Chapter 1,474: Refining the Heart in the Mortal World (21)
Chapter 1477: Refining the Heart in the Mortal World (21)
Although Qing'an County did not fall, the damage caused by the rogue army to the county was heavy and lasting.
The county town with tens of thousands of people lost a large number of young men, so Ye Xiangming had to recruit young men from the countryside for training to supplement the loss of garrison soldiers.
In order to prevent the rogue bandits from attacking again, the garrison in Qing'an County was expanded to 700 people.
Fortunately, I made a lot of money by plagiarizing a big player before, otherwise I really wouldn't be able to afford it.
After the situation inside and outside the county was completely stable, Ye Xiangming sent a message to the capital city and reported the murder of the county magistrate Yu Heqian and a group of gentry.
Then half a month later, someone from Fucheng sent a letter of appointment and a commendation order.
Ye Xiangming was appointed as the magistrate of Qing'an County and concurrently served as county magistrate, in charge of military and political affairs of the county.
This means that Ye Xiangming is not only the number one figure in Qing'an County, but also has unparalleled power.
In fact, there is nothing the Fucheng can do. The army of rogue bandits is harassing everywhere in Yifu, repeatedly threatening the safety of the Fucheng.
Under such circumstances, no one is willing to work as an official in the most dangerous county down below.
Simply give Ye Xiangming a half-level promotion and let him and Qing'an County fend for themselves.
For the men in Fucheng, nothing is more important than the safety of their own homes.
As for the murder of County Magistrate Yu Heqian, the prefectural government has no interest in investigating it.
Anyway, Ye Xiangming can say anything, as long as he doesn't ask for help from Fucheng.
In the current crisis, everyone can only look after themselves.
Ye Xiangming, the new county magistrate with great power, was not very happy about his promotion, because after the rogue army retreated, the drought showed no signs of easing, and land and water transportation was basically cut off.
The most outrageous thing is that the rogue army destroyed more than a dozen self-flow water trucks erected on both sides of the Qingshui River, causing large areas of rice fields to lose irrigation and completely lose their harvest.
Ye Xiangming could only curse and organize people to rebuild the waterwheel, and then tried his best to save the rice fields that had not yet stopped harvesting.
Even more tiring than dealing with an army of rogue bandits!
"What a thief!"
On this day, Wang Chen and Ye Dai went to the county government office to visit Ye Xiangming. While the latter was drinking the nourishing soup cooked by his daughter, he cursed: "If you don't go down now, they are going to drive us all out!"
Although the artesian waterwheel was rebuilt as quickly as possible, the water level of Qingshui River dropped seriously, which greatly reduced the water extraction effect of the waterwheel.
This year's grain harvest in Qing'an County is a foregone conclusion, and currently it is estimated that even 30% of the normal harvest may not be achieved.
This is very scary.
If the drought continues, it will be a blessing to have 10% or 20% of the grain stored in previous years during the autumn harvest!
Moreover, now the waterways have been completely cut off by rogue bandits, and the trade routes have become extinct and inhabited. Even those in Qing'an County who have money cannot purchase grain from outside and import it, which is equivalent to being trapped here.
"A good son-in-law."
Ye Xiangming put down the soup bowl in his hand, looking a little embarrassed: "There is something I need to trouble you with."
He wanted to reopen trade routes and buy a batch of grain from the south back to Qing'an County.
However, it is obviously unrealistic to expect local merchants to complete this matter, so the county government plans to organize a caravan to go to the south to purchase grain.
Ye Xiangming hopes Wang Chen can serve as the leader of this caravan!
"I really have no choice."
Ye Xiangming said helplessly: "The grain stored in the county treasury is no longer enough to enable tens of thousands of people in the city to survive the famine years. If we cannot buy grain, many people may die this year and next."
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He knew very well that given the current situation, it was very dangerous to lead a caravan out to buy grain.
It's a long road, it takes a month or two to get there and back, and anything can happen during that period.
But Ye Xiangming had no choice.
He used to be the county magistrate and only had to worry about armaments affairs, but now he took care of military and political affairs. After taking over the county government, he discovered that Qing'an County had serious problems.
As for the most important county treasury, the grain stored in it is less than one-third of the prescribed level!
So where did the other two-thirds of the stored grain go?
Ye Xiangming wanted to investigate, but the treasurer burned him and his whole family to pieces.
Including the ledger!
Ye Xiangming knew that there were too many fishy things here, but he couldn't clean the county government again, right?
It can no longer function normally.
Fortunately, a large amount of gold and silver had been seized during a previous house raid, so he could only hope to solve the problem by purchasing grain from abroad.
"Daddy!"
Ye Dai's beauty turned pale. Unexpectedly, her father had just drank the nourishing soup and couldn't wait to push Wang Chen into the hot bed.
Even though she was gentle and filial by nature, she couldn't help but get angry at this moment: "How could you do this?"
Ye Xiangming smiled bitterly and said: "Dai'er, it's not that dad is ruthless, it's really... ugh!"
He had been thinking very hard during this period, and his hair had turned a lot gray, and he looked particularly haggard with a frown on his face.
Ye Dai was speechless for a moment.
"fine."
Wang Chen patted his wife's hand, and then said to Ye Xiangming: "Leave this matter to me."
Since he married Ye Dai, he would inherit the karma of his wife's family, not to mention the people of Qing'an County.
Ye Xiangming was delighted: "That's great."
Apart from Wang Chen, there really is no suitable person to choose from for this matter.
After receiving Wang Chen's promise, Ye Xiangming organized a large caravan as quickly as possible.
In order to ensure safety, he also deployed 300 well-trained garrison soldiers, plus escorts and escorts from the county, and a larger number of handymen.
This brings the total number of caravans to more than 800.
Because only so many people can guarantee basic safety and transport back the food needed to supply tens of thousands of people.
All the mules, horses and trucks in the county town were also emptied.
Three days later, the caravan left Qing'an County and headed for Yunze Mansion under the leadership of Wang Chen.
Before leaving, Ye Dai and others moved to live in the county government office.
Yunze Prefecture and Changyi Prefecture are adjacent, and the area is much larger than Changyi Prefecture. There are many swamps in the territory, so even if there is a drought all year round, there is enough water to irrigate the farmland.
It can be called a land of plenty.
In the past, Changyi Prefecture often purchased grain from Yunze Prefecture, and caravans usually used waterways.
However, the drought in Changyi Prefecture is extremely serious now. Many rivers have dried up. Not only are the waterways blocked by rogue bandits, they are also unable to carry large merchant ships.
Therefore, the caravans in Qing'an County can only travel by land.
In order to avoid encountering the army of rogue bandits, the caravan deliberately made a large circle to the west after leaving the county. After more than half a month of arduous trek, it entered Yunze Prefecture.
The journey was relatively smooth, no bandits were encountered, and some rural thieves did not pose any danger to the caravan.
However, after arriving at Yunze Mansion, the situation changed.
