrations for the victims of the disaster today, and he was already exhausted and sweating in the middle of winter.
Su Wan walked in, brought a cup of tea, and asked, "Are we going to live in this tent?"
Su Wan pointed to the tent behind her.
This is the tent they use for cooking. With a little modification it should be suitable for living.
But it was full of smoke and fire inside, and the hot water supply was not very convenient.
The person from the Ministry of Revenue drank the water in one breath. Originally, according to his idea, they just had to have one bowl of water in the tent. Although they were called disaster victims, they all came from the same farm and used to be honest farmers. They were very different from real refugees. There were also guards patrolling around them.
So probably nothing will happen.
But now he looked at Su Wan, and then at the group of young ladies behind him. They were palace maids, and even though they usually worked hard, they were delicate after all.
Especially for the child in front of me, it is really not good to live in the cooking tent.
Moreover, the other farmers knew each other but not them, so it was still a little dangerous.
Besides, he was sent by the Ministry of Rites to help, so it would be bad to treat him with preferential treatment.
The official from the Ministry of Revenue thought for a moment and said, "If you can walk a distance, we can find two houses. However, you need five people to squeeze into one room. Is that feasible?"
Aunt Yonglan was pleasantly surprised and said, "Of course this is feasible. Thank you very much, sir."
"It's okay, it's okay. I'll need you to work harder tomorrow."
Aunt Yonglan smiled and said, "I will definitely fulfill your mission. But can I ask some women to help tomorrow? There are too many disaster victims now, and there are only ten of us. We are too few in number."
"It's feasible, but the person selected must be registered and his background checked before he can be used."
After they finished talking about all these bits and pieces, they had already found a house over there, two rooms, for the ten people from the Shangshi Division to stay in.
As Su Wan stood up, she saw a group of people riding fast horses coming from the direction of Kyoto.
They did not stop but went further north. Seeing that they were carrying flags, they must be on official business.
Su Wan looked at them and felt that one of them was more familiar.
It seems to be Xie Pei?
Before dawn the next day, the ten people from the Imperial Kitchen had already gotten up.
We thought the life would be difficult, but we didn't expect that we would have to stay outside for several days. Most importantly, we didn't know how many more victims there would be, nor when it would end.
If things continue like this, I understand why everyone wants to avoid this job.
I thought I was mentally prepared, but as soon as I arrived near the ruined Taoist temple, I heard someone arguing with people in the temple next door.
The novice monk was sarcastic and said directly, "Who allowed your tent to get close to our courtyard wall? This is a pure place for Buddhism, don't you understand?"
"I didn't touch you, but you're pouring cold water on me. What's going on?"
"Still want to touch it? Let me tell you, within this 50-meter radius, if you dare to get close, we have plenty of cold water. This is the Buddhist temple, can you afford to touch it?"
The disaster victims already had resentment towards these temples. If it weren't for the monks who wanted to build the temples, why would their houses be demolished and they be left homeless?
At this moment, because the tent was just a little closer to their temple, a basin of cold water was poured into it. How could people survive in such a cold winter?
Seeing that the crowd was getting very angry, Chai Huan wanted to find someone to stop them.
There are more than 2,000 disaster victims. If there is any chaos, no one can afford it.
But these disaster victims have been frozen for two days, and even the tents can't keep them out much of the cold.
If they continue like this, even if we suppress them now, they will cause trouble later.
Su Wan looked at the majestic temple, walked over to the deputy captain of the guard Zhou Zhao, and whispered, "This temple doesn't look small. There are so many monks."
Zhou Zhao didn't quite understand this, so he said casually, "It's obviously a newly built temple, so it can't be that small. And a newly built temple probably doesn't have many people."
Su Wan didn't say anything. She looked at the leaky tent and then at the beautiful temple. She thought there were still many empty halls and rooms.
There is nothing better than a house to keep out the cold.
Moreover, this temple is so beautifully built that I feel like I can live in it!
It seemed that the people in the temple were about to fight with the victims.
One side is used to being domineering and thinks that nothing will happen as they have the support of the wizard.
The other party was already aggrieved and there were more people, so they were not afraid at this time.
Su Wan whispered something to Zhou Zhao, asking him to help find Captain Chai Huan.
She has an idea that might work.
When Chai Huan came over and heard what Su Wan said, he said, "Is this okay? Will they agree?"
