Chapter 402: Chapter 402 Mother God’s Manifestation (23)
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
“The Emperor is wise. Long live the Emperor, long live the Emperor.” The officials immediately saluted and flattered him.
“I must thank my beloved ministers for your support,” the Emperor laughed.
Afterward, he looked at his uncle and said, “Imperial Uncle, 1’11 have to trouble you to make a trip to personally distribute these seeds.
“There’s no grain shortage in the capital at the moment, so we only needed to keep some seeds.
“The rest will be distributed to the places where the Third Prince’s white sweet potato has not been promoted to. This way, production can be restored as soon as possible, and the refugees can return home as soon as possible.”
“I will heed your orders.” The Sixth Imperial King immediately stepped forward to heed this order.
Although this task was slightly heavy and cumbersome, it had great significance, and he was quite willing to do it. It could also increase the prestige of his King Xian’s Residence.
“Remember, it must be a fair and just distribution, and you don’t have to give face to anyone. In addition, I’ll send 5,000 soldiers to escort these seeds.”
“Thank you for your understanding, Your Majesty.” The Sixth Imperial King responded and retreated.
As this matter passed, the following memorials were filled with bad news. Most of them were about revolts and riots in various places.
This time, the Emperor sent out the First and Fourth Princes. After giving them each 10,000 soldiers, he had them organize the garrison troops in various places to suppress the rebellions.
Those who surrendered would be pardoned immediately, and those who stubbornly resisted would be executed on the spot.
At the same time, they rebuilt all the Mother God Temples.
Then, he asked the people from the Ministry of Works to expand and increase the number of Mother God Temples outside the capital, making it more convenient for people from all sides to pay respects.
After the court session, the Emperor received a memorial from Zhou Fanghuai through Chief Xiao. After learning that Mother God had settled the military provisions for the second half of the year, he was finally relieved.
Thus, he sent an imperial edict to the southwest general—the Empress’ brother and the Marquis of Ding’an—asking them to request military provisions through the Mother God Temple and build more Mother God Temples in various parts of the southwest as soon as possible.
Suddenly, Mother God Temples were everywhere, and Zhou Ying was so busy that she could only sleep five or six hours a day.
Fortunately, she no longer needed to absorb the faith manually as it would go directly into her body.
Nearly a month passed, countless Mother God Temples were erected throughout the country, and the incense offerings were becoming more frequent.
However, Zhou Ying did not give them any food whenever the rioters or insurgents asked for food.
Also, most people who once ate human flesh started to have an illness. She executed them and then told the local officials in their dreams to burn the bodies.
Her action helped King Xian a lot. Many people who initially didn’t want to go back to suffer the riots and cannibals returned to their hometowns to farm after that.
The Ming Dynasty had also temporarily settled down.
However, the Liao Dynasty in the north, the Western Xia in the west, and the East Provinces on the island in the east were still in deep waters and suffering.
Knowing that the Ming Dynasty had food, they immediately launched a war to snatch it.
However, the Ming Dynasty was now strong and robust, so the aggressors were the ones exhausted from the war. These countries didn’t gain any advantage but were unwilling to retreat, so the stalemate continued.
On the other hand, because livestock farming was the Liao Dynasty’s primary food source, they didn’t even have anything to eat, as most of their animals were frozen to death. This was why they had to fight even to their last breath.
In the end, they were still defeated. The general in charge watched as the soldiers became weaker and weaker and their morale lowered.
Seeing that they were already at the point of life and death, he braced himself and looked for their eldest prince. “First Prince, we can’t continue fighting this war. Otherwise, if we lose people, our country will be occupied.”
“What can we do if we don’t fight? We don’t even have any animal fodder to eat. How are we going to survive?”
“Didn’t the Ming Dynasty benefit from Mother God because they worshipped her? Can’t we worship Mother God too?”