Chapter 1,468: Refining the Heart in the Mortal World (15)
Chapter 1471 Refining the Heart in the Mortal World (15)
Along the Qingshui River, the artesian waterwheel has become a scene in Qing'an County.
Every day, a large number of people in the city come to watch the excitement under the scorching sun, supporting the elderly and the young, and marvel at the "big roulette" that can automatically draw water.
No matter the farmers outside the city or the people in the city, no one wants to see the rice fields fail.
Especially with the current skyrocketing price of rice, everyone is looking forward to the end of the drought and a bumper rice harvest.
Otherwise, forget about rice, you won’t even be able to eat other cereals!
Because the effect of the first self-flowing waterwheel was so good, the county government officially assigned the task to the official workshop to build ten waterwheels of the same type in one go.
Ensure farmland irrigation on both sides of the Qingshui River!
After the news spread, rice prices in the county fell slightly.
However, this decline was only short-lived, and it rose back up within a few days.
Because the drought shows no signs of easing!
Every day, the sky is clear and the sun is shining brightly. The hot sun scorches the earth, causing many plants on the mountains and in the wilderness to wither and look scorched yellow.
As time went by, the atmosphere in the county became tense.
The refugees appear!
Qing'an County is nourished by the Qingshui River, and the ten waterwheels that have been put into use continuously collect water day and night, so the drought can be barely controlled.
However, the situation in some places is very bad. Large areas of field crops have withered and the price of rice in county towns has skyrocketed. Ordinary people have fallen into the dilemma of losing money and not being able to fill their bellies.
In desperation, many people have no choice but to leave their homes and flee, hoping to find a way to survive elsewhere.
Qing'an County, which is in a better situation, has been affected by the refugees.
At first, there were only three or five scattered people, but then the number continued to increase, and the fleeing team became longer and longer.
Seeing that the situation was not good, Qing'an County immediately closed the city gates and strictly prohibited refugees from entering.
However, in order to prevent the refugees from rebelling in despair, the county government mobilized the wealthy gentry in the county to set up greenhouses outside the city to provide porridge and relief.
These are considered routine coping methods.
However, as the drought season continues to worsen in various places, the number of refugees arriving in Qing'an County has increased sharply, reaching nearly 10,000.
Now the county magistrate Yu Heqian was frightened.
On the one hand, he constantly sent people to ask for help from the capital cities above, and on the other hand, he tried his best to "raise donations" from large households, struggling to maintain the current situation.
As the saying goes, Yu Heqian is in great trouble, and Ye Xiangming can't expect to escape.
That day he came to Wang Chen's home in person.
On the one hand, the county magistrate wanted to see his daughter, and on the other hand, he wanted Wang Chen to make suggestions.
The self-flow water truck provided by Wang Chen previously successfully solved a big problem.
As for the situation outside the county town, Wang Chen naturally knew about it.
When asked by his father-in-law, he said without hesitation: "We should take a two-pronged approach to deal with the refugees!"
Wang Chen's suggestion was to screen out the best among the refugees and use a work-for-relief method to let them dig wells and canals, or build roads and quarry stones, so as to avoid being idle and causing trouble.
On the other hand, organize people to fish in the river or go hunting in the mountains to collect as much food as possible.
Of course, the most important thing is to go to the higher authorities to ask for food relief - rescuing the refugees is not something Qing'an County can accomplish on its own.
Wang Chen's vision and experience were not comparable to Ye Xiangming's. After a conversation, the county magistrate was convinced of Wang Chen and was even secretly proud that he had a good son-in-law.
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After Ye Xiangming left, Ye Dai said to Wang Chen: "Husband, should we go to the outside of the city to help the refugees and do some good deeds?"
Currently, the Wang family is not short of food. Previously, Wang Chen purchased a batch of food from other places through a local trading house at a high price.
The cellars and granaries have been filled to the brim, and they will last for two or three years without any problem.
Wang Chen smiled and said, "Okay."
If his wife has such kindness, how could he refuse her?
So at Wang Chen's suggestion, Ye Dai and Ye Yu, together with their cooks and servants, made a large number of pancakes at home.
The raw material used for these pancakes is flour mixed with grains, and only a little salt is added to it, but it is definitely a good thing to satisfy your hunger, and it will not go bad no matter how hot the weather is, and can be stored for a long time.
After the pancakes were ready, Wang Chen took them out of the city to help the refugees.
Due to the large number of refugees, a huge camp has formed outside the county town, which is messy and smelly. It is a completely chaotic and miserable scene.
Many refugees lay motionless under the thatched huts, their bodies as skinny as skeletons, with cries and lamentations coming and going.
The soldiers responsible for maintaining order would occasionally have corpses dragged out of the camp and sent to be buried far away.
To prevent the corpse from decaying and bringing plague.
Such a scene made Ye Dai, who had been raised in a boudoir, eclipse her beauty.
"Dai'er, why don't you and Xiaoyu go back first?"
Out of pity, Wang Chen said to his wife: "Leave this place to me."
"No."
Ye Dai shook her head stubbornly: "I'm fine."
So under her arrangement, pancakes were delivered one by one by servants to the victims on the roadside.
"Thank you, sir, thank you, madam!"
The victims who received the food all burst into tears of gratitude and knelt down to salute Wang Chen and Ye Dai.
But more victims gathered around, stretching out their withered hands to beg for food. Some of them had greedy looks on their faces, staring intently at Ye Dai and Xiao Yu.
The atmosphere at the scene suddenly became tense and strange.
Although the pancakes Ye Dai brought were in large quantities, they were all quickly consumed after being distributed.
It is simply impossible to benefit everyone present.
"Master, madam, please do it!"
Seeing Wang Chen, Ye Dai and others about to leave, the victims who had not received any benefits immediately refused to agree.
They surrounded Wang Chen and others, and some even had fierce looks in their eyes.
Since these people escaped from the famine, their humanity has been almost wiped out by hunger. Now they have no scruples, and they are even more jealous of Wang Chen, Ye Dai and others.
A tall man said viciously: "Brothers, we are all going to die anyway, today..."
Poof!
Before he could finish his words, a flash of sword light flashed past his throat, and bright red blood spurted out.
This guy who was about to transform from a disaster victim to a thug had already lost his head before he could even finish his bewitching words!
It was Wang Chen who took action.
He had a sword on him and cut off the opponent's head with one blow.
The dripping blood shocked the surrounding victims, and they all retreated in panic.
Wang Chen held his sword and sneered: "If you want to die, I will help you."
Before he finished speaking, he suddenly turned around and swung his sword, cutting off the head of another sneak attacker!