After the warm house wine ended, the three ancestors and grandchildren of the Zhao family in the Jiannan Hou Mansion began a peaceful and regular life.

Zhang continued to focus on the rituals for his deceased father and son-in-law, and was also personally preparing for the anniversary ritual of his deceased husband. In addition to resuming daily calligraphy and painting practice, Zhao Xiu is concentrating on housekeeping. Recently, she also added a new task - to choose a suitable girl for her grandmother, brother and herself, and to complete the layout of some areas in Jiannanhou's mansion that have not yet been organized. As for Zhao Wei, his main business is still reading and preparing for exams, and he occasionally goes out to meet and communicate with a group of newly met civil and military friends.

The days passed without a sound. Zhao Xiu quickly selected a candidate for his grandfather and grandson.

Zhang's house removed the original two big girls of summer dew and winter frost, and added two new second-class girls, renamed Spring Breeze and Autumn Rain. This is to make up for the lack of spring grass and autumn leaves, and it is also named after the words "spring" and "autumn", but it is a natural phenomenon that is different from its predecessors. In addition, there are some little girls who do rough work, mothers-in-law who go out with them, and daughters-in-law who wash needlework, filling Zhang's three-entry yard to the brim. No matter what the Zhang family wants to do, they will never worry about no one to make it.

Zhao Wei usually doesn't call many girls, and the two brought from Fengxian's hometown are getting older, and they have reached the age of matching, and it is almost time to send them back to their homes to talk about family affairs, and naturally they can't serve in the inner courtyard in the future. Zhao Xiu made up two second-class girls for him, one was called Jianzhen, and the other was called Shen Su, both of whom were named after spices. First handed over to the two big girls for training, and when they go out, the truth and Shen speed will make up for it to be a big girl. As for the other rough little girls and mothers-in-law, they also follow Zhang's example, subtract two people each, and make up all of them.

When it came to Zhao Xiu herself, she still had her own yard for the first time, and she didn't feel the need to have so many people with her, so she reduced the number of people by two levels. Bi Lian has already gone back to her home, she lives in the back street of the Hou Mansion, and she is already a person who wants to say goodbye, and she will not come to the house when she is free, so her lack is vacant. The other big girl, Bihan, has just risen not long ago, and she can't stand alone, let alone the people under her. Zhao Xiu chose a son from the old house from the previous second and third class girls, named Liu Lu, who is older and more stable, so she will be a big girl with Bihan first. The other rough little girls and rough mothers-in-law do not live in the courtyard, so they remain unchanged for the time being, only from the little girls who performed well at this warm house banquet, they picked four clever ones, promoted to the third class, and filled in their own yards to do some chores, and there were no more people in addition.

Compared with Zhang and Zhao Wei, Zhao Xiu's courtyard has a lot less manpower, but she doesn't think there is any problem. This is her own territory, and someone is dangling here all day long, does she still have **? If she needs to do something, she is now in charge of the house, and she does not worry about finding people.

Zhao Xiu's life was quite leisurely, seeing that the weather was getting hotter and hotter, she instructed someone to buy more ice to store it and prepare it for use in midsummer, while wondering if it would be possible to get some drinks and snacks to enrich her chef's menu, and Leng might as well hear a big news!

There was a big earthquake in Linfen, Shanxi!

The magnitude of the earthquake must have been very high, and it is rumored that tens of thousands of people have been killed or injured in the affected area. When the news reached the capital, the government and the opposition were shocked. The emperor hurriedly ordered all ministries and localities to work together for disaster relief. In the past, when Emperor Taizu was there, he had published a charter to guide disaster relief, and the imperial court and local government now acted in accordance with this booklet, first sending troops and doctors to the disaster area to rescue people, and then ordering several nearby big cities to collect food, bedding, medicinal materials and other materials to transport to the disaster area, and also preparing to settle the refugees who fled due to the disaster.

At the same time, the palace also ordered the palace people to change into gorgeous clothes, and the queen mother, concubine, and queen all donated their gold and silver jewelry as a demonstration to advocate the royal family members of the clan and the daughters of noble and high-ranking officials to donate money and materials to the disaster area. For a time, the frugal and simple style in Beijing was very popular. Regardless of whether they are voluntary or not, and whether they donate large sums of money and materials, the female dependents of the official family must always wear a few pieces of jewelry when they go out to meet people, only two hairpins of flowers or grass flowers, and it is best to wear a cloth dress to show their concern for the disaster situation and sympathy for the affected people. As for how they dress at home, only their own families know.

