Can I get to the other side?.

Chapter 505: Goddess of Luo River! Drought and rumors!

Weiyang Palace, Zhaoyang Hall.

The clear water of the Yellow River made Liu Xie quite troubled, so after asking Fa Zheng and others to find out the situation, he came to Zhen Mi's residence for dinner.

At the same time, it is also to relieve the depressed mood.

But looking at the table full of sumptuous food prepared for him by Zhen Mi, Liu Xie had no appetite.

"Your Majesty, what's wrong with you? Is the food not to your liking?"

"Do you want to ask Yushanfang to do it again?"

Seeing that Liu Xie didn't even move his chopsticks, Zhen Mi asked with a questioning look in her beautiful eyes.

Liu Xie collected his thoughts and shook his head, saying, "Nothing, I was just thinking about something and couldn't eat."

"What is your Majesty thinking?"

Zhen Mi became more curious after hearing this. She rarely saw Liu Xie so worried, and she didn't know what big thing had happened.

Liu Xie did not hide it from her and said frankly: "The water of the Yellow River has become clearer this year, which is probably due to the drying up of the upstream river."

"If this is true, then thousands of miles along the Yellow River will suffer from severe drought this year, and countless people on both sides will suffer."

"I am worried."

Zhen Mi couldn't help but be moved when she heard this. Floods and droughts are a headache for any dynasty.

The people dig for food from the land, and once irresistible natural disasters such as floods and droughts occur, it is easy for the people to lose everything.

If the imperial court fails to provide effective disaster relief, then a large number of people will inevitably die and corpses will be scattered all over the ground, which will in turn shock the country.

Among all disasters, drought is the most serious. After a drought occurs, thousands of miles of land will be barren, which means that the people will have no harvest for the whole year. This puts huge pressure on the imperial court and is very likely to cause unrest.

In addition, there are many people living along the Yellow River. Once there is a problem with the Yellow River, the impact will be huge. No wonder Liu Huihui is so worried.

Zhen Mi continued to ask: "Does your majesty have any countermeasures?"

Liu Xie nodded slightly and said, "I have ordered people to go to the source of the Yellow River to investigate, and make preparations for transferring grain and preparing for disasters."

"I hope I'm just overthinking it."

Hearing this, Zhen Mi reached out and held Liu Xie's hand, comforting him: "Your Majesty, don't worry too much, everything will be fine."

Liu Xie smiled and said nothing, but his worries did not diminish in the slightest because of Zhen Mi's words.

He did order the transfer of grain to prepare for disasters, but if a severe drought really occurs this year, the number of people affected will be huge.

It was a huge test for the imperial court which had just experienced war.

"Forget it. There's no point in worrying now. I hope the results of the investigation can be presented soon. It would be best if I was wrong."

Liu Xie thought to himself, then he put away his thoughts, cast his gaze towards Zhen Mi, and asked, "My beloved, your birthday is coming up in a few days, right?"

Zhen Mi blinked and said, "I didn't expect Your Majesty to still remember it. I thought Your Majesty had forgotten it."

She had wanted to talk to Liu Xie about her birthday today, hoping that Liu Xie could spare a day to accompany her to the suburbs for an outing and leave the child with Lu Lingqi.

But since she had just heard about the drought, she didn't mention it again, as she didn't want to distract Liu Xie.

"How could I forget?"

Liu Xie smiled, then took out a roll of paper from his sleeve, handed it to Zhen Mi and said, "I have prepared the gifts for my beloved concubine."

Seeing that Liu Xie had prepared a gift, Zhen Mi was very surprised and reached out to take the gift.

When I opened it, I found that it was actually a painting, which was drawn using the sketching method and the painting was extremely delicate.

As for the person in the painting, who else could it be if not her?

In addition to this painting there is also a piece of paper.

There are three big characters written on it: "The Goddess of Luo River".

"In the fifth year of Jian'an, I returned to Chang'an and passed through Luochuan. The ancients said that the goddess of this water was named Mi Fei. Inspired by Song Yu's story about the goddess of the King of Chu, I wrote this poem..."

"…its shape is as graceful as a startled wild goose and as gentle as a swimming dragon. It is as glorious as the autumn chrysanthemum and as luxuriant as the spring pine. It is like a light cloud covering the moon and fluttering like snowflakes blown by the wind. From a distance, it is as bright as the sun rising in the morning glow; from close up, it is as dazzling as a lotus emerging from the green waves…"

"…Then Luo Ling was inspired, wandering around, his divine light flickering, sometimes dark, sometimes bright. He stood up straight like a crane, as if about to fly but not yet. He stepped on the strong pepper and the fragrant orchid…"

The entire "Ode to the Goddess of Luo River" has nearly a thousand words, with extremely gorgeous language, and the whole article is full of words praising the beauty of the goddess of Luo River.

