After the rebellion was successful, I realized that this place was the Red Mansion

Chapter 232 Flood
When Chu Yan returned to Yangxin Hall with Daiyu, Baochai, and the other girls, they had nothing else to do but sit and chat to pass the time. Chu Yan asked Xichun and Xiangyun to keep him company. He leaned against the soft couch and saw Xiangyun tell a joke, which made her sisters laugh. She looked particularly charming and cute, so he couldn't help but hug her slender and delicate waist.

He first kissed Xiangyun's cheeks a few times. Seeing that Xiangyun did not dodge, and that the girls in the room did not say much, even Daiyu did not get up to leave, Chu Yan then hugged Xiangyun and lowered his head to kiss her two rosy lips.

“Brother Emperor…you have your sisters here.”

Xiangyun protested through her muffled mouth as Chu Yan kissed her, but before long, Chu Yan broke through her lips, and the two became intimately entwined.

Xi Chun remained seated next to Chu Yan, but after glancing at the two of them, she blushed and remained silent.

Baoqin muttered something but didn't say anything.

Baochai glanced at it twice, then smiled and spoke to Yingchun, whose face was flushed with embarrassment.

Tan Chun glanced at the Emperor and Xiang Yun, then turned to Daiyu with a smile, pointed, and gestured for her to look as well.

Daiyu blushed and spat lightly, scolding, "He really is a foolish ruler, one of the greatest in history, who only cares about women day and night."

She spoke softly, and only Tan Chun heard her. She lowered her head and chuckled for a moment, then quietly asked her, "Aren't you hiding anymore?"

Daiyu didn't answer her, but instead cracked melon seeds with her hand.

The girls inside seemed to have finally gotten used to the emperor's absurdity. He embraced and kissed Xiangyun on the couch, while they chatted and joked on the chairs. They would only glance at the soft couch occasionally and blush with embarrassment.

"Is your sister looking closely?"

Baoqin suddenly looked at her sister Baochai and saw that she kept glancing at the Emperor, as if trying to figure out how the girl was making love to him.

Baoqin glanced at her again and saw that Sister Yun was already moved. She closed her eyes, hugged the Emperor's neck, and kissed him. Her charming face was flushed with passion.

After a while, the laughter of girls came from outside. It was Fangguan and the others returning from their opera practice. The laughter startled Xiangyun inside the house. She hurriedly separated from Chu Yan, her face turning bright red with embarrassment.

Daiyu thought he had finally calmed down, but to her surprise, the tyrant embraced Xichun again, pulled her into his arms, and kissed her passionately once more.

Daiyu got annoyed and stood up, saying, "Sister Qin, let's go sit in the next room for a while!"

As he spoke, he took Baoqin's hand and was about to leave.

Chu Yan released Xiao Xichun's pink lips and hurriedly said with a smile, "Don't go, sit with me for a while. I'll have dinner served later, and we can have some wine together."

Daiyu glanced sideways and clearly saw Xichun's eyes glazed over, her red lips slightly parted as she let out a soft pink tongue to kiss the tyrant. The sight made one's face burn, and one dared not look any longer.

The girls also saw this scene, and they all blushed and lowered their heads.

They had all been embraced and caressed by Chu Yan to varying degrees, though the number of times and the depth of their intimacy differed. For example, Tan Chun and Bao Chai only had fleeting encounters, and Chu Yan had never kissed them so deeply.

However, Baoqin, Xiangyun, and Yingchun all experienced this kind of feeling.

And wasn't Daiyu the same?
Seeing Xichun's passionate expression, she knew that Xichun had been so captivated by the emperor's kisses that she had lost all sense of reality and was completely oblivious to the world around her.

Xi Chun slowly came to her senses, her face flushed with embarrassment, and she lightly covered her lips with her small hand. Although her sisters were watching, she did not shy away from Chu Yan's embrace.

She was most worried that the unsavory things in her family would implicate her, so she always avoided her older brother and sister-in-law and rarely went home.

But now that she and Chu Yan have a formal title and she has become one of his concubines, and the sisters in the house have also entered the palace as concubines, there is no need to hide it anymore. They can simply assume that their emperor husband is favoring them.

It was a bit embarrassing, though.

In front of her sisters, she kissed the Emperor on the lips.

Chu Yan laughed and said, "How about Lin Meimei come and sit with me for a while? I promise I won't lay a hand on you."

