Professional Ethics of a Concubine

The New Year has passed, and after the Lantern Festival, the weather is getting warmer day by day, and the disaster victims in the capital city have returned to their villages one after another.

With the help of the soldiers in the suburbs of Beijing, they rebuilt their homes with the stones and wood they had prepared earlier, and then prepared for spring plowing.

Everything is thriving.

There was no trace of suffering on the people's faces. There was light in their eyes, their voices were loud, and their shouts were full of anticipation for a new home and spring plowing.

However, it can save hundreds of thousands of disaster victims from starvation or freezing to death, and allow them to spend a comfortable New Year, and even rebuild their homes as soon as the ice and snow melt.

Behind all this is a lot of money, a lot of food, and countless people contributing.

The imperial court had emptied more than half of the dozens of granaries near the capital, and the silver in the national treasury had also been depleted by more than half.

In addition, the imperial court also called on nobles and wealthy businessmen to donate grain and money, and the donations received were also very considerable.

This is also due to the good habits developed in the past two years. Those wealthy families have become accustomed to the court's bad behavior of asking them to donate money whenever they have nothing to do.

Of course, they did not get nothing in return. For example, they could get honorary plaques. Moreover, as they accumulated more honorary plaques, they could upgrade them and exchange them for larger merit plaques given by the court.

It is said that if one accumulates enough merits, one can exchange them for a gold medal of immunity from death (the prince is a professional at this).

In addition, they can accumulate merits and may receive blessing packages to make their wishes come true.

Therefore, wealthy families are not very averse to donating money and grain. Some of them are quite active and hope to receive blessings.

The places where the disaster victims were resettled were partly vacant houses reclaimed by the imperial court, partly houses donated voluntarily by royal relatives, and partly houses donated voluntarily by wealthy businessmen and dignitaries.

In addition, some temples also vacated space to accommodate the victims.

For those wealthy and noble people who are willing to provide houses, the court plans to give them certain subsidies in addition to issuing honorary plaques.

This house was rented by the imperial court. After all, after the victims left, the house must have suffered a lot of damage and needed to be renovated, which cost money.

However, these people did not ask for subsidies from the court.

Because Prince Su took the lead in promoting this style, he voluntarily provided his Prince Su Mansion to accommodate the victims and said he would not accept any money.

He and the princess and others moved to the small house first. Anyway, there were not many masters in the palace now.

However, the emperor felt sorry for them and asked them to move into the palace temporarily instead of living in any small courtyard.

The emperor mentioned many times in the morning court that Prince Su was concerned about the country and the people, and kept his ancestral teachings in mind. He explicitly and implicitly asked everyone to emulate Prince Su and learn from him.

If anyone is so foolish as to accept the several hundred taels of silver in repair subsidy from the imperial court, he is truly a fool.

All in all, although this disaster cost the court a large amount of silver and grain, it was within the acceptable range.

In fact, in the territory of Da Zhao, the snow disaster was not only near the capital, but also in two large prefectures outside the capital.

Compared with the various perfect measures taken by the capital, the other two provincial governments were also doing their best to provide disaster relief and rescue the victims. However, due to the lack of sufficient financial and personnel support, the relief results could only be considered satisfactory.

Although a large number of people did not freeze to death or starve to death, the people in these two prefectures did not live as comfortably as the disaster victims near the outskirts of Beijing. They could not earn money and could only endure the hardship.

This is because the grain and material reserves in the two provincial capitals are far less than those in the capital. There are dozens of large granaries in the suburbs of Beijing, and there are also granaries of wealthy businessmen and dignitaries supporting them.

Moreover, due to the wind and snow, the transportation of disaster relief supplies was difficult and the losses on the road were too great. By the time they reached the two state capitals, even if there was no corruption among officials, the losses would have been reduced by half, or even only one-third, or even less.

The victims in the two prefectures were able to survive, not only due to the assistance from the imperial court, but also partly due to the recuperation policy of the Great Zhao in the past two years, which allowed the people to store food, buy warm clothes and quilts, and have a certain ability to deal with natural disasters.

Isn't this the result of the joint efforts of the Emperor, Crown Prince Ye Qingzhi and others?

As winter passed and spring came, a snowstorm disappeared in the territory of Dazhao without causing any public resentment or affecting social stability.

On the contrary, because of this snowstorm, the people clearly felt the actions of the imperial court, their support for the Great Zhao became stronger, and the people's hearts became more united.

Snow disasters also occurred in Dayan and other places, but the outcomes were completely different.

It was not until the end of the first month of the lunar year that the Ninth Princess received a letter from her brother. Upon reading the letter about the disaster in Dayan, the Ninth Princess was upset, frowned, and could not eat for several days.

After Xie Zimo heard the contents of the letter, he knew what was bothering her. Seeing that she was so depressed and couldn't eat or sleep well, he felt distressed too.

It has been several days now. Every time it is time to eat, the Ninth Princess only eats two bites and then stops. The number of dishes on the table has been reduced to only three.

This is what the Ninth Princess requested.

"Eat more. You've lost a lot of weight." Xie Zimo advised her softly.

