good season

The fourth prince was so frightened that he didn't dare to breathe.

He had survived a near-death experience, and he was more afraid of death than others.

This time, he didn't act recklessly and rush to cross the river. He quietly stayed in the makeshift tent and waited by the bridge for two whole days.

Two days later, the bridge was repaired, and the vehicles drove carefully. Fortunately, everyone crossed the bridge smoothly without any further accidents.

After crossing the bridge, the situation became increasingly dangerous as they went forward. Occasionally, they could see human and animal corpses that had turned white from being soaked in water by the roadside. The Fourth Prince felt nauseous and vomited until he was dizzy and disoriented.

After traveling several dozen miles, thick smoke carrying an unusual odor drifted in the wind. Li Qing immediately sent someone to investigate. A moment later, he received a report that someone was burning corpses ahead.

"Who are they?" Li Qing asked.

"They were government officials. They were burning the bodies that had been pulled from the flood, some human and some animal."

Li Qing nodded and waved his hand, "Take a rest first."

Everyone was bewildered, wondering why they had to stay there.

The Fourth Prince didn't want to rest either. What was there to rest about? He had been resting in the carriage the whole time. All he wanted now was to get to the official post station as soon as possible and take a good bath.

Li Qing stepped forward and recounted what had happened: "Once those people have finished burning the bodies and the smoke has cleared, we can continue on our way."

Upon learning that not only human corpses but also livestock bodies had been burned, the Fourth Prince was furious: "These people have gone too far! It's one thing to grind the bones to ashes, but to mix them with livestock is another! Have these yamen runners tied up! I will have them beaten to death!"

Li Qing was stunned, looking at the Fourth Prince in disbelief. Could this man have damaged his brain during the last injury?

"As the saying goes, a great disaster is always followed by a great epidemic. These corpses have been soaking in the water for many days, and may have already caused an epidemic. They must be burned. The imperial court issued a general order to local government offices many years ago, stating that if an epidemic occurs, local government offices must implement this order."

The fourth prince was stunned. He only remembered two words from what Li Qing said.

Epidemic!

"Is...is an epidemic about to break out?" the fourth prince stammered.

Li Qing reassured him, "Your Highness, don't worry, it's still under control for now."

The fourth prince breathed a sigh of relief and slumped back into the carriage.

Li Qing sighed and silently shook his head.

He said to one of his men, "Bring those constables here."

He needs to understand the local situation.

A moment later, Li Qing saw the newcomers. To his surprise, besides several constables, there was another person he hadn't expected.

Xiao Zhen?

Is this Xiao Zhen?

Li Qing had met Xiao Zhen before. Although they had never spoken, he could still recognize him at a glance as Xiao Zhen, the son of Princess Jiayi who had died two years ago.

He stared intently at Xiao Zhen, but Xiao Zhen only nodded slightly to him. He knew this man was from the Embroidered Uniform Guard, but he couldn't recall his name.

After a long silence, Li Qing finally spoke slowly: "Young Master Xiao, it's been a long time. I am Li Qing."

Xiao Zhen's heart stirred; so this person was Li Qing!

The Imperial Guard who accompanied the Fifth Prince to Tongzhou in his previous life was not Li Qing, but someone else.

However, a riot broke out among the disaster victims in Tongzhou, and the imperial court sent the Embroidered Uniform Guard to suppress it. The leader of the guard was Li Qing, but Li Qing was killed by bandits on the way to Tongzhou.

In his previous life, Li Qing failed to reach Tongzhou; in this life, Li Qing has come alive.

Xiao Zhen smiled, wondering what unexpected events had happened that allowed Li Qing to escape unscathed.

Li Qing had a lot of questions, such as why Xiao Zhen was alive and well standing here now, especially in Tongzhou, since he had died long ago. But he knew that now was not the time to ask these questions.

He only asked about the current situation in Tongzhou City, and Xiao Zhen told him everything: "The people of the four regions of Tongzhou fled to Gaoping before the flood, but even so, many people were unable to escape in time. Currently, several hundred people are temporarily living on a small mountain in the city, and some are in Huangjiazhuang outside the city, which is at a higher elevation. Prefect Qian and many officials are currently there as well. We are still searching for the stranded people, but unfortunately, we have limited manpower and resources. In addition, there are limited supplies on the mountain, and there is a lack of medical care and medicine."

Li Qing nodded repeatedly. The situation in Tongzhou was much better than he had imagined. He thought the place was already in ruins, but he didn't expect that more than half of the people had fled in advance, and even those who did not flee had been resettled.

Remembering the Fourth Prince on the carriage, Li Qing asked, "How many people are currently living in the Huang Family Manor you mentioned?"

