No matter how noisy and chaotic things were outside, Song Ci couldn't be bothered anymore. The heat was so stifling it made one irritable, so she simply had someone move a bamboo cooling bed to the window, lay down, and took a cool nap at noon.
In the palace, the morning court session had long since ended. As usual, Emperor Chu summoned several trusted ministers to the Yangxin Hall to discuss state affairs. With each day that passed without rain, the disaster could not be alleviated, and for the National Treasury, this was an extremely fatal blow.
The most terrifying part was that autumn had already arrived. Without rain there could be no autumn sowing, so this year's grain would naturally be in short supply. Disaster relief already required heavy expenditures from the National Treasury and the stored grain; with only outflow and no inflow, if a campaign were to break out after winter set in, Great Qing would likely fall into an extremely passive position.
