Farming Beneath the Changbai Mountains

In the end, Huang Tongpan could only leave angrily. When Huang Tongpan was sent away, Zixuan and others started laughing.

"Sir, if you don't give him face, aren't you afraid that he will go back and put eye drops on you? The prefect has never dealt with you. What if he is serious and secretly causes harm to you?" Zhao Xiancheng is still a little worried. Yes, this prefect is not an open-minded person.

Zixuan smiled and said, "Let him go. I guess the disaster relief thing alone will be enough to give him a headache for a while. If he wants to frame me, he will have to be very busy. We don't need to think about this for the time being. Let's take care of it first." Let’s talk about it after we finish what we just agreed upon.”

Zhao Xiancheng and Chief Secretary Liu nodded, "In this case, let's make arrangements quickly. This is also a major event that affects the people of the county." The two of them went out together.

On July 18, Li Mingyu, Qi Yunfei, Xu Wenhan, Xu Wenchang, and Yue Pengcheng came to Longzhou with two thousand sergeants and two thousand dan of food raised from the capital and surrounding states and counties. Because Mingyu sent someone to check in advance, he knew that the damage in the eastern area was slight, and Zixuan was in the west, so it was no big deal. The most severe damage was in the central area, so Mingyu and others went directly to the central area.

The first stop they arrived at was, of course, Hanzhou under the jurisdiction of Longzhou. The administrative divisions in Northeast China are somewhat different from those in other parts of Daqi. Although Longzhou is called a state, it is actually a prefectural city, and its scope is roughly the same as that of later provinces. There are states and counties under its jurisdiction, but these states are not the same. Some states can govern several counties, while others do not. At the same time, some counties are directly under the jurisdiction of the prefecture, just like Zhendong, which is directly under the jurisdiction of Longzhou Prefecture.

This situation is caused, of course, by the fact that the Northeast region does not originally belong to the Central Plains, but is the political power of some ethnic minorities. Over the past thousands of years, countless ethnic minorities have established countries in the Northeast, and each time the capital was different, which has created the confusion in the names of various places today.

As for the founding emperor of Da Qi, he was a military genius. After seizing the Central Plains, he attacked all the way to the Northeast and occupied this area. However, this historical state has been preserved, with only slight improvements.

Of course, these are not big things, and people are used to such divisions, so they just stick to it.

By this time, the heavy rain had stopped for seven or eight days, the road surface had long since dried up, and the floodwaters in the ground had receded. Everyone came here all the way, and encountered a lot of hardships on the way. Finally, they were almost there, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

A lot of people came across the street, men, women, old and young, all in shabby clothes and disheveled hair. They looked like they hadn't had enough to eat in some days, and they didn't even have the strength to walk.

Wenhan dismounted and came to these people, "Uncle, where are you going?"

An old man looked at Wenhan and said, "Young man, we are fleeing. Alas, God is not willing to open his eyes. A heavy rain washed away all our villages. We couldn't survive, so we thought about fleeing to the south, maybe we could survive. I can save a life." The old man spoke weakly.

"Old man, isn't the capital city quite close to here? Didn't the prefect and officials from all over the country open warehouses to provide disaster relief?" Wen Han was a little puzzled. Although it has rained heavily in the north this year, it is impossible for everyone to have suffered floods. Bar? Logically speaking, even if the court does not provide relief, just the food from the local government's warehouse is enough to feed the victims, right?

"Oh, don't mention this. The magistrate actually asked someone to set up a porridge shed, but the porridge was as thin as water. There is a limit every day, and many people can't get in line. We also queued there. I couldn’t survive the two days of porridge, so I decided to run away, otherwise we would all starve to death.” When the old man talked about this, he couldn’t help but shed tears.

The people next to them were also chattering away. When Wenhan heard this, his brows furrowed. "Old man, don't go south yet. When you arrive in another place, you are not familiar with the place. Where can you make a living? We are sent by the imperial court. You see, we have brought so much food. Stay here. Come down, survive this period, harvest the crops in the fields, and we will be able to live on." Wen Han advised.

Those people looked up at the team on the opposite side. It was such a long team. Each cart was filled with sacks that looked like grain.

"Sir, are you telling the truth? If that's the case, then we won't leave. Who is willing to leave their hometown and live outside? As long as we can survive, we are willing to stay in our hometown." asked a young man.

"Don't worry, I'm telling the truth. In this case, you can follow us back and eat with us. After we meet the officials here, we will distribute food to the people in a serious manner. Why? Like? Can you believe us?" Wen Han felt really sad when he saw these people.

