Adoption brings disaster

It can be said that the Ten Immortals of Yuan were quite capable, but in front of the disciplined Northern Border Army, they were killed before they could use any of their tricks.

After the annihilation of the Ten Immortals of Xiayuan, the reputation of the escort agency reached its peak.

Common people and martial arts heroes naturally enjoyed talking about the Escort Agency. Many storytellers also spontaneously created many stories about the Escort Agency and told them everywhere.

Under the storyteller's powerful propaganda, it didn't take long for a saying to spread among the people: if you become rich overnight, the escort agency will not escort you; if you don't become an official and are not rich, you won't become rich if you are a businessman. This saying shows the status of the escort agency.

Not only did high-ranking officials, wealthy businessmen and scholars often need escort from the escort agency, but even many escort tasks in the court were handed over to the escort agency.

Although the heroes in the martial arts world had some complaints about the escort agency's entry into the martial arts world, they had to acknowledge the agency's status given its background and strength. After discussion among the three major factions, they finally classified the escort agency as a second-rate sect.

Since they admit that the Escort Agency is a second-rate sect, they will naturally inform the Escort Agency of all the big and small things in the martial arts world.

The escort agency adheres to the principle of making money first, and in most cases we only provide money but not manpower. Everyone likes us, the God of Wealth who does not seek fame, more and more, and the escorts feel particularly comfortable escorting.

However, these things have nothing to do with me. On the one hand, Chongguang has not left the palace to build a mansion, and as a minister, I cannot leave the capital. On the other hand, now that I have money, I have started to deal with other things.

The escort agency earns me more than 100,000 taels of silver every year, and other industries are also developing rapidly, with an annual income of at least 200,000. If others had so much money, they would definitely buy land, but I am different. When I have money, I will work hard to develop the technology tree.

In fact, ordinary people do have great wisdom, but they have no money, so all this wisdom has been turned into cleverness to make a living.

Now that we have the investment of funds, half of the good craftsmen in Beishang, except those who go to the royal family, are under my control.

Without considering their livelihood, these craftsmen have great imagination and initiative.

In just over a year, they invented many good things, and after sorting, analyzing and summarizing, they have developed a set of effective development processes.

In terms of the technology tree, although there has not been a qualitative change, the quantity has advanced by at least twenty years.

Take this year for example, the capital city experienced scorching sun for forty consecutive days, with the temperature approaching 40 degrees Celsius.

The scorching heat was unbearable, so the empress dowager took the empress and the imperial concubine away early to escape the heat. The emperor also went away for a few days, but due to the heavy workload of state affairs, he had to return to Beijing to deal with state affairs.

The weather was really hot, and the ice in the emperor's palace was always on the rise. Even so, the emperor still complained about the heat.

Qianqiu Pavilion was installed with a water-powered ventilation system developed by craftsmen early on. With this system, Qianqiu Pavilion is much cooler than other places. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is the coolest place in the entire capital.

Because it is really cool, in Qianqiu Pavilion, no ice is needed except during the hottest time at noon.

The emperor had also heard about Qianqiu's coolness, and didn't believe it at first, but the heat was so severe that he decided to give it a try and came to Qianqiu Pavilion for a visit.

He didn't want to leave after coming once, so later the Imperial Study was also installed with this system, and His Majesty didn't come often.

One day, Liu Shuiqing and I were lying on the couch in thin underwear and eating ice dumplings, which made the concubines in the other palaces who were unable to go out to escape the summer heat extremely envious.

Seeing that I had pulled my pants down to my thighs, Liu Shui asked embarrassedly, "Isn't this a bit inappropriate?"

"What's wrong?"

"That's against etiquette."

"Six Water Lord, if you feel that this is against etiquette, you can put on your clothes or go back to your Baidai Pavilion. I am not stopping you."

After hearing this, Qianxi hurriedly said, "Your Highness, if you want to leave, go by yourself. I won't go back."

I looked at Qianxi, who was lying on the ground seeking coolness, completely disregarding the master-servant relationship, and said, "Why don't you just not go back? There are plenty of rooms in Qianqiu Pavilion anyway. Let me clean them up and you can stay there for the time being. Why go back and get hot?"

Qianxi was obviously moved and looked at Liu Shuiqing pitifully like a puppy.

Liu Shuiqing naturally didn't want to go back and endure the heat, but it was against the palace rules.

His eyes struggled for a long time, and finally he said with a painful expression: "Qianxi, please stay here. I still have to go back. People are already talking about me leaving the Crown Prince here every day to enjoy the cool air. It's not good for me to stay here forever."

"What are you afraid of? Next year, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince will move to the Eastern Palace. You will be the rich and idle prince of the capital. Besides, you are His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's nominal father. They dare not criticize you."

After hearing this, Liu Shuiqing also smiled bitterly and said, "I wish I could be as free and easy as Qianqiu."

