The film and television world begins with the battle for the throne in Kowloon

Chapter 4: Going South to Provide Disaster Relief
Longkodo was so anxious that he refused to get up. He kowtowed and begged, "Master Shi, if you don't save me, I will die once I leave your house!"

"Instead of being chased for debt later, I might as well kneel and die in front of you now!" When he raised his head, tears were streaming down his face, and he looked like he was at the end of his rope.

Li Yan sighed falsely: "Okay! I am a soft-hearted person, so I will help you!"

"Get up and talk."

When Longkodo heard this, he quickly stood up, wiped his face with his sleeve, and said tremblingly: "Thank you, Master Shi, you are my second parents. I will never forget your kindness in this life."

Li Yan saw that the fire was almost ready, and said, "In fact, the reason why I, the Tenth Master, took on this task of disaster relief in Jiangnan was to temporarily avoid the limelight."

"Master Shi, what you mean is..."

"good."

"Xiao Duozi, I'm going to Jiangnan this time and I'll give you an assistant job. You can follow me and run errands, and we'll leave this place first. When the time comes to collect the debts, we're in Jiangnan, and no one will be able to come to Jiangnan to look for us. Besides, we're working for the emperor and for the country, so no matter who's responsible for collecting the debts, they'll put our debts aside first, don't you think?" Li Yan said slowly.

Longkodo's eyes lit up, and he said with a smile on his face: "That's right, Master Shi is very smart!"

After that, he became worried again: "But we can't stay in Jiangnan forever! We have to come back eventually, and then we will still have to face the problem of debts, and we will still have no money."

Li Yan looked at Longkodo with disdain: "Why are you so stupid? Why did we go to Jiangnan? We went to raise funds for disaster relief. I have the final say on how much money is raised. When we come back, this little debt will be nothing."

After saying this, he winked at her, looking as if he understood everything.

Longkodo suddenly understood, and then a huge surprise surged in his heart: "Master Shi, I understand! What you said means that Xiao Duozi also has a share!"

"Then I'm counting on you, Master Shi, to pay off my debt!"

"That depends on how capable you are. By then, not only will you be able to pay off your debts, but you can also make a fortune!" After saying that, Li Yan proudly crossed his legs, picked up the tea bowl and took a sip. Longkodo hurriedly picked up the kettle to refill it for Li Yan, looking like a fawning man.

The two then had a detailed discussion about how to make a fortune in Jiangnan in the future. Then Li Yan told Longkodo: "The situation in Jiangnan is urgent, and the victims are crying for food. You should go home and pack up quickly. We will set off tomorrow morning!"

Longkodo took the order and left. Li Yan went over his thoughts again, then went into the backyard to say goodbye to his family.

Early the next morning, Li Yan left the capital with Longkodo and more than 20 guards and headed south of the Yangtze River.

A group of people were riding on horseback. The area around Zhili was fine. People were living their normal lives and were not affected by the disaster. There were endless caravans and pedestrians on the road.

After leaving Zhili, the further south you go, the more serious the disaster becomes.

Li Yan's team rode non-stop, day and night. As soon as they entered Anhui, they saw disaster victims wandering everywhere, wearing tattered clothes, carrying the elderly and children, and all with a blank look on their faces.

Most of the towns along the way closed their gates and did not allow the victims to enter. Only a few cities set up porridge stalls at the city gates. There were long queues in front of each porridge stall, and tattered sheds were built nearby, which could neither block the wind nor shelter from the rain. Fortunately, it was summer, otherwise who knows how many people would have frozen to death.

Wherever Li Yan arrived, he would first meet with the local county magistrate and order them not to close the city gates and allow the victims to enter the city to beg for food. Let the victims survive first. All localities should also exert their own strength and try their best to raise food and fodder. They cannot just wait for aid from the court. They must ensure that no one starves to death.

Longkodo was very impressed by the Tenth Prince. He thought that he was spoiled since childhood and could not endure hardships. He did not expect that he met officials, issued orders, comforted the victims, investigated the disaster situation, and did all these things in an orderly manner.

Sometimes, they ate dry food on the road and never complained about the hardship or tiredness, which made Longkodo look at them with admiration.

"Master Shi, where are we going next?"

Longkodo asked.

Li Yan didn't even raise his head: "Go straight to Jiangnan"

"Anhui is the hardest-hit area. Why don't we go to the city to take a look?"

Li Yan shook his head and said, "What's the point of going there? I can't do anything with nothing, no money or food. The title of imperial envoy can't solve the problem. If I didn't have to pass through the disaster area to go to Jiangnan, I wouldn't even come to Anhui!"

"If we really want to solve the problem, we still need to raise food and fodder, which can only be done in the wealthy Jiangnan. So next, we should stop meeting with officials and rush to Yangzhou day and night."

After passing through various prefectures and counties, they arrived at Yangzhou City in just two days.

