"Wei Li, the magistrate of Gongchang Mansion, comes to see the Imperial Envoy." Kneeling on the ground, Wei Li couldn't express his feelings.
Not to mention that he is a popular purple-clad captain in the imperial court. As an imperial envoy for disaster relief, he is a small colleague of the Gongchang Mansion. He is giving instructions to him. In such a situation, he was taken down and wearing a flower feather on the spot.
No problems whatsoever.
Wei Li felt a little uneasy and at a loss.
"Master Wei has been busy for a long time helping the victims, get up, get up quickly." Xiao Chen smiled and nodded towards Wei Li.
"But, just now..." Wei Li was still mentally unstable and wanted to apologize to Xiao Chen in person.
"Just now, just now I only saw the adults who were so focused on providing disaster relief that they collapsed on the ground while busy plugging in electricity." Xiao Chen stretched out his hands, held Wei Li's shoulders, and pulled him up.
The soldiers around him all lowered their heads, not daring to open their eyes and look at Xiao Chen.
Although he did not have a direct conflict with Xiao Chen, he turned a blind eye to the imperial envoy. This matter cannot be justified in any way.
Especially the hundreds of households guarding the city. At first they thought that the small town was just a few Dongchang captains who were helping with disaster relief in Shouyang Town. Not only did they speak casually, they actually handed the wooden ladle in their hands to the other party and asked him to give it to the people in person.
Serve porridge.
The imperial envoy is serving porridge, what do you want a hundred households guarding the city to do? Watch a play?
With a "pop", he knelt down in front of Xiao Chen: "This villain has no eyes and doesn't know what the adults are..." Before he could finish his words, someone pulled him up by the collar from behind.
"Okay, everyone is busy with disaster relief. Brother Xiao is not the kind of person who cares about trivial matters." Duan Tianming said with a smile.
Just now, I carried countless pots of porridge back and forth with the other party. It is rare to see a person guarding a hundred households in a city who is so concerned about the affairs of the people.
Others don't know that this Baihu has been recognized by Duan Tianming.
Seeing that everyone in the imperial court was so arrogant from top to bottom, Gong Changtongzhi Wei Li felt a stone fall in his heart.
He hurriedly handed over his hands to Xiao Chen and others: "Sir, this trip has been tiring and tiring. When I arrived in Gongchang, I participated in the disaster relief and provided rice porridge without saying anything. Now that the people have enough to eat, why don't you go down and arrange a residence for the imperial envoy?
, adults, please take a rest first?"
"There's no need to make any arrangements, I'll just stay at the official post office." Xiao Chen said with a smile.
"How can this happen?" Wei Li shook his head, "The official post is a place where officials come and go to rest temporarily, and the furnishings are relatively simple. Your Excellency is an imperial envoy of the imperial court. If the lower official places you in the official post, the prefect will not agree.
ah."
"Prefect?" Xiao Chen couldn't help but chuckle, "Disaster relief should be a top priority for Gongchang Prefecture now. I only see Wei Tongzhi busy, so why don't you see your prefect show up?"
"The Imperial Envoy doesn't know something," Wei Li bowed again and explained. "There is a large area of famine in Gongchang, and the number of people affected by the disaster is so large. The food stocks in Gongchang Mansion may not be able to sustain it for long. I don't know the government's disaster relief food funds."
When will we arrive? The magistrate was worried that we would not be able to pick up the slack, so he went out to borrow food from the people of Gongchang."
"Borrowing grain? There are five or six counties under Gongchang Prefecture. The annual taxes paid to the court are not the same as other places. There is no grain in the treasury, do you still need to borrow?"
"There is really no food in the warehouse." Wei Li cried sadly, "otherwise, the prefect would not have just watched the people suffer and ordered the opening of warehouses for disaster relief just a few days ago."
"Where's the food in the storehouse?" Before Xiao Chen could say anything, Duan Tianming beside him couldn't help but ask.
"The land in Gongchang is not fertile, and the annual rainfall is not large, so it is often in a semi-arid state. The yield of food is extremely low. After the taxes collected every year are turned over to the court, there is really not much left."
"Perennial semi-drought? Have you not thought about solving this problem? There is no food in the warehouse, so you have no sense of crisis? You need to go out to borrow food at critical times. Have you ever thought about what you will use to return it to others after borrowing it? Use the court's disaster relief food
Will you repay the money?" Xiao Chen's tone became more and more severe.
Cold sweat gradually broke out on Wei Li's forehead.
He had no choice but to bite the bullet and said: "The prefect went to Dingxi. He went to borrow food from the Marquis of Dingxi. This, you don't have to pay this back."
