Chapter 44: Asking for the People

This winter seems impossible to get through. Even though a year has passed, it is already January of the twelfth year of Jianwu, and spring has not come yet.

Even if there was no snow and wind that covered the sky, the frost on the ground and the frozen soil for a year was still a disaster. In the six counties of Daliang, 30% of the arable land was frozen.

Spring ploughing and autumn harvest. Without spring ploughing, how can there be autumn harvest? In the cold winter of January, there was no snow and famine broke out in Daliang.

Among the millions of refugees, one tenth starved to death, one tenth were eaten by demons, and the remaining eighty percent were still alive, but waiting to die.

The little emperor was indifferent.

They did not open the granaries to release grain, nor did they talk about resettling refugees, as if they could not see the tens of millions of ordinary people in Daliang.

"The Heaven-Swallowing Scroll Fragments, I wonder if anyone is still practicing it."

"The sword that was supposed to rebuke the little emperor, in the end, never found its way to him!"

Leaning against the door, Su Chen, wrapped in a cotton jacket, looked at the eunuchs and palace maids passing by the pharmacy. Most of them were unfamiliar faces.

Everyone he knew was dead.

The miserable people in the deep palace, those low-level eunuchs and palace maids are like leeks, when you cut one, a new one will grow again.

Not to mention them, even the current five red robes have mostly replaced their faces since the Tianwu year.

It is said that people can live to be a hundred years old, but the path of cultivation is dangerous and filled with countless battles, so people often die along the way.

"Master Xu."

Several eunuchs of the same generation as Xiao Xuanzi greeted Su Chen, called Xiao Xuanzi out, and ran towards the palace gate.

"What are you doing? It's almost lunch time."

Su Chen said.

"Master Xu, go and watch the fun."

"The new prime minister has been kneeling outside the palace gate for a long time, begging His Majesty to open his eyes and look at the people of this world."

"The head of the West Factory has gone!"

The civil official system of Daliang is somewhat confusing, but the chief minister is definitely the highest civil official. In the previous life, he is equivalent to the prime minister or the chief minister, the highest position among officials.

Daliang began to decline ever since the years of the Civil War, when three emperors changed in one year. Up to now, not only has it lost three counties, but its purple robe is also vacant and the first-class foundation of the Tianwu Tower has been lost. It only relies on a demon Taizu to intimidate the neighboring countries.

forgotten.

This demon Taizu also failed in his attempt to pass on the throne. The father was kind and the son was filial, so he was sealed in a coffin by the young emperor and no one knows where he is hidden.

"According to reason, the ruler should be a first-class cultivator."

"pity."

"I'm afraid there isn't even a first-rank official in the entire Daliang court right now."

Su Chen shook his head.

This minister was an ordinary man, which was why the young emperor dared to neglect him and make him kneel for a long time.

"It's nice to go and see the excitement."

Su Chen walked towards the palace gate.

There are three inner and three outer floors here, and many people came, including eunuchs, imperial guards, and the imperial guards from the Western Factory.

There was a chair, and Xu Han, wearing a fiery red robe and factory uniform, was sitting there drinking tea with an indifferent look in his eyes.

behind him.

They were dressed in brocade clothes and stood on both sides of the array, with soul-locking swords hanging from their waists, chain mail on their bodies, and murderous looks in their eyes.

"I beg Your Majesty to take a look at the people of Daliang!"

"They are not cultivators, so they cannot fight against the demons and protect themselves! A cold winter has fallen, and the land has frozen for thousands of miles, and no crops have been harvested. They are starving, and under the invasion of demons, they are displaced and have to eat their own children..."

"They are also people of Daliang!"

In front of the palace gate, there was a man in his forties, wearing a red and purple robe, holding a black gauze official hat, speaking in a hoarse voice, and constantly knocking on the palace gate.

His lips were cracked, he had not drunk a single drop of water, and he knelt for a long time without getting any response. Perhaps this was the answer.

The passionate eyes gradually dimmed.

He covered his face and burst into tears.

"Daliang, why is it like this? Why is it like this?"

The eunuchs and palace maids who had originally come over to watch the excitement lost their interest in the lively atmosphere at this moment, as if they had been infected by the crying of the ruler.

The silent atmosphere was filled with sadness.

If it wasn't for wanting to survive, who would be willing to sell themselves into the palace as slaves, or even give up their dignity as men...

