Family Rise: Beginning with Grandfather.

Chapter 457: The New Emperor Has No Morality, Bringing Disaster to All People

Time has unknowingly entered November.

The cold northwest wind blew in from the snowfields in the north, making the busy Chongshan Town suddenly quiet.

The peak period of refugee influx into Chongshan Town has passed. From early August to the end of October, more than 800,000 refugees poured into Chongshan Town in just three months.

Eight hundred thousand refugees were settled in the North, bringing more people to the originally barren North.

However, compared to the vast Northland, a population of 800,000 is far from enough to fill the Northland.

Liaodong has always been a vast land with a sparse population, and the north is also now a vast land with a sparse population.

A population of 800,000 may sound like a lot, but spread out between two cities and around three official roads, the population still seems sparse.

The area enclosed by these three official roads from Chongshan Pass to Heiyun City, Heiyun City to Fuzhou City, and Fuzhou City to Songzhou City and the former border of Chongshan Town is the most fertile land in the north.

Not only is the land fertile, but the water resources are also abundant, including more than a dozen rivers large and small, such as Yinghe River and Songyuan River.

Its area is much larger than Pingyuan Province.

Therefore, the 800,000 refugees who moved into the North could actually only develop a small part of the land in the North.

Even this most fertile land cannot be fully cultivated, let alone the endless grassland in the west of Heiyun Mountain.

As the weather gets colder, fewer and fewer refugees enter Chongshan Town.

The long queues on the official road leading to Chongshan Town disappeared, and were replaced by groups of miserable refugees.

However, this does not mean that all the refugees in Liaodong have been resettled. In fact, most of the refugees went to Jizhou and Shanhe Province.

To this day, there are still more than 200,000 refugees gathered in Jizhou, and countless refugees die of freezing or starvation every day.

The entire Jizhou was like a hell, with bodies of refugees everywhere.

The province that absorbed the most refugees was Shanhe Province, where more than two million refugees settled.

It was not that the refugees did not want to continue migrating south, but that the imperial court set up checkpoints in the southern part of Shanhe Province to prevent the refugees from continuing to move south.

After Shanhe Province is Shuntian Prefecture. If the refugees continue to move south, they will gather outside Kyoto.

The court naturally does not want to see this kind of situation.

Therefore, the refugee crisis can only be blocked within the Shanhe Province.

The situation in Shanhe Province is not very good either. A large number of refugees have settled outside the city or in the wild. In the absence of food and clothing, they can only struggle to survive.

Fortunately, the winter in Shanhe Province is not as cold as that in Liaodong. If they can find a place to shelter from the wind and snow, they can barely hold on for a while.

The government's relief efforts have never stopped. Whether in Pingyuan or Shanhe Province, local governments have opened their granaries to distribute grain.

However, when there is a great disaster, there will always be great evil. There will always be corrupt officials and unscrupulous businessmen who make money from disasters.

Although the court has been cracking down on corrupt officials and unscrupulous businessmen, it is still unable to completely eliminate the existence of such things.

And I don’t know when it started!

A saying spread throughout Shanhe Province.

Heaven has sent down disasters as a warning. The new emperor is immoral and has brought disaster to the people!
This sentence caused resentment to grow in the hearts of the refugees, who were already suffering.

Under deliberate guidance, they blamed Emperor Yanping for the severe drought in Liaodong.

Not only the refugees, but also the common people who saw the suffering of the refugees believed that the natural disaster was caused by the immorality of Emperor Yanping.

All kinds of rumors spread among the people in the city and the countryside at once. What started as just a sentence turned into a series of hilarious dramas as it spread.

Some people say that after Emperor Yanping ascended the throne, he started large-scale construction in the imperial city and built many magnificent palaces.

Some people said that Emperor Yanping was addicted to wine and sex, and that he sent decent people to search for beauties among the people.

Some people said that Emperor Yanping favored a beautiful concubine, indulged in revelry every day, and ignored state affairs.

Some people also say that Emperor Yanping has a cruel personality, likes killing people, and kills people every day!
The rumors became more and more outrageous, and in the end they were simply unbearable to watch. Things like eating human hearts, drinking human blood, and digging out hearts and livers were all spread with detail.

In this feudal society where information dissemination was extremely slow, how could ordinary people know what the court or the imperial city looked like? They just followed the crowd and believed everything they heard.

When these rumors reached Kyoto, the people of Kyoto were completely confused.

Is Emperor Yanping so evil?

It seems not?
They had lived a relatively stable life in the more than one year since the new emperor ascended the throne. Apart from a slight increase in food prices, there was not much difference from before.

The people of Kyoto should be the people in the world who know the government and the emperor best. They are the ducks who know first when the water in the river warms in spring.

