Emperor Chongzhen was too extreme.

Chapter 63 Disaster Relief?! Don't delay my fortune-making!
The day.

Huayin, Chaoyi, Tongzhou, Weinan.
In the counties near Tongguan, everyone saw a group of black-clad guards carrying a dragon banner, with strings of dead heads hanging behind them, coming to read out the imperial edict.

This move naturally terrified the local officials, leaving them trembling uncontrollably.

Let's leave aside for now how those imposing black-clad guards and dragon banners arrived in Shaanxi.

They knew all the officials in Tongguan County by heart.

Because the surrounding counties are relatively close, we often keep in touch and have had many drinks together.

Looking at my former comrades, now dead and decapitated.

The officials in the various counties felt a chill creeping down their necks.

present.

Officials in all counties immediately put aside all their affairs and began to gather the displaced people as required by the imperial edict.

No one dared to play any tricks or schemes at this time; the heads of acquaintances were the best deterrent.

Meanwhile, among the refugees, the imperial guards responsible for delivering the imperial edict read aloud to them the emperor's decree ordering all counties to provide relief to them.

Among these refugees.

Some of them had fled from Yan'an Prefecture, the area most severely affected by the disaster, and they had already given up hope of surviving.

Some have even begun to secretly plot and discuss going to the city in a few days to rob the wealthy families.

They knew this was a rebellion, and they knew they would die.

Since death is inevitable anyway, it's better to have a full meal before starving to death.

But at the moment.

When these people heard that the Emperor had arrived in Shaanxi and had ordered local officials to open their granaries and distribute grain to relieve them, they were shocked.

All thoughts of rebellion vanished in the blink of an eye.

The real reason they rebelled was simply to avoid starving to death.

Now that the hope of survival is right in front of us, who would still do such a heinous thing?

There is great terror between life and death.

There is also great joy between life and death.

The refugees, who were no longer going to starve, were overjoyed, their hearts pounding with excitement.

But looking at the heads of those displaced people who were executed for disobeying imperial orders...

After kneeling and shouting "Long live the Emperor!", the crowd cautiously formed a long queue and slowly walked into the city, not daring to make the slightest noise.

Under threat of death.

The officials in charge of the counties surrounding Tongguan also dared not stop for a moment, gathering all the refugees around their county towns.

Although this busy state allowed them to temporarily forget the fear of death, once these refugees were properly gathered...

Officials, however, were once again gripped by panic.

They've seen it.

The Emperor's purpose in coming to Shaanxi was to alleviate the drought there.

But here's the thing.

At this moment, almost every town in these counties has gathered thousands of refugees.

However, Shaanxi has suffered from drought for years, and the government has very little grain reserves.

This year, grain harvests across Shaanxi Province have generally decreased by more than 50%, with some severely affected counties experiencing complete crop failure.

Therefore, they used every means possible to force those wealthy households to hand over all the grain they had stored for resale.

All the food in each city, under the current circumstances.

It would only last the entire city and its refugees for three or four months.

This is still a conservative estimate.

If we're not conservative...

I'm afraid all the stored grain will be used up in two months.

What should we do then?

Winter is coming soon, and not only will the refugees starve to death, but the existing residents of the city will also starve to death.

The entire Shaanxi province will be plunged into an even greater disaster.

But the emperor didn't seem to have considered this at all.

The Emperor seems to think that killing a bunch of chickens as a warning to others will solve the famine problem in Shaanxi!
of course.

The officials were not worried about what would happen to the people of Shaanxi after the food ran out.

This has nothing to do with them.

Ordinary people are just ordinary people; if they die, they die, it's no big deal. What they're really worried about is that when their food reserves run out, the famine problem still won't be solved.

In a fit of rage, the emperor beheaded himself without explanation.

Despite their immense fear and worry, no one dared to stop their disaster relief work.

Regardless of what the future holds, my priority right now is to save my own life.

That night.

Xi'an Prefecture.

At the time, Qiao Yingjia, the governor of Shaanxi (a member of the Donglin Party), was drinking and gambling with a group of his officials in a brothel in the prefectural city.

Only after Qiao Yingjia had finished enjoying himself did one of his subordinates dare to approach him with a fawning expression and say:

"My lord, a secret report just came from below that large-scale cannibalism has begun in Yan'an Prefecture, and a popular uprising is imminent."

Upon hearing his subordinates' report that a popular uprising was imminent, Qiao Yingjia showed no reaction, merely nodding indifferently.

He already knew about the situation in Shaanxi, and he was even more familiar with the situation in Yan'an Prefecture.

But for that.

All Qiao Yingjia did was indulge in pleasure-seeking, drinking, and gambling every day.

He was over sixty years old and had long since seen through everything.

Shaanxi is beyond saving, and he's too lazy to bother trying.

Therefore, during the two years he served as the governor of Shaanxi, he only sought pleasure every day and did not even glance at the disaster victims.

Relief?

That's impossible. How could we just give away hard-earned money to the poor?
Not only did he not allow any place in Shaanxi to open its granaries and release grain, he also significantly increased taxes in various places.

Qiao Yingjia calculated it very clearly.

Since Shaanxi is bound to descend into chaos sooner or later, I should take advantage of this time to make some money.

Throughout history, major disasters have always been good opportunities to make money.

As for whether he would be held accountable afterward, Qiao Yingjia was not worried.

He dared to do this because he must have already established a good relationship with the person in charge.

You should know that the Donglin Party was behind him.

By the time.

It was nothing more than someone in the imperial court impeaching him for "ineffective governance of Shaanxi."

And at that time, someone will inevitably stand up for him.

Ultimately, the worst punishment he received was dismissal from his post and being sent back to his hometown.

This is exactly what Qiao Yingjia wanted.

He's old now, it's time for him to go home and enjoy his retirement, spending time with his grandchildren.

Qiao Yingjia returned to his residence, attended by a group of servants.

Just as he was getting ready to go to sleep, there was a sudden, urgent knocking on the door.

Followed by.

His own spies, whom he had sent to various counties within Xi'an Prefecture, strode in and immediately knelt down, saying, "Your Excellency Governor! Something terrible has happened!"

"The emperor has suddenly arrived in Shaanxi for some unknown reason, and has temporarily set up camp at Tongguan today!"

Upon hearing the words that the Emperor himself had come to Shaanxi, Qiao Yingjia, whose face was etched with deep wrinkles, froze, and immediately lost his composure:
"What did you say?! Is what you're saying true?! You saw the Emperor with your own eyes?!"

It's no wonder Qiao Yingjia lost his composure; he could never have imagined that the emperor would come to Shaanxi.

The new emperor has only been on the throne for a short time, how could he possibly leave the palace?!
And why didn't he receive any prior information from the capital?

"It's absolutely true, sir!!"

"Not only that, all the officials and gentry in Tongguan City were killed by the Emperor!"

"I ran so fast that two horses died on the way to deliver this message to the prefectural city in time."

　PS1: According to the "Shaanxi Gazetteer", "At that time, the granaries of several counties in Yan'an Prefecture were exhausted in ten days, and the dead starved to death were everywhere."

　　Yan'an Prefecture was the most severely affected area, so it is reasonable that the food reserves in other areas could last for 2-3 months.

　　PS2: Information about Qiao Yingjia, the then governor of Shaanxi, is unclear.

　　However, based on his actions, the author categorizes him as a member of the Donglin Party.

　　The reason is that during his 25 years as governor of Shaanxi, he not only failed to provide relief to the disaster victims but also drastically increased taxes.

　　What's even more outrageous is that there are several short stories circulating among the people praising his integrity and competence.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)