I have a book to play

The situation in Jinling is becoming more and more tense, and the people who can leave are leaving one after another.But Changzhou has a vast area, and if you want to escape the famine completely, you may not be able to get out of this area within three to five days.

But at this time, the winter snow began to fall again.

When Sun Peng came out of Wuyin Prison, he was quite surprised to learn that Xie Chen had exposed his identity as a prince in front of others.

You must know that during the journey from the capital to the south of the Yangtze River, when he settled in various official posts, in front of the officials who heard the news, he always claimed to be an ordinary wandering monk and never revealed his identity.

Sun Peng was grateful for this, but the more serious disasters in Jinling left Wuyin, so he didn't have time to do it and say thank you to others.

Back in Jinling, Sun Peng followed the county magistrate around the city and outside the city every day under the stars and the moon.The number of people who died of starvation and thirst increased every day, and the food stock in the county government had bottomed out. Even Sun Peng and his party could only reduce their rations, drinking one or two bowls of gruel for each meal, and even less water for washing. There are very few of them.

Just as important as drinking water and food is cleaning up the corpse.

"Fortunately, the weather is cold now, and the corpses on the side of the road will not rot so quickly. Otherwise, the corpses cannot be disposed of in time, and I'm afraid there will be epidemics soon."

Sun Xiancheng rode a donkey and led Sun Peng along the side of the road.From a distance, I saw an old woman hanging halfway on the mouth of the well not far away, and hurriedly asked people to go over to have a look.Sure enough, it was another skinny corpse.

Sun Peng didn't go far, and when the old woman at the mouth of the well was carried away by the yamen, he took a few steps closer and bent down to look at the bottom of the well.

"This well has bottomed out a long time ago." Sun Xiancheng got off the donkey's back in embarrassment, and looked around at the desolate scene, "When I came to this village a few days ago, there were still three or four families who just walked all the way. I’m afraid they’re all gone. They fled, or they may have died somewhere.”

Sun Peng was silent, seeing that the bottom of the well was really dry and even the stones were clearly visible, so he straightened up: Flood and drought are disasters, and there are many places that are spared, but the drought is extreme and locusts.For thousands of miles, the vegetation is exhausted. "

"Master Yushi has read "Nongzheng Quanshu"?"

"The elders in my family once said that once you become an official, you need to know a little about agriculture, industry and commerce, and you can't be ignorant."

"That makes sense."

Sun Xiancheng nodded, knelt down, and dug out a handful of soil: "This plague of locusts comes and goes quickly, and when the weather is cold, they will die, but the locusts lay eggs in the soil before they die. I'm afraid there will be many more in the coming year."

"Is there any way to prevent it?"

"Part of the farmland can be dug up and turned into farmland fertilizer. But it's only a part. But if the weather is good in the coming year, you don't have to worry too much about the locust plague. In the end, it depends on whether God will be merciful."

Sun Peng didn't speak anymore after hearing the sound.Regarding the issue of food and silver, he and Xie Chen have initially discussed the countermeasures, but as for the water, they can only take one step at a time.

In the past few days, after running forward and running, he has realized that besides Jinling, Yi'an and other places have also suffered from famine, drought and locust plagues.Wuyin had the least impact, but the lives of the common people were not easy.But based on the evidence collected so far, Ren Cuiyuan, the governor of Changzhou, must lose his official position, and may even beheaded for public display.

But Sun Peng still couldn't figure out why Ren Cuiyuan wanted to hide the disaster.

This is a natural disaster, not man-made.Since it is a natural disaster, why hide it?

"Actually, there are many places in Changzhou, backed by green mountains, with beautiful mountains and