HLnovel Chapter 391
Chapter 391
Otherwise, with the inner thoughts of these two ancestors broadcasting like loudspeakers that could be heard from far away, this secret might not have been kept.Yue Fuguang and the System: Are we really a person and a system with so little sense of propriety?!
"Western Qiang and Northern Li are still alright, in the same situation as Great Yan, suffering from a continuous drought for two or three years. However, Nanzhao and Nanyue are experiencing drought first, and by the second half of next year, they will face severe floods. Didn't Eastern Yi start raining a couple of days ago when it was cloudy?"
[Yes, this is already the third day. Continuous and unrelenting torrential rain is falling, as if all the rain meant for the other five nations is pouring down on the four islands of Eastern Yi.
The people of Eastern Yi could not even rejoice for three days before some areas began to flood.]
Strictly speaking, among the six nations, the first to suffer the ravages of natural disasters was Eastern Yi.
While Yue Fuguang was still discussing the floods in Eastern Yi with the system, inside the diplomatic hostel of the Honglu Temple, Gan Tang, Bei Yue, and a few others were sitting around in a quiet and elegant tearoom.
However, this time, the gathering included Yanji and Oshima, who had been subtly ostracized by the others ever since the incident with the heavenly voice.
"Brother Yanji, is what you said true? Is there really a torrential downpour in Eastern Yi?" Gan Tang could not help but ask for confirmation again upon hearing Yanji mention the rain in Eastern Yi.
"I also received a message by carrier pigeon today. My royal brother sent the news two days ago, around the same time as Brother Yanji. But Nanyue is still suffering from a severe drought."
Logically, since Nanyue and Nanzhao were located in the south, they were the nations least lacking in water among the six. They never expected to encounter a once-in-a-century drought this year.
If one calculated carefully, their drought had actually started even earlier than that of Great Yan.
Yanji nodded solemnly with a serious expression, but anyone with eyes could see the unconcealable smile leaking from his eyes.
"As you all have heard, the message I just received clearly states that there is heavy rain in Eastern Yi."
Saying this, he carefully took out a long slip of paper from his sleeve pocket. The other words had already been crossed out by Yanji, leaving only the words "heavy rain on the four islands" and the date.
The crowd calculated the time; it was only three days ago, which was indeed the fastest flying speed of an adult pigeon.
Bei Yue gently tapped his fingers on the table and said slowly, "First, congratulations to Brother Yanji. Eastern Yi is the first to escape the drought, which is truly worthy of celebration. However, I wonder how long this rain will last and whether it can completely relieve the drought."
Hearing his words, the uncontrollable smile on Yanji's face slowly faded. He had the same worry, which was why he didn't laugh wantonly when he received the news, nor did he mock these guys who usually looked down on him for believing Great Yan's rumor that the drought would last for three years.
After all, even the emperor of Great Yan had not explicitly announced that there would be a severe drought, yet these people believed it first!
Don't think he didn't know; these people were definitely hiding something from him!
Hmph, how dare they look down on him, the prince with the greatest chance of inheriting the throne of Eastern Yi? Weren't they now forced to come to him begging for information?
He subtly glanced at the beautiful faces and graceful figures of Lan Xuan'er and Gan Tang.
These two women were indeed prettier than his sisters. His royal father intended to form marriage alliances with several countries, and he could suggest to his father to consider Nanyue and Nanzhao first.
The beauty of these two women each had its own merits, and Yanji momentarily didn't know which one to choose.
Although a bunch of dirty thoughts popped into Yanji's mind at this moment, it did not stop him from dealing with the group.
He nodded seriously and solemnly, saying, "I have already sent a message back to my country via carrier pigeon. I presume I will get concrete news in a few days. You all just need to wait for the good news."
The good news Yanji spoke of did not keep him waiting long. Just four or five days after he said this, he received the latest news from Eastern Yi.
The heavy rain on the four islands of Eastern Yi had poured continuously for four days without stopping. Many low-lying areas on the islands had already been flooded, and the message asked him if any places in Great Yan had experienced rain.
