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In the past, during disaster relief, if the affected area was not large, and there were relatively resolute disaster relief officials above, the government could use some more drastic means and measures. Search: \(Complete Book Divine Station\) to read high-quality literature for free. Generally speaking, they would directly persuade or threaten wealthy families. If anyone disobeyed, a batch would be killed, and the grain price would be somewhat curbed. Officials with such means and decisions, who were not afraid of retaliation afterwards, were often regarded as cruel but good officials.

At the beginning of this disaster relief effort, Qin Si Yuan had also made such a decision, wanting to save more people. But at that time, he also understood that the scale of this grain price increase could not be solved by such means. If the means were overused, it was possible that he, the Prime Minister, would be purged before the disaster relief was completed. Because of this consideration, after weighing it for a long time, he decided to use Ning Yi's approach.

But this does not mean that the Right Prime Minister's office could not move anyone.

The wealthy households participating in grain hoarding this time, such as the Qi family, the Zuo family, and the Cai family, were basically able to compete with Qin Si Yuan on the surface. Qin Si Yuan could not directly break face with these people, because no one dared to offend so many parties at the same time. But disaster relief and making money were operations behind the scenes, and even if they could not move these wealthy merchants, there were always some smaller households that the Prime Minister's office was qualified to cut off.

Before it snowed, Ning Yi and others had been restraining themselves from using this force. Except for some who were about to incite civil unrest or directly attack officials, the rest were only running around lobbying, letting them quietly observe the matter. In secret, they laid the groundwork: "We are very determined this time, you will see."

When it snowed, everything moved. The officials had already collected information on some small and medium-sized landlords who hoarded grain. As soon as the order was given, they immediately broke down the doors, tried them, and sentenced them. For some of the more serious cases, the Prime Minister's office had obtained the emperor's consent to execute them directly, without waiting for the autumn execution season. This was to show the other small grain hoarding households.

In the capital, Qin Si Yuan's methods were understood by Zhou Zhe. With arrests, imprisonments, and executions, a batch of grain that had been waiting rushed into the market, and the disaster relief porridge reached its most generous level at the moment it snowed. The counterattack of the wealthy households also began.

Ambitious wealthy households quickly bought up the grain thrown into the market, and those with connections intercepted the grain being put in through officialdom or various channels. They began to try to create chaos with the government's porridge distribution, and in several places, even the granaries were secretly set on fire. Conflicts between grain hoarding households and foreign merchants became increasingly intense. The security of the disaster area rapidly declined for a time.

Due to the arrival of heavy snow and the deterioration of security, some foreign merchants chose to leave. Some people who had been incited to become enthusiastic at first no longer stayed here after realizing the cold reality. Only a small number of young people remained, and they became more united. The passage of grain became difficult, which meant that the total amount of grain in the disaster area would basically be only this much. However, the first round of drastic measures caused some small households to collapse psychologically. They began to sell grain, and this trend was constantly increasing.

These were all regular means of confrontation in the disaster area. The real danger and the decision of the overall situation were actually on the court.

The verbal attacks on the two Prime Ministers' factions had become increasingly fierce at this time. Almost every day, many memorials of impeachment were submitted, not against Li Gang and Qin Si Yuan, but against the officials working under them, especially the officials in charge of disaster relief in various regions, who received the most criticism. Emperor Zhou Zhe was annoyed, but basically he still supported the Prime Minister's faction's disaster relief. As the emperor, he could probably see the current situation. Only some impeachments with conclusive evidence would be ordered by him to be thoroughly investigated and dismissed.

Li Gang and Qin Si Yuan also returned the favor by impeaching some lower-level officials who were hindering disaster relief. Almost every day, someone was dismissed, which was considered a return of the favor. While maintaining preferential cooperation, the emperor also complained to Li Gang and them: "Don't make too much trouble, lest one day you get burned. I have been bothered by all parties recently, not only in the court."

However, in December, the biggest loss of the Prime Minister's faction was Lin Quting, the Transport Commissioner of Jinghu South Road, who was a capable general under Qin Si Yuan. He managed Jinghu South Road, and the maintenance of the trade routes and the input of disaster relief were originally the most powerful. The only problem was that the largest family in Jinghu South Road was named Han, and this was... the Empress Dowager's maternal family.

When managing Jinghu South Road, Lin Quting had tried to avoid direct conflicts with the Han family as much as possible, but various frictions were still unavoidable. In November, some members of the Han family had already gone to Beijing to appeal to the Empress Dowager, fabricating various accusations of Lin Quting's tyranny, corruption, and dereliction of duty in Jinghu South Road, preparing witnesses and evidence, and constantly lobbying. The impeachments of some officials became increasingly fierce. Finally, the Empress Dowager was also moved and felt that her family members were being greatly bullied there. Zhou Zhe also began to examine these things, and finally became furious and prepared to deal with Lin Quting.

