Chapter 86: Refugees

Zhu Xu lingered a few more moments with Empress Zhang, and only when he saw that she was genuinely out of sorts did he take his leave and return.

"Find young Cao and bring him to see me." The moment Zhu Xu returned to Jinghuan Palace, he said to Yao Qingqing.

The moment Yao Qingqing saw Zhu Xu's expression, she started slightly and hurriedly said, "Yes, Your Highness."

"Recently, have there been any new people in the palace? What I mean is, who has been favored in the harem lately?"

The moment Cao Huachun entered, Zhu Xu asked directly.

Cao Huachun was taken aback, thought for a moment, and said: "Your Highness, it's only Consort Feng who is relatively favored. No new people have entered the palace recently."

Consort Feng was an old hand in the palace; Zhu Xu did not think much of her. But if there were no new people, how was Empress Zhang's expression to be explained?

Zhu Xu's brows knitted tightly as he looked at Cao Huachun and said, "Are you certain there isn't anyone?"

By now Cao Huachun was no longer certain either. He thought hard for a while, then said, "Your Highness, let me go check again."

"Go quickly." Zhu Xu waved his hand. Someone who could make Empress Zhang so displeased was likely no ordinary figure. If he did not get to the bottom of it in advance, Zhu Xu feared he would be unable to eat or sleep in peace.

Zhu Xu sat in the reclining chair, tapping his thigh with his fingers, his gaze calm and deep.

Trouble in the harem, Wei Zhongxian about to be released from prison, his maternal uncle about to be promoted—this series of events had come about very suddenly. Was there any connection between them?

Before long, Cao Huachun came rushing over and handed Zhu Xu a slip of paper, saying: "Your Highness, look quickly—Miss Rou gave this to me."

Miss Rou? Wu Rou?

Zhu Xu immediately jumped up, took it and opened it to look. The corner of his mouth twitched, and a faint, ambiguous smile appeared on his face.

On white paper with black ink were written three delicate little characters: Zhang Yanyao.

Zhu Xu felt very strange indeed. He had never imagined that the person who could make even Empress Zhang lose her composure in the harem would be her—Wei Liangqing's concubine, the Zhang Yanyao who had been beaten on his orders for spying on him without authorization, and had then vanished without a trace!

He sat back down in the reclining chair, narrowed his eyes, and wore a faint, elusive smile at the corner of his mouth.

Zhang Yanyao was, of course, not Madam Ke. Perhaps she could give Zhu Youxiao, who had lost Madam Ke, some brief comfort or a sense of novelty, but in the end she was not Madam Ke, and could not dominate the harem, act wantonly, and do as she pleased without scruples the way Madam Ke had.

Empress Zhang was not a weak woman either. If Zhang Yanyao truly provoked her, and Empress Zhang put on the airs of the central palace's Empress to teach her a lesson, even Zhu Youxiao might not be able to protect Zhang Yanyao.

"Enough, let's leave the palace. Have Yao Qingqing come with me, and notify old Cao to make preparations."

Zhu Xu casually tossed away the slip of paper and stood up with a smile. Fear comes from the unknown; since he now knew the full details, there was no need to worry so much.

Seeing Zhu Xu's expression improve, Cao Huachun secretly breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Yes, Your Highness."

Aside from feeling cooped up and wanting to have a good talk with Fu Changzong, the other reason Zhu Xu left the palace this time was the flintlock musket he had been thinking about all along.

This was the weapon that would deal with the Tartars in the future, and Bi Maokang and Yao Qingqing were a pair of bitter lovers—it was time to let them ease their pangs of longing.

Zhu Xu and Yao Qingqing boarded the carriage, which swayed and rumbled its way out of the palace.

Yao Qingqing's face was calm, but her hands could not help clutching her dress and kneading it back and forth—she was clearly very nervous.

Zhu Xu smiled slightly and said, "Don't be nervous. What this prince has promised, I will never go back on."

"Thank you, Your Highness." Yao Qingqing pressed her lips together and bowed slightly. It was not that she did not trust Zhu Xu, but that she harbored worries about Bi Maokang. Their relationship had been going back and forth for ten years now; the colder her heart grew, the more fervent the hope she clung to became.

"Your Highness, switch carriages." Just as they passed a corner, Cao Wenzhao said in a low voice.