"I see that they obey the orders of the inner palace masters. If they can eat the food that the inner palace masters like, they will definitely be tempted." Su Wan said, "It's not too much to worry about the empty palace. As long as it doesn't disturb their peace, they can also be kind and generous, and enlighten their minds. It's good for their practice."
Su Wan talked a lot of nonsense, but she had only one purpose, which was to let the victims live in the temple.
The bargaining chip she used was that the food that the inner palace master liked was made by their Shangshisi. If she could allow the victims to come in and rest, she would definitely prepare delicious vegetarian food for everyone.
I am giving them a chance to get close to the inner palace wizard.
This kind of opportunity is not easy to come by.
After what happened during this period of time, Su Wan had some understanding of these things. The inner palace masters were favored, and the monks outside also felt glorious, so naturally they had all kinds of high-profile attitudes.
At the same time, they will also be more yearning for the inner palace mages.
If they have the chance to eat their favorite food, they will rush to eat it immediately.
Although Chai Huan felt that there was no need to disturb the peaceful Buddhist place yesterday, today, looking at the victims shivering with cold, he knew that continuing to live in the tents was not a good idea.
Since Su Wan said so, let’s give it a try.
When Su Wan waited for more news, the temple had indeed opened its doors and allowed the victims to enter.
But only 500 people were allowed in.
After hearing this, the victims were immediately happy. Such a tall house must be very warm, and at least it wouldn't be drafty.
But there are too few people entering.
After hearing this, Su Wan whispered a few more words to Zhou Zhao. Zhou Zhao looked at Su Wan in disbelief. Is this even possible?
Why not?
They say five hundred means five hundred?
Were they still standing at the door counting? Chai Huan must have brought people to count. As for whether they could count five hundred or one thousand, that all depended on how many people the temple could accommodate.
This may seem like a shameless act, but monks eat people's offerings, and they don't have to pay any taxes when running shops and fields. They are also repeatedly rewarded and favored by saints and Buddhas. They also occupy other people's houses. Now they are just lending land to resettle the victims. This is a matter of life and death, and it is a big deal.
When Chai Huan heard Su Wan's words, he glanced at Su Wan secretly, and immediately asked the monks to go back and have a good rest, leaving the rest to them.
Let the elderly, the weak, women and children in first, one by one.
The monks looked at Chai Huan and his men, who were tall and strong and holding knives, and suddenly wondered if they had agreed to the wrong thing.
Even these five hundred people can't agree?
He just gave in because he was frightened and provoked by Chai Huan, who used the mages in the inner palace as bait.
But now it seems that I did something wrong?
It's not wrong, it's too late.
Aunt Yonglan was just beside Su Wan. She stepped forward with a smile and said, "During the last winter festival of the Grand Hall, our Shangshi Division was responsible for the breakfast and lunch for the inner palace masters. They praised the food highly. Did you know about this?"
This, of course, is unknown.
It's only been a few days since I returned from the winter festival.
Besides, there have been so many things happening recently. One of their uncles wanted to build a temple, so he got some land. It’s just a matter of a few pieces of land. Are these disaster victims so miserable?
Of course, they didn't dare to say this out loud. After all, if they said it now, it would be their uncle who was blamed, and they were afraid of being beaten.
Su Wan skillfully named several vegetarian dishes, such as shredded eggplant cake, lotus root porridge, and pictographic vegetables.
As they reported one by one, the people listening began to drool.
Su Wan laughed again: "Among the inner palace masters, there is one with a mole on the tip of his nose, right? He should be the disciple of Master Zuo. He stutters a little, but he praised our vegetarian food at Shangshi for being excellent. He almost asked him to move to the inner palace vegetarian kitchen."
If they were told what Aunt Chai Huan and Aunt Yonglan said, they would still be skeptical.
But when the little girl in front of me talked about it, she also described the characteristics of the inner palace mages, and they matched exactly.
"You, have you seen the inner palace master?" the temple monk asked immediately.
Su Wan smiled: "Of course I have seen him. If I didn't have other things to do, I would be working in the inner palace now."
"If you don't believe me, you can go ask the inner palace mages if they particularly like the food we cook. Just ask, they are absolutely sincere."
"When I meet the inner palace mages later, I can still mention that you ate the same food as them. Is that okay?"
"Tip, tip, tip. Of course you can." The monk in the temple spoke impatiently.
Such a young child shouldn't lie, right?
