Chapter 406 Plague
After the disaster relief arrangements were made, all we had to do was wait for follow-up developments. Reports from other places continued to come in, which was acceptable. Only then did Xuanyuan Ling feel better.
After King Huai set out, he did not stop much along the way. After all, he was on business and went straight to the disaster area.
It was not until they arrived at the disaster area that local officials came out to greet King Huai.
This time the Emperor sent King Huai down. All the local officials knew what the Emperor meant. This was the Emperor's intention to rectify the local area. Now that King Huai had arrived, the local officials were very respectful.
When he was in the capital, he had Xuanyuan Ling's pressure on him. Now that he has come out, with a status like King Huai, how can he not be praised by others?
The officials below kept shouting "Prince" and entertained King Huai and other officials on the same day.
Matters of disaster relief will naturally be handled by the subordinates, and there must always be a buffer after the relief money and grain arrive.
When King Huai arrived, he knew that Xuanyuan Ling had sent him down to clean up the officialdom in Jinzhou. However, it was difficult to start at the moment and he was nervous. All these people in the officialdom were shrewd. They all spoke sincerely and seemed to be extremely honest. How could you tell anything at a glance?
But since he had come here, he had to make some achievements. He openly had two meals with these officials and then recruited people.
Xuanyuan Ling did leave some people for King Huai, so King Huai would not be unaware of it. Now that he has come here, he must first investigate how the disaster has developed and how the disaster relief was carried out. Then, it is also a top priority to find someone to go and ask the people every day.
All these had to be dealt with. Shen Zhizhuo was also among the entourage. His work was more targeted than King Huai's. He went specifically for water conservancy. He knew what was going on. He went to investigate the breach. The breach had already been blocked. Looking at the size of the breach, Shen Zhizhuo felt something was wrong. He asked a worker, "Was there no one stationed around when the breach occurred?"
The worker didn't dare to answer. When he saw Shen Zhizhuo, he stammered and said he didn't know.
Shen Zhizhuo asked several people one after another, and some of them did know the situation, but they said that no one had expected the dam to burst, so there were not many people stationed there at the time.
The disaster in Jinzhou did not seem that serious, and the number of deaths was not high, but looking at the state of the levees, there was no one guarding them, which was really dereliction of duty. How could the local officials not know whether the tide was high or not? Who would believe that there was no trick here?
According to the rules, Shen Zhizhuo had to report these to King Huai. He didn't know more for the time being, but he thought: "The disaster situation in Jinzhou has been concealed. I checked the dikes and the disaster situation. Many farmlands and houses were destroyed, but the number of injured and dead people reported was not too large. I hope King Huai can see clearly."
King Huai knew that Shen Zhizhuo was Shen Qing's younger brother. He could deal with other people easily except Shen Zhizhuo, who was sent by Xuanyuan Ling this time. He always felt that Concubine Xian had something going on here, and that she wanted to find fault with him. After all, Concubine Xian had the Sixth Prince. Of course, he would not do anything to Shen Zhizhuo now. He was polite to Shen Zhizhuo. Since Shen Zhizhuo came to report it, he also made it clear that he would send people to investigate thoroughly if he knew about it.
The other entourage also knew Shen Zhizhuo's identity. Some tried to get close to him, while others tried to avoid suspicion. It's not that there was no intention of taking sides here. King Huai had entered the court, and those who wanted to take sides had started to do so.
Shen Zhizhuo was not unaware of the twists and turns here, as was Shen Qing's status. However, after hearing King Huai's words that he would conduct a thorough investigation, he no longer cared about the matter. Everyone should do their own job. His duties were different from King Huai's. He came here for water conservancy matters, and after that, he really devoted himself to surveying the dam and thinking about how to rebuild or open up the channel.
Shen Zhizhuo reported the progress every now and then for about ten days. He did not expect that so many people would apply to dig the channel, and some trouble arose because of it.
Shen Zhizhuo naturally had to take care of the trouble, but when he did, he discovered something. The guards who were digging the canal were certainly not the ones who escorted the relief money and food they brought with them, but the guards had their guarding duties, and most of them were local people. It was the local people who were making trouble now, and these people were very different from the ones they had seen in the past ten days.
When Shen Zhizhuo first arrived with King Huai, he saw that although the local people had suffered from the disaster, they were still in good spirits. However, this group of people who ran over were pale and skinny, and the troublemaker suddenly fell to the ground unconscious. Shen Zhizhuo asked a doctor to come and take a look, and the answer the doctor gave shocked him.
This person was infected with the plague.
It is not uncommon for disasters to occur in the summer, with corpses difficult to deal with and plagues. However, after they arrived, the officials in Jinzhou had already properly resettled the affected people and registered them. After the people were taken care of, and since not many people died, no one thought that such a thing would happen.
At the same time, King Huai had also received reports. He ordered people to investigate for ten days or so. The local officials in Jinzhou were all local tyrants. They tried to conceal things by pretending to be nice at first, but the longer time went on, the harder it was to conceal it, especially when the people under them could no longer suppress it, just like the one infected with the plague.
It turned out that before they came, the people in charge of the dam knew that the dam would not be able to hold up if the tide rose this year. It was not dereliction of duty, but they withdrew even though they knew it would not hold up. This happened every year, and the local officials were used to it. As a result, this year, due to the incomplete construction of the dam over the years, the collapse was much more serious than in previous years, and the people suffered more severely than in previous years. The local officials still reported the disaster according to previous years, thinking that the relief money and food would be enough to get through. Who would have thought that the emperor suddenly sent King Huai.
Isn't it obvious that the emperor sent Prince Huai? They are all smart people. Everyone can see that the emperor is determined to investigate, but the report has been made, so he can only keep it secret.
However, the people affected by the disaster can be concealed, but the plague cannot be concealed. When a plague occurs among people, everyone is waiting to die together. It is a matter of life and death, so of course the people below will make a fuss, and that will make it known to others.
This matter suddenly became a big deal.
King Huai originally thought that he just needed to catch an official for corruption and remove a few officials, but he didn't expect that there would be a plague here. This matter became a big deal and had to be reported. He felt that he had come here to make great achievements, but now he has become annoyed. He didn't expect it to turn out like this. His first time on duty was not smooth.
ps: I'm following the plot and will continue to update. There will be more tonight.
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