Dad, we are so stable, should we do something?

"Sir, it's bad. Villagers from Xiaoyu Village came to report that the dam might have been damaged. We went there this morning and found a big hole in it. Water was slowly overflowing. We're afraid the dam will be washed away soon." A bailiff came running to the county magistrate to report urgently.

"Come here, tell the county lieutenant to bring a team of men and horses to follow me to Xiaoyu Village immediately."

"Yes, my lord."

When Magistrate Tian and the county lieutenant arrived at Xiaoyu Village, they found that the dam had already broken and the water was rushing into the gap at a high speed. "Quickly notify all the villages downstream to take emergency shelter, and ask the village chief to bring a few strong men to help, and hurry up.

Go and move some sand bags to block the gap, quickly."

County Magistrate Tian and his men worked for a whole afternoon and finally managed to block the dam. However, a large part of the fields downstream were still flooded.

Just when they had finished their busy afternoon, the county government came to report that officials from the state government had been sent to conduct an inspection.

"Okay, County Lieutenant, send someone to tell the nearby village chief to send people to patrol the area every day to prevent further vandalism. You should also send people to patrol frequently. Find out who is causing the damage and harming the people in this way."

"It's an adult."

"I'm going back."

In the county government office, the chief clerk and the county magistrate were already entertaining officials from the prefecture. As it was late today, when the county magistrate came back, they treated him to dinner. They also made an appointment with him to send someone to inspect the disaster with him early tomorrow morning.

The situation of the state government's inspection and release was not much different from what Magistrate Tian had reported. As it was a disaster, he could not afford to be negligent, so he checked and made a record and went back. Soon the state government issued a notice to release 5% of the tax and implement relief loans.

After receiving the order from his superiors, Magistrate Tian immediately issued a notice and the yamen runners posted a notice.

"Sir, the relief loans alone may not be enough for the people to live on. In addition, our county's grain reserves may not be enough to support the winter rice harvest due to this disaster. Now the grain prices in the city are soaring, and the people can't afford it."

"County Magistrate, go spread the word to those grain merchants and ask them to raise the price. Tell them that the imperial court will release grain after this period of time. If you want to make money, now is the time."

"Why is that, sir? How can you let them raise the price of grain again? People don't have that much money. The current grain prices are too high for many people to bear."

"We can't let them raise the price of grain. People are starving to death, and they are hoarding grain now. When our warehouses run out of grain, the price of grain will be even more frightening, and people will be even more unable to afford it."

The next day, the price of new grain in the county rose to 3 taels per stone, and even the price of old grain rose to 2 taels per stone.

"Mom is going to buy food. You should go home quickly and tell your dad to take out all the money in the house to buy food. We're afraid we may run out of food." An aunt instructed her son.

"Hurry up and run to the store in front. There's less queue there and you'll definitely be able to buy food there." A man pulled his brother.

"Brother, come on, there's still food in this house." A little brother responded

"We are out of food. We have run out of food for today. If you want to buy food, come back tomorrow. From tomorrow on, each person will be limited in what they can buy.

"How come it's sold out? We've been queuing for so long and we want to buy it today, why can we only buy it tomorrow?"

"Yes, we have been waiting in line for more than an hour. Why don't we have food? Sell tomorrow's food."

Many people in various teams began to respond with dissatisfaction.

"I'm sorry, but we can't do anything. Food is in short supply right now. The next batch of food will take at least 5-6 days to arrive from the neighboring county. You all should go back and come back early tomorrow."

Soon the crowd began to disperse. Most people were unwilling to give up and went to other food stores to queue up, hoping to buy food today.

The whole county is in an uproar today, and such conversations can be heard everywhere.

Tian Xing'er sent Uncle Fu, the deputy director of his intelligence network, to buy grain in the neighboring prefectures and counties, and spread the news that Hu County was short of grain and that the prices were extremely high now, so they had to make money now. The grain merchants were a little hesitant at first, and sent people to investigate. They found that several grain merchants from Hu County had recently come to their county's countryside to buy grain. On the other hand, people they sent to Hu County also came back to report that the grain price in Hu County was indeed high. For a time, the big grain merchants in the prefectures in the surrounding counties that were not affected by the disaster also began to purchase a large amount of grain, causing the local grain price to rise from 600-700 wen per stone to 800 wen-1 tael of silver now. A large number of grain merchants began to transport grain to Hu County, and some of those who could not buy it locally went to other places to buy grain, for fear of missing the opportunity.

Tian Xing'er secretly bought two small grocery stores and turned them into grain stores, waiting to assist her father at any time. The county magistrate relied on the intelligence network to control the county's external information and stabilize the county's grain prices. The grain merchants were very happy to see that the county magistrate did not stop them from selling at high prices, and they all actively cooperated. County Magistrate Tian thought that as long as he could hold on for a few more days and wait for a large number of grain merchants to enter Hu County, the problem of food shortage in Hu County would be solved, and he could use his daughter's grain store to lower the price again.

On the other hand, temples and wealthy families, under the promotion of County Magistrate Tian, ​​began to recruit large numbers of workers to build or add to their houses. The government also recruited disaster victims at low prices to repair official roads and dams.

At one time, due to the increasing demand in various places, the disaster victims were very popular for building houses and carpentry work. This solved the livelihood of some of the disaster victims to a certain extent. If they had a job, they would have money to buy food. Although the price of food is very expensive now.

But at present, most people who only know how to farm are still short of money and food.

In addition, Magistrate Tian sent people to investigate the people who destroyed the dam, but failed to find the mastermind.

Fucheng He Family

"Reporting to the master, that person didn't finish his work and was discovered in advance." The steward came to report

"He's really useless, but I don't expect such a small matter to stump him. I just want to annoy him. Okay, you continue to find someone to keep an eye on Hu County, and report any disturbances as soon as possible."

"It's Master."