Song Mao has always insisted that seeing is believing, and before he really came into contact with King Wu, he had always been suspicious of rumors, but at this moment, when he heard King Wu speak, he found that he was not as narrow-sighted as the outside world said.

Song Mao was surprised, and said truthfully:

"Wang Ye Mingjian, the lower officials are indeed worried about the livelihood of the people in Anzhou."

He spoke politely enough, how can the problem of Anzhou be summed up by a sentence of "people's livelihood", and in private, both officials and ordinary people call this disaster relief.

What is a disaster? Natural disasters and man-made disasters have made the people's lives miserable, and the current situation is obviously not a natural disaster, but a man-made disaster born by King Wu.

If it weren't for the large number of officers and soldiers present to maintain order, I am afraid that someone would have picked up the stone and stabbed the king to kill him.

The expressions of the refugees who dared to be angry and unspeakable all fell into the eyes of the king of Wu, and he smiled and said:

"It seems that this king is really unpopular with the people, recently Mr. Guan has been persuading me to be in a high position as a benevolent government, and not to oppress the people, this king feels reasonable, so he has the cheekiness to help the assassin share his worries."

When Song Mao heard this, he looked at the young man beside King Wu, and he had a good impression in his heart, and said:

"Haven't asked Mr. for his name yet?"

"The daimyo dare not be a daimyo, and he will prosper in Shimonoseki."

The strategist smiled, and with his appearance, he was a loyal person.

Song Mao believed a little bit in King Wu's words, if there is good words to persuade him, it is indeed possible for the absurd prince to change his sex.

In the past, these two scholars were about to have a sour and rotten friendship between literati if they couldn't keep it together, but now the problem is unsolved, and they are their own masters, and the two are destined to become friends.

After Song Mao also introduced himself, he said to King Wu:

"I don't know what the prince's plan is?"

Wang Siheng looked at the two steaming cauldrons and a sack of copper plates next to him, and sighed:

"Song Thorn Shi loves the people like a son, this king is really ashamed, but it is better to give people fish than to teach people to fish, how long can you help them?

At present, it is good to say, after the winter, the day after the day is cold, then the cotton clothes and quilts will be a huge expense, the king has been away from the court for many years, but he also knows that the silver of the household is not so easy to approve.

Now that the palace has not yet been completed, and a group of laborers are needed, it is better for Lord Song to make it convenient and give up two hundred young people, and their food and accommodation are all taken care of by the palace, and a lot of wages will be paid every month.

In this way, Lord Song can use the remaining silver to buy some warm clothes, and when the weather warms up next year, the people can go up to the mountains to cultivate grain. ”

The method given by King Wu is indeed the most suitable at present, in order to complete the emperor's orders, Song Mao directly stopped the construction of the palace, although he gained fame, but it was not easy to manage nearly a thousand people to eat and drink.

Allowing the people under his rule to freeze to death for the sake of high-level games does not conform to the official standards of the Song Dynasty.

While Song Mao was thinking, King Wu looked at the ragged refugees in front of him, and a young man in the crowd was sitting on a straw mat with a broken bowl and drinking porridge.

Beside him sat a blind girl, not very good-looking or ugly, and the two talked from time to time, and seemed to be very harmonious.

Wang Siheng's face showed strangeness, and he turned around and said:

"If Lord Song is willing, this king can send someone to inform those merchants and ask them to help the victims as appropriate."

King Wu himself was not taboo, and directly said the word "disaster victims".

Song Mao raised his head when he heard this, no longer hesitated, and said respectfully:

"Xia Guan first thanked the prince for the people of Anzhou."

"No need to be polite, this is what this king should do."

After King Wu finished speaking, he took out a bulging bag from his bosom and handed it to the strategist beside him:

"Go and give it to the refugees."

The latter first looked puzzled, and when he saw Wang Yijing in the crowd, he smiled knowingly, stepped forward and began to divide the silver.

The refugees quickly surrounded them in the middle, and for a while, Guan Changsheng was not too dirty, and handed them over to them one by one, until they came to the young man, and threw the largest piece of it into the other party's bowl with a "dang chang".

The young man raised his head and grinned:

"Thank you, uncle, you have a good heart, and you will definitely live a long life in the future."

"I lend you good words, and I wish you many children and many blessings."

The young man's smile grew brighter and brighter, as if he was happy with the other person's compliment.

……

A few days later, the palace was once again lively, and the king kept his promise, not only taking care of the laborers' food and lodging, handing out silver, but also giving each of them a set of overalls.

After resuming work, he did not rush to build the palace, but built dozens of sheds around the palace wall, with solid materials to resist the cold and keep warm, even if it was directly used as a residence.

The laborers were treated well and energetically, and the construction was much faster than before, and at this rate, it could be completed in less than the New Year.

The refugees outside the palace were also resettled, although the conditions were poor, but at least there were tiles to cover their heads, and hundreds of people gathered together, it would not be cold.

Wealthy merchants and imperial court sponsors arrived one after another, escorted into storage, and everything was developing in an orderly manner.

Just when everyone thought they could survive the winter, a sudden fire destroyed everything.

It was a snowy night, the laborers slept in the sheds, and the refugees crowded into the beggars' dens.

Just after the hour, the quiet night was suddenly broken by the piercing sound of gongs, and the northwest direction was blazing, and the street resounded with shouts:

"Oh no, there's a fire in the granary."

The whole Xi'an was jumping for a while, the granary was filled with the relief food that had just been delivered, and the victims who were still asleep were suddenly excited, and they rushed to the street and spontaneously participated in the firefighting with buckets and basins.

Before the fire could come down, the sound of a gong came from the east, "Come on, the palace is on fire." ”

This time it was the turn of the laborers to be in a hurry, and they put on their clothes and ran out of the burning shed, all of them with disgraced faces, and hurried to the palace well without caring about tidying up.

The sky was slightly bright, and the fire was finally extinguished, but everything they had relied on to survive was reduced to ashes overnight.

The granary was burned to the ground, and all the rations and seeds were gone, and the refugees looked at the prospect in amazement, and some people couldn't help but sob.

The palace was no better, the outer sheds were burned clean, and the interior was also badly damaged, and most of the palace was charred.

Although there were few casualties in time, without food and shelter, this winter would definitely not be able to survive.

Song Mao, who got the news, rushed over in a hurry, and when he saw the piles of ruins and the people in a daze, his head was dizzy and he almost fell down.

The fire not only burned out the people's hope of survival, but also burned his future.

"What's going on, who did it?"

Song Mao asked with red eyes, the fire in the two places at the same time, someone must have done it on purpose.

The three refugees were tied up and thrown in front of him, and Song Mao recognized them at a glance, and said in disbelief:

"Why do you have to do that?"

One of them raised his head and said with a look of disgrief:

"Why should those people go to the palace to work, be fed, clothed, and get money, and we can only huddle in dirty and smelly shacks, and live a life that is inferior to livestock?"

"Because of this, you want to set fire to the palace?"

"Lord Song, we pleaded with you before, but you still gave the opportunity to others, since we can't get it, we can't cheapen others."

The three of them had resentment in their eyes, and they were not ashamed of their actions in the slightest.

Song Mao looked at them, and then at the people present, many of whom seemed to agree with their statement, and looked at himself with a cryptic gaze, as if he was the heinous arsonist.

Seeing this, Song Mao suddenly felt shortness of breath, clenched his throat tightly, and a mouthful of blood spurted out.

…… (End of chapter)