Perhaps if they hadn't entered the palace, they would have been one of the millions of refugees who either starved to death, were eaten by demons, or were waiting to die. "Why can't Daliang open his eyes and look at us, the untouchables who are like grass scraps, just because we are not practitioners?"

Xiaoxuanzi clenched his fists, not only remembering something sad, but also his eyes were filled with tears.

There was something wrong with his mood.

See this.

Su Chen walked over quickly, grabbed Xiaoxuanzi's sleeve, and spoke in a low voice.

“Don’t stand out!”

"We are just ordinary eunuchs..."

"Just take care of yourself."

Xiaoxuanzi shook her head, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Master Xu."

"No one has ever asked me if I am willing to be a eunuch, but what will happen if I don't become one? I can still survive if I become one, but if I don't, I will starve to death..."

"My mother brought my three brothers and me all the way to the imperial city. I thought that if I became a eunuch, my family would not starve to death."

"But I was wrong. On the first night I became a eunuch, my mother and brother starved to death. In order to save some food so that I could enter the palace and survive..."

Xiaoxuanzi was in tears.

"if……"

"If only... at that time, when we were in trouble, His Majesty could look at us. I wouldn't have to be castrated and become a eunuch, and my mother and brother wouldn't have to starve to death just to save a mouthful of food for me..."

"Master Zhizai is a good man. This is the first time I know that a noble in the court is willing to speak up for us, the lowly people..."

Xiao Xuanzi's eyes were full of tears but bright. He broke free from Su Chen and walked forward slowly but firmly. He supported the crumbling Zhizai and knelt down towards the palace gate beside him without saying a word.

He didn't say a word, but just knelt down towards the palace gate, but all the words in his heart seemed to be shouted out loudly at this moment.

Emperor! Open your eyes and take a good look! We are your people too! Why can't you just let us live?
More and more palace maids and eunuchs knelt silently in front of the palace gate and gathered around the ruler, as if they were supporting and protecting him.

"Why do you have to do this! Why do you have to do this! It will implicate you, it will implicate you..."

The chief minister looked at the palace maids and eunuchs beside him, his eyes blurred and his voice choked with sobs.

He is the ruler.

But he was still an ordinary person, and pleading for the people could not shake the emperor's mind at all. How many people would be implicated if he knelt down at the palace gate?

"Presumptuous! Presumptuous!"

"You are so rebellious!"

"I asked you to come here so that you can have a good look at the ugly behavior of this ruler, not to encourage him to gain more power!"

The guards in brocade clothes were furious and were about to beat the palace maids and eunuchs with whips!
You are a bunch of dog eunuchs and lowly palace maids, you are really rebelling!

"Ugh!"

A sigh.

Su Chen stepped out and the whip hit his body, leaving a blood mark that soaked his black robe.

He stared with somewhat angry eyes at the indifferent Xu Han who was still drinking tea on the wooden chair, and said in a cold voice.

"I have heard that Lord Xu was also born into a poor and lowly family. In order to survive and enter the palace, he kowtowed three times and nine times in front of Lord Su in the library, begging for a chance to become rich and powerful!"

"You are so cold and indifferent, bullying the weak and willing to be an accomplice. Is this the Su Chen who taught you and gave you wealth and honor?"

"If that's the case, then I think Su Chen is really blind and has no vision to give you such enormous wealth!"

At this moment, the three hundred Western Factory guards in brocade uniforms were all furious, shocked and angry, looking at the ignorant little eunuch in black who was not sure of his own life or death.

"presumptuous!"

"You are a lowly eunuch, how dare you call Mr. Su by his name? How dare you talk to our factory owner like that?"

"You are such a rebellion! Open your mouth, open it hard!"

There was a leader of the bandits in brocade clothes, roaring angrily.

boom!
Three hundred soldiers in brocade clothes rushed towards Su Chen.

at the same time.

The head of the West Factory, Xu Han, who had been silent all this time and had cold eyes in a red python robe, only then raised his eyes and looked at Su Chen.

"Only Master Su and I knelt down in the library. Do you know about this?"

　I would like to thank my fellow Taoist (a powerful person in the virtual realm of Haoyuan Continent) for the reward of 100 coins. Actually, the reward is not necessary. Every comment, whether good or bad, or urging for updates, or ideas, will be pushed to me by the writer's assistant, and I will see them all. Some of them read them carefully, but I am not used to replying, so the updates are quite late. Thank you all for staying up late to read. Mmmmm.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)