After rebirth, the daughter of the marquisate went crazy

Ye Qingyu smiled, "Not entirely." She had a purpose for being whipped. "By the way, Third Aunt, has Grandfather come home these past couple of days?"

She knew that the court had been in turmoil these days, with heated arguments over disaster relief. Grain should have been transported to the south for disaster relief, but at the critical moment, the three granaries under the Ministry of Revenue around Kyoto had no grain to transfer.

When this incident happened, the entire court was shocked. The Minister of Revenue Liu Zhen was directly thrown into prison. The emperor was furious and ordered the Dali Temple to investigate the case. He also asked the Left and Right Vice Ministers of the Ministry of Revenue to mobilize grain and transport it to the south for disaster relief.

Xu sighed, "Your grandfather has only come back once in the past two days, and that was to ask about you. There are more and more refugees outside the city now, and the emperor ordered your grandfather to work with the Kyoto government to find a solution."

Ye Qingyu frowned, thinking about how to meet her grandfather and third cousin. Now everyone in the court is focusing on disaster relief in the south, but the north has also been snowing heavily and also needs disaster relief.

Moreover, due to the heavy snow in the north, most of the livestock of the Turks in the north froze to death. In order to grab food, the Turks attacked the border city of Pingliang guarded by my uncle.

The war broke out again, and all the food collected was transported to the south. There was another report of war from the border, and my uncle wrote a letter asking for food. However, it was not easy for Kyoto City to raise food for an army of 100,000 at that time. It would not be raised in a day or two. My uncle borrowed food from Yanzhou Prefecture and Liangzhou Prefecture in the north, but he could not borrow a single grain.

The 100,000-strong army fought against the powerful Turkic army with empty stomachs. In order to end the war as soon as possible, my uncle had to take the risk and lead elite soldiers to raid the Turks. Ten thousand soldiers were killed or wounded, and my uncle died on the battlefield.

She didn't know how her cousin managed to defend Pingliang City despite his injuries. It was a month later when the imperial court's food and supplies arrived.

Even so, my cousin still defended Pingliang City. The Turks could not take it for a long time. By the time the imperial court's food and troops arrived, only more than 20,000 people were left out of the 100,000-strong army, and many of them had frozen to death or starved to death.

Although the city was not lost, the casualties among the soldiers were too severe, so the emperor dismissed my cousin from his post and asked him to return to Beijing. From then on, the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion gradually declined, and my grandfather was no longer valued by the emperor as before.

"The Duke and the Third Young Master are back."

The doorman's report brought Ye Qingyu back to her senses. She looked up and saw her grandfather, wearing a fox fur coat, striding in.

"Grandfather, third cousin." Ye Qingyu stood up and looked at the two of them with a smile.

The Duke was slightly stunned when he saw Ye Qingyu. He didn't expect Ye Qingyu to be here. He had wanted to take time to visit her at the Marquis' Mansion.

"Qingqing, why are you here? How are your injuries?"

Ye Qingyu smiled as she stepped forward to take the Duke's fox fur coat and handed it to the maid beside her. "I'm sorry to have worried Grandfather, but it's just a superficial wound. There wasn't even a drop of blood."

The Duke looked at her doubtfully, "Really? Are you really okay?" He didn't want to look at his granddaughter's injuries, but she looked pretty good.

Ye Qingyu nodded. "Of course, Qingqing would never dare to lie to you, old man. You came back at this hour, have you had breakfast?"

The Duke shook his head and took the hot tea offered by Xu with a tired look on his face. "No, I didn't sleep all night, so how could I have time to eat breakfast?"

Mrs. Zhong had already started preparing breakfast.

Ye Qingyu looked at her grandfather and third cousin who looked exhausted, and her brows furrowed even more.

It seems that the refugee issue is not so easy to solve. Ever since my grandfather took over the task of handling the refugees, my third and fourth cousins ​​have followed him to help.

"Where's my fourth cousin?"

Gu Huaizhi rubbed his brows and spoke in a hoarse voice, "Fourth brother and the people from Kyoto Prefecture are still outside the city dealing with the refugees. They should be back soon."

"Outside the city? Third cousin, you are back from outside the city? Did something happen to the refugees outside the city?" Ye Qingyu's heart sank.

Yes, it was so cold last night. The refugees outside the city had no cotton clothes to cover their bodies and no houses to shelter them from the cold. Many of them must have frozen to death.

Gu Huaizhi took a sip of tea to moisten his throat, and his voice became clearer. "It was so cold last night, and the refugees were freezing and rushing into the city, causing quite a commotion. Did you build a few sheds outside the city and light charcoal braziers inside?"

Ye Qingyu nodded, her heart aching. "Could it be that the refugees are rioting to grab space?"

Ye Qingyu couldn't help but blame herself in her heart. She didn't think about the sudden drop in temperature last night. Her tents could only shelter a few hundred refugees. It was so cold last night, and those refugees fought for charcoal.

Ye Qingyu's face was filled with self-blame. "It was my lack of consideration that led to this disaster, and it also affected my grandfather and third cousin."

The Duke waved his hand. "It's not your fault. You meant well. If it weren't for your sheds and charcoal fires, who knows how many people would have frozen to death last night. Alas, it's suddenly so cold. Who could have thought it would be this cold? It's spring time."

Everyone in the room sighed silently. They had just encountered this abnormal weather that was rare in hundreds of years.

Although sheds were built outside the city to protect against the wind and snow, there was no charcoal supply. Even the imperial palace was short of charcoal, so where would there be any extra charcoal for the refugees?

Moreover, there are more and more refugees, and too many of them will easily lead to chaos.

"Fourth Young Master."

A servant opened the door, and Gu Yuanchen walked in quickly, reporting to the Duke, "Grandfather, the refugees have been appeased."

The Duke looked up and said, "That's good. Sit down and rest."

Gu Yuanchen took off his cloak and took the teacup handed to him by the maid, "It's still warm at home."

Ye Qingyu smiled and said, "Thank you for your hard work, fourth cousin."

Gu Yuanchen smiled brightly, his expression not too tired. "I'm tough and resilient. Fortunately, I have the people from the patrol camp to hold them back. Otherwise, if those refugees really broke into the city, who knows what kind of chaos would have happened then."

Ye Qingyu frowned. "It's not going to be easy to keep being oppressed by the soldiers like this. We have to come up with a solution."

Gu Huaizhi nodded, "Yes, we don't know when the weather will warm up, and the cold days are endless. If it warms up, it will be fine. The refugees can stay outside the city and have food every day without any trouble. When the floods in the south are alleviated, we can send these people back to their hometowns.

But it's so cold today, and these people all came from the south. Few of them have ever seen snow, let alone been able to withstand the cold. Hundreds of them froze to death last night."

Gu Huaizhi said this with sorrow in his eyes. He had accepted his fate. The emperor had ordered that no refugees were allowed to enter the city, so they could only stay outside. It was so cold, and if it continued to get this cold, how many of these people could survive? What could they do to stay alive?