The day after tomorrow, Yin's carriage stopped at the gate of the new residence. Su Lan directed Yin's guards to carry two large mahogany boxes onto the carriage. Yin looked at the small amount of luggage and wanted to laugh. If the two of them went out, Qing Yan probably wouldn't even need to hide it.
"This servant greets the Fourth Prince!" Su Lan bowed respectfully.
"Xiao Guai hasn't gotten up yet?" Yin saw Su Lan and Su Xin busy in the courtyard and knew that Xiao Guai must not have gotten up and was probably still fast asleep.
Su Lan nodded somewhat shyly. Her own princess always slept until she naturally woke up. The nanny was going to have Qing Yan get used to getting up at 1-3 AM to see off Yin, but he dissuaded her. When Qing Yan learned that she didn't need to see Yin off, but only needed to go to Cining Palace at 8 AM to pay her respects to the Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager, she returned to her usual early-to-bed, early-to-rise obedient mode.
"Put everything away properly, and then go get a few more silk quilts." Yin was worried that the carriage was a bit hard, and wanted to make sure Qingyan could sleep comfortably in the carriage.
During disaster relief efforts, this horse-drawn carriage served as one of the most comfortable campsites.
"Yes!" Su Lan hurried back to get her things. Yin walked into the inner chamber and looked at Qing Yan's rosy sleeping face. He couldn't help but sigh.
To avoid making the banquet stand out, Emperor Kangxi directly asked the first three wives, and all three except for Consort Dong'e were prepared to attend.
"My dear, you've really had a hard time!" Yin murmured, feeling a pang of sadness.
Qingyan slowly opened her eyes and saw Yin standing in front of her bed in a royal blue silk robe.
"Fourth Brother, are we leaving?" Qingyan asked groggily.
"Yes, are you ready? You might run into trouble, you might encounter danger, and you might even be targeted for assassination by those so-called corrupt officials." Yin recalled how he and Thirteen were hiding everywhere, hiding from assassination attempts, and he wanted to speak up and persuade Qingyan not to go.
"No need to say more, I understand." Qingyan had always known Yin's thoughts.
"Sleep a little longer. We're leaving soon. I'll carry you out. You don't need to wake up so early." Qingyan put the token to mobilize the Yuelai Inn into her spatial storage early on. To be honest, Qingyan didn't know how much the Ministry of Revenue could send in advance or how much deficit it would require.
Upon returning the day before yesterday, Qingyan summoned the managers of Yuelai Inn and instructed them to allocate more grain and provisions from nearby areas, so that they could provide as much as Yin needed.
"Fourth Sister, don't worry." Yin wrapped Qingyan in the cloak he was holding, pulled the hood up for her, and then picked her up and carried her outside. Qingyan was still half asleep, and found a comfortable position in Yin's arms to continue sleeping.
When Qingyan opened his eyes again, they had already left the capital. On the other side of the screen, Fei Yanggu and his two sons, along with Yin, were frowning. There was a problem with the food supplies.
The Ministry of Revenue was skimming off too much. They had all predicted that the Ministry would provide a good amount. But with layers of skimming from the top down to the disaster-stricken areas, they only received about a third of what was intended.
"Damn it!" Yin's angry voice rang out, completely waking Qingyan from her half-dreaming state.
"Four! Four!" Qingyan's soft voice was like a bucket of cold water being poured over Yin, waking him up completely.
He quickly stepped over the screen and went inside. Looking at Qingyan's expressionless eyes, he couldn't help but smile bitterly.
Even though he was furious, he still quickly dressed and groomed Qingyan. They would be spending the whole day in the carriage. Yin used a gold hairpin to tie half of her hair into a Ruyi bun, while the rest was left loose over her shoulders.
Outside, Fei Yanggu and his two sons had Su Lan prepare breakfast, but they didn't even eat it while waiting for Qingyan to wake up.
"Little darling, you're awake?" Fei Yanggu had a kind smile on his face. Even if someone was tripping him up behind his back, he couldn't lose his temper with Qingyan.
The five of them quickly finished their breakfast. Qingyan listened to their analysis of the food supplies while holding a teacup. Yin couldn't speak. Xiao Guai's Yuelai Inn wasn't a charity. The fact that they were able to raise some food supplies was only because of his influence.
"Tell me, how much is it different!" Qingyan looked at the four men—one old and three strong—all of whom looked aggrieved.
She then realized that things were going badly. They wouldn't know how many mistakes might have been made with the other princes, so Yin absolutely had to handle this mission properly.
"Only one-third of the provisions will arrive, and some of them are old grain." Yin wiped his face, his heart, which had been heavy with the thought of completing the mission, grew even heavier.
Emperor Kangxi wanted to see his four sons achieve great success in their first mission, so during the morning court session, he strictly ordered the Ministry of Revenue to prepare everything in advance and not to be shortchanged.
As the message was passed down through the ranks, those people didn't care about Kangxi's thoughts; they had already prepared countermeasures.
"Fourth Brother, are you saying that two-thirds of the food and fodder are gone? What about the silver and medicine?" Qingyan put down the cup in her hand, looking at them with a face full of shock.
That's really ruthless!
No wonder, in history, as soon as Emperor Yongzheng ascended the throne, those corrupt officials fell from power one after another. Before he ascended the throne, Emperor Kangxi often sent him and the thirteenth prince to provide disaster relief. Later, the two became so righteous and indignant, which was probably related to this scripture.
"The silver is the least, only a quarter of the total, but the quantity of herbs is sufficient. Whether they are medicinal is still under negotiation." Fei Yanggu didn't hide anything anymore; he couldn't let this mission fall through.
Emperor Kangxi sent several of their heads to accompany them, not wanting the princes to perform their duties poorly.
Qingyan was speechless. This... they actually want to provide disaster relief?
Yin handed her the message he had just received, which recorded what had arrived. The medicinal herbs were also old, and some of them were not as effective as the new ones.
“Once we arrive, I will have someone coordinate things first. Yin’s money is simply not enough to settle the disaster victims!” Qingyan frowned.
Not to mention buying grain, fodder, and medicinal herbs.
etc!
Qingyan recalled that during modern disaster relief efforts, the victims relied on their own efforts, unlike in the Qing Dynasty where they were supported by the state.
"Fourth Prince, I'm going to say something far-fetched, so don't judge me!" Qingyan looked at Yin. What she was saying was a bit too advanced for her time. What if Yin didn't understand? Yin nodded. "If this silver isn't directly given to the disaster victims, and there's no need to spend extra money to hire people to transport grain and fodder, then those disaster victims who were able to escape are mostly able-bodied laborers, right?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Yin's eyes lit up. Yes, let the disaster victims become self-reliant. In previous years, in addition to providing supplies for the disaster victims, the court also needed to hire people to provide relief grain and grazing land and to repair the disaster relief housing.
These are all major expenses; now, by hiring those disaster victims, we've reduced a lot of trouble.
"Put all the money for resettlement here and let those people earn money on their own. At least, it won't take several years for post-disaster recovery and reconstruction like before," Qingyan said.
The information in Qing Dynasty time-travel novels is quite useful; hopefully it can help them. (To be continued. If you like this work, please vote for it on Qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
