Harvesting rice was not as smooth as expected, but it was not too difficult either.
Su Huaijing bought 10,000 dan of japonica rice at a price relatively lower than the market price, and had already bought all the rice that merchants in the market were willing to sell.
Rong Tang assumed that thirty people ate one stone of rice a day, and during the disaster period, one stone of rice could be divided into three portions for making porridge, so the number of people covered by it was expanded to ninety. There were a total of 500,000 people in Suzhou Prefecture, and excluding those who had surplus food at home and were wealthy, the people affected by the disaster were counted as one quarter, totaling 125,000 people.
So many people would consume nearly 1,400 dan of grain a day. Even if all the 10,000 dan of grain were used to make porridge, it would only be enough for seven days, not to mention that one person's ration would be divided into three portions, which is unreasonable in itself.
After Rong Tang finished calculating this account, he stood there with a frown, and did not say anything for a long time.
This is just a Suzhou Prefecture.
Even if the basic food problem is barely solved, a series of secondary problems will arise in the later stages, such as countless diseases, rebellions, property losses, and land that cannot be cultivated.
Jiangnan had 12 prefectures, hundreds of county towns, and a population of more than 20 million...
He stood in front of the barn, looking at the white rice that was almost invisible to the top, and felt powerless.
Rong Tang couldn't help but wonder, compared with the lives of tens of millions of people, what were all the turmoil he had stirred up for Sheng Chengli in the court and harem in his previous two lives
He couldn't figure it out. The evening breeze blew by, dispelling the summer heat. Su Huaijing came over, held his hand, and asked softly, "Are you going home?"
Rong Tang was stunned for a moment, then turned around and nodded: "Yeah."
He originally wanted to store the grain in their newly bought house, but Su Huaijing firmly stopped him. The reason was simple: no one knew what extreme actions people would take in order to survive under natural disasters or man-made disasters.
Their house was already rich, and with so much food stored in it, even if they sent soldiers to guard it, it might not be safe.
Therefore, all the rice was secretly transported to Rong Tang's farm in Suzhou and guarded by a trustworthy steward. Su Huaijing secretly sent Liu Yun to supervise it.
Rong Tang walked forward with his head down, and Su Huaijing did not say anything to disrupt his thoughts until the young master suddenly called him, "Huaijing."
"I'm here." Su Huaijing responded softly.
Rong Tang said in a muffled voice: "I'm hungry."
"What do you want to eat?" Su Huaijing asked, and then provided him with options: "The Squirrel Mandarin Fish from Furong Tower? You tried it the day before yesterday and it was pretty good. Or the Chopped Pepper Fish Head from Zuiyuexuan? It's spicy, maybe it's to your taste."
Rong Tang shook his head. The afterglow of the setting sun sprinkled on the sky. The clouds rolled up like fish scales and fell in the misty land of Jiangnan. It was very beautiful. In the distance, the pond was full of lotus flowers, which was elegant and prosperous.
"I want to eat lotus cakes." He counted silently, "I also want to eat lotus cakes, Longjing tea cakes, osmanthus glutinous rice and lotus root, and a small pot of green plum wine."
When he spoke the last sentence, Rong Tang's voice dropped significantly. He was still not very confident after he finished speaking. He looked up at Su Huaijing and asked in a low voice, "Is it okay?"
Su Huaijing was stunned for a moment, then laughed softly, "Okay."
He used to think that Tangtang didn’t like sweet food, but it turned out that it was because she couldn’t tolerate bitter food.
How can someone who has eaten bitter food and feels astringent in his mouth when speaking normally not like sweet food
His little Bodhisattva, who only wanted some candied fruit to soothe his throat after drinking several bowls of bitter medicine every day, asked him for a bunch of cakes and pastries after seeing the barn full of grain.
Su Huaijing secretly shook his head in his heart, unable to stop feeling soft-hearted, and once again lamented that he had put on a dark green wedding dress and married such a beautiful lamp with a glass Bodhisattva's heart.
He had been walking in the deepest and darkest darkness for many years, but when he saw such a clean and pure light, he couldn't help but want to get closer and possess it.
-
The ninth day of June, it’s extremely hot.
Rong Tang felt a little dizzy when he woke up in the morning and didn't want to go out. Su Huaijing had someone prepare ice cubes in advance and placed them in several corners of the study. The two of them stayed in the deep house of Suzhou Garden and played chess all day.
There is still no winner, the black and white pieces are scattered all over the place, like the grains of sand in the Ganges, scattered one by one in the world.
