Chapter 45: The Locust Plague in Henan Road
Stepping out of the Imperial Study, Zhao Yi felt as though his entire body had lightened by several pounds.
Commander of the Shadow Guards.
Rank Three Senior.
A forty percent stake in the Immortals' Descent Tower.
That foul woman’s series of calculated moves had left him positively beaming with joy.
……
The moment Zhao Yi’s figure vanished, the lingering sense of ease within the Imperial Study dissipated completely.
Wu Mingkong shed her imperial dragon robe, changing into a plain yet elegant everyday tunic. Sinking deep into a soft couch, she massaged her throbbing temples.
Nangong Yue, clad in silver armor, stood quietly off to the side like an unfeeling marble sculpture.
“Yue'er, tell me, was I wrong?”
Wu Mingkong’s voice carried a rare trace of exhaustion.
“I used Zhao Yi as a blade to cut down Wang Defa, and the court has indeed become much cleaner.”
“Yet those vassal kings entrenched in the regions each hold their own military power, paying lip service to my decrees while defying them behind my back.”
“Especially that Prince of Zhennan; with the southern armies in his grip, he is practically a state within a state.”
She pulled the corners of her mouth into a self-deprecating smirk.
Nangong Yue remained silent for a moment before speaking slowly.
“Your Majesty, a meal must be eaten bite by bite, and a road walked step by step.”
“For Your Majesty to have stabilized Luoyang mere months after ascending the throne is already proof of heavenly talent.”
Wu Mingkong shook her head, a shadow of worry surfacing on her face.
“I fear… there is no time left.”
“There are powerful vassals within and ravenous wolves without. The Dirong in the north, the formidable Qin in the west—which of them is not waiting for our Great Zhou to fall into internal chaos so they can grab a share of the spoils?”
Before her voice had even faded, an imperial attendant stumbled in head over heels, his face as pale as paper and his voice trembling violently.
“Your Majesty! An urgent report from Henan Circuit, marked for eight hundred miles a day!”
Wu Mingkong’s heart skipped a beat, and she abruptly sat up straight.
Snatching the bamboo tube from the attendant’s hand, she pulled out the confidential dispatch.
With just a single glance, all color instantly drained from her exquisitely beautiful face.
The thin sheet of paper, covered in dense handwriting, was crumpled out of shape in her grip.
“Severe drought… locust plagues… a thousand miles of barren earth…”
Her voice sounded as cold as if it were drifting up from the netherworld.
“A million refugees… crying out for food…”
She suddenly raised her head, and her striking, phoenix-like eyes blazed with a monstrous fury.
“Hear my decree!”
“Summon all officials of the third rank and above to enter the palace immediately!”
She paused briefly before adding.
“And the Junior Vice Minister of Works, Zhao Yi! Drag him here as well!”
……
The Zhao Estate.
The moment Zhao Yi returned home, he sensed something amiss in the streets.
Carriages bearing the insignia of various ministries were rushing frantically toward the imperial palace like madmen.
“What on earth has happened? Are they rushing to their own reincarnations?”
He curled his lip, dismissing it.
If the sky fell, the tall ones would hold it up; what did it have to do with him, a mere Junior Vice Minister of Works?
Just as he was about to step inside, he spotted Eunuch Gui and a few junior eunuchs blocking his front gate.
Zhao Yi felt a sudden jolt in his chest.
What the hell?
Could that foul woman have regretted her decision and come to take back those forty percent shares?
“Eunuch Gui, what favorable wind has blown you here?” Zhao Yi asked, his face plastered with a smile.
Eunuch Gui’s face, however, lacked even a shred of its usual warmth; gravity had taken its place.
“Lord Zhao, do not delay. His Majesty summons you urgently.”
A drumbeat started in Zhao Yi’s chest as he tentatively asked, “Eunuch Gui, what has happened? Such a massive commotion?”
“Henan Circuit. A severe drought, accompanied by a locust plague.”
Eunuch Gui lowered his voice considerably.
“The afflicted people number no less than a million.”
Boom!
Zhao Yi’s mind buzzed into a blankness.
A locust plague?
A million refugees?
In his past life, he had only ever seen these two terms in history books.
