From Jiangning to Chongzhou, Lin Mengde took the post road and crossed the river, covering a distance of over 500 miles. He was accompanied by only two guards and set off from Jiangning early in the morning with a letter issued by Provincial Inspector Jia Pengyu. Along the way, he bribed the postal officials with silver to expedite his journey, changing horses but not people, and managed to reach Xisha Island before nightfall.

  Two of the armed escorts were robust, though tired, they would recover their spirits after a short rest; Lin Meng's inner thigh was rubbed bloody and bruised by the saddle, now medicated, he lay on the bed board with his legs bent at an awkward angle, talking to Lin Lian.

  "Master Cao originally wanted to come, but he's stuck with his official title at the river mouth and can't leave; I didn't expect riding a horse for a day would be so painful, I couldn't help out and instead became your burden."

  "I didn't expect the river to save Qiao's family," Lin Tie dispersed the others, pulled up a chair and sat in front of Lin Mengde, "Hu Zhiyong and Hu Zhicheng brothers are quite capable, with their help, it saves us a lot of trouble. Uncle Mengde, you come over and help me strategize. I've decided to stay here for disaster relief, what do Subao and Xiao Jiaoye think?"

  "You've made your decision, and we'll naturally make arrangements based on that," Lin Meng said with a smile. "What do you think?"

  "At first, I didn't think it was that complicated," Lin said. "The boat sailed on the river, the wind and waves were fierce, my heart was like a hanging thread. At first glance, there were great difficulties here, more than 20,000 people drowned, more than 20,000 people cried out for food, and those with some responsibility would not stand by idly."

  "Those who have the heart to govern the world must first have the ambition to save the world," Lin Mengde said with a smile. "To put it mildly, there is the lesson of Hongze Pu's previous experience. If we really let the narrow-minded and short-sighted officials of Chongzhou do nothing, will the disaster victims on the island disperse on their own? I don't think so. When people have no way out, what can't they do?"

  "Indeed, I'm also worried about this," Lin Tie nodded and said. "The Xisha Islands are right at the mouth of the Yangtze River. If there's chaos here, the waterway connection between the river mouth and Changshan Island will have to be diverted through Jiyang Lake and Dongjiang. The Dongjiang waterway is narrow, and the intention to go out to sea can easily be detected by both shores, which is also within the core control range of the Ninghai Town Water Garrison. Moreover, the Dongjiang estuary is directly opposite the islands where the East Sea pirates are based, and there's a high chance of encountering pirate ships head-on. Furthermore, if Chongzhou becomes chaotic, the ones who will benefit the most are the She family. If we allow the East Sea pirates to take advantage of the situation and intervene in Chongzhou, gathering refugees to control the situation in Chongzhou, then the problem will become even more severe and uncontrollable..."

  "I and Lord Cao received the news in the middle of the night, knowing that this matter was not trivial. We immediately sent someone to call back Xiao Jiaoye from Longjiang Shipyard to discuss together," Lin Mengde said, "What we are most worried about is also this. Your trip to Pingjiang Prefecture is to prevent the Ta Lake thieves from being pulled over by the Xie family and the Donghai faction. Of course, it's even more impossible for the Xie family and the Donghai bandits to intervene in the disaster relief of the Western Sand Island."

  Xisha Island is located in the middle section of the navigation route between Changshan Island and Hekou, and Dongyang No. travels back and forth to Changshan Island, all with Xisha Island as a transit point, its geographical location is important, no need to explain.

  Lin Xian knew that Cao Zi'ang, Lin Mengde and Ge Cunxiong could understand the subtleties of the situation.

  "Cao Ye had accurately predicted the attitude of Chongzhou County towards the refugees," Lin Mengde continued, "I was afraid that you wouldn't have a foothold in Chongzhou for disaster relief, so I pulled you to knock on Zhang Yubo's door overnight and enter the city. We then rushed to Xiao Xuanchu's residence and dragged him out of bed. We took 300 taels of gold from the warehouse and gave it to Xiao Xuanchu as a bribe, originally hoping that he would issue a document to give you a foothold in Chongzhou. Who would have thought that this scoundrel was not only greedy for gold but also irresponsible, and would mess things up by involving Jiawei Zhai? At the time, I and Cao Ye were worried that Jiawei Zhai would make trouble, so we could only wait for news from Dongyang. Unexpectedly, Jiawei Zhai signed the order without saying a word. After thinking about it, Jiawei Zhai also had other intentions, but there's no way to control everything. We have to wait until Gu Wudun returns with news from Dongyang and then draft a formal letter in Jiangning, which will take at least four days. Delaying for four days would be very unfavorable for us in Chongzhou."

