jdhmnovel Chapter 245 Flood
Chapter 245 Flood
Gu Lanxi quickly took over the power of the harem.
In fact, there are only some concubines of the previous emperor left in the harem. They are also very sensible and will not cause trouble.
Moreover, after Jinyang ascended the throne, he dismissed many palace maids and eunuchs in the harem, leaving only the necessary servants. Therefore, managing the harem did not take much effort, and compared with Gu's business, it was nothing.
One of the things she did after she ascended the throne was to announce that the Gu family would fund the construction of schools in various places in the name of the imperial court, and would enroll poor girls to study for free.
This move was met with doubts, admiration and praise.
With the financial resources of the Gu family, the construction of the school was progressing very quickly. Among them, the most magnificent and spectacular was the Imperial School located in the capital. This school was personally selected by His Majesty and built with a huge amount of money generously donated by the Gu family.
It is said that the teachers here are all respected scholars in the world today, and there are countless students who want to study under them. Before the academy was built, many ladies from the mansions came to ask how to send their children to the academy.
However, before the school was completed, a memorial reporting on floods in Ningtang County was submitted to Your Majesty.
Ningtang County is the main city of Qinzhou. In Dayan, there is a long river called the Su River, which flows from the inland mountains through countless cities and flows eastward into the sea.
This long river happens to pass through Qinzhou. It is recorded in the local chronicles that there has been a large-scale flood and several smaller-scale floods in the Qinzhou area in history.
Just after the spring of this year, Qinzhou began to experience continuous drizzles, while Ningtang County experienced heavy rains for several consecutive days. The arable land was seriously affected, and many crops that had just been sown in the spring were submerged by the rain.
Experienced farmers hurriedly began to harvest the crops. Even though they harvested the seedlings in the rain, the roots of most of the crops had been drowned.
The farmers suffered heavy losses, and what made them even more terrified was that heavy rains for several days caused the water level of the Su River to rise.
Ningtang County has a special geographical location, with the Su River flowing by and a mountain range as its solid backing. Although the mountain behind is not particularly high, its altitude is not low.
After several days of continuous heavy rain, a terrible flash flood finally occurred, causing great damage to the entire county, and almost half of the county was affected by the flash flood.
Countless houses were submerged by floods, and people were displaced and had to rush to higher ground with their families.
The most serious problem is that due to the continuous rain, the granaries in Ningtang County have become seriously damp and moldy, and most of the grain is no longer edible.
The county government had no food and could not open its granaries to distribute food. The people were cold and hungry. In desperation, some people took a gamble and small-scale unrest occurred frequently.
The most serious thing is that when this disaster occurs, people below will spread the word, saying that this must be because God is dissatisfied with the person sitting on the dragon throne in Dayan now, and he has sent down a divine punishment to make the world wake up.
As the heavy rain continues, more and more people are saying this.
After Your Majesty ascended the throne, he implemented a series of new policies that were all beneficial to women. There had long been people who were dissatisfied with her. At this time, the people were in a state of panic, and as long as someone added fuel to the fire, these remarks would become a hot topic.
At first, the local county government imprisoned all those who spread such treasonous remarks.
Later, the rain continued to pour down, and even the county town could not protect itself. Even if one wanted to stop it, one was powerless.
When the memorial was submitted to Jinyang, Ningtang County had already been flooded, and the number of people affected was immeasurable. As the rain continued, the water level of the Su River rose. If the rain did not stop, the entire Qinzhou would be flooded by the river.
Jinyang was fully aware of the seriousness of the matter and summoned all the ministers to the imperial study to discuss the matter overnight.
Before she could decide on the people to provide disaster relief, news that the embankment of the Su River had been washed away by floods once again reached the court.
When Jinyang heard this, his face became solemn and he became furious.
The embankment of the Suhe River is related to people's livelihood. The imperial court spends a lot of manpower and financial resources every year to repair and maintain it. However, it was unexpected that such an important project would be easily destroyed by floods.
The meaning is self-evident. It must be that previous officials embezzled the court's repair funds, cut corners, and made the river embankment vulnerable.
The bursting of the Suhe River embankment not only caused a huge disaster to the local people, but also gave those with ulterior motives an opportunity to spread rumors in an attempt to overthrow her regime.
She immediately summoned Lu Youqing and Qin Ke and his wife to the palace overnight, and discussed with them in the imperial study for a long time. The next morning, the candidate for disaster relief was announced.
Qin Ke didn't expect that His Majesty would actually choose him. Strictly speaking, His Majesty's choice was mainly Lu Youqing. In addition to quelling the disaster, he also had to find out the forces behind those who took the lead in inciting the people to make trouble.
At first she didn't want Qin Ke to go with her, but now the river embankment has burst, and someone is needed to organize the reconstruction of the embankment.
In this regard, no one is more suitable than Qin Ke. And if he is sent there, given Qin Ke's character and style, he will never embezzle disaster relief funds.
The matter was urgent, so when they returned that night they counted the people and packed their luggage.
Fortunately, there was an aunt in the house. Even if both of them were on a business trip at the same time, there was someone to manage all the affairs in the house and someone to look after Yueya.
Knowing that her father and mother were going out, Yueya's little mouth immediately pouted, and her eye sockets became red with two bean-sized tears in them.
Qin Ke couldn't bear seeing this pitiful little girl, so he immediately held her in his arms and coaxed her softly.
It would have been fine if he didn't coax her, but as soon as he did, the tears in Yueya's eyes immediately fell and she started sobbing.
"No...Daddy and Mommy, please don't leave..."
Just these two sentences over and over again.
Since Yueya was born, even when they were away on business, one of them would always stay with Yueya. Now both of them were leaving, leaving her alone, this was the first time.
In the end, it was Lu Youqing who took over. Although his voice was soft and gentle as he coaxed her, his face was stern.
Yueya was most afraid of her expression, so she had to clench her little hands and wipe away her tears, and the sound gradually stopped.
"Here, be good, your grandmother is at home with you, and your mother will be back soon."
Lu Youqing took a wet handkerchief and carefully wiped away the traces of her tears. Even though she was reluctant, Yueya had to accept it with a wronged face.
On the day Qin Ke and his friends left the city, his aunt held Yueya and Shengtang and accompanied them to the city gate.
Looking at Yueya waving her little hands, Qin Ke suppressed his reluctance and led the mighty team to Qinzhou.
In order to prevent the victims from rioting, five thousand black-armored soldiers were accompanying them. Lu Youqing was the highest administrative officer on this trip, and all the soldiers were dispatched under her instructions.
In order to avoid wasting time on the transportation of grain and to speed up the process, they decided to borrow grain from the Jinzhou granary, which was closest to Qinzhou.