Ruin!

When the earth shook violently.

But in just a few minutes, the once bustling city was suddenly wiped off the map.

The entire city of Tancheng was flattened.

In the aftermath of the earthquake, there were no buildings still standing in Tancheng, and even few walls had not collapsed. Together with the city wall, like loose tofu dregs, it completely collapsed in the earthquake.

In fact, at the moment when the earthquake struck, in just a few tens of seconds, Tancheng was razed to the ground, and the people who stayed in the house almost had no time to escape.

Man is fragile and small before the forces of nature!

In the aftermath of the earthquake, even when people were screaming in terror, the smoke and dust from the collapsed walls and houses swallowed up the entire city, and almost all signs of life were buried under the ruins of the buildings.

When it was all over, Li Ziting and Wang Lu, who had been "fallen" to the ground by the earthquake in the earthquake, stood up, surrounded by people who had survived the disaster, and everyone was terrified, just minutes ago, they were still laughing and walking on the streets.

But now, the bustling night market just a moment ago is no longer lit up, with only a few mobile stalls where a few surviving lanterns are dangling.

What's going on?

"The earth dragon has turned over!"

The earth dragon turned over, this is the concept of earthquakes in this era, just when they were glad that they survived, when the smoke and dust began to disperse, when people saw that the houses on the side of the road had completely collapsed, the people who came back to their senses cried the names of their families, and in the ruins on the side of the road, people could still hear people's moans and cries for help.

"My mother, my mother, she ...... at home"

"My dad is ...... at home"

Although many people rushed to their homes crying and screaming, many more people were there spontaneously following the cries for help from the rubble to save those crushed from the rubble.

Back home again...... It should be said that it is the edge of the city, and the first thing Li Ziting and Wang Lu saw was only a ruin, and they didn't even see any living things.

The extent of the destruction outside the city seems to be stricter than in the city, where the adobe houses are often reduced to dust, and those who remain in their homes are crushed into the rubble before they even have time to scream.

A dusty man walked from the rubble with his head drooping, and slowly, passing in front of the two of them, and then into the ruins, his eyes empty and without a trace of sparkle in his eyes.

"Dead, dead, all dead......"

There he muttered, no weeping, no eyes, only desperate muttering.

"Mother!"

Suddenly, Li Ziting saw a figure in her own position, it was her mother, and her mother was still alive. She ran over crying. hugged my mother.

"Xiaoting, Xiaoting, you are still alive, it's good to be alive, it's good to be alive......"

It's good to be alive!

At this moment, the aftershocks happened again, and the survivors once again experienced what it means to shake the earth and collapse the ground.

Throughout the night, aftershocks continued one after another, and the survivors, only in the aftershocks, fled in terror to the wilderness outside the city.

When the next day, after dawn, standing in the open space outside the city, looking at the cracks in the south of the earth that were enough to engulf a house, as far as Li Ziting's eyes could see, there was only one ruin left, unless it was a ruin, it was still a ruin.

The rain had knocked down the dust and mist that had been going away for a long time, and the heavy rain was pouring on her body, making her feel cold, she looked ahead, and could vaguely see Tancheng, but in fact, there was nothing there, only a ruin.

In the heavy rain, thousands of people who survived, their clothes all soaked in the rain, but they just stood there at a loss.

"Don't be stunned, big guy, go and save people! There's still a man buried there......"

I don't know who shouted, and those who were originally panicked began to walk in the direction of the city.

Li Ziting and Wang Lu glanced at each other and walked forward.

Among the ruins, they saw most corpses, crushed to death under the bricks, and wild dogs running around the rubble. Among the ruins, there are still people there who follow the cries for help, searching for and rescuing the survivors in the ruins.

Looking at the tragic situation in front of him, tears flowed from Li Ziyun's eyes. ，

It's all gone, it's all gone......

Within a day, the news from Shandong and other places was transmitted to Zhongdu by fast horses in an expedited manner of 800 miles, although at this time, Zhongdu was also threatened by aftershocks, but one by one the instructions were issued by the center.

Even as the emperor, for safety, Zhu Mingzhong could only live in a tent in the heavy rain, and the disaster in various places was much more serious than expected.

“…… In the earthquake area, the city outline, the official and private houses, temples, etc. were destroyed for a while, Tancheng collapsed like flat ground, there were no houses in Juzhou for 100 miles, and accompanied by large-scale landslides and ground cracks, ground subsidence, water gushing and sand spraying, etc., the upper spray was as high as two or three zhang, the ground crack or the crack width could not be crossed, or the crack was deep and did not dare to look, and thousands of families in a town of Lijiazhuang fell; The people of Yizhou are incomplete, the water depth of the flat land is more than a stretch, and the water gushing in the well is several feet high, and the mountain collapses and cracks; There are no houses in Juzhou for 100 miles, the Mayong Mountain is scattered, the Wulugu Mountain is split in half, the Yanjiagu, the Whirlwind Duo, and the Maqi Mountain are half cracked, and the four towns in the city are full of cracks. When the earthquake is like a boat overturned, such as an orange tree up and down, collapsed into a trench, a whirlpool is an abyss, a sand surge is annihilated, the ground side trees are gone, and a hundred valleys are fallen. A total of more than tens of thousands of people were killed, the dead bodies were everywhere, and there were many people who could not be buried. Heavy rain and scorching sun, plague and dysentery, people scattered......"

