The Succession Struggle in the Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 251

Because the Crown Prince needed to hurry to continue inspecting the granaries, Tu Chengyu didn't dare to delay for too long.

He briefly outlined his subsequent plans, giving the Crown Prince a general idea.

After leaving the Crown Prince's residence, Tu Chengyu did not delay and headed straight for the south gate.

Before meeting the Crown Prince, Tu Chengyu spent almost every day here. Now that he has met the Crown Prince...

Knowing that the Crown Prince was temporarily unable to attend to the disaster victims, Tu Chengyu became even more concerned.

After rushing as fast as he could, Tu Chengyu finally arrived at the South Gate before lunchtime.

The scene outside the South Gate at this moment is quite different from yesterday.

First, about two or three zhang past the moat at the south gate, several tents appeared connected together.

Tu Chengyu wasn't surprised at all by the sudden appearance of these tents.

Because this thing was built at his instruction to Quan Wenwei.

He set up these tents to provide a temporary place of shelter for people like Quan Wenwei who were helping with disaster relief.

This place can also be used as the command center for the resettlement of disaster victims.

Tu Chengyu was naturally very happy to see the tent repaired so quickly.

At that moment, he wanted to immediately crawl into the tent and experience it properly.

At this time, it was time for you to eat, so Quan Wenwei and the others gathered inside the tent.

Because the weather is still hot, the tent was not completely enclosed after it was set up.

Therefore, the people sitting in the tent who were talking noticed Tu Chengyu's arrival immediately.

Led by Quan Wenwei, they all rushed out to greet Tu Chengyu.

After exchanging greetings, Tu Chengyu pointed to the tent and said:

"Do we still need this?"

Quan Wenwei, representing everyone, said, "It works very well. It can block out the sunlight, and the curtains are still very breathable when lifted. It's very good for us."

"As long as it works well," Tu Chengyu said with great satisfaction. Then he asked, "Are there many disaster victims here today?"

"Your Highness, since last night, the number of disaster victims has been gradually increasing. Moreover, these newly arrived disaster victims are all extremely thin and weak. I reckon they will need to eat a few good meals to recover."

Tu Chengyu said generously, "It's good that they can recover. As for the food, let them eat until they are full."

Upon hearing this, Quan Wenwei said with some concern:

"Your Highness, we don't have much grain here to begin with. If we let them eat as much as they want, what will we do when we run out of food?"

The grain stored here was obtained from merchants in the capital a few days ago.

At the time, they asked each person to pay fifty dan of grain, which Tu Chengyu thought was enough for the initial stage.

Now, listening to Quan Wenwei's words, it seems that they are not quite sufficient.

But Tu Chengyu remembered that there were only so many disaster victims here yesterday, so how could so much food not be enough?

Could it be that there have been a lot of disaster victims arriving since last night?

Tu Chengyu asked Quan Wenwei about his doubts.

Quan Wenwei said without thinking, "There were indeed many disaster victims who came last night, a total of two or three hundred people."

Moreover, since last night, disaster victims have been arriving continuously. That's why the students are worried about food shortages.

After listening to Quan Wenwei's explanation, Tu Chengyu smiled gently and said:
"You don't need to worry about the food issue. I already explained the situation to the Crown Prince when I met him this morning."

The grain allocated by the Crown Prince should arrive in a few days.

As they chatted and laughed, they all went into the tent together.

As soon as he entered, Tu Chengyu felt that the tent was set up quite well.

While looking at everything inside the tent, Tu Chengyu sat down in the middle of the tent.

After everyone was seated, he asked, "Are there any other questions for the disaster victims?"

This time, Quan Wenwei remained silent, but Jia Lian, sitting behind him, spoke up.

"Your Highness, I have encountered another problem here."

"What went wrong?"

"Your Highness, we don't know what to do with the woman you brought from Chunfeng Pavilion yesterday."

"Don't know what to do with her? Didn't we already tell you that we should just rescue her and hand her over to her parents?"