He only remembered that whenever these two terms were linked together, it meant one thing.
A living hell on earth.
“Lord Zhao, get in the carriage.”
Eunuch Gui gave him a shove.
Zhao Yi was hustled onto the carriage, which galloped off at full speed.
The smugness and levity on his face had completely vanished without a trace.
He finally understood clearly: this was no palace intrigue, nor was it a game of political cunning.
This was a natural disaster capable of shaking an entire dynasty to its foundations!
……
The Imperial Study.
The atmosphere was so oppressive it felt as though water could be wrung from the air.
The court officials, numbering dozens of Great Zhou’s elite figures, all kept their heads lowered, not daring to draw a full breath.
Wu Mingkong sat high upon the dragon throne, her delicate face cold as frost.
She violently hurled the confidential report in her hand onto the floor.
“A million people displaced from their homes! They are about to become a million rebellious outlaws!”
“My lords, you are all the backbone of Great Zhou!”
“Now, tell me, what are we to do?!”
Her voice was not loud, yet it struck like a heavy hammer against the heart of everyone present.
The entire hall remained dead silent.
After a long while, an elderly man clad in the official robes of the Ministry of Rites stepped out tremblingly.
It was the Minister of Rites, Li Buqing.
“Your Majesty…”
He dropped to his knees with a heavy thud.
“This is… this is divine retribution!”
“Heaven has sent down a great drought, followed by the crossing of the Locust God; this is beyond human resistance. It is a warning from the heavens to the mortal world. We mortals have no other choice than to gather provisions and prepare for disaster relief…”
“Divine retribution?”
Wu Mingkong laughed, but the smile was colder than tears.
“Does Minister Li mean to say that my virtue is unworthy of my position, and therefore the heavens have sent down this disaster to punish me?!”
Li Buqing trembled violently with fright, hammering his head against the floor until it made loud thudding noises.
“This subject wouldn't dare! This subject would never dare!”
Regret churned in his gut like rotting intestines.
Who didn't know that the current Empress was most sensitive to others bringing up her identity as a woman!
At that moment, a stalwart man clad in a general’s armor stepped forward.
The Defender of the State General, Wang Lang.
“Your Majesty! In this subject's view, the most urgent priority is not disaster relief!”
His voice sounded like booming temple bells.
“It is the deployment of troops!”
“Once a million refugees spiral out of control, they become a million rebellious bandits! They will inevitably sweep across the Central Plains! When that happens, Great Zhou will be in peril!”
“We must immediately mobilize an army of one hundred thousand, rushing to the outer perimeters of Henan Circuit to firmly trap the refugees! Anyone who attempts to riot shall be executed on the spot!”
As soon as these words were spoken, they immediately provoked a chorus of opposition.
Zhao Yi’s father, the Minister of War Zhao Zhao, was the first to leap out.
“Your mother’s nonsense!”
Zhao Zhao pointed straight at Wang Lang’s nose and cursed.
“The refugees are also subjects of Great Zhou! They are merely hungry! They are not trying to rebel!”
“You fucking refuse to send them food, and instead send troops to slaughter them? What is your intent?!”
“You are driving them onto a path of no return! You are forcing them into rebellion!”
Wang Lang stiffened his neck, refusing to yield an inch.
“Minister Zhao! That is the benevolence of a woman! The benevolence of a woman will destroy Great Zhou!”
“What the hell do you know about military affairs? Once a large army moves, men must eat and horses must forage; the consumed funds and grain surpass the cost of disaster relief! If you spend all the money on troop mobilization, what will you use to save the people?!”
“If we don’t kill a batch of them, how can we awe the rest into submission?!”
“You…”
Seeing that the two men were about to come to blows right inside the Imperial Study, the civil and military officials split into two distinct factions, arguing furiously with one another.
“Silence!”
“Enough!”
Wu Mingkong slammed her hand heavily onto the imperial desk, producing a massive crash.
The entire Imperial Study instantly fell quiet.
She rose to her feet, her icy gaze sweeping across the face of every single minister like a sharp blade.
That gaze finally landed in a corner upon Zhao Yi, who had remained utterly silent from the very beginning.