Seeing Liu Shui's tone, I knew he was also worried, so I said, "Alright, don't be upset. Wait a couple of years and His Highness the Seventh Prince has left the palace and established his own residence. Then I'll take you out to the martial arts world for a few years."

Liu Shuiqing was still a little unhappy after hearing this, so I changed the subject and said, "The weather this year is really weird. It's been sunny for several days in a row."

"It's been sunny for 28 days in a row. I've been counting every day. I don't know how many more days it will take before it gets cooler." Qian Xisheng said with despair.

Liu Shui also said, "I heard that the drought this year isn't just in the capital, it's affecting many places. In some places, it's been sunny for over 30 days straight without a single drop of rain."

I echoed, "Yes, Li Er went to check the accounts of various places a few days ago. When he came back, he told me that the people in some places were already eating tree bark. Li Er felt sorry for those people, so he used all his earnings from the past six months to buy grain and distributed it to them."

Liushui was the most compassionate person. When he heard that I had donated grain, he was also happy and said, "These people should be able to live a better life if they get the grain."

I sighed and said, "Not necessarily. Li Er told me that disasters have hit every region this year, and the wealthy merchants and gentry are raising prices. Grain prices have increased by 30% compared to last month, not to mention last year."

"How can these people be like this? They take advantage of the disaster to make money. They should all be killed." Liu Shuiqing said hatefully.

"Although a small number of people are hoarding goods to profit from the national crisis, the majority are simply panicking."

"You actually speak for such people. You can't be in the same group with them." When Liu Shui talks about the topic of people's livelihood, he always can't stand any different voices. If you have the slightest tendency to speak for businessmen and officials, he will immediately get angry with you like this.

Liu Shuiqing is good in every way except that he is stubborn when it comes to these things. You can only agree with him, otherwise he will get angry with you immediately.

I knew Liu Shui's personality, so I didn't argue. I just pretended to be hurt and said, "Look at what you said. It makes me feel cold. I gave away tens of thousands of taels of silver for nothing. How could I be in the same group with such a person?"

Even Qianxi felt that Liu Shuiqing's words were excessive and said, "His Highness Qianqiu and you have always been close. Others may not know about His Highness Qianqiu's noble character, but don't you know that His Highness Qianqiu is the most kind and the most public-spirited? Your words are really a bit too much."

I don't know if it was Qianxi's words that annoyed Liushui, or Qianxi's words on my behalf that annoyed Liushui. Liushui sneered and said, "Since you think I'm going too far, then you can stay by Qianqiu's side and serve him. You don't have to come back. Anyway, I've wanted to come to Qianqiu Pavilion for a long time since I saw you."

After saying that, he didn't say anything more and was about to leave.

I quickly grabbed Liu Shuiqing and said, "You can't judge a person by what he says, but by what he does. If you leave, once those refugees enter the capital, my several large granaries in the suburbs won't be able to open."

People are really strange. What I hate most are these pretentious people, but I am very patient with Liu Shuiqing.

"Your Highnesses, why do the people suffer so much? In the past, there were floods every year. Your Majesty finally managed to control the river, and after the floods were alleviated, this year a severe drought has struck again."

I don't know if Qianxi was trying to change the subject or if he really wanted to ask this question, but Liu Shuiqing didn't dwell on the previous incident. Instead, with tears in his eyes, he said, "The common people are suffering so much."

"Your Highness Qianqiu, you have many skilled craftsmen under your command. Can't you think of a way to build something to save these people?"

This technology tree must have a qualitative leap to be able to fight against natural disasters. God can't do anything about it now.

I also shook my head and said, "There's no other way. For farmers who rely on the weather for their livelihood, this kind of natural disaster means they can only endure it. Because I know this, when food prices were low in recent years, I bought a lot and stored it in the suburbs of Beijing, just to help more people get through this time."

Liu Shui was worried and said, "The people have no way to survive. I'm afraid they will become refugees again. I'm afraid there will be chaos again."

………………

We talked for a while, but no matter how much we said now, it would be useless. There was nothing else we could do but keep this matter in mind day by day.

As expected, within less than half a month, refugees began to appear in the suburbs of Beijing.

This group of refugees was relatively small. Those who had some skills or were young and strong and could endure hardships could find some work in the capital. The rest could also beg for food and would not starve to death.

Half a month later, martial law was imposed at the city gates. Refugees could no longer enter the city and were all piled up at the city gates.

The Ministry of Revenue distributed porridge every day, but this thin porridge was just to keep the refugees alive.

Liu Shuiqing used up all his savings to buy a large amount of food and also hired a few people to prepare porridge at the city gate.

At the beginning, there were relatively few refugees and they could barely hold on. Later, when they saw that there was food here every day, more and more refugees gathered. The little food that Liu Shuiqing bought was gone in a few days.

