Fourth Master and his entourage had departed for just three days when, within the Forbidden City, Emperor Kangxi received a memorial.
The drought in Liangguang was severe, with Guangxi still manageable, but Guangdong was a desolate expanse of a thousand miles, with famished corpses everywhere. Last year, some areas in Liangguang had reported drought disasters.
However, the reports were similar to what had been seen in previous years.
The Imperial Court allocated some grain, and that was about it.
It was only now realized that, within Guangxi territory, numerous places were suffering from extremely severe droughts, verging on complete crop failures. The people were displaced and countless had starved to death.
Someone had risked their life to come north and lodge a complaint.
The worst-hit area was Pingyuan, where nearly nine out of ten county towns were emptied.