A catastrophic flood broke out in Andohar County, killing and injuring countless people, and as soon as the news reached the imperial capital, it entered Zhou Ming's ears.

He immediately convened a court meeting to discuss the matter.

At the court meeting, the ministers expressed their opinions one after another.

"It is not surprising that the low-lying area of Andohar County is flooded nine times in ten years, and a flood will break out in three years, which is unsuitable for the people to live in. Prime Minister Benedict said.

"But the messenger reported that the scale of this flood was particularly large, millions of people were affected, the county town was flooded, the local county guard also disappeared, the local order collapsed, life was difficult, and the imperial court was in urgent need of relief!" said a middle-level official.

"Now that the treasury is empty, the autumn harvest has not yet arrived, and there is not so much material relief, only a small amount of money can be allocated, and taxes can be reduced for another two years, and the rest of the difficulties can only be solved by the county itself. Chancellor of the Exchequer Zashik said.

"Your Excellency!"

The middle-level official said anxiously: "This is a catastrophic flood, the whole county is suffering, millions of people have lost everything, no food, no housing, no relief, they will be all finished!"

"If a few thousand victims are okay, but millions of people are affected, and the imperial court has the ability to provide relief? ”

Chancellor of the Exchequer Zashik said with a blank face.

"How much can be saved? Millions of victims cannot be saved, and it is possible to save some of them!" The middle-level official shouted.

"Presumptuous!"

Prime Minister Benedict shouted at the official: "Above the court, where is your share in speaking loudly?

"Prime Minister!"

The mid-level official didn't give up yet.

"Shut up Gilut, give me a list!"

Benedict took the official down.

"The ......"

Zhou Ming, who was sitting at the top, opened his mouth and asked: "Your Excellency, is there anything wrong with what Gilut said? With the ability of the imperial court, millions of victims cannot be relieved, and 100,000 or 200,000 people can still be saved, right?"

"Your Majesty, it's not a question of whether it can be saved, it's a question of whether it's worth it. ”

Benedict opened his mouth to speak, his tone was very straightforward, without the slightest taboo, and he explained: "For the imperial court, once the relief is carried out, it will only outweigh the losses!"

"On the one hand, the imperial court has limited capacity and can only provide relief to a small number of people, and most of the victims, in order to survive, will do their best, and even make destructive moves, attacking the relief personnel sent by the imperial court, looting relief materials, and sabotaging the relief work. ”

"On the other hand, even if the imperial court provides relief to millions of victims, it will cost millions of gold pagoda shields, which is a huge amount of money, but the empire has a vast territory and frequent disasters in various places, if all the relief is given, where can the country get so much money?"

"What's more, in the process of reconstruction, local officials, around the relief of supplies, there will be serious corruption, resulting in the distribution of far less than the required amount of materials to the victims. ”

"Considering the above points, since the first emperor Sephoros IV, the imperial court has not provided relief to disasters in various places. ”

"Considering that Andohar County is close to the imperial capital, our best response is to send the Praetorian Guard to block the main roads to the east to prevent a large number of victims from flooding into the imperial capital, worsening the security of the imperial capital, and bringing the risk of plague outbreaks. ”

Prime Minister Benedict said lightly.

"So when a catastrophic flood breaks out in Andohar County, the best thing for us as the rulers of the empire to do is to do nothing, and even block the intersection to prevent the flood of victims from entering the imperial capital?"

Zhou Ming extracted the meaning of the prime minister's words and said in a summary manner.

"Yes, Your Majesty. Prime Minister Benedict bowed slightly.

"That's what the other ministers mean?" Zhou Ming's gaze swept over the others.

"Yes, Your Majesty. ”

"Your Majesty, as sorry as it sounds, it is true that it should be dealt with. ”

"After the floods, the Imperial Court exempted the county of Andohar from taxes for a maximum of three years. ”

The ministers said one after another...... Except for the middle-level official Jilut, who was reprimanded by the prime minister, he lowered his head and shook violently, as if he was restraining something.