  "I left Jiangning mainly to prevent the Taohu thieves from pulling the She family into their lair, but the big banner I'm carrying is for Dongyang's militia training and raising military funds and grain supplies. The Dongyang militia indeed hopes to get a large sum of military funds and grain supplies," Lin said, "but Jia Pengyu wrote in his official letter that he wants me to use the raised grain supplies to relieve disaster victims first. This is where the problem lies: Chongzhou County will likely take this as an excuse to shift the burden of relieving disaster victims onto us, while Dongyang won't get the grain supplies they should have gotten, and they'll probably blame me for meddling in their affairs..."

  "Hmm," Lin Meng nodded and said, "Jia Pengyu is about to retire and return home, but an old fox is still an old fox after all."

  Lin Tie nodded: "Jia Pengyu still wants to alienate my relationship with Gu Wu Chen, and another is to drag down Gu Wu Chen's efforts in training the militia in Dongyang... The Chu Party's influence is strong, these old foxes have no choice but to retreat, but they are not willing to retreat like this."

  "Speaking of which, there have been some strange rumors circulating around the river mouth recently that are worth savoring?" Lin Meng said.

  "What rumors are worth making a fuss about?" Lin Xie asked.

  "Xiang Xunniang is over 17 years old and not yet married, Gu Wudeng will likely keep his daughter as a pawn to lure you in," Lin Mengde said. "Since the man is unmarried and the woman is not yet married, there's nothing much to say about it. We've been speculating privately, but this kind of talk has been circulating wildly on the streets and alleys, intentionally trying to win people over... I'm afraid it's not that simple..."

  "This can be ignored for now, there are always people who like to play tricks... Lin furrowed his brow, such rumors also made him unable to handle it. Yanxiang should have mentioned the intention of marriage to Gu Junhui, this kind of thing depends entirely on the attitude of Gu Wudeng and his wife, but in any case, Gu Wudeng will not kick him out at this time, for now, he can only ignore it."

  "Chongzhou this side, you see if it's good," Lin Mengde said, "You're just assisting the local authorities in handling the disaster under the pretext of exercising power. Can't you ignore Jia Pengyu's request to 'raise grain and relieve the victims' as stated in the official document he signed?"

  "It's impossible to have both the fish and the bear's paw, it's rare for people to give up harm and take advantage," Lin Xuan said with a bitter smile. "Once this official letter reaches Chongzhou County, they will inevitably push the disaster relief work onto my head. Even if we privately contribute a large sum of silver, there will still be people on the East Yang side who think that we are using the grain and salary meant for the militia training in East Yang to provide relief to the disaster victims here."

  "Since it can't be helped, providing relief to the refugees is also a must," Lin Mengde considered the pros and cons, but still firmly supported Lin Ye's decision to provide relief to the refugees on Xi Sha Island. "Others don't know about the situation on Changshan Island, these so-called refugees are not people who were born to be vagrants. If these 20-30 thousand refugees can take root on Xi Sha Island, then in the future if there is a change, it will be a great help to Changshan Island. I discussed this with Master Cao, we cannot simply just provide relief to the refugees, after taking care of them, there are other things that can be done..." Lin Mengde said up to here, paused for a moment, and then continued, "Now that the Hu family has surrendered to you, I think it's the best opportunity. The Hu family is from Chongzhou, using the Hu family will not arouse suspicion, moreover, the Hu family is also trustworthy. We can take advantage of the relief efforts to help the Hu family move to Xi Sha Island and take root. In this way, even if the matter here is settled, we can still rely on the Hu family to guarantee your long-term influence over Xi Sha Island."

