Chapter 96

Seven days later.

A huge boundary monument engraved with "Hongzhou" appeared at the fork in the road ahead.

This imperial road is like a highway, leading to all parts of the country.

And the boundary monument is the highway entrance; once here, one needs to enter the local official road to go to the nearby prefectures and counties.

Compared to the imperial road, the official road is much narrower, only about thirty meters wide.

After entering the official road, Yin Qi and his party arrived in the territory of Hongzhou.

But they were still over a thousand miles away from Hongcheng, the seat of Hongzhou.

However, at their speed, they could arrive quickly if they traveled at full speed, but Yin Qi let everyone slow down so that they could see the situation around them clearly.

At the beginning, the situation on both sides of the official road was still okay.

The rice was golden, and the people were healthy.

It could be seen that the impact of the flood here was not significant.

You must know that Hongzhou is not small, spanning over a thousand miles; even if there is a flood, it is impossible for the entire territory to be affected.

But as they went deeper, many refugees gradually appeared on the official road, and the fertile fields on both sides were basically barren, with rice soaked by the flood rotting and falling into the mud everywhere.

Further ahead, there were more and more refugees on the official road, and from time to time, one could even see corpses of those who had starved or died of illness on the side of the road.

Although they were already stinking, no one dealt with them.

The deeper they went, the more serious the situation became, with starving people who were sallow and emaciated everywhere.

Many trees didn't even have bark, and they were bare.

In the fields, rotting corpses could be seen everywhere.

Yin Qi felt heavy in his heart.

Even in the Republic of China world, he had never seen such a tragic situation.

"Speed up, straight to Hongcheng."

"Yes!"

Everyone agreed one after another and increased their speed.

Afternoon.

Yin Qi and his party finally arrived at Hongcheng, a huge and ancient city.

On the south side of Hongcheng, a large river flowed past.

This large river was named the Hong River; in the territory of Great Shang, it could only be said to be a very ordinary river, but in reality, it was tens of thousands of miles long, with an average width of over forty miles, and it was the mother river of many prefectures and counties.

Under the flood, Hongcheng was still relatively intact.

Outside the city walls, there were shelters simply built by countless refugees using various materials.

Countless commoners lay numbly on the ground, as if they were dead.

Even the children who loved to play and make trouble had completely lost their vitality, snuggling up to the adults and murmuring from time to time that they were hungry.

North City Gate.

The arrival of Yin Qi and his party caused a sensation among the refugees.

A light of hope seemed to appear in their eyes.

Although they were local commoners, they could also see that Yin Qi and his party were definitely from the capital.

Those majestic warhorses and the cold-spirited knights were definitely not something the local area could possess.

Since they were from the capital, it was obvious without thinking that they were here for disaster relief.

The Prefect of Hongzhou seemed to have received the news long ago and was waiting at the city gate.

He stepped forward quickly, bowed, and said loudly: "Your subordinate, Prefect of Hongzhou Jiang Yi, pays respects to Prince Qi."

"No need for formalities."

Yin Qi said, and looking at the commoners gathering from both sides, he stood on his seat and said loudly: "Fellow commoners, I am Yin Qi, the eldest son of the Human Emperor, and I have come here for disaster relief in the name of the Human Emperor. Do not crowd, return to your respective places and rest for a while. Soon, I will have the government distribute disaster relief supplies, and I will never let anyone starve to death again."

"Long live the Human Emperor, long live the Prince!"

"Wuwu, I knew the Human Emperor would never forget us!"

"Great, we are saved!"

"Mother, why couldn't you hold on for one more day? The Imperial Court has sent people for disaster relief, they have come for disaster relief!"

The commoners were overjoyed, and many even wept with joy.

Their emotions were excited, and if it weren't for the fact that their physical strength didn't allow it, they would probably be dancing with joy.

As the commoners dispersed one after another, Yin Qi followed Prefect Jiang Yi to the Prefect's Mansion.

Main Hall.

Yin Qi sat high in the seat of honor.

Prefect Jiang Yi and other high-level officials of Hongzhou were basically all present.

Yin Qi's eyes were cold and stern as he looked around at everyone and asked sharply: "Since ancient times, Hongzhou has been a wealthy land of our Great Shang; there should be quite a lot of supplies in the state treasury, so why did I see so many commoners starving to death along the way?"

The faces of the Prefect and others changed, and quite a few were even trembling.

Yin Qi's aura was too strong; just one look gave them immense pressure.