When Xiao Zhen heard him ask this question, she guessed that he wanted to send the Fourth Prince to Huang Family Manor.

That's not okay.

If the Fourth Prince goes to Huang Family Village, the people currently living there will have to vacate. It's one thing for Prefect Qian and his officials and their families, but there are still many homeless people there.

"Besides officials and their families, there are currently over two hundred ordinary people in Huangjiazhuangzi, all with their families. However, Huangjiazhuangzi is located on higher ground, and that area of ​​land belongs to the Huang family. In addition to the village, the Huang family also has a large mansion there, which is located on even higher ground than the village. However, this mansion has been vacant for a long time and is somewhat dilapidated, but it is safer than the village."

Li Qing thought to himself, "Then why would Prefect Qian and the others rather squeeze into the manor with the disaster victims than live in such a nice house?"

There's definitely something fishy about this house!

It's probably a haunted house!
Li Qing was right. The reason why the Huang family was willing to lend the house and the estate to the government and go to Gaoping for refuge was because both the house and the estate were unlucky places for the Huang family.

Because that house was a haunted house, where more than a dozen people died, the murderer fled into the village and injured many more people.

From then on, there were still tenants in the village, but the houses were empty, and there was no one to look after them.

Now that all the official post stations and inns were unavailable, Xiao Zhen thought of the haunted house. He even had Prefect Qian send people to clean the haunted house, just in time for the Fourth Prince to move in.

Although Li Qing had doubts, she did not ask them.

If we don't stay here, where else can we stay?
Even Prefect Qian has moved there. Is there any safer or quieter place in Tongzhou?
As for whether the house is haunted or not, he doesn't know unless he asks. As for the Fourth Prince, if even he doesn't know, how could that idiot Fourth Prince know?

The matter was settled. The Fourth Prince had been vomiting the whole way and desperately needed rest. Li Qing looked at Xiao Zhen meaningfully and said, "Young Master Xiao, I hope we can meet again." Xiao Zhen smiled slightly and replied, "We will."

Li Qing, accompanied by the Fourth Prince, hurriedly arrived at Huang Family Manor. Xiao Zhen had already sent a messenger to deliver the message, and Prefect Qian and a group of officials were waiting outside the manor to greet them.

Li Qing had no good feelings towards Prefect Qian. While they were still on the road, Madam Qian went to the inn to try to seduce the Fourth Prince. Prefect Qian thought that the news of his being cuckolded would not reach the capital, but little did he know that his affair was already known to the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Li Qing knew more about Madam Qian's lover than Prefect Qian himself.

Li Qing was too lazy to pay attention to Prefect Qian, and the Fourth Prince was walking unsteadily and was equally too lazy to talk to anyone, so the group simply greeted each other and went to the house.

Prefect Qian was already drenched in sweat. If the Fourth Prince and the Embroidered Uniform Guard found out that the house was haunted, would he lose his head?

Xiao Zhen is so despicable. It was clearly his idea, but he made him take all the blame.

The fourth prince had never been so content. He fell asleep almost as soon as he lay down on that not-so-soft bed.

Who knows, he hadn't seen a bed since leaving Yanzhou, and for two nights he even stayed in a drafty tent.

Now that you have a bed to sleep in, if you're still picky, you're just making things difficult for yourself.

Li Qing looked at the roof that was emitting a faint light. Even he didn't expect that the Fourth Prince would not cause any trouble and would just go to sleep so obediently.

Li Qing couldn't sleep; all he could think about was Xiao Zhen.

He decided to go out and leave the house, intending to take a walk in the village down the slope, only to find that there were yamen runners patrolling outside the village.

He summoned a constable to inquire about Xiao Zhen. This constable had been following Xiao Zhen around rescuing people since the beginning of the flood, and he knew a lot about Xiao Zhen.

"Young Master Xiao is a great philanthropist. He saves people everywhere. The hundreds of people living on the mountain now were all saved by Young Master Xiao, as were the people in the manor. After the flood, the prefect hid here and did nothing. It was Young Master Xiao who dragged him out of the house to see the flood and the suffering people outside, forcing him to gather us yamen runners to help with the rescue. By the way, I heard that the reason why the people went to Gaoping ahead of time was also thanks to Young Master Xiao and Miss Zhao."

“Miss Zhao the Second? Who is that?” Li Qing asked.

"Miss Zhao is a young girl. I saw her once at the city gate. It was raining heavily at the time. Miss Zhao came to the city gate wearing a raincoat. When she saw those families who wanted to risk leaving the city to escape, she patiently persuaded them to go to the mountains. Alas, Miss Zhao looks delicate, but what she did made us men admire her to the point of prostration."

