The disaster lasted for 8,000 miles, and countless horses died during the galloping journey. The postmen were replaced several times. When they arrived at the imperial city, although they were no longer the original messenger, they were also extremely tired. They only had time to stuff the red-sealed letter into the hands of the postman in the imperial city. He let go of his last breath, looked up and fainted.
Obviously, the situation in Jiangnan was not optimistic. How Shen Qingwan helped the victims there, how she lived and died with them, and how she comforted the people on the Jiangnan front. Just looking at the intelligence sent to him, he felt a little distressed.
He had many concubines in his harem, but she was the only one who shared his worries on the front line. Not to mention that she had never been a competitive person, but at times like this, she was always the one doing these things for him.
Fu Yuheng felt inexplicably touched, for the hundreds of thousands of disaster victims in Jiangnan, and even more for this woman who had the common people in her heart.
Sun Ning, who was waiting on the side, had been with Fu Yuheng for several years. Although a monarch's mind was unpredictable, he still stepped forward to grind ink for him at this time.
Needless to say, he also knew that there had been urgent letters coming from Jiangnan these days, and it seemed that every letter conveyed the situation there. And what worried the current emperor the most was the virtuous concubine who went to Jiangnan for the current emperor.
"Your Majesty, I don't know anything about the past dynasties. I only know that Consort Xian is the most caring one among the harem's servants. Last time, a servant coughed, and Your Majesty heard it and rewarded the servant with a jar of loquat juice." Sun Ning was grinding ink while talking about Shen Qingwan's good points. If it were any other time, he would definitely not say these things, but now that she is in Jiangnan, if something happens...
Fu Yuheng raised her eyes and calmed down. Yes, according to her personality, she would definitely treat the common people as her own family members at this moment.
"Pass on my oral instructions." Fu Yuheng calmly put down the wolf-hair brush. Sun Ning lowered his head, took two steps back, knelt on the steps, and bowed his head.
"Order the Jiangbei Grain Supervisor and the Jiangdong Grain Supervisor to transfer 100,000 dan of coarse grain and 50,000 dan of fine grain from their respective provinces to Jiangnan at half the price. The court will reward the large grain donors this time and confer titles and honors on them." Sun Ning sighed inwardly upon hearing this, and stood up respectfully, knelt down and bowed again, "Your servant, I obey your order."
When the servant came running over, Li Chaoyang was drinking porridge. Seeing that he was out of breath from running, the servant handed him a bowl of coarse tea and said, "Drink slowly. There's no rush."
The servant drank two gulps of water, wiped his mouth with his sleeve without thinking, and took two breaths, "It seems that the victims in the south of the city have contracted the plague again, and their high fever won't go away!"
Li Chaoyang was startled. He didn't even bother to drink his porridge. He stood up and paced back and forth. After a long while, he turned his head and said, "Where is it? Let's go check it out now. Bring a doctor with you!"
The servant responded repeatedly and ran out. At the entrance of Chang'an Street in the south of the city, although I have never seen Chang'an when it was prosperous, the stalls on the street that were half washed away were covered with mud and sand, and the red wooden doors washed away by the flood on the roadside were also crawling with insects and ants. The doors had been flooded for a long time and showed dark red water marks.
If there had not been this flood, standing on this street, it would have been so crowded and bustling. I had just come out of a family's house, and the child of that family disappeared in the flood. Both parents, who were only in their twenties, had their hair turned white overnight due to grief.
Shen Qingwan took a deep breath, trying not to let herself get lost in this sad mood. At this moment, a woman's howling came from a nearby family.
An old woman with gray hair, wearing a tattered brown robe, was lying on a bamboo mat, as if she was only breathing in but not out. Beside her was a young woman with a dusty face, and a child who was no more than eight or nine years old. The two were hugging each other and crying heart-wrenchingly.
"Mom! You have to hold on! Zhenshan hasn't come back yet, you have to hold on!"
Suddenly, they heard footsteps behind them, and the women and children gradually stopped crying. Although they didn't know what kind of clothes this lady was wearing, they knew she must be the wife of a wealthy family.
"Madam, is this an old acquaintance of my family? Or..."
Shen Qingwan shook her head, "I came to Jiangnan to help you through this difficult time. Don't be afraid, I'm not a bad person." When she said this, she looked at the old man from a distance. He seemed to have no strength, but it should be because he had been hungry for a long time, and his heart and lungs were infected in the flood. I didn't know if he would agree to diagnose someone rashly.
"If you are willing to believe me, I want to diagnose the old man. I swear on my life that I absolutely just want to help the old man."
Seeing that they were still hesitant, as if afraid that they would not believe it, Shen Qingwan quickly raised four fingers and swore to the sky. The woman hurriedly shook her head, her voice still a little crying, "Madam, you misunderstood us. We are orphans and widows, and the flood has lost everything. It's just that Madam is kind-hearted, but we can't harm Madam."
Holding the child in her arms, the woman felt relieved, but there was still a look of sadness between her eyebrows. "We don't know what condition my mother is in now. If I rashly let Madam diagnose her and make Madam sick, I will blame myself for the rest of my life."
Shen Qingwan frowned slightly, but also smiled, "It's okay, I just want to make the old man feel better."
The accompanying doctor just went to ask for a drink of water, and it took him half a day to find Shen Qingwan. He knelt down and apologized, "Your Majesty, I am late, please forgive me."
Shen Qingwan was relieved. This doctor had saved many people in this flood. Now that he was here, the old man should be saved. The woman was even more shocked when she heard the doctor's name. She dragged the child in her arms and knelt down to pay her respects. If you look closely, she was still shaking.
As expected, what she feared the most was that they would be so reserved after her identity was revealed. She didn't want them to be afraid of her, but now she was afraid that only if she left would they relax a little.
Shen Qingwan called the doctor aside and explained a few words about the old man's matter to him alone. She had seen that the old man was very weak now and might not be able to be nourished. He might not be able to take strong tonic medicine and could only be nursed slowly.
She lowered her head slightly and said, "I'll have to trouble you, doctor."
The doctor had no choice but to accept it and promised to do his best to cure the old man. Although the doctor was called aside, the room was so small that the woman heard most of what Shen Qingwan said. She didn't understand the pharmacology involved, but she knew that this kind-hearted lady wanted to save her mother's life. The woman took the child and bowed in the direction she left. The lady cried and kowtowed several times, "Benefactor! Thank you, benefactor, thank you kind-hearted lady!"
When Li Chaoyang came with the servant, he happened to see this scene. The doctor was also in the room, and he knew without thinking too much that Shen Qingwan must have arrived before him. For a moment, he felt a lot of emotion in his heart.