On this day, when Jun Huailang arrived in the south of the city, the sky was getting dark.
To this day, the repair of the embankment has only just begun. The damage to the embankment is quite serious, the scope is large, and the surrounding cities have been submerged, making it even more difficult to repair.
But if it is not repaired, the river will continue to spread, and by then, it is not impossible to submerge the entire Jinling City.
Jun Huailang left early in the morning and returned late, and until today, he has roughly arranged the embankment repairs before he can take a breath.
But when the carriage drove to the gate of the Governor's Mansion, he made the driver turn around again.
"Go to the place where the refugees are resettled in the south of the city." He said without getting out of the car. "I gonna go see."
The driver immediately whipped the whip and urged the horse to send him all the way to the west gate.
After these few days of resettlement, the city has become much more orderly than the day of the disaster, and various business streets are also open for business.
When passing a street, the wind blowing the curtain of Jun Huailang's car made him see a long queue in front of a shop on the corner.
It's a rice shop.
Although the line was long, very few people could buy anything. I saw some people left with more than half of the empty cloth bags in their hands, and some ragged refugees who waited in line for half a day, but then walked away with empty backpacks.
Jun Huailang couldn't help frowning.
He remembered that the government was indeed doing this in the past few days, but to distribute food to the common people, it must first be clearly counted and recorded in the book, and then distributed according to the number of displaced persons and the disaster situation. These things must not only be registered by the government itself, but also reported to the imperial court.
According to the progress of the government, the food has been distributed to the people in the past few days.
Officials' consideration has always been to start from the overall situation. When money and grain are to be distributed to the common people, it is necessary not only to consider the reasonable distribution, but also to follow the procedures of the court, so as not to disturb the order.
To do this work, the distribution of food will naturally be slower, but within a few days, people will not starve to death, and officials will naturally not be able to take care of it. These days, what should the common people do.
Jun Huailang pursed his lips and slowly lowered the curtain of the carriage.
Obliquely ahead of the carriage, there was a rickety old woman with an empty basket on her back and two young children beside her. One of them was naughty, as if seeing something on the road, he ran straight to the middle of the road.
It was dark, and the driver didn't find a child in the middle of the road until he got close, and was eager to hold the horse.
The carriage stopped in the middle of the road with a bang, and the horse neighed and raised its hooves, almost stepping on the child.
The driver was so frightened that he was in a cold sweat, and said in a hurry, "Where are the parents of this child, why don't they take good care of the child!"
The old woman was sweating and ran up to hold the child, and repeatedly bowed and apologized: "I'm sorry, sir, my son injured his leg and couldn't move. The old woman came out to buy rice, and accidentally bumped into the master. Please also ask. Lord forgive me..."
"All right."
The coachman was about to say something when Jun Huailang in the carriage stopped him.
The driver quickly fell silent.
A cold, slender hand lifted the curtain of the car, Jun Huailang leaned slightly and asked, "Is the child hurt?"
The old woman hurriedly said: "No, no, thank you sir!"
Jun Huailang paused.
"What's the price of food in the city now?" he asked.
The old woman had a bitter look on her face: "It has risen by nearly 80%."
Jun Huailang lowered his eyes, opened the hidden compartment of the carriage, took out a purse full of silver, and handed it to the coachman.
"Give it to her," he said.
The driver hurriedly obeyed. The old woman took the thing carefully, only to know what was in her hand: "This..."
Jun Huailang said: "Take it for emergency first, and buy rice grain for the children. It's only two days, the government will release grain, just endure these two days, then you don't have to worry."
When the old woman heard the words, she burst into tears in gratitude. She knelt down to thank her while wiping her face, and knelt down to kowtow to Jun Huailang while pressing the child beside her.
The dark clouds on Jun Huailang's face did not dissipate.
He can save one person, but not everyone. He gave money to the old woman in front of him, but there are still many people who are still starving.
"...Let's go." After a while, Jun Huailang lowered the curtain and said lightly.
At this moment, there was a sparkling sound from behind the carriage, as if a convoy was coming.
Jun Huailang was about to urge the driver to give way when he heard the convoy behind him stop.
Immediately afterwards, someone got out of the car and trotted all the way to Jun Huailang's car.
"His Royal Highness!"
It's the eunuch's peculiar high-pitched voice, and it's a treasure when you hear it.
Jun Huailang closed the car curtain, and through the window, he saw Jinbao talking to the old woman at a glance.
He held his head high and his voice was quite loud, as if he was specifically asking for credit.
"Don't go shopping for food, go home quickly, the food will be delivered right away," he said. "My lord paid for it out of his own pocket, bought several carts of food, and delivered it to you personally!"
After he finished speaking, he raised his head to look at Jun Huailang, smiling until his teeth disappeared.
"It's too coincidental, Your Highness, let's go together?"
—
The sky was completely dark, and the smoke from the cooking wafted from the refugee camp in the south of the city, and the aroma of the food gradually rose.
Jin Yiwei's movements have always been fast. There are tens of thousands of refugees in the south of the city, but they sent out all the food they brought before it got dark.
Jun Huailang sat on the edge of the camp, watching the smoke and lights in the camp.
At this moment, a figure walked out of the light.
