Overlord's Road to Ancient Emperors

On the tenth day after Kou Xiao left, Li Xu finally received the first letter from the disaster area. Because the road was blocked, there had been no news for a long time. Everyone was waiting for news from Kou Xiao.

While opening the letter, Li Xu asked, "How is the situation over there?"

The little soldier who delivered the letter bowed his head and knelt on the ground, "There are roads blocked along the way. I will go all the way, and pass through the road as I go. It will be eight days later when I arrive at Shanghang County. As soon as I arrived at the county seat, the general sent a villain to the prince. Send a letter, so the villain is not clear about the specific situation."

Hearing what he said, Li Xu told him to go down to rest, and then read the letter seriously.

There were only a few words in the letter, and it was all about things on the road. It was true that he hadn't seen the situation in the disaster area as he said, and this letter was just to report Li Xu's safety.

Li Xu wrote back to him, and mentioned in the letter that he would arrange for another batch of supplies to be transported there. According to the situation along the way, the affected places may be more serious than imagined.

Arranging for the soldier to rest for one night, Li Xu asked him to leave with a reply the next morning, and then went to the county guard's mansion to dispatch supplies.

Ji Hanyu is busy with the planting of the second season, and he is also battered. He is not proficient in farming, and only a few agricultural officials such as Zhong Shuiqing can rely on them, but they only know how to farm. Ji Hanyu was frightened by the calculation of the number of acres of wasteland.

"In previous years, the grain was harvested and then planted. There are not many grains in the warehouse. Although some of them have been purchased, the quantity is still much lower than the wasteland that has been reclaimed. What should I do?" Seeing that the second season of rice is about to start sowing, Ji Hanyu can't be sloppy at all.

Li Xu looked through the account book, and it was almost double the number that Ji Hanyu reported to him at the beginning. He pointed to the second half of the account book and asked: "It was clearly written in the decree that the deadline was one month, and it will be reported later." What is the amount of wasteland coming up?"

"There are batches of reports from all over the country. The local county magistrate only said that it was delayed because the previous statistics were not timely."

Li Xu took out the account books of a county alone, asked for a pen and paper, and calculated the per capita cultivated land in this county. After doing this calculation, he almost vomited blood, so he took the data of Zhangyi County and placed it in front of Ji Hanyu. , "Look at these two numbers, what can you see?"

The two numbers, one big and one small, are naturally clear at first glance, but Ji Hanyu doesn't know what these two numbers represent, "Please tell me clearly, my lord."

"This is the amount of cultivated land per capita in the local area. Zhangyi County has only 21 mu per capita, but Puxi County has 21 mu. This is just the amount of cultivated land not including cultivated land. The king would like to ask, this person is [-] mu. What is the basis for plowing the mu of land? Because of the salt fields in Zhangyi, many people are vying to do salt work, and the number of people farming is relatively small, but the ratio cannot be too different, not to mention that the average person includes children. And the old man, do you think a family of five can grow hundreds of acres of land?"

Ji Hanyu took a deep breath, and said with a serious face, "Your official will arrange for people to go to the counties to re-investigate."

Li Xu shook his head and said: "There must be an investigation, but it is too late to start the investigation at this time." He opened the account book and wiped out the half that was delayed in reporting, "Tell them that the time is clearly stipulated in the decree. Even if it exceeds one day, it doesn’t count, and we must be strict when we should be strict. We are already doing good deeds, but we can’t let them lead us by the nose. How to give and how much to give are up to us.”

Ji Hanyu is still too immature. He is no worse than others in terms of knowledge, and he is considered above-average in politics, but he still lacks experience in practice.

But this cannot be learned overnight, he can only rely on his own experience to gradually accumulate experience, Li Xu himself is not a politician, let alone an expert, and his knowledge is limited.

Half of the account books have been removed, and for the remaining part, Li Xu still asked him to find someone to count the per capita arable land in each county, but if it exceeded five, he would arrange for someone to conduct a thorough investigation, "You can choose a few honest and reliable officials to form an inspection team. Inspections in various places, not only the amount of land, but also taxation, etc., can be included in the year-end evaluation. This year, the palace has made a lot of money. At the end of the year, the king will distribute bonuses to officials at all levels. Whether they send more or less depends on their performance this year. It's up to you to do it, and the specific plan must be written out before October."

Ji Hanyu knew that this was a great opportunity for Li Xu to buy people's hearts. Everyone likes to give money. If he takes the lead in doing this, the officials who get the benefits will naturally remember him well, and the rewards are linked to the year-end evaluation. What to do next year has to be reconsidered, and he is bound to be a little bit afraid of him, the county magistrate who can control life and death.

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Kou Xiao ate a dry rice cake and took a sip of rainwater. The rain was so heavy that the group of them could only hide in the woods, unable to set up a camp or light a fire. Fortunately, there was still dry food, so they would not starve to death.

"What the hell kind of weather is this? It rains every day, and the roads everywhere are not smooth, and a short distance can't be covered in a day." Zhao Gang took off his clothes and wrung out the water, then hung them on the tree trunk to dry, although it was impossible to dry , but at any rate will not continue to drip.

With a banana leaf on his head and a raincoat on his body, Kou Xiao was also empty inside. He chewed rice crackers and said, "Go and invite the county magistrate here. This general wants to question me."

After Kou Xiao arrived in Shanghang County, he first went to the county government office, but no one from top to bottom in the county government office could explain the situation of the disaster clearly, whether it was serious or not, and the officials who had gone to investigate the disaster situation never returned, and it was unknown whether they were trapped The mountains were still buried by loess.

