Li Bai and Wang Wei, who had no idea that they were being followed by a group of 'terrifying' 'armed men', finished their breakfast leisurely. They stayed under the shelter and looked at the air bubbles on the ground due to the heavy raindrops, feeling the dampness and coolness brought by the wind and mist. They remained silent for a long time.
"I guess it's true. It's been raining continuously for half a month. Natural disasters are hard to resist. Nine feet of thunder in the sky, sweeping across thousands of miles. East Sea Dragon King Water, alas! "Li Bai recited a few lines and suddenly lost interest in composing a poem. He sighed with a worried expression.
Wang Wei smacked his lips and also felt bored. Suddenly, he thought of an important matter and said, "Half of the houses in the city should be gone. Why is there no water?"
As he spoke, his eyes followed the rainwater that fell to the ground and converged into a river. He showed a gratified expression and said, "It turns out that drainage ditches have been dug. Look over there, there are wooden stakes nailed. They are afraid that people will accidentally fall in and be washed away."
Li Bai followed his gaze and found that it was indeed the case. The converging small rivers flowed into the man-made drainage ditches and surged out into the distance.
"In this case, the local officials are a group of capable officials. Why did the imperial court send us here?"
For a moment, Li Bai felt that the imperial court was a bit stupid.
Just as Wang Wei was about to nod his head in agreement, many silhouettes suddenly appeared in the rain. There were both young and old. Some of them were wearing raincoats, while others were letting the rain fall on them. Their clothes were wet and stuck to their bodies when the wind blew.
"Dad, dad, here, here is the bun shop in the east of the city. Dad, let's go. Mom, there are buns to eat." A seven or eight-year-old boy shouted excitedly in the rain. He pointed at the sign of the breakfast shop with his little hand and pulled the clothes of a woman with his other hand.
Seeing the people who suddenly appeared, Wang Wei was stunned. From their clothes, it could be seen that the living conditions of this group of people should be good. They were wearing fine cotton clothes and shoes with layers of soles. Although there was a trace of the vicissitudes of life on their faces, it only showed that they were hardworking.
It was normal for children to know how to read and write. They were taught in school. Their faces were full of baby fat. At first glance, it was obvious that they ate nutritious food.
The problem was, why did this group of people not stay at home but go out in the rain? Also, why didn't children go to school?
While they were puzzled, a group of people squeezed into the restaurant. Some of them went to look for the owner of the restaurant. Wang Wei and Li Bai couldn't clearly hear what the person said to the owner of the restaurant.
After a while, the newcomers found a place to sit down despite the humidity. Another woman served them food. Everyone was given a large bowl of millet porridge, but there were no deep-fried dough sticks, steamed buns, or biscuits.
Only the child had a peeled boiled egg in front of him, and there was rice in the porridge.
Without waiting for Li Bai and Wang Wei to ask out of curiosity, the woman opened her mouth first and said to the person who came later, "The county only gives us twenty copper coins a day to help with the disaster relief, and we can only give the money after the heavy rain and before winter. Furthermore, we are all on credit, so we really don't have anything else to give. Madam, give the child some deep-fried dough sticks."
The owner came out with a fried dough stick in his hand and placed it in front of the child. The child obediently stood up and bowed, "Thank you, uncle."
The owner was very happy and hurried into the restaurant. When he came out, he had a big goose egg in his hand, which was obviously salty. He also placed it in front of the child.
The child thanked the owner again and quickly peeled the goose egg. He used his chopsticks to dig out the oily yellow part and put it in his mother's bowl. Then, he tore more than half of the deep-fried dough sticks and put them in his father's bowl. He put the egg in front of the old man and prevented others from returning the food. He said, "I can read at home, so listen to me."
As for the other adults, they didn't seem to be from the same family, so he didn't care.
Li Bai and Wang Wei saw this and looked at each other for a moment. Then, Li Bai said, "Add two steamed buns for each of you. Put it on us."
Seeing that someone was willing to pay, the owner of the restaurant naturally wouldn't stop them. He took out the steamed buns and gave them to them one by one. Everyone quickly stood up and thanked Li Bai and Wang Wei.
Li Bai and Wang Wei were not in a hurry to leave. They sat down and asked the owner to serve them some cold meat dishes with wine. They also used this as an excuse to drink two bowls of wine. They ate and drank while listening to others talk.
As they listened, their expressions became serious. Li Bai, who had previously praised the county officials as capable officials, also stopped praising them.
It turned out that apart from the county seat, all other places in Hongnong County had been washed away. In order to prevent the county seat from being washed away, the Honglu River had long been dug out.
This was nothing to Wang Wei and Li Bai. It was very normal. In Zhang Xiaobao's book on how to resist disasters, it mentioned that if things didn't work out, the first thing to do was to rush to the villages to protect the cities.
