Starting from a thatched cottage, the farmer embarked on the road to wealth through imperial examina

Ye Changyan lowered his head slightly, and with the help of the dim light of the lantern, he saw that there was indeed a small puddle under his feet.

Ye Changyan stepped over the puddle, turned around quickly, and held out the umbrella in his hand to shield Liang Jingcheng from the dripping raindrops, while extending his other hand to Liang Jingcheng.

Liang Jingchen grabbed the hand that Ye Changyan extended to him and also took a step over the small puddle in front of them. Neither of them seemed to notice that they were holding each other's hands tightly. Ye Changyan held an umbrella in his left hand and held Liang Jingcheng's hand with his right hand, while Liang Jingchen held Ye Changyan's left hand and held a lantern in his right hand. Neither of them spoke, and they walked slowly towards the gate of the Imperial College.

As Ye Changyan had said to Liang's father in Yunfeng Tower, the continuous heavy rainfall weakened after five days. The emperor and the officials in the court received the latest reports that floods from the south, northwest and northwest were approaching the capital area. Except for Shengjing City and Changping Prefecture, the gateway to the capital, the rest of the prefectures around the capital suffered floods to varying degrees.

At the same time, the court issued several emergency orders. One was to urgently recruit doctors and medicine dispensers from clinics and drug stores in various prefectures around the capital, and the Imperial Medical Service would take the lead in dividing them into groups and send them to the affected counties to provide support.

The Imperial Medical Service would then draw up a list of scarce medicinal materials, and the Ministry of Revenue would allocate silver for emergency purchases. If there was an emergency situation when medicinal materials were urgently needed, the ready-made medicinal materials in medical clinics and drugstores could be urgently requisitioned.

In addition, the Ministry of Revenue sent special personnel to requisition rice and firewood from the prefectures surrounding the capital and transported them to the affected counties. According to the local disaster situation, food rations and firewood were distributed per capita. If the disaster situation was particularly serious and houses had been damaged, the court would organize special personnel to build tents, cook steamed buns and rice porridge, and distribute them to the affected people.

At the same time, troops stationed around the capital were dispatched to the affected counties to maintain local order, repair official roads destroyed by floods, find and protect clean water sources, and provide basic guarantees for the drinking water safety of the people.

Led by the heads of various departments of the Ministry of Works, several other military units went to various places to transport quicklime to the affected counties to ensure that the bodies were properly handled and placed.

When Ye Changyan and Liang Jingcheng heard the order issued by the court, their anxiety was finally relieved.

On June 29, the continuous heavy rainfall finally weakened. Taking advantage of the weakening rain, various places devoted themselves to flood prevention and disaster relief.

After receiving the news from various places, the emperor and the officials in the court finally relieved the tension that had been suppressed for many days. However, when they saw the disaster situation and the number of casualties reported from various places, their faces became solemn again.

On the fifth day of July, the rain that had lasted for twenty days around the capital finally came to an end, and the people of Shengjing City finally saw the long-lost sun.

As floodwaters are still being discharged towards Changping Prefecture and Shengjing from the south, northwest and northwest directions, the rivers, lakes and reservoirs under the jurisdiction of Shengjing still maintain water levels that exceed historical records. The rivers, lakes and reservoirs in Changping Prefecture and Shengjing are also discharging floodwaters downstream to the maximum extent possible.

As the rain stopped, many refugees who were displaced by the floods flocked to Sheng Jingcheng. Due to the tight security of Sheng Jingcheng, these refugees were unable to enter the city, so they gathered outside the major city gates of Sheng Jingcheng.

The imperial court ordered the granaries to be opened to release grain. Upon seeing this, the nobles and wealthy families in Shengjing City set up porridge stalls outside the city gates and provided bowls of hot porridge to the displaced refugees.

After the tenth day of July, the floods in the rivers and lakes in Changping Prefecture and Shengjing, after maintaining high water levels for many days, finally slowly receded and returned to the normal level of previous years.

In mid-July, the official roads from Shengjing City to the prefectures and counties around the capital had basically been repaired. With the recruitment of a large number of doctors and pharmacists, no serious epidemics broke out in various places, and the bodies were properly handled and buried.

In order to persuade the disaster victims from all over the country who were flocking to Shengjing City and stranded outside the city gates of Shengjing City to return, the imperial court decided to distribute disaster relief money and food on a per capita basis.

For registered houses, relief money and grain will be distributed per capita according to whether the house has collapsed and the severity of the damage. At the same time, all affected counties will be exempted from taxes and corvee labor for three years. Displaced victims can also receive repatriation assistance nearby to help them return home and rebuild their homes as soon as possible.

When the victims with registered household registration heard the news, they were a little skeptical at first. But the brave ones received money from the nearest government office to support their return home. The victims stranded outside the gates of Shengjing City were all excited and flocked to the nearest government office. For a while, long queues formed outside the government office.

However, the maids and servants who fled from the wealthy families did not have household registration, and the imperial court also made corresponding arrangements for this group of people.

They could work in the nearby imperial farm, where they would not only be provided with three meals a day, but also receive wages.

After the flood, many buildings, roads, and bridges were damaged to varying degrees. These victims who have no household registration can also choose to repair and build roads and bridges, and they can also get wages for three meals a day.

After they have accumulated a certain amount of savings, they can go to other places to buy two acres of thin land with the documents issued by the nearest government office, and apply for household registration at the local government office, thus gaining freedom.

With the release of these imperial decrees, the disaster victims stranded outside the gates of Shengjing City were effectively evacuated at the end of July.

In early August, the imperial court ruthlessly dealt with officials who had neglected their duties during the flood control and disaster relief efforts, as well as officials who had been in office but had done nothing during the river dredging.

Among them, the chief and deputy officers of the Du Shui Jian were taken to the Ministry of Justice to await trial, and all other major officials were demoted. For a time, people in the Du Shui Jian office were in a panic.

Powerful officials such as Langzhong and Yuanwailang in charge of river engineering and water conservancy in the Ministry of Works were also taken to the prison of the Ministry of Justice to await trial. Other major officials were also demoted. The Minister of Works and the left and right vice ministers were also implicated and reprimanded by the emperor. The Minister of Works was fined half a year's salary, and the left and right vice ministers were fined three months' salary.

And at this critical moment, news came out that grain merchants in Chaozhou, Xuyang and other places outside the capital were colluding to drive up grain prices, which immediately aroused public indignation and caused resentment from both the people and the government.

In order to quickly calm the situation, the emperor ordered the Hundred Cavalry Division to rush to Chaozhou to deal with the matter.

In just two days, the emperor received the results of the investigation, which implicated many nobles, and many of them were on the list the emperor got. When he saw the list of people involved in the Dragon Boat Festival match-fixing case presented to him by the Dali Temple recently, the emperor became furious.