A life of two souls traveling through time

Chapter 274: Drought in Jingsong, Xiyue takes the opportunity to snatch people

The rain in Lesser Heat is like silver, while the rain in Greater Heat is like gold. As the dog days of summer are approaching, the sun is scorching and the ground is steaming with heat.

There was another severe drought in the Yangjiang area in the western part of the Jingsong State. There had been no rain for three consecutive months. The continued high temperature caused the rivers to dry up, the fields to crack, and the grass and trees on the ground to gradually turn yellow and wither, revealing a desolate scene.

The common people in the countryside outside the city looked at the dried-up wells and wiped their tears, worrying about hunger and thirst, while the officials in the city continued to live a life of luxury and extravagance.

"Alas, there is no harvest this year. How can we get through the New Year?"

The barren fields were filled with scorching heat. Two thin, dark farmers looked at the withered seedlings in the fields below with sad faces and sighed in despair.

"Why do we need to wait until the end of the year? It's hard to say whether we can survive the dog days of summer. If God doesn't have mercy on us poor people, who will?" After saying this, another farmer could not help but squatting in the dry field and crying bitterly.

"Has the village head returned from the county? I don't know..."

"Don't count on it. I just saw the village head sighing with a bitter face from afar. I know without asking that it must be another wasted trip."

"Natural disasters are merciless. Doesn't even the county magistrate in this city care about the lives of us ordinary people?"

"Humph, there are corrupt officials everywhere. It's hard for us good people to live. Why are we the hardworking people always the ones who suffer in natural disasters, while those corrupt officials and profiteers can still enjoy a good life at home every day? The world is unfair. I think it's better to become a bandit than to wait to starve to death in this village. At least it's a way out."

"Hush, just say this in private, don't spread it in front of others. If it gets to the authorities, you'll be beheaded."

The drought in Yangjiang continued until there were starving people all over the place. The local government, seeing that they could no longer suppress the people's resentment, began to pretend to care about the situation and reported it to the capital at full speed. When Emperor Jingdi learned of the severity of the disaster, he hurriedly asked Prime Minister Yuan Lin to arrange disaster relief.

Yuan Lin was always greedy for money and profit, and he was greedy for money. How could he not be jealous of such a large amount of disaster relief money? As a result, he swallowed up nearly half of the already scarce disaster relief money, and had to feed the corrupt officials all over the country. In the end, the remaining disaster relief money was a drop in the bucket compared to the 100,000 disaster-stricken people in Yangjiang.

In addition, most of the grain in the local granary had already been resold by corrupt officials. Now, except for the small amount of rice left, most of the grain was filled with bran to hide it from the public. Finally, a liter of rice mixed with a lot of bran was cooked into a large pot of disaster relief porridge, which was distributed to the disaster victims every day. Seeing the watery porridge mixed with bran, most of the hungry victims dared not speak out. Their only wish was to survive.

But some people could not bear the hunger and hunger all day long. They had to leave their homes and families to beg for food. Some of them were so resentful that they went directly to the bandits' lairs.

The disaster in the central part of Jingsong and the people's grievances soon reached the ears of Xiyue Emperor Yan Qiao. Emperor Jing was incompetent and trusted the corrupt Prime Minister Yuan Lin, and the corrupt atmosphere spread from top to bottom, which chilled the people of Jingsong. However, Yan Qiao suddenly laughed happily after hearing this.

After the West Moon Kingdom swallowed up the vast territory of the Lang Kingdom, although the people concentrated in the east were relocated there, the population in the northern border was still scarce. Therefore, Yan Qiao thought that if he could take advantage of the opportunity when the court of the Jingsong Kingdom lost the support of the people to release Hui Ce to snatch these disaster victims, the West Moon Kingdom would not only gain population, but also retaliate against the Jingsong Kingdom for the last time it caused discord in the northern border. Wouldn't it be killing two birds with one stone?

Soon, Yan Qiao had his spies hidden in the territory of Jingsong State mingle with the disaster-stricken people and spread the news that Xiyue State was opening up its entry policy to the people of Jingsong State. All the people of Jingsong who entered Xiyue State would be exempted from corvée and taxes for two years, and each person and household would be given housing and food, and rented oxen, to ensure that every citizen in Xiyue State could spend a warm winter with enough food and clothing.

Once the news spread, the victims, who were already starving and had deep resentment towards the government, naturally became eager to take action after hearing the favorable policy of Xiyue Kingdom. In addition, with the instigation of spies from Xiyue Kingdom, a large number of victims secretly entered Xiyue Kingdom.

The Xiyue Kingdom naturally attached great importance to the first batch of Jingsong disaster victims who arrived. The local county magistrate even went out of the city in person to welcome them and fulfill all the rumored preferential policies. As long as their identities were clean, they could register for household registration and enjoy the preferential policies.

As Xiyue Kingdom kept its word, more and more disaster victims from Jingsong sneaked across the border to the west. However, as the number of people sneaking across the border increased, it attracted the attention of border authorities, who hurriedly dispatched troops from all over to guard against the enemy.

"The Xiyue Kingdom is going too far! They actually used such despicable means to rob our Jingsong people!"

