Fatal crises?
Even three of them?!
Although Emperor Jingming still couldn't confirm Emperor Jingwu's identity, he had already regarded her as his true successor. So upon hearing Liu Sanqi's introduction of today's livestream topic, he sat up straight on the dragon throne, staring intently at Liu Sanqi on the Sky Canopy.
"Emperor Jingwu's first crisis occurred within the first half year of her ascension. At that time, her foundations in the court were still unstable, so this thunderous storm indeed brought her great trouble."
"If any of you have watched my previous broadcasts, you should remember that I mentioned how, right after Emperor Jingwu ascended the throne, the Najie Army tried to force her to sign a humiliating treaty, even threatening the lives of Zhenbei City's residents."
"Then, after the Najie Army committed the inhumane act of slaughtering the city, just when the Great Jing people were furious and grief-stricken, a rumor began spreading rapidly among the populace."
"'A tyrannical ruler misleads the nation; the dynasty's fortune will soon fall!'
"If we, as descendants, heard this rumor, we'd probably assume it referred to Emperor Jingli, who had already been captured by the Najie Army at that time. But in truth, this rumor was directed straight at the newly ascended Emperor Jingwu."
"Any sensible person would understand that the Najie Army was the real culprit behind the Zhenbei City massacre! Yet at that time, someone deliberately twisted the narrative, claiming that Emperor Jingwu's willfulness had caused the negotiations to break down, thus sacrificing the lives of countless innocent citizens in Zhenbei City!"
"Incredibly, many chose to foolishly believe this absurd logic, so much so that Emperor Jingwu was reviled by thousands of people among the populace, facing a torrent of criticism!"
Below the Sky Canopy, Emperor Jingming's brows were now deeply furrowed. He scanned the compliant-looking courtiers, his gaze concealing cold scrutiny and wariness. As an emperor long at the center of power struggles, he had already grasped from Liu Sanqi's words the political landscape in Emperor Jingwu's court: a weak ruler with strong ministers. These rumors clearly stemmed from a rebellion.
"When it rains, it pours. Just as the news of the Zhenbei City massacre was causing uproar among the people, a severe drought and famine broke out in the Guanzhong region of the Great Jing Dynasty, resulting in massive deaths, including the horrors of swapping children for food and breaking bones for fuel."
"According to historical records, this famine was the worst during Emperor Jingwu's reign, with a death toll of nearly a million—roughly equivalent to the current total population of my hometown city."
"But in truth, if not for certain people deliberately concealing the disaster from Emperor Jingwu, the loss of life could have been far less severe!"
"After all, Emperor Jingwu had already been secretly promoting sweet potato cultivation for many years! From our modern perspective, a per-mu yield of around two thousand jin might sound low, but at that time, it was nothing short of a divine crop!"
Two thousand jin per mu?!
Emperor Jingming and the courtiers present were all wide-eyed with shock. The emperor even rose from his dragon throne in excitement, his breathing visibly quick and agitated.
Outside the palace, in the fields across the land, elderly farmers who had been panicking over the drought and famine mentioned on the Sky Canopy now stared up at it, unable to look away. One old farmer gripped his hoe, hands trembling with emotion, and asked the woman beside him, "Old woman, are we finally going to have enough to eat?"
Her voice carried both immense hope and nervous uncertainty: "Probably. Right now, when we grow rice, a good harvest gives us two hundred jin, a bad one only a hundred. But this sweet potato yields two thousand jin per mu! Even if it's harder to tend, if we can grow it, the harvest will be so much better than before!"
"I wonder when we'll get to plant these sweet potatoes. I've lived so many years and never had a full meal!" a rail-thin old man said, gazing longingly at the Sky Canopy.
Liu Sanqi on the Sky Canopy had no idea that the casual mention of sweet potato yields had stunned the Great Jing people. She continued, "Historical analysis shows that Emperor Jingwu only learned of the severe drought and famine in Guanzhong three months after it began, through her private information channels."
"She was enraged at being kept in the dark, furious enough to want to behead those incompetent officials who had neglected their duties! Yet she also knew that her priority was to distribute food aid and provide relief."