Although many major events happened in the court over the past year, they did not have much impact on the lives of ordinary people.

The people of Kyoto naturally did not believe these absurd rumors, but they were skeptical about the initial statement, which was "The new emperor is immoral and will bring disaster to the people."

After all, the severe drought in Liaodong was a fact, and it was reasonable to blame it on the new emperor's misconduct.

Yes, it is reasonable.

God knows what you did.

The emperor is the son of heaven. If the son of heaven commits a mistake, heaven will send disasters to the world as a punishment.

This idea is deeply rooted in people's minds.

Not to mention ordinary people, even scholars think so.

When these rumors reached the imperial city and reached the ears of Emperor Yanping, his face instantly turned pale.

Emperor Yanping was also an ambitious man, and his ambition was to surpass Emperor Chengping and become a wise and benevolent ruler.

So in the more than one year since he ascended the throne, he has been trying his best to control the court, handle state affairs and govern state affairs according to his own ideas.

He did not repair temples, did not get close to women, did not indulge in verbal desires, was diligent in his work and loved his people, and did not dare to slack off even a little.

However, the result~~
How could the world slander you like this?

In an instant, Emperor Yanping suddenly felt discouraged.

"His Majesty!"

In the imperial study, Nan Sheng looked at the pale-faced Emperor Yanping and couldn't help but call out softly.

Emperor Yanping's eyes turned slightly and fell on Nan Sheng. He said in a low and hoarse voice: "What else?"

At this moment, he was like a volcano about to erupt. Although he seemed calm on the surface, he was actually filled with endless anger in his heart.

After being disappointed, there is endless anger and hatred.

Hatred of rumors and hatred of those who spread them.

Nan Sheng was stared at like this, and couldn't help but swallow nervously, "Your Majesty, someone must be secretly slandering Your Majesty. I ask Your Majesty to issue an order and order the Imperial Guard to thoroughly investigate this matter!"

"Thorough investigation!" Nan Sheng slowly closed his eyes.

Rumors were just rumors, and while they were infuriating, they didn't actually affect him much.

No matter how many rumors there are among the people, or how outrageous they are, their impact on the court is minimal.

The really troublesome part of this matter lies in the sentence "Heaven sends down disasters as a warning; the new emperor is immoral and will bring disaster to the people."

Because all civil and military officials would really believe this.

Just like the memorials in front of him, many ministers have advised him to cultivate virtue and protect the people.

Isn't it the same as saying that he has no virtue to advise him to cultivate virtue?

"Investigate! It must be investigated thoroughly. Anyone who dares to criticize the monarch is extremely disrespectful!" Emperor Yanping said gritting his teeth.

"Old slave obeys!"

Nan Sheng knelt down to receive the order, with a gleam of brilliance in his eyes.

Emperor Yanping exhaled heavily, "Get out, all of you get out!"

"Here!"

Nan Sheng obeyed the order, and the eunuchs serving in the room left the study one after another. Soon, the study became quiet.

The quiet environment made Emperor Yanping calm down a lot, but the anger in his heart did not disappear, it was just not as intense as before.

Nan Sheng is right, there must be someone behind this!
Otherwise, why would there be so many rumors spreading among the people?

Who is behind this?

Emperor Yanping leaned on the couch, closed his eyes slightly, and fell into deep thought.

There were thousands of thoughts in his mind, but he couldn't find any clue.

The civil and military officials in the court?

impossible!
Or his brothers?
Impossible!

His brothers have now all been enfeoffed, and he has ascended the throne.

The fight for the throne between the brothers is over!

Who else could it be?
Emperor Yanping couldn’t figure it out!
But he became increasingly dissatisfied with the Secret Guards.

Such a big thing, but the Secret Guards didn't report it to him in advance!
"Somebody come!"

The eunuch outside the door walked into the study, "Your Majesty!"

"Decree! Wang Zhongzhi is not doing his job well, so he is dismissed from his post and imprisoned. Wait for your punishment!"

"Order the eunuch Ma Rong, the governor-general's secret guard, to do the job!"

Emperor Yanping said in a deep voice.

After he ascended the throne, he never touched Wang Zhongzhi. It was not because he valued Wang Zhongzhi very much, but because he did not have many useful people under his command.

Before, he was just Prince Cheng, with only a dozen eunuchs around him, and the only ones he could use were Nan Sheng and Wang An.

After becoming the crown prince, in order to prevent Emperor Chengping from being dissatisfied with him, he did not cultivate any confidants in the palace.

Only after he ascended the throne did he begin to select available people in the imperial city.