I thought Yangzhou would be better, but I didn't expect that it was also in a serious disaster. The city gates were closed, and a large number of refugees gathered outside the city. Temporary sheds were everywhere, and ragged victims were hiding in groups. It was a dilapidated scene. Seeing that they couldn't ride horses in front, Li Yan and his party dismounted and led the way, and walked forward along the official road.

"Dear elders and uncles, please be kind and give me some money so that I can bury my brother!" A howl came from the crowd nearby, and just hearing the sound made people sad.

Li Yan handed the horse reins to the guard and squeezed into the crowd with Longkodo.

There was a man lying on the ground, covered with a tattered mat, with his bare feet exposed outside the mat, covered with mud. There was a young man who looked quite clever kneeling beside him, in rags, constantly praying to the crowd, with a sad look on his face, holding a broken bowl with a few copper coins in it. Li Yan sighed in his heart, he had seen so many such scenes along the way, he was a little numb, but he still signaled Longkodo to give him a small piece of silver.

The young man kowtowed repeatedly to express his gratitude after receiving the silver: "Thank you very much, sir. Thank you very much! If you give birth to sons, each of them will be the top scholar. If you give birth to daughters, each of them will be granted an imperial decree."

When Li Yan was about to turn around and leave, he stopped immediately when he heard this familiar sentence. Isn't this Li Wei's colloquialism!
Just when they were trying to confirm it, someone's cigarette ash fell on the instep of the person under the mat. The young man jumped up and started to curse. Everyone was startled at first, then realized that they had encountered a liar and started to accuse him. The two saw that they had angered everyone, so they got up and ran away.

"Young master, I didn't expect these two guys would dare to deceive you. I will send someone to catch these two little bastards right away." Longkodo said indignantly, and was about to find someone to capture the two men.

Li Yan stretched out his hand to stop him, smiled and said: "Forget it, they are all people who can't survive, don't bother with them, business is more important."

After saying that, they continued walking forward. After a while, there was commotion ahead again.

Long Kedo said: "Master, it's those two guys just now."

I saw two people confronting a group of people who were obviously dressed neatly, with a little girl being pulled in the middle, and the little girl was begging for something.

The young man who seemed a little clever just now roared: "Fuck you, you bastard who deserves to be struck by lightning, you want to exchange a few pieces of broken wood for a grown girl, I will fight you today!"

"You two little bastards, you want to meddle in other people's business? Don't you even know who I am?"

The group of neatly dressed people were holding a long rope in their hands. A girl was tied to the rope every half meter. The leader was a middle-aged man with a fierce face. He kept waving a horsewhip in his hand while talking, looking arrogant.

After a while, the two men started to fight. The middle-aged man brought helpers with him, and the young man was no match for him. He was pinned to the ground and beaten severely.

Seeing this, Li Yan said to Longkodo: "Xiao Duozi, go and help them and bring them over!"

"嗻"

Longkodo pointed out a few guards, pushed through the crowd and rushed in.

"Stop, stop it!"

Longkodo ordered the guards to hold a few people back and said, "How dare you force good girls into prostitution in broad daylight? Why don't you release all these girls?"

The middle-aged man did not dare to act presumptuously because he saw that Longkodo was well-dressed and had guards with him.

He stopped the people below and announced his own name: "These girls are the prostitutes bought by the Yangzhou prefect Che Mingche and given to the Jiangnan Salt Commissioner Ren Bo'an. If you have the ability, go and release them yourself."

After saying this, he looked at Longkodo proudly. In this small piece of land in Yangzhou, there was nothing that Lord Che could not handle.

When Longkodo heard that so many local officials were involved, he hesitated for a moment. Li Yan came over and said, "Release all the girls, and take this man and those guys away."

After saying this, he pointed at the two young men and the girl who was arguing and crying loudly.

When these people saw that Li Yan and his group were riding horses and carrying swords, they did not dare to resist and followed them into Yangzhou Prefecture.

As soon as we entered Yangzhou, we saw colorful flags waving in front of us, drums and gongs were beating, and the scene was full of joy.

The officials on the ground in Yangzhou had already received the letter sent by Li Yan, so they organized officials at all levels of the prefecture, state, and county to welcome him.

Li Yan doesn't want to be like the fourth brother and go on an incognito visit.

For him, this trip was just for fun, and he just did the disaster relief work at the same time. If he did it secretly, not only would he suffer, but he would also offend others.

Walking to the front, a group of officials knelt down and kowtowed to wish the emperor good health. Li Yan nodded with satisfaction.

The kneeling ceremony of the Qing Dynasty was indeed very painful, but when others knelt before me, I didn’t know why, but I felt a sense of satisfaction.

No, that's a bit degenerate!

But this feeling of being detached from the people and being superior is really great!
I want to show off.
Li Yan took the sword from Longkodo and shouted majestically, "Saints and God bless you!"

"Please stand up, everyone! It's not convenient to walk on the street with so many people coming and going. Let's talk inside the government office!"

The officials courteously let Li Yan walk in front and entered the yamen. Li Yan sat on the seat without hesitation. The officials stood in two rows below, looking at Li Yan respectfully!

(End of this chapter)