Chapter 104: Disaster victims, donate food!
"Man-made disaster?" Liang Qu frowned, "Tell me more."
"I don't know either. I just heard about it." Lin Songbao lowered his voice. "Do you know about the mountain ghost last time? A lot of those ghosts suddenly appeared in the town and water village where they lived, and many people died!"
Ghost Mother Cult!
Liangqu connects the cause and effect.
It turns out those bastards raise Danes in more than one place in Pingyang Town!
Liang Qu and his fellow brothers had guessed early on that if the Ghost Mother Cult resurfaced, they would not target just one place, but would be targeting multiple places simultaneously.
In this regard, they reported the news early in the morning, but now it seems it is too late.
The blood sacrifice in Pingyang Town, such a big thing cannot be kept secret.
Huang Zejun chose to act in advance, apparently believing that even if the news got out, other places would not have time to react.
Dashun has no telephones and its territory is vast, so even using carrier pigeons to send messages is still slow, not to mention the need to verify the authenticity of the messages.
Huang Zejun is stupid. He has never been exposed to society since he was a child. He has a dull mind and is easily fooled, but he does have the basic logic to do things.
The more people there are, the slower the journey, especially when there are a large number of lonely elderly people.
Although they have just arrived today to escape, they may have set out five or six days ago, traveling through mountains and rivers.
"In a large township, nearly 30% of the people died! Most of the deaths were among the strong men. The rest dared not stay any longer, so they all fled!
With so many people, the local county magistrate did not dare to keep them for fear that the situation would get worse, so he released them all and had people lead them to the surrounding towns and villages.
I've asked people from all over the place. Huazhu County, Fengbu County, and the surrounding areas seem to have had problems, but Chaojiang County is fine. Brother Shui, do you think we're not going to have problems here too?"
"Don't worry, we have solved all the problems here."
Liang Qu patted Lin Songbao on the shoulder.
Lin Songbao was confused.
"Solved? When did it happen?"
Liang Qu left the fishing pens and walked down the street.
There was a foul odor in the air.
There were a huge number of refugees. There were nearly 200 people who arrived in Yixing City alone, with their families, and more were arriving later.
The petty officials stood in the crowd and tried to maintain order so that the team would not become chaotic.
Several people with disheveled hair were acting crazy and shouting about ghosts. The ghosts came and were whipped by the petty officials until they fell to the ground and stopped shouting.
A mortality rate of 30% is already an extremely exaggerated proportion, enough to cause the collapse of social order.
Or they would be ripped open by mountain ghosts and die by laying eggs. No one dared to live in the original place, and they had to escape from the ghost den even at the risk of being punished.
With the first to escape, the rest of the people followed suit and migrated the entire village.
The crowd was so huge that the county magistrate dared not stop them.
If we don't stop them, it's just the rebels causing trouble, or they are the rebels from the previous dynasty that even Duke Xu couldn't completely wipe out.
Duke Xu couldn't do it, so a mere county magistrate like me can't do it either. It's understandable. At most I'll be stripped of my hat.
But if you go too far and provoke a civil uprising, what will be taken off will not be the hat, but the head.
It is better to relieve them than to block them. The best solution is to report them to the state government and list them as disaster victims, then guide them to nearby towns and counties and temporarily appease them.
Liang Qu walked on one side of the team, looking at the victims, and the victims were also looking at him.
Some women even tried to flirt with him, guessing that he was the son of some powerful family in the town. Unfortunately, they were all looking at a blind man.
"Brother Shui, Brother Shui, I finally found you!" Chen Tongmin ran to Liang Qu, holding his waist with his hands, gasping for breath, "My grandfather asked me to go to Pingyang Town to find you, but I couldn't find you. Finally I saw you here. Come with me to the meeting hall."
"What does Chen Li Lao want from me?"
"It's about the disaster victims." Chen Tongmin lowered his voice, "The county magistrate wants every household in our village to donate grain and distribute it to the disaster victims!"
"Village heads, I have been ordered by the county magistrate to collect grain from you to provide relief to the victims who have fled from neighboring counties. This is the order of the county magistrate and represents the will of the court. I hope you can actively cooperate."
A thin middle-aged man in a long official robe sat at the head of the meeting hall and bowed to a group of village elders.
Chen Zhaoan looked at the other old men and said helplessly, "I wonder how much grain Inspector Bian is going to collect this time?"
"The head of a strong man is worth a bushel of rice."
"One bushel of rice? Isn't this too much?" Chen Zhaoan frowned, "It's winter now, not only the farmers in the village have no income, but also the fishermen.
The fish I catch every day can only be sold for less than ten coins. I also checked the price of grain. Since the disaster, the price has risen to twenty-six coins per catty, more than three times the price. A dou of rice costs four or five coins.
"I have no choice. These are all orders from the county magistrate." Inspector Bian spread his hands and said, "As you know, several nearby counties have been hit by disasters this time, and a large number of victims have flocked to Chaojiang County.
Chen Li has never been to the county town. There are more disaster victims there, and the grain reserves are not enough. Even calling on the big households is not enough, so this is the only option."
The inspectors were already officials, no longer clerks. Like the county magistrates, they were officials appointed by the imperial court, registered with the Ministry of Personnel, and wore official robes and hats.
The main responsibility is to lead his soldiers to maintain local public order and investigate and punish crimes such as theft, treason and counterfeiting.
The scope of power is very broad and he is a powerful official. He cannot be offended easily, otherwise he will be punished by law.