Upon receiving this news, Yanji's good mood from the past few days was completely swept away, replaced by a massive, unfounded panic.
Knock, knock, knock!
Just when he didn't know what to do, there was a knock on the door.
"Brother Yanji, you aren't asleep yet, are you? Xi Ling and the others invited us to gather in the tearoom. Everyone else has already gone over; it's just the two of us left." It was Bei Yue, who had been keeping an eye on his movements.
Yanji was no fool. He could hear from Bei Yue's words that the group was certain he was in his room, not even giving him a chance to play dead—no, play asleep.
"Brother Bei Yue, wait a moment, I'll be right there." Yanji picked up the slip of paper in his hand, stared at the dancing flame in the lamp on the table, thought for a moment, and finally sighed softly, tucking the slip of paper into his sleeve pocket.
Although he intended to hide it, every country had its own intelligence network. Yanji was certain that at this moment, let alone the other countries, even His Majesty in the capital city of Shangjing had probably already received the exact news about the continuous rainfall in Eastern Yi.
Every country was suffering from drought, and only yours was getting rain. Who wouldn't pay extra attention to that!
Yanji was not wrong in his thinking. Although it was a bit late, Emperor Mingxi still urgently summoned several of his most trusted ministers into the palace for a discussion after receiving the news that Eastern Yi had been experiencing heavy rain for five consecutive days.
"Your Majesty, in my humble opinion, barring any accidents, if we factor in the time it took to deliver the message, Eastern Yi has probably been enduring heavy rain for seven or eight days straight."
The Minister of Revenue, Dong Qianli, was still holding the slip of paper delivered by the carrier pigeon. At this moment, he fully believed the Junior Preceptor's words that the heavy rain in Eastern Yi would last for over a month.
Emperor Mingxi nodded; he thought the same.
Emperor Mingxi suppressed the urge to curl up the corners of his lips, coughed lightly, and asked in a seemingly casual tone, "Then, in the view of my beloved ministers, how should our Great Yan respond?"
After asking this, Emperor Mingxi casually picked up the lotus teacup painted with exquisite landscape scenery in front of him, gently blew away the floating leaves in the tea, and carefully took a sip. His eyes, hidden behind the cup lid, lifted slightly, sweeping across the faces of his important ministers.
The several Ministers kept their heads slightly lowered, only using their peripheral vision to glance at their colleagues standing beside them. When their peripheral gazes met, they silently lowered their eyes again, pretending to be deep in thought.
Feng Tang, who was standing in the back row, saw that the old foxes in front were all silent. He wanted to step forward several times but pulled his leg back each time.
As if sensing something, he carefully raised his head, meeting the emperor's gaze. The ruler and minister locked eyes, and the emperor's eyes were full of encouragement.
Under Emperor Mingxi's expectant gaze, Feng Tang clenched his fists, took a deep breath, stepped forward, bowed, and said, "Your Majesty, in my humble opinion, for our Great Yan at this moment, doing nothing is doing something."
Emperor Mingxi put down his teacup and smiled, saying, "Beloved Minister Feng, elaborate."
Feng Tang cupped his hands toward Emperor Mingxi and continued, "Your Majesty, if the lands of Eastern Yi really experience a month of continuous heavy rain as that person said, how many places on the four islands will be left unflooded by then?
And how many commoners will survive? After a great disaster, there is bound to be a great plague. Our Great Yan just needs to watch from the sidelines and blockade the coastline under the pretext of safety, ensuring that they cannot obtain any medicine or food supplies from the mainland..."
Feng Tang did not know that his advice at this moment perfectly blocked Eastern Yi's path to rise.
In the original timeline, it was also this continuous heavy rain that nearly dragged Eastern Yi into an abyss of eternal doom.
Yanji, who was sent as an envoy to Great Yan, took Sima Jing's illegitimate son, Oshima, with him on his way back to his country. He personally went to ask for help, and the Sima family secretly transported a large amount of medicinal herbs and food to Eastern Yi by sea.