The dilapidated and mottled low earthen houses, the dark pot bottoms on the firewood stoves, chickens, ducks, geese and dogs running wildly on the road, and the piles of mud and sand as far as the eye can see are desolate.
Standing in front of such a village, Jiang Beiran frowned.
The reason why he frowned was not because of the desolation, because even if he implemented a large number of new policies, they would not be effective so quickly. The desolation of the countryside could not be completely changed in a short period of time.
The reason why he frowned was because there were almost no men in the village. In broad daylight, there were only a few old women working on the farmland.
This kind of scene was very common in Jiangbei before the "imperial conquest". Many places were like a land of girls, with not a single man in sight.
But after he started patrolling, this situation has become rare. Most officials will put some men in the village even if they are just pretending. He has not seen a "daughter village" like this for some time.
.
At this time, Deng Xianghan stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, I'm afraid..."
"No need for words." Jiang Beiran stretched out his hand to stop Deng Xianghan.
Jiang Beiran knew what Deng Xianghan was going to say. Under such circumstances, the person who dared to ignore the new decree so blatantly probably had a sect or demon sect as his backer. If he went in, there would inevitably be conflicts.
However, the sect's territory, Jiangbei, is bound to come into contact sooner or later. It's just a matter of sooner or later. Now that we have come across it, there's no harm in going in and taking a look.
Anyway, the system didn’t prompt any prompts.
When they walked into the village with Deng Xianghan and the others, a few children who were playing on the roadside immediately ran away when they saw Jiangbei, as if they had seen some wild beast.
Then several women who were chatting quickly ran back to their homes and closed the door firmly with a bang.
Seeing this, Jiang Beiran's brows furrowed again. Now he ordered people to post news of his inspections in various counties. Wherever he went, the villagers all looked forward to it, waiting for him, the holy general, to bring them hope.
But this village seemed to have never seen such a notice before. When they saw people dressed in luxurious clothes, they felt that they were coming to harm them.
"What a bastard! How dare you come to the village to harm our wives! I will fight with you!"
Just when Jiang Beiran was about to go find the village chief or the security chief, a farmer suddenly appeared in front of him out of thin air. After cursing, he picked up a pitchfork and stabbed him randomly.
But the pitchfork penetrated his chest like a ghost.
"Oh? Is this a spiritual body?"
Since getting the [Psychic] point, Jiang Beiran encountered such a ghost for the first time, and he felt quite strange.
'It seems that the role of channeling is indeed to communicate with the soul.'
Wanting to understand this, Jiang Beiran turned around and said to Deng Xianghan and the others: "Go and look around the village. If there are any poor families, help them."
"According to the decree."
After the three girls left, Jiang Beiran looked at the farmer in a state of soul and said, "Do you know that you are already dead?"
"Of course I know I'm dead, but I won't let go even if I'm a ghost... Huh!? Can you see me!?" The farmer shouted with a look of horror.
"Yeah, I can see it clearly."
“People!!!!!”
The frightened farmer ran away like crazy.
"Obviously he was making noises just now, what a coward..."
Instead of chasing the ghost, Jiang Beiran wandered around the village.
The village has complete basic facilities. There is a pond in front of the door, rice fields and vegetable fields behind the door, a yard outside the house, and fruit trees in the yard.
But it is a pity that the ponds have completely dried up, and the rice fields and vegetable fields are also deserted. There are a few good fruit trees, but most of them are bare.
"Oh, this is too desolate." Jiang Beiran sighed.
"It's not you dog officials who caused this!"
Looking back, Jiang Beiran saw the farmer who had been scared away running back, hiding from a distance and shouting to him.
"Aren't you going to run away?" Jiang Beiran asked with a smile.
The farmer frowned and replied: "I'm already dead anyway! You still have the ability to make me die again!"
"That's really not possible." Jiang Beiran replied.
"What on earth are you doing in the village! All the valuable things in the village have been robbed, what else do you want to do!?"
"Didn't your village post any notices announcing the Emperor's inspection of counties?"
"Notice? We can't understand that thing. Let's see what it does."
Just when Jiang Beiran was about to ask something, an old woman suddenly followed Mu Yao and knelt down as soon as she saw Jiang Beiran.
"Your Majesty! Please show mercy and save us. We really can't survive."
Jiang Beiran quickly stepped forward to help Auntie up and said, "Auntie, if you have anything to do, please tell me slowly and I will help you solve it."