Zhu Xu leaped down from the carriage in one swift move and hurried into another carriage hidden in the alley. Yao Qingqing had also been instructed beforehand, so she naturally followed behind Zhu Xu with light, nimble steps.

The original carriage soon slipped away quietly. Sure enough, before long a figure nimbly followed after it.

Cao Wenzhao waited for a while before driving the carriage away, winding through the alleys for a long time until he was certain no one was following, then headed straight out of the city.

Although the capital was still trembling with fear after the court's purge, it had at least recovered some of its former bustle.

Few of those whose property had been confiscated dared to cry out for justice. Just as the court had pinned crimes on them, and given the tradition that no merchant was not a swindler, this move by the court not only raked in enough silver but also proclaimed to all under heaven once again that the policy of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce was all the more important at this time!

Inside the city was one thing, but once outside the city walls, it was as if one had entered a different world.

Along the road, there were refugees everywhere—ragged and tattered, weak with hunger, stretching as far as the eye could see with no end in sight.

"Young master, please give me something to eat?"

"Kind sir, spare a few coppers so we can buy some food?"

"Miss, the child is pitiful—please take pity on us..."

Zhu Xu lifted the curtain and looked out the window, sighing inwardly.

When his old professors lectured, they always said that the fall of the Ming dynasty seemed like the will of heaven. Because the Ming was an unprecedented peak in the development of Chinese civilization, and none of the Ming emperors were truly fatuous rulers. If one tried to use the methods that had occurred in past dynasties, there was not the slightest possibility.

Therefore, for the Ming to fall, it could only be by the will of heaven.

And so—the will of heaven.

Chongzhen reigned for seventeen years, with drought every year and locust plagues every year. This was unprecedented; no dynasty in history had ever seen such natural disasters, as if heaven itself wished to destroy the world. Just thinking about it was terrifying.

Zhu Xu had grown up in the palace, where everything was just cold, lifeless words in books that he had never seen with his own eyes. Now, looking at the endless sea of refugees, he could already imagine the spectacle more than a decade later, when Li Zicheng led over a million refugees to break through Tong Pass, break through Datong, and break through the capital.

"Your Highness, doesn't the court do anything?" Although Yao Qingqing had lived in the world of dust, she knew very little of such matters. Looking at these pitiful refugees, she could not help turning to Zhu Xu and asking.

A strange look crossed Zhu Xu's face. He paused for a moment but did not speak.

The court did indeed have silver now, but that silver was not for Zhu Youxiao or Zhu Xu to spend. It still had to pass through the Grand Secretariat, through the Six Ministries, through the various local government offices, with each layer skimming off its share. He had no idea how much would actually reach the disaster victims as relief.

Cao Wenzhao drove the carriage swiftly away, then headed toward a distant mountain.

The Great Ming's total population was no more than sixty million, yet theoretically its territory was larger than that of later generations, so the land was vast and sparsely populated. Outside the city, wasteland, barren mountains, and wild forests were almost everywhere.

In other people's eyes these were naturally worthless, but in Zhu Xu's eyes, they were all silver.

He seemed to see sweet potatoes growing underground, corn standing tall above them, and then being harvested by him one by one, turning into silver.

One had to know that land prices at present were roughly divided into three grades: inferior fields at three to five taels per mu, medium fields at around seven or eight taels, and superior fields at no more than ten to fifteen taels. Superior fields yielded only three or four hundred catties of wheat per mu, but sweet potatoes and corn were different—sweet potatoes could exceed a thousand catties, and corn also reached seven or eight hundred catties. And they could grow perfectly well in these wastelands and wild forests!

Zhu Xu glanced once more at the refugees behind him and silently let out a breath. He pondered whether he could sell sweet potatoes and corn to the court for disaster relief—if so, perhaps it could curb those people's graft and embezzlement.

"Your Highness, we've arrived."

Before long, the carriage came to a courtyard that had weathered many storms. Behind the courtyard rose a vast, imposing mountain.

After Zhu Xu stepped down, Cao Wenzhao explained: "This mountain is rather special—this road is the only way up. I've stationed people here, so outsiders cannot get up."

Zhu Xu nodded with a smile. He had given Bi Maokang quite a bit of material last time—he wondered whether Bi Maokang would bring him a pleasant surprise this time.