Chapter Fifty-two: Disaster Relief

  "Alas, what else can we do? We're trapped here, with only two thin porridges a day, and just this little bit of charcoal. That's all there is. The people here will have to hold on until spring arrives, when there will be more work in the city and everyone can go out and earn some money. Only then can we survive. But now it's still early for spring, who knows how many more will die?"

  Zhong Jinwei was taken aback after hearing this, and wondered if they could hold on until the spring. How many people would be left here by then?

  No, I have to do something myself! At least let the imperial court do more things. If you can save more, then save more, otherwise how can you be at peace?

  Thinking of this, Zhong Jinwei immediately stood up and said to Gu Baiquan: "Find someone to take them to my mansion for settlement. We'll go back and meet with An Guiyi first."

  The old man stood up with his family after hearing Zhong Jinwei's words. However, he didn't leave immediately, but instead asked his son for the silver ingot that Zhong Jinwei had given him. He weighed it in his hand and then said to the refugees around him: "My family and I have been taken in by the young master, and now we no longer worry about food and clothing, nor do we struggle between life and death. The young master's kindness, my family will repay with food and clothing, on behalf of the young master, please wait here, within a day, he will definitely come."

  Having said that, he looked around and then brought his family members along, following Zhong Jingwei as they left.

  Zhong Jinwei didn't go far, and the old man's words were all heard in his ears. He couldn't help but feel a mix of emotions in his heart. The sincerity of the ancients makes most later generations ashamed!

  This family followed Zhong Jinwei and others, leaving in the envious and respectful eyes of other refugees.

  Upon arriving at the entrance of the refugee camp, the soldiers under the command of Commander Ding were already guarding the place. The soldiers had already informed their leader about the situation, and now the leader respectfully came forward to greet them. After all, they were people from the Eastern Depot, who dared not show disrespect.

  Zhong Jinwei asked him: "Why is there so little food and coal?"

  The leader also saw that Zhong Jinwei was the head of this group, and didn't dare to be slow, answering: "Young master, we don't know either, the higher-ups just sent down so many things, fixed time and quantity, at this time, no one dares to embezzle with a clear conscience."

  Zhong Jinwei had mentally prepared himself and knew that he wouldn't be able to get anything out of him, so he stopped asking questions and directly asked for his horse back, heading towards the East Flourishing Gate.

  One of these soldiers received an order from Gu Baiquan to find a vehicle, load up the lucky family and head towards Dingfu Avenue.

  On the carriage, the old man's son saw that there was no one else around and said: "Father!"

  The old man knew what his son was thinking and looked at him seriously: "We have been taken in by the young master, compared to those fellow villagers who are still in Wang Gong's factory, we are already a hundred times lucky. Silver is a bonus for us, while they are still struggling in hardship, on the verge of death at any moment. Cultivate good thoughts and accumulate good deeds, and there will be good rewards. Do you understand?"

  Look at the son, it seems that he is still reluctant to part with those ten taels of silver. The old man educated him again: "People do things, heaven watches, and repaying kindness is a matter of course. I did this, and also conveyed the gentleman's benevolent heart, and helped the gentleman to give alms. Not only will the villagers be grateful to the gentleman, but our family will also have a good impression on the gentleman's mind, do you understand?"

  The old man's son nodded, seeming to understand his father's good intentions. This way, one stone can kill two birds. It is indeed true that having an elderly person at home is like having a treasure!

  "After settling down, you immediately go and purchase some food and clothing to send over, remember?"

  "Yes, Father." His son nodded seriously.

  Zhong Jinwei and his entourage rode their horses towards the East Hua Gate. After leaving the poor district, they finally saw signs of life again - the wine houses along the street, although not bustling with people, still had occasional sounds of eating and drinking coming from them. Thinking about his own lunch, a rather inappropriate poem suddenly popped into his mind: "The vermilion gates are filled with meat and wine, while on the road there are frozen bones."

  Couldn't help but secretly sigh, mood getting even worse, so just stopped talking and focused on hurrying along.

  After arriving at Donghua Gate, I realized that An Guiyi and the others had not returned yet. If they had already come back, the family we settled earlier would have gone past without anyone to settle them in. The timing was not well arranged, it was chaotic.

  Of course, if An Guixin didn't come back, he couldn't enter the Forbidden City and see Emperor Chongzhen. After some thought, he turned around and took his horse to the East Factory to see if Wang Chengen was still there.

  Wang Chengen has already returned to the palace, so he can only turn back to Donghua Gate to wait for An Guiyi.

  But just waiting wasn't an option, so Zhong Jinwei thought for a moment and handed over 20 taels of silver to Gu Baiquan, telling him to go to Dingfu Avenue to replace An Guiyi. He also gave the money to A Qi, instructing her to take care of the old man's family and the three girls from before, and then have Gu Baiquan escort A Qi back.

