Chapter 548： What medicine did Uncle Li take wrongly?

Chapter 548 Did Mr. Li take the wrong medicine?

More than twenty scrawny children were squatting not far from the stove, drooling and looking eagerly at the steam inside the door, eager to dive in and eat their fill.

The lame or blind disabled men and women crawled out of various broken houses with difficulty.

There are even old men with disheveled hair, hiding in the grass, afraid to show their faces, and longing for a hot meal...

Li Laoer and all the people who delivered supplies felt sour in their hearts and felt as if something was stuck in their throats.

After the court meeting on the second day, Li Laoer entered the imperial study room.

The emperor thought he was here to lay flowers. After all, the name of Baiyuan Garden was known to everyone in the new capital these days.

The emperor smiled and joked: "What good flowers did Uncle Zhongshan bring when he came here this time? I heard that you sold a Golden Lotus for a sky-high price and hid two peonies, which made all the flower lovers in Xindu miss it. I can’t sleep well and can’t eat well.”

Li Laoer replied: "Your Majesty, I am not asking you to see me today to give you flowers. Even in the future, I will not give you fresh flowers, not even a single one."

“Bold!” The chief **** was pouring tea for the emperor. He immediately shouted and looked at Li Laoer as if he was looking at a fool.

Did the Li family take the wrong medicine and no longer want to live?

How dare you be so disrespectful to the emperor? !

The emperor was also surprised, but when he saw Li Laoer's calm expression and thought about the Li family's past loyalty, he waved his hand to signal the chief **** to step back, and then asked, "Why did Uncle Zhongshan say that?"

Li Laoer lifted up his clothes, knelt down directly, kowtowed respectfully, and then said: "Your Majesty, I really don't intend to present famous flowers to you, because I want to keep the money from selling famous flowers. Food, medicine, etc., I want to send them to the Relief Department!

"The Emperor may have heard that I exchanged a golden lotus plant for a lot of food and medicinal materials, and sent them to the Relief Department yesterday. But the Emperor didn't know that the Relief Department was simply a **** on earth, with dilapidated houses and old people. The children were helpless and skinny, and people died of illness and hunger every day.

"My family fled all the way from the Northland. I know all too well the pain of not having enough food to eat and not having enough clothes to cover my body. I really can't stand it. I have already helped the Relief Department to repair the house, and I am also planning to continue selling famous flowers in exchange for supplies." , continue to invest in the Relief Department!

“So, I said that I will not present flowers to the emperor in the future. I am not being stingy, but I think that rather than appreciating flowers, the emperor probably hopes that the people will be free from suffering and live and work in peace and contentment!”

There was silence in the room for a while. The emperor suddenly laughed and stood up to help Li Laoer himself. He nodded and praised: "What a good man to live and work in peace and contentment! Uncle Zhongshan sat down and talked."

Li Laoer breathed a long sigh of relief, and then carefully sat down on the drum stool brought by the eunuch. With a bit of fear in his expression, he whispered: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for not blaming me for my nonsense."

"No, this is not nonsense..." The emperor waved his hand, "If these words of yours are considered nonsense, then I hope that all the civil and military officials in the court will be talking nonsense!"

The emperor sighed and continued: "Actually, I listen to them singing their praises every day and watch them presenting all kinds of treasures, and I feel irritable.

“Instead of having time to search for treasures and stay up late to write notes, they should think about how to deal with the errand!

“Tianwu moved the capital here, and everything was in ruins, but the wealthy families were still extravagant, and the civil and military officials were still living their lives.

“If everyone was like your family, willing to do even the smallest things with all their strength, then with countless small things added up, Tianwu would have settled down and regained its vitality long ago, but it’s a pity..."

Li Laoer came today to show his loyalty, but he didn't want to step on all the wealthy families and civil and military officials to get to the position!

If the emperor's words spread, the Li family will simply become the public enemy of the powerful Tianwu family and all the civil and military officials!

Therefore, Li Laoer quickly stood up, bent down and saluted: "Your Majesty, in fact, I also have selfish motives. My family has little ability, so they do whatever they can. They also hope that Tianwu will settle down and no longer have to flee. In fact, I am here to discuss official affairs with the emperor today!

"Your Majesty, there is only a seventh-grade official in charge of the Relief Department. This man is called Cheng Ming. He is very serious, but his talents are limited. In addition, the money and food allocated to the Relief Department are not much, so the Relief Department has become more and more popular in the past two years. Poor...     "I would like to seek the emperor's decree to allow me to take charge of the relief department in the future, so that the people under my care can slowly survive, and then find a way to support themselves. I want the Relief Department to no longer be a burden to Tianwu, but to contribute to Tianwu.

"Of course, this process will take at least two or three years. I cannot achieve it on my own. I also ask the emperor to allocate more money and food to the Relief Department. In this way, together with the supplies raised by the flower sales, we can ensure that hundreds of people of the Relief Department basic needs.”

The emperor listened from beginning to end, and I have to say that the more he listened, the more he was moved by Li Laoer's thoughts.

But as an emperor, he will not make any decisions lightly.

So he nodded and said, "Uncle Zhongshan is willing to share my worries. I am very relieved. You go back today and I will think about it first."

Li Laoer knelt down and kowtowed again, then respectfully withdrew.

How shrewd the chief **** was. He immediately sent the young **** to investigate without waiting for the emperor's instructions.

Only two hours later, when the emperor got up from his nap, the truth had been sent back.

While changing the emperor's clothes, the chief **** said in a low voice, "Your Majesty, the old slave asked someone to leave the palace and go to the relief office to have a look. Uncle Li is right. The house is indeed dilapidated and the old, weak, sick and disabled are living in misery. .

"Yesterday Uncle Li sent a lot of food and medicinal materials, and also brought a doctor, but the relief department didn't even have a waterproof room, so it had to find someone to repair it immediately. Today, the yard is filled with the smell of medicine. I heard that There are doctors who are preparing medicines for the old, weak, sick and disabled!

“Fortunately, the courtyard is big enough, and the previous petty officials were also serious about sending out dead people in time. Otherwise, this summer would easily lead to epidemics.”

The emperor nodded, his expression unchanged, and asked: "How is the money and food allocated to the relief department calculated by the Ministry of Household Affairs?"

"Back to the emperor, well, the Ministry of Household Affairs allocates three loads of grain and two taels of silver to the relief department every month..." The **** chief told the truth, without adding any exaggeration, but the emperor was not a fool, and he understood it almost immediately.

For a family of several people, three loads of grain and two taels of silver per month are definitely enough.

But for a few hundred people, this is simply a drop in the bucket...

The emperor sighed longly. He asked himself that he was not a fatuous emperor, but before he succeeded to the throne, Tianwu was already riddled with holes.

Even though he has been trying his best to "treat" the disease in the past few years, the gourd is always coming back again, leaving him at a loss and helpless.

Let’s talk about this relief agency. Its original intention is to relieve refugees who have fled from the north.

Of course there are people like the Li family, folks who come here in droves and have a place to stay and work hard to survive.

(End of this chapter)