Ma Rong was originally Chen Zhongshu's man. After Chen Zhongshu went to guard the imperial mausoleum, Ma Rong had always been a eunuch in the Silijian.

Since Wang Zhongzhi is not capable, let's find someone else to take charge of the Secret Guard.

……

Two hundred miles north of Chongshan Pass.

Yang Zhengshan braved the wind and snow and came to a village.

It was snowing in Chongshan Town, a moderate snowfall.

This snow will completely end the impact of the severe drought in Liaodong on Chongshan Town, but unfortunately there was no snow in Liaodong and Liaodong is still in drought.

Surrounded by a group of close followers, Yang Zhengshan walked into the village.

The soldiers and villagers in the village had already spotted them. A leading soldier stepped forward and asked cautiously, "I am Xiong Hu, the humble servant, and I would like to greet you, sirs. May I ask who you are?"

Xiong Hu could see that this group of people were extraordinary, but he couldn't be sure of their identities.

Yang Zhengshan looked Xiong Hu up and down and smiled slightly, "Xiong Hu, haha, nice name, and good figure too!"

Xiong Hu, as his name suggests, is tall and strong, with thick arms and a round waist. He is a head taller than Yang Zhengshan.

You should know that Yang Zhengshan is more than 1.8 meters tall, and Xiong Hu is estimated to be more than two meters tall.

"I am Yang Zhengshan!"

This time when Yang Zhengshan came to inspect, he did not notify anyone and only brought his personal followers with him.

Purpose!
Naturally, I want to see the real situation of the refugees.

Being in a high position, there will always be some situations where one is not fully aware of what is going on. The reports from the people below are bound to be falsified, or they will only report good news and not bad news, so Yang Zhengshan came here today to take a look for himself.

"Yang Zhengshan!" Xiong Hu looked confused, but he quickly reacted.

"My humble servant greets the Marquis!"

He bowed quickly.

Yang Zhengshan wanted to reach out and pat him on the shoulder, but then he gave up the idea.

This Xionghu was too tall, and it looked a little funny when he patted people on the shoulders.

"Forget it, let's go in and take a look!"

Yang Zhengshan, wearing a fur coat, walked past the bears and tigers and went straight into the village.

Xiong Hu hesitated for a moment, then hurriedly followed behind.

"When were the villagers here resettled?" Yang Zhengshan asked as he looked around the layout of the village.

"Replying to the Marquis, they came here a month ago!" Xiong Hu was so nervous that he stuttered a little.

"A month ago!"

Yang Zhengshan nodded slightly.

This time, Chongshan Town resettled the refugees in the order of north first and south later.

In other words, the refugees who were resettled first were all in the northern area, and the ones who came later were getting closer and closer to Chongshan Pass and Songzhou City.

The refugees here arrived late and had little time to prepare for the cold winter.

Therefore, the buildings in the village are very simple, with only adobe houses and not even courtyard walls.

"How many people are there in the village?" Yang Zhengshan continued to ask.

"There are a total of 48 households and 386 people in the village, 148 of whom are adults and 76 are children~~" Xiong Hu was a little incoherent.

There is no need to say much about Yang Zhengshan's reputation in Chongshan Town, but Xiong Hu is just a soldier. Although he is tall and strong, he can't even get a small flag.

This is not because someone is suppressing him, but because he is only eighteen years old this year.

He is young and has just joined the army. Putting him in charge of this village this time can be seen as a sign of his superiors using him in a high position.

Yang Zhengshan looked at a nearby house. The wooden door of the house was open a crack, and someone was secretly watching him from behind the door.

"It's very cold, let them go back, and come with me to take a look at this place!"

Yang Zhengshan looked at the soldiers behind him who were shivering with cold and said.

It was freezing cold and it was really cold to be outside.

The soldiers' clothes were not very thick and were not very effective in keeping out the cold.

As for his close followers, there is nothing to worry about.

Not only are they wrapped up like dumplings, but the key is that they have high cultivation and are more resistant to cold.

"Ah, yes!" Xiong Hu responded in surprise, then ran over and said a few words to his brothers, and then the soldiers left.

However, these soldiers did not go back to rest, but left the village.

Naturally, Yang Zhengshan could not be concealed from these, but he did not care.

Those soldiers must have gone to look for their superiors.

When Yang Zhengshan arrived in person, Xiong Hu, who had a little bit of common sense, knew to send someone to call his superior.

Yang Zhengshan ignored the soldiers and walked towards the nearby house.

As he approached, there was a commotion behind the door, and then the wooden door opened, revealing two figures, one big and one small.

The older one should be in his early thirties, a somewhat thin man.

The younger one was about ten years old, with a sallow complexion and some malnutrition.

(End of this chapter)