I have a book to play

Sun Peng never expected that the situation in Jinling was so serious.

There is a long way from the official post to the county government office. Although there are still people on this part of the road, there are only a few here and there in twos and threes.As long as Sun Peng stopped one person and asked where the Jinling county government was going, that person would look distressed, shake his head and sigh.

An old woman was packing up the straw sandals she hadn't sold, and she raised her head and shouted, "Don't go, the county government is empty."

Sun Peng was startled, and turned to look at the wolfberry.Gou Qi was obviously a little bit taken aback, the post officer didn't mention the fact that there was no one in the Jinling county government at all.

"This benefactor, why is there no one in the county government office?" Xie Chen stepped forward a few steps, and respectfully performed a Namaste salute.

"Master, let's be honest, our Jinling County is almost empty."

While the old woman was speaking, her gaze fell from Xie Chen's side to Sun Peng's body: "This young gentleman seems to be from a good family, so let's go early and don't stay here. People in this county are running and running. The ones left are either wealthy families or ordinary people like us who can’t leave and deserve to starve to death.”

Seeing Sun Peng frowning, the old lady shook her head: "Master Huang is gone, what are you going to do in the county government?" After she finished speaking, she stretched out her hand like dry wood helplessly, and pointed in a distant direction, "Here, go Go there, turn another corner and go straight, and you will see the county government office. The county government office is empty and there is no one there."

After ordering someone to take the old woman home, Sun Peng continued on his way to the Jinling County Government Office.

Just now at the official post, Gou Qi got some news from the post official.

The beginning of spring at the beginning of the year, as usual, should be the season of continuous spring rain in Changzhou, but unexpectedly, there has been no rain in Changzhou for several months.In the early days, the farmland could be irrigated by several rivers beside it for people to drink.In summer, seeing that the rain was still not falling, the local people in Changzhou couldn't sit still, and they invited monks and Taoists to open altars to practice, hoping to call the wind and rain with the help of magic tricks.

Jinling is the place that produces the most grain in Changzhou. Naturally, the common people attach great importance to rainfall.In order not to reduce the production of their rice fields, the large households in Jinling County with thousands of acres of land began to secretly dig canals and divert some rivers to divert water into their rice fields.

In autumn, there was still no rain in Changzhou, and the people were miserable.

The rice in Jinling died in thousands of fields, and even the water used for irrigation finally became something that the rich families drank for their own survival. They even sent servants to patrol the water's edge day and night, for fear that the common people would steal it.

Such days seem to have no energy.But everyone is still looking forward to the day when nectar will suddenly fall from the sky.Only Mr. Huang, the magistrate of Jinling County, thinks about it day and night. He is less than forty years old, and his temples are graying.

The occurrence of the locust plague is especially sudden at this time.

The migratory locusts that came overwhelmingly occupied all the rice fields quickly, and even flew into people's homes, gnawing on everything that could be gnawed.

The locust plague spread nearly half of Changzhou, and seeing it getting worse and worse, the people had no choice but to pack up their clothes, run away, escape from Jinling, and flee from all parts of Changzhou.

However, there are more people who cannot part with their homeland and do not want to leave.

Whenever Lord Huang sees the people crying bitterly, he hates himself even more for being just a parent official.He kept writing to the governor of Changzhou, asking the governor to open warehouses to release grain and ask the court for support in order to save the people affected by the disaster.

But for some reason, the news of the opening of the granary and the delivery of food never came. Master Huang's only son, who was still in his infancy, cried for several days, and by the second day, he had a high fever and starved to death.The nanny, who was so hungry that she had no milk because of lack of food, knelt and wailed in front of Mrs. Huang, who was weak and had no milk after giving birth.

Master Huang was discovered by his servants and hanged himself in the study.

Thinking about the news that Gou Qi had inquired about, Sun Peng was inevitably a little distracted.There was a carriage speeding past at the intersection, almost hitting someone.Xie Chen stretched out his hand and pulled him to his side. The carriage passed by his eyes quickly at this moment, and he roared like a handlebar: "Where did the blind man come from, can't you see our master's carriage? Don't try to hit him to death." extort money!"

