As soon as the door of the county lady's mansion opened, a person fell in from outside. Feng Yuheng caught the person and saw Bai Furong, who was soaking wet, falling on her. She clutched her arms tightly with both hands, her body was cold, and her teeth were chattering.
"Furong!" Feng Yuheng called her and helped her up from the ground. Looking back, she found that the carriage she was sitting in had been damaged by the rain. The driver stood in the heavy rain, looking like he was about to give up. "Quickly take the driver in and take him to the mansion to rest." She ordered the doorman, and then said to Wangchuan, "I don't think I can go to Prince Wenxuan's mansion. You go to Huangquan. You two can go and find out the situation in Xiaozhou."
Wangchuan nodded, looked outside and saw that Huangquan had arrived by car, and quickly rushed into the rain.
Feng Yuheng brought Bai Furong back to her own courtyard. Before the servants could bring her a change of clothes, she grabbed Feng Yuheng and said anxiously, "Ah Heng, it's so scary, it's so scary outside!" She was shivering as she spoke. Feng Yuheng then realized that Bai Furong was shivering not because of the cold, but because she was afraid.
"What did you see?" she asked Bai Furong, "Where did you come from? From your mansion? Your carriage is very sturdy. If you were just driving in the capital, it wouldn't leak like that. Furong, did you leave the city?"
Bai Furong nodded, "Yes, I went out of town. My father went out to look at an old jade before the rainstorm. Today he sent a message saying that he would return to Beijing, so I took the secret guards out of town to pick him up. But Ah Heng, do you know what I saw?" She became more and more frightened as she spoke, and finally she shrank into a chair, her face pale.
Feng Yuheng's heart moved, as if she had thought of something, and her face became gloomy. "It seems... the thing I least wanted to happen has finally happened." She murmured softly, then looked at Bai Furong and asked her: "Did many people die outside the city?"
Bai Furong nodded, took a few deep breaths, and said anxiously: "A lot of people died. Every puddle is full of dead bodies, and every tree is full of dead bodies. Those people were completely deformed by the rain. Some corpses' heads were bigger than washbasins, and some were not recognizable as human beings at all. My father said that the weather will still be hot now, and there will definitely be an epidemic after the natural disaster due to the scorching sun. Let me ask you to think of a solution." Bai Furong looked at Feng Yuheng, her eyes full of expectation.
Feng Yuheng was also unsure. She didn't expect the situation outside the city to be so bad. She asked Bai Furong, "Why are there so many people?"
Bai Furong told her: "They were all refugees fleeing to the capital. Some died on the way, and some died at the city gate because they couldn't enter the city."
She heard the door say, "Can't get into the city?"
Bai Furong nodded: "That's right, the refugees only regarded the capital as a spiritual pillar, thinking that the capital would not be flooded, but they didn't realize that they had no relatives in the capital. For those who told the whereabouts of their relatives, the city guards immediately sent people to check, and let them go if they found them. But those who had no relatives would definitely not be allowed in. In fact..." She paused, and then said: "Father said that many people actually starved to death."
"I understand." Feng Yuheng waved her hand, signaling Bai Furong not to continue. She was a little confused. Although she had thought about such a situation, it was still hard for her, who had the thoughts of later generations, to accept the fact that the child was really born.
"Ah Heng!" Bai Furong called her again: "Father said that if we want to control the epidemic, only you can do it. Can you think of a way? I'm afraid... I'm afraid..." Her words became unsmooth again, and her face became paler, as if she had thought of something terrible. She couldn't sit still anymore, and jumped up from the chair, grabbing Feng Yuheng and panting, "I'm afraid that the refugees are too hungry, they will... they will..."
"It will eat people." She blurted out what Bai Furong didn't say, and then she shuddered uncontrollably.
Famine and cannibalism were the results she least wanted to see.
"Furong, calm down first and listen to me." She calmed herself down, pressed down Bai Furong's shoulders, and used some strength in her hands, as if she wanted to transfer her strength to the other person.
Bai Furong actually calmed down a lot under her gaze, and then she heard Feng Yuheng say, "Epidemic control is important, but that can only be done after the rain stops. The most urgent task now is to comfort the refugees. Cannibalism must not occur, understand?"
Bai Furong nodded subconsciously, but she was still a little confused: "What should we do?"
Feng Yuheng told her: "I will prepare a new carriage for you. Go find Tiange and ask her to buy rice from the rice merchants in her capacity as a princess. If there are no green vegetables, use pickles. At least make sure that the refugees who are still alive can have two bowls of porridge every day. Only by keeping people alive can we avoid chaos."
Bai Furong also knew that the situation was urgent, so she calmed herself down, stood up immediately and nodded, "Okay, I'll go right away."
Feng Yuheng walked to the cabinet and took out a raincoat for her, and then personally escorted her out. As soon as Bai Furong left, a group of soldiers hurriedly ran past the gate of the mansion, carrying and lifting a lot of things, as well as some wooden shelves. One of them ran towards her, and Feng Yuheng saw that it was an old acquaintance.
"Wang Zhuo, where are you going?" she asked.
The man who came was Wang Zhuo, wearing a straw raincoat and a bamboo hat, his face wet with rain. He ran forward and shouted, "County Lady, the Ninth Prince ordered us to set up tents outside the city to shelter the refugees from the rain!"
She finally understood what the wooden racks carried by the officers and soldiers were used for, but... "It's raining so hard, will it be useful to set up tents? Can we let them come into the city?"