Just as Daiyu was about to speak, she suddenly heard Qingwen outside say, "Miss Xing has arrived."

Because there were many young ladies in the room, Xing Xiuyan did not wait. Xiangling lifted the curtain for her, and she walked in with a smile, giving people the impression of a gentle and docile young lady.

Chu Yan looked at her and smiled, "Xiuyan is here? It's been several days since I last saw you."

Xiuyan lowered her head in shame, unable to answer. Because she lived in the Jade Emperor Temple, she often went there to chat with Miaoyu in the meditation hall. She rarely went to the homes of the other girls, and she also rarely came to the Yangxin Hall, because there were often young ladies and concubines there. When she came, she would just sit and keep them company.

She had no interest in vying for favor, so she only visited Yangxin Hall once every three to five days to see Chu Yan.

Daiyu smiled, took Xing Xiuyan's hand, and said with a smile, "Sister Xing, you've come at just the right time. There's an empty seat next to an emperor. Please take your seat."

He then gave her a light push.

Xiuyan sat down on the couch, and Chu Yan put his arm around her waist. She did not move away, but instead, like Xichun, leaned into Chu Yan's arms.

Daiyu said, "I'm going to talk to Xiangling for a bit."

As she spoke, she took Baoqin's hand again and went out. Xiangyun hurriedly followed, while Baochai and the others stayed in the room.

After a while, when they started setting up the table and chairs to prepare for dinner, Daiyu and the other two went back into the room and saw Tanchun sitting in the emperor's lap, her face flushed red, and she struggled to get down after a long while.

The girls tacitly avoided mentioning what had just happened and sat down to prepare for dinner.

At the banquet, Chu Yan raised his wine cup and smiled at them, saying, "I apologize to you all and will punish myself with a cup."

Daiyu, who was also holding a cup of wine in her slender hand, glanced at him when she heard his words and said, "Stop humiliating the girls, or you'll make them so ashamed they'll want to crawl into a hole in the ground."

Xiangyun chuckled and raised her glass to drink with Chu Yan.

Baochai took a small sip of wine from her rosy lips and said with a smile, "It's alright in the inner palace."

This is a rebuttal to Daiyu's words.

Since it was Baochai who said it, Daiyu couldn't reply.

Chu Yan looked around and asked with a smile, "What do you all think? Don't be afraid to speak up, I won't be angry."

Daiyu quickly laughed and said, "Don't believe him! When he calls himself 'I,' he's really good at fooling people! If you tell the truth, he'll definitely get angry!"

Baochai glanced at her and smiled, "Aren't we sisters just joking around in private? His Majesty's word is law. Even if he talks like a child, he won't get angry at us girls for saying something."

Upon hearing this, Daiyu simply smiled.

Xiangyun added, "Even if His Majesty the Emperor gets angry, he won't punish us. He'll just drag us over and lay us across his lap to spank our bottoms."

All the girls in the room blushed!

Chu Yan couldn't help but chuckle. The naive Shi Xiangyun thought it was a spanking. Well, not only her, but probably all the girls in the room didn't know what a spanking was. They just felt ashamed to be spanked by him while he was holding them down on his knees.

Tan Chun scolded her playfully, "Are you talking about me, Sister Yun? I'll settle the score with you after dinner!"

Xiangyun quickly smiled and begged for forgiveness, saying that she had momentarily forgotten that her third sister had also been punished.

Baoqin then laughed and said, "It's fine that His Majesty played around with us in the harem, but now that we've all entered the palace and become imperial concubines, there's one older sister..." She deliberately looked around, "but I didn't agree to enter the palace, so my sister saw me, which makes me quite embarrassed!"

Everyone turned to look at Daiyu, and seeing the visible blush on her pretty face, they all laughed.

The question about Chu Yan was forgotten after Baoqin's playful remark.

As the banquet drew to a close, they all put down their chopsticks and stayed with Chu Yan, watching him slowly drink and eat.

Daiyu had a small appetite; she was full after eating only half of what she had eaten. She sat with Xiangyun for a while, chopsticks in hand, before finally putting hers down as well.

Chu Yan glanced at the table and laughed, "None of you eat braised pork knuckle with ham?"

He ate only one piece of the dish; the others didn't eat any.

Xiangyun laughed and said, "This pork knuckle is a bit too fatty today, I don't want to eat it."