Until someone knocked on the courtyard door, and someone came to visit in the sunset, wearing a gorgeous apricot-yellow dress, but covered with dust. Standing outside the door, he smiled and said, "Cousin, you didn't even tell me that you were coming to Suzhou. If I had known, I would have arranged for you to go south with me."
Rong Tang blinked gently and looked at Sheng Chengming. He felt that he looked much more embarrassed than when he saw him at the flower-picking party, but his eyes were bright.
There were several officials following behind him. Rong Tang took a look and found that some of them were talented newcomers in the Ministry of Works. They might not have shown their potential now, but in two years, after Su Huaijing took over the Censorate, each of them would be a mainstay of the court of Dayu.
Rong Tang couldn't help but look back at Su Huaijing, but the latter smiled faintly, turned sideways to salute Sheng Chengming, and welcomed him into the courtyard.
Rong Tang looked carefully and found that at the end of the team there was a small group of people wearing gray-brown Confucian robes.
He was stunned for a moment, then walked over to Lu Jiaxi and asked, "Why are you here too?"
Lu Jiaxi looked pale, perhaps because he was not used to the local climate or because he had been traveling for too long. He smiled weakly and said, "His Highness, long time no see..."
Hearing his weak voice, Rong Tang was extremely worried that he would faint in his yard soon. He was stunned for a moment and dragged him to the side yard.
Sheng Chengming asked him to borrow a living room to discuss something, and Rong Tang didn't want to go with him. Su Huaijing said he wanted to see how the dinner was prepared in the kitchen. Rong Tang didn't care what he was going to do and turned around to find Lu Jiaxi.
After drinking a cup of hot tea and eating a few pieces of cakes, Lord Xiao Lu finally recovered a little. He sat hunched over in a chair, his hands unable to stop wanting to touch his legs.
Rong Tang understood and asked directly: "Is it very sour?"
Lu Jiaxi was stunned for two seconds, then raised his head with a sad face and said, "It's been a long, long time since I left."
He was only sixteen years old, and before April this year, he was still a merchant son who could only study in the academy. Now, two months have passed, and he has been in and out of the Imperial Academy, worked in the officialdom, attended banquets, and was brought thousands of miles from the imperial capital where he grew up to the south of the Yangtze River by the second prince.
Rong Tang stood up, walked out and asked Shuangfu to bring in a few moxa sticks, and asked him to give them to Lu Jiaxi after he had fumigated them.
Lord Xiao Lu was extremely shocked and flattered, and asked him why his family had such a thing.
As Lu Jiaxi was inhaled by the hot moxa, his fatigue slowly dissipated.
But he felt it was not very elegant to hold up his trouser legs. Although Rong Tang did not care about that, he still had someone bring a low screen to cover his feet. The two of them talked across the screen, and the room was filled with the scent of mugwort.
Rong Tang asked them why they came to Jiangnan, and Lu Jiaxi said, "In early May, before it rained, the Second Prince handled a few cases in the capital and trained a team of personal soldiers in the Ministry of War. His Majesty felt that he had made great progress these days, so he asked him if there was any place he wanted to inspect, as a minor inspection on behalf of his father."
Rong Tang was stunned for a moment when he heard this, not for any other reason, but because Emperor Renshou's treatment of the Second Prince was truly enviable, and there was even a hint of him wanting to establish a crown prince.
Compared with Sheng Chengming, Sheng Chengxing, who had just entered the court to attend government affairs last month, was simply trampled into the dust.
Rong Tang knew that Sheng Chengming's coming to Jiangnan was most likely Su Huaijing's suggestion, but it was shocking that Emperor Renshou would take the initiative to propose the concept of "inspection".
He unconsciously suspected that Su Huaijing actually had power in the harem.
Rong Tang frowned slightly, and then he heard Lu Jiaxi say, "The Second Prince said frankly that he grew up with his father, the emperor, and his mother in Jiangnan since he was a child. Now that he is eighteen years old, he misses his hometown very much. He also said that he is really stupid and reckless, and he is not worthy of such a great honor as his father's inspection. Therefore, he only asked the emperor for a team of personal soldiers, plus a few officials from the six ministries, and set off south."
Rong Tang: “…” When did he become so good at talking
Lu Jiaxi looked around and confirmed that there was no one around. He leaned against the screen and whispered, "It's said that he traveled light, but in fact, before leaving, His Majesty gave the Second Prince an imperial decree, stating that if he met corrupt officials on the way, he could punish them on the spot."
Rong Tang took a sip of tea and murmured, "That is indeed a considerable power."
Lu Jiaxi nodded hurriedly: "During the period before His Highness left, everyone in the court in Beijing was talking about this, and even my colleagues in the Hanlin Academy would talk about this when they were on duty. I originally thought it had nothing to do with me, but on the 17th of last month, His Highness suddenly went to the Hanlin Academy and asked me to go south with him."