Liu Shuiqing went to the homes of various wealthy people to ask them to donate some food. At first, everyone gave some money for the sake of the prince. After going there two or three times, these people made excuses for various reasons, and Liu Shuiqing was not even allowed to get in.

This situation also made Liu Shuiqing feel a little frustrated, but what made him even more painful was that the court was already in a state of chaos.

On one side are the dignitaries who have lived in the capital for a long time. They are still haunted by the plague brought by the refugees last time. They demand that troops be sent immediately to drive these refugees away on the grounds of the safety of the imperial city and the safety of His Majesty.

On the other side were the powerful officials who had returned to the capital after the last account book case. They had not experienced that plague, nor had any relatives died in it. They put the people and the country first and asked His Majesty to provide relief to the victims.

The two groups quarreled in the court for seven or eight days, and Liu Shuiqing cursed them in my ears for seven or eight days.

This was the first time I realized that Liu Shuiqing's insults could be so harsh. Even the Crown Prince and the Seventh Prince, who had not expressed their opinions, were scolded by him. The people in Qianqiu Pavilion either heard it too much, or because he scolded the Seventh Prince, they were not happy to have him come, and none of them had a good face when they came.

Ah Da was most annoyed by him. Seeing that Liu Shui was about to scold again, he sneered and said, "Your Highness Liu Shui, if you really have the courage to scold them in front of the Crown Prince and the Seventh Prince, and in front of those high-ranking officials, the lives of these refugees might be better. What's the point of scolding them in front of these servants outside?"

After hearing this, I also scolded Ada. Ada was really unhappy with Liushui. He stiffened his neck and wanted to ridicule Liushui again. Only I asked him to leave quickly to prevent Liushui from being humiliated.

Liu Shui knew that Ah Da was right. After hearing this, his face flushed and then turned pale. After a while, he said, "I only hate my status as a minister. The harem and concubines are not allowed to interfere in government affairs. Otherwise, I really would go to the Golden Palace and scold these people, and scold these selfish people to wake them up."

Liu Shuiqing spoke excitedly, paused for a moment, and then said, "Even if I am just a scholar, a scholar without any official title, I am still better off than this minister. At least scholars can go out and spread the word, while I can only act like a nagging woman, cursing and annoying everyone every day."

Seeing how sad Liu Shui was, I picked up a piece of fruit and handed it to Liu Shuiqing, saying, "Calm down, calm down."

Liu Shuiqing took the fruit but didn't eat it. He just looked at it. As he looked at it, he started to cry and said, "I don't want to eat it. Change it into money and give it to me. I want to buy some more food to give out porridge."

Liu Shuiqing's words were a bit funny. I laughed and said, "How much can this fruit be exchanged for? I'm afraid it can only be exchanged for half an ounce of rice. Why are you giving out porridge? Everyone just licks it."

"You're still laughing. There are disaster victims everywhere, dozens of them die every day. How can you laugh?"

"Don't worry, His Majesty has ordered the entire court to come up with a solution within three days. Today is the third day, and who knows, they might have already found one."

These words were meant to comfort Liu Shui, but who would have thought that after hearing them, Liu Shui actually cried even louder, saying miserably, "How can there be any way to accommodate them? His Royal Highness the Crown Prince feigned illness and didn't go to court today, and His Highness the Seventh Prince was summoned by the Imperial Concubine early in the morning. There's just no way to hide, right?"

"It's not that there's no other way." I said casually.

"I knew that His Highness Qianqiu was resourceful and would definitely find a way."

Qianxi took advantage of the situation and immediately wanted to put the blame on me.

Seeing that I had a solution, Liu Shuiqing stopped crying and pulled me to tell him the solution. But if I told him the principle, he was afraid that he would get angry again, so he really didn't want to go through this thankless task.

"I'm probably the only one in the capital who has the manpower, material resources, and financial resources to do this." I sighed and said, "But I don't want to."

Seeing that I was unwilling, Liu Shuiqing started crying and making a fuss, but I just wouldn't give in. But Liu Shuiqing didn't dare to annoy me, so he could only keep pestering me.

"Your Highness, this is not the way you ask for help." After Qianxi demonstrated to Liushuiqing the correct way to ask for help, I hung Liushuiqing on my upper body and Qianxi on my lower body.

They kept nagging me for a long time, and I got fed up. I cursed, "Six Water Lord, I really owe you, but let's make a deal first. If I succeed in this, you have to agree to three of my requests in the future."

"Don't mention three, I'll accept three hundred." Liu Shuiqing said happily.

"You guys go back first, I'll make some arrangements."

"Is there anything I can do?" Liu Shuiqing was eager to try.

"Yes, you two should get out of here right away and stop causing me trouble." I was so annoyed by this matter that I spoke in a bad tone.

Liu Shuiqing wanted to say something, but was pulled away by Qianxi. As soon as they left, I left the palace cursing.

Predict what will happen in the future, and listen to the next decomposition.