Prefect Jiang Yi hurriedly said: "Reporting to Your Highness, although our Hongzhou is wealthy, it cannot withstand such tossing."

Yin Qi frowned and said: "What do you mean by that?"

Jiang Yi could only bite the bullet and say: "In fact, since May, our Hongzhou has started to suffer from floods. The Hong River suddenly flooded for no reason, destroying the river embankments and also destroying quite a few villages on both sides of the river, submerging a large amount of fertile land.

It's just that this flood came quickly and went quickly.

Plus, we urgently mobilized forces and quickly repaired the river embankments, so the actual disaster was limited.

The state government was enough to provide disaster relief, so we didn't report it to the Imperial Court.

But in June, July, and August, it happened once each.

Especially in September, there was a sudden heavy rain for five days.

The water of the Great River rose sharply, destroying a large section of the river embankment.

Over half of Hongzhou was affected, which has exceeded our ability to provide disaster relief, so we had to report it to the Imperial Court."

After finishing, he lowered his head deeply, not daring to meet Yin Qi's cold and stern eyes.

Other officials also lowered their heads one after another.

Yin Qi's eyes were cold and stern; although he was dissatisfied with the way Jiang Yi and the others handled things, he didn't blame them further, because local officials had always reported the good and hidden the bad, which he had already deeply felt in the Republic of China world.

Anyway, they would cover up the matter first and deal with it themselves.

Once they couldn't deal with it and the matter blew up, they would choose to report it.

Compared to blaming them, he wanted to figure out the cause of the abnormality of the Hong River, so he asked solemnly: "Why did the water of the Hong River rise for no reason, and once a month at that? Have you sent anyone to investigate the problem?"

If the problem is not identified and solved, the water disaster in Hongzhou will continue.

No matter how much disaster relief he provides, it will be of no avail.

Prefect Jiang Yi hurriedly looked up and said: "Yes. We gathered quite a few people, some of whom were even immortal cultivators, and asked them to go upstream to investigate the situation. Finally, we found that the problem appeared in Qingyun Mountain."

"Qingyun Mountain?"

Yin Qi frowned.

He had checked the map of Hongzhou on the way and knew that Qingyun Mountain was located over a thousand miles west of Hongcheng.

Its scale was similar to Phoenix Mountain and was not very large.

Prefect Jiang Yi nodded and said: "That's right, Qingyun Mountain. The Hong River flows through Qingyun Mountain and passes through a large marsh in the mountain.

This marsh is named Qingyun Lake, and it is said that it was occupied by a great demon many years ago.

Our people found that this surging river water appeared from Qingyun Lake, and they suspect that a water demon is causing trouble."

Yin Qi realized; this also made sense.

He couldn't help but ask: "Since a water demon is causing trouble, have you invited anyone to slay the demon?"

Prefect Jiang Yi smiled bitterly: "We invited them, but after entering Qingyun Lake, they never came out again, and there was no movement at all. I have been visiting experts everywhere during this period, but no one is willing to go again."

In the territory of Hongzhou, even if there were so-called experts, it is estimated that they were all below the Immortal Realm.

Since it is a great demon level, it is estimated that it is also at the Human Immortal Realm.

Or more accurately, the Demon Immortal Realm.

Although this is the Primordial World, it does not mean that becoming an immortal is easy.

The reason why there are so many gods and immortals in the Primordial World is because of the immense base number; even if one in a billion people has the talent, theoretically there are hundreds of people above the Immortal Realm in the territory of Great Shang.

Of course, these people who possess the talent to become immortals are basically taken away by the Three Teachings.

Yin Qi nodded slowly and said: "I will deal with this water demon. For the disaster relief next, you must act according to my instructions. If anyone disobeys in public but complies in private, or embezzles, don't blame me for being ruthless."

"We dare not!"

Jiang Yi and the others bowed one after another.

Yin Qi ordered: "First: Full disaster relief for three days, three meals a day, must let the commoners eat their fill.

After three days, listen to my orders again;

Second: Gather all the doctors in the territory, even immortal cultivators, to treat all the commoners;

Third: Re-plan the residential areas of the commoners, sprinkle lime around, build public toilets, and all drinking water must be boiled;

Fourth: In my name, gather the immortal cultivators in the territory and tell them to listen to my orders during the disaster relief period; after it is done, I will reward them with pills, magic tools, and even cultivation techniques.

Fifth: Organize people to bury all the corpses in the wild.

Sixth:......"