Chapter 48: Natural Disaster? Or Man-made Calamity!

"Hmm?" Ji Wu suddenly opened his eyes and hurriedly asked, "Sir Xu, do you think I did nothing wrong?"

"Where would your fault lie?" Xu Yuan replied with a question.

The reason Ji Wu had been so fixated on this issue, to the point of recounting it to Xu Yuan the moment they met, was precisely because he could not figure it out on his own.

"Is it wrong to have a kind heart? Or is it wrong for the disaster victims to seek survival?" Xu Yuan pressed on.

"But if I hadn't gone out of my way, none of what followed would have happened... In fact, after my unnecessary intervention, I failed even to deliver the grain I intended for that old man."

Ji Wu scratched his head. He was glad to hear Sir Xu say he had done no wrong, but confusion still lingered. "In that case, doesn't it mean I did something foolish?"

"Let me ask you, what is the difference between humans and beasts?" Xu Yuan questioned.

"Well... The books say the difference lies in the human heart's capacity for benevolence and righteousness," Ji Wu replied. Over the past year, he had read many works of the sages to ease his troubled mind. "The heart of compassion is the root of benevolence; the sense of shame, the root of righteousness; the heart of modesty, the root of propriety; and the sense of right and wrong, the root of wisdom. Therefore, one without compassion is not human; one without shame is not human; one without modesty is not human; one without judgment is not human. Lacking these four hearts, one is no different from a beast."

"Precisely." Xu Yuan nodded. "What makes us human is our compassion and empathy. As it is said, 'A gentleman stays away from the kitchen, for seeing life born, he cannot bear to see it die.' If one is so moved by the suffering of animals, how much more so with living people? You saw the misery of disaster victims and gave away your own goods—an act of righteousness. Where is the fault in that?"

"But..." Ji Wu hesitated. "Because of this, I nearly caused a great disaster, and I didn't even accomplish what I set out to do. Is that not a mistake?"

He understood these principles, yet something still felt amiss—he had been puzzled for a year now.

"Sigh." Xu Yuan sighed. "Young men..."

"Please, Sir Xu, enlighten me," Ji Wu implored.

"Young people often believe that whenever something goes wrong, the fault must be theirs," Xu Yuan said.

"Your perspective is still too narrow, so you are too harsh on yourself. Thus, you get trapped in your own thoughts, suffering over imagined mistakes. How can you ever work it out if you search for faults in yourself that do not exist?"

"Am I truly blameless? But what about what happened afterward..." Ji Wu was astonished. Not even Ji Yun or Cai Shulan, his own parents, had said this. Yet Sir Xu stated it so plainly.

"Do you believe what happened afterward was your doing?"

"It must have been, right? There were disaster victims before, but without my actions, they would not have dared to swarm and snatch things," Ji Wu answered, not one to shirk responsibility.

"Let me ask you again: have similar incidents occurred elsewhere? Were they unique to you and your group, or have they happened everywhere?"

"Of course, they have happened everywhere. There have even been starving victims storming government relief sites—it's all too common," Ji Wu replied with certainty.

"Exactly. This is a universal occurrence—whether it happens to you or not, whether you act or not, it will still happen. The only difference is upon whom it falls. In a year of great calamity, such things are bound to repeat. So why blame yourself for something inevitable?"

Xu Yuan's eyes were deep and calm. "You think your unexpected act led to this, but even without you, such events are not rare. Should all of them be laid at your feet?"

"But... but..." Ji Wu was at a loss, yet still asked, "If I hadn't meddled, perhaps our group could have avoided it!"

"True," Xu Yuan acknowledged with a nod.

"Then why do you say I am not at fault?" Ji Wu pressed on. He wanted to resolve his doubts, not just gloss over them.

"Because, though such events seem inevitable, in truth they are not," Xu Yuan replied.

"Not inevitable?" Ji Wu was puzzled.

"Why are there disaster victims in the first place?"

"Of course, because of natural disasters! So many regions are affected, countless people have lost their crops and can only flee to survive. We can't blame the disasters, can we?" Ji Wu felt that blaming it all on natural calamities was an act of cowardice.

"Natural disasters are hard to predict, yes, but it's not as if they're utterly unknowable. The timing and location may be uncertain, but the fact that they will occur is not. If there are years of good harvest, there will inevitably be years of disaster. Is this not foreseeable?" Xu Yuan posed another question.

At last, Ji Wu grasped Xu Yuan’s meaning. His pupils constricted slightly, and he spoke with a trembling voice, "Sir Xu, are you saying... the fault lies with the court?"

"Who else?" Xu Yuan answered coldly. "He who bears the nation's disgrace is the true master of the state. He who shoulders the nation's misfortune is the true ruler. Last year, disasters struck repeatedly, and many places saw total crop failure. That was a natural calamity. But when the land is filled with wandering victims, when countless people are displaced, forced to flee, can all the blame still be placed on the heavens?

"If the court collects taxes from the people in years of peace and abundance, then in years of frequent disasters, they must bear the losses themselves. If they cannot, if they do not, that is the greatest fault.

"If, in the good years, granaries were built and preparations made, would we see such misery in times of calamity?

"To be complacent in times of peace, and to let countless people lose their livelihoods when disaster strikes—this seems a misfortune of nature, but is in truth a man-made catastrophe.

"Natural disasters are unavoidable, but human effort can provide salvation. Now, when that salvation fails and tragedy follows, how can it be blamed on an individual? You agonize over this, searching yourself for the root cause, but you are merely blinded by a single leaf, failing to see the true reasons behind such events. How could you not feel lost?"

Hearing these words, Ji Wu felt as though the fog in his heart had suddenly cleared!

Of course—he was doing a good deed, his intentions were pure, and there was nothing wrong with his actions. Even if things took an unexpected turn, was that truly his fault?

What truly deserved reflection was why so many disaster victims appeared on the roads!

This great calamity, though rare and widespread, came after several years of peace and bountiful harvests, with ever-increasing taxes—so why, when disaster struck, was the court helpless?

Where had all the collected taxes gone?

Where was the grain submitted to the court in those good years?

If not for the court’s failures, how could the roads be filled with destitute people, and how could he have encountered such misfortune?

Finding the true source, everything became clear!

"Ah—I understand now!"