"Boom~"

There was a boom.

Everyone's attention was drawn to the past.

But it was Zhou Ming who slammed the imperial chair he sat down, making a loud sound, and then said angrily: "Ridiculous, it's ridiculous!"

"The people of Andorhar pay taxes to the court every year to feed their emperor and the civil and military officials in this palace, they are our food and clothing, but what do you think of them?"

"Burden! Burden!

"Disasters are not terrible, disaster victims are not unable to help, the key is that our hearts cannot become hard and cold-blooded, we cannot become not like a person, and we cannot make choices that we are ashamed of when we encounter danger. ”

"But you make me feel very ashamed!" Zhou Ming's harsh words, as well as his forced gaze, many ministers couldn't help but bow their heads.

"Gilut, you are the only person who cares about the disaster in the disaster area, I ask you, where are you from?"

Zhou Ming asked the middle-level official.

"Back to Your Majesty, the minister is from Andohar County, and Andohar County is the minister's hometown, I heard that there was a flood in my hometown, and the minister was anxious, and I implore Your Majesty to approve the rescue!"

Gilut hurriedly stepped out, fell to his knees, and pleaded loudly with Zhou Ming.

However, a mocking voice came: "It turns out that my hometown has been affected, no wonder you are in a hurry, if you leave it elsewhere, I am afraid you will ignore it." ”

Speaking was the chief minister, Hagos, who was the third highest among the ministers and had a very high status.

"Your Excellency Hagos, where is your hometown?" Zhou Ming turned his head and asked him.

Hagos chuckled in his heart, and hurriedly replied: "Back to Your Majesty, the minister's hometown is in Lordanmere County, in the west of the empire. ”

"Well, let me ask you Hagos, what if there is also a natural disaster in your hometown of Lordanmere County, should the imperial court provide relief?" Zhou Ming asked him.

"Forehead ......"

A cold sweat broke out on Hagos's forehead, and he didn't know how to answer.

"Your Excellency, where is your hometown?" Zhou Ming turned his head again and asked Prime Minister Benedict.

"Back to Your Majesty, the minister's hometown is in the imperial capital. ”

"Then let me ask you, has there been a natural disaster in the imperial capital in the past hundreds of years?"

"Natural disasters are rare, 30 years ago there was a huge fire that burned tens of thousands of houses and killed more than 100,000 people. ”

"Well, after this fire, has the imperial court provided any relief?"

"The relief was given, and the treasury spent more than 1.5 million gold rupiah. ”

"The money in the treasury should be collected from all over the country, right? You mean that there are natural disasters in various places, and the empire can not take care of it, and the imperial capital has suffered a disaster, but it needs to be rebuilt with the money collected from all over the country, in response to this situation, I would like to ask: Is this fair?" Zhou Ming asked as he glanced at the ministers.

"Your Majesty, the old minister knows that what you said makes sense, but millions of victims, the imperial court really can't help, and the emperor is the capital of the Quartet, and he has the obligation to govern and defend in various places. Prime Minister Benedict said.

"No more talk!"

Zhou Ming waved his hand to stop: "Andohar County is only two hundred miles away from the imperial capital, close at hand, if you don't save this, for the people, what's the use of asking this court? What's more, since they have the obligation to pay taxes, we have the obligation to relieve the disaster!"

"But the autumn harvest has not arrived, the autumn tax has not been harvested, and there is no money and grain in the treasury. Chancellor of the Exchequer Tashik said.

"I pay for it myself! I don't need a penny from the treasury!"

Zhou Ming still has more than 2 million gold tower dong pocket money in his hand, and the business zone still has more than 500,000 yuan per month, and it should not be a big problem to help millions of victims.

As soon as he heard that Zhou Ming had taken out the money himself, the officials immediately had no opinion, and let him toss it casually.