Daiyu said, "When dining with His Majesty the Emperor, there are seventeen or eighteen dishes on the table. We only pick a few of the best ones."

Chu Yan nodded, ignoring Daiyu's teasing, and called Qingwen in, instructing her to take the braised ham and pork knuckle to the young actresses. He left the rest of the dishes for them, and as was customary, any leftovers were to be given to the palace maids and eunuchs outside. Qingwen then took the ham and pork knuckle to the side room. A short while later, Fangguan returned with the dishes and Qingwen, saying, "Thank you for the gift, Your Majesty, but this dish is too oily; we don't like it!"

They returned the ham.

Baochai glanced at her so much that she even returned the emperor's reward, which shows that this girl was usually favored.

Chu Yan said, "If you don't want to eat it, then so be it. Take it back to your homes for the maids and servants to eat."

He instructed Baochai and the others to take the gifts back and distribute them to the servants.

Daiyu smiled and said, "I want that ham hock to save for my mother; she always eats it. I thank Your Majesty on my mother's behalf."

Her mother was her wet nurse, Granny Wang.

As she spoke, she stood up and bowed. Chu Yan waved for her to sit down. Following Daiyu's example, the other girls each picked out one or two dishes and asked the palace maids to send them home to reward their maids and servants.

It wasn't that Chu Yan was deliberately frugal, but rather that the emperor's dishes were so expensive that ordinary people couldn't afford them. Even Yuan Chun had once bestowed several dishes upon the Jia family.

After they had eaten and drunk their fill, Chu Yan sat and chatted with them for a while longer. Seeing that the weather was gloomy and it was already night, he told them to go back.

At this moment, Qingwen suddenly entered and reported, "Your Majesty, Xia Shouzhong has come to deliver a message, saying that the Left Prime Minister requests an audience!"

The room suddenly became quiet.

They all knew that if the Prime Minister came to see the Emperor again after nightfall, something major must have happened!
Chu Yan got into bed, and Xiangyun quickly put his shoes on for him before they went outside together.

After clarifying the matter, Chu Yan instructed, "Order General Sun Yunjing, the Imperial Guard, to wait for me outside the garden gate."

Xia Shouzhong hurriedly agreed, then asked, "Should we call the other guards over to receive the imperial decree?"

Chu Yan said, "It's none of your business to interfere."

As he went inside, he asked Qingwen to fetch his inner armor so he could change into it.

Xia Shouzhong, standing outside the door, remained silent, not daring to say another word, and hurriedly went out to summon the palace guard general.

The girls inside were all nervous.

After Qingwen and Xiangling changed his inner armor, Chu Yan looked at the expressions on their faces and smiled, "Don't worry, I'm wearing inner armor just in case." He paused and then added, "A few years ago, someone pretended to surrender and sent an inside agent to trick me into going out, so I'm just being more careful when things happen."

He then said, "Go back and go to sleep."

Baochai took the lantern from Ying'er and said hurriedly, "Qin and I are returning to Hengwu Garden, and we'll see His Majesty off on the way."

Chu Yan glanced at the two sisters and nodded in agreement. The three of them then went out, accompanied only by palace maids and eunuchs, while Hongyu, Xiangling, and the others remained in Yangxin Hall.

Daiyu watched him leave.

A few months ago, she would have hoped that something would happen so that the Jia family could return to the status of a noble family.

Looking at his back now, I can't help but worry about him.

Chao Xiangyun said, "How about I stay and sleep with you tonight?"

Xiangyun smiled and asked, "Sister Lin, are you waiting for the Emperor to come back and then sleeping with me, or are you sleeping with me and waiting for the Emperor to come back?"

Tan Chun and the others laughed and teased Daiyu, who blushed. They told her to send someone to inform them if anything happened, and then each of them took their lanterns and went home.

Chu Yan, Baochai, and Baoqin arrived at the back gate of the Grand View Garden. The gate was already open, and several eunuchs and gatekeepers were there. Two ram horn palace lanterns hung from the eaves.

Chu Yan gestured for the two sisters to step back, then stepped forward and spotted General Sun Yunjing, the palace guard, leading several men guarding the door. He ordered Sun Yunjing to come over and asked, "Who came tonight?"

Sun Yunjing hurriedly cupped his hands and replied, "It was the Left Prime Minister who knocked on the door, saying that the Yellow River had breached its banks. The Right Prime Minister, several officials from the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works have also arrived and are still outside the door."