Tall and tall, wearing a black and gold brocade robe with dark lines and wide sleeves, he came from a distance and knew it was Xue Yan.
Jun Huailang looked up at him, saw him walking step by step, lifted his robe, and sat down beside him.
"All sent out?" Jun Huailang asked.
Xue Yan nodded.
Jun Huailang sighed.
"Although there is a lot of food and grass, it's only enough for one meal, right?" he asked.
There are tens of thousands of refugees in the south of the city. Those truckloads of grain and grass placed in front of such a large number of refugees were nothing but a drop in the bucket.
"The next day at the latest, the government's grain and grass will be sent." Xue Yan said.
He paused, then continued: "But it's still not enough. Jinling's treasury is incomparable with Chang'an, and there is a certain amount of food and grain left in the warehouse every year. The money and food sent out will be managed for ten more days at most, and it will run out again."
Jun Huailang listened, and his expression gradually sank.
"It can't be like that," he said. "This dam, at least it will take forty or fifty days to repair, not to mention that the north of the city will have to be renovated so that they can settle down again. People will starve to death by relying on the government's grain alone."
Xue Yan snorted: "Your father has already played. If you think it will take half a month, Chang'an will allocate money, food and grass."
Jun Huailang nodded.
But then, he said thoughtfully: "But every time the capital sends food and money to the local area, it will be exploited layer by layer after passing through the checkpoints of various government offices. Will it be the same this time?"
Xue Yan nodded firmly: "Yes."
Not only will they be exploited layer by layer, but the materials will be detained as soon as they leave Chang'an and go east to the starting point of the canal in Shandong.
Because the prefect of Shandong has long been replaced by the Xu family.
At this juncture, they changed people, and they also replaced an unimportant official who had just joined their command. It must be to sacrifice that person and take a dangerous move.
As long as the prefect finds a reason to detain the food, the urgency of Jiangnan will be even more serious. He left most of the rest, and transported the rest. Once he entered Jinling, Guo Rongwen handed it over and registered it in the warehouse according to the original quantity. Then, along the way, the people who handled the supplies were all from the Xu family.
And the money that was withheld, in the process, evaporated.
At that time, Jinling will not have enough food and grass for disaster relief, so the vacancy in it is the crime of Yongning Gong and Shen Zhifu.
What the Xu family has to do now is to arrange the officials who sent the supplies by fate as their own, which is enough.
Hearing this, Jun Huailang's expression became a little nervous.
"Then how?" he asked.
The money and grain were distributed according to the emperor's will. They didn't have enough money in their hands. It was too late to report back and investigate thoroughly. At that time, the disaster relief is not timely, and only the officials in Jiangnan will suffer from this secret loss.
He looked at Xue Yan, and saw that Xue Yan was also looking down at him.
The surroundings were dim, and the lights in the camp not far away were warm, shining in his pale amber eyes.
Xue Yan smiled faintly.
"No need to do anything."
He raised his hand and pressed the back of Jun Huailang's neck, then put his head on his shoulder and let him lean against it.
He could clearly see the dark blue in Jun Huailang's eyes.
The young master from Chang'an has never touched any heavy work since he was a child, not to mention that he has been exposed to the sun and rain like these few days.
This is not his fault.
Jun Huailang struggled a few times, but was suppressed by Xue Yan. He was already tired, and he had no energy and energy at this time. He couldn't struggle, so he just let Xue Yan go.
The shoulders were hard and strong, exuding a somber sandalwood scent, but within a few breaths, Jun Huailang felt sleepy gradually creeping up.
The eyelids also began to sink.
It's interesting to say that this person beside him is obviously violent and murderous, but he is most at ease when he is by his side.
It was a kind of peace of mind that was hard to deny, and impossible to deny at all.
"...Do nothing, don't you just sit back and wait?" He sighed, his eyelashes drooping involuntarily.
The smoke and lights in front of him scattered into a large blur of warm yellow halo.
Xue Yan smiled lightly.
"You don't need to do it. When the imperial decree is issued, I will personally take the people and bring the food and grass back," he said. "As much as I transfer out of the national treasury, I will send back as much as I can, without a grain of rice."
Jun Huailang couldn't help laughing softly.
"I believe you," he said.
Xue Yan's lips twitched involuntarily. He looked down at Jun Huailang, his eyes filled with tenderness and warmth that he hadn't even noticed.
After a while, he remembered something again, paused, and took the initiative to admit: "I bought these today from Guo Rongwen."
Hearing this, Jun Huailang raised his head in surprise: "Huh?"
Seeing Xue Yan nodded: "Well. Let him count the treasury, and he will smuggle out the grain and sell it all."
Jun Huailang's drowsiness disappeared.
"Then, where did the money go?" He asked, "Could it be that it was sent to the capital again? In that case, let him grab the money before he goes away. Otherwise, he will be empty-handed. Dead and unproven again."
Xue Yan laughed softly.
"The money is really out of his hands," he said. "However, it's not dead without proof."
Jun Huailang was puzzled: "Where did it go?"
When Xue Yan met his gaze, he saw that Jun Huailang was looking at him nervously and seriously.
He laughed out loud, raised his hand and patted his cheek lightly with the back of his hand.
"I'll take you somewhere in two days," he said. "You'll know when you go."