"However, after seven years of Emperor Jingli's reckless spending, the national treasury was nearly empty. Even if she wanted to relocate grain, the local officials in surrounding regions cried poverty, claiming they had no surplus food to send to Guanzhong."
"Fortunately, Emperor Jingwu hadn't pinned all her hopes on these officials. While she secured a batch of grain, she had prepared even more sweet potatoes—an ideal famine-relief crop that could be eaten raw or cooked."
"Those who had hoped to use grain supplies to restrain her were utterly surprised by the appearance of sweet potatoes. They realized that if Emperor Jingwu succeeded in using sweet potatoes for relief, her popularity among the people would soar, and all their previous efforts would be undone."
"So those heartless scoundrels quickly devised a new malicious scheme. Since most people were unfamiliar with sweet potatoes, they spread rumors far and wide: first claiming sweet potatoes were highly poisonous, causing stomachs to burst upon consumption; then saying they were demonic crops grown in mass graves, absorbing nutrients from corpses."
"Before the relief sweet potatoes even reached the disaster zone, these fear-mongering rumors had already spread everywhere, throwing the refugees into panic."
"If it were any other emperor, facing such a predicament right after ascension, they would likely capitulate to these schemers as expected, fearing instability and forced abdication. But if our Great Emperor Jingwu had given up, she would never have become the legendary sage ruler known in history!"
"A new drama, 'The Jingwu Prosperous Era,' has just been released. I personally think it's quite well-made and covers how Emperor Jingwu resolved this famine. So today, let's do a little reaction livestream!"
New drama? Reaction livestream?
Emperor Jingming and the others could understand Liu Sanqi's Chinese, but not the English. Just as they were baffled, Liu Sanqi's figure moved to the lower right corner of the livestream screen, and the main view switched to an ancient setting.
The video opened with two men dressed as Great Jing officials arguing fiercely inside a carriage. From their quarrel, viewers quickly learned that the grain Emperor Jingwu had gathered would last the famine victims only about five days. If the refugees continued to view sweet potatoes as a deadly menace, once the grain ran out, the death toll from starvation would skyrocket.
When the relief team arrived in the disaster zone, the refugees' dialogues showed that they deeply believed the terrifying rumors about sweet potatoes. They turned pale at the mention of them, with some even saying they'd rather continue eating bark and clay than die from consuming the crop.
Below the Sky Canopy, though everyone knew the refugees were misled, many couldn't help feeling frustrated seeing them so convinced by the rumors. Meanwhile, their hearts tightened in concern over how Emperor Jingwu would overcome this seemingly impossible situation.
In the video, as the relief team began distributing aid, a stark contrast emerged. The porridge at the porridge station was watery, yet the line stretched like an endless mountain range, with refugees desperately waiting, seeing it as their only lifeline. Next door, the sweet potato stand wafted an enticing sweet aroma, but not a single refugee dared approach. The porridge workers were frantic; the sweet potato staff were bored, yawning in idleness.
Seeing this stark contrast, many Great Jing commoners grew anxious. "Ai, you fools! Sweet potatoes are good! Don't queue for the porridge; come here and eat!"
"Mom, shouting does no good—those people up there can't hear you," a middle-aged man complained to his mother, earning a glare and the label 'heartless.'
On the Sky Canopy, the refugees in the porridge line also noticed the differences and began murmuring. "See? The sweet potatoes must be useless—no one's going over there!"
"I heard the higher-ups think we're a burden, so they want to poison us with these things!"
"Sigh, why go through all this trouble? My parents starved to death. If I go two more days without food, I'll join them."
"Mom, I'm so hungry. The sweet potatoes smell sweet—can I try a bite?"
"No! Don't you dare! Darn egg, be good. Mom will get you some porridge soon. We eat porridge, not that deadly stuff!"
"Damn it! I don't care anymore!" A black-faced man suddenly roared, stepping out of the porridge line. "There are so many people ahead; I'll never get served! Even if these sweet potatoes rot my guts, I'm filling my stomach today. I'm not going to the underworld as a starving ghost!"
With that, he strode toward the sweet potato stand. The commotion drew everyone's stunned attention. Some faces showed hesitation, but most stuck with the porridge, afraid to risk their lives. Still, all eyes followed the black-faced man.