Zhang's belief in Buddhism for many years, usually the most pity the poor and the old, heard of such a catastrophe, naturally worried about those victims from the bottom of his heart. She not only ordered someone to open an additional ceremony in Guanghua Temple, which was specially used to commemorate the victims of the earthquake, but also ordered Zhao Xiu to count the family's belongings and donate all the remaining money that could be taken out.

It's only mid-April, and it's not the time to collect the bills. Zhao Xiu took stock and found that he could only take out more than 8,000 taels of silver in the account in a short period of time, but this was already a lot of money. Now is the season of green and yellow, the old grain is almost finished, and the new grain has not yet reached the harvest time, the price of grain on the market is more expensive, the most ordinary rice used to be able to buy a stone for 800 yuan, but now it costs a tael of silver. This money can buy more than 8,000 stone of grain, and send it to the disaster area, which can save many people.

However, Zhao Xiu knows that donating money is not the same as donating food. Only donate silver, and leave all affairs to the government, which naturally saves trouble, but it is difficult to say how much of the silver can fall on the heads of the victims after layers of exploitation. But Jiannan Houfu was born in Jiangnan, and there is also the help of six rooms. Liufang was originally engaged in the grain business, and in the past two years, the business has become bigger and bigger, and there are semicolons in major cities across the country, several of which are built in the main grain producing areas, and it is very easy to adjust grain. Zhao Xiu calculated that if he bought grain from the grain bank in the sixth room at cost price and donated it, it would not only reduce several layers of exploitation, but also save a lot of trouble by using the transportation network of the sixth room to transfer grain from the nearest grain bank branch near the disaster area. Of course, this requires official support and cooperation.

Zhao Xiu is more worried about who will the emperor hand over to such a major event as disaster relief? This person must be honest enough and capable enough to avoid mistakes.

After waiting for a day, the emperor appointed Zuo Shilang of the household department and Zhou Chang of the General Administration Department as the chief and deputy envoys, and went to Linfen to preside over disaster relief affairs. The left waiter of the household department is in the prime of life, and has presided over several disaster relief affairs, has rich experience and is proficient in business, and he can still rest assured that the matter will be handed over to him. As for that Zhou Qincha, many people are a little secretive. Many people in Beijing know that this Lord Zhou was originally a servant of King Guangping when he was in the East Palace, and after King Guangping abdicated, he recommended him to his younger brother, and he became a confidant today. In the past, he was in distress in Jiangnan, and this Zhou Daren was in Beijing, and he was also persecuted by the anti-party. After ascending the throne today, he arranged for him to enter the General Administration Department, and he was the emperor's eyes and ears. Such a person was sent to the side of the left servant of the household department as a deputy, and it was clearly to supervise the words and deeds of the envoy and other officials. If anyone dares to be greedy for money and food for disaster relief, they will not be able to save their heads!

For a time, all the officials in the capital who had relatives and friends who were officials in Shanxi sent messengers to report to them, warning them, don't be greedy this time, there are many opportunities to make money, forget it this time, in case you lose your small life, no matter how much money you are greedy, you won't have a life to enjoy it, right?

Zhao Xiu heard about this appointment, and inquired about Zhou Chang's origin from Gao Zhen, but he was relieved. She made clear of her grandmother Zhang, and communicated with Zhao Qixuan, Zhao Ai and others, and bought 5,000 stone of grain from Liufang at cost price, plus 3,000 taels worth of medicinal materials, and donated them to the government, and the list was directly handed over to Qincha.

The emperor soon heard that Longyan Dayue wrote the words "Jishan Home" in his own handwriting on the same day, ordered the Internal Affairs Office to make a plaque and give it to the Jiannan Hou Mansion, and praised Zhao Wei at the next court meeting.

The three ancestors and grandchildren of the Zhao family were concerned about whether the money, food, and medicinal materials donated by their families could be delivered to the victims as soon as possible, and although they felt honored with the plaque given by the emperor, they did not attach much importance to it. Zhang still recites scriptures in the small Buddhist hall in his courtyard every day, while Zhao Wei often sends his servants out to inquire about the news of the disaster area in addition to studying hard every day, to see if there is anything he can help with.

There are two old county lords stationed in Shanxi, and this time their soldiers are among the disaster relief. After Zhao Wei inquired about their current situation, he also took out his private money, and begged his sister Zhao Xiu to raise 1,000 taels of silver, and purchased food, cloth, medicinal materials and other things to send to their station. The two old ministers were very grateful and wrote letters to thank them.