Upon hearing this, Jia Lian said with great difficulty:
"Your Highness, this is what I originally intended to do after bringing the woman here. However, the woman's father is very timid. He is afraid that if he takes his daughter back, others will come to retaliate, so he does not want the woman to go back."

The woman herself didn't want to go back to her parents, and since neither of them wanted it, I didn't know what to do.

This was indeed a problem. Tu Chengyu thought about it but couldn't come up with a good solution for the time being. He could only look at the full text in front of him.

"Mr. Quan, do you have any way to settle this woman?"

"Your Highness, I have a small suggestion. Why don't you summon this woman and have her wash clothes for the soldiers who are protecting the disaster victims?"

This way, the woman can be temporarily settled, and the soldiers can be given clean, washed clothes. Other matters can be dealt with later.

After listening, Tu Chengyu thought for a moment and asked, "But we are all men here. If you let this woman come and hang out with us every day, wouldn't that damage her reputation?"

Quan Wenwei had already thought about this issue.

He said directly, "Your Highness, washing the soldiers' clothes cannot be done by one woman alone. Why doesn't Your Highness take this opportunity..."
Recruit more women from among the disaster victims; once there are enough women, no one will need to take any more. As for the selection process, Your Highness need not worry.

"As long as the prince spreads the word that the women he recruits will receive money in addition to the regular disaster relief food if they do their jobs well, I think many girls from disaster-stricken families will come to work for him."

This method is indeed quite good; at least for now, it allows the girl who was sold to Chunfeng Pavilion to live a good life.

“Okay, we’ll do as you say.” Tu Chengyu and Quan Wenwei arranged things in a few words.

The unwanted girl was in Jia Lian's team, so Tu Chengyu, without bothering two masters, assigned the task of recruiting women to help the soldiers wash clothes to Jia Lian.

Without hesitation, Jia Lian led his men to deal with the woman's problem.

Tu Chengyu remained in the tent, listening to the reports from the others.

After everyone finished speaking, Tu Chengyu knew that nothing major had happened to the disaster victims.

Since nothing major happened, Tu Chengyu instructed everyone to continue working according to plan.

Over the next few days, things became increasingly hectic, and everyone became busier than ever.
Especially the six team leaders, including Jia Lian, were so busy they couldn't stop for even a quarter of an hour.

As the number of disaster victims increases, so do the problems at the resettlement sites.

Although Tu Chengyu had started preparations very early on, various problems arose when the number of disaster victims began to exceed 10,000.

Problems like insufficient toilets, water shortages, fights, and petty theft can arise anytime, anywhere.

This chaotic scene made Tu Chengyu realize a profound truth.

No matter how well you've prepared beforehand, it doesn't matter what you're involved in.

But when you actually encounter it, no matter how much preparation you do, it's never enough.

This situation practically kept Tu Chengyu, the prince temporarily in charge of resettling the disaster victims, stuck here.

He wanted to use his knowledge from his previous life to help Jia Lian and the others solve some difficult problems.

Amidst this busyness, some gossip from the capital reached Tu Chengyu's ears.

Xiao Xuanzi has always been in charge of gathering information, and this time is no exception.

At this moment, Xiao Xuanzi said, "Your Highness, I have heard that people in the capital are all waiting to see you make a fool of yourself."

"My jokes?" Tu Chengyu asked curiously, "What kind of jokes are they?"

"Your Highness, many people say that Your Highness's current efforts to resettle the disaster victims are a waste of time and will certainly not yield good results. In the end, you will have to go back to the old methods."

He's waiting to see how long the prince can hold out.

Upon hearing that this was the joke they were referring to, Tu Chengyu couldn't help but laugh out loud.

The current situation, although it looks like a mess, is even more chaotic than before.

However, as the person in charge of the plan, Tu Chengyu knew very well that the chaos was just a facade.

The situation appears chaotic to outsiders because the disaster victims have not yet fully implemented Tu Chengyu's plan.

However, in reality, all the major directions have been clarified, and now as long as we follow the plan and make strict arrangements, we can stabilize the situation.

Therefore, Tu Chengyu did not show any anger after hearing what they said.

