672 The Imperial Palace is Great, But I Prefer the Ninth Prince's Palace
On the thirteenth day of the snowstorm and the ninth day of disaster relief, the emperor declared that the food in his hands had run out, and the food transferred from other places was delayed in arriving at the disaster area. Without enough food, the government's disaster relief had to stop and became a joke!
The emperor once again ordered the aristocratic families to take out their stored grain and promised to return it in full when new grain was available next year.
Exchanging old grain for new grain is indeed a great thing, but the prerequisite is that you have to have some grain in stock.
It is true that more than 90% of the aristocratic families would like to be close to the emperor, but each of them has thousands or even tens of thousands of people to support, and they themselves also need to eat. Even if they need to provide disaster relief, they cannot let their own people starve to death.
Severely exploited by the emperor, the aristocratic families and the officials were really helpless. Whenever the emperor mentioned the problem of food, they would start crying. What were they crying about? Of course, they were crying about being poor.
They were almost starving to death, so where could they get food for the emperor to use for disaster relief? Some time ago, there was suddenly a lot of grain on the market, and the price of grain plummeted, causing them not only to lose a large sum of money, but also to sell out all their old grain for fear that it would become worthless if they kept it. At this time, they didn't have much grain on their hands, so where could they get food for the emperor to use for disaster relief?
The atmosphere in the morning court these days was so sad. When the emperor said that the people were pitiful, all the officials began to cry about their poverty, leaving the emperor at a loss as to what to say. On this day, when the emperor spoke about disaster relief again, the officials could not stand the pressure, and after crying about their poverty, they tried to give suggestions to the emperor.
"Your Majesty, we are really out of food. The heavy snow has been falling for dozens of days. It is life-threatening. Even if we have more food, it is not enough. We have collected a batch of food from Jiangnan, but it will take a month to transport it up.
Your Majesty... isn't there a kind person among the people who is distributing rice porridge? He has been distributing rice porridge for nearly ten days and still has some food. Why don't we borrow some food from that kind person first? When the food from Jiangnan arrives, we can return it to him."
This is a good suggestion, but the prerequisite is that you can find the mysterious disaster relief worker. How can you borrow food from him if you don’t even know who he is?
The emperor sent people to investigate, and even called Su Wenqing to the palace and questioned him again and again, but there was still no result, because Su Wenqing didn't know either.
Su Wenqing was about to cry: "Your Majesty, I am innocent. I really don't know who that mysterious man is. I am just a businessman who borrowed a few hands. That mysterious man also paid me for my work. Your Majesty, if you don't allow it, I will take the people back right away."
Following Su Wenqing's lead, they investigated for several days but still could not find out where the grain came from. The grain appeared out of nowhere in various towns without leaving any trace.
It turned out that after Su Wenqing made the sled, he started to rest during the day and travel at night. Anyway, the heavy snow made the night look like day, and the traces left by the sled on the snow were shallow, so they were covered by the heavy snow in a short time. The emperor really couldn't find out where the food came from.
If the emperor forced Su Wenqing again, Su Wenqing would commit suicide to show his determination. How could he quit? He was just a small businessman who earned some hard-earned money, but he would risk his life for it.
Don't do it? Of course not. If Su Wenqing doesn't do it, no one will come out to distribute porridge to the disaster victims, and the disaster victims will be in chaos. There was no way to do it before, but now porridge is distributed to the disaster victims. If it is stopped, the people of the world will curse the emperor to death.
The emperor was angry but there was nothing he could do. He now had to rely on the mysterious man to provide disaster relief and stabilize the people's hearts.
Although the common people were grateful to the mysterious disaster relief worker, no one knew who the mysterious disaster relief worker was. At this time, the officials proposed to borrow grain from the mysterious disaster relief worker. Where could he find it...
The emperor was extremely angry and didn't care whether these officials had any ideas or not. He directly issued a death order, requiring them to raise 5,000 shi of grain before the morning court tomorrow. If they failed to do so, they would be punished for disobeying military orders.
Five thousand shi of grain would have been a matter of minutes in the past, but now...
"Sir Yu, where can we get 5,000 dan of grain? Everyone in our family can only eat 70% full. If this continues, everyone in our family will starve to death." This snow disaster is really a disaster, and the mysterious porridge distributor is even more deceptive.
If he hadn't done this, they wouldn't have been so worried. If the victims of the disaster died of starvation, they just starved to death. They could just dig a hole and bury them. Every year, hundreds of thousands of people died in natural disasters. The untouchables were like ants. Their death was just death, and no one cared.
In previous years, when natural disasters occurred, people often starved to death, and there were also incidents of cannibalism. They all knew about these things, but what could they do? They just kept the matter secret as long as the emperor didn't know about it.
But unfortunately... the disaster this year was severe and was exposed by someone. Now the victims are enjoying themselves, but they are unlucky. Not to mention making a fortune from the disaster, it would be good enough if they could keep their official hats.
