How can I bow my head and serve the powerful officials?

That night, Jiangdu County was brightly lit with firewood.

Blacksmiths climbed ladders to repair the city gates, carpenters worked all night to make roadblocks, and the people in the city gathered in groups of three or five, hunched over and muttering, repeating the same words: "Smile, be enthusiastic, and fool people well."

The yamen runners and the palace soldiers also huddled together. One of the palace soldiers grinned with a serious look on his face, but his leader slapped him on the head in disapproval, "You are so funny! What if you scare people away!"

Because of the last mountain flood incident, the people of Jiangdu County are now united and cohesive, and they are full of blind trust in Prefect Liang. Even if they think that what the prefect tells them is a bit strange or even a bit deceptive, they still think that the officials are smarter and more capable than these uneducated ordinary people, so they just need to listen and do as they are told!

The next day, the first wave of refugees from the eastern counties arrived in Jiangdu County.

They thought that Jiangdu County would be like other counties with its gates closed and unwelcome, but unexpectedly, not only were the two city gates wide open, but there were even many old men and women standing under the shade of the city gates, carrying straw baskets filled with rice and flour buns on their arms.

They smiled and waved to them enthusiastically, "Fellow villagers are here! Oh, you must be starving on the way! God is really blind, come in quickly and have some steamed buns to fill your stomach!"

The faint fragrance of steamed buns wafted in the air. The hungry refugees couldn't help but swallow their saliva, thinking that Jiangdu County really had enough food, and they had made the right decision to come this time!

"Everyone, hurry into the city! Once you're in the city, you can have a full stomach!"

Someone in the crowd shouted, and the refugees immediately rushed towards the city gate. Some of them even ran straight towards the old men and women who were carrying straw baskets.

They were really hungry and wanted to eat steamed buns.

However, unexpectedly, two groups of soldiers suddenly rushed out of the city gate with swords in hand, blocking their way majestically. The long swords in their hands reflected the cold light under the hot sunlight, which scared them so much that they retreated quickly.

What is this for?

The refugees were a little scared at first, and then began to become sad and angry. They glared at the palace soldiers and were very angry at them for blocking their entry into the city.

Didn't they say they could go into the city and eat steamed buns? Why weren't they allowed in?

They were already starving to death, and they were exhausted and hot from fleeing all the way. They couldn't even bear to drink water. Now they finally had hope of survival but were not allowed to enter the city. The refugees began to become irritable and uneasy.

Just as he was about to step forward to argue, he suddenly saw the leader of the palace soldiers, with a forced and uncomfortable smile on his ferocious face. He pointed in the directions on both sides and tried to use the gentle voice he had learned last night, pinching his throat to remind him, "Register for the pass first, then enter the city."

The refugees looked around in confusion and found that there were many wooden tables on both sides. Behind each wooden table was a young student sitting with a pen, waiting to record the temporary passes for these refugees.

In order to get into the city faster, the refugees hurried to the wooden tables and told each other where they and their families came from and what their names were.

The students wrote these down and handed the temporary pass to the other family. The patrolling soldiers shouted at the top of their voices, "Keep the pass. Those without it won't have any steamed buns to eat and won't have anywhere to sleep. Keep the pass. Those without it won't have any steamed buns to eat and won't have anywhere to sleep..."

Refugees: ...

It's so strange, why does this tune sound like a curse?

So he quietly put away the pass, fearing that someone else would snatch it away.

The first wave of refugees numbered nearly two thousand, and they entered the city in an orderly manner. As soon as they entered the city, they saw steamed buns piled up on the ground on both sides covered with oil paper. A dozen strong men who looked like butchers stood behind the old man and the woman, guarding the steamed bun sheds with a slightly cruel and "twisted" smile.

If there were no civilians in the city, they would almost suspect that they were dizzy and hungry and had accidentally entered some bandits' stronghold.

The old man and the woman stuffed two steamed buns into the refugees' hands and said enthusiastically, "Fellow villagers! Enjoy your meal and drink well! Let's go to the city for a walk. Although there is not much to see, you can chat with the people in our county and relax!"

