Chapter 544 The Little Prince VS the Four Major Families (Update 2)

The Fourth Prince and the Fifth Prince only took two days to set up the framework of disaster relief.

The Little Prince directly designated a large area outside of Gusu City for those people whose houses were destroyed by the flood and who were homeless.

Although it is autumn now, the weather in Gusu is still very hot, so sleeping in a tent is no problem at all.

A big pot was set up, and two bowls of rice porridge were prepared every morning and evening to help these skinny victims slowly recover their strength.

The number of victims outside Gusu City increased day by day, and the people affected by the disaster nearby basically rushed to the city to survive.

The lower-class people are tough, and if they have no way to make a living in their hometown, they will look for a new way to make a living.

When they found that there was still no way to survive in Gusu City, the young and strong people who could walk would continue to head north, towards the capital.

The old, weak, sick and disabled who could not walk would stop outside Gusu.

Of course, this was not absolute. Some young and strong people were reluctant to leave their families, so they would stay with them.

This actually made

disaster relief easier for the young prince. All he had to do was set up a place outside the city to help the victims.

However, the prince did not expect that in just three days, nearly 20,000 victims would gather here.

Seeing the food being consumed bag by bag, Qin An was terrified.

"Your Highness, if we keep consuming like this, how much food will be needed? Once the food is cut off, these disaster victims will rebel and there will be civil unrest!"

The young prince looked at the various news coming from all directions and said calmly, "Lord Qin, do you have a better way?"

Qin An smiled bitterly. If he really had a way, he would not have watched his mother starve to death and his son's stomach rumble with hunger, but he would not have been able to do anything.

"Your Highness, there are only four major families in the city that have stored food. I have seen with my own eyes that the wolfhounds raised by the Yang family eat meat every day. The aristocratic families have no shortage of food. If we can get the aristocratic families to donate food at this time, we will definitely be able to solve the food shortage crisis!"

The little prince put down the note in his hand and looked at Qin An, "How do you plan to get these wealthy aristocratic families to donate rice and food on your own initiative?"

"I have been in Gusu City for several days. If these aristocratic families wanted to help the people, they would have come to ask for a meeting long ago. Until now, these families are still silent. What do you think their plans are, Lord Qin?"

Qin An is not a fool. He immediately realized that these people probably have big plans.

"They are so bold and presumptuous! They actually want to threaten Your Highness with this!"

Lu Zexu looked calm and was not shocked. "I have long understood the courage of these nobles."

"What should Your Highness do? The food consumption is really too great now! There are more than 20,000 people gathered outside the city. How should these victims be dealt with? We can't just give them porridge all the time? Moreover, the Red Lotus Sect is coming with great force. It is hard to say that there are no members of the Red Lotus Sect among these victims. What if these people are not good to Your Highness..."

Lu Zexu smiled, "It depends on Lord Qin."

Although Qin An was confused, he immediately knelt down to accept the order, "I will do my duty and go all out!"

Then from the fifth day, rumors spread inside and outside Gusu City.

The Yang family was so rich that even the wolfhounds in the Yang family yard had a bowl of meat every meal and ate better than humans.

The Chen family's granary was full of food. There was so much food that the granary could not hold it, so two new granaries were built in a hurry.

Mr. Tang's family had all kinds of delicacies, and the head of the family had 32 dishes per meal. The food that could not be finished was thrown away directly.

Such news spread widely inside and outside the city, especially among the disaster victims, and it was spread more widely and vividly.

In a restaurant in Gusu City, there was a storyteller who told stories about the wealth of these families in various ways every day.

Everyone was envious.

After hearing the news, the people in the city who were affected by the disaster spread the news when they went to the relief center to get porridge.

When spreading the news, they exaggerated it a lot.

How could the victims who were still struggling for food and shelter feel balanced?

Some Red Lotus Sect members who pretended to be victims had secretly passed the news back.

After waiting for six days, they only saw the relief team rushing to the city, but did not receive the summons from His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. The four family heads began to get anxious again.

Especially after hearing the rumors about their families in Gusu City, there were even rumors about where their granaries were. How could they sit still?

At night.

The four of them gathered at Yang's house and started to discuss again, but the atmosphere this time was not as good as the last time.

The head of the Zheng family was the first to be attacked.

"Brother Zheng, there have been rumors about our three families in and outside the city recently, either saying how rich we are or how extravagant we are. But the strange thing is that there are no rumors about your Zheng family at all."

The head of the Chen family looked unfriendly, and his face was full of viciousness, like a poisonous snake.

The head of the Zheng family was also very unhappy, "What do you mean? Do you think I was the one who spread these rumors? What good will this do for my Zheng family?"

The head of the Tang family sneered, "How can it not be good? After all, in Jiangnan, your Zheng family is not as influential or powerful as our three families. If you bring down our three families, won't your Zheng family be able to dominate the market?"

The head of the Zheng family laughed angrily, "Whether you believe it or not, this matter has nothing to do with me! The person behind the scenes did this to alienate the relationship between our families! You can't see through such a simple truth, but Brother Yang can definitely see through it."

Everyone turned their attention to the head of the Yang family.

Patriarch Yang smiled, "Brother Zheng is right. This must be a conspiracy by the people behind the scenes to alienate us! We can't be fooled and let the other party disintegrate us from the inside!"

After hearing this, Patriarch Chen and Patriarch Tang stopped.

"You and I are gathered together today, but there are more important things to discuss!" Patriarch Zheng added, making everyone calm down.

"Brother Yang, the prince has no intention of summoning you and me. We are of no use at all. If we continue to drag it on like this, it will be very disadvantageous to us!"

Patriarch Tang said worriedly.

Patriarch Chen agreed, "I've inquired, and the granaries in the city don't have large quantities of food for sale. The disaster relief food that the prince is currently using was brought by the fourth and fifth princes. If there were enough disaster relief food, we really wouldn't be able to use it!"

Patriarch Zheng was also very worried, "Brother Yang, do you think we should take the initiative? Sell well in front of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, otherwise, I'm worried that we won't get any benefit at all."

Patriarch Yang smiled and shook his head, his expression determined, "The Crown Prince won't be able to hold on for much longer."