"The emperor is serious about disaster relief this time. We will try our best to collect food. The surplus food at home is estimated to be enough for the family to eat for a month. In a month, the food from Jiangnan will arrive, and we won't have to worry." Lord Yu has a head full of silver hair, but he is full of energy. He looks like the head of all officials. Many officials gathered around him, of course, mostly civil officials. The military officers gathered around Prince Su.
Civil officials are cunning and military officials are straightforward. There is some truth in this. After being exploited repeatedly by the emperor, most of the military officials' families have run out of food and do not even have enough to eat, but most of the civil officials' families can still provide some food.
Most of the loyal people are butchers, and most of the unfaithful people are scholars. This saying was proven once again, and the military officers cried one by one: "Your Majesty, I really can't give you any food. My family will have nothing to eat tomorrow."
"Yes, Your Majesty, the first time the Emperor asked for grain donations, I donated all of it, leaving only enough for my family to eat for a month. Later, he asked for grain donations again, and I donated again. I haven't felt like having enough to eat for several days."
"It would be good if everyone can be true to their conscience. If you can't provide food, then don't provide it." Prince Su certainly knew that these people were not lying. Military officers are not as good as civil officials. Without war, military officers have no chance to make money. Most military generals are poor. How much food can they have?
"With the prince's words, we feel relieved."
A group of people walked out of the palace while discussing. The civil officials and military generals occupied the left and right sides respectively, with clear positions.
The emperor stood on the high tower, watching the civil and military officials leave the palace with worried faces. His expression became more solemn, and he looked decades older. "Am I going too far?"
The emperor sighed. He knew that he had pushed all the civil and military officials to the limit, but he was still angry in his heart.
As the emperor of Dongling, he didn't have that much food. Where did the mysterious disaster relief worker get so much food? He could actually distribute porridge non-stop, and the porridge was even thicker than that of the government. This was a slap in his face.
The most important point is that there is a person who has so much food right under his nose. How can he feel at ease? He must dig out the mysterious man no matter what.
It would be fine if that person had no ulterior motives, but if he did, he would kill him by all means in heaven and on earth.
"Your Majesty, you are thinking about the people of the world, and the adults will understand. According to reports from all over the country in the past few days, the number of deaths due to the snowstorm is getting smaller and smaller, and the people have been properly resettled. Which of the disaster victims is not grateful to Your Majesty?" The eunuch tried his best to flatter him, but his voice gradually weakened at the end.
The main force for disaster relief was not the imperial court, but that mysterious man, a mysterious man who had enough food and grass.
"Hmph..." How could the emperor not know this? If it weren't for that mysterious man, at least 300,000 people would have died in today's snowstorm. However, because of that mysterious man's intervention, the number of deaths from the disaster was greatly reduced. So far, only 60,000 people have died.
He should thank the mysterious relief worker, but he had a knot in his heart. The mysterious relief worker made the emperor feel threatened.
The chief eunuch carefully observed the emperor's face and found that the emperor's face looked very bad. He rolled his eyes and decided to divert the blame: "Your Majesty, the Ninth Prince has lived in the palace for so many days. Do you think it is possible..."
If you are angry, just vent it on the Ninth Uncle. We little people can’t afford it.
Ninth uncle?
There was a gleam in the emperor's eyes.
Yes, how could he forget the Ninth Uncle? The Ninth Uncle was Su Wenqing’s biggest supporter. The mysterious man might be the Ninth Uncle. It was just that the Emperor did not believe that the Ninth Uncle could store so much grain under his nose, and he did not believe that the Ninth Uncle would take it out.
After all, it is not easy for a prince to store grain. The Ninth Prince must have stored grain for rebellion. It would be too stupid to use it for disaster relief at this time.
No matter what, he decided to test it out first. Without saying a word, the emperor went to the palace where the ninth uncle was temporarily staying.
The emperor walked in unexpectedly without alerting anyone. As soon as he came in, he saw the Ninth Prince sitting by the window reading a book, looking so leisurely that it made people jealous.
When the emperor approached, the Ninth Prince realized that the emperor had come. He put down his hand, stood up slowly, and bowed slightly to the emperor: "Your Majesty."
"Ninth brother, you are in a good mood." The emperor waved his hand, signaling the Ninth Prince to excuse himself from the formalities and sit down without being asked. The Ninth Prince stood where he was. Without the emperor's order, he could not sit down, but...
The Ninth Prince's attitude was totally different from that of other ministers who were humble and submissive. He stood there quietly, like a pine or cypress, without a trace of humility.
The emperor was so angry, but he couldn't say anything. He pointed to the chessboard on the side and said, "Ninth brother, play a game with me."
"Your humble servant obeys your command." The Ninth Prince understood why the Emperor came, so he was not in a hurry at all. When the Emperor asked him to play chess, he played chess. Now he was not the one who was in a hurry.
After one round, the Ninth Prince showed no mercy and killed the Emperor without leaving a single piece of armor. The Emperor's face turned blue. It had been a long time since anyone dared to play chess with him like this. His Ninth Brother was really bold. He had been locked up for so long but still didn't learn his lesson. It was really infuriating...
A word to the readers: Wow... This time, the Ninth Prince is truly free!