The courtier's words made Zhu Mingzhong frown, more than 150 prefectures and counties around the epicenter suffered varying degrees of damage, tens of thousands of people died, and even if they were "driven" out of their homes, there were still a large number of casualties.

"The most important thing now is the ...... disaster relief"

After pondering for a moment, Zhu Mingzhong looked at these courtiers, and he could see a trace of complicated eyes from the expressions of Gu Yanwu and the other pavilion assistants.

This matter can no longer be mentioned!

The power of ghosts and gods cannot be trusted.

"The disaster is urgent, and the most important thing now is to save people, that is, to help the people. It is to avoid the great epidemic after the great plague! ”

Unlike in the 21st century, in the 17th century, in the face of natural disasters, there was not much the government could do, they could not send troops on a large scale to provide disaster relief, because of the distance, by the time they got there, the people buried in the rubble would probably have died.

"I have ordered the Governor's Office of the Five Armies to mobilize nearby garrisons to go to the earthquake area, first, to escort the food for disaster relief, second, to maintain local order, and third, to collect the corpses among the ruins to avoid a post-earthquake epidemic. What else is there to add? ”

Of course, the mobilization of the army is not for disaster relief, but to prevent popular unrest, and the so-called "escort food" is just to tell those with ill intentions that the imperial court has the ability to suppress them.

"The minister thinks that the earthquake area needs to be exempted from tax rent."

This is the normal process after the disaster, and after Gu Yanwu's words fell, Zhu Mingzhong nodded in agreement.

"After the affected areas are determined, the land and land rent can be exempted for three years, two years, and one year, depending on the severity of the situation, and the matter will be handled by the household department."

Everything that followed was in accordance with the normal process, which was nothing more than the mobilization of money and food, and the grain prepared for the Western Expedition became the first batch of food to be transferred to the disaster area, and even the army of the Western Expedition was transferred to the disaster area.

This earthquake changed everything.

And as the head of the cabinet of the Ming Empire, Gu Yanwu knows very well what this earthquake has changed, perhaps, for the outside world, the dispute between the ministers and monarchs will be a secret forever, and even that paragraph has been deleted in the "Living Note", but it cannot be deleted from their hearts.

"Your Majesty, Your Minister......"

Gu Yanwu, who followed His Majesty out of the tent, looked at His Majesty's back and lowered his head and said.

"Death to the minister!"

"Why?"

Looking at the rain outside, the heavy rain after the earthquake has been continuous for several days, looking at the rain, Zhu Mingzhong frowned and said.

"I have forgotten about that incident, and you must also forget, natural disasters, who can predict it?"

When the incident happened, Zhu Mingzhong could understand why they would resolutely oppose the issuance of an early warning, the emperor's "ability to reach the sky" is not a good thing for the imperial court, and it is also not a good thing for the country.

Maybe I can take this opportunity to show the world that I am "destined to be" and "the true son of heaven".

But then what?

When something is opposed, the minister may be forced to agree with his opinion by anticipating an earthquake, and of course, after getting used to the "solipsism", unchecked power is good, but it is very costly.

"Natural Disaster ......"

Gu Yanwu's heart was slightly bitter, it was a natural disaster, but ......

"At the beginning, I couldn't understand your hard work, in the future, I will be a monarch and minister with you for a lifetime, what I need is a minister, not a slave who only promises! Okay......"

Looking back at Gu Yanwu, Zhu Mingzhong said with a serious expression.

"This matter, don't mention it again in the future, now the Ming Dynasty's most needed disaster relief is disaster relief, after all, there are millions of victims in the disaster area waiting to be fed, waiting for the court's relief, you are the first assistant of the Ming Dynasty, this burden is all on your body!"

After such a long sigh, Zhu Mingzhong turned his head and returned to the tent. Even as an emperor, there is not much he can do for the victims, just to keep them from starving, that's all, the relief of millions of victims, even for the current Ming Dynasty, is not a small pressure.

At this moment, the ground shook again, and the aftershocks reminded Zhu Mingzhong that the damage caused by the earthquake was still continuing.

Back in the tent, looking at the books, paper, pens and ink scattered on the ground, Zhu Mingzhong's expression was slightly bitter, and then he could only sigh.

This year...... It's not mine!