Whenever Chu Qiguang wanted to persuade peace, the queen of the Great Zhou always had an expression of wanting to tear him apart. The emperor of the Great Zhou was always more angry and glared at her empress.

The more he persuaded peace, the more angry they glared at each other.

Concubine Xiao Guifei took the palace maid to Zichen Palace. Gui Xi, the chief eunuch, hurriedly came out and stopped her outside the emperor's bedroom.

"Concubine Niangniang, the emperor is unwell, and no one will see him." Gui said respectfully.

"The emperor is sick, the palace is really worried." Concubine Xiao Guifei said delicately: "I also asked Father-in-law Guixi to pass the word to the palace, and said that the palace came to visit the patient with ginseng soup." ”

"Niangniang, even if the slave passes it on to you, the emperor will still not see you, the imperial doctor said that he wants to let the emperor recuperate." Gui Xi looks at the nose with his eyes, and his nose looks at his heart.

"Recuperation? The queen mother has been serving in it for a few days, and she must be tired. Xiao Guifei said: "My father-in-law went back to the emperor, let the palace share the queen's worries, and ask the queen to rest for a few days and take care of the phoenix." ”

"Niangniang, please go back, the emperor will not approve it." Gui Xi said lightly.

"Bold Guixi, why did you prevent this palace from seeing the emperor." Xiao Guifei angrily reprimanded: "This palace wants to see the emperor and let the emperor punish you, a slave who doesn't know whether to live or die." ”

Gui Xi saw that Concubine Xiao was angry, knelt on the ground, and still stopped at the door of the dormitory.

Concubine Xiao raised her foot, kicked Gui Xi, and scolded: "Damn slave, don't block the palace to see the emperor." ”

"What is Concubine Xiao doing here?" A majestic voice came from behind Xiao Guifei.

Gui Xi hurriedly kowtowed and asked for peace: "The Empress Dowager is blessed with longevity and health." ”

The Empress Dowager held the hand of the palace maid and walked over slowly.

After Xiao Guifei said hello, she said: "The concubine knows that the emperor is sick, and she is very anxious. deliberately stewed ginseng soup to visit, who knew that Guixi, a slave, had to stop the concubine and prevent the concubine from visiting. ”

The Empress Dowager said kindly: "I also said, how can the concubine know that the emperor is sick and still make noise here." It turned out that the mourning family had misunderstood the concubine, and the concubine specially sent ginseng soup to the emperor, which was really a piece of love. ”

Listening to the words of the Empress Dowager, Concubine Xiao was startled, Jiang was still old and spicy. The Empress Dowager came up and buttoned her a hat, the emperor was sick, how dare she make noise here? Doesn't this clearly want the emperor to recuperate?

Xiao Guifei said respectfully: "The concubine specially sent this ginseng soup, hoping that the emperor can get up early and recover after drinking it." She glanced at Gui Xi and said, "But Gui Xi, a minion, said that he wouldn't let his concubines in." ”

The Empress Dowager smiled: "This is not resentful of Guixi, he is also loyal." The imperial doctor said that the emperor's illness needs to be recuperated, and now only the queen is allowed to take care of it with Qinghui, and no one else is allowed to visit. ”

"Yes, the concubine knows." Concubine Xiao Guifei said, "Then this ginseng soup, I also asked Gonggong Guixi to serve it to the emperor, and said that the palace had come to see it." ”

Leaving Zichen Palace, Concubine Xiao's face became solemn, it seems that her father's suspicion is right, the emperor and the queen may not be in the palace now. What kind of illness should be so resting? The ministers of the court and the concubines of the harem are all gone? On the day of the Shouning Festival, she heard a lot of guards in the palace, as if someone was shouting to catch the assassin.

What's more, she just tried it, she reprimanded Gui Xi outside the palace, if she disturbed the emperor's recuperation, why didn't she see the emperor speak out? Even if the emperor is silent, with the queen's delicate and domineering personality, seeing her noisy outside the palace, the queen will definitely come out to teach her a lesson!

The emperor and the queen did not say anything, but the queen mother came to prevent her from entering the palace, it seems that there is indeed something strange in this.

Be sure to tell Daddy about it. Xiao Guifei quickened the pace of her feet.

Beitang Jinyu walked out of the gold-painted carriage and helped the old man up with his own hands.

The wrinkles on the old man's face were deep, as dry as bare yellow earth. His eyes were cloudy and lifeless.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please, give me a stutter!" The old man pleaded with a pleading voice: "Look at this child, there is only one breath left of hunger, you are pitiful!" ”

The skinny child looked at Beitang Jinyu timidly with a pair of big empty eyes, and his face was yellow and thin, and he lost the vitality that the child should have.

Beitang Jinyu's heart was in a ball, he didn't expect that there would be so many victims in the territory of Dazhou.

He hurriedly asked Gao Weihu to take out the dry food and water in the car, and the surrounding victims saw that there was food and water, and immediately surrounded them.

They supported each other, their eyes longing for the food in Gao Weihu's hand.

"Folks, don't worry, you all have something to eat." Gao Weihu beckoned, asking Chu Qiguang to help give food and water to everyone.

The victims who got the food thanked Gaowei Lake one after another, and then devoured it.