The news that the disaster victims sneaked into Xiyue Kingdom naturally reached the court of Jingsong Kingdom. Emperor Jingdi, Duke Liangying, was furious and could not help but jump up and curse Xiyue Kingdom in front of all the civil and military officials.

"Your Majesty, from what I have heard, most of the people who sneaked across this time are disaster victims in Yangjiang. There is always a reason for everything. The court has just allocated relief money, but the victims turned around and went to Xiyue Kingdom. This is not logical. I dare to guess that it is because the relief money finally fell into the disaster area, but only a few pieces were left, which made the people feel disheartened and resentful, and this gave Xiyue Kingdom the opportunity to use means to snatch people and lure the victims to abandon Jingsong Kingdom?" Just as the court was unanimously condemning Xiyue Kingdom, the Imperial Censor Zhuo Yan stepped forward sternly, spoke in a deep voice to Emperor Jing who was sitting high, and looked at Prime Minister Yuan Lin with angry eyes.

Although the Xiyue Kingdom is hateful, this matter is ultimately the problem of the Jingsong Kingdom itself. These corrupt officials may be greedy for food on a daily basis, but in the face of a disaster where human lives are at stake, they are so unscrupulous that they would not make the people resentful.

"What do you mean by this, Censor Zhuo? The drought in Yangjiang is a natural disaster, not caused by the court. Your Majesty loves the people like his own children and cares about the people, so he allocated funds for disaster relief. The victims should be grateful for the emperor's grace. But those unruly people are so greedy that they are not only ungrateful but also flee to Jingsong. Why doesn't Censor Zhuo condemn these unruly people but instead maliciously speculates about the disaster relief officials?" Without waiting for Emperor Jing to speak, Prime Minister Yuan Lin loudly rebuked Zhuo Yanzheng with a righteous and stern look.

"Prime Minister Yuan, the emperor hasn't spoken yet, why are you so anxious? Are you angry and humiliated?" At this time, the crown prince Gong Liangming on the side could not help but snorted coldly, raised his eyes and sneered at Yuan Lin.

Who in the court and the public didn't know about the corrupt Prime Minister Yuan Lin? His father, the emperor, was extremely fond of him, which made Gong Liangming helpless. Censor Zhuo's words just now suspected that the relief money was embezzled and the victims were not rescued in time, which led to the dissatisfaction of the victims. Censor Zhuo's words did not name any names, but it made Yuan Lin angry. I'm sure the people in the palace knew it well, so I don't know how his father, the emperor, would deal with it.

"Your Highness, what you said makes me panic." The prince's sneer made Yuan Lin feel guilty, and he suppressed his tense attitude.

"It is clear that Censor Zhuo is questioning whether the relief funds were embezzled, but Prime Minister Yuan jumped out in a hurry. Those who don't know would think that the Prime Minister was confessing himself." There was a gleam in Prince Gong Liangming's eyes, and he continued to sneer.

“Your Highness the Crown Prince, you…” Yuan Lin’s face turned pale with fright when he heard this, but he still pretended to be aggrieved and tried to defend himself, but was interrupted by Emperor Jing in a harsh voice.

"okay!"

Emperor Jing glanced at Yuan Lin with disdain in his eyes. Didn't he know what kind of moral character he had? How could he be so shameless?

The prime minister was corrupt and Gong Liangying had long been impeached by the Censorate, but Yuan Lin always managed to please him by collecting precious flowers and birds from all over the country to please him. Therefore, he always turned a blind eye to the impeachment of Prime Minister Yuan Lin.

But if it is true as Censor Zhuo said that this disaster relief money was used because of corruption, which caused public resentment and gave the Xiyue Kingdom the opportunity to rob his people, Gong Liangying would never tolerate the evil again. He could not do anything to the Xiyue Kingdom, so naturally he had to kill a few corrupt officials to vent his hatred, which could also be regarded as an explanation to the people of Jingsong Kingdom.

"What Minister Zhuo said makes sense. If there is no cause, there must be an effect. If it weren't for these corrupt officials who exploited the people, why would they be deceived by the West Moon Kingdom and leave their homeland?" Emperor Jing said angrily, and still turned to the crown prince Gong Liangming with a gloomy face, and continued: "Crown Prince, this matter is left to you to investigate thoroughly. Find out the whereabouts of the disaster relief money and the actual disaster situation in Yangjiang!"

"Your son obeys your command!" Prince Gong Liangming immediately kowtowed respectfully, and glanced at Prime Minister Yuan Lin with his slightly lowered eyes. Seeing that Yuan Lin was sweating profusely from fear, he showed a somewhat smug smile.

Going to the disaster area in the hottest days of summer was something the prince, who had always lived a life of luxury, could not tolerate. But after receiving the imperial edict, he had to investigate it in person, otherwise it would be troublesome if Yuan Lin caught him.

Fortunately, Gong Liangming had his sixth brother Gong Liangzhao to give him advice. He suggested that the prince could visit the disaster area in disguise and stay in Huaijiang, which was close to the disaster area, and then send people to investigate secretly. If he made a big move, he would easily return empty-handed.

Gong Liangming agreed with his sixth brother's idea. He was not very interested in the corrupt officials in the small places, but if he could follow the clues and catch Yuan Lin's people, he would have more useful clues to bring down the other party.