Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Yan Liqiang laid lazily in the carriage and closed his eyes, trying not to think of anything while listening to the sound of the wheels and feeling the light wobbling. The copper incense cauldron inside the carriage emitted an aroma. The sun was burning outside while the ice cupboard inside the carriage made the temperature inside much lower than the outside.

Before he became a official, he thought that they were very powerful and authoritative, but once he was ruling a region, Yan Liqiang found that being an official wasn’t as easy as he imagined. It was especially so for someone who had such a sense of responsibility like him. Enjoying life and surrounding himself with sycophants was easy but he couldn’t live such life comfortably so he could only clench his teeth and carry the burden on his shoulders. No matter how tiring, bitter, or bored he was, he could only hold on. Sitting with such a position meant that people relied on you while you had no one to rely on anymore!

There was no other way but to make himself stronger.

At this moment, even though Yan Liqiang wanted to have some quiet time, he still had to close his eyes and deal with matters because of Qian Su and Lu Wenbin who were sitting inside with him.

After the carriage left Pingxi City, Qian Su reported official matters for an entire half an hour about Qiyun Prefecture’s financial situation. Then, it was Lu Wenbin’s turn to speak for half an hour about the construction in the Shatu people’s region. After the two finished, more than an hour had passed. Meanwhile, the carriage they were on had traveled tens of kilometers under the protection of 500 cavalry.

During this process, Yan Liqiang kept his eyes shut and didn’t make a sound. Qian Su and Lu Wenbin knew that Yan Liqiang was quite exhausted these few days so they didn’t feel it was strange…

“The latest imperial court news was just sent to the Qiyun Protectorate Office. I looked at it, and the report said that there was indeed a great drought in Zhu Province during the seventh lunar month. Although the eighth lunar month isn’t over, by the looks of it, the drought will only get worse. From the beginning of the 3rd lunar month, many places in Zhu Province haven’t gotten a single drop of rain. The Zhu River is pretty much dry. Pinglan Lake’s surface area shrunk by about half. Other than the great drought, there was also a locust crisis. It’s said that the five hundred kilometers of good land might not be able to produce any harvest. The locusts covered the skies and everywhere they passed, no vegetation lived. Around the seventh lunar month, asylum seekers were fleeing already. The imperial court is thinking of ways to gather resources for the disaster…”

Qian Su spoke as he looked at Yan Liqiang’s face. Although this news wasn’t in an obvious spot on the report, Qian Su knew that this was no ordinary news. It concerned the hearts of all the people in the Great Han Empire. The impact of the news itself was 100 times worse than the Zhu Province drought itself…

In the fifth lunar month of the 16th year of the Yuanping reign in the Great Han Empire, the Heavenly Dog devours the sun in Liu Province….

In the eighth lunar month of the 16th year of the Yuanping reign in the Great Han Empire, a great drought in Zhu Province…

The Heavenly Dog devouring the sun incident already occurred but there were still people hoping for the best in the capital. When news of the great drought came, it completely crushed their last line of mental defense!

The stone turtle had predicted everything. If people still stayed in the capital region this time next year, not even their bodies would remain.

Just as Qian Su expected, when Yan Liqiang heard the news he finally opened his eyes and sighed, “Is there any news from the capital city?”

“The capital got a bit chaotic last month because the Emperor and many elites were keeping a tight watch on Zhu Province. They didn’t need to wait for the report to know. Meanwhile, Zhu Province has sent news to the capital almost every day. Just last month, quite a few wealthy families started leaving the capital. People were selling mansions everywhere. The entire capital city is in distress. Everyone is thinking of a way, and all the houses in the capital can’t be sold now…”

“Wherever those wealthy and elite people went, they would have back up plans but in the capital region, there are many citizens. Are there are resolutions in the report from the imperial court?!” Yan Liqiang asked.

“The report mentioned that Sun Bingchen proposed that the provinces in the Great Han Empire accept asylum seekers with a distance ratio. Even Gan Province was allocated a share of 200,000 people. Although this idea is good, it’s not easy to accomplish. This isn’t a simple matter of sending a few hundred thousand, it’s sending off ten million. With this many people fleeing, it’s not something that an order from the imperial court can resolve. Not just the capital region, but even the nearby few provinces might become chaotic…”

Yan Liqiang sighed. He expected such a situation, but compared to letting them die to the Heavenly Tribulation without resistance, Yan Liqiang felt that it was better to let them know and escape with their capabilities. Although this might bring some chaos to places, it was better than letting all those people die.

“Is there news of the White Lotus Society in the report?”

Yan Liqiang was worried about them the most. With their atrocious habits, Yan Liqiang felt it was almost illogical for them to not have started some trouble now.

Qian Su shook his head, “There’s no news of the White Lotus Society but I heard that they seemed to have vanished all over the Empire. Even in the south where they’ve been mostly plagued by them. I don’t know what they’re doing!”

Yan Liqiang frowned. No news of the White Lotus Society at this time was the worst possible piece of news.

“Uncle Qian, our Qiyun Province should prepare this time. A lot of citizens will be fleeing from the capital. Although our Qiyun Province is very far from the capital, we can still help. There are quite a lot of capable and talented people from the capital. We can send some people to hire people there. Worksmiths will take priority. Others who have some specialities such as martial warriors all can come too. As long as they’re willing to come, we can give them a place to settle their families here. Uncle Qian, go discuss with people and see what sort of people we lack and how many we can take in. Do this right when the carriage goes back to Yingwei County…”

“Liqiang, this is a good idea but doing this would require quite some money. The Qiyun Protectorate Office doesn’t have that much money, so it might be…”

“Don’t worry about money Uncle Qian. The Yan family will take out 300,000 tales of silver — just use it!”

“With money, things will be much easier. If we really use all this money to settle people, we can settle at least 10,000 people. The only big expense is the travel cost. Those people are capable. As long as they get here, they can find a job to earn money. Liqiang, you have a good heart…”

“Just to get a peace of mind!” Yan Liqiang sighed, “By the way, did we create the machines I told the manufacturing bureau research department to create?”

“The air hammer seems to be making some progress but the coin-making machine is a bit hard. Even though you drew the blueprint, those worksmiths are still trying to figure it out. They might need some more time…” Qian Su asked in bewilderment, “Those worksmiths can understand the use of the air hammer but what’s the coin-making machine for…”

Yan Liqiang scratched his head, “That coin-making machine can cut silver and gold into small pieces of equal weight…”

“The current silver and gold can be used too. Why do they have to be cut into small pieces and why do we need to make a machine just for that?” Qian Su asked in confusion.

Yan Liqiang didn’t know how to explain it to Qian Su because turning silver and gold into currency had a revolutionary meaning. The Great Han Empire’s people just didn’t understand it…