"Ouch! God has opened his eyes. Your Majesty, all the men in our village have been taken away, leaving only the women who can't do anything. It seems that the spring plowing is almost over, and the fields are still uncultivated."
"Who kidnapped the men in the village?"
"We don't know either! Last year, a group of murderers suddenly came to the village. They rushed in and arrested my son. I chased him out and tried to get my son back, but the murderers were very vicious. Anyone who dared to stop him would be killed. Who! In the end, we had no choice but to watch as all the men in the village were captured by them."
'Do not you know……'
While he was talking, more women and old women ran over and knelt in a circle around Jiang Beiran, crying.
Among the crowd, Deng Xianghan walked up to Jiang Beiran and said: "Your Majesty, we sent some food to these villagers, and they all know that you are here to rescue them."
Jiang Beiran, who had not seen such a force for a while, asked Mu Yao and the others to help the villagers up, and then asked them one by one, and found that they did not know where their men or sons had been captured.
"What about your village chief?" Jiang Beiran asked.
Hearing this question, the villagers were silent for a while, and finally a woman answered: "The village chief... The village chief was beaten to death while trying to stop those evil people."
'Oh, what a pity for such a good village chief.'
Just when Jiang Beiran was thinking about where to start the investigation, the farmer in his spiritual state cautiously approached Jiang Beiran and said, "Are you the emperor? The emperor who takes care of the people of the world?"
During the exchange just now, Jiang Beiran found that he could communicate with the ghost using his mental power, so he nodded directly and replied with his mental power: "It's true."
"Didn't the emperor know how to ask us farmers to pay taxes all day long? Why did he come to us to deliver food?"
"The emperor has changed. I don't want you to pay taxes, but I want you to have enough to eat."
"The emperor has been changed? The emperor has been changed. That's good! The emperor in front knew that he wanted our money. You don't want our money and you still give us food. You must be a good emperor! I kowtow to you!"
After saying this, the farmer bowed his head and kowtowed more than a dozen times.
"Stop knocking, I won't even hear a sound if you knock like this."
"Your Majesty, then you go and bring my son back! I asked him to let you knead, I promise!"
"Your son? Do you know who captured the men in the village?"
"Of course I know! We were both arrested together."
"Can you find them now?"
"Yes! Of course I can! I came back from there, and I just wanted to go back to the village to see my mother-in-law."
"Okay, you lead the way, and I'll go get your son back."
"Thank you, Your Majesty! Thank you, Your Majesty! Your Majesty, you are such a good person! I will take you there right now!"
After leaving some food for the villagers, Jiang Beiran took Mu Yao and the others out of the village and followed the farmer heading west.
"Your Majesty, where are we going?" Mu Yao asked curiously.
"Go find the men in the village."
"Your Majesty, do you already know where they are!?"
Mu Yao looked shocked. It was obvious that they were listening to the same group of villagers, but how could the emperor already know where all the men in the village had gone!?
'Is this the difference between me and the emperor?'
Deng Xianghan was also surprised. She really couldn't think of any of the words just now that could tell where the men in the village had gone.
Only Kong Qianqian looked matter-of-fact. After all, she had always believed that there was nothing in the world that the emperor could not accomplish.
Walking on the road, Jiang Beiran looked at the farmer and asked, "Why were you arrested?"
"Alas." The farmer sighed: "Digging stones! I dug day and night. I don't know the name of the stones. They are green and glowing."
‘Spiritual stone?’ After hearing the farmer’s description, Jiang Beiran immediately understood what he was talking about.
The farmer who recalled this incident suddenly started chatting and sighed repeatedly: "Oh, that mine is very difficult to dig! Even if you dig for several days, you may not be able to dig out a piece. If you can't dig out the mine, those evil people will only give us some."
They had gruel to drink, or steamed buns that looked like stones, and several people were exhausted to death because their bodies couldn't bear it."
Hearing this paragraph, Jiang Beiran suddenly recalled his experience of being deceived into a black kiln. During that period, his life was really worse than death. If it weren't for the hope of a system, he probably wouldn't have been able to escape.
That day.
We walked over two mountains while chatting like this. The farmer who was complaining about his misery suddenly pointed to the front and said, "Your Majesty! That's it! All the men in our village are there!"
Jiang Beiran looked at the place pointed by the farmer, and it was indeed a mine.