After such a decision was made in the court, Lin Zhongtai, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, who had a good relationship with Lin Quting, cried blood and begged Zhou Zhe to withdraw his order. In the end, he even said: "If Lin Quting is dismissed at this time, countless disaster-stricken people in Jinghu South Road will have no way out..."

He was an official of the Li Gang and Qin Si Yuan faction, but at this time he was also dizzy. These words made Zhou Zhe furious, slapping the table and scolding: "Bastard, do you think there are no good officials in the world except Lin Quting! Do you think only you are upright officials? Besides you, there is no one under me who wants to save the people from fire and water!? I will dismiss Lin Quting! You! You also go home and reflect for me—"

Two of his top generals were lost at once, and Qin Si Yuan was powerless to recover. Although it was snowing heavily at this time, it was not so exaggerated as to completely block the mountains and roads. The imperial edict quickly arrived in Jingnan. Lin Quting was dismissed and ordered to go to Beijing for investigation. He was also anxious and cursed, contracting a serious illness on the way to Beijing. In the end, only bad news came back.

Lin Quting was only forty-nine years old this year. As a major official of one party, he was in good spirits, young and strong. Although the dismissal at this time gave him a huge blow, and it was such a cold winter, there were many doubts about whether he really died of illness. However, whether this matter was true or whether the Han family of Jingnan secretly acted single-handedly, it would be difficult to investigate afterwards.

In the current disaster relief effort, when some small components had problems, the Prime Minister's office could still put together spare personnel. The loss of a major official like Lin Quting would directly lead to half the effort in one road, and similar situations were happening every day.

Qin Si Yuan, with his white hair, dealt with various situations with strong mental strength. He often discussed with Ning Yi and others and made decisions. Ning Yi had his own set of methods in the business world and in dealing with people's hearts, but he was not very familiar with the operation of the officialdom of the Wu Dynasty at this time. The strategies he proposed were often said by Qin Si Yuan to be too powerful. In this intertwined confrontation, grain prices finally fell steadily, but no one knew what the final result would be, how many people who wanted to be saved would die. Because in the disaster area at this time, a large number of deaths were already occurring every day, either starving to death or freezing to death. The places where the government and wealthy households provided disaster relief were better, but there were always some people who lived in remote mountainous areas, and after eating up the grain prices, they died lonely or as a family in remote mountain villages, silently.

Far away in Hedong Road, Shi Shi had been here for a month. In the beginning, she ran around, participating in disaster relief, distributing porridge, releasing grain, and selling grain. She also felt the passion and generosity in her heart. But now, huge fatigue and psychological pressure had come down. Sometimes she still wore a cloak and scarf and went out of the city to distribute porridge, but more often, she would watch those victims from a distance and cry quietly.

Tears had appeared in the first few days, but stopped soon after. In these days, they began to come out again. In the first few days, she cried for these victims. Recently, her crying was partly for others and partly for herself.

Over the years, she had not seen tragedies, nor had she seen death. However, when she really got involved and wanted to do something, and many people around her were equally enthusiastic about wanting to do something, the sense of frustration that finally came was extremely strong. What Ning Yi said to her in the capital gradually turned into a real feeling after arriving here.

"We don't want the wealthy households to lose money."

"We just want them to earn a little less."

"If they are a little less greedy, many people can survive..."

But... many people are dying every day...

Grain prices are indeed starting to fall. Sometimes she really wanted to go back to the capital immediately to find Ning Yi and ask, "Have we succeeded? How many people have died? Less than 50,000?" But she knew that whether it was so or not, it would be difficult for her heart to be calm. The government's grain reserves were constantly decreasing, and the porridge distribution was becoming increasingly thin. Some places were probably more troublesome than here.

She sometimes thought that so many people died just to let those wealthy families earn a little less. So many people died, but each of their families was still making money. So many people, working so hard, who did they defeat...

In the capital, Ning Yi also did not know whether the expected goal could be achieved. In fact, after the heavy snow began to fall, the efficiency of intelligence from various places also began to stagnate. Everything was entrusted to the original plan, the officials who had been arranged in various places, and as for the capital, they could only try their best to maintain the overall situation.

With the death of Lin Quting, this overall situation was not maintained perfectly.