Chen Zhaoan had no choice but to go out and gather the villagers to pay taxes.
"Sir, the village is willing to provide relief to the victims. Why don't we change the method? Instead of distributing it through the county, it would be troublesome to go back and forth. We can directly build a porridge shed in the village to help the victims. This will save you trouble and will be faster."
A rather young male voice came from outside the meeting hall, and Inspector Bian frowned when he heard it.
How can we do it without going through the county government?
What do he and his subordinates eat and drink?
Just as he was about to shout at the visitor who was disregarding the law, he caught a glimpse of the happy faces of several village elders below, and immediately stopped talking.
Something is wrong!
"What do you think, Inspector Bian?"
Liang Qu stepped over the threshold and came into the meeting hall with a calm voice.
The young man was of extraordinary tall stature, wearing a belt engraved with cloud and thunder patterns, with ape arms and slim waist, and as tough as a leopard.
Although his clothes were a little damp, he didn't seem to feel the cold at all. He even opened half of his clothes and exposed his right arm to cool down.
The exposed right arm had clear lines and was unusually strong. The fingers with distinct muscles and bones rested on the dagger hanging at the waist, as if it was convenient to draw the knife at any time.
Musha!
A warrior of high rank!
Inspector Bian felt Liang Qu's aura at the first moment. Besides, how could a child from an ordinary family have such a tall stature?
Realizing that he was extraordinary, he turned his head to look at Chen Zhaoan who was standing beside him: "Master Chen, this is..."
Chen Zhaoan smiled and said, "Let me introduce you. This is our Yixing City's outstanding man, the ninth disciple of Master Yang of Pingyang Town - Liang Qu."
Pingyang Town, Master Yang, who else could it be?
Yang Dongxiong!
With so many people watching, how could a group of village elders dare to deceive court officials, especially news that was so easy to verify.
Patrol Inspector Bian's eyes changed, and he changed the subject: "It is true that young people are heroes. Ever since the surrounding counties were hit by disasters, the county has always been short of manpower and has been so busy that I haven't been home to sleep for three days.
After careful consideration, Mr. Liang's words are very reasonable, but it's just that this is something that should be done by the government office. Is it too troublesome? I really feel guilty about it, so let our clerks do it. "
Liang Qu shook his head, pulling and closing his fingers, seemingly unconsciously: "Don't bother, the villagers have no work to do in winter, and the county is short of manpower, it's time for us to do our part to help."
The corner of Inspector Bian's mouth twitched. The cold light reflected by the blade almost shot at his face. He didn't dare to insist any longer: "Mr. Liang, this method is very good. I will trouble you, fellow villagers."
"It's okay, it's okay. Inspector Bian is really too polite."
Chen Zhaoan and others waved their hands, indicating that this was what they should do. They were all citizens of Dashun and should unite and help each other.
Inspector Bian was unhappy, but he had to accept it because he had witnessed with his own eyes how Yang Dongxiong displayed his extraordinary power years ago.
Afterwards they found out that it was the Ghost Mother Cult's deliberate act of making a feint to the east and attacking in the west. After all, they were the remnants of the previous dynasty and had to avoid the great martial arts master. One can imagine their importance, and even the county magistrate had to be humble.
Although Liang Qu was only a disciple, he was just a patrol inspector, not a county magistrate, so he could not be offended.
"It's getting late. I have to go to other towns and cities to settle the disaster victims before the sun sets, so I won't stay any longer."
After a boring and fruitless discussion, Inspector Bian lost interest and ignored the requests of the village elders to stay for dinner. He left after saying a few words.
The village elders quickly stood up and shook Liang Qu's hands.
"Ah Shui, you helped a lot, Ah Shui."
A bushel of rice is not a big problem for the village elders.
But as the elders of the village, the elders in the village, they must know which stool they sit on.
If you do whatever your superiors say, you will eventually become alienated from the villagers, and then even a bucket of rice will become a problem.
"As you should. You are welcome, village elders."
Liang Qu bowed but did not take any credit.
There are so many officials and clerks in the county, and once they get involved, something that could be done with half a bushel of rice becomes a bushel of rice.
Even what was finally distributed was only half a bucket of brown rice.
Avoiding this trouble will benefit both the villagers and the disaster victims.
"Since the matter is beyond the jurisdiction of the county government, we have to settle the victims, otherwise it will be embarrassing for both sides."
"Of course, Ah Shui, don't worry, I have experience in dealing with this kind of thing."
Chen Zhaoan patted his chest and made the promise.
He lived to be over seventy years old. When he was young, the Dashun Dynasty was founded. During that period, he encountered countless natural disasters and man-made disasters.
He has experienced wars, plagues, and floods, and knows best how to settle refugees, having rich experience.
Management talents are hard to come by, and not all village elders are just taking advantage of their seniority. At least some of them have real abilities.
"Mr. Chen has his own ideas, so I won't get involved." Liang Qu nodded, knowing Chen Zhaoan's ability.
The sound of horse hooves on the bluestone slabs came from far away.
Is it a war horse?
Liang Qu walked out of the meeting hall.
The sound of a war horse running was completely different from that of a slow horse. He had only heard such powerful galloping sounds from a few horses in the Yang Mansion.
The silhouette of a black horse approached very quickly along the bluestone street, its hooves kicking up dust as it leaped into the center of Yixing City.
"Where is Liangqu in Yixing City?"
(End of this chapter)
