Farm Girl's Manor
Chapter 1102 - 352 Snow Disaster_3

Chapter 1102: Chapter 352 Snow Disaster_3

The festive and cozy atmosphere of Small Year’s Eve was spent amidst hustle and anxiety. Not only did Liu Yang Village not have a good Small Year celebration, but Emperor Huian, Chu Heng, and the Minister of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau, who had been urgently summoned to the palace, were also restless.

After reading Mo Yan’s letter, Xiao Ruiyuan took the snow disaster mentioned very seriously. Naturally, Mo Yan did not mention in her letter that she had a Xuetuan which knew of the future. Instead, she only wrote about the several houses in the village that had been crushed and the several greenhouses that had collapsed, and also mentioned the snow disaster from the year before last, which had left many people dead from cold and hunger, skillfully conveying her concern about the heavy snowfall.

Xiao Ruiyuan, who had endless official duties every day and was still busy despite the holidays, had seen prolonged snowfalls in past years, so he had not considered the possibility of a disaster. However, upon learning that houses in Liu Yang Village had collapsed, he immediately became vigilant and carefully observed the sky from under the eaves.

Those who are involved in military campaigns generally have some understanding of astronomical phenomena. Seeing the low and dense clouds on the horizon and the even darker skies overhead, with no trace of light to be seen, they knew the snow wouldn’t stop anytime soon.

If it continued to snow for another three to five days, the snow on the ground would reach knee height. Even if the houses in the city were sturdy and wouldn’t collapse, there were plenty of commoners outside the city living in earthen and thatched cottages. Now that there were signs of houses collapsing in Liu Yang Village, how could there not be signs elsewhere?

Xiao Ruiyuan was uncertain if anyone else in the court had noticed the abnormal weather like he had. Considering the current festival period, he feared that even if some had noticed, they might not dare to report and disturb the Emperor’s peace. Who knew if the Emperor, upon learning of the situation, would hold a naïve hope and not take it seriously?

Although it might not result in a snow disaster, taking precautions in advance could never be wrong. Otherwise, if it really happened, who knew how many people would be displaced, starve, or freeze to death.

Without delay, Xiao Ruiyuan changed his clothes and hurried to the Prince’s Mansion. Combining the content of Mo Yan’s letter with his own conjectures, he relayed his thoughts to Chu Heng.

Chu Heng had heard his servants whispering in private a few times that this snowfall was abnormal and that it might lead to a disaster like the one two years ago. Having no profound understanding of snow disasters and being busy with official duties in the Imperial palace every day, he had not taken it seriously. However, seeing his cousin come to him especially for this matter, he took it seriously and immediately went to the Imperial palace without even changing his clothes.

With the New Year approaching, such news naturally did not cheer Emperor Huian. But as the matter was urgent, the consequences of a real snow disaster would be more troublesome than taking preventive measures in advance.

Therefore, Emperor Huian immediately summoned all the Ministers of the Qintian Observatory to the Imperial study to inquire if there had been any anomalies in the recent weather.

In fact, some in the Qintian Observatory had already noticed something amiss, but since they were not sure if it would lead to a disaster, they only mentioned it privately to the head of the Qintian Observatory. Preferring to avoid trouble, the head decided to suppress the information, unwilling to report it to Emperor Huian for fear of being held accountable if the disaster did not occur.

That mindset was understandable, but they had not considered that observing celestial phenomena and predicting the weather was their duty. Their job was to inform Emperor Huian of the truth. Everything else was not their concern. If no disaster occurred, it would be well and good for all, but if it happened and the Qintian Observatory had kept mum, they would not be able to bear the consequences.

Unable to conceal the truth any longer, the head of the Qintian Observatory had no choice but to reveal the reality. Emperor Huian was furious and immediately ordered the guards to drag the head of the Observatory away and administer thirty heavy blows, then strip him of his official position and throw him into the dungeon. Whether he could come out again would depend on Emperor Huian’s mood.

As for the junior official who spotted the issue, since he had no direct right to report to the Emperor, it turns out he was not implicated. Instead, he unexpectedly caught the eye of Emperor Huian, was promoted two ranks and took up the position of the head of the Qintian Observatory.

Although the snow disaster might not occur, Emperor Huian, to be cautious, issued several Imperial Edicts that same day. He ordered the Jingzhao Mansion, the Five-fold State Council, and others to be on standby at all times without error; he also sent riders at full speed to deliver the potential snow disaster news to the surrounding cities affected by the snowstorm, instructing local officials to prepare for the snow disaster to prevent a large-scale death of humans and livestock should it break out.

In over two hundred years since the founding of Great Chu, it has experienced no less than a hundred natural disasters, big and small. Apart from floods, Jing City itself had suffered droughts, snow calamities, earthquakes, and so on, almost once every three to five years.

The Jingzhao Mansion, the WuchengBingMaSi, and others were very experienced in handling disasters. Following past practices for dealing with snow disasters, they quickly stockpiled a large quantity of food, cloth, cotton clothing, medicine, and other items through various channels. With these supplies, should a snow disaster occur, the affected people would not be left to struggle to survive.

Mo Yan had originally planned to confront Xiao Ruiyuan if he ignored her reminder, but after a nap in the afternoon, she woke up to find that the red pattern on her Merit Pearl had grown by a large circle, more than three times larger than the last time when she helped settle three hundred soldiers.

"Xue tuanzi, you’ve made a great contribution for more than a thousand lives," Mo Yan said joyfully as she hugged Xue tuanzi, disregarding its resistance and repeatedly kneading it several times.

"Hmph, don’t you know who I am?" Xue tuanzi said proudly, twisting its snail-like eyes. Seeing its master’s hand still causing havoc on its body, it couldn’t help but whine and struggle to escape her grasp.

Unfortunately, it was such a small ball that it couldn’t break free at all without using Spiritual Power.

"Shouldn’t we do something too?" Having received so much merit, Mo Yan felt undeserving and thought she should do something.

"Don’t you have plenty of food? Why not donate tens of thousands of catties? If that’s not enough, donate all those herbs as well. It’s better to use them on people than let them go moldy in Space," Xue tuanzi suggested generously, as if tens of thousands of catties were nothing more than a number in its eyes.

After pondering for a moment, Mo Yan felt that donating food and medicine was a good idea, "Okay, let’s donate the food and medicine. That’ll give Zhao Mu and the others something to do."

Having been in Liu Yang Village for two months, apart from initially making grass ropes to bind the fruit trees for frost protection, Zhao Mu and his team hadn’t had much to do. They felt embarrassed to eat too much, stretching a day’s ration over three days. Mo Yan hadn’t noticed at first; it was only after a villager working as a Helper in the mill inadvertently mentioned it that she found out.

The grain to be donated needed to be hulled, and the herbs had to be cut into sections, tasks not achievable in just a couple of days. Assigning it to Zhao Mu and his team relieved them of any guilt for eating without contributing.

Mo Yan’s suggestion won Xue tuanzi’s full support. Using the Dream Entering Technique, she quickly stored the prepared grain and medicine in the mill and the Mo Family’s vacant houses.