He added with considerable interest:
"Besides these, are there any other rumors?"

Xiao Xuanzi thought for a moment and said, "That's one possibility. It's said that someone in the capital has opened a betting shop. When will you, the gambling king, be able to hold on any longer?"

As expected of the people living under the emperor's nose, they even dare to gamble on matters of the court.

At this moment, Tu Chengyu showed no intention of cracking down on gambling. He said to Xiao Xuanzi:
"How long do the betting odds they offer typically last?"

"Your Highness, the time varies from three to five days to more than ten days, with the longest being a month."

"Oh, there are so many choices. Do you know what their odds are?"

"Your Highness, the odds vary, but they are all quite high."

Hearing this, Tu Chengyu was even happier.

"High odds are good. Here's what you'll do: go back now, take five thousand taels of silver from your residence, and send a few people over to place bets for me."

"Place your bets on all the betting lines. You should know which side to bet on, right?"

Xiao Xuanzi was naturally aware of this matter, and of course, he was betting that Prince Su would persist.

Tu Chengyu has never liked participating in gambling.

But if Tu Chengyu doesn't retaliate after being teased, it would be unreasonable.

Now that he's placed his bets like this, once he's settled things here with the disaster victims, he can take the betting slips and go collect his hard-earned money.

When the money runs out, those who run the betting shops will know where Prince Su is.

Just as Tu Chengyu was fantasizing about these little fun moments, Lin You, a squad leader under Jia Lian, rushed over.

"Your Highness, a fight has broken out in the southeast corner."

The southeast corner of the entire disaster relief site is exactly the area that Jia Lian is in charge of.

Upon hearing this, Tu Chengyu's good mood vanished instantly. He asked in a deep voice:

"Why did they suddenly start fighting?"

Lin You said, "I don't really know the reason either. I only vaguely heard that it was because a family's child went missing, and then a conflict occurred during the search for the child."

Hearing about the issue of children going missing, Tu Chengyu felt somewhat troubled.

These days, there have been more than just one or two cases of children going missing. However, because Tu Chengyu had separated and managed the disaster victims in advance, these lost children were quickly found, so it didn't cause much of a stir.

But now, they've started fighting over the children, which seems to be quite serious.

Thinking about this, Tu Chengyu felt that he needed to go there and see what was going on.

As he sat preparing, he asked Lin You:

"Who was handling things there before you arrived?"

"My young master and Mr. Quan have already arrived."

Now that Jia Lian and Quan Wenwei had arrived, Tu Chengyu was no longer in a hurry.

After calmly tidying himself up, he stepped out of the tent and waved to the side.

Upon hearing this, the guards standing at the door gathered around.

When they arrived, Tu Chengyu said:
"Six men, come with me. And bring the horses over while you're at it."

Although the head of the guards, Lao Yao, was assigned by Tu Chengyu to be the captain.

However, the guards who stayed by Tu Chengyu's side still protected him very well.

After listening to Tu Chengyu's words, they quickly left behind a strong guard, each of them leading a horse.

When the horse arrived, Tu Chengyu took his mount and easily climbed onto its back using the round stool that had been placed under his feet.

Compared to a year ago, Tu Chengyu's riding skills have improved significantly, and he can now control the horse very naturally.

Seeing Tu Chengyu mount his horse, the six guards who had followed him also mounted their horses.

Then, they followed Tu Chengyu closely and ran towards the place where the trouble was taking place.

As for Lin You, who came to report, he could only silently walk back.

Although the area for resettling disaster victims was spacious, it wouldn't take long to get there on horseback.

Tu Chengyu and his six guards quickly arrived at the scene of the disturbance.

When he arrived, he saw about a hundred people gathered in an open space.

These people are now completely in disarray, and from Tu Chengyu's perspective, many of them can no longer distinguish between friend and foe.

Many people were teaming up to beat up another person just fifteen minutes ago, but when they turn around and meet again, they treat each other as enemies and start punching each other without saying a word.

Seeing this chaotic situation, Tu Chengyu's brows furrowed in worry.

(End of this chapter)