  Gu Baihe estimated that at Donghua Gate, Zhong Jinwei should be in no danger. Besides, with Wang Peng there, ordinary people couldn't get close to him anyway, so he left feeling reassured.

  Zhong Jinwei took advantage of the time waiting for others to think through all the disaster relief methods he knew, selected some methods that should be suitable for the current situation, and remembered them one by one in his heart.

  Not long after, An Guiyi rode back on horseback. It turned out that he and Gu Baihe met halfway. After conveying Zhong Jinwei's instructions, An Guiyi changed horses with Gu Baihe and rushed back first. Gu Baihe drove the carriage to accompany Aqi back to settle down with that family.

  An Guiyi immediately led the Zhong Jinwei back to the Pian Dian, and Wang Peng naturally returned to the East Factory to hand over the order.

  After arriving at the side hall, Zhong Jinwei asked An Guiyi to find Wang Chengen and said that he had an urgent matter to ask for an audience with the Emperor, asking him to arrange it.

  Soon, Wang Cheng'en personally came over to deliver the imperial edict, ordering Zhong Jinwei to proceed to the Wenhua Hall for an audience.

  Because Zhong Jinwei didn't have time to order a corresponding earl's attire, he still wore that linen garment and went forward.

  Upon arrival at Wenhua Hall, it was discovered that apart from Emperor Chongzhen, the Grand Secretariat and officials of various departments were also present.

  After going through the formalities, Zhong Jinwei directly reported the situation of the Wang Gong factory refugee camp to Emperor Chongzhen.

  Chongzhen Emperor was shocked upon hearing this. No one had reported these situations to him in detail. He had thought that there were only some refugees in the capital avoiding the war disaster.

  I didn't expect there would be so many refugees and human life is so cheap, with so many people dying every day.

  Before the Chongzhen Emperor got angry, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Bi Ziyuan, stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, this matter is indeed because the court has no ability to do anything. In order to avoid Your Majesty's worries, it was not reported in detail to you."

  "Unable to do anything? Just a little rice porridge and a few pieces of charcoal for tens of thousands of people?" Seeing that it was Bi Zicheng, Emperor Chongzhen suppressed his impulse and frowned, asking in return.

  "Your Majesty, the national treasury has been depleted for many years, and the disaster relief warehouses have been empty for a long time. The bandits are rampant, and the supplies in the capital cannot be replenished from other places, gradually becoming scarce, including charcoal. The Imperial Army is numerous, but there is not enough food to supply them. Even the twice-daily porridge for the refugees is squeezed out of the military rations."

  The Chongzhen Emperor listened and was speechless, everywhere using money but nowhere having it, a clever woman cannot cook without rice, now it's not strange to blame Bi Zicheng.

  "Master Sun?"

  "I am present."

  "You have all seen that, the construction of the enemy is rampant, the army gathers, and the expenditure of money and grain is countless, causing the people to suffer. The people who enter the capital still have to starve and freeze. You must quickly eliminate the weak and keep the strong, send back the eliminated soldiers, and reduce the pressure on the Ministry of Revenue. Early defeat of the enemy, return to peace in the capital."

  "Yes, sir!" Sun Chengzong bowed his head and accepted the order with a hint of shame.

  "Some people only know that I am anxious, and all day long they urge you to do this and that, but they don't understand the imperial court, they don't understand that I can't wait!"

  "We dare not!" Everyone spoke in unison.

  Zhong Jingwei remembered after hearing Chongzhen Emperor say that. Some netizens in later generations criticized one of the mistakes of Chongzhen Emperor, saying that during the Songjin Battle, it was because Chongzhen Emperor repeatedly ordered Hong Chengchou to rush, which led to the defeat of the army and the loss of the last main force of the Ming army.

  It's only Chongzhen 2 now, and the Battle of Songjin is in Chongzhen 13. The financial situation will be even more difficult than it is now. If those netizens were to travel through time as well, they would hear about Emperor Chongzhen's difficulties and shouldn't have any more complaints.

  "What good ways are there to help those refugees, my people?" The Chongzhen Emperor fell silent for a moment, then asked his ministers again.

  "Your Majesty, for now, it would be best to disperse them to several surrounding areas, perhaps it will be better." Minister Cheng Ji stepped forward and reported.

  "It's impossible, Your Majesty. The surrounding areas have been ravaged by bandits and we can barely survive the winter ourselves, let alone provide relief to others. These refugees will either die on the road or in the cities they flee to." Wen Ti-ren spoke out against it.

  Cheng Ji turned around and looked at Wen Tianren: "Then what strategy do you have to alleviate the emperor's worries?"