Beitang Jinyu handed a few steamed buns to the old man, and gave the skinny child a few pieces of candy, and he asked, "Why are there so many victims nearby?" ”

The old man sighed and said, "Since last year, our Qizhou has suffered from drought, and there is no harvest in autumn. In the spring of this year, the sky did not fall, the crops could not be planted, and people went to the suburbs to dig wild vegetables to eat, and you can see that the weeds were all dug up in this radius of several miles. When there are no weeds, they eat leaves and bark. Later, even the bark was not eaten, and everyone began to eat Guanyin soil again, you look at the people on the side of the road who have bulging stomachs, it is all because of eating Guanyin soil. Our Qizhou is now starving everywhere, the big guys really can't get by, many young people have fled, and the remaining old, weak, women and disabled people who can't run out have to prepare to wait here for death. ”

The old man said, a little tear flashed in his cloudy eyes, and he said: "This lord, I think you are from a rich and noble family, why don't you take my little grandson to be a subordinate, don't look at him now that he is thin like this, but he has the strength to eat a little." ”

The old man knelt down again and kowtowed to Beitang Jinyu, and said, "You took him in, so you can save his life, he will only starve to death in the end if he follows the old man." Please. ”

Beitang Jinyu helped the old man up and looked at him with great compassion.

Why didn't he want to save this child, but could he save this child and save all the starving victims in Qizhou? He was the Son of Heaven in vain, and he allowed his people to suffer like this.

The people here don't even have to eat Guanyin soil, he, the emperor of the Great Zhou, what kind of face does he have to sit in the Jinluan Palace and eat the delicacies of the mountains and seas?

Beitang Jinyu held the old man's rough hands and said, "Uncle, didn't the government allocate two silver taels for disaster relief?" There is still food, didn't the imperial court distribute disaster relief food? ”

"Alas, grain? At the beginning, they did open porridge sheds, and they also distributed grain and silver taels to each family. The corners of the old man's mouth showed a sad look, "But how much silver taels and grain can the imperial court give to each family?" The grain and silver for disaster relief were transferred from Beijing all the way to Qizhou, and the officials at all levels exploited it, and there was not much left in the hands of the people. Besides, the porridge shed, said to be porridge, is actually clear water, and there are not a few grains of rice floating in it. Later, even such porridge was no longer distributed to the people. ”

Damn, listening to the old man's words, Beitang Jinyu angrily remembered the twists and turns of Yue Taifu, Yue Taifu has played Qizhou's disaster relief work many times without obvious results, and impeached Qizhou officials for embezzlement and disaster relief.

How can those who claim to be the parents of the people be greedy for such money, are their hearts black?

Those officials who took the imperial court money dared to make such a fortune. Beitang Jinyu thought angrily that he must investigate these officials heavily.

He not only had to save the skinny child in front of him, but also the countless starving victims in Qizhou. He is the emperor of the people of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and he listens to the compliments of the officials every day, but his people are suffering like this, what qualifications does he have to be their son of heaven and be worshiped by them?

"Uncle, don't worry. This child will never be starved to death. Beitang Jinyu looked at him firmly and assured the old man: "There are so many refugees in Qizhou, and they will definitely not be displaced again, and they will suffer from hunger." ”

Beitang Jinyu took out the silver taels on his body, gave them to the old man, and said, "You take this money first and buy some dry food for the big guys to eat." ”

Looking at so many victims, Gao Weihu felt very uncomfortable. Although she was an orphan in her previous life, with her own hard work, even in the most difficult days, she was not so depressed that she had to rely on eating Guanyin soil to sustain her life. She had never seen anything like it.

The procession of the envoys of the state of Chu continued to move forward, and along the way, the victims were one after another, and when they entered the city of Qizhou, the whole city was lifeless, the shops were closed, and the houses on the side of the road were ten rooms and nine empty.

Seeing that Beitang Jinyu and Gao Weihu had poor faces, Chu Qiguang knew very well in his heart that an emperor could feel at ease when he saw the people of his country enduring disasters and hunger!

He comforted Gao Wei Lake and said: "The severe drought in Qizhou for many years has caused no grain harvest, people are displaced, and disasters are continuous, all of which are natural disasters. Even if you, as the emperor, can't let the heavens rain, you don't have to blame yourself. ”

Beitang Jinyu slapped the window of the carriage, and he said angrily: "Why is it not the responsibility of the emperor? Isn't it the emperor's responsibility for the people to suffer? The imperial court opened a warehouse for disaster relief and allocated grain and silver, those officials are good, and they are exploited layer by layer, how can they make such a fortune? Those officials were not selected by the emperor? Not appointed by the emperor? Isn't it the emperor's responsibility that the emperor didn't find out and severely punish these black-hearted corrupt officials? ”

Beitang Jinyu's eyes widened angrily, and he questioned the emperor sentence by sentence. He is the supreme emperor, although he is a delicate daughter at this time, and he was dressed up by Chu Qiguang as a lewd little man with a scorched yellow face, but at this moment, his imperial aura exudes from the inside out, powerful and oppressive.

Chu Qiguang looked at Beitang Jinyu in surprise, he didn't expect the aura of the queen mother of the Great Zhou to be so powerful. What surprised him even more was that this queen mother had such a temperament that in front of the emperor of the Great Zhou, she accused him of not being a good emperor, accused him of making the people suffer, accused him of improper use of people, and did not distinguish between rewards and punishments.