"All right, as you wish."
The two began their meal, talking and laughing, as warm and intimate as ever.
Even after everything they had been through, their feelings had not changed. Instead, they had only deepened.
Liu Xie sent men to investigate the source of the Yellow River, and they soon returned with results.
Everything was as he had expected. The rivers in the Yellow River's upper reaches had indeed begun drying up that year, and their water levels had fallen considerably.
Upon learning this, Liu Xie immediately issued an edict, and local government offices along the Yellow River began preparing for drought.
Just like that, two months passed in a flash.
The great drought along the Yellow River arrived as expected. Not only was the weather exceptionally hot, but no rain had fallen for two consecutive months. Some smaller rivers stopped flowing altogether, leaving a thousand miles barren.
Most of the crops the common people had planted withered in the fields from lack of water. Even the Yellow River's water level fell to a historic low!
This was a drought the likes of which had rarely been seen in decades!
Without advance preparations, a drought like this would inevitably cause tremendous upheaval in the country and lead to a great famine. That would be the beginning of the nightmare.
A great famine was beyond the ability of local prefectures and counties to handle. Once refugees began fleeing the famine, they would overwhelm towns and counties everywhere. Merely settling the refugees would leave the Imperial Court scrambling in desperation.
And if grain were brought in from elsewhere for disaster relief then, merchants and the Great Aristocratic Clans would surely extort a hefty sum, maliciously driving up grain prices to profit from the disaster.
In times of famine, refugees exchanged