Sun Peng frowned, and looked back at the carriage running away: "Jinling has reached the point where the people are struggling to live, and there are still such arrogant and domineering dog slaves?"

"There are big families who don't want to leave. After all, the property is in Jinling, and no one knows what will happen after they leave." After Xie Chen finished speaking, he raised his hand and brushed Sun Peng's shoulder, "Let's go, the county is ahead. It's over."

Sun Peng nodded. Sure enough, they didn't go far, and they saw the Jinling County Government Office.

Mr. Huang, the magistrate of Jinling County, is only in his early thirties, but he has served in Jinling County for seven years.

Mr. Huang was born in the imperial examination, but he has nowhere to go, and he is already very capable to get a county magistrate.But the county magistrate is just a county magistrate, and on top of the county magistrate, there are all the officials of the state and county, especially the governor at the top, who is not easy to offend no matter what.

When Sun Peng first saw the Jinling county government office, his jaw dropped in shock.

Where is this county government office? It is clearly like an old mountain house that has been dilapidated for many years.The Dengwen drum at the door was covered with cobwebs, and the door was open, but there was no one inside.

"Is it really empty?"

Sun Peng didn't believe in such a big county government. Once the county magistrate died, the rest of the people would all run away.

Xie Chen moved his footsteps and stood in front of Dengwen's drum.The drumsticks were thrown on the side, but there was a layer of dust on them, obviously it might not have been moved for a long time.

Xie Chen didn't care at all, reached out to pick up the drumstick, and hit it with a "boom" for the first time.

"Dong dong dong".

The Dengwen drum, which hadn't been played for a long time, every time it was played, Sun Peng could see the layer of ash falling from the drum surface.

And at this time, someone finally rushed out of the county office.

"Wh... who?"

The speaker stuttered a little, and he stood nervously at the door, looking back and forth at the person with his eyes, full of vigilance.

"Excuse me, is the Jinling county magistrate here?" Sun Peng cleared his throat and asked, "I would like to see the magistrate."

That stammer opened his mouth, as if afraid of saying something wrong, he hesitated.

Sun Peng said again: "My next son, Sun Peng, is the new supervisory censor of Jiangnan Dongdao." As he spoke, he took out a waist card, and the word "supervising censor" was clearly engraved on the hanging sign.

The stutterer was obviously literate, and he knew what the official position of the supervisory censor was, so his face changed immediately, and he said "wait, wait", and hurried back with his left foot and right foot.After a while, the people ran back again, but this time there were several more people behind them, all of them were ashen-faced, yellow and emaciated.

The surname of the county magistrate in Jinling County is Sun, and it is said that he and Sun Peng belonged to the same family 800 years ago.Sun Xiancheng looked at the document badge handed over by Gou Qi, and seemed to be suddenly relieved, his legs gave way, and he almost fell to the ground.

Behind him, the master and stammer quickly supported him, and led Sun Peng and his party into the inner hall.

Sun Peng had just taken his seat, and before he had time to ask, he stuttered and began to howl suddenly. Looking at Sun Xiancheng and the chief secretary, their eyes were also red, as if they had been aggrieved for a long time, and finally found A place to vent.

Sun Peng looked at Xie Chen with some surprise, the latter frowned slightly, showing a serious look on his face for the first time.

After Sun Xiancheng and others finished crying, Sun Peng finally knew the cause of Master Huang's death.

It is true that Mr. Huang committed suicide by hanging himself, but the reason why Mr. Huang had no choice but to hang himself was the governor of Changzhou.

Drought and locust plagues caused famine, causing countless people in Jinling to have no food to eat and no land to plant. Even the autumn harvest that was supposed to have disappeared in a blink of an eye.

More and more people died of hunger and thirst, and more and more people had to be displaced.

In order to survive for themselves, the big households cut off the last water for the people's lives, closed their own granaries, drove up the price of grain in the city, and earned more money against their conscience.

For the sake of the people, Mr. Huang appealed to the governor of Changzhou several times, hoping that the governor could appeal to the court, even if it was just to open a warehouse in Changzhou to release food, it would be better than letting the people starve to death.However, the governor of Changzhou not only had no news, he even concealed the famine that occurred in various places under the jurisdiction of Changzhou.