Zhen Mi was deeply attracted after reading only a few paragraphs, especially when she read "It seems as if a light cloud covers the moon; it flutters like snowflakes blown by the wind", her face turned red and her heartbeat accelerated involuntarily.

"Your Majesty, is this poem... about me?"

Zhen Mi looked at Liu Xie with an expectant yet shy look, and asked uncertainly.

There is no other reason, it’s just that this fu is so beautiful.

She was also a woman who was well-read in poetry and literature, but among all the fu poems she had read so far, none could be compared with "The Goddess of Luo River"!
This poem was so intoxicating to read that even though the words "Mi Fei" were written at the beginning, she could not be sure that it was written by Liu Xie for her.

"If it's not addressed to my beloved concubine, then who is it addressed to?"

Liu Xie asked, looking at Zhen Mi lovingly, and said, "In the whole world, only my beloved concubine's beauty is worthy of the title of 'Goddess of Luoshui'."

Hearing Liu Xie's straightforward and bold words, Zhen Mi's pretty face immediately turned red. Her beautiful eyes were full of love. She looked up at Liu Xie and spat softly, "Your Majesty, you really humiliate me. I... am not worthy of such a title."

"If this gets out, I'm sure people all over the world will laugh at me, even women in the future will laugh at me."

The talent of this fu is so high that once it is passed on to the world, it will surely become famous throughout the world and be passed down through the ages.

By then, everyone in the world will know that this is a love poem written by the emperor to her.

So how could she not feel shy?
Liu Xie pretended to say, "If my beloved concubine doesn't like it, then return it to me and I will give it to the queen later."

As he said this, he was about to reach out and take back both the painting and the poem.

"I, I didn't say no!"

Zhen Mi suddenly became anxious and even started to call herself.

She quickly put away the painting and poem, then glared at Liu Xie and said angrily: "You gave them all to me, how can you give them to the Queen? Your Majesty wants two paintings for one cake again."

"But you really can't favor one over the other. Your Majesty should write a poem for the Queen when you return. Otherwise, if it gets out, people will think that Your Majesty is neglecting the Queen."

Liu Xie couldn't help but burst out laughing when he heard this.

When it's Lu Lingqi's birthday, he will naturally prepare a gift. He just said this just to tease Zhen Mi.

Zhen Mi carefully kept the paintings and poems, her heart filled with happiness, because in her opinion Liu Xie's gift was better than any treasure!
"Your Majesty, please eat quickly. The food is getting cold. Just think of it as celebrating your birthday in advance." "Okay, as you say."

The two of them began to eat, chatting and laughing, as warm as ever.

Even after going through so much, their feelings have not changed, but have become even deeper.

……

Liu Xie sent people to investigate the source of the Yellow River and soon came to a conclusion.

Everything happened as he expected. The rivers in the upper reaches of the Yellow River dried up this year and the water level dropped a lot.

After learning the news, Liu Xie immediately issued an order that all government offices along the Yellow River begin to prepare for drought.

Just like that, two months passed in a flash.

The severe drought along the Yellow River came as expected. Not only was the temperature extremely hot, but there had been no rain for two months. Some small rivers simply dried up, leaving the area barren for thousands of miles.

Most of the crops grown by the people died in the fields due to lack of water, and even the water level of the Yellow River dropped to an all-time low!

This drought is a severe drought that has not been seen for decades!
If there is no advance preparation for such a drought, it will inevitably cause great turmoil in the country and lead to a great famine, which will be the beginning of a nightmare.

The great famine was beyond the control of local governments and counties. Once the victims began to flee, it would have an impact on all cities and counties. Just resettling the victims would keep the court busy.

If grain were transferred from other places for disaster relief at this time, it would definitely be taken advantage of by merchants and wealthy families, who would maliciously raise grain prices and make a profit.

During the famine, the victims exchanged their children for food, gnawed trees and ate the soil. All that was written down were just a few words in a book.

But behind the words is blood!

This preparation for disaster relief also proved how wise Liu Xie's decision was, because he predicted the drought in advance and asked Fa Zheng to invest millions of dollars to prepare for the drought, so all places made preparations in advance to deal with the drought.

Zhuge Liang had completed the grain transfer a month ago, and now the grain reserves in local prefectures and counties are more than 40% more than before.

Not only that, the State Administration of Taxation also sent people to Yizhou and Jingzhou in advance to purchase a large amount of grain for storage, and once there was a shortage of food, they would immediately transfer it to the disaster area to replenish it.

With so many preparations, we don’t have to be afraid even if a great famine really happens!
Weiyang Palace, Xuanshi.