While Su Wan was dealing with the monks, Chai Huan was already counting the people entering the temple, saying things like a family of five was counted as two, and that he had just counted one hundred and two and suddenly it became ninety-two.
Originally, there were monks who were supposed to supervise, but Su Wan praised the monks in the inner palace to the utmost and also told about what she saw and heard at the winter festival that day.
After she said this, anyone who didn't believe that she had met the inner palace wizard would probably believe her when she said that she was familiar with the great wizards.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's make vegetarian food now! It's the same as what the inner palace masters eat. I'm excited just thinking about it."
Aunt Yonglan smiled at Su Wan.
Only she is smart enough to come up with such an idea.
However, it will be good for everyone if the disaster victims are resettled as soon as possible.
The palace staff of the Shangshi Department were originally going to be divided into two groups. One group would go into the temple to prepare vegetarian food and porridge for the victims, and the other group would stay outside. There were always some victims who could not enter the temple, and their meals also had to be guaranteed.
They felt bad when they saw the innocent farmers suffering from the disaster.
Just as the Imperial Food Department was assigning people, three fast horses came over and threw an imperial decree at the feet of the temple monks without dismounting: "Are you the monk of this temple? Are you in charge?"
"Yes, our abbot recently went to Kyoto to attend a Buddhist conference. You were so rude that you threw things at me!" the monk said angrily.
It was called a Buddhist conference, but in fact it was a discussion about occupying people's land. After all, they were fellow disciples and they were afraid of being implicated.
The man on horseback sneered: "I order you to open the temple gate now and properly accommodate the victims, otherwise."
He paused before finishing his words, and then said, "If the situation is settled, His Majesty the Third Prince may consider giving him some leniency."
What? Third Prince? Give him a break?!
This is, got it?
Su Wan didn't expect that not only she was thinking about the magnificent temple, but Xie Pei was also thinking about it?
Yes, in such a cold day, the government charity hall can only accommodate more than 200 people at most, and the tents are not a long-term solution.
The only things that could be used were the temples scattered all over the outskirts of Kyoto.
Su Wan smiled subconsciously, but the man on the horse remained serious and said to Chai Huan and others, "Two hundred soldiers will come to help in a moment. We must move all the disaster victims here into the temple hall before lunch to reduce the suffering of the people from the cold."
After this was said, the people who were most incredulous were not the victims, but the monks.
Ever since the saints respected Buddha, they have never suffered such injustice.
How dare you force open their temple door?
They are already very kind-hearted as they can accommodate 500 people. As for the life and death of others, what does it have to do with them? Are they Buddhist disciples?
If not, why should I help you?
Who is this Third Prince?
Why have you never heard of it before!
Seeing the angry expressions of the monks, Su Wan immediately said, "Your Highness the Third Prince is wise and brave, and he cares for the people. It is a blessing for all the people to have such a prince!"
Zhou Zhao, the deputy captain of the guard beside Su Wan, was poked by her and followed suit: "Wise and brave! A blessing to all the people!"
"Blessing to all people!"
Blessing for all people?
When Xie Pei heard his subordinates come to pass on the message, the corners of his mouth seemed to smile, but he confirmed: "When you arrived, the door of the temple had been opened?"
"Your Highness, yes, the gate has been opened. About five to six hundred people have been let in." This subordinate was a military officer and had commanded countless soldiers. He could tell at a glance how many victims were missing. It was definitely not the five hundred agreed upon by the guards of Lingtai Gate.
"It's only her." Xie Pei chuckled.
The people around didn't hear this sentence clearly.
What is only her?
Does the Third Prince know something?
But no matter what other messy things happened, this was the first time for everyone to work with the Third Prince, and there were only two words in their minds: reliable.
I have never seen such a reliable prince.
Be bold in doing things, think carefully, and think three steps ahead before doing one step.
Those who wanted to laugh at him, thinking that he was young and didn't know how to deal with the disaster, were probably slapped in the face now.
Is this the descendant of the Ding family?
Such a powerful person is worthy of being the descendant of a military family, and he also has the wise judgment of the royal family.
Xie Pei roughly knew what they were thinking.
But now I feel
There is another person who is just as good as him.
No, she is obviously much smarter than me.
Such a little palace maid is probably rare in the world.
Su Wan had no idea that Xie Pei was praising her in her heart. She was in the temple kitchen at the moment, looking at the prepared vegetarian dishes. She raised her eyebrows and said, "Cooking vegetarian food? What the hell!"
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