"That's right."

Jiang Chen nodded heavily. Before the minister could speak again, he said, "When the time is right, I will share these rare books with all of you."

The ministers were all delighted.

*Your Majesty is such a great man!*

"Right now, we need to inform the people of the world about these matters so that they understand the reasoning behind them."

Jiang Chen returned to the main topic: "At the same time, the imperial court will not abandon the people and will work with the Charity Foundation to help everyone overcome this difficulty."

"I believe that as long as the imperial court and the people work together, there is no obstacle we cannot overcome!"

Jiang Chen's confident speech filled the ministers with a sense of pride.

*That's right, the Great Wei Dynasty survived even when His Majesty was so absurd.*

*Now that His Majesty has improved, how could things get worse?*

*We will definitely get through this!*

At that moment, all the civil and military officials stood on the same battle line as Jiang Chen.

As this information from the imperial court spread from the capital to all parts of the Great Wei Dynasty, the people also felt a surge of strength.

His Majesty and the imperial court had not abandoned them.

They had been working hard to find ways to help everyone overcome the drought!

For a time, the people of the Great Wei Dynasty were also filled with an indomitable spirit.

When this news, along with the news that Lin Han was being sent to various prefectures for a public parade, reached the southern military camp, Commander Huang Zongsheng's eyebrows shot up in anger.

"This young brat actually saw through our plan!"

After slamming the table a couple of times to vent his anger, Huang Zongsheng looked at a Confucian scholar with a feather fan next to him and asked, "Advisor Lin, what should we do now?"

Lin Shangzhi gently waved his feather fan, smiled faintly, and said, "General, don't panic. Although our plan has been seen through by the imperial court, it is not a big deal for our plan."

Huang Zongsheng was a little surprised. The purpose of this plan was to provide a reason for them to raise an army and rebel.

Now that the reason was not sufficient, they would not have a legitimate reason to rebel, and they would not be able to win the hearts of the people.

This was extremely unfavorable for the rebellion.

"What do you mean by that, Advisor Lin?" Huang Zongsheng asked.

Lin Shangzhi smiled again, looking confident.

"General, although the goal of the plan has not been achieved, heaven is helping us. Now, the Great Wei Dynasty is experiencing a severe drought, and the people are suffering. This is the best excuse! We have the right timing and the favorable terrain, and with the support of the people, why worry about not succeeding?" Lin Shangzhi analyzed.

Huang Zongsheng's eyes lit up: "Advisor Lin is right!"

The world was experiencing a severe drought, and the people had no harvest.

As long as he raised his arms, many people would surely respond.

In addition, the southern military camp was full of his direct subordinates. He had the right timing, the favorable terrain, and the support of the people.

There was no reason to fail!

After Huang Zongsheng understood the key points, he then said, "Advisor Lin, when is the best time to raise an army?"

Lin Shangzhi calculated with his fingers and said, "General, we still need to wait a few more days. The people have not completely lost hope yet."

"When the people find even living a luxury, then the General can raise an army, and it will be foolproof!"

"Good! Good!"

Thinking that he was about to become the new emperor, Huang Zongsheng couldn't help laughing.

Thinking of the grand occasion of his ascension to the throne, Huang Zongsheng promised, "Advisor Lin, at that time, you will be the Prime Minister, second only to one person and above ten thousand!"

Lin Shangzhi couldn't help but smile: "Then I will thank Your Majesty in advance."

In the military camp, two bursts of triumphant laughter rang out.

Jiang Chen no longer had time to manage the southern military camp.

All his thoughts were now focused on how to provide disaster relief and save the people.

The imperial court and the Charity Foundation had already begun to jointly provide disaster relief, but the Great Wei Dynasty had so many people, and almost every place was affected by the disaster.

Even just to keep the people alive, the money spent every day was like flowing water.

Consort Shu came to Jiang Chen, looking worried.

"Your Majesty, at this rate, the Charity Foundation will be completely used up in at most a month," Consort Shu said.

Jiang Chen's heart sank.

Through the Autumn Poetry Meeting and the Charity Auction, coupled with the money earned from publishing poetry books, even after deducting the money spent during the winter, the Charity Foundation still had about five million taels of silver left.

That is to say, the Charity Foundation alone was taking out nearly two hundred thousand taels every day for disaster relief.

The imperial court would only take out more than the Charity Foundation.

At this time, Feng Jin walked in and whispered, "Your Majesty, Lord Xu requests an audience."

Jiang Chen's heart sank again.

"Summon him."

Consort Shu heard that Xu Changqing was coming. Although he was her brother, she was prepared to leave to avoid suspicion.

Jiang Chen shook his head, signaling Consort Shu not to leave.

He understood that Xu Changqing must have come for the disaster relief matter.

Now that Xu Changqing and his sister were fully responsible for the disaster relief, Jiang Chen had to ask them about it in person.

Xu Changqing quickly came in and was a little surprised to see his sister there.

However, he quickly understood Consort Shu's intention, and his already solemn expression became even more solemn.

"Your Majesty, if we continue to provide disaster relief at the current rate, the national treasury will be completely empty in at most three months," Xu Changqing said.

Three months!

Jiang Chen took a deep breath and looked at Consort Shu: "Lord Xu, I'm afraid we have to shorten that time."

Consort Shu said, "Brother, the Charity Foundation can only support us for a month at most."

Xu Changqing's heart sank. After quickly calculating, Xu Changqing said, "Then I'm afraid we can only support for two and a half months at most."

Another half a month less!

Jiang Chen pondered for a moment and said, "Lord Xu, do you have any strategies?"

Xu Changqing smiled bitterly. He came to Jiang Chen to tell him about this grim situation.

If he had a solution, he would not have come to Jiang Chen immediately after calculating this terrible consequence.

Jiang Chen said, "Lord Xu, you come from a merchant family and are very proficient in business matters. In fact, disaster relief can also be seen as a business."

Hearing Jiang Chen say this, Xu Changqing's eyes lit up.

Indeed, he had not thought of it that way.

With Jiang Chen's reminder, Xu Changqing thought for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, if the business is not good, then we must start from two aspects. One is to increase revenue, and the other is to reduce expenditure."

After a pause, Xu Changqing said, "The path to increasing revenue is currently blocked."

Jiang Chen also nodded. The Great Wei Dynasty's large income came from the autumn harvest every time.

But it was still midsummer, not the time for the autumn harvest.

What's more, even if they waited until the autumn harvest, with this year's drought, they probably wouldn't be able to collect much tax.

Xu Changqing continued, "Then we can only reduce expenditure."

"Your Majesty, if we want to reduce expenditure, we can only reduce the daily relief grain for the people!" Xu Changqing said.

Jiang Chen thought for a while and said, "What is the current standard for disaster relief?"

Xu Changqing said, "Now adult citizens can receive half a jin (a Chinese unit of weight, approximately 500 grams) of rice per day, and children receive half of that."