  Lin nodded and said: "It's indeed feasible. First, let's get through the next two days, I'll discuss it with Brother Hu Zhiyong."

  Lin Bing sent the official letter to Chongzhou County that night, and County Magistrate Chen Kun still did not show up. Li Shuyi, the clerk of the household registration office, gritted his teeth and took a boat to Xisha Island again.

  "Magistrate Lin, Instructor Geng has gone to give Magistrate Chen a good scolding," Li Shuyi said with a smile and tears in his eyes as he handed over the official documents from the county office to Lin Xie. "The disaster in Chongzhou is not limited to one place, Magistrates Chen, Xiao, and Geng have all gone to other places, and I was told to come here to follow your instructions, Magistrate Lin."

  Since the letter from the Surveillance Commissioner's office mentioned "raising grain to relieve disaster", and Chongzhou County was affected not only in Xisha, the county decided to push all the relief work in Xisha onto Lin Fu's head. Li Shuyi didn't even bring a single official attendant, but brought two family members to the island to assist Lin Fu with disaster relief.

  ************

  At night, another torrential rain poured down, with strong winds and huge waves. Lin Xuan chose a slope on the northeast beach with slightly higher terrain as the disaster relief campsite. On the east side of the campsite, there was a large area of shrubs that could block the wind and waves, which was relatively safe overall. However, not enough tents had been set up yet, and except for the priority care of the injured and sick, most of the refugees could only stand in the heavy rain overnight.

  Lin Xiangchu wore a raincoat at first, but soon got soaked by the rain and took it off. He then wore his wet official robe to inspect the disaster situation in the heavy rain. Several sections of the embankment were washed away by the torrential rain, and the mud and sand were carried away by the rapid current of the riverbank, as if a large area of land had disappeared overnight. However, these dangerous areas had been alerted in advance, and the people who were placed there were evacuated in time, without causing any casualties.

  Relief is easy, but resettlement is difficult. Lin estimated that even if the local prefectures and county governments finally came up with a plan and policy to resettle the refugees, many would still remain on Xi Sha Island; for thousands of years, peasants' longing for land and their deeply hidden passion are unimaginable.

  Lin tied Ren Hao was drenched in the rain, gazing at the breach that had been battered by the storm and waves for a long time. From where he stood, the breach was just a deeper black shadow: The unstable sandy terrain, summer storms, and barren land were all part of the harsh natural environment that Xi Sha Island could not escape, but there were ways to overcome them, it's just that the local government had not fulfilled its due responsibilities.

  *******

  In the distance, a giant ship was undulating with the waves. On this side of the disaster relief camp, there were still several wind lanterns that had not been extinguished by the heavy rain, and from afar, they looked like faint fireflies.

  Qin Zitan stood in the cabin, ignoring the raindrops drifting into the cabin, staring at the distant shore where the rescue camp's lanterns flickered like fireflies, regretting and stamping her feet, never expecting to be one step too late.

  Qin Zitan knew that Xi Sha Island was heavily damaged, so he didn't delay and rushed from Huzhou to meet up with Du Rong, who came from Wei Yang, at the Yangtze River in the county of Hu Yang.

  Whether it is instigating the Xisha Island refugees to rebel or infiltrating the Xisha Island under the guise of celebrating Feng's journey to assist the Chongzhou County government, both have great potential.

  Qin Zitan had just contacted the informant stationed in Chongzhou and learned that nearly half of the refugees on Xisha Island had drowned due to the storm surge, and the attitude of the county government was also clear. The local area was also severely affected by the disaster, and there was no time to take care of these refugees.

  Whether it was a great disaster or a great epidemic, those who survived were mostly strong-bodied young and middle-aged people. This time, the disaster can be said to have naturally eliminated a group of elite soldiers for the Xie family in the nearby Jiangning area. Due to local hostility and exclusion towards refugees, as well as the inaction of local officials, these disaster-stricken refugees who had no other way out could have been easily intimidated or won over by the Xie family. Who would have thought that Lin Xie would take another step first!

  Regardless of the boat tossing in the wind and waves, Du Rong also stared at the island with a gloomy expression, Lin Xie had already become a thorn stuck in their hearts.

  *******

  P.S: Seeking red envelope!