“Ji Yun, does the Imperial Court not care about this?” An Jiuyue stood on the spot and asked Qian Jiyun after An Gousheng left.
Are the officials just going to watch the commoners starve to death? Or do they simply not care about the lives of the commoners from small regions? Perhaps that’s really the case.
Qian Jiyun replied, “The Imperial Court will not fret about floods in a small city. However, since there is an epidemic happening here, they will intervene now. Their disaster response will still vary greatly from their responses to other disasters though.”
“You mean—”
An Jiuyue was a little stunned. Although she understood him, she was in disbelief.
Would the powerful Imperial Court really deem the lives of commoners worthless?
However, she had to admit that it was possible. The lives of these people were nothing to those in power. Their suffering was invisible to them.
They only had eyes for the luxury before them.
“Even so, the Imperial Court should distribute some food, right? What about the local officials? What are they doing? Or is this huge epidemic nothing to them?”
“You still don’t understand, Jiuyue. Even if the local officials want to serve the people, everything depends on how much taxes were paid last year and how much food is required to support the people,” Qian Jiyun reasoned.
An Jiuyue chuckled. “I think we should just let everyone hide and live in the mountains.”
The Imperial Court had a rule stating that the people did not have to pay taxes for reclaimed wastelands on the mountains for the first five years. They only had to pay a head tax.
However, these lands were barren before they were reclaimed and would result in average agricultural yields. Irrigating these lands would also be very inconvenient. There would be no harvest if there was a drought.
Nobody would be willing to go to the mountain and reclaim wastelands unless they had no other means to survive.
However, the Imperial Court had done nothing for years. The commoners were struggling to survive, but they were still concerned about whether the high taxes were enough to cover the expenses.
“Don’t say that.” Qian Jiyun took a deep breath and looked at An Jiuyue seriously. “There are some things that the Emperor is unable to achieve.”
The commoners would not be in this situation if the Emperor had the final say in court.
However, the Imperial Court was…
He did not want to talk about this anymore. Things would not change no matter what he said now. He could only wait for their little emperor to grow up slowly. Perhaps things would improve in the future.
“I’ve already sent someone over. I believe there will be good news soon.”
An Jiuyue was stunned.
A general like Qian Jiyun should not be responsible for the flood. However, things were difficult for him now because she was here, and he also found himself in the middle of this situation.
“I’ll do what I can, but we don’t have the capacity to help everything,” she said faintly.
I’m not someone who will cause trouble for my people for the sake of others. Qian Jiyun is the biological father of my two adorable children. I don’t want to make things difficult for him by saying too much.
To put it bluntly, why should he care if the Emperor doesn’t?