Chapter 284 Going to Jiangnan
Qin Jinzhi and the others boarded the ship under the cover of night.
She, Wei Xueqi, said, "If you want to stay in Cangzhou, you can. You can return to the capital after I come back from Lingnan."
Wei Xueqi shook her head, "You're traveling incognito this time, mostly by water. It will be much more convenient if I accompany you."
There are many shipping guilds in the rivers, lakes, and seas, and as the daughter of Wei Longmu, she wouldn't be made difficult by them.
Wei Xuan nodded in agreement, "Then let Xueqi go with you."
Qin Jinzhi nodded and boarded the ship after hearing this.
Wei Xueqi asked, "Princess, are we going directly to Lingnan?"
Qin Jinzhi said calmly, "I'm not going to Lingnan, I'm going to Jiangnan."
Officials responsible for disaster relief in Jiangnan have already been dispatched there.
Pei Jinnian also sent supplies to Jiangnan.
The visible extent of the disaster is under control.
However, the undercover agents reported that the floods in Jiangnan were only temporarily under control.
The officials going there, fearing punishment from His Majesty for their incompetence, only reported good news and not bad.
However, if the problem of flooding is not fundamentally solved, another natural and man-made disaster will soon follow.
The boat that Wei Xuan prepared for Qin Jinzhi was a modified version that cost a lot of money.
Ordinary boats can travel at most a hundred li (approximately 50 kilometers) even traveling day and night.
However, the boats that Wei Xuan prepared traveled at twice the speed of ordinary boats.
The journey from Cangzhou to Jiangnan originally took twenty days.
But with Wei Xuan's help, the journey only took seven days, even traveling day and night.
After drifting at sea for seven days, Qin Jinzhi's legs felt weak when she finally stepped onto land in Jiangnan.
Upon disembarking, one can see the soup kitchens set up for disaster relief.
Many people are queuing.
As Qin Jinzhi approached, she saw two men carrying bowls of porridge walking towards the back.
One of the men looked at the porridge in the bowl with a disgusted expression.
"With so little rice, who are you trying to fool?"
As he spoke, he poured the porridge from the bowl onto the ground.
Although the porridge wasn't quite thick, it was definitely made with the right ingredients.
Qin Jinzhi's eyes were cold.
Si Sha immediately went up and kicked the man, making him kneel on the ground.
"Who is it! Who dares to kick me!"
He tried to look up to see who it was, but his head was slammed to the ground by Si Sha.
Seeing this, the man's accomplice threw a punch at Si Sha.
Si Sha grabbed his wrist and twisted it backward.
"ah!!!"
The man screamed in pain, then was kicked in the chest by Si Sha.
He lay on the ground and rolled around.
Just as the man who had poured out the porridge was about to curse, his eyes fell upon a pair of boots made of fine material, indicating that the man was either rich or noble.
The boot was raised and then lowered in front of him.
The boots pressed his head firmly into the ground.
The man, powerless to fight back, hurriedly cried out, "Honorable sir, spare my life! Honorable sir, spare my life! I don't know where I offended you, I'll kowtow and admit my mistake."
Qin Jinzhi's voice was cold, "Lick up the porridge on the ground."
The man was taken aback, then his face turned angry. "Who are you? Let me go right now!"
Many of the disaster victims who were queuing to receive porridge watched from a distance.
"Who has Liu Er offended?"
"I don't know, but judging from the clothes that girl is wearing, she's definitely not from an ordinary family."
"It seems that Liu Er disliked the porridge because it was too thin, so he poured it out. The young woman then made him lick the porridge off the ground."
After learning the reason, everyone looked at Liu Er with great disdain.
So many people are starving, yet they are wasting food.
Qin Jinzhi didn't say anything, but gradually increased the pressure on her feet.
The man screamed in pain, feeling as if his head was about to be crushed.
"I'll lick it! I'll lick it!"
Qin Jinzhi withdrew her foot, and the man, now free, tried to escape.
Before he could even get up, he was forced to kneel on the ground by Si Sha.
Qin Jinzhi squatted down in front of him. "If you love eating porridge so much, your teeth must be useless."
Upon hearing this, Si Sha lifted the man's shirt and covered his head with it.
He then punched the man in the mouth repeatedly.
The man couldn't even whimper.
Si Sha ripped off the man's clothes, revealing a mouthful of blood.
He was pushed to the ground by the four-killer, spitting out his teeth.
Qin Jinzhi said casually, "Now you can lick it."
The man was so frightened by Si Sha's skill that he struggled to his feet and licked the porridge off the ground.
Qin Jinzhi then smiled and said, "Wasting food is unacceptable."
She then got up and left with the others.
Qin Jinzhi and her companions found a courtyard very close to the Suzhou government office and settled down.
At night, Qin Jinzhi sat in the courtyard drinking tea.
The government office not far away was bustling with noise.
Judging from the noisy footsteps, it must be that everyone in the government office has been mobilized.
Luo Shui came out of the room and brought her a cloak.
"It's chilly at night, take care of yourself."
Qin Jinzhi fastened her cloak. "Let's go to the Suzhou Prefectural Government Office."
Luo Shui frowned. "Judging from the noise, there shouldn't be anyone left in the government office, right?"
Qin Jinzhi raised an eyebrow, "We only go when there are hardly any people left."
She sniffed the fragrance on Luo Shui's body. "The scent is a little weak."
Upon hearing this, Luo Shui immediately pulled out a cosmetic box from her sleeve.
She touched up her makeup.
The courtyard was immediately filled with a delicious aroma.
Qin Jinzhi nodded. "Let's go."
The two arrived at the Suzhou government office and went straight inside.
The government office was brightly lit, but completely empty.
Seeing this, Luo Shui took out a bell from his pocket.
"when!"
"when!"
"when!"
Qin Jinzhi listened for a moment, then walked towards a room.
Pushing open the door, they saw a man dressed as a clerk staring blankly at the two of them.
He murmured, "Who are you people?"
Luo Shui rang the bell again, "Where have all the people from the government office gone?"
The man said slowly, "The dam has been destroyed again, and the government officials have all gone to repair it."
Luo Shui frowned. "Was it destroyed again? Are dams destroyed all the time?"
The man nodded. "Yes."
Luo Shui asked again, "Why wasn't the flood problem reported to the imperial court?"
The man said slowly, "The prefect said that if we report this to the imperial court, the court will definitely punish the entire prefectural government. It would be better to carry out emergency repairs as needed."
Luo Shui turned to look at Qin Jinzhi.
Qin Jinzhi had already walked to the bookshelf in the room.
I flipped through the government office logbook above.
These were all ordinary cases; the unresolved issue of the flood was not mentioned at all.
However, it was exactly what she expected.
An official's most fatal flaw is incompetence.
His Majesty still knew of his incompetence.
Therefore, the prefect preferred to mobilize a large number of troops for emergency repairs every day rather than ask the imperial court for help.
Qin Jinzhi held the diary in her hand, which only recorded a few words about the flood.
He then turned and left.
Luo Shui followed, and when the two reached Suzhou Prefecture, Luo Shui rang the bell again.
Qin Jinzhi and her companion arrived at the flood control dock by horse-drawn carriage.
A somewhat plump man dressed in the official robes of a prefect was seen directing a group of government officials to move sandbags to block the turbulent floodwaters.
Qin Jinzhi lifted the carriage curtain.
His expression was somewhat grave; using sandbags to block the water was ultimately not a long-term solution.
If the dam is breached again, the consequences will be dire.
"Let's go back."
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