Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

On the third day after the earthquake, the Emperor issued a decree to move the capital to Chenzhou. Although Feng Jin and the others had expected the Emperor to move the capital, they were still silent when the decree was announced.

The people were even more grief-stricken when they heard the news. Their lamentations filled the air. An old woman cried so much that she fainted.

After watching the aftermath of the earthquake for three days, the audience in the streaming room had developed hearts of steel. However, they still felt somewhat sad when they saw the scene, even though they did not understand why they felt sorrowful.

Tudou Dun Niurou: “Sigh… Aren’t they just moving the capital? The nation isn’t gone. Why are they crying like that?”

Dahongzao: “Bah. It’s easy for you to say. They’re not crying because the capital is moving––they’re crying because they’ve been abandoned.”

Laosiji Lianmeng: “The streaming room isn’t under the nation’s control, so I’ll make an inappropriate analogy: If such a terrible earthquake happened in China’s capital and most of the people died, and there wasn’t any rescue effort done by the country for three consecutive days, everyone would have doubts in their minds. However, they would still trust their country and wait to be rescued. Then, the government announces that the capital is too broken to be rescued, that the capital will be moved, and that the people affected by the disaster will be left behind… Take a guess. How would the abandoned people feel?”

How would one feel if he or she was abandoned? The nation would be done for sooner or later!

Tudou Nurougaifan: “This analogy isn’t suitable. If our country dared to do that, it’d be criticized to death by more than one billion people. Furthermore, the Internet today is so developed. The whole country would raise a rumpus if there wasn’t any help sent in three hours, let alone three days.”

Xuanbu Jiufei: “It’s another matter whether the analogy is suitable or not. Anyway, I understand what Laosiji is trying to say.”

Kebu Gaiming: “Sigh. If I were one of the people, I’d cry too. What’s the point of being alive in the face of their devastated home? The country doesn’t care about them. This means that it’s almost impossible for them to rebuild their homes. Their future is uncertain and hopeless.”

The people in the ancient times had a blind trust in the Emperor because he was the Emperor and had the divine rights of kings! They could not see their future at all when they were abandoned by him.

In such a melancholy atmosphere, Jiang Pengji curled her lips. “They’re so energetic, and they have nowhere to vent their energy. It’s a miracle they are still able to cry in such a time as this.”

Luo Yue was born a commoner. He was also initially dismal, but when he heard Jiang Pengji’s cold-blooded words, he almost choked. If it were not for the Emperor’s command, he would not have obeyed her orders.

“Am I wrong?” Jiang Pengji looked askance at him, contempt written on her face.

Luo Yue could not find the words. He wanted to refute her, but the words were stuck in his throat. No matter how hard he tried, he could not speak. He felt a little guilty.

Seeing that Jiang Pengji had gradually walked further away, Qiguan Rang nudged him with his elbow when he walked past him.

“The Emperor has indeed abandoned his people, but look at them. Why are they still alive and not buried in the ruins? Langjun is right. They have too much energy, and they’re too bored. What are they crying for? They are obviously full of emotions, so they should be grateful for Langjun’s kindness.” Qiguan Rang shook his head like the ignorant people were all hopeless.

Luo Yue looked serious and said righteously, “How can you say that? If it wasn’t for the Emperor’s decree, Liu Langjun wouldn’t…”

Qiguan Rang did not let him finish. He interrupted directly, “You’re wrong. If my Langjun wasn’t kind and did not present a petition directly to the Emperor to take on this drudgery, do you think the Emperor would have ordered someone else to rescue the people? Ha. Even if Langjun pleaded to the Emperor on behalf of the people, he still only sent out 1,000 imperial guards and gave out 500 dans of food. How many people can be rescued with such limited resources?”

Luo Yue wanted to refute, but he could only blush in shame. However, his skin tone was slightly dark, so it was not that obvious.

Qiguan Rang insulted enigmatically, “Out of 100,000 imperial guards, only 1,000 of them were dispatched. That is very few.”

Even during the snowstorm that happened in Shangjing a few years ago, the court had allocated 30,000 taels of silver for disaster relief. Even though there was not much silver left for the people in the end, it was still a gesture. The court was shameless. They bundled people off by allocating 1,000 imperial guards and 500 dans of food.

One must know that the earthquake had hit Shangyang County and Fengyi County. It was almost two-thirds of Wanzhou! The death toll was dozens of times greater than that of the snowstorm that year!

Qiguan Rang sneered. The sinister look in his eyes sent chills to Luo Yue’s heart.

As the number of people being rescued increased, the demand for food and medicinal herbs grew as well.

Jiang Pengji redeemed 20,000 teals of food and a large amount of Chinese mugwort and reed rhizome. She asked Xu Ke to take a few people with him to collect them every time. Some of them were reserved for the people in Shangjing, and some of them were transported to Fengyi County. Qiguan Rang previously made 2,000 troops stay behind for the rescue effort.

Shangjing was the epicenter of the earthquake. The casualties were particularly disastrous.

Fengyi County was quite far away from Shangjing. There were a lot of survivors, so the rice and medicinal herbs consumed were also particularly high.

Jiang Pengji could not keep using the food that she exchanged in the mall. It was not a problem in the short run, but trouble could easily arise in the long run.

If she had incompetent teammates around her, it was fine for her to put on an act. However, the key thing was that her teammates were shrewder than one another. It would not work with them. If the mistress of the Liu residence did not have a lot of money and did not have grain shops across the entirety of Dongqing, she might not have been able to deceive Xu Ke.

Therefore, it was very important to broaden the sources of income and reduce expenditure.

“There are a lot of dignitaries in Shangjing. They’ll have some good items in their warehouses…” Jiang Pengji said with a poker face. “In any case, they’re going to move, and the things left behind will rot. It’s better to recover and reuse them to benefit the people.”

Jiang Pengji expressed herself clearly, yet she didn’t directly say that they had to steal it. Qiguan Rang accepted it because he was not a gentleman from the start. Xu Ke felt somewhat uncomfortable. It was no different from stealing and looting. However, thinking about the people out there, there was no other way. Meng Hun had always listened to Jiang Pengji. He felt that there was nothing wrong with blocking the road directly to rob people, and all they were doing was clearing up the ruins left behind.

Feng Jin was the only one who objected. He had received formal education for a long time. If he suddenly conspired with Jiang Pengji, he would not be Feng Jin anymore.

Jiang Pengji asked, “Do you have any good ideas?”

They were looking at Feng Jin, and he only spoke after some time, “At least… we should leave a bill signed in acknowledgment of debt?”

Everyone was speechless. Everyone in the residences had fled. Who was going to look at the bill? However, if that would make Feng Jin feel better, then they would write it. It would not take much time, anyway.

Jiang Pengji replied, “Well, what Huaiyu said makes sense. If the people return to have a look at their old houses after the earthquake and realize that their things have all been cleared away, they may be angry. Leaving a bill signed in acknowledgment of debt can at least show that we’re not robbers. We’re just ‘borrowing’ things temporarily.”

Jiang Pengji said the word “borrowing” with profound meaning.

Qiguan Rang smiled without saying a word. Was it still “borrowing” if one borrowed something without returning it?

Four days after the earthquake, the number of people rescued had reached 18,000. However, there were 70,000 corpses buried outside the city. There were 120,000 permanent residents living in Shangjing, so tens of thousands of them were still missing.

Jiang Pengji planned to stay for a few more days and search the city again inch-by-inch. Then, she would meet the other 2,000 troops in Fengyi County.