I Can Control My Ancestors-Chapter 91 - 35: Combating the Locust Plague, Rivaling Heaven
For the current Great Han,
—— the inspirational impact of this great victory on morale far exceeds any tangible benefits.
In such times of continuous natural disasters, nothing boosts morale more than a great victory.
This is exactly what Gu Xi desired.
Just as the battle ended, he ordered the news to be spread across the entire country.
Once this news spread completely,
the court and the public were both shocked!
Today’s Great Han’s court is unlike the time of Gu Cheng and Gu Kang.
Years of regency have created a clear gap between Gu Xi and other ministers; no one cares about how much more credit Gu Xi can earn.
After all, no matter how much credit he earns, Gu Xi can only go this far, and it doesn’t affect their interests.
Naturally, upon hearing of the great victory, everyone rejoices.
As for Liu Hu and Deng Sui,
as long as Gu Xi is safe, it is already a good thing for the Great Han, let alone a great victory.
However, public reaction was much more intense.
Many of the commonfolk credited this great victory to Gu Xi’s previous sacrifices at the Luoshui River.
In such a situation,
some of the superstitious rumors about the court were also dispelled on their own.
Coupled with the continuous disaster relief efforts by the court!
Amidst all these rumors, the people’s confidence in Great Han returned!
This was a very evident change.
Even though natural disasters continued unabated,
as long as the clouds of despair gradually lifted from people’s hearts, this series of disasters could no longer shake the foundation of the Great Han.
Most importantly, Gu Xi’s efforts were far from over.
Realizing the change in public sentiment, Gu Xi relentlessly arranged various artificial auspicious events.
Ancient steles revealing inscriptions, divine birds delivering messages, white pheasants appearing in the world, qilins emerging, and other such rumors.
He didn’t even bother to stage them.
Just let people spread them.
The power of rumors has, since ancient times, been like a hidden tide in the darkness.
Invisible as it may seem, it can stir up stormy waves at critical moments, influencing the direction of the situation.
Riding the momentum of this great victory,
these rumors spread across Great Han with incredible speed.
"What? A white pheasant appeared in the forests and walked into the Capital City on its own? A sign of Daxing, indeed!"
"Have you heard? A giant stone descended on the peak of Mount Tai, with inscriptions saying that the disasters of our Great Han are merely tests from the heavens, and if we can survive them, we will prosper for millennia?"
"A star of prosperity appeared in the night sky? Is this true??"
"....."
In the end, there was no longer a need for Gu Xi to arrange anything. Once these rumors spread thoroughly, the common people would create endless miracles and continue to spread them.
It’s back...
It’s all back!
The glorious Great Han of yesteryears seemed to have truly returned!
Even though some warlocks still attempted to spread rumors, they couldn’t stop this overwhelming trend, and there were even incidents of the public rising in anger and directly beating up the warlocks.
The reputation of the Gu Clan also surged recklessly in this prevailing wind.
All of this left Gu Yi utterly astonished.
How does it feel like... Gu Xi’s disregard for talk of gods and ghosts is even greater than that of Gu Kang and Gu Cheng?
If this can truly be passed on,
how much more advanced could the thinking of the Gu Clan’s descendants be?
Moreover, for those adept in political maneuvering, this has a high probability of producing unforeseen effects.
This was indeed completely beyond Gu Yi’s expectations.
...
The entire court of Great Han awaited Gu Xi’s return.
Especially Liu Hu.
The sudden drowning of Wang Sheng deeply saddened Liu Hu.
He had a deep affection for this wet nurse since his childhood.
Now, with Wang Sheng’s death, his reliance on Gu Xi grew even deeper, constantly awaiting Gu Xi’s return.
However, Gu Xi had no intention of returning to court directly.
With public sentiment stabilized in Great Han,
he wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to fully pull Great Han out of the flames and water.
Disaster relief!
He didn’t plan to stay in court and oversee the broader picture any longer.
The disaster relief strategies in each region were already largely determined.
What comes next is focusing on the details.
Disaster relief offers great opportunities for profit.
Though Gu Xi had been keeping a close watch on this matter, human nature proves weak in the face of benefits.
With the court stabilized and public morale warming,
if he didn’t seize this opportunity to launch comprehensive actions,
Great Han was destined to take an extremely long time to overcome this calamity truly.
He first traveled to the most severely affected states and counties of Bingzhou State and Liangzhou State.
To supervise the progress of disaster relief personally.
And leveraging his current prestige, he pacified the local populace and, through practical investigation, made more detailed adjustments to the disaster relief plan.
The effect was astounding.
Gu Xi’s reputation was exceptionally high.
He could even be said to have surpassed the former glory of Gu Kang.
With his regent authority, he held the power of life and death over local officials.
Local officials feared him like a tiger.
When they heard that Gu Xi arrived personally, no one dared to cut corners in disaster relief.
Countless people were immensely grateful to Gu Xi.
Gu Xi truly became that ray of light, determined to break through the shadows that had shrouded the Great Han for years.
However... things were destined not to go smoothly forever.
Natural disasters would not change even a bit due to human effort.
——In the fourth year of Yongchu.
Locust plagues continued to occur across various regions.
In fact, locust plagues are such that once they occur in one place, the locusts leave countless eggs behind.
And they return the following year.
This remains an unsolvable issue in this era.