Kou Xiao didn't care about prosecuting officials for the crime of dereliction of duty, and took the county magistrate, county magistrate and several officials in power to go to the countryside together. After walking for two days, he was still circling in the mountains, but the heavy rain kept falling, and roads were blocked everywhere. , they couldn't move an inch.

The county magistrate was a short, fat man, drenched all over, and knelt in front of Kou Xiao tremblingly, "What do you want the general to do?"

"Is there anyone in the county government who is familiar with the terrain here? If so, go and call some, and when will you be able to reach your destination if you go around like this."

"Yes, there are. Xiaguan's entourage is from Nanyang Town. Xiaguan will call people here."

Kou Xiao was so angry that he kicked him, "Didn't the guide say earlier that you think you don't drink enough rainwater?"

"No, no, sir... I just don't dare." General Kou didn't ask questions, he had been hiding at the back of the line, how could he dare to raise his head to offer opinions, this is a murderer who never blinks an eye.

Ever since Kou Xiao stepped into the county government office, the county magistrate felt that his head was not safe and that he would be snapped sooner or later. In this state of mind, he dared not appear in front of Kou Xiao.

The entourage was right behind him, and when he heard his name, he hurried forward, Kou Xiao only asked, "Is there any other way to Nanyang Town?"

"Back to the general, I have tried all three ways, but they didn't work. I don't know if there are other ways."

Seeing that he was still calm, Kou Xiao ordered him to stand up and point in the direction, "Which side of this position is Nanyang? Since there is no way, then open a new way out."

The forest is full of trees, and it is impossible to tell the direction at all. The attendant shook his head and said, "I don't know, I only know that Nanyang is to the west of Shanghang."

Kou Xiao is good at military formations and is very sensitive to the position. He stuffed the last bite of rice cake into his mouth and clapped his hands. "Rest for another quarter of an hour, and then all the staff will set off. We must get out of this mountain before nightfall." At this time, he missed the concrete road very much. Neither could be found.

A quarter of an hour later, the team marched in the direction indicated by Kou Xiao, cut down trees when they encountered trees, and crossed rivers when they encountered them. Everyone alternately opened the way ahead, and finally reached the mountain before dark.

There is a small path at the foot of the mountain, and there is still smoke from cooking in the distance, Kou Xiao looked back at both ends of this path, and asked the attendant: "Which way to go?"

The attendant said uncertainly: "The villain has never been to this place before."

Zhao Gang slapped him, "Aren't you from Nanyang Town? Why don't you know what to ask?"

"General Mingjian, the villain went to the county town to seek a living when he was ten years old, and he hasn't returned home for many years, so he doesn't remember very well."

Zhao Gang muttered: "No wonder I heard that Nanyang Town is gone, and I haven't seen you sad. Do you still have relatives and friends in the town?"

The entourage shook his head and said, "Nanyang Town is surrounded by mountains, if it is really buried in the mud, it may be difficult to find a way out."

Kou Xiao didn't dare to waste time, and led the people to continue to the west. Judging from the distance, it is absolutely impossible for them to walk for a day and fail to arrive. If they don't see it, they will go back and walk in another direction.

At this time, there was no complete map, and people who were not familiar with each town could not tell. Many towns were just a name and a rough location. The county magistrate might not go there once in his life. He was sent out but didn't come back, Kou Xiao's eyes were darkened and he was caught blind.

Fortunately, his judgment was correct. After walking for two hours, they came across a small village with only a few families. Half of the village's fertile land was covered by mud and rocks. Fortunately, the villagers were safe and sound.

From the mouth of the villagers, Kou Xiao learned that Nanyang Town was nearby, and that the river of mud and rocks probably flowed from the direction of Nanyang Town.

Kou Xiao couldn't walk directly over the mudslide, so he could only walk along the side of the mountainside. The night fell and the rain had stopped, but there was no starlight or moonlight on the top of the dark clouds, and the surroundings were quiet except for silence.

The torches were extinguished not long after burning, and Kou Xiao had no choice but to order: "Stop, each find a place to rest, and leave after dawn."

Everyone didn't sleep well that night, and no one knew whether there were corpses buried in the mudslide below, or what the road ahead was, whether they could still see an intact town.

Before dawn, Kou Xiao opened his eyes, no drowsiness left, and called the county magistrate's entourage to ask, "Are there many villages around Nanyang Town?"

"There are a few that are close, and those that are further away are small villages, similar to the one I passed by last night. The big villages are almost all around the town."

This is really not good news. Zhao Gang and Kou Jiajun woke up one after another. Someone found dry leaves to light a fire. The dry leaves that had been drenched by the rain emitted thick smoke, and the rest of the people also woke up.

It was getting brighter, but there was no sunlight. Kou Xiao washed his face with water from the ditch, took out a booklet from his arms and looked through it. This is a list of supplies written by Li Xu himself. It was written with a quill pen. Scribbled, it can be seen that Li Xu's quill pen is smoother than that of a brush, which is something Kou Xiao can't understand.

This is the only thing beside him that was used by Li Xu. He hides it in his arms and looks at it from time to time to relieve the pain of lovesickness. If he knew that the road to disaster relief is so difficult, he should have asked Li Xu for a few personal objects. , I don’t know if I will get a few more punches.

Thinking of the way Li Xu waved his fist at him, Kou Xiao inexplicably felt that it was also a kind of happiness, and the days when he couldn't even see each other was suffering.