Your Highness, Please Love Me Tender

124. Dealing with the Refugees

Translator: Flying Lines

The next morning, Su Jie was in disguise and changed into a soldier’s attire. In his hand, he held a waist tag and walked into Xiao Shengnian’s courtyard unhurriedly.

On the way, there were some leaders of small groups who, when seeing that Su Jie looked very unfamiliar, stopped to question him. Su Jie answered, “His Highness told me to take that young master from the other courtyard to have a walk around.”

After checking Su Jie’s waist tag, these soldiers no longer found him suspicious and never thought that the ordinary-looking youth in front of them would be the crown prince in disguise. They all let him go without much hassle, allowing Su Jie to successfully leave the mansion with Xiao Shengnian.

There was a big decrease in the number of locals setting up stalls on the streets. The war a few days ago disturbed the lives of the citizens. There was a portion of refugees wanting but were prevented by soldiers from entering the city. The refugees gathered outside the city, howling continuously. The soldiers didn’t dare to disturb Su Jie for this while Ju Liandao was leading the preparation of the granary, so this matter was overlooked.

Without Ju Liandao’s orders, the soldiers could only ignore and tolerate the refugees outside the city to the point where some refugees had already starved to death.

Su Jie and Xiao Shengnian walked leisurely around the city. Because both of them were unfamiliar with the area, they walked to a place near the city gates.

“There seems to be quite a lot of people outside the city.” Su Jie originally wanted to turn back, but then he glanced towards the city gates, doubtful and his steps paused.

Xiao Shengnian nodded, made a noise as a response, and followed Su Jie to the city gates.

The soldiers guarding the gates walked forwards to stop the two people. He said, “The city is on alert. You are only to leave, but not enter. Do you want to leave?”

At this time, Su Jie was able to see the scene outside the city gates. The refugees, who wore ragged clothing, were either blocking the road relaxedly or resting on the sides of the road, looking like they planned to enter the city. However, the city was on alert, so naturally, these refugees were not let in.

“I am following His Highness’s orders to complete a task outside the city.” Su Jie calmly fished out the waist tag, but he was already filled with fury on the inside. He couldn’t bear to see scenes of helpless refugees. Even though men of sacrifice were trained to be desensitized to these kinds of things, this was happening in his country. These citizens were his citizens, yet they were suffering outside the city. This caused Su Jie to feel extremely disturbed.

Feeling Su Jie’s change in emotions, Xiao Shengnian patted Su Jie’s shoulder reassuringly and said, “You can go out and have a check, I…” Normally, he was used to referring to himself as a prince when he said ‘I’, but because soldiers were watching him, Xiao Shengnian’s voice trailed off for a little before he continued, “I will have a walk around the city and come to find you later.”

Su Jie nodded and took big steps to beyond the city gates.

When the refugees outside the city saw that someone was coming out, they all rushed to gather in front of Su Jie. They were all begging for some money or something to eat.

Su Jie frowned. Perhaps it was because the piteous scene caused him to feel discomfort that the aura on his body naturally became fiercer. The fierceness from having so much blood on his hands made the refugees feel a little suffocated. They were frozen to the spot, unable to move as they stared at Su Jie fearfully.

Originally, Su Jie wanted to take out some money, but seeing the greedy glints in their eyes, Su Jie became scared that these people would hurt themselves from fighting over the money. So, he abandoned that line of thought.

After walking along the road for a while, Su Jie’s expression was tight, and a faint murderous aura emanated from his body. He walked with a capable and experienced air, which meant the refugees no longer dared to act rashly.

But there were also five or six men, who were built rather burly. Seeing that Su Jie was quite slim and slender, they surrounded him with ill intentions.

“We’re so hungry. Since you came out of the city, why don’t you help us?”

Hearing their words, Su Jie maintained a calm expression, not a bit change to his face.

Seeing this, the men planned to attack Su Jie, but unexpectedly, as the punch flew towards Su Jie, they felt their vision blur.

By the time they reacted, they were already kicked far away by Su Jie.

Su Jie no longer paid attention to those men and turned back to walk towards the city.

