121. Responsibility

This natural disaster came unexpectedly and was completely beyond Rong Se's expectations. On the way to the palace, he racked his brains to recall the plot of the original novel, and finally confirmed that this natural disaster was absolutely not mentioned in the original novel.

Rong Se felt a little heavy in his heart. Zi Bu Yu talked about strange things, but the fact that his soul traveled through time and space was itself very strange.

He suspected that the book he was reading was indeed a pirated one, or...his arrival had brought changes to the world, and thus corresponding feedback had also appeared.

...Rongse didn't want this result.

Compared to this possibility, Rongse hopes that the reason lies in the former.

"My Lord."

Liang Shenyu said softly, with a concerned look in his eyes, "There will always be a way out when you reach the mountain, so don't worry too much for now."

"I hope so." Rong Se sighed.

Snow fluttered down from the night sky, covering the long streets with snow. A horse-drawn carriage drove through the night and headed straight for the palace gate.

Unlike the daily morning court, Rong Se was the first to arrive at the palace this time. When he entered the palace, even Rong Jing had not finished washing up.

It was not until the important officials from the six ministries and nine temples gathered and Rong Se heard the report that he realized that the earthquake in the first half of the night was not serious in Kyoto, but outside Kyoto, Tong County and the surrounding villages under Yao Mountain in the eastern suburbs were severely affected. The Yao Mountain was covered with rubble and the villagers were still asleep, so they had no time to escape.

The houses that were not affected by the rubble also collapsed into ruins. Most of the houses were made of wood and were burned to ashes by the candlelight when they collapsed.

"There hasn't been an earthquake in Jinjing for nearly a hundred years. What a shame." The Minister of Agriculture sighed in a low voice.

Not only him, but everyone present had a grim look on their faces. Natural disasters meant spending money and effort. The damaged towns needed to be dealt with by the court, and the victims also needed to be resettled by the court. Every penny counted.

"Okay, stop talking about these useless things." Rong Se was too lazy to listen to their meaningless expressions of worrying about the country and the people, so he got to the point. "This is a natural disaster. The court cannot ignore the suffering of the people. I have ordered the imperial guards to search and rescue the people as soon as possible, but the victims still need to be resettled. I want to hear your opinions on how to resettle the victims. Also, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Revenue should prepare their own disaster relief grains and funds."

Luo Ling and the Minister of Agriculture all agreed.

The Minister of War hesitated and said, "Why not place them outside the city, or in the East Market? But...the people are buried, there is no way to rescue them, and we don't know if the earthquake will come again. Your Majesty, why don't we take our time to save them and wait until the earthquake subsides before digging."

"I want to save people, not dig up corpses." Rong Se looked over coldly, "The court collects taxes from the people so that it can pay salaries to you gentlemen. Otherwise, how could the minister have such a high position and a generous salary and sit here to talk to me? Now that the people are suffering, how can the court stand by and watch them die without helping them?"

The Minister of War was quite old, and was embarrassed to be scolded by Rong Se in public, but he did not dare to refute. He snorted with a sullen face.

Rongse was too lazy to argue with him.

Rong Jing spoke gently, "Uncle, the people are important, but we cannot let others risk their lives. I think this matter is not urgent, and it doesn't matter if we take it slow."

"If I hadn't heard it with my own ears, I wouldn't have believed that this was said by the emperor of a country." Rong Se said slowly, staring at Rong Jing with an open gaze, "I don't have time to argue with Your Majesty, but when Your Majesty is full of kindness, why not be kind to the people as well."

After saying that, he looked away without even looking at Rong Jing's suddenly ugly expression.

He shouldn't have any expectations of Rong Jing. At this time, he was still thinking about currying favor with the court officials and being a good person.

"Where is the Magistrate of Tong County?"

Rongse asked the official from Tong County who came to report.

The official rode his horse quickly from the disaster area into the city, like a frightened bird. He was dazed for a moment before he said in shock, "Master Zhao is fine. When I left, you had already taken people to check the situation."

"Okay." Rong Se nodded and said in a commanding tone, "Send the imperial physician and medical officer from the Imperial Hospital to follow me to Tong County."

Ji Miaotong was stunned and blurted out: "The prince is going to Tong County in person?"

The earthquake did not end all at once. There have been earthquakes in remote areas in previous years, most of which occurred several times. Therefore, Tong County cannot be said to be safe in the past few days. As soon as the Regent King said this, the expressions of the court officials present changed slightly.

But at least no one can laugh at me.

Even the Minister of War who had just spoken had a strange look on his face. Rong Jing's expression even twisted slightly for a moment, with a mixture of mockery and joy, but mostly shame as if he had been slapped in the face.

On the one hand, he sneered at Rong Se for portraying himself as a saint, and on the other hand, he envied his unpolished jade-like purity.

Rong Se's actions were impeccable. Most of the people present had their own thoughts and calculations, but the Regent acted honestly and openly. No one expected that he would voluntarily go deep into the dangerous area.

Yu Qingzhou could no longer hold back and said, "Your Majesty, your body is worth thousands of gold. I beg you to take back your order and not put yourself in danger!"

Many court officials echoed him.

"Please take back your order, Your Majesty."

But Rong Se remained unmoved, he just glanced at Liang Shenyu.

