I am a corrupt official, but they say I am a loyal minister

At this moment, the empress knew exactly how to eat hot pot.

With great interest, he picked up another piece of meat and put it into the soup. After it was cooked through, he put it in a bowl with seasoning.

At this time, the meat contaminated by the seasoning was no longer so hot, but it still had the fresh fragrance of the seasoning. This bite was really just right, and the empress was full of satisfaction.

"It's comfortable to eat like this!"

Next, the empress's chopsticks could hardly stop, and she ate one piece after another, at a faster and faster speed.

The old eunuch next to him looked at it and his eyes popped out.

Is it really that delicious?

Or, turn around and set up a table by yourself?

After about half an hour, the empress had enough to eat and drink.

Although she is the Ninth Five-Year Venerable, she rarely has the opportunity to eat so happily.

Because she is usually busy with state affairs, she rarely eats on time.

Moreover, the imperial dining room is a bit far away.

When the food was served, it was basically warm, and some were even cold.

Therefore, it is really difficult for her, the emperor, to eat a mouthful of hot food.

Especially in the winter like now, it is even more difficult to eat a bite of hot food.

But now, with hot pot, it is different.You can eat the hottest and freshest dishes directly, you can eat whatever you want, and you can eat whatever you want. It's completely free and refreshing!

"The way of eating hot pot invented by Aiqing is too much in line with my wishes! Tell the imperial dining room that I will cook according to the style of hot pot in the past few days!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

After eating and drinking enough, the empress began to worry about state affairs again.

However, when she saw a memorial, she frowned: "In the south of the Yangtze River, the weather is cold and rainy for days..."

Days of rain in winter is not a good thing.

It's cold in winter, and it's easy to freeze to death.

Coupled with continuous rainfall, the water level is likely to skyrocket, and the river backflows, submerging fertile fields and villages, and displaced people.

It is cold and there is no food, and it is easier to die.

This kind of thing is not uncommon.

The empress shook her head: "I hope that I am just worrying about nothing!"

However, Murphy's Law applies everywhere.

If there was a possibility of things changing, no matter how small the possibility, it would happen.

In other words, the less you want something to happen, the more it will happen.

For several days in a row, the Empress received bad news from Jiangnan every day, and the rainfall did not decrease, but instead tended to increase.

The middle and low-lying areas in the countryside are basically flooded now, making it very difficult to travel.

Some fertile fields and villages are also flooded now.

Fortunately, the farmers living there have already moved away.

However, the most dangerous are the two rivers of Qinhuai, the river has gradually overflowed the embankment.

Once the embankment cannot be kept and the river overflows, the two river basins will be affected, and millions of people will be displaced.

The empress issued several imperial decrees in succession, ordering the government in the south of the Yangtze River to guard the embankment no matter what, and at the same time quickly transfer the people in the two river basins to reduce the disaster.

However, the scariest thing happened!

In the face of horrific natural disasters, manpower is sometimes poor, but in the end it is impossible to hold the embankment. The river overflows and surges, flooding all the villages and fertile fields along the way, destroying everything, and millions of people lose their homes!

The only good news is that due to the timely transfer, the civilian casualties were not large.

However, the food was washed away before it could be transferred.

What should we do if there are more than one million people without food?

The empress immediately issued an order to the officials in the south of the Yangtze River: open warehouses to release grain, and do everything possible to relieve the victims!

However, the answer given by the officials in the south of the Yangtze River was: there is no food in the south of the Yangtze River, and I implore the court to support it!

In the early morning, the empress slapped the dragon chair vigorously, and Lei Ting said angrily, "How dare you say that there is no food in the south of the Yangtze River? I have already investigated and found out that they have enough food, but the king of the south of the Yangtze River used it as military rations!"

"Your Majesty, calm down!" All the officials said in unison.

"How do you let me calm my anger?" The empress continued to be furious: "The Jiangnan king is ambitious and has been coveting my throne! He hasn't taken that position yet, and he has already ignored the people in the territory! Such a selfish and greedy person, if let If he ascends to the throne, will the people of the world still have a way out?"

"Your Majesty, calm down!" All the officials said in unison again.

"I'll talk about the Jiangnan King's matter later, the most important thing now is to help the victims!" The empress said with a headache: "My dear friends, if the Jiangnan King doesn't release food, what good strategy do you have?"

As he spoke, he looked at Qian Yuanshen, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs.

The Secretary of the Household Department stood up and raised his hand and said: "Your Majesty, the weather in my court this year is unpredictable, and the grain harvest has been affected, and the production has been reduced by about [-]%! In the Household Department, food is limited, and it may be more difficult to help millions of victims. Difficult!"

The Empress' eyes darkened.

Hubu Shangshu said again: "And Your Majesty, our capital is far away from the south of the Yangtze River, so even if we hurry up, it will take two days! Even if we transport the grain there now, it may be too late!"

"Ah!" The empress sighed heavily.

His eyes couldn't help leaving Lin Beifan behind, with a hint of expectation.

However, it soon dimmed again.

Even if he is extremely smart, what's the use of being resourceful?

What is lacking now is food, without food everything is empty talk, can he still conjure up food?

He is a human being, not a fairy!

At this moment, a soldier rushed in hastily.

"Report! The King of Jiangnan and the various officials in the south of the Yangtze River drove all the affected people out of the land of the south of the Yangtze River! At the same time, publicized loudly that there is food in the capital! If you want to live, go to the capital to ask for food!"

"bang"

The empress was furious again: "What a Jiangnan king! What a poisonous scheme!"