With so many refugees, Su Jie naturally couldn’t order to have the city gates opened. After all, this involved the security and stability of the city. Su Jie never dealt with these kinds of problems before, and so the cogs in his brain started to turn as he thought about how to deal with the refugees.

Just as he was thinking, Xiao Shengnian suddenly came out. There were several vendors pushing carts of snacks following behind him. The fragrant aroma coming from the piping-hot food caused the refugees to rush towards them. Because Xiao Shengnian was with Su Jie just now, the soldiers guarding the city didn’t stop him. They only thought inwardly that this much food wouldn’t even be enough to fill the gaps between the refugees’ teeth.

“Come here, the lot of you. Help us maintain order.” Xiao Shengnian waved to the soldiers stood outside the city gates. His gestures bore an air of nobility, and the tone of his speech revealed a kind of naturalness. Even though the soldiers weren’t clear what identity Xiao Shengnian had, they all came forward to help after seeing their leader nod.

The refugees fought in a mad rush to be the first there, but they were blocked by the soldiers. For a moment, they all wailed about their hunger at Xiao Shengnian.

“Calm down.” Xiao Shengnian’s expression was calm and indifferent, and his dark purple long-robe was subtle but luxurious at the same time. The moment Xiao Shengnian raised his hand, full of stately dignity, the refugees were frightened into silence by this naturally aristocratic man. This was also partly because the soldiers surrounding them were tall and strong.

“If you’re hungry, go form a queue. No one is allowed to fight over it or steal another person’s food. Jumping queues is also not allowed. Those who refuse to follow the rules will not be given anything.” When Xiao Shengnian finished, the refugees, who were fighting to be at the front, all stared at the fragrant food as they waited in queues.

Xiao Shengnian had the vendors set up stalls in a line. Beside every vendor was around ten or so soldiers to maintain order. There were originally many soldiers outside the city. After all, the crown prince was inside the city, so more than two hundred soldiers were guarding it, more than enough to keep a few hundred refugees under control.

There were a total of six or seven vendors. Two of the stalls had sweet potatoes, and the rest had fluffy white steamed buns.

It was certain that this amount of food wasn’t enough to share between the refugees. Not long after, a good amount of food was already used up, and the refugees, who already collected their food, were eating whilst queueing again.

Su Jie was shocked that Xiao Shengnian had the vendors from the city come out. He couldn’t help but feel the intricate nature of Prince Rui’s thinking. However, this was not going to be a long-term solution. Su Jie planned to take a look around the perimeters of the city. If there were some empty spaces, he could arrange for these refugees to move there.

But before Su Jie lifted his foot, he, once again, saw a few more carts being wheeled out of the city. Even a vendor holding sugar-fruits-on-stick came out. Xiao Shengnian gestured for the vendor to come over and had a few soldiers hold the sugar-coated-haws, letting them give the sugar coated fruits to the children should they see any within the mass of refugees while patrolling.

Seeing how Xiao Shengnian arranged everything in such good order, Su Jie finally understood how the rumors about Prince Rui being approachable came to be in State Yanhui. Xiao Shengnian was truly thoughtful. His ability to negotiate with these vendors in such a short amount of time couldn’t be disputed.

Su Jie found four to five soldiers and had them check if there were any empty land around the perimeters. He, himself, walked towards Xiao Shengnian.

“I was planning to find some unused land nearby and employ these citizens to build houses there so that they would have an income. As for the women and children, they could do some needlework, help run errands and cook. What do you think?” Su Jie asked.

Xiao Shengnian fell into silence for a split second, then he nodded, “This could work, but some soldiers will have to be dispatched to monitor them. Also, set up some tents or awnings first so that the citizens can have a roof over their heads.”

“Sure.” Having obtained Xiao Shengnian’s approval, Su Jie felt himself breathe an inward sigh of relief. After all, Su Jie never had to worry about these kinds of things. Even though Zhou Zaiyue explained the ways of a ruler to him before, the time he had to study them was short. Even if Su Jie gave his all to learn it, he still felt a headache coming along because there were so many things he had to deal with.