Rong Tang raised his eyebrows and smiled: "This is a good thing."
In this way, even if Lord Lu has gone out for experience, if this flood can have a better outcome, all the officials traveling with Sheng Chengming will be rewarded without exception. Lu Jiaxi entered the Hanlin Academy as a commoner and played a role in the face of natural disasters. His future career will only be smooth sailing.
I'm afraid that this junior of Ke Hongxue can really get enough points to become a doctoral supervisor.
Rong Tang smiled gently, but Lu Jiaxi blushed, as if he also realized that he was very lucky.
He paused for a moment and continued, "We set out on May 18th. On the way, everyone thought that His Highness might take a leisurely tour. After all, he had the imperial edict in his hand and would most likely inspect along the way. But we traveled day and night. His Highness got carsick and vomited many times but he didn't stop to rest. It was as if something was chasing him."
“…” A rainstorm is waiting overhead, Rong Tang thought.
Lu Jiaxi said, "We walked along the rivers all the way. Lord Zhou Zihai is an official of the Ministry of Works and is good at water conservancy mapping. Whenever Your Highness arrives at a place, he will go to the dike first and ask Lord Zhou to take people to survey and map it. A total of 17 large dikes and 32 small dikes were drawn along the way. Even today, when we were rushing from Hangzhou to Suzhou, we went to the river mouth to draw the dike before coming to your house, Your Highness."
Rong Tang was stunned for a moment and opened his eyes wide in disbelief.
The governor of Jiangnan, Lv Junxian, was a disciple of Zhang Gelao. This flood was a blow to the Second Prince's party. In the previous two lives, because of Su Huaijing, Sheng Chengming and Zhang Gelao also reacted quickly and tried to make up for it, but in no other life did they make so many preparations in advance.
The character setting of the big villain does not include loving the people of Dayu. Rong Tang never thought of imposing his own ideas on him, but Su Huaijing himself changed.
They took the initiative to stockpile food and sent Sheng Chengming to Jiangnan with an imperial edict in advance. No matter how many people they could save after this disaster, at least things were developing in a good direction.
Rong Tang felt a little sour in his nose and glanced at the door. Outside the yard, dusk had passed, the stars appeared, dim light was falling, and the summer cicadas were chirping.
He suddenly wanted to see Su Huaijing and hug him.
Rong Tang squeezed his hands and asked, "What are you doing in Hangzhou Prefecture?"
Lu Jiaxi slowly recovered, his eyes lit up, and he boasted like a child who had just done something great: "Catch Governor Lu!"
"What?"
Lu Jiaxi: "Your Highness did not hide the officials all the way south, but we basically did not pass through the major prefectures. When we arrived in Hangzhou, Lu Junxian thought we were still far away, so His Highness took people directly to the mansion. He happened to run into some subordinate officials coming to pay their respects. His Highness was immediately furious and ordered his people to arrest them all and put them in jail."
"?"
"!"
It’s worthy of him!
Sheng Chengming really deserves to be called the most reckless person in the whole article. Even with Su Huaijing, a strategist, sitting behind him, he still does things without thinking about the consequences. He doesn't care at all about the consequences.
No matter what, just do it. If Lu Junxian doesn't do anything, then arrest him. As for what name to use -
Just take care of what you have; you won’t have to worry about having too much debt anyway.
Rong Tang was speechless for a long time, and asked: "Who is sitting in the governor's mansion now?"
"This is the reason why we came to Suzhou," Lu Jiaxi said, "We met Lord Jiang Shanxing at the dam this morning. His Highness sent someone to take him to the Governor's Mansion for temporary treatment."
He frowned, his innocent face showing a bit of vicissitudes, and said sadly: "I heard from Lord Zhou along the way that the situation at the river mouth is unusual this year, and there may be floods. Before your highness came, he first issued an order to the county government with the prince's order, ordering officers and soldiers to go to low-lying areas first to organize the evacuation of the people, but I don't know how it is implemented."
He was extremely tired just now and needed moxibustion to restore his blood circulation. When he talked about this, his face suddenly became filled with worry. He slapped his face, forced himself to be strong, bent down, pulled out the moxibustion stick, and stood up to go out.
Rong Tang: "What are you going to do?"
Lu Jiaxi scratched his head shyly, and said with a little pride: "I'll go see if His Highness can use me for anything. I've drawn a lot of pictures along the way, and they may not remember some of the details as well as I do!"
Rong Tang was stunned for a while, then he smiled softly, "Thank you for your hard work, Master Xiao Lu."
(End of this chapter)