Chapter 6 — Phu Chan

Sometimes walking around the streets of the capital. But the most you can do is find a quiet tea shop, make a pot of tea, and sit and chat about all sorts of things. A strand of hair on my temple was blown by the wind. Luc Van Hac suddenly raised his hand and gently tucked that strand of hair behind my ear. His fingertips carried a thin layer of callus from many years of wielding a knife, and when they passed over my ear, it left a rough feeling. I raised my head to look at him. His eyes were as deep as embracing the mountains and rivers, and within those mountains and rivers there was a small me. The atmosphere suddenly became unusually vague. His face came closer little by little. I even felt his warm breath gently brushing my forehead. The heart rate also suddenly became a bit faster. At that moment, someone knocked softly on the door, three long sounds and one short sound. It's the secret guard I sent out. "Your Majesty, Miss, something happened." "Say." "Lu Chau and Hoai Nam have not had rain for two consecutive months." Luc Van Hac and I looked at each other, our hearts sinking at the same time. "How are the rice fields?" I asked. "My subordinates came to see. Although the rice had blossomed, the inside was flat." "The thing I told you to bring back, have you brought it yet?" The dark guard took out a bag. Opened inside were more than ten dead bronze birds. Luc Van Hac just took one look and knew what I was going to do. He immediately pulled out the dagger hidden in his boot and skillfully dissected each bird. I once read in an ancient book: "There is a bird that resembles a female pheasant. If you cut open its belly and see that there are millet seeds in the kite*, then that year will have a good harvest. If it's all sand and rocks, then there will definitely be natural disasters. That's called "bird-picking." (*)Kite: the food bag is located in the bird's neck. Of the more than ten field birds, more than half of them were only filled with dry grass in their kites. The remaining ones are almost all sand and rocks. Only two children had a few full grains of rice. Birds are the smartest. They always find the best food source. If there is no food left in the bird's stomach, it means that those two areas have lost all their crops. Lu Chau and Hoai Nam are large food production areas. In years with good harvests, food is so full that warehouses cannot even contain it. If this year is lost, it will be a terrible famine affecting millions of people. News of the drought had not yet reached the capital. But the Crown Prince and Queen soon quietly purchased food in large quantities. Could it be that...they really have the ability to know the future? Indeed, it was exactly as we expected. Soon, the natural disaster situation in Lu Chau and Hoai Nam could no longer be hidden. At first, only a few groups of refugees appeared outside the city. The price of rice in the capital also increased several times. The court was immediately shocked. The royal court's medals were continuously presented to the court like falling snow. Someone has offended Lu Chau Tri Prefecture. Someone offended the Hoai Nam Provincial Palace. Some people even asked His Majesty to issue a decree to blame themselves. I heard that His Majesty was angry. At that moment, the Crown Prince proactively asked to go to the disaster area for relief. According to the news transmitted by the dark guard. After arriving in Lu Chau, the first thing the Crown Prince did was not to open a warehouse to distribute food but to buy food at high prices. He used the relief funds provided by the royal court to buy food from several big merchants in the area at very high prices. And the owners behind those big merchants are all connected to the Eastern Palace. The prince continued to use the court's relief money to buy back the food he had collected at a cheap price, switching his left hand to his right hand, leisurely making a profit without wasting any capital. Thirty thousand taels of silver went around and then flowed back into the Crown Prince's pocket. The food that was bought at high prices was exploited by everyone. When it reaches the people in need, it's less than a tenth. Natural disaster

Not only is it not resolved, but it is also becoming more and more serious. Outside Lu Chau citadel, corpses of starving corpses were lying everywhere. More and more people fled to the capital. His Majesty was angry. A holy edict immediately summoned the Crown Prince back to the capital, confined him to the Eastern Palace, not allowed to step out even half a step. But that mess still has to be cleaned up by someone. His Majesty issued a decree and ordered King Tuyen Luc Van Hac to immediately go to Lu Chau and take full charge of the relief work. Luc Van Hac received instructions and set out that night. Before he left. I gave him the book to record the amount of food that I had asked my grandmother to store in the vicinity of Lu Chau and Hoai Nam. "When I received the news, it was a bit late, so the amount of food stored was not as much as the Crown Prince's, but to stabilize the situation it should be enough." Luc Van Hac looked at me bewildered for a long time. A moment later, he suddenly bent down. He placed a deep kiss on my forehead. "Wait for me to come back." After saying that, he spurred his horse and rode away. After Luc Van Hac left the capital, we exchanged letters every day. After arriving in Lu Chau, he immediately followed the plan discussed with me in advance, opening a warehouse to distribute food right from the beginning to stabilize food prices. To ensure people can buy food. The food he sold was priced much lower than the market price, only about two parts higher than a good harvest year. But local food merchants had previously made a fortune through hoarding. That's why Luc Van Hac released so much food. They immediately bought it all. Then sell it at a high price. Luc Van Hac immediately severely punished many people. Success makes the rest somewhat fearful. But the merchants quickly joined together to form a faction. No matter how much pressure the government exerts. They also refused to lower food prices. Luc Van Hac then changed to another method. He posted notices everywhere, announcing that the government would buy food at a price higher than the market price. Food merchants from everywhere heard the beneficial news and came in droves.