"What is Young Master Xiao's background?" Li Qing asked again.

The constable shook his head: "I don't know, but he must come from a high-ranking family. Look at his manner and the tone he uses when he talks to our prefect. Sigh, you didn't see how afraid our prefect is of him."

"How many people do Young Master Xiao and Miss Zhao have under their command?" Li Qing asked.

The constable said, "Young Master Xiao has a man named Dazhuang under his command, and four guards who follow him around all day. As for Miss Zhao, she has maids and guards by her side. In fact, Miss Zhao has more guards than Young Master Xiao. This Miss Zhao is no ordinary person."

Li Qing thought to himself, "How could someone surnamed Zhao have a small background?"

Li Qing couldn't immediately recall which noblewoman's daughter would come to such a dangerous place.

However, we learned quite a bit from this constable, and it was clear that Xiao Zhen only had a few capable people around him, which explained why he wanted to cooperate with the government.

Furthermore, it's clear that Xiao Zhen's presence here wasn't Princess Jiayi's or Prince Consort Xiao's idea; otherwise, they wouldn't have let him come here with only a few people.

The more Li Qing thought about it, the more she wanted to see Xiao Zhen again.

The next day, everyone from the Ministry of Works went out, but the Fourth Prince refused to even leave his room, fearing the plague.

It wasn't until Prefect Qian arrived that the Fourth Prince reluctantly left his bedroom, covering his mouth and nose with a handkerchief.

Prefect Qian was confused and forgot all the flattering words he had prepared.

Li Qing soon saw Xiao Zhen again. Xiao Zhen wanted money, food, and the imperial physician they had brought.

Because it was uncertain at the time that Tongzhou would really be flooded, the fourth prince did not bring much money or food with him when he went out, but he had an imperial decree that allowed him to transfer grain from the Huiji Granary.

Huiji Granary is the closest official granary to Tongzhou. Previously, Xiao Zhen had Prefect Qian submit a memorial requesting the transfer of grain, but the bridge was broken and the memorial could not be delivered to the capital. The main reason why Xiao Zhen is still willing to cooperate with the Fourth Prince and Li Qing is for the sake of Huiji Granary.

In his previous life, the Fifth Prince also used grain from Huiji Granary, but the grain failed to reach Tongzhou and was replaced on the way. When the grain finally arrived, more than half of it was sand!
The Fifth Prince was kept completely in the dark and had no idea about these things. He thought that transferring the grain was a meritorious deed and never expected that the grain he ordered to be transferred would be switched.

The misappropriated grain was then resold to grain merchants at high prices, who then raised prices arbitrarily, making it impossible for ordinary people to afford grain. In some cases, a child could only be exchanged for a pound of coarse grain.

The Fourth Prince was unaware of Xiao Zhen's appearance. He did not want to see anyone, especially the locals, as he feared he might contract the plague.

Now, the person he trusts and relies on the most is Li Qing.

Li Qing could not only protect him, but also intimidate the Ministry of Works and local officials.

No wonder all emperors trusted the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Even before he became emperor, he had already experienced how useful the Embroidered Uniform Guard was.

Li Qing said that Tongzhou was able to achieve its current state thanks to the help of kind-hearted and righteous people. The Fourth Prince only heard the name "Young Master Xiao" from Li Qing, but he didn't pay attention to it and didn't even think about Xiao Zhen.

Xiao Zhen, that's someone who's dead beyond dead.

As for whether or not to meet this Young Master Xiao, the Fourth Prince shook his head repeatedly. A person who fishes out corpses from the water every day is probably already infected with the plague. This prince has no desire to meet him.

Li Qing proposed transferring grain from Huiji Granary, but the Fourth Prince shook his head at first, saying he dared not.

After much persuasion from Li Qing, the fourth prince finally realized that his father might like what he was doing.

The fourth prince immediately wrote a letter and attached a token given to him by his father when he left the capital, which allowed him to act as he pleased. Li Qing then dispatched twenty Imperial Guards, along with two of the fourth prince's confidants, to Huiji Granary.

They arrived at Huiji Granary and easily obtained the grain—a full twenty boatloads, and this was the first batch.

Just as the grain ship left the dock, a small boat appeared behind it and quietly followed.

Just like in the previous life, the ship stopped at Baofeng Wharf to resupply overnight before continuing its journey early the next morning.

Two trusted aides pulled two low-ranking officers of the Imperial Guard ashore for a meal. They went to Baofeng's largest restaurant. Once inside a private room, the two officers realized that someone was already waiting for them. (End of Chapter)