Liang Shenyu looked calm and had no intention of stopping him. He just smiled back, saying everything he wanted to say - do what you want.

Rong Se withdrew his gaze and looked at the ministers calmly.

He is not the original owner and does not want to be a regent. The life and death of the people of the world has nothing to do with him. Rong Se has always believed this.

But Rong Se knew that he should have been one of them.

But he lived a rich life that was different from those people. He had the final say and could call the shots. Even though Rong Se had told him countless times that he was just an ordinary person, when the time came, Rong Se enjoyed all the stability brought by the identity of the Regent King and shamelessly said that he was just an ordinary person and turned a blind eye to the suffering of the common people and stayed out of it.

"My Lords," Rong Se said slowly, "Tong County is not far from the capital, and it is not difficult to go there. I am afraid of danger, but are the people who are still in danger not afraid? Someone from the royal family should go there to let the people know that the royal family has not given up on them."

Having said that, he glanced at Rong Jing with a sarcastic look.

"Marquis Dingbei."

Rong Se looked at Liang Shenyu again, gazed at him gently, and asked, "Would you like to go with me?"

Liang Shenyu smiled calmly, leaned forward and said, "I obey your order."

All the officials were silent for a moment.

It was not until the Regent Prince made all the subsequent arrangements and hurried out with Marquis Dingbei that the ministers looked at each other and began to discuss the matter in low voices.

Even those officials who followed the Regent because of their party's unity and fighting against dissidents could not help but feel genuine respect for the Regent at this moment.

The previous rectification of the court was also carried out under the name of eliminating corrupt officials and overturning unjust cases, but after all, it was the Regent who was eliminating dissidents, and it was nothing more than a pretext. But this time, the Regent risked his life, and he really had nothing to ask for.

Hearing the discussions, Rong Jing could no longer maintain the smile on his face. Even his usual gentle and graceful demeanor was now replaced by jealousy and fear. His face was tense, he was flustered, and his palms were covered in cold sweat.

He knew that the Regent was winning people's hearts bit by bit.

.

After leaving the palace, Liang Shenyu had to go outside the city to mobilize the Jinbei Cavalry to accompany him. The Jinbei Cavalry was in the west of the city. In order to save time, Rongse simply returned home to pack his luggage and went directly to the east gate to wait for Liang Shenyu to lead the Jinbei Cavalry to cross the Jin capital.

When he was leaving the house, he was stopped by the siblings Yun Chu and Lan Ying, as well as Rong Zhixu.

"Your Highness, this is too dangerous." Yun Chu's face was full of disapproval, "You are not an ordinary person. The Regent King should not take risks."

Lan Ying also whispered, "Master, if you really want to go, we can go. Yun Zhi has already taken people there. You don't have to go. We all follow you as the leader. We can go without anyone else, but not without you."

Rong Se was silent for a moment, then said, "Only if I go can I calm people's hearts, and... I should also see it myself, and see it with my own eyes, so that I can know how to do better. Besides, everyone's life is life, and no one's death is more worthwhile than anyone else's."

"It's different. You have to live." Lan Ying said stubbornly, her beautiful eyes fixed on Rong Se, full of seriousness. "My Lord, you have brought us here, and you will bring us further. This is something only you can do. For this, anyone among us can fall on the road, but not you."

Rong Se was stunned.

Lan Ying almost begged, "Master, you can do many things that we cannot do. For the sake of the people of Dajin, who live like us...in the past, Master should not go to such a dangerous place."

Rong Se sighed softly, reached out and rubbed Lan Ying's hair, and said softly: "Silly girl, you make it sound like I'm going to die. It doesn't necessarily mean anything will happen. If you are really worried, come with me to take a look."

Lan Ying hesitated, but Yun Chu agreed: "If Your Majesty must go, I will naturally go with you."

"No, someone has to watch over us in the capital." Rong Se refused without hesitation, "You have to stay, in case Rong Jing and his men cause trouble. There are Yu Qingzhou and his men in the court, but one of my men has to stay in the capital. Yun Zhi has already gone to Tong County, so one of you two brothers will be enough to accompany him."

Yun Chu hesitated to speak, and finally sighed: "...I understand."

Rong Se nodded, then looked at Rong Zhixu who was frowning and hesitant to speak, and said softly: "Xuanhe, you are a princess. You would rather sacrifice yourself for Rong Jing's ambition in the past. You won't stop me now, right?"

Rong Zhixu's eyes were almost red, and he shook his head gently: "No, the emperor's uncle did the right thing. Xuanhe knows that this is the responsibility of the royal family."

"Then don't cry. The people who are affected by the disaster should be crying." Rong Se smiled casually and said, "It will be fine."

Rong Se finally didn't bring Rong Zhixu with him. Although she was strong, she was weak. It would be bad if they went together. Yun Chu was also left behind to keep an eye on the movements in the capital, so only Lan Ying went with them. The two of them set off quickly.

The light of Xihe was already visible in the east, but the snow had not stopped yet. The snow on the road was thick enough to cover people's ankles. As the carriage moved farther and farther away, the wheel marks were soon buried by the falling snow. The light golden light reflected on the falling snow, and it was a vast expanse of white.

It's almost dawn.