Scientific Disaster Relief

Hearing this, the village head was so terrified that his legs went weak. He had just seen the current Emperor in person!

No!

The Emperor had actually come?

He had personally arrived at this coastal wasteland and even distributed porridge to the people.

Thinking of this, the old man couldn’t help but shed tears.

Meanwhile, the magistrate Zhang Lin had been brought into the carriage.

“Your humble subject, Zhang Lin, magistrate of Kunshan County, pays homage to Your Majesty.”

This was not Zhang Lin’s first audience with the Emperor. During his appointment, he had once been summoned by Li Shimin in Chang’an.

But back then, he had been far from Li Shimin—so far that he couldn’t even clearly see the Emperor’s face.

To be as close to Li Shimin as he was now was a first, and he was nervous to the extreme.

“Rise,” Li Shimin said softly.

Only then did Zhang Lin stand up, but he kept his head bowed, not daring to look directly at the Emperor.

“I ask you this,” Li Shimin continued. “Why is it that the people in this village are starving, yet Kunshan County has done nothing?”

The imperial court, in order to respond to sudden disasters in various regions, had always stored grain in each prefecture and county. Logically, since this fishing village had been hit by a tsunami, and the authorities had issued a maritime ban, Kunshan County should have distributed the stored grain.

Moreover, this was only a small fishing village—the county’s grain reserves couldn’t possibly be insufficient.

“Your Majesty, the county… truly has no grain left to give,” Zhang Lin said. “At the beginning of the year, we suffered a snow disaster, and in the summer, a great flood hit, causing the crops in many upstream fields to fail completely. Several months ago, the county, along with the prefectures of Jiangnan East Circuit, began distributing stored grain. But the disasters have continued, and now the reserves are completely exhausted.”

Hearing this, Li Shimin frowned. He had indeed reviewed disaster relief memorials before, but he recalled that he had already ordered grain from the national treasury to be transported for relief.

Why, then, had the disaster not been resolved after several months?

“Your Majesty, this year there have been disasters everywhere, and the roads have been blocked by floods. Transporting grain has been extremely difficult,” Zhang Lin added, as if guessing what Li Shimin was thinking. “Furthermore, the grain convoys consumed some during transit, so what actually reached the affected areas was far from enough to alleviate the disaster.”

“Old Li, haven’t you promoted the cultivation of potatoes, corn, and sweet potatoes?” asked Qin Shi Huang, who was nearby, unable to help interjecting.

“How could I not have promoted them?”

Li Shimin sighed. “But as you’ve heard, the disasters in Jiangnan are relentless. No crops can survive them. Besides, in other regions, the sweet potatoes and corn were only planted recently. The first harvest hasn’t even begun yet.”

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded. “That’s true. I recall that during the Zhenguan era, there were indeed several major disasters. But now that railways are in place, transporting grain will be much more convenient in the future. For the moment, though, we must first calm down these people outside. Let’s hope that when the Master returns, he can bring a good amount of grain.”

Hearing their exchange, Zhang Lin was drenched in cold sweat.

Who were these two fellows, he wondered?

How dare they speak to the Emperor like that?

Wait… they were even sitting on equal footing with the Emperor?

“Old Li.”

Just as Zhang Lin was stunned and bewildered, he heard a voice from behind.

It was Qin Ning, who had returned.

“Master,”

Li Shimin immediately hurried over to meet him. “How did it go? May I ask how much grain you’ve brought this time?”

"Not bad, Li Zhi and I managed to scrape some together in Chang'an. It wasn't much, but later I made another trip to the future and found Elder Zeng."

Qin Ning smiled faintly and continued, "Come on, let's get out of the carriage. Have someone find a spacious spot, and I'll take out the grain. Remember to notify the nearby prefectures and counties—send more hands to help transport it."

"Oh?"

Hearing this, Li Shimin's face lit up with delight.

For Qin Ning to tell him to alert nearby prefectures and counties to send extra men for hauling grain meant that the amount he'd brought this time was definitely substantial.

Soon, everyone alighted from the carriage. After a brief discussion with the village head, they followed him farther away.

"Your Majesty, right here—this is the most open space near our village. Should be big enough, don't you think?" the village head said, leading the group to an empty plot.

The magistrate, Zhang Lin, also tagged along; the yamen runners under his command had just been dispatched by him to various prefectures and counties to notify the manpower.

Not far off, many of the common folk, having eaten their fill, trailed along out of curiosity to watch the spectacle.

Qin Ning didn't bother stopping them.

He stood in the middle of the open field, then waved his hand.

In an instant, sacks upon sacks of grain materialized out of thin air. Within just a few seconds, they had piled up like a small hill.

"This... this..."

Whether it was the village head, the magistrate Zhang Lin, or the distant onlookers, everyone stood frozen in shock at the sight.

"Immortal! An Immortal!"

The moment they snapped out of it, they all fell to their knees before Qin Ning, crying out in unison, "Thank you, Immortal, for bestowing grain!"

"Sir... this is far too much," Li Shimin said, equally stunned—not by Qin Ning's ability, but by the sheer quantity of grain, far exceeding his expectations.

Piles of rice and flour rose like a small mountain, at least five thousand sacks or more.

At an average of a hundred catties per sack, five thousand sacks...

That was five hundred thousand catties?

"Most of this grain was rushed to the base by Elder Zeng. There's more to come—I'll head back for another trip. Have your men move this lot out and distribute it to the disaster-stricken areas east of the Yangtze River. Clear the space for me again," Qin Ning said.

With that, he leaped into the air and vanished once more.

Soon, yamen runners from every prefecture and county arrived. Under the direction of Wei Zheng and Fang Xuanling, they began orderly carrying the grain away.

But by the time Qin Ning returned, only half of the grain had been moved.

"I brought a few trucks with me. Have your men load the rest onto those and haul it away," Qin Ning said. After a moment's thought, he added, "Actually, forget it—I'll do it myself."

"Hum!"

With a wave of his hand, several large trucks materialized on the empty ground. He waved again, and the remaining sacks flew up and stacked themselves into the trucks.

At the sight of this feat, the gathered commoners in the distance fell to their knees once more in reverence, bowing repeatedly.

"Sir, didn't you bring any drivers? Also, the roads along this coastal area are terrible—roads soft and muddy. These big trucks are heavy; they'll probably sink into the dirt," Li Shimin remarked.

"That's easy to handle."

Qin Ning smiled slightly, then gently flicked his fingers, sending out a few streaks of white light that attached themselves to the wheels of the large trucks. "This way they won't get stuck in the ground. As for the drivers, there’s no need—these trucks were specially arranged by Elder Zeng, equipped with the most advanced artificial intelligence and several drones that rise into the air to scout the route. Even if there’s no road, they can plan the best path on their own and deliver the grain to the destination."

"Later, assign a few constables to ride along with each truck. Otherwise, when the trucks arrive, those local officials probably won’t even know what’s happening."

"Very well, sir," Li Shimin nodded, then immediately began making arrangements.