"This plan is indeed vicious!" Gao Tianyao, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, smiled wryly: "The king of Jiangnan's plan is clearly throwing the burden of millions of people to our court! If we ignore it, we will lose the hearts of the people and the court will be in danger!"

"If we take care of it and let go of the granary to help the victims, the victims will be rescued, but we have no food, and the impact will be even greater! If there is a war or other things, it will be absolutely detrimental to us!"

The other officials all nodded.

"Yes, this plan is quite vicious! No matter whether we manage the victims or not, they will suffer!"

"Either lose popular support, or lose food!"

"It's not good for my court, what should I do?"

……

It was a headache for all the officials, and the empress was even more troubled: "Dear dear ministers, what are some good strategies?"

"This..." All the officials shook their heads.

"Your Majesty, I have something to say!" Minister of the Ministry of War stood up.

"Li Aiqing, what do you have to say?" the Empress asked.

"Your Majesty, nowadays, all the feudal lords are aggressively fighting, and there are also major countries outside the country spying on us. It can be said that our court is precarious and very dangerous! Therefore, we must ensure that we have sufficient food in hand to deal with all adverse events!"

"If we use this food to help the victims now, at best we will gain some good reputation! What use is it for us? Can this reputation be eaten?"

"No! The vassal lords will still fight if they should! Other countries will continue to spy on our dynasty, waiting for the opportunity to send troops! Therefore, the lesser of two evils, we must keep food! As for the victims, it can only depend on God's will Already!"

The Minister of Rites was furious: "Master Li, do you want us to ignore the disaster victims? You have read the sage books all your life, where have you read them? Are you still a human being?"

"Lord Zhao, I understand your anger very well! But now, getting angry won't help! A country needs a country before we can have a family. We can't even keep our country, so how can we keep our people?"

Li Kaiguang, Shangshu of the Ministry of War, asked loudly: "If the country is destroyed, the sacrifice will not be the millions of victims, but tens of millions of ordinary people! Mr. Zhao, I ask you, can you afford this loss? "

"This..." Minister of Rites was speechless, and shrank back angrily.

"Besides, even if you go to save them now, can you save them?" The Minister of the Ministry of War said loudly: "We are more than 800 miles away from Jiangnan. It will take 10 days at the fastest to transport food to Jiangnan. People are starving to death. How can we save it? Tell me, how can we save it? Can we save it?"

Everyone was left speechless.

Li Kaiguang, Minister of the Ministry of War, bowed and said: "Your Majesty, if you say something ugly, the victims of the disaster at this time can no longer be counted as human beings! They are hungry and even eat people, regardless of all etiquette and shame, they are no different from animals! Most importantly, don’t save these people, let them fend for themselves!”

All the officials sighed one after another, and the empress closed her eyes in pain.

Chaotang fell into silence.

At this moment, a loud voice resounded through the court.

"The minister believes that the disaster victims should be rescued!".

Chapter 220 Lin Beifan, Imperial Envoy!

The empress's eyes lit up, because it was her most important official Lin Beifan who said this.

Every time he opens his mouth, he can always point to the core and bring hope at the same time.

"Aiqing, what's your opinion, tell me quickly!"

Lin Beifan said loudly: "I believe that the disaster victims must be rescued, and rescued immediately, without delay! If not rescued, the country will be in chaos, and Dawu will die!"

Everyone's complexion changed drastically, and they all opened their mouths to scold.

"Master Lin, do you know what you're talking about-?"

"You actually said that our country will be in chaos and the great military will be destroyed. You are simply scaremongering and deceiving the public!"

"It's just giving up a group of disaster victims, can it shake my Chaogang Sheji?"

"Master Lin, please be careful with your words!"

"Aren't you quick to apologize to His Majesty?"

……

The empress's face was also a bit ugly, but because of her trust in Lin Beifan all the time, she said calmly: "Everyone, be safe and don't be impatient, please listen to Lin Aiqing's explanation first!"

Chaotang finally quieted down.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, I am not trying to scare you, but it is true!"

Lin Beifan said loudly: "Just now, Master Li, Minister of the Ministry of War, said very aptly that the disaster victims who can't survive are no longer human beings! They can do everything to survive and change their children, without any etiquette and shame! At this time, how can the victims of the disaster pay attention to the imperial court, and how can they abide by the court's laws?"

"Wouldn't they...reverse?"

Everyone's complexion changed slightly.

Lin Beifan continued: "Before in Tangzhou, 3 soldiers revolted because their salaries were deducted and they couldn't eat.

"Food is the paramount necessity of the people! They can't even eat, and their lives are almost gone. What else can they do? They can only rebel! If they don't, they can only wait for death! If they rebel, there may be a chance of survival!"

"Just ask everyone here, if it were you, how would you choose?"

"Are you against it, or not?"

Lin Beifan questioned the court officials loudly, his voice was deafening.

All the officials who were targeted by Lin Beifan all had blinking eyes, avoiding Lin Beifan's eyes.

"Things are self-evident, they will turn against it!"

"Once it is reversed, the turmoil caused by it will not be solved by food! At that time, they will inevitably rush into the major villages and towns, burn, kill and loot, and plunder everything that can be plundered!"

"By that time, there will be more than one million people affected by the disaster, maybe several million, or even tens of millions!"

"The people are in dire straits, and the people are in dire straits!"

"The vassals and dynasties and countries will definitely not let go of such an excellent opportunity to attack our dynasty! At this time, we have lost the hearts of the people, have been stabbed in the back by the people, and are unable to resist the heroes, so internal and external troubles... ..."

Lin Beifan glanced at the audience: "I would like to ask Your Majesty, and my lords, can our court still hold on? Can you continue to be rich in clothing and food, and stand on the high hall to guide the country?"