The lights in the study were already on, and Emperor Jingming was looking through the memorials with a frown.

May is a rainy month, and floods have occurred frequently in various places recently. In addition, the earthquake in Qianhe County has made him even more worried.

Manpower, disaster relief funds and other resources continued to flow to the disaster-stricken areas, and he watched the national treasury empty at a speed that made him shudder.

Anxiety and depression were the main moods of Emperor Jingming these days.

The notebook that was placed in the corner and forgotten to be picked up is already covered with dust.

There was a sound of footsteps.

Emperor Jingming raised the curtain and glanced at Pan Hai.

Pan Hai immediately retreated quietly, and soon walked in quickly holding an urgent message.

"Where is the report from?" asked Emperor Jingming.

Pan Hai glanced at the envelope and replied, "From Qianhe County..."

Emperor Jingming put down the memorial in his hand and said, "Give it to me."

The reports from Qianhe County have appeared on his desk every morning recently. It has become a regular routine. He has already read today's report, so why did another report come in at night?

Based on his experience, Emperor Jingming knew it was not a good thing.

After receiving the report from Qianhe County, Emperor Jingming took a while to open it. He quickly scanned the content about the earthquake in Jinli Town, Qianhe County. His hands trembled and he hurriedly looked down.

Urgent reports were written in a concise and to the point manner, and the content was very short, so Emperor Jingming finished reading it very quickly.

After reading it, he was a little confused.

Seeing Emperor Jingming's reaction, Pan Hai was very nervous and called out cautiously, "Your Majesty——"

Emperor Jingming glanced at Pan Hai, clenched the report in his hand, and said, "There was an earthquake in Jinli Town under the jurisdiction of Qianhe County."

Pan Hai was shocked and couldn't help saying, "That person was killed or injured—"

Emperor Jingming showed a strange expression: "The letter said that Jinli Town has become a ruin, but the people in the town evacuated a few days in advance, so in the end only a few dozen people were killed or injured. The exact number of casualties is being counted, and a more accurate result will be sent to us tomorrow or the day after tomorrow..."

"How is this possible?" Pan Hai blurted out.

Emperor Jingming put the urgent report on the table and said in a solemn tone: "Yes, how is this possible! Three out of ten houses in Qianhe County collapsed, and more than ten thousand people were killed or injured, accounting for twelve of the population of Qianhe County. And Jinli Town became a ruin, how could there be only dozens of casualties? Could it be that Jinli Town is a small town with only a hundred people?"

Pan Hai said: "After the earthquake in Qianhe County, I looked up some information. I remember that Jinli Town is the most lively town under Qianhe County, with a population of more than a thousand people..."

It was bizarre that among a thousand people, only dozens of people were injured or killed when all the houses collapsed.

Emperor Jingming slapped the table and said, "This Zhao Ruqing didn't even explain clearly in the emergency report, what on earth is he up to?"

Pan Hai didn't answer.

The key to an urgent report is the word "urgent". It is often written in a hurry, and only the most important things are written down. As for more detailed information, it has to wait until it is sorted out before reporting.

The next day, when he went to court, Emperor Jingming touched the letter in his hand, waited for the ministers to report on various matters, and said in a deep voice: "An earthquake occurred in Jinli Town, Qianhe County yesterday."

When these words were spoken, all the ministers were shocked.

Another earthquake?

If the previous earthquake in Qianhe County seemed far away to the officials, the small earthquake in front of the Imperial Temple scared them to death.

What happened this year? There was an earthquake in the capital. And now there is another earthquake in Jinli Town. Is this the end of the earthquake disaster?

Earthquakes are more terrifying than floods. Floods are not caused in one day and can even be avoided with proper prevention. However, earthquakes are unavoidable and we can only leave it to fate when they occur.

"I received an urgent report from Minister Zhao last night, saying that almost all the houses in Jinli Town have collapsed, and thousands of people have been displaced. Funds are urgently needed to resettle the people..."

"Impossible!" blurted out the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue.

The Minister of Revenue has reached retirement age. The Left Vice-Minister and the Right Vice-Minister of the Ministry of Revenue are both adjutants of the Ministry of Revenue. They are both eyeing the position of the Minister of Revenue, and the competition between the two has been going on for a long time.

Either the east wind prevails over the west wind, or the west wind prevails over the east wind. At this critical moment, the Left Vice Minister has no time to care about the friendship between his colleagues.

Emperor Jingming looked at the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue.

"Your Majesty, there are more than a thousand people in Jinli Town. How can you say that thousands of people are displaced when all the houses have collapsed? In my humble opinion, Lord Zhao must be exaggerating in order to get the court to allocate more money!"

The Minister of Revenue looked at the Left Vice Minister of Revenue and lowered his wrinkled eyelids again.

If he were a few years younger, the Left Vice Minister would not have been so impatient to attack officials in the same department. He would not be the first one to bear to see other government offices making fun of the Ministry of Revenue.

Now that he was about to retire, he could understand the conflict between the Left Vice Minister and the Right Vice Minister.

Well, let them fight it out.

Since the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue had said so, the ministers who had always had a grudge against Vice Minister Zhao would certainly not lag behind and immediately agreed.

Emperor Jingming was very patient. After these people finished their attack, he said calmly, "Minister Zhao's urgent report mentioned that only dozens of people were killed or injured in Jinli Town. The exact number of people should be reported in the next two days."

"What? Only a few dozen people were killed or injured?"

The hall, which had been in good order just a moment ago, suddenly turned into a vegetable market, filled with chaos.

Emperor Jingming was not disgusted by such excitement.

Many important matters were decided in such repeated arguments and discussions. Such liveliness at least made him feel more at ease than a one-man show.

The ministers discussed the matter endlessly, and finally came to a conclusion: there must be something fishy about this matter.

Emperor Jingming looked at the calm Minister of Revenue and asked, "What do you think, my dear minister?"

Although the Minister of Revenue is about to retire, he is still in this position, so Emperor Jingming naturally wants to ask about it.

The Minister of Revenue opened his eyes a little and said slowly: "Qianhe County is not far from the capital. If we hurry, we will arrive in less than two days. Since everyone thinks that something is wrong, why doesn't the emperor send someone to take a look?"

When Emperor Jingming heard this, he nodded.

That's exactly what he meant.

In addition, the Crown Prince and the Prince of Yan were both there, so close to the earthquake, he was not very reassured about their safety.

As for the Crown Prince's performance in this disaster relief effort, Emperor Jingming was curious and looking forward to it.

Just as he was thinking this, a minister said, "Your Majesty, the Crown Prince is the heir apparent of the state, and his body is worth thousands of gold. He should not put himself in danger. Jinli Town has experienced an earthquake after Qianhe County, so how can we know that it will not happen elsewhere? I think we should summon the Crown Prince back to the capital."

"I second this motion."

Emperor Jingming pondered for a moment and said, "Send a supervisor to Qianhe County to investigate this matter. As for summoning the crown prince back to the capital... we will make a decision after the supervisor reports."

Personally, he was the prince's father, so he certainly didn't want his son to be in danger. Publicly, it was precisely because the prince was the successor that he wanted to give him more training so that he could manage this huge country in the future.

Having such a legitimate son, Emperor Jingming got a headache whenever he thought about it for a while, and he couldn't tell anyone about his frustration.

Soon, Inspector Yu Shi and Pan Hai's apprentice were ordered by the emperor to leave the capital and hurried to Qianhe County.