Gou becomes a boss in the fairy world.

Chapter 1482: Tempering the Heart in the Mortal World (Twenty-Six)

Qing'an County, which had just survived a year of disasters, did not see any light of hope in the new year.

Although the bandit army was driven away, not a drop of rain fell throughout the entire winter.

After the beginning of spring, the Qingshui River completely dried up, and the riverbed was full of dried fish exposed to the sun.

Soon all the dried fish were picked up by people to satisfy their hunger.

Due to the lack of irrigation water, spring ploughing work could no longer be carried out and panic was spreading everywhere.

This made the county magistrate Ye Xiangming extremely anxious. On the one hand, he had to organize a large number of manpower to dig wells and collect water, and on the other hand, he guided farmers to plant drought-resistant crops such as sweet potatoes.

Although sweet potatoes are unpalatable and need to be processed before they can be eaten, they are better than growing rice or wheat and getting nothing.

Despite this, by the beginning of summer, disaster victims still appeared in large numbers in Qing'an County.

"Master, Madam, please give us something to eat!"

Suddenly, many refugees with their families appeared in the streets and alleys of the county town. They were ragged, pale and thin. A bundle and a few broken bowls were their only belongings. They sat on the ground begging from passers-by.

But there was nothing to eat - food was very precious nowadays, and it was considered very good to have one meal a day.

Because the number of disaster victims pouring into the city was too large, it seriously affected the public security of the county. Therefore, the government sent out officials, together with the garrison troops, to drive these people out of the city for resettlement and relief.

For a while, the cries and pleas were endless, and even reached the county government office.

In the lobby, County Magistrate Ye Xiangming frowned and said to Wang Chen who was sitting beside him: "The grain stored in the county treasury can only support one month at most. Now we can't buy grain from Yunze Mansion."

"My dear son-in-law, what do you say?"

Ye Xiangming was good at training soldiers, but not very capable in handling civil affairs. Therefore, he increasingly relied on Wang Chen, the county magistrate, to give him advice.

"Borrow some more food from the wealthy families."

Wang Chen said without hesitation: "They must have some food in stock. Let's borrow as much as we can."

"This is not good."

Ye Xiangming was quite hesitant about Wang Chen's suggestion.

Of course he knew that some wealthy families in the county had hoarded large amounts of grain, but if he took action against these wealthy families without a legitimate reason, it would easily cause chaos.

The big investors are not weaklings, so how can they tolerate being slaughtered easily?

In addition, Ye Xiangming has been doing business in Qing'an County for so many years and has close ties with many large households.

It’s not easy to do!

"Nothing bad."

Wang Chen said calmly: "In times of crisis, we should stick together. For the safety of 100,000 common people, they have to lend it to us even if they don't want to. At most, we can buy it at a fair price."

In Wang Chen's opinion, his father-in-law was very capable. Unfortunately, after serving as an official for too long, especially after serving as a county magistrate, he began to act with restraint and lacked the decisiveness of the past.

Ye Xiangming smiled bitterly: "How could they be willing to sell it?"

Food is now more precious than silver. Even if you have money, you cannot buy enough food on the market. If it were not for the relief of grain in the county warehouse, the victims outside the city would have starved to death long ago.

"That's not up to them."

Wang Chen said without hesitation: "How about this, I'll have people drop a few sets of armor at the homes of those wealthy families, and then the county government will have a reason to take action."

Throughout the dynasties, privately possessing armor was a serious crime. The lighter punishment was exile of the whole family, and the worse punishment was execution of the entire family!
A set of armor can destroy a wealthy family, and the reason is very sufficient.

Ye Xiangming was stunned and even felt a chill in his heart. He felt that his perception of Wang Chen had been refreshed once again.

He murmured, "Then the drought won't end after we eat all these big households?"

The rich farmers in the county are not like the leeks in the fields. New crops will grow after one crop is cut. Eating the food from the rich farmers is actually not much different from killing the chicken to get the eggs.

"Then let's go grab it!"

Wang Chen's expression was stern: "When the time comes, I will lead my troops into Yunze again to wipe out the bandits and will definitely be able to plunder some food and bring it back."

Yunze Prefecture is a land of fish and rice. No matter how severe the drought is, the situation there is much better than here.

Ye Xiangming was shocked again: "Leading troops out of the country is a serious crime!"

This crime is much more serious than hoarding armor, and at least the consequence is the execution of three generations of the clan.

Wang Chen said, "Why don't we just pretend to be bandits? If the bandits fight each other, the local government will be happy. Who can put this crime on us?"

His eyes were filled with a grim look: "If that day really comes, we, the father-in-law and son-in-law, will just rebel."

Ye Xiangming couldn't help but take a breath.

Only then did he realize that his son-in-law's courage was far beyond his imagination.

In Wang Chen's mouth, starting a rebellion has become a trivial matter like daily routine!

The county magistrate looked around subconsciously.

Fortunately, there were only the father-in-law and the son-in-law in the lobby of the county government, so these outrageous words would not fall into the ears of third parties.

Seeing that his father-in-law was stunned and silent, Wang Chen smiled and said, "Of course, this is the last choice. Father-in-law, do you think it is better to eat at a rich family now?"

Ye Xiangming couldn't help but smile bitterly.

That’s right, compared to rebellion, eating the rich is nothing!

The county magistrate could only sigh and say, "It can only be done this way."

Ye Xiangming and Wang Chen are currently the number one and number two figures in Qing'an County. When the father-in-law and son-in-law join hands, there is no rival in this county.

As a result, many wealthy families in the county were in trouble.

Under the heavy pressure of the crime of "privately storing armor", soon one wealthy family after another either voluntarily or was forced to donate large amounts of stored grain, which greatly alleviated the food crisis in Qing'an County.

As a result, countless disaster victims survived.

However, the consequences of doing so were also very obvious. Many wealthy families obeyed on the surface, but in fact they secretly sent people to complain to the provincial capital, denouncing Ye Xiangming and Wang Chen, the father-in-law and son-in-law, for cruelly oppressing the people and plundering the good people, and for committing numerous crimes in Qing'an County.

The influence of the personal connections that these big families can exert when they unite is still very large. The provincial capital responded quickly and sent inspectors to Qing'an to investigate.

As a result, the inspector's team was suddenly attacked by bandits before they even set foot in Qing'an County.

All the people, including the inspector, were killed, and even their bodies could not be found.

At the same time, several wealthy families in Qing'an County were suddenly raided by the county government, and a large amount of evidence of collusion with bandits was seized!
In addition to having all their property confiscated, these unfortunate guys were all arrested and forced to do hard labor.

After all this commotion, Qing'an County became as quiet as a chicken. The prestige of Ye Xiangming and Wang Chen reached its peak, and all the wealthy families were submissive in front of them.

This situation continued until late summer and early autumn.
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The first update is sent.

(End of this chapter)