Hong Yang Prefecture, after the heavy rain, the ground was muddy, and outside the Prefecture City, a large number of common people in tattered clothes surrounded it, all victims of the disaster who had not been properly resettled. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

The flood came suddenly, destroying fields and collapsing houses. Despite such a disaster, the government did not send anyone to assist the people at all. When the common people brought their families to the Prefecture City seeking survival, they were coldly blocked outside the city.

The common people had nothing to eat, so they dug up roots and gnawed on bark. It was clearly just a flood not even that severe, yet it seemed like years of famine, which was heart-wrenching to watch.

Fortunately, within Hong Yang Prefecture, there were some compassionate wealthy families who occasionally set up porridge stalls to give porridge and food, preventing these common people from truly starving to death. Meanwhile, the government, which should have been responsible, made no move at all.

An old man was surrounded by several young men, one of whom held a chipped bowl with half a bowl of hot porridge.

"Chieftain, please have some porridge. If you don’t eat something, your body won’t be able to hold on," the man’s eyes were filled with anxiousness.

The old man, called Chieftain, shook his head, eyes filled with deep despair: "I won’t drink it. Give this porridge to the children, at least they can hold on to life.

I’ve lived long enough, seen everything, and that’s enough. Now I’m only a burden to you, it would be better to just die and save you the trouble of dragging someone down."

The tears of the surrounding men began to fall as they spoke in a flurry of persuasion: "Chieftain, don’t say that. No matter what, we can’t let you starve to death."

"Chieftain, you must not die. You are our backbone, nothing must happen to you, Chieftain. We are in our prime, missing a few meals is nothing."

The Chieftain shook his head, firmly resolved not to eat the porridge, opting to starve rather than burden others, but the people around naturally couldn’t agree.

"Here are some steamed buns, you take them and share. Old chap, don’t seek death, your descendants are all filial children, doing that would sadden them."

When the Chieftain and the men advising him looked up, they saw a kind-looking young man in servant clothes standing beside them holding a packet of steamed buns.

All these people recognized the outfit as belonging to a servant from a wealthy family that often came to distribute porridge, and the men gratefully received the steamed buns from the servant-dressed man.

"Thank you, thank you to this great benefactor. May you be blessed with smooth fortune, prosperity, and health in the future," the man who took the buns thanked continuously before eagerly unwrapping the paper and handing a bun to the Chieftain.

Afterwards, the man distributed buns around and called several women and children over to devour them together.

During this famine, surrounded by people whose eyes were green with hunger, food reaching hands would be eaten immediately, otherwise it would be snatched away by others.

Finally, the Chieftain did drink that half bowl of porridge, as who wouldn’t cling to life? Seeking death before was just to avoid burdening descendants. Now, with food and not needing to worry about starving to death, the Chieftain naturally didn’t want to die.

The servant who gave them the buns hadn’t left, and instead sat down beside them, chatting idly after watching them finish eating.

Having a favorable impression of these servants and their masters who occasionally brought them food, the Chieftain and his descendants didn’t dislike this servant and joined in the chit-chat.

After chatting for a while, perhaps due to familiarity, the servant got a bit chatty and lowered his voice, sharing a secret revelation he knew.

"Let me tell you something. You’ve always thought that being victims of a disaster was because the Emperor wouldn’t open the warehouses to release grain for aid, right? That’s not the case at all."

The servant’s remark caught the attention of the Chieftain and those around him, one of the men couldn’t help but respond angrily.

"How could it not be? All the officials of the world are under the Emperor’s command. If the Emperor didn’t disallow it, how would those officials turn a blind eye to our lives?"

The man’s words garnered a chorus of agreement from those nearby. Everyone knew the world belonged to the Emperor, and the officials of the world were managed by the Emperor. If they ignored the lives of the common people, whose fault could it be but the Emperor’s?

The servant shook his head, his voice even lower: "You don’t know, and frankly, I didn’t either. But since my master became an Imperial Merchant and started dealing more with the government, I found out some things.

The officials of this world are not all managed by the Emperor. Many officials are from aristocratic families, and those officials from aristocratic families are very treacherous, completely ignoring the lives of the common people and disobeying the Emperor’s commands.

The Magistrate of our Hong Yang Prefecture is from the Yun Family. You should know that in this area, the Yun Family’s reputation is very big, many officials are from their family."

Having lived long, the Chieftain also had some insight and nodded: "I know this much. When I was young, I worked as a Shopkeeper in town, and the Bai Family was indeed very powerful, no one dared provoke them."

The servant gave a thumbs up to the Chieftain: "You’re very knowledgeable, old sir. The Bai Family is indeed very powerful, not to mention other things, just the taxation aspect alone."

At this point, the servant paused, glanced around stealthily like a thief, then spoke in an even lower voice: "My brother is the personal servant to our master, and he told me. It’s said that the taxes in our area are not supposed to be this high at all.

The amount of taxes was set by the Emperor and originally wasn’t so high. But the officials from aristocratic families are very greedy, they openly oppose the Emperor’s Holy Decree.

The amount set by the Emperor doesn’t hold here at all. How much is collected is up to these aristocratic officials. They collect more from us to fill their own pockets, while reporting less to the Emperor."

"How could this be?" The servant’s words left the Chieftain and the men around him staring dumbfounded, unable to react, with a lingering feeling of incredulity.

One man looked at the servant with suspicion: "You’re not just making this up, are you? Can these aristocratic families really overpower the Emperor?"

The servant didn’t get angry, continuing with a mysterious tone: "I’m not surprised you don’t believe it. In fact, I didn’t at first either.

But it’s said that for this disaster relief, the Emperor specifically allocated grain from Qingyang Prefecture to be sent over, but our Hong Yang Prefecture’s Magistrate intercepted it.

It’s said the Magistrate wanted to keep the grain for himself, but the people sent by the Emperor refused, and as the saying goes, a Level 1 official can crush a man. So the grain was still withheld outside the government office by our Hong Yang Prefecture’s Magistrate for his own use in the end.

I even know where the Magistrate hid the grain. It’s in a large granary. When my master was in the grain business, he often went there to pick up goods."