Mingyu had heard the conversation between Wenhan and the refugees from behind. He quietly said a few words to Yunfei, and Yunfei took some people and galloped away.

These refugees followed Mingyu and his team towards Fucheng. The journey was still quite far, so they found a place to camp and rest at night. These refugees had dinner with everyone, and Mingyu took the opportunity to ask these people about some information.

From the mouths of these people, we learned that in fact, only a few granaries in various states and counties were submerged by floods, and the rest were well preserved.

The imperial court has policies. Every year, apart from the part of the grain harvested that is turned over to the state, a lot of it must be kept locally for war preparations and famine preparations. The old grain cannot be used until next year's new grain is put into storage.

Mingyu became a little angry after hearing this. "There is obviously food, but if you don't use it to feed the people, setting up a porridge shed is just a formality. It seems that the magistrate of Longzhou has really done enough."

"It's okay. Didn't we send several groups of people here in advance? We will always figure out what is going on here. You don't have to be angry. How many of these officials are really serving the people? When we come out this time, Didn't the emperor say that he will give you the power to make arbitrary decisions when the opportunity arises? If there are those who are corrupt and bend the law, just kill two of them and see if they dare to do it again?" Pengcheng advised with a smile.

Mingyu nodded, this matter cannot be done in a hurry. "Okay, we are tired from traveling all the way. Let's all get some rest early. We will probably be able to reach Longzhou Fucheng tomorrow. I'm afraid we will be even more tired when we get there."

At noon the next day, the group finally arrived at Longzhou Fucheng. Sure enough, outside the city gate, there were several porridge sheds, and some victims were queuing up to receive porridge.

Mingyu sent someone over to take a look. The porridge was very thick, not thin as the refugees said. Mingyu looked at Pengcheng and others, and everyone looked at each other and smiled. It seemed that the news of their arrival had already arrived here.

As everyone was about to enter the city, they saw many people coming out of the city, all wearing official uniforms.

"I don't know if the prince is here, but I'm a little too far away to welcome you. Please forgive me." The leader was naturally the prefect Fang. He had already received the news and had calculated the time to come out to greet him.

"The prefect is exempt from courtesy. After the disaster, the government office must be very busy. Why do you need to come out to greet me in person?" Mingyu said with a smile.

"It is a great blessing for Longzhou that the prince can come to Longzhou. No matter how busy I am, I still have to come to greet the prince." Magistrate Fang said with a smile on his face. "Your Majesty, you have been working hard all the way, so please come to the city to rest. Now the people have settled down, and there is no big deal."

Mingyu nodded and led the people into the city. The food that was brought was taken to a small schoolyard in the north of the city by dedicated people, where the space was spacious enough to accommodate it.

The prefect must arrange a banquet to entertain Mingyu and others, so there is no need to go into details. After the banquet, some people sent by Mingyu came to Fucheng one after another and reported to Mingyu what they had seen and heard in the past few days.

There was originally only one porridge shed that everyone saw. And just like the refugees they met said, it was almost as thin as water. What I see now were all made this morning.

Nowadays, there are five or six states and counties in Longzhou that are really seriously affected by the disaster. Among them, Fuyu Province is the intersection of the Noni River and the Hundong River, so it is the most severely affected. This place happens to be next to Zhendong County, so most people from Fuyu Prefecture fled to Zhendong.

Of course, the people who came back also reported some situations in the east of the town. The refugees have been properly resettled in Zhendong, and due to the good governance of the Zhendong County Magistrate, the people under his jurisdiction have now resumed production, and there is a scene of stability and prosperity.

After hearing this, Mingyu couldn't help but be happy for Zixuan. "Brother, the second brother-in-law is still capable. Listen, not only are the people at the second brother-in-law's place unharmed, they have all returned to their normal lives. This is what a local official should do. This magistrate is not serious about business. Damn, I don’t know what’s going on in his head?”

"In this case, why don't we transfer Zixuan here. He has been here for a long time and is familiar with the local area. In addition, he can manage Zhendong so well. I think he also has a lot of experience in dealing with post-disaster reconstruction and other matters. Let's We're new here, so we have to listen to whatever the prefect says, and we won't be able to get things done this way." Wen Han asked Zixuan to come over and help.

"Brother's words make sense. Zixuan has gained experience now. Besides, everything is normal in Zhendong, so it should be feasible to transfer him here." Pengcheng also agreed.

"Okay, then let's invite the second brother-in-law over." Mingyu readily agreed. These people haven't been able to get together for several years, so we just took this opportunity to get together and do something.