"Let them in. When other officials come later, just let them in."

Chu Yan turned around and nodded to Baochai and Baoqin, then left through the back gate of the garden and strode towards Pear Fragrance Courtyard.

After nightfall, only the Prime Minister and the six ministers could knock on the palace gates, but only the Prime Minister was allowed to wait inside the Pear Fragrance Courtyard; the rest remained outside.

Watching Chu Yan's figure disappear, Baochai frowned and said, "So it's because the Yellow River has breached its banks. I wonder how many prefectures and counties have been flooded. No wonder His Majesty was summoned to deal with it overnight."

Baoqin nodded and said, "The floods of the Yellow River have always been a major concern of the imperial court. The disaster report must have been sent by express courier."

The two stood there for a while, and then saw seven or eight officials enter from outside the door. They were not wearing court robes, but only ordinary clothes, and hurriedly entered the Pear Fragrance Courtyard.

The two sisters waited a little longer, and only when they saw two more officials arrive did they gradually feel relieved.

Baoqin turned her head and asked, "Sister, shall we go back?"

Baochai said, "You should go back to sleep first. I'll stay here and wait a while, and then I'll have some eunuchs and maids escort you back."

Baoqin smiled at her, and then, escorted by eunuchs and maids, she and Xiaoluo returned to Hengwu Garden.

Inside the Pear Fragrance Courtyard, seven or eight palace lanterns illuminated the surroundings, and the left and right prime ministers and officials from the six ministries were all waiting for the emperor to finish reading the urgent report.

half an hour.

Chu Yan put down the report and asked, "How many prefectures and counties are expected to be flooded this time? How many people will be affected?"

Chu Ming was prepared and immediately reported: "In addition to Yongshui County, which was directly flooded, the flood is expected to spread to seven nearby prefectures and counties, affecting more than 500,000 people."

"Five hundred thousand... disaster relief would require at least four or five million."

Chu Yan pondered for a moment, then asked, "How much silver is left in the national treasury?"

The Minister of Revenue hurriedly came out to report: "There are a total of five million taels of silver, and the rest are worth more than eight million taels of silver."

Chu Yan said, "You need to find a way to take out three million taels from it, we're still short two million taels."

A vice minister of the Ministry of Revenue said, “Your Majesty, there is still some government grain in various places. According to the previous dynasty’s disaster relief practices, two million taels of silver is enough for 500,000 disaster victims. The expenses for plugging the breach can be covered by work relief for the disaster victims.”

Chu Yan said, "That was the method of the previous dynasty. I have also learned about it. That amount of disaster relief money is far from enough."

This Vice Minister of Revenue was an official from the previous dynasty.

After some discussion, the Ministry of Revenue could only come up with two million taels of silver; any more would shake the foundations of the nation.

Chu Yan had no choice but to ask, "Are there any other places where I can spend money?"

Chu Ming said, "His Majesty mentioned a few days ago that the temples and Taoist temples in the capital are too wealthy, and the monks are not monks and the Taoists are not Taoists."

Chu Yan's spirits lifted, and he picked up his teacup and slowly drank it. After thinking carefully for a while, he said, "It is estimated that there will be many deaths in this flood. Order the monks and Taoists to chant sutras and pray for the disaster victims. In addition, the temples and Taoist temples have too much farmland. Leave each of them twenty acres and order them to cultivate the land themselves in the future. Also, let them donate some money to the disaster victims."

"I just don't know how much money they have?"

he asked again.

Xu Changjin laughed and said, "That's easy. Just tell them that a new emperor brings a new court, and if they're not compassionate enough, we'll replace them with a different abbot."

Chu Yan also laughed and said, "That's indeed a good idea, let's do it that way."

If, after the monks have donated to the disaster victims, there are still many novice monks serving them, then needless to say, the temple should be raided.

Subsequently, Chu Yan discussed matters such as money, grain transport for disaster relief, and dispatch of officials with his ministers. He appointed the Minister of Justice as the imperial envoy, who would go to provide disaster relief and comfort to the victims immediately after the morning court session the next day.

Many matters have been roughly drafted, and will be formally finalized with the other officials at the morning court tomorrow. After the morning court, decrees can be issued to various prefectures and counties to allocate grain and organize personnel for rescue efforts.

More detailed information about the disaster will be sent over later, and supplementary measures will be implemented to exempt some severely affected counties from taxes this year.

(End of this chapter)