Travel to the mountains and make a fortune in silence

After arranging everything, Mu Nan personally led the others to start setting up the tents.

As night fell, several large bonfires gradually rose in the camp, their light illuminating the busy figures of the people.

Mu Xiao arranged for soldiers to patrol the camp, just in case, to ensure that the fire would not cause any accidents.

Mu Nan didn't rest all night; he led everyone in setting up the tents in a tense but orderly manner.

After a night of hard work, they finally managed to set up more than a dozen spacious and sturdy tents, providing the refugees with a relatively safe and warm place to stay.

After the tents were set up, Mu Nan immediately led people to move stones.

The stones were placed inside the tent, and then a layer of wooden planks was laid on top.

Next, Mu Nan spread the cut dry grass evenly on the wooden board.

Finally, he unfolded the cotton quilts he had brought and spread them on the dry grass, making them into soft beds.

This way, the refugees will have a place to sleep.

Some refugees witnessed what Mu Nan and her group were doing and also joined the effort to move stones and find planks.

They understood that only by working together could they improve the temporary shelter, ensuring that everyone had a safe place to rest at night and wouldn't freeze to death.

Prior to this, Mu Xiao had set up quite a few tents, but the number was limited and could only accommodate the injured disaster victims.

Many elderly people and children are still forced to huddle in open spaces, enduring the biting cold.

Mu Xiao also felt helpless about this, after all, he had only brought limited supplies and could only prioritize the needs of the injured.

After Mu Nan finished all this, just as dawn was breaking, he led some people on their journey back to the capital, while others stayed behind to assist in the rescue.

On the third day after Mu Nan returned to Beijing, a sudden heavy snowfall occurred.

The heavy snow lasted for two days and one night, bringing even greater suffering to the affected refugees.

Although Mu Xiao allowed a small fire to be lit inside the tent, it was still not enough to ward off the cold and pain.

Many elderly people and children have started to develop fevers, and the situation is very critical.

The rescue soldiers also faced extremely difficult times, struggling through heavy snow and continuing to dig through the ruins in hopes of finding more survivors.

However, each time they dug people out, they had already lost their lives and become lifeless corpses.

Nevertheless, the soldiers dared not slacken their efforts in the slightest, because they knew that if these bodies were not exhumed and disposed of in time, it would bring even greater disaster to the disaster area.

These bodies had to be dug up, then burned and buried.

If they are left buried in the ruins, over time the bodies will rot, emit a foul stench, breed a large number of germs, and could very likely cause a plague.

Despite the heavy snow, the Shang, Yun, and Mu families delivered another batch of urgently needed supplies.

This batch of supplies, including food, medicine, clothing, and blankets, is undoubtedly a timely help to the people in the disaster area.

Meanwhile, the imperial court's supplies finally arrived in their first batch five days later.

After that, every few days, the imperial court would send a batch of supplies to help the people in the disaster area get through the crisis.

Mu Nan had doubts about the supplies and had already sent people to investigate.

After some investigation, he finally discovered the clues.

All of this was orchestrated by several princes behind the scenes.

In order to prevent the Crown Prince from quickly procuring supplies, they even joined forces to force grain and medicine merchants in the capital to find various excuses to refuse to sell supplies to the Crown Prince.

Left with no other option, the crown prince had to send people to other places to collect supplies.

This would greatly prolong the process, and people in the disaster area would face even greater hardship due to a lack of food and medicine.

If this matter reaches the old emperor, the crown prince will certainly be punished and will not gain any benefit.

The princes never expected that the Shang family, the Yun family, and the Mu family would be so generous, sending large quantities of food, medicine, and winter supplies.

This undoubtedly brought a glimmer of hope and a chance for survival to the people in the disaster area.

The princes, of course, would not let the matter rest. They harbored ulterior motives and secretly plotted a conspiracy.

They sent their men to the disaster area in an attempt to burn the supplies for their own ulterior motives.

But they never expected that Mu Nan had anticipated their move and made meticulous arrangements in advance.

People had been assigned to guard the supplies day and night, and preventative measures had been strengthened, leaving no way for those who came to sabotage them.

Mu Nan never imagined that these princes would disregard the lives and deaths of countless people for their own selfish interests.

The anger in his heart was like a raging fire, impossible to quell.

Instead of impulsively exposing the princes' crimes, he secretly joined forces with the Shang and Yun families to devise a way to let the old emperor see the evidence he had gathered.

When the old emperor saw this irrefutable evidence, his heart felt as if it had been struck hard by a hammer, and he was filled with immense pain.

He couldn't believe that his sons could be so despicable and commit such heinous acts.

But how could he, as the ruler of a country, let the world know that his sons were so incompetent?

This would not only bring shame to the royal family, but could also trigger unrest in the government and the country, endangering national stability.

So the emperor suppressed his grief and anger and vented his resentment on the close ministers who were closely related to the princes.

Overnight, the Imperial Guards swept in like a storm, ransacking the residences of more than twenty ministers.

The vast wealth of these ministers was confiscated and deposited into the national treasury.

This sudden turn of events terrified all the civil and military officials in the court, and everyone felt insecure.

They didn't know if they would be the next ones to be raided, and for a time, all the officials in the court were filled with anxiety.

Several princes were also placed under house arrest in their respective residences by a secret decree from the old emperor, and their days were extremely agonizing.

Just as the earthquake disaster was being brought under control and things were stabilizing, another piece of sad news arrived—many state capitals were suffering from snow disasters.

Those states that were not originally affected by the earthquake suffered from an unprecedented snow disaster.

Many houses collapsed under the weight of the heavy snow, and countless people lost their lives in the bitter cold.

Faced with this sudden snow disaster, the old emperor was extremely anxious and once again ordered the crown prince to be in charge of raising supplies for disaster relief.

This time, however, the situation is quite different from the past.

The grain merchants were also terrified by the turmoil in the court and lost trust in the princes. They were no longer willing to follow the princes' orders and instead sold their stockpiled grain to the crown prince.