The refugees took the steamed buns and began to eat them voraciously, not noticing that the people of Jiangdu County were a little too enthusiastic. They nodded hastily and walked towards the city.

There really wasn't much to see in the city. There were few vendors on the streets, and because of the floods, there were still many ruins and dirt in the corners of the streets that hadn't been cleaned up yet. However, there were quite a few people wandering along the streets, and when they saw people, they would wave and approach enthusiastically, "Fellow countryman, you must have suffered a lot on the way! Don't worry, now that you've come to Jiangdu County, you can treat it as your own home. The prefect will definitely arrange jobs for you so that you can earn clean money and eat clean meals in a legitimate way!"

The refugees were confused by their enthusiasm. "What kind of work? What money? Aren't they just giving us food and land to farm?"

They came from the county town in the east. Because the Yuji Mountain blocked the river and there was no rain, the land had died of drought. In the past, when they fled famine, they went to the new county town, mostly to get a few bags of relief grain. Those with skills would find a job and start over, while those without skills would open up wasteland and continue to grow crops. Of course, most of the time they would be sent back home.

These days, farmers don’t have much money, and as long as they have land to farm, food to eat and can survive the winter, that’s enough.

But from what the people of Jiangdu County said, it seemed like they could get paid for working?

"Oh! Fellow villagers! We can't plant the land here yet! It's all flooded and needs to be dried out!" The villagers shook their heads and laughed, "Don't worry about that! With our governor here, you won't starve! After all, our governor is a person who is protected by the mountain fairy!"

Mountain fairy? What mountain fairy?

The refugees were just wondering when they saw a few ruddy-faced children playing and singing a ballad in their tender and clear voices, "There is a mountain fairy in Yizhou, who has compassion on all living things. She came into the dream in the middle of the night and gave advice to the governor Liang. Heavy rains are coming, mountain torrents are about to fall, and Yuji will take shelter for three days, which can save thousands of lives."

"The prefect should do as he is told. Sure enough, a flash flood came and the water supply to Yuji Mountain was cut off, saving everyone's lives. The prefect was quick-witted and prayed to enter his dream. The mountain fairy came into his dream and asked what was the matter."

"Can this mountain be pushed? Can this river be split? If the east and the west are not evenly divided, the people will suffer! The mountain fairy laughed loudly, praising his courage and thinking. He stretched out his hand and pointed, and all the methods came!"

"This mountain can be pushed up! This river can be split! Divide it into east and west, and the Land of Abundance will come!"

The refugees were confused and asked, "What does this ballad mean? What mountain fairy? What life-saving? What is the myriad laws? What is heaven?"

"Oh my, you didn't know? I thought you came here to help just because you heard about this!" The man slapped his thigh and explained to them enthusiastically, "Our Liang Prefecture, a mountain fairy from Yizhou came to him in a dream some time ago! He said that he could learn how to split the mountain and divide the river to control the flood of Minjiang River! As long as the Minjiang River is split in two and a river channel is dug out of Yuji Mountain, there will be water to irrigate the fields in the east, and the west will not be disturbed by mountain torrents!"

"What?" The refugees were shocked and couldn't believe it. "Is this true? Splitting mountains and splitting rivers, how can a human being do that?"

"Hey! Don't disbelieve me! Tonight at 4 p.m., at the gate of the government office, there will be a student arranged by the prefect giving a lecture. What he is talking about is the method of splitting mountains and rivers!" The man said proudly, "As long as you understand it, you can get steamed buns!"

In the past, the refugees might have been interested in the dream in which Magistrate Liang was visited by the mountain fairy, but now, they were hungry and were more interested in the steamed buns. They immediately thought to themselves: I must go and see what is going on at the hour of You!

After the villager spread the news, he immediately hid in a corner and patted his chest gently.

This is the first time he's fooling people, so it should be okay, right?

Suddenly, he heard several noises nearby. He quickly turned around and found that other villagers were hiding in the dark, patting their chests with guilty looks on their faces.

Hearing the sound, several people looked at each other and couldn't help laughing again.

It turns out that they are not the only ones who feel guilty! Everyone feels guilty!