"I can't eat." The Ninth Princess shook her head and said weakly.

"Whenever I think of what my brother said about how tens of thousands of people died in Dayan because of the snowstorm, and even cannibalism occurred during that time, I can't eat a single bite.

How could those nobles and officials be so inhumane? Their granaries were full, but they were unwilling to give a little to help the victims.

On the contrary, they took advantage of this opportunity to buy up large amounts of land and slaves at low prices, and suck the blood of the poor people.

If I hadn't seen the benevolent policies of the Great Zhao, I might not have felt so bad.

Because I can deceive myself and say that this is the cruel reality and it has been like this for hundreds of years.

I live in a place where people eat each other, there is no difference, everything is dark.

However, I saw kindness and light in Da Zhao. I saw so many victims of the disaster and almost no deaths.

I saw the happy and innocent smiles on the children's faces, and the women making clothes and shoes. Their necks were stiff from exhaustion, but they were still smiling and there was light in their eyes.

I saw that those men no longer beat and scolded their women in a hideous manner, and no longer treated women like slaves in a condescending manner.

I was so happy before I received the letter from my brother, but now I am so disappointed and angry! "

As she spoke, the Ninth Princess' eyes were already filled with tears, and in addition to grief, there was also raging anger in her eyes.

Seeing her like this, Xie Zimo lost his mood to eat. He could completely understand her feelings.

Just imagine, if the two exchanged positions, he would not be able to tolerate his own country being a place where people eat each other. Anyone with a conscience would be inclined towards light.

Xie Zimo sat next to her instead, held her hand, and said softly,

“Han Yan, some things cannot be rushed. You should take care of yourself and do a good job in the trade between the two countries so that we can proceed with our plan for Dayan as soon as possible.

This way, we can quickly save the lower-class people of Yan State, so that they can be like the people of our Great Zhao, no longer just goods and livestock. "

"I know, I know where the bright road is, and I also know that I am anxious, but I can't control myself for a moment."

The Ninth Princess wiped her tears and smiled bitterly, "At least I still have hope. I am not desperate. I am just upset."

Upon hearing this, Xie Zimo held her in his arms with heartache and didn't say any more words of persuasion.

Because she knows everything and understands it all.

Perhaps, at this moment, she just needs a hug and some warmth to allow her to release her emotions and heal herself.

-

In the Western Regions, there were also areas affected by heavy snow, where many livestock and civilians froze to death.

However, this snowstorm also became an opportunity for Zoroastrianism to grow further, because the god of fire can bring warmth to people and dispel the cold.

In the territory of Gulan, the snowfall was slightly more than in previous years, but it did not cause a snow disaster.

In addition, the benevolent rule and relief policy implemented by the empress attracted many people from other small countries in the Western Regions to seek refuge in Gulan.

If they come, they will be the people of Gulan.

There were even two small Western Region countries that were severely affected and were directly "destroyed" as a result. A large number of people fled, and the nobles did not care, and the royal family was unable to take care of it.

Afterwards, the empress sent several thousand soldiers to incorporate the two small countries, making them truly destroyed.

At the same time, they also raided their granaries and used their food to help the victims without wasting their own national strength, thus perfectly achieving the goal of "fighting to support the war."

After a winter, the territory of Gulan expanded by nearly half, and the number of Zoroastrian believers increased countless times.

The Fifth Prince, this charlatan, no, it's the Pope, who is busy every day playing the role of God's messenger, delivering God's will, tricking the nobles into paying for food, and guiding the people to build their homes and avoid infighting. He is so busy that he has a lot of fun.

Only after the Chinese New Year and the busy spring plowing work can we finally take a break.

The empress looked at the newly produced map and couldn't help but raise her eyebrows. The process of unifying the Western Regions was so smooth that it was unbelievable!

Thinking back carefully, the empress couldn't help but feel a little emotional, as if she really was helped by God.

Is there really a god of fire?

The empress's outlook on life and her long-standing atheism had begun to show a slight crack.

It would be nice if the messenger of God was on her side.

-

Chu State.

The cold air moved from north to south, and just after the New Year, a heavy snow fell in the territory of Chu.

It was far from a disaster, but it would be wrong to say that it had no impact at all. It still made the State of Chu experience an unprecedented cold winter.

After all, the State of Chu was located in the south, and in most years, they did not see heavy snow in the winter, just rain.

The lower-class people of Chu State basically rely on shivering to survive the winter, and they have no reserves to keep warm. This year's cold winter has made it particularly difficult for them to endure.

Although the disaster in Chu was not as severe as that in Dayan, tens of thousands of people still froze to death, making the unrest in Chu more obvious.

"How come even God is helping me? This is meaningless."

When it snowed heavily, Xie Wenyuan looked at the snowflakes falling from the sky. Although he complained, he couldn't hide his joy.

"I heard that Da Zhao has had several heavy snowfalls, which has caused snowstorms. This further proves that God is helping Your Highness. That villain Xie Jin must be in a state of panic right now. I remember that this year, due to the snowstorm, a large number of victims poured into the capital, causing chaos in the capital..."

Chen Yuankai spoke to Xie Wenyuan in a deliberately flattering manner.