Mu Yao, who had followed silently all the way, was shocked when she saw that the emperor had actually found the place. She had no idea how the emperor did it.
After sensing the mine with his mental power, Jiang Beiran discovered that there was indeed a cultivator inside. Although he was only a Qi practitioner, this meant that this mine did have a sect background.
The moment he entered the mine, Jiang Beiran sensed the running mountain protection formation and easily cracked the formation. Jiang Beiran and his party walked into the mine.
At the gate of the mine, a guard was stunned for a moment when he saw Jiang Beiran and his group strutting in. Then he immediately stood up and planned to scold Jiang Beiran. However, when he saw Jiang Beiran's gorgeous clothes, he was immediately afraid of offending some big shot, so he changed his words.
: "What do you guys want to do here?"
Jiang Beiran glanced at the guard and said, "Go and call out your supervisor."
The guard frowned, feeling that the person coming was unkind, "Our manager is out, just tell me if you have anything."
Not bothering to talk to him, Jiang Beiran shouted directly: "Mu Yao."
Mu Yao, who had cooperated several times, directly pulled out the Frost Flower Sword King and stabbed the mountain rock violently!
Just hearing a "boom", the huge rocks instantly collapsed into pieces and rolled down the mountain.
The guard instantly understood that the person who came was a cultivator, and immediately held up his hands and said: "You three, please wait a moment, I'm going to find the person in charge." After saying that, he turned around and ran into the mine.
After a while, a figure walked towards them quickly. Judging from the clothes he was wearing, he looked like an expert.
Arriving in front of Jiang Beiran, the man cupped his hands and said, "I am Tao Yingfa, a disciple of Lei Ming Sect. I wonder why these Xuanyou friends are here?"
'Thunder Sect...'
Jiang Beiran knew about this sect. The sect leader was a powerful man at the Xuanwang level, and it was considered a relatively famous sect in Hezhi County.
"I ask you, where do the workers in your mine come from?"
'I!?'
Hearing Jiang Beiran's self-identification, Tao Yingfa instantly understood that these people in front of him were here to cause trouble.
Because he had already heard that the new emperor of Sheng Kingdom was patrolling everywhere and posted notices everywhere.
Knowing that the visitor was here to cause trouble, Tao Yingfa stopped being polite and said proudly: "Are you the new emperor of the Sheng Kingdom? Let me tell you, if you don't use chicken feathers as command arrows, when will the court be able to take care of the clan's affairs?"
"It is true that I don't care about the affairs of the sect, but I want to care about the affairs of the people of Sheng Kingdom. All the men in your mine are captured from the village, right?"
"So what! If you have the ability, you can talk to our sect master."
"Okay, then I'll go find Sect Master Tang and talk about this matter."
Seeing Jiang Beiran turn around and leave, looking at him as if he really wanted to find the sect master, Tao Yingfa quickly stepped forward and shouted: "Hey! Wait!"
"What else is there?" Jiang Beiran turned around and asked.
"I'm telling you, it never ends well if the court goes against the sect. You have to think clearly!"
"Heh," Jiang Beiran laughed, "That will happen in the future."
After saying that, he walked down the mountain.
"Hey! You really don't want to drink wine as a penalty!" Tao Yingfa said, rushing up and stopping in front of Jiang Beiran.
But just as he was about to draw his sword, he was frightened by the profound energy emanating from Mu Yao next to Jiang Beiran.
'When can the emperor use cultivators as bodyguards!?'
Tao Yingfa murmured in his heart that he could only be soft when he saw that he was too tough, "I don't think it's such a trivial matter to disturb the sect leader. I'll take a few of them to my house to sit and sit. As long as my father agrees to this matter, you can
You can take all the villagers here away."
As soon as Tao Ying finished speaking, two options popped up in front of Jiang Beiran.
[Option 1: Still go find the leader of the Thunder Sect. Completion reward: Wuhen Sword Skill (Xuan level top grade)]
[Option 2: Agree with Tao Yingfa’s suggestion. Completion reward: random basic attribute point +1]
'Oh? It seems that directly attacking the sect leader will easily cause too many chain reactions.'
After choosing the second option, Jiang Beiran said: "Okay, then please lead the way."
[Optional mission completed, reward: Strength +1]
Seeing Jiang Beiran agreeing so readily, Tao Yingfa secretly laughed and said: 'Huh, once you're on my territory, I'll see how crazy you can be!'