As Zhao Xian walked, he used the instrument in his hand to conduct a probe, with Registrar Mi and more than twenty yamen runners following behind Zhao Xian and his group.
Before long, they came to the side of a ruin. From the ruins, it was clear that this must have been the home of a wealthy family.
Zhao Xian arrived at the ruins and began to explore them with the life detector in his hand. At a certain location in the ruins, the small detector reacted.
The instrument's display screen showed that there should be three living beings under Zhao Xian's feet.
This should have been a room where three people were living together. After the earthquake, the building collapsed, burying the three people underneath.
"Quickly! There are three people down there, and they're still alive. Rescue them quickly!" Zhao Xian shouted.
Registrar Mi found it unbelievable. How could this Junior Minister just stand there and say there were three people below, and that they were still alive?
Zhao Cheng believed Zhao Xian's words without a doubt, and he and several people around him immediately started clearing away the bricks, tiles and wood under Zhao Xian's feet. Zhao Xian was not idle either, and he joined the others in clearing away the debris.
Seeing this, Registrar Mi had no choice but to have twenty constables around him work together to clear the ruins, as he did not believe there were still any living people in the rubble.
Once the rubble is cleared out, if there are no survivors underneath, let's see how you handle the situation.
But Zhao Xian was a fourth-rank official, and he couldn't afford to offend him. So he decided to clean up the ruins. With that in mind, Registrar Mi led his men to get to work.
Seeing this, Zhao Xian went to another location and continued to probe with the instruments in his hand. Finally, he discovered another life form in a corner of the ruins.
"A few people, come over here. There's still someone down there. Hurry and rescue them."
Several constables rushed over immediately, and the people in the makeshift thatched hut nearby, hearing that there were still people alive under the rubble, quickly came to rescue them.
Soon, the debris on the ruins was cleared away, and four people were rescued. Although they were still alive, their condition was very bad; they were unconscious and urgently needed to be taken to the hospital for treatment.
The four were quickly carried away for treatment; they were only unconscious and should not be in any life-threatening danger.
The way the clerk and others looked at Zhao Xian immediately changed. Was this still human? Even a god couldn't tell whether the people buried under the rubble were alive or dead.
Registrar Mi knew some of Zhao Xian's experiences. This man not only possessed enormous wealth but was also a fourth-rank official in the imperial court. If he wasn't mistaken, this man might be a deity descended to earth.
Seeing that his life detector was indeed working well, Zhao Xian immediately gained confidence and decided to take this opportunity to rescue as many people as possible.
Although Zhao Xian had noticed that the people around him were looking at him differently, he couldn't care less; he had to hurry and save people.
Zhao Xian moved among the ruins, and once he found signs of life beneath the rubble, he would immediately send someone to rescue them while he went to another place to continue searching for life beneath the rubble.
During the rescue operation, Zhao Xian encountered a large number of soldiers from Shuixian Village. They searched tirelessly for survivors in the ruins, resting briefly when they were tired before continuing their search.
Zhao Xian also didn't stop for a moment, carefully searching through every ruin and not letting go of any opportunity.
Zhao Xian worked until dark before he finally stopped. Although he wanted to rescue more people, his hands and feet were no longer under his control, and he was completely exhausted.
Those who participated in clearing the rubble had it even harder; they were already exhausted and had no strength left.
At this moment, a light rain began to fall, and the temperature plummeted, making people shiver with cold. There were still people alive in the ruins, but they probably wouldn't survive the night.
At this time, the prefect of Dezhou arrived. He had been busy all day and finally managed to arrange the disaster relief supplies.
He was amazed to hear that Zhao Xian had found and rescued many survivors in the ruins. He couldn't understand how Zhao Xian had managed to find the survivors under the rubble.
The magistrate found Zhao Xian standing beside the ruins and knew he still wanted to continue rescuing people. However, it was already late and a light rain had started to fall, making it impossible to continue the rescue.
Lin Tongpan was deeply moved. He went to Zhao Xian's side and said:
"Lord Shaoqing worked tirelessly to rescue many survivors from the ruins. On behalf of the people of Dezhou, I thank you, Lord Shaoqing."
"Prefect Lin, you are too kind. This is our duty as officials. It's a pity that it's too late to carry out any rescue. It seems we'll have to wait until tomorrow."
"Your Excellency Shaoqing has set an example for the country and the people. I have arranged temporary accommodations for you. Please go and rest, and please do not overwork yourself."
Zhao Xian nodded and said:
"Thank you, Magistrate Lin. Let's go now."
After Zhao Xian finished speaking, he followed Magistrate Lin to their temporary residence.
Next to the government office, some tents were set up, where the people in the government office worked and rested. Zhao Xian was also arranged to stay in one of these tents and would spend the night there.
Zhao Xian took a look and saw that some of the houses in the government office were not completely destroyed, but they were no longer habitable. It seemed that the construction quality of the government buildings was still quite good.
If the government office buildings also collapsed on a large scale, a large number of officials and yamen runners would die, and the Dezhou government would truly be paralyzed.
The food for dinner was casual, as long as it filled his stomach. Zhao Xian ate a little something and then went to bed.
Nothing happened that night. Early the next morning, Zhao Xian got up, ate something haphazardly, and then led his men to the ruins of the city to continue searching for survivors.
To Zhao Xian's regret, he had only found two or three survivors from morning till night. It was already the fifth day, and finding any survivors at this point was already a miracle.
On the sixth day after the earthquake, Zhao Xian still clung to a sliver of hope and continued searching for survivors. This time, however, he was utterly disappointed. He searched from dawn till dusk but couldn't find a single survivor.
The sky was overcast, and the ruins of Dezhou City looked incredibly desolate. Looking at all this, Zhao Xian once again felt how insignificant humans are in the face of nature.
At this time, Prefect Huang, exhausted, rushed back to Dezhou and learned that Zhao Xian had delivered a large amount of disaster relief supplies to the victims and participated in the disaster relief efforts in Dezhou.
Prefect Huang was deeply moved and immediately came to pay his respects.
"Greetings, Lord Shaoqing. This powerful earthquake has severely damaged Dezhou City and several counties under its jurisdiction, resulting in numerous casualties and a large number of refugees in various places."
I have already reported the extent of the disaster and casualties to the imperial court, and I estimate that the court's relief supplies will arrive in Dezhou in twenty days.
"Waiting for the imperial court to send relief forces will definitely be too late; we must find a way to save ourselves."
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