Master Huang went to the governor's mansion to beg in person, but was scolded by the servants of the governor's mansion.He had no choice but to go back to Jinling, looked at the starving people on the side of the road, and returned to the county government in a daze. What was waiting for him was his son who was waiting to be fed, and the expectant eyes of everyone around him.

"Master Huang locked himself in the study all night. We all thought that the lord was just depressed and wanted to be quiet, and no one dared to disturb him. Even the little man was hungry and sick, so we had no choice but to go along the street to ask for help. Order uncooked rice and come back to cook some rice soup and feed it. Let's... our county government really doesn't even have any rice, so where does the nanny have milk to feed Xiao Langjun..."

"But who would have thought that Mr. Xiaolang would be gone after just one night's effort. Madam almost passed out from crying, so we had to go to the adults. But when we opened the door of the study, what we saw was... My lord hanged himself from a beam, his body was already frozen."

Sun Xiancheng is nearly forty years old, and he was not born in the imperial examination. He was promoted to this position by Mr. Huang himself after he took office.

Now this big man is crying like a dead family member, which inevitably makes Sun Peng feel sympathetic.

"Master Yushi," Sun Xiancheng looked at Sun Peng, although he hesitated why the newly appointed Supervisor Yushi was so young, but he dared not underestimate him, "Master Huang left some things in his life, my lord Do you want to take a look?"

Sun Peng nodded, and heard Xie Chen whisper "Amitabha" from the side. He immediately asked, "After Mr. Huang passed away, what happened to his wife...?"

The master went to the study to get something, Sun Xiancheng wiped his tears, and rubbed his hands a little embarrassedly: "Master Yushi, madam... madam, she is still staying in the county office." As if afraid of Sun Peng's displeasure, Sun The county magistrate hurriedly said, "The governor hasn't reported the famine in Jinling and other places to the court. I'm afraid even the fact that Mr. Huang has passed away is still hidden from the court for a while. We... We want to wait for the new county magistrate to take office The madam moved out of the county office. After all, the madam is a girl, and now she is a widow again, sick and weak, leaving the county office, I am afraid that no one will be able to take care of her..."

Sun Peng didn't care about these things, and proposed to visit Mrs. Huang, but the county magistrate shook his head.

"My lord, don't go. Madam's health has not been very good since she gave birth. Now that my lord and Mr. Xiaolang have passed away, Madam... Madam's sanity is already a little unclear. If you go here at this time, the little ones don't know what will happen." won't hurt you."

Sun Peng was silent, seeing that he no longer asked to see his wife, Sun Xiancheng couldn't help but heaved a sigh of relief.For a while, the atmosphere in the inner hall was a little stagnant.At this time, the master has already rushed back with the things Mr. Huang left behind in his life.

Those were some brochures, which were well kept by Sun Xiancheng and the others.One by one stacked together, densely packed in a box.

Sun Peng opened the box, picked up the top booklet from inside, and flipped through it carefully, his expression changed drastically.

"Can I take these things away temporarily?" Sun Peng closed the box and said solemnly.

Sun Xiancheng was startled, and looked at Sun Peng nervously: "This is... what's wrong?"

Sun Peng took a deep breath, but he didn't dare to say it to death: "Everything here is Master Huang's hard work." He paused, "Before Master Huang died, he was thinking about the people of Jinling."

Sun Xiancheng did not stop the contents of that box, and personally sent Sun Peng and his party out of the county office.

When he was far away, Sun Peng still couldn't help but look back.

At the gate of the county government office, the middle-aged man, who was thin and not in good spirits, still clasped his hands and bowed to see him off.

"Master." Sun Peng turned his head, the box in his hand was heavy, pressing on his heart like a boulder, "I want to save them. I want to replace Master Huang and save these common people."

Xie Chen's footsteps paused slightly, Sun Peng seemed unaware, and continued to walk forward, unaware that the man beside him was half a step behind him.

It was not until a long time later that he came back to his senses and turned to look.

Xie Chen stood where he was, the corners of his lips unexpectedly curved into a beautiful arc: "Okay."