Now drought has occurred in all parts of the Han Dynasty. Everything is just as Liu Xie expected, a severe drought has struck.

Although the drought situation was urgent, the officials in the palace did not look nervous, but rather looked very relaxed.

"Your Majesty is right. The clear water of the Yellow River is a sign of a severe drought."

Fa Zheng couldn't help but sigh.

"Now the Guanzhong area is barren for thousands of miles, all the crops have died from drought, and even several major rivers have dried up. This kind of drought is unprecedented.

Zhuge Liang also nodded and sighed, "If it weren't for your majesty's foresight and early preparations to fight the drought, I'm afraid the people in Guanzhong would have been living in misery by now. Your majesty is wise!"

The other ministers in the hall also praised him.

This compliment was truly from the heart, and there was no element of flattery, because if the emperor had not insisted on transferring grain to prepare for drought, the consequences would have been unimaginable!
Hearing the flattery from the ministers in the hall, Liu Xie did not feel complacent at all. He knew that although he had made sufficient preparations, the people would still have a hard time.

"How is the disaster relief going now? Have notices been issued in various places?"

Liu Xie looked at Fa Zheng and said, "We must not let the people panic. We must show the confidence of the court."

Fa Zheng smiled confidently and said, "Your Majesty, please rest assured. There is enough food and grass in all counties. As long as we open the government warehouses and let the people see it, they will be relieved. This time, we have made sufficient preparations and will definitely not let famine occur!"

Fa Zheng knew very well how well prepared he was, so he had the confidence to make this guarantee.

"Very good, the drought has been overcome, and you deserve the most credit!"

Liu Xie then revealed a smile. Fa Zheng had indeed put in a lot of effort in adjusting grain reserves to prepare for drought, and his contribution was not small.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Fa Zheng breathed a sigh of relief and bowed to express his gratitude. To him, the emperor's recognition meant more to him than any merit.

Liu Xie said to Jia Xu and Yuan Xi, "Send more people to keep an eye on them. If grain merchants dare to take advantage of the situation to raise grain prices, there is no need to report to the emperor. Just punish them severely!"

"In the face of disasters, we will not allow scoundrels to commit crimes, and we will not tolerate profiting from national disasters!"

Liu Xie's tone was quite firm.

Why do so many people die every time a natural disaster occurs? This is inseparable from the grain merchants in various places who drive up grain prices. They don’t care how many people die, they only care about whether they can make a lot of money.

Liu Xie would not tolerate such a thing. Whoever dared to take advantage of the national crisis to make money at this critical moment would be killed with a knife. Now that we are short of food, it would be nice to kill one or two of them.

Yuan Xi and Jia Xu said respectfully: "We obey your order!"

After discussing the drought and catching up on the follow-up arrangements, Liu Xie finally felt relieved and ordered his maid to bring iced plum soup to reward his ministers.

Fa Zheng and others expressed their gratitude without any hesitation, because the weather had been too hot recently and this kind of delicacy could only be enjoyed in the palace.

Only Guo Jia held the bowl and looked at Liu Xie, looking as if he wanted to say something but hesitated, as if hesitating whether to speak or not.

Seeing this, Liu Xie asked with a smile: "What's wrong, Fengxiao, is this plum soup not to your taste?"

Guo Jia hesitated for a moment, put the bowl down, and then cupped his hands and said, "That's not the case... Your Majesty, I have something to report."

Guo Jia's opening words immediately attracted everyone's attention.

Liu Xie's eyebrows slightly raised, he was puzzled, but he nodded and said: "What does Fengxiao want to report?"

Zhuge Liang stood up and left the table, saying in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, there have been rumors circulating in various places recently, saying that this drought is a disaster sent by heaven, all because Your Majesty founded the Imperial Academy, which violated the laws of our ancestors and the teachings of the saints."

As soon as these words were spoken, the entire hall fell silent.

The maid who was about to serve the plum soup to Liu Xie was so frightened that her hand trembled, and the fine porcelain bowl in her hand, which was worth a thousand coins, fell to the ground and shattered into pieces.

"This slave deserves to die! This slave deserves to die!"

The palace maid was so frightened that her face turned pale. She fell to her knees with a thud, kowtowed repeatedly, and trembled all over.

Being disrespectful in front of the emperor is a serious crime punishable by death!
"Things with no eyes!"

The eunuch standing by was furious and was about to go up and beat and scold him.

But Liu Xie raised his hand to stop her and said calmly: "It's okay, you all should leave first and don't blame her."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The eunuch naturally did not dare to disobey the emperor's words. He bowed and left, and the maid also left with him.

Only Liu Xie and other cabinet ministers were left in the hall.

(End of this chapter)