I became the tyrant's only belief.

Chapter 500 I Want to Spend Some Money

“Your Majesty, it’s already May.” Chu Liuzheng raised his hand and put it on the emperor’s arm. “If what’s written on the scroll is true, we need to start preparing now.”

Natural disasters are not man-made calamities, especially something like a month-long torrential downpour. With the current level of technology in this world, there's not much that can be done to intervene; we can only do our best to prevent them and prepare for disaster relief.

For example, stockpiling grain and medicine in advance, sending people to reinforce the dikes along the Minjiang River, and harvesting crops before the torrential rains—every little bit helps. They also had to evacuate downstream residents before the downpours and organize nearby prefectures and counties to build temporary shelters.

[If possible, a group of doctors should be recruited in advance. If the plague does not occur, all will be well; but if an epidemic still breaks out despite these precautions, timely isolation and treatment will be necessary to curb its spread.]

【besides……】

Chu Liuzheng suddenly saw the second one and almost cursed.

[Qingzhou is suffering from floods, and the southwest is experiencing natural disasters. They're caught in a bind of water and fire, and you're trying to simmer soup here? You're bound to be in a terrible mess, aren't you?]

[What do you mean by "lightning struck a tree and caused a fire"? There are so many forests in the southwest, Brother Xiaoyao, please specify which tree it was! How are we supposed to prevent fires from spreading with so many trees?]

"Achoo!" Yi Zhen, who had just returned to Chongshan Hall, suddenly sneezed loudly.

He rubbed his nose.

"Master, we've already given you the scroll, so stop cursing and accept reality."

[You have no choice but to accept it. Didn't you tell me to assist Xiao Jingfan in rectifying the chaos and earn more bonuses? I've done everything you said, so why are you still unhappy?]

They didn't reveal much, but we're doing this for the sake of the mission.

[We haven't violated the host's rules, so even if the supervisors find out, they won't punish us.]

【Of course it's a good deal. Look, not only can we save tens of thousands of people, but we also have people working themselves to the bone for us, while we just sit back and count our winnings. Is there a better deal than this?】

What I said makes perfect sense. You should recalculate the costs. I'm going to take a nap; if you keep making noise, I'll file a complaint!

Yi Zhen unilaterally ended the conversation with the system, lay down on the bed, and went to sleep.

*
Upon receiving the emperor's urgent summons, the current Minister of Revenue rushed into the Wenhua Hall with his account books, ready to plead his poverty with the emperor as usual to see if he could reduce expenditures further. However, he was met with a question from the emperor: "How much money is left in the national treasury?"

The Minister of Revenue was greatly alarmed. He clutched the account book tightly, his eyes filled with suspicion, and asked, "What are you planning to do?"

Xiao Jingfan coughed lightly and said in a serious tone, "I want to spend some money."

Minister of Revenue: !!!
The doors of the Wenhua Hall were closed for an hour, and the sound of weeping could be heard from time to time.

It is said that when the Minister of Revenue came out, he looked as if he had just been ordered to exterminate his entire family; his back was hunched and he looked shorter than usual.

Having seized the silver from the Minister of Revenue, the emperor immediately summoned a group of his trusted ministers to the palace.

Before the ministers arrived, Chu Liuzheng quickly brought over the prepared hot food and dishes, feeding the emperor until he was half full. She also had the imperial kitchen prepare some snacks for the ministers so they could have something to eat if they got hungry while discussing matters.

Chu Liuzheng didn't care much about the specifics of the talks or the preparations the court needed to make. She believed that these shrewd people could think of things more thoroughly than she could, and their methods would be more suitable for this era.

What she needs to do now is to find Yi Zhen and see if she can mark the exact location of the wildfire on a map and send people to keep a close watch on it, so that the flames can be extinguished as soon as they start.

“Southwest by south.” Yi Zhen estimated and circled two places on the map with a vermilion pen. Chu Liuzheng looked closely and couldn’t help but twitch his lips.

[These two areas are so big, what's the difference between painting them and not painting them at all?]

Could you be more specific?

“No.” Yi Zhen spread his hands. “The world line changes too much. Even these two locations were calculated by the system under my pressure. There’s no guarantee that the ignition point will definitely be here.”

Chu Liuzheng: "...Is it possible that Qingzhou might not get a month of continuous rain?"

“A good idea, I hope so too.” Yi Zhen crossed his arms. “However, it’s bound to rain in Qingzhou.” Chu Liuzheng pouted and pointed at the map. “You just said you weren’t sure.”

“The two are different,” Yi Zhen explained. “In the original timeline, a wildfire broke out in the southwest, but it wasn’t specified where, so anything is possible. However, the heavy rain in Qingzhou and the Minjiang River breaching its banks are clearly recorded and generally won’t change.”

Doesn't this mean that what's meant to happen will happen? Then will all our efforts be worthwhile?

Thinking this through, Chu Liuzheng asked, "If the imperial court had sent people to reinforce the dikes, evacuate the people in advance, and provide timely disaster relief, would so many people have died?"

[System, please stop yelling, my head is about to explode.]

Suppressing the pounding in his head, Yi Zhen mumbled, "Doing something is better than doing nothing."

Okay, okay, shut up, I'll shut up.

Chu Liuzheng glanced at him, then reached out and rolled up the map. "That's true, do your best and leave the rest to fate. I have other things to do, so I'll be going now. I'll treat you to dinner another day."

Yi Zhen hurriedly called out to the person, "Change to another one. Can you help me tell His Majesty that I want to leave the palace?"

Chu Liuzheng paused in his steps and turned back. "What are you doing leaving the palace?"

“Of course I want to play.” Yi Zhen sighed. “Aside from the slightly better living conditions, the palace is incredibly boring. I’m so bored I’m practically growing mushrooms. I want to go out of the palace for some fresh air.”

Chu Liuzheng: "Why don't you go and tell His Majesty yourself?"

“If I go and talk to His Majesty, he definitely won’t agree,” Yi Zhen said. “You’re different. I think His Majesty treats you well. I’ve had the system calculate it, and if you go and talk to him, the chances of His Majesty agreeing will be much higher.”

Upon hearing this, Chu Liuzheng thought for a moment and said, "I can't guarantee that His Majesty will agree."

"Thank you." Yi Zhen smiled, cupped his hands in greeting, and personally saw her out.

After tonight, disaster prevention work will be carried out in full swing.

As the weather grew hotter, the palace servants changed their spring clothes for lighter summer garments, and cicadas clung to the trees, chirping incessantly.

Before the July rains fell, Chu Liuzheng received a box sent by Jiang Yao. Inside the box was a letter and two boxes.

One square box and one rectangular box.

Chu Liuzheng tucked the letter into his sleeve and then took out the square box.

[There's still some substance to it. What good stuff did Lord Jiang send me?]

She reached out and opened it, only to be caught off guard by a manipulated human head.

A red dot between the eyebrows indicates a flat head, and the eyes are still open.

【Ah ah ah ah! ! ! 】

A loud bang echoed in his mind, and Chu Liuzheng jumped up and ran outside in fright.

The person was still moving, but the soul had been floating around in the head for quite a while.

Chenxing quickly put the lid back on and chased after her to comfort her: "It's dead, don't be afraid, sister."

Death is truly terrifying!

Chu Liuzheng stood at the door, on the verge of tears, not understanding why Jiang Yao would send her this thing.
Why can't we just bury it or burn it anywhere?

She really doesn't have that weird hobby of collecting human heads!

(End of this chapter)