Everyone can see that the building is about to collapse, but no one dares to say it.
After the court assembly, Huangfu Jue was summoned to the Empress's courtyard. Mother and son are of one mind, and the Empress knew her son's temperament, so she could only offer a few words of comfort. She was afraid that he was too eager for quick success and would be guarded against by the officials before he even gained power.
Bear with me.
Huangfu Jue returned to Huicui Tower with a belly full of anger. The weather was hot, so the court meeting naturally had to be held earlier. When he got back, he saw that the little eunuch was still sleeping, so he immediately hugged him and rubbed him until the little eunuch cried out that he wanted to hit him before he stopped: "What do you think?"
Qi Qi yawned, regaining his senses, and asked, "And what about you?"
Huangfu Jue: "You go first."
Seeing that he looked really bad, Qi Qi said, "Being cautious is fine, but these refugees have been traveling for days and have come to the palace looking for a way to survive. There have been too many bandit incidents, so we can deal with them later. You see, didn't an official say that we should give them some food first and find them a place to settle down first?"
Huangfu Jue said, "Now, apart from the main city, other places in Jiangnan are too far away and basically have no spare capacity to support the disaster victims."
Qi Qi: "Isn't the imperial court constantly repairing the river works? Could we do a work-for-relief program? We don't need to pay them, just provide them with a full meal every day."
Huangfu Jue shook his head: "I'm afraid it's difficult. Nowadays, construction projects are all done by hiring conscripts. There's no money, and no food is provided."
Qi Qi knew this, of course, but he was starving: "Does the imperial court really not care?"
Huangfu Jue: "Speaking of directly suppressing them by force, without any regard for the consequences... will cause problems sooner or later."
Seeing him frowning more and more often, Qi Qi sighed helplessly: "The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. The imperial court can't even take care of a few hundred people. They are all old, weak, women and children. They won't live much longer. Why don't we use some of our private money to help them out for now, and then hurry up and go suppress the bandits?"
In recent years, the two of them have spent a lot of money when they left the palace, but it was a bottomless pit and felt useless. Those who were destined to starve to death still did. The grain was controlled by powerful families and noble clans, and it was difficult for ordinary people to afford it. They were truly going to have to eat dirt.
Huangfu Jue was cold on the outside but warm on the inside. He said, "Let's leave it at that. I'll persuade them to send troops as soon as possible. Otherwise, if something like this happens so close to the court, the people will be even more disappointed with the court."
Qi Qi lowered his head and fiddled with his fingers guiltily.
"Um, Your Highness, how's the training of your private army going?"
Huangfu Jue said, "Why are you suddenly so interested? I'll take you to see it in a couple of days."
Qi Qi quickly waved his hand: "No, no, no, I'm just asking, we can't bring this up in public."
Huangfu Jue laughed: "Whether it's obvious or not, who doesn't support their own people these days? Look, everyone thinks the country is going to perish and has already made plans. What use are my few people then?"
His face wore a smile that was both mocking and helpless. Qi Qi rarely saw him like this. When the two of them were together, Huangfu Jue never talked about these things. Qi Qi could only find his weariness in the slightest clues.
This is a strong-willed little brother.
The next day, news came that, probably fearing to disturb the royal family, someone had ordered a team of imperial guards to drive the people away the night before. As soon as Huangfu Jue learned of this early in the morning, he immediately led a team to stop them and arranged for a group of guards to take several carts of grain from his storehouse.
Huangfu Jue went in person, and Qi Qi also wanted to see if he could help in any way. He had seen refugees before, so he estimated the situation, took some cooking utensils and medicinal herbs, changed into ordinary clothes, and followed the group.
When they arrived at the destination, it was already afternoon. The group was indeed poorly dressed, mostly elderly and weak refugees. Though they were called old, they were probably only in their thirties or forties, but life had aged them rapidly. They looked very helpless next to the soldiers around them.
Upon closer inspection, Qi Qi was surprised to find that there were fewer than one count of women and children inside.
When Huangfu Jue went out, he took ten men with him, along with twenty soldiers who came to drive them away. Qi Qi also brought twenty men to transport grain.
Upon seeing Qi Qi, Huangfu Jue strode over with a grim expression: "What are you doing here?"
Qi Qi: "Please help me."
Huangfu Jue glared at Qi Qi and directed the men to bring the grain down and start a fire on the spot: "There are a few children over there who are starving to death, and a few others ate poisonous fruit by the roadside, and two of them have died."
Qi Qi and the others found several sick and injured refugees and cooked medicine and bandaged them up. They also lit a large pot and cooked some porridge.
The oldest man leading the group, his face shifting between joy and sorrow, walked over shakily and knelt directly before Huangfu Jue: "My lord, my lord, I beg you, please save our wives and children!..."
Huangfu Jue's expression, which had just eased slightly, turned sour again.
He murmured, "Hmm..."
Then he pulled Qi Qi to a deserted stream and remained silent.
Qi Qi: "What was that old man talking about just now?"
Huangfu Jue: "Bai County has been completely occupied by bandits from the Black Wind Stronghold on the mountain. The situation in the county is still unknown. These people are villagers from the local villages. They escaped while the guards were not paying attention, but the women and children were all captured and taken to the county. Their fate is unknown. The county's food supply is also limited. This group of people are capturing people and stealing food. They must be trying to eat people. The information from the spies at the court meeting is also half true and half false. They didn't tell the whole story."
Qi Qi felt a chill run down his spine as he listened. Just as he was about to get up and go to see what was happening, Huangfu Jue stopped him, saying, "There's no need to go. They've been crying all morning. They came to see the Emperor to ask the court to send troops to Bai County."
Qi Qi saw his expression: "You want to get involved in this?"
Huangfu Jue threw a stone into the nearly dried-up water: "Of course we have to manage it. They've gotten themselves into a mess, how can we not manage it?"
After spending the night in the wasteland, he quickly rode back to gather more men. This was no small operation, and he didn't know how much effort it would take. However, Qi Qi knew that he could find men, so he wasn't in a hurry to leave. He refused Huangfu Jue's offer to take him back. These two hundred men looked like they were about to die, so he should take good care of the two of them first and make sure they didn't all die.
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