Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 500: Chapter 458: The Virtueless New Emperor, Disaster Befalls the Common People

Time imperceptibly entered November.

The piercing northwest wind blew from the snowy plains of the North, rendering the bustling Chongshan Town suddenly tranquil.

The peak period of refugees flocking to Chongshan Town has passed; from early August to the end of October, in just a short span of three months, over eight hundred thousand refugees poured into Chongshan Town.

These eight hundred thousand refugees were settled in the Northern region, breathing new life into the once desolate land.

However, compared to the vast expanse of the Northern lands, a population of eight hundred thousand was far from enough to fill it.

Liaodong was already sparsely populated, and the Northern lands were now similarly thinly inhabited.

Eight hundred thousand people might sound like a lot, but scattered across two cities and around three main roads, the population still seemed sparse.

From Chongshan Pass to Black Cloud City, from Black Cloud City to Fuzhou City, from Fuzhou City to Songzhou City, this area circumscribed with Chongshan Town’s former borders along these three main roads is the Northern lands’ most fertile territory.

Not only was the land fertile, but water sources were also abundant, including the Ying River, the Songyuan River, and several other smaller rivers and streams.

The area was considerably larger than Ping Yuan Province.

As such, the influx of eight hundred thousand refugees into the Northern lands only managed to cultivate a small portion of the available land.

Even this most fertile area couldn’t be fully developed, let alone the endless grasslands to the west of Black Cloud Mountain.

With the weather growing colder, the number of refugees entering Chongshan Town diminished.

The long queues that once formed on the main roads to Chongshan Town had vanished, replaced by small groups of extremely pitiful refugees.

However, this didn’t mean that all refugees from Liaodong had been resettled; in fact, most of them had headed for Jizhou and Shanhe Province.

To this day, over two hundred thousand refugees were still congested within Jizhou, and the number of those who froze or starved to death daily was countless.

Jizhou had become akin to hell on earth, with the corpses of refugees visible everywhere.

Yet Shanhe Province absorbed the most refugees, with over two million finding refuge there.

It wasn’t that the refugees didn’t want to keep moving south; rather, the court had set up checkpoints in the southern parts of Shanhe Province to prevent them from migrating further.

Past Shanhe Province lies Shuntian Prefecture, and continued southward movement of refugees would have led to a congregation outside the walls of Capital City.

The court naturally did not wish to see such a situation arise.

Therefore, the tide of refugees was only allowed to go as far as within the borders of Shanhe Province.

The situation in Shanhe Province was also bleak, with large numbers of refugees settling either outside the cities or in the open fields, struggling to survive with limited clothing and food.

Fortunately, winters in Shanhe Province were not as harsh as in Liaodong; if the refugees could find a place to shelter from the wind and snow, they might endure a while longer.

And the government’s relief efforts continued unabated; in both Ping Yuan Province and Shanhe Province, various regional authorities had already opened up their granaries.

However, in the face of great disasters, great evils are bound to arise, and there was no shortage of corrupt officials and profiteers making a fortune from the catastrophe.

Although the court kept on striking against such corrupt officials and profiteers, it was still impossible to eradicate their existence completely.

And at some point, a saying began to circulate within the bounds of Shanhe Province.

Heaven sends calamities as warnings, the new Emperor lacks virtue, bringing disaster upon the common people!

This saying bred rampant resentment in the hearts of the already suffering refugees.

Under deliberate instigation, they blamed the great drought of Liaodong on the fault of Emperor Yanping.

Not just refugees, but even the commoners who witnessed the refugees’ hardships believed the disaster was due to Emperor Yanping’s lack of virtue.

In no time, various rumors spread throughout the markets and countryside, transforming the original saying into absurd theatrical performances.

Some said that since Emperor Yanping’s ascension, he indulged in grand construction within the Imperial City, building many lavish palaces.

Some claimed that Emperor Yanping was mired in debauchery, sending people to search for beauties among the common folk.

Others alleged that Emperor Yanping favored enchantresses, indulging in songs and dances daily, neglecting state affairs.

There were even those who said Emperor Yanping was brutal and murderous, taking a life every day!

The rumors became more and more outrageous as they spread; ultimately, they turned into unbelievable tales—eating human hearts, drinking human blood, harvesting organs—all recounted with vivid detail.

In this feudal society where information traveled at a snail’s pace, how could the ordinary people know the actual state of the court or the Imperial City? They just parroted what they heard, believing rumors as soon as they reached their ears.

But when these rumors reached Capital City, the residents there were utterly baffled.

Was Emperor Yanping so wicked?

It didn’t seem so, did it?

This past year of Emperor Yanping’s reign had been relatively stable for them; aside from a rise in grain prices, there wasn’t much difference from before.

The people of Capital City were likely the most knowledgeable about state affairs and the Emperor, akin to ducks that first sense the warmth of the spring river.

Although many significant events had taken place at court over the past year, the common people’s lives were not greatly affected.

The people of Capital City naturally didn’t believe these ridiculous rumors, but regarding the original saying—”the new Emperor lacks virtue, bringing disaster upon the common people”—they held a skeptical attitude.

After all, the great drought in Liaodong was a fact, and attributing it to the new Emperor’s misconduct seemed reasonable.

Indeed, reasonable.

Humans act, the heavens watch.

The Emperor is the Son of Heaven; when the Son of Heaven errs, the heavens send calamities to the mortal world as a form of chastisement.

Such beliefs were deeply ingrained in people’s hearts.

Not just the average folk, even the educated shared this view.

And when these rumors reached the Imperial City and the ears of Emperor Yanping, his face instantly turned deathly pale.