Twenty or so scrawny children were squatting not far from the stove, drooling, looking eagerly at the steam inside the door, wishing they could dive in and eat their fill.
Disabled men and women who were lame or blind crawled out of various broken houses with difficulty.
There were even old men with disheveled hair, hiding in the grass, not daring to show their faces, and longing for a hot meal...
Li Laoer and all the people who delivered supplies felt sour in their hearts and felt as if something was stuffed in their throats.
After the court meeting on the second day, Li Laoer entered the imperial study.
The emperor thought he was here to lay flowers. After all, the name of Baiyuan Garden was known to everyone in the new capital these days.
The emperor smiled and joked: "What good flowers did Uncle Zhongshan bring when he came here this time? I heard that you sold a Golden Lotus for a sky-high price and hid two peonies, which made all the flower lovers in Xindu miss it. I can't sleep well and I can't eat."
Li Laoer replied: "Your Majesty, I'm not asking you to see me today to give you flowers. Even in the future, I won't give you fresh flowers, not even a single one."
"Bold!" The chief eunuch was pouring tea for the emperor, and he immediately scolded him, looking at Li Laoer as if he was looking at a fool.
Did the Li family take the wrong medicine and no longer want to live?
How dare you be so disrespectful to the emperor? !
The emperor was also surprised, but when he saw Li Laoer's calm expression, and then thinking about the loyalty of the Li family in the past, he waved his hand to signal the chief eunuch to step back, and then asked, "Why did Uncle Zhongshan say that?"
Li Laoer lifted up his clothes and knelt down directly. He fell to the ground, kowtowed respectfully, and then said: "Your Majesty, I really don't intend to present famous flowers to you, because I want to keep the famous flowers for sale, and the money, food, medicinal materials and other things I get, I want to Send it to the Relief Department!
"The Emperor Xu heard that he exchanged a golden lotus plant for a lot of food and medicinal materials, and sent it to the Relief Department yesterday. But the emperor didn't know that the relief department was a hell on earth. The houses were in dilapidated condition, the elderly and children were helpless and skinny, and people died of illness and hunger every day.
"My family fled all the way from the Northland. I know all too well the pain of not having enough food to eat and not having enough clothes to cover my body. I really can't stand it. I have already helped the Relief Department to repair the house, and I am also planning to continue selling famous flowers in exchange for supplies." , continue to invest in the Relief Department!
"So, I said that I will not present flowers to the Emperor in the future. I am not stingy, but I think that rather than appreciating flowers, the Emperor probably hopes that the people will be free from suffering and live and work in peace and contentment! "
The room was silent for a while, and the emperor suddenly laughed. He stood up and helped Li Laoer up in person. He nodded and praised: "What a good person to live and work in peace and contentment! Uncle Zhongshan sat down and talked. "
Li Laoer breathed a long sigh of relief, and then carefully sat on the drum stool brought by the eunuch. With a bit of fear in his expression, he whispered: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for not blaming me for your nonsense. "
No, this is not nonsense..." The emperor waved his hand, "If these words of yours are considered nonsense, then I hope that all the civil and military officials in the dynasty will be talking nonsense!" "
The emperor sighed, and then said: "Actually, I listen to them singing their praises every day and watch them present all kinds of treasures, and I feel irritable.
"Instead of having time to search for treasures and stay up late to write excerpts, they should think about how to do their jobs!
" Tianwu moved the capital here, and everything was waiting for improvement, but the wealthy families were still extravagant, and the civil and military officials were still living their lives.
"If everyone was like your family, willing to do even the smallest things with all their strength, then combined with countless small things, Tianwu would have settled down and regained its vitality long ago. It's a pity..."
Li Laoer came to express his loyalty today. , but I don't want to step on all the wealthy families and civil and military officials to rise to power!
If the emperor's words spread, the Li family will simply become the public enemy of the powerful Tianwu family and all civil and military officials!
Therefore, Li Laoer quickly stood up, bent down and saluted: "Your Majesty, in fact, I also have selfish motives. My family has little ability, so they do whatever they can. They also hope that Tianwu will settle down and no longer have to flee. In fact, I have come to discuss official matters with the emperor today!
"Your Majesty, there is only a seventh-grade official in charge of the Relief Department. This man is called Cheng Ming. He works very seriously, but his talents are limited. In addition, the money and food allocated to the Relief Department are Not much, so the relief department has been getting worse and worse in the past two years... "I want to ask the emperor for permission to take charge of the Relief Department in the future, so that the people under my care can slowly survive, and then find a way to support themselves. I want the Relief Department to no longer be a burden to Tianwu, but to be able to Contribute to Tianwu.
"Of course, this process will take at least two or three years. I cannot achieve this by myself. I also ask the emperor to allocate more money and food to the Relief Department. In this way, together with the materials raised by the ministers selling flowers, the basic needs of hundreds of people in the Relief Department can be guaranteed. "
The emperor listened from beginning to end, and I have to say that the more he listened, the more moved he was by Li Laoer's thoughts.
But as an emperor, he would not make any decisions easily.
So, he nodded and said, "Uncle Zhongshan is willing to share my worries. I am very relieved. You go back today and I will think about it first. "
Li Laoer knelt down and kowtowed again, and then respectfully withdrew.
How shrewd the chief eunuch was. He immediately sent the young eunuch to investigate without waiting for the emperor's instructions.
Within two hours, when the emperor got up from bed, the truth had been sent back.
While changing the emperor's clothes, the chief eunuch said in a low voice, "Your Majesty, the old slave asked someone to leave the palace and go to the relief office to have a look. Uncle Li is right. The house is indeed dilapidated and the old, weak, sick and disabled are living in misery. .
"Yesterday Uncle Li sent a lot of food and medicinal materials, and also brought a doctor, but the relief department didn't even have a waterproof room, so it had to find someone to repair it immediately. Today, the yard is filled with the smell of medicine. I heard that There are doctors who are preparing medicines for the old, weak, sick and disabled!
"Fortunately, the yard is big enough, and the previous petty officials are also serious. Whenever there is a dead person, they must be sent out in time, otherwise this summer will easily cause epidemics.
The emperor nodded, his expression unchanged, and asked again: "How is the money and food allocated to the relief department calculated by the Ministry of Household Affairs? " "Back to the emperor, well, the Ministry of Household Affairs allocates three loads of food and two taels of silver to the relief department every month... "
The eunuch chief told the truth, without adding any exaggeration, but the emperor was not a fool, and he understood it almost immediately.
If there are only a few members of the family . , three loads of grain and two taels of silver per month are definitely enough.
But for a few hundred people, this is simply a drop in the bucket...
The emperor sighed longly. He asked himself that he was not a fatuous emperor, but before he succeeded to the throne, Tianwu It is already riddled with wounds.
Even though he has been trying his best to "rescue" in the past few years, the gourd is always pressed again, leaving him helpless and helpless.
Let's talk about this relief department. Its original intention is to relieve people who have escaped from the North. Of course, there are refugees
like the Li family, who come in groups and have a place to stay and work hard to survive.