"No need to pay it back? Does the food taste delicious?"
With a "pop" sound, Wei Li knelt on the ground.
"My lords, they are all villains and incompetent. They failed to govern Gongchang well. Please punish me."
Every word Xiao Chen said struck a chord in Wei Li's heart.
He knew all the problems, but he never made any efforts to correct them.
For example, building water conservancy projects and diverting water into fields.
Although when this idea was proposed, the prefect rejected it flatly because he had no funds, but it is also true that he did not persist in pursuing it.
"Punish you? Now there is a famine in Gongchang and the victims are displaced. You ask me to punish you. Do you want to evade responsibility?" Xiao Chen said coldly.
The guards around him all lowered their heads and did not dare to make any sound.
The people a little further away were holding wooden bowls in their arms and looking at this side with interest.
Wei Li was so ashamed that he wished he could dig a hole in the ground and jump into it.
"Let's go, don't be embarrassed by kneeling here in front of the people. Take me to Guanyi." Looking at Wei Li, Xiao Chen said.
"Sir, the conditions of Guanyi are really bad." Wei Li raised his head, with a hint of uneasiness in his eyes.
"Huh???" Xiao Chen rolled his eyes.
"Yes, yes. I will take you to Guanyi now."
Holding the hem of his clothes in one hand, Wei Li hurriedly stood up.
Hearing that Xiao Chen insisted on staying in Guanyi, Xiao Lizi ran over excitedly: "I will lead the way, I will live in Guanyi."
The official post in Gongchang Prefecture is much larger than that in Qingshui County.
The all-white Datongbu can sleep a hundred people without any problem.
However, since I walked into Guanyi, I have never seen anyone from Guanyi.
"Wei Tongzhi, is this official post open to the public?" Xiao Chen couldn't help but ask.
"Open? What is open?" Wei Li couldn't help but be startled. This was the first time he heard of this new term.
"This official post is not small, but why is there no one there? Where have all the people who cooked and fed the horses gone?" Xiao Chen was also confused.
This is called Guanyi? This is just an unoccupied house at best.
"The disaster in Shouyang Town is serious. All the people in Guanyi have been transferred there by the prefect." Wei Li said with an embarrassed look on his face.
Xiao Chen didn't know what to say for a while.
No wonder Wei Li insisted not to live in the official post office. It turned out that the official post office in Gongchang Town was just a decoration.
That's not right, Xiao Lizi said that he has always lived in Guanyi.
Turning around hastily, Xiao Chen looked at Xiao Lizi: "Where is your room?"
"Here, here." Xiao Lizi didn't care when he arrived, and walked forward with Xiao Chen.
Pushing open the door, there is another room covered with large bedding. Near the door, there is a simple quilt.
"There is no one in Guanyi, what do you do with your daily meals?" Xiao Chen's face gradually turned cold again.
"When the brothers of Shenjiya were still there, we would buy some food and cook it by ourselves. After they left, I had to be busy with disaster relief alone, so I made do with some food on the street."
After a moment of silence, Xiao Chen turned around and looked at Duan Tianming: "Tell the brothers to tidy up the house, and we will live here."
"You don't even have to eat here?" Duan Tianming hesitated.
"Tomorrow, go buy food on the street. If you can't buy food on the street, go to the kitchen of the prefect's office and bring them their food."
"Yes." Duan Tianming responded loudly.
Pushing open the door of another room, Xiao Chen smiled at Wei Li: "Master Wei, please come inside."
How could Wei Li dare to refuse? He bowed his body and smiled bitterly: "My lord, please."
After walking into the room, Xiao Chen sat down on the bare bed, folded his legs and crossed them.
He patted the bed next to him and said, "Master Wei, sit down."
"My lord, just sit down, and your subordinates will just stand like this." Wei Li said in panic.
"Why, does Mr. Wei dislike the dirty bed board, or does he dislike the bed board being hard?"
"Don't dare, don't dare, just sit down and sit down."
Wei Li tremblingly walked to the bed and sat down gently.
"Master Wei, what do you think of me?" Xiao Chen asked with the corner of his mouth raised slightly.
"As soon as you come here, you will participate in disaster relief and provide porridge. No matter how you look at it, you are a good official who is dedicated to the people."
Although he didn't know what Xiao Chen meant, Wei Li still truthfully expressed his opinion.
"Then the imperial edict in my hand is true?"
Wei Li nodded hurriedly: "Yes, it's true."
The smile on Xiao Chen's face gradually disappeared and he gradually became serious: "Tell me, what is going on in Gongchang Mansion?"