It wasn't that the villages weren't important. This rush referred to settling down the people in the villages. They only rushed for the land and houses in the villages, not the people. This was because if the cities were washed away, it would cost a lot of money to rebuild them. It was several times, or even dozens or hundreds of times more than the villages.
The problem didn't lie in this. It was about the property when the people were talking.
As a place between Chang 'an and Luoyang, the scale of the breeding industry in Hongnong was very large. It was close to the river. There were ponds for ducks and geese, groups of pigs, cows, and sheep, and countless chickens. Needless to say, the fish and shrimps couldn't be sold. Taking advantage of the convenience of the Yellow River, the salt transported from Jili Province was mixed with the fish and shrimps and put into jars to make marinated sauce.
From the clothes these people were wearing and the education of their children, it could be seen that the lives of the people in Hongnong were not bad.
Since they were not bad, what about money? What about things? Could it be that when they were avoiding the flood, they didn't bring other animals and money with them?
Li Bai and Wang Wei, who were surprised, continued to listen. After listening for about half an hour, they understood.
Apart from the county seat, the people in the other places in Hongnong were all brought to the county seat by the county officials. Before the Honglu River and its tributaries reached the point where they were about to burst, they were dug out in advance. Because the materials used in the construction were all solid stones and cement, it was quite difficult to dig them out.
The river was opened, and with the continuous heavy rain, the county officials made a lot of guarantees, so the people followed. As for the various kinds of things, household appliances, and money, they were all made into booklets and said that they would be given them after the disaster.
For those who didn't agree, they were either forced to carry out the order or left in the place where they were, regardless of the flood.
Therefore, after several inspections and body searches, these people had no money on them. They could only wait for the county seat's yamen to help them.
Although the county seat didn't give them food, Chang Pingcang didn't open the gate no matter what. He only distributed the people who were brought to the various restaurants and shops to eat. He didn't give the restaurants and shops cash, and he owed them money on credit.
When these several things were put together, it gave people a very awkward feeling.
Wang Wei was from the Ministry of Works, but he had worked in the local area before. He was in charge of the warehouse, and it was not far from here. He had also been taught by Xu Si. Seeing that something was wrong, he asked Li Bai, "Brother Taibai, what do you want to say?"
Li Bai was from the Ministry of Revenue. Even if he didn't want to take the initiative to learn, he had to do the forms and listen to the reports. Under the influence of others, he had a little understanding of money.
After hearing Wang Wei's question, he felt a little dry in his mouth. He drank a big mouthful of wine and took a deep breath. He said, "This means that someone is in urgent need of money and dared to go to the natural disaster. He or she took advantage of it. He or she is smart, but he didn't use it in the right place. He or she has evil intentions, so we …"
"So we were sent here. It seems that the Emperor knows about it and doesn't trust the local officials anymore. He sent us two officials from the imperial court to deal with this person." Wang Wei was a little angry, but also a little proud. He thought that him and Li Bai coming here showed that the imperial court attached great importance to this matter and put the burden on them.
Li Bai nodded his head vigorously. His eyes were full of determination and solemnity.
Of course, they would never know that Li Longji sent them here to test them. One was to test their ability, and the other was to test whether or not they were honest. Li Longji really trusted the nine children who were about to get off the train. If the two of them did well, then the nine children were just here to play. If they didn't do well, then no matter how difficult the situation was, and no matter whether they were in cahoots, Xiaobei and the others would take care of it.
*****
The train stopped at Hongnong Station amidst the ear-piercing sound of brakes. Hundreds of people rushed out of the carriage. As soon as they reached the platform, they scattered in all directions and soon disappeared in the rain.
The five people who had been at the platform for three days looked around in confusion. One of them said, "There are so many people today. They are in a hurry. They don't look like officials. Do you think there will be officials who didn't bring any attendants and directly entered the city to investigate?"
The person next to him was also confused. After thinking carefully, he said with relief, "What are you afraid of? If there really is an official who went in alone, he won't be able to do anything. The city only allows people to enter and not leave. Look, what's that?"
As the man spoke, he pointed at the carriages behind the bus that had just passed by. The bus in front had left, but the carriages behind were being dragged onto another track by a group of mules. The speed was very slow, and it was obvious that the things in the carriages were heavy.
"Let's go and have a look." The person who spoke first rushed over. Because of the independence of the railway system, they couldn't get information from inside the railway.
The five people went over and waited for a while. When all the carriages were in, the canvas covering the top was opened. There was an oilcloth inside. Looking carefully, they found that it was rice.
"Food." The person who spoke first spat out two words. He seemed very nervous. The other four people's expressions also changed.
The second person who spoke looked around and said, "Quick, go back and report that food is here. Who is so powerful to know that the price of food in Hongnong County has increased?"
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