"Are you sure there are many countries on the other side of the sea?" The emperor still didn't quite believe it.
No one has ever been there, and there is no record of it.
He had never even been to the countries to the west and north and had only heard about them.
There were people who had traveled that far, but there were no written records.
Now he heard that there were also some on the other side of the eastern sea area. This was beyond his understanding.
"Of course." The prince said with certainty.
"How can you be sure?" the emperor asked again.
"I'm not sure. I haven't been there either, but it must have happened."
This caused the emperor to glare at him.
"Your Majesty, please believe me. Once we build a ship that can sail far away, we can send someone to investigate and we'll know the truth, right?" The prince was very persistent about this.
"Okay, I will believe you this time. If it is really as you said, I will hand over the country to the prince and I will go there in person with you." After some thought, the emperor made up his mind.
What he understood was that the sea must have an edge, and the edge was the land, so there must be people there, so he believed the prince's words to 80%.
It's just that they are ignorant.
When Shangguan Ziqi and Yu Yuzheng returned to Prince Pei's palace, they counted all the money they had earned over the years, and handed over the money that was enough for living expenses to the official from the Ministry of Revenue who came to contact them.
The Minister of Revenue personally brought the seal of the Ministry of Revenue to sign the silver loan agreement with the couple.
With the money, disaster relief preparations were quickly made.
Food, medicinal materials, tents, etc.
The Minister of Revenue has become much more generous with his money than before.
And disaster relief would cost more than one million taels of silver.
In other places, those who were in urgent need of money also found a place to spend it.
In order to train the students she had been teaching for so long, Yu Yuzheng selected ten girls and fifteen boys, and took them to the disaster area to help rescue the victims.
It is inevitable that there will be a major epidemic after a major disaster.
Fortunately, it is summer now and we don’t need too many clothes.
Yu Yuzheng made a list of some medicines, and she took into account all the epidemics that were likely to be caused by floods.
It only took three days to prepare the first batch of various supplies.
Yu Yunzhi and his son Yu Qingbi were the imperial envoys and they also appointed several officials to go with them.
There were also ten doctors from the Imperial Medical Bureau accompanying him.
Shangguan Ziqi transferred 3,000 soldiers from the city defense and divided them into three groups to escort the supplies to the disaster area.
Yu Yuzheng followed the first group of people and went ahead.
Several guards followed on the left.
The journey is about one thousand five hundred miles.
They couldn't move very fast with the supplies, but at least they were all horse-drawn carriages, so the march was much faster.
It was six days later when they arrived at the disaster area.
This is a small county town under Qingyuan Prefecture.
The scene before my eyes was unbearable to look at, it was like hell on earth, my heart was heavy and even breathing became difficult.
The once bustling county town was now in ruins, with houses looking as if they had been torn apart by a giant beast.
The collapsed buildings were scattered with broken furniture and clothes, and the streets were muddy, mixed with rubble and rotten debris.
The air was filled with the damp, moldy smell and the stench of rotting corpses. Occasionally, a few crows circled low in the sky, making shrill calls, as if announcing the death of this land.
Some of the victims huddled in makeshift sheds, while others slept outdoors next to the ruins.
Their faces were filled with exhaustion and despair, their eyes were empty, as if they had lost all hope.
The children's faces were covered in mud and they stood barefoot in the mud, watching their rescue team pass by.
The old people were hunched over, their eyes full of helplessness and sadness.
When Yu Yuzheng saw this scene, her heart ached and her eyes instantly became moist.
She took a deep breath and suppressed her emotions.
At this moment, a young man in county magistrate's uniform came running over, the hem of his clothes was dirty, followed by two yamen runners.
"Your humble servant, Shen Qinghe, the county magistrate of Fengjiang County, is honored to meet the imperial envoy." The visitor bowed deeply to Yu Yunzhi.
"Sir Shen, please don't be polite. Tell me, what's the current situation." Yu Yunzhi withdrew his gaze from the victims and asked.
“Yes, Fengjiang County is right next to the Qingjiang River, and we really haven’t been able to spare the money to repair the riverbank in the past two years.
This year's floods are unprecedented, so we can't hold on.
Once the dam broke, the water rushed straight towards the county town.
I have been sending people to patrol the riverside, but the river water is rising and the force is so fierce that there is no way to prevent it.
I had told the county's residents to evacuate as much as possible early on, but some refused to listen and insisted on staying. One reason was that they had nowhere else to go, and the other was that they were hoping for luck.
As soon as the flood entered the city, many people who were unable to escape in time were drowned.
Although the rain has stopped now, the flood has not completely receded. Some houses are still submerged in water, and some houses that are not built solidly have collapsed directly.
The people are unable to return home and the property damage is incalculable." After saying this, County Magistrate Shen burst into tears.
These days, he has a very hard time.
Fortunately, he was prepared in advance and not many people died.
Ever since the continuous heavy rain, he had been feeling a little worried.
He went to the riverside to check every day, and the more he looked, the more frightened he became.
The situation is obviously getting worse and the possibility of a dam bursting is very high.
When he returned home, his wife noticed his anxiety and asked him how he was doing.
When his wife found out, she urged him to make plans early and not wait any longer.
He made up his mind and organized people to transport the food in the warehouse to the mountain while the rain stopped.
Fortunately, there was a cave in the mountains that could store a lot of food.
"Where did the people flee to?" Yu Yunzhi saw that there were not many people in the city. It was completely different from normal times.
"They all fled to the mountains outside the city. They didn't know whether it would rain or not, so they didn't dare to come back.
I have received the imperial decree and have come back to wait for you. Yesterday, I was still on the mountain, presiding over the overall situation. "
Yu Yunzhi looked up at the sky. It was a clear sky and it felt like it wouldn't rain in the next two days.
"Well, I am here on the orders of the Emperor to help with the disaster. You and the officials of the county government should follow my orders."
Yu Yunzhi started assigning tasks on the spot without any delay.
The supplies brought by Shangguan Ziqi were placed on a high ground, and rescue operations began.
The first step was to set up a pot and distribute porridge so that the people in the city could eat hot porridge first.
Yu Yuzheng assigned his disciples to treat the common people.
Yu Yunzhi asked Shen Xianyu to take him to see the place where the dam broke.
There is a gap several meters wide upstream, and water is still flowing, but not as big as before, and the direction has also changed a little.
No more water was poured into the county town.
"Lord Shen, let's organize people to plug this gap." Yu Yunzhi made a decision after looking at it.
"Your Excellency, we need to hire some people, but the county government has no money.
In the past two years, the emperor has increased taxes and reduced corvée labor to offset the increase. He also required counties to increase their tributes, leaving the counties with no extra money to hire people.
Otherwise, there would be no dam breach. Alas! "
Shen County Master also had a lot of grievances.
"Okay, I understand. Just go find some young and strong men, one hundred per day, to plug this gap first. If it rains heavily again, the county will be flooded again." Yu Yunzhi made a decision after checking.
The two returned to the tent temporarily built at the foot of the mountain to discuss further work.
But before they could even have a sip of water, a yamen runner came running over, covered in dirt.
"My lord, my lord, something bad has happened."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
