"Is a human life more important, or is a house more important?”
With Li Yuanfang's question, the tenants lowered their heads in shame.
A 60-year-old man stood up shakily and apologized.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have questioned Your Highness. I agree to demolish it.”
"If you lose your life, you have nothing. This commoner was wrong.”
“……”
One by one, people stood up to apologize and listened to the simple words of the tenants.
Li Yuanfang promised everyone loudly.
"If the dilapidated houses are demolished, then so be it. Next spring, when the weather gets warmer, the residence will pay to build a batch of houses.”
"Hey!"
The tenants began to tear down the houses. Under the guidance of the three Shi brothers, they built one igloos after another.
Li Yuanfang told Bai Fu earnestly.
"When spring comes, remember to remind me about building a house.”
"Understood!"
Bai Fu replied.
From the afternoon onwards, the snow became heavier.
Because Li Yuanfang was worried, he stayed at the manor until night. The snow had not stopped yet.
A village head had heard about the situation in the neighboring imperial village. When he learned that many houses had collapsed, he rushed back to tell everyone.
Everyone in the two villages was extremely grateful to Li Yuanfang.
If the new owner had not reacted in time, they would have been crushed to death by the dilapidated house. After all, the place where the tenants lived in the Imperial Manor was not much different from their own manor.
Therefore…some superstitious elders had already silently decided to set up a memorial tablet for Li Yuanfang and pray for his good health every day.
……
On this day, Li Yuanfang rushed back to Prince Zhou's residence during the curfew.
Ahem, after the curfew, no one was allowed to enter the city. Otherwise, they would be thrown into prison. This was no laughing matter in the Great Tang's system.
"Your Highness, you promised to build houses for the tenants. This is a huge expenditure. I'm afraid that all the remaining money in the residence will have to be spent.”
After Bai Fu flipped through the account book, he had no choice but to tell Li Yuanfang about this disastrous situation.
Li Yuanfang waved his hand and said in amusement.
"Natural disasters are not like man-made disasters. The latter can find someone to compensate.”
"The reason why I promised the tenants to build houses for them in the spring was not only to live up to my conscience, but also to give the tenants hope.”
"As long as there's hope, I think with the resilience of the people, they can survive with their bare hands.”
Chun Xing walked in with the ginger soup and happened to hear the conversation between the two of them. She pursed her lips unhappily.
"Your Highness, your promise will make the people in the residence starve next year. Isn't that not good?”
"Ha, the residence has no money, but that doesn't mean that I'm really poor.”
After Li Yuanfang finished speaking, he drank the ginger soup in one gulp.
However, Bai Fu and Chun Xing froze for three seconds as if someone had pressed the pause button.
Three seconds later, the two of them looked at each other and shouted in surprise.
"Your Highness! Do you have money hidden elsewhere?"
"Correct. Unfortunately, there is no reward.”Li Yuanfang shrugged indifferently.
"Erm…can I ask how many there are?”Bai Fu asked carefully.
"At least a hundred taels of…gold.”Li Yuanfang looked at Bai Fu with a smile.
Bai Fu widened his eyes in shock and began to convert.
"One tael of gold is equal to ten taels of silver, which is ten strings of silver.”
"One hundred taels of gold is equivalent to one thousand taels of silver, which is one thousand strings.”
" The annual expenditure of the Inner Prince's Mansion in Chang 'an is only a few hundred strings at most, which means..."
Li Yuanfang said indifferently.
"Next year, whether it's opening a shop or waiting for the income from the sugar to come in, we don't lack money.”
"Alright, tell me when the money is gone. You've been working with me all day today, so go and rest early.”
Bai Fu nodded. He no longer had to worry about money. His tensed nerves instantly relaxed, and Bai Fu immediately felt exhausted.
……
Early the next morning.
It was rare that Li Yuanfang didn't laze in bed. After getting up, he took a warm patch for himself and quickly ate his breakfast before bringing his men to the manor.
On this day, Li Yuanfang noticed that a small number of refugees had appeared on the official road. There were even many frozen corpses on the road.
"This natural disaster is really a sin!"
When Bai Fu saw this scene, he said bitterly.
Thinking back, he had become an internal servant because of the natural disasters and wars.
"Let's go and stop looking around. The Imperial Court can take care of these people. The Great Tang will not ignore its people.”
After Li Yuanfang finished speaking, he turned his eyes away and couldn't bear to look.
This was the first time he had seen death in this era.
After a while…
Under the escort of the guards, Li Yuanfang arrived at his manor.
"Head Zhuang, the boss is here!"
The storeroom needed to be guarded by the tenants in batches. Today, when the people guarding outside the storeroom saw Li Yuanfang from afar, they immediately shouted and rushed behind him.
The head of the village in the snow house quivered and immediately bowed to Li Yuanfang.
"Greetings, Boss."
"Get up. Are you used to sleeping?”Li Yuanfang dismounted and asked as he walked inside,"There are no refugees in the village, right?”
"No, no, we're all used to sleeping.”
After saying that, Zhuang Tou raised his finger and pointed in a direction.
"If it wasn't for you asking us to build the igloos yesterday, many people in our village would have died.”
"The tenant farmers on night duty said that many of the other villages died. Many people…some of them are people we are familiar with.”
At the end of his speech, the village head's voice was a little choked. One of his friends was among the dead.
Li Yuanfang let out a long sigh.
"This year's snow disaster is serious. After the inventory of the other party's grain in the warehouse is completed, I need to transport the grain for next year's spring ploughing back to Chang 'an.”
"Why are you in such a hurry?" The head of the bed tilted his head in surprise.
" I have to hurry. On the way to the manor today, there are already refugees outside Chang 'an City. I'm afraid that the crops will be robbed next year, and it will be difficult for spring plowing.”Li Yuanfang calmly expressed the worry in his heart.
"Hiss, we have to transport the grain into Chang 'an.”
The head of the village was anxious when he heard this. Planting grain was related to the next year's harvest. He could not let it be taken away by hooligans.
Li Yuanfang thought for a moment and added.
"Other than planting the grain, I will have people transport away the seventh floor of the grain. The remaining 30% will be divided equally among the tenants in the villages.”
"But…this king is generous. Don't do anything like deceiving your superiors and deceiving your subordinates to keep the grain for yourselves. Otherwise, this king will punish you before the snow disaster ends.”
The village head's face turned pale, and the little thought of taking advantage of him instantly flew away. He hurriedly promised.
"Don't worry, Boss. We will distribute the grain fairly to the tenants in the manor. We will never deduct a single cent of grain."
This book is provided by FunNovel Novel Book | Fan Fiction Novel [Beautiful Free Novel Book]