Wang Zhuo waved his hands repeatedly: "County Lady, there are too many people. It will be chaotic if they come in. Besides, even if they come in, there is no place for them to shelter from the rain!"
Feng Yuheng knew this was reality. In a country, chaos could happen anywhere except in the capital. According to Bai Furong's previous statement, the number of refugees outside had reached a very large number, and if they were all allowed into the city, there would definitely be chaos.
She stopped trying to stop Wang Zhuo and only reminded him, "It's not enough to just set up the tent. We also need to order people to move the bodies to a distant place and gather them together. I will find a way to burn them later."
Wang Zhuo nodded and said loudly: "County Lady, please go back to the room quickly. I will go to do the task right away!" After that, he rushed into the rain again.
Feng Yuheng watched the officer running further and further away, and became worried again. It was raining so hard, would it be useful to set up a tent? How many refugees were there outside the city? How big a tent should be set up?
She thought for a while, turned back, called Qingyu into the room, spread out a piece of paper, wrote something on it and said, "Send someone to Baicaotang later and ask them to keep the herbs according to the names I wrote. Also tell Wang Lin to spare some people, who should be quick and have knowledge of pharmacology, for future use." She put down her pen and stuffed the paper into Qingyu's hand. "Don't go by yourself, just send someone to deliver it, and then come back quickly, and we will go to the palace."
The rainstorm outside was still going strong, and even brought hail. The county lady's mansion had already added two layers of thickening to all the carriages to prevent any accidents. Feng Yuheng took Qingyu to the palace in a royal carriage. When passing by Prince Yu's mansion, they stopped to inquire and learned that Xuan Tianming was also in the palace, so they urged the driver to speed up.
All the palace gates were closed, and the imperial guards set up tents, but they were still soaked by the rain. Seeing a vehicle parked at the palace gate, the guards hurried forward. Emperor Tianwu had already ordered that in the current natural disaster, officials in the court must come to the palace at any time if they have important reports. Although the palace gates were closed, officials who reported disasters must be allowed to pass at any time.
Because of the heavy rain, the guards didn't see clearly what kind of car was coming. When they were about to ask, Feng Yuheng had already lifted the curtain of the car and showed her head. When they saw that it was the Princess of Ji'an County, they didn't ask and directly opened the palace gate. One of the guards even said, "The Princess doesn't need to get off the car, just sit in the palace carriage! His Highness the Ninth Prince knew that the Princess would come, and he has already instructed you to go to the Qiankun Palace as soon as you enter the palace."
Feng Yuheng nodded, and without saying anything more, he urged the car to rush in the direction of Qiankun Palace. The imperial carriage did not stop until it reached the square of Qiankun Palace. Qingyu held up an umbrella prepared by Feng Yuheng to block the hailstones above her to prevent her from getting hurt. Then, the two of them walked into the rain wearing raincoats and rain boots, and walked towards Qiankun Palace step by step.
Just as I reached the palace gate, I heard Emperor Tianwu roaring, "Will it rain for another five days? If it rains for another five days, won't the imperial palace be submerged? If the capital is like this, how can the provinces survive? No, no, you have to think of a way to deal with this. We can't let it rain like this any longer."
Then another voice said helplessly: "Your Majesty, the celestial phenomena show that I really have no way to deal with it!"
"There's no other way but to think about it!"
"Man can't fight against heaven!"
The two of them were talking back and forth, neither of them giving in. Feng Yuheng took two quick steps and realized that she had also seen the person who was talking to Emperor Tianwu. Although she was not familiar with him, she still had an impression of him. She walked forward, knelt down to salute Emperor Tianwu, and said, "The daughter-in-law pays respect to the emperor, father."
Emperor Tianwu waved his hand quickly, "Hurry up, I'm waiting for you."
Feng Yuheng stood up and glanced at Xuan Tianming who was standing next to him, and then cast his gaze on the man who had spoken to the emperor before. He stared at him for a while, put on a faint smile, nodded slightly, and took the initiative to say: "Master, the director of the Imperial Observatory, I am honored."
The warden shook himself and subconsciously took a half step back. Then, his expression froze, and he quickly returned the greeting: "Your subordinate, I greet the county lady."
Emperor Tianwu was a little impatient: "Don't do those useless things, Ah Heng, come here quickly." He waved at Feng Yuheng until she walked to Xuan Tianming's side, and the two stood beside him, then he said: "Their Imperial Astronomical Observatory said that the rain will continue for another five days, what do you think we should do?"
Xuan Tianming was also somewhat helpless, "It's no use asking Hengheng! No matter how powerful she is, can she control the world?"
Feng Yuheng nodded, "Father, if it rains, no one can stop it. But the refugees piled up outside the capital must be properly resettled. Otherwise, it's not terrible if the refugees cause trouble, but what's terrible is that if there are people with ulterior motives mixed in, it will be difficult to control them."
Everyone understood this principle. Xuan Tianming said, "We have already sent more people to station outside the city. We have also transferred 5,000 soldiers from the main camp. I have ordered people to set up tents outside the city. Let's settle them down first."
Feng Yuheng also said: "I saw Wang Zhuo. Setting up the tent is one thing. I also ordered him to send people to deal with the bodies. Tiange should also be contacting rice merchants to supply rice at this time. The refugees must be able to eat. Food is the first necessity of the people. Only when they are not hungry can they avoid causing trouble."
She turned around and asked the director of the Imperial Observatory, "Can you predict what the weather will be like after a heavy rain?"
The warden sighed and replied in despair, "It's blazing!" [End of this chapter]
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