April passed quickly, and as we entered May, the situation in the disaster area stabilized. It was just that the weather was getting hotter and the epidemic began to appear in the disaster area, and the medicinal materials donated before came in handy. The Tai Hospital sent several additional doctors, with people from the Huimin Drug Administration and a group of doctors gathered from the people, to rush to the disaster area to help. Fang Shaoqing was originally an official of Taichang Temple, and the Tai Hospital was under the jurisdiction of Taichang Temple. Due to a lack of manpower, he was called back to do business. Not many people noticed this, but he himself knew that this was his last chance, and he worked hard like never before, eating and living in the yamen, and only went home twice in ten days.

Zhao Xiu watched the disaster gradually stabilize, and Jingzhong returned to its former prosperity, and many high-ranking families seemed to have started drinking and feasting again. In addition to disagreeing in her heart, she also had a layer of worry, and she didn't dare to tell people casually: The emperor has only been on the throne for a year, and such a big earthquake has occurred. For example, the emperor is not in the right position, so the heavens are angry; For example, the emperor is not the true dragon son of heaven, XX is the son of heaven recognized by God, and so on.

On that day, Zhu Lifei and King Ying rebelled twice, and the remnants of the party were not eliminated. At that time, in order to stabilize the overall situation, the emperor adopted a relatively moderate approach, and did not kill on a large scale, but only punished the first evil, which caused a large number of people who had been involved in the rebellion case to be dismissed from their posts and exiled from their homes, but their lives were saved, and their relatives and friends were not too implicated, and it was difficult to guarantee that there would not be a few unknown rebels. Will these people have any delusions? The emperor's succession to the throne is certainly justified, but the rumors are fiercer than the tiger, and I hope something else will happen.

Zhao Xiu knew that there would always be people who thought of this kind of thing, but she listened to the movement outside, as if the emperor and the court were bent on disaster relief, and she didn't think of other things, so she couldn't sit still. No matter what others think, she has to remind Gao Zhen privately.

The position of King Guangping has always been very dangerous, he was originally the justifiable crown prince, and the abdication was not because he made a mistake, nor because he was not incapacitated, nor was he deprived of his status as a prince by the decree of the first emperor, but because he was injured and blind, so he took the initiative to ask for abdication. He was personally raised by Emperor Taizu, and it is rumored that the first emperor was mediocre, but Emperor Taizu still chose the first emperor as the prince, just because he was optimistic about this imperial grandson. Therefore, the position of the crown prince of King Quang Binh has always been very stable. Before he was officially crowned prince, he was already a candidate recognized by the government and the opposition as the prince, and all the other princes were useless at that time. When he abdicated due to blindness, the battle for the crown prince began to heat up.

Although he is now on the throne is the younger brother of King Guangping, but in terms of his brother, their brothers are of the same origin, and the emperor has been cultivated as a virtuous king since he was a child, and his talents naturally cannot be compared with his brother. At present, because their brothers have always been close, the king of Guangping is blind, and there is still the Empress Dowager Jiang in the palace, so the emperor never suspects the king of Guangping, but often asks his brother for advice on government affairs. Rao is like this, and there are still people in the court from time to time who talk a few words, saying that King Guangping may have a heart of disobedience and need to take more precautions. In addition to entering the palace, King Guangping hardly went out of the palace gate, and also restrained his son Gao Zhen from interacting with the outside world, just to avoid suspicion.

Imagine if someone really wants to take advantage of the earthquake to set off political turmoil in the DPRK and China, what more effective way is than to create a few rumors, saying that "King Guangping is the true son of the dragon, and the current emperor is not right"? They may just want to fish in troubled waters, but for the person concerned, King Guangping, this kind of rumor can not be beneficial to his situation at all.

Zhao Xiu hesitated and hesitated, and decided to remind King Guangping in person. If no one says that, that's the best, but if someone really wants to make trouble, then it's almost time for them to act after the disaster has calmed down.

Zhao Xiu made it clear to the Zhang family that his grandfather's sacrifice day was approaching, and he wanted to go to the palace to invite the king of Guangping to participate in the sacrifice. Zhang agreed as soon as he heard it, and asked her to bring the Dragon Boat Festival gift for King Guangping, but he didn't forget to call his grandson Zhao Wei to escort his granddaughter.

Zhao Wei looked at his sister suspiciously: "Why didn't you hear my sister talk about it before?" ”

Zhao Xiu could only laugh dryly: "I also thought of it suddenly." Besides, the Dragon Boat Festival is also coming, so it's okay to send a festival gift by the way, I'll just go alone for this kind of trivial matter......" Zhao Wei didn't say anything when he heard it, but immediately changed his clothes and expressed his willingness to go with his sister, and his sister didn't have to be polite to him at all.

So, Zhao Xiu had no choice but to take his brother, pull a carriage of things, and set off towards Guangping Palace.