Time was about to enter the latter half of December, and there were ten days left until New Year's Eve. In the capital, families were decorating with lanterns and streamers. The Ning family and the Prime Minister's office were no exception. Even though the men of each family were working hard to maintain the major event of disaster relief, the New Year still had to be celebrated in each family. Ji Kun had returned to the Prime Minister's office at this time, Yao Zunian had returned to his home, and Monk Jueming was still running around. Ning Yi came to the Prime Minister's office every day to calculate numbers with everyone and handle many other things that needed to be handled. After dinner this night, everyone did not go home and was still discussing some matters related to disaster relief, about a batch of grain in Huainan that could be transferred out, and discussing the legitimacy of the process with a group of staff.

The night was not yet deep, the study was lit with candles, Qin Si Yuan, with his hands behind his back, was telling Ning Yi, Ji Kun, Wenren Bu'er and others about the allusions in the political arena, and the names that could be used. His hair was already all white, but his eyes were clear, his spirit was good, and he was quite humorous in his speech. During this period, Old Madam Qin came in to see him once and brought a set of tea and snacks for everyone. After she went out, Qin Si Yuan continued to tell the story. A subordinate trotted in with a piece of intelligence: "My Lord."

Qin Si Yuan took it and looked at it.

The intelligence was only half a sheet of paper in size. Qin Si Yuan read it once, frowned, and looked at it again. He stood there, looking to one side of the study, blinked his eyes, and his eyes were a little dazed. After a moment, he stretched out the paper strip. Ji Kun and others were about to reach out to take it, but Qin Si Yuan maintained the posture of stretching out his hand, sat down on the chair behind him, and one hand grabbed the back of the chair, his blue veins bulging. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but finally only said two words: "Zhang Jue..."

Wenren Bu'er rushed out of the room: "Someone! Call Dr. Xu! Quick!"

Ji Kun rushed over, one hand pinched Qin Si Yuan's pulse, and the other hand tried to pinch Qin Si Yuan's philtrum. Ning Yi went over and said: "Relax, relax, Prime Minister Qin, relax, we have everything... Relax, no matter what happens, we will be able to handle it, take a deep breath, come, follow me, exhale... inhale..."

While saying that, he took the piece of paper in Qin Si Yuan's hand and looked at it. The paper was held in his hand, but suddenly clenched tightly. His lips moved, but he did not say anything. He only gritted his teeth and said: "Exhale... inhale..."

Dr. Xu from the Prime Minister's office ran almost flying, took a look at Qin Si Yuan, and said: "You go out." He took out silver needles and stabbed them. Ji Kun stepped back two steps, Ning Yi pulled him out of the room, and handed the paper strip to him. Ji Kun looked at it, and Wenren Bu'er had already leaned over.

No one spoke, because that would disturb the people inside the room.

From October to November, outside Yanmen Pass, Zhang Jue fought three battles with Wanyan Zhamu. He lost the first two battles, but he turned defeat into victory in the third battle, repelling Wanyan Zhamu's army. Afterwards, the Jin people replaced him with Wanyan Zongwang, the second son of Aguda, to lead the army, and defeated Zhang Jue's army outside Nanjing City. Wanyan Zongwang was one of the strongest generals in the Jin army at this time. Zhang Jue knew that he was no match, and led his army to retreat south into Yanjing. At this time, the one who guarded Yanjing was Guo Yaoshi of the Ever-Victorious Army and Wang Anzhong, the Pacification Commissioner. Wanyan Zongwang led his army south, and it was not easy to attack the city in winter. Guo Yaoshi advocated defending the city, but Wang Anzhong had already received a secret order from the capital.

Wang Anzhong hid Zhang Jue, and when Wanyan Zongwang demanded him, he only said that there was no such person. Wanyan Zongwang demanded him even more urgently, saying that if the Wu Dynasty did not hand over Zhang Jue, he would go to war with the Wu Dynasty. Wang Anzhong then found a substitute who looked similar to Zhang Jue, killed him, and sent out the head. However, there were people in the Jin army who knew Zhang Jue and saw that it was not Zhang Jue's head. Under repeated pressure, Wang Anzhong finally brought Zhang Jue out, enumerated Zhang Jue's crimes, and accused him of lightly starting the border dispute between the Wu Dynasty and the Jin people. Zhang Jue cursed that the Wu Dynasty could not tolerate people. Wang Anzhong then killed Zhang Jue and sent his head to Wanyan Zongwang.

The Jin people finally withdrew their troops.

The lights welcoming the New Year were hung high, and Bianliang City was still prosperous. Only the winter night wind was howling and gradually getting colder. The people in the courtyard walked to one side and remained silent. Soon after, Ning Yi went outside the courtyard and punched a large tree. With a bang, the tree trunk shook and the bark cracked.

In this winter of the eleventh year of the Jinghan era of the Wu Dynasty, many people were working hard, wanting to accomplish certain things, and finally, many people were working hard to complete a perfect betrayal of this country...

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