Chapter 328 Disaster Relief
Originally, Emperor Jingxi thought that there was nothing major happening in the court, so he could rest well and extend his life as much as possible.
Unexpectedly, heavy rains hit Cangzhou area continuously, causing floods. People were displaced and a large number of refugees began to flee everywhere.
The old emperor was troubled by this and summoned ministers and princes to the palace overnight to discuss disaster relief matters.
Although the Crown Prince was disliked by His Majesty for a period of time because of his factional activities, he now listens to the advice of the Queen and the Prime Minister, acts cautiously, and behaves quite well in front of the Emperor.
Therefore, Emperor Jingxi now values him more and more, and entrusts many things to the prince.
So, this time, the task of providing relief to the disaster victims and calming the people's hearts was given to the crown prince. The old emperor also wanted to use this matter to test the crown prince and see if he had the ability to be the ruler of a country.
The prince was overjoyed when he received the assignment. If this matter was done well, his reputation among the people would soar. With the support of the people, it would be easier for him to ascend to a high position in the future.
The prince's party was very happy for him, and he immediately kowtowed and knelt down to express his position, "Thank you, father, for your trust. I will do my best to settle the victims and deal with the aftermath."
The Fourth Prince has completely lost the emperor's favor because of the Qian Mansion incident. If the Fourth Prince had only framed the Qian Mansion, the old emperor would not think it was a big deal. After all, as a monarch, sometimes you have to use some means to achieve your goals.
But the Fourth Prince should never have anything to do with the Canglang Kingdom. It's okay for his own people to fight each other, but if he joins forces with foreigners, he would be a traitor. There is no way the old emperor would be willing to hand over the country to such a son.
When the Fourth Prince saw that the old emperor gave this good opportunity to gain fame to the Crown Prince, he was so angry that his face turned green. In order to hide his emotions, he clenched his hands hidden in his sleeves into fists.
At this moment, the Fourth Prince truly realized that the old emperor seemed to have given up on him. If he wanted to ascend to a high position, he had to rely more on himself.
The Fourth Prince thought to himself: Humph, since you want the Crown Prince to be in charge of the disaster relief in Cangzhou this time, then he will definitely not let the Crown Prince do his job as he wishes.
Sure enough, just as the prince received the disaster relief money from the national treasury, hundreds of thousands of taels of money disappeared the next day.
The prince was extremely anxious and wanted to go to the palace to report the matter to the old emperor, but Prime Minister Zhao stopped him and said, "Prince, your Majesty must not know about this. From what I know about your Majesty, your Majesty gave this matter to you just to test your ability. If your Majesty knew that the relief money was stolen right after it came into your hands, then your Majesty would only question your ability to handle affairs."
The prince looked irritable, "We can't tell Father, so what can we do? That's hundreds of thousands of silver for disaster relief. Without the silver, how can I buy food?"
"For now, we can only find a way to solve it ourselves. I still have some shops and farms that can barely help the Crown Prince to collect 100,000 taels of silver. For the rest, the Crown Prince can go to the Queen and ask her to help collect some."
The prince was overjoyed. "Thank you very much, Prime Minister. When I ascend the throne, you will be the greatest contributor. I will definitely thank you very much."
Prime Minister Zhao said, "It is my duty to be loyal to the Crown Prince. I do not need any thanks. As long as the Crown Prince treats Yanran and the future little prince well, that will be enough."
The prince vowed, "Don't worry, Prime Minister. When I become the emperor, I will definitely make Yanran the queen and Yanran's child the prince."
Upon hearing this, Prime Minister Zhao was very satisfied. Although their Zhao family had suffered a huge loss this time, as long as Yanran could become the queen, they would have no worries about wealth and glory in the future.
The Queen Mother used her own private money to help the Prince collect the silver, and then the Prince asked people to buy a large amount of food and set off for Cangzhou area.
He thought he could make a great contribution this time and impress the emperor, but when he arrived in Cangzhou and distributed food to the people, he found that the food was all stale rice, and a lot of it was even moldy.
Originally, the people had no objection to having old rice to eat, as it was better than starving to death. But no one knew who took the lead in inciting the people's emotions, scolding the prince for embezzling money, keeping the disaster relief money for himself, and buying some old rice for the people to eat.
The emotions of the people were instantly ignited. The refugees threw away the old rice and started rioting. The prince fled in panic.
When His Majesty learned of this, he was furious. "You are more of a hindrance than a help. I asked you to provide disaster relief, but you messed things up like this. How can you be the ruler of a country in the future?"
The prince shrank his head and explained carefully as if he had done something wrong, "Father, someone must have framed me for this. From the moment I received this assignment, someone wanted me to have a hard time. It must be them who did this."
Emperor Jingxi sneered, "Humph, someone wants to harm you, don't you know how to take precautions in advance? There were so many people who wanted to harm me back then. If I were as useless as you, would I still be able to sit in this position? I'm afraid I would have gone down to accompany my ancestors. With someone like you, how can I be assured of handing over the country to you?"
After saying this, the old emperor became so angry that he started coughing violently and suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.
Seeing this, Li Dequan quickly took out a handkerchief to wipe the corners of the old emperor's mouth, and at the same time comforted him, "Your Majesty, please don't get angry. The emperor's health is the most important."
As he spoke, Li Dequan quickly ordered his servants, "Go and summon the genius doctor to the palace."
The prince was so frightened that he quickly tried to comfort him, "Father, it is my son who is useless. You can hit me or scold me, but please don't hurt yourself."
Emperor Jingxi cursed, "Go back to your East Palace immediately, don't stand in front of me and get in the way, then I can live two more years."
The prince was afraid of being scolded again, so he could only shrink his head and said, "Then I will take my leave first. Father, please have a good rest."
The emperor was gasping for breath and only recovered after Doctor Bai came and gave him an acupuncture.
Doctor Bai said as he collected the needles, "Your Majesty, your health right now is most sensitive to anger. Otherwise, even if I give you acupuncture every day, I'm afraid you won't survive for a year. I've written you a prescription, please take the medicine on time, and I'll take my leave now."
The old emperor waved his hand, "Li Dequan, send the miracle doctor out."
"Yes."
When Li Dequan came back, he said with a worried look on his face, "Your Majesty, you should listen to the doctor and stop getting angry easily. I am really worried about your health."
Emperor Jingxi said helplessly, "I don't want to get angry, but the crown prince is too incompetent, and none of the other princes are worry-free. If I don't quickly train a qualified heir, I'm afraid that this kingdom of Dayuan will be handed over to others."
"Your Majesty, please forgive me for being so nosy. Your Majesty has many princes, and there must be one who is capable of taking on important tasks. Your Majesty does not need to worry too much."
The speaker may not have intended it, but the listener may have taken it to heart. Li Dequan's words really touched the old emperor's heart.
The old emperor suddenly felt that he had been thinking in the wrong direction before. He had been choosing among only a few princes of his choice. In fact, he had so many princes that he could have observed more of them.
As long as the kingdom is inherited by his son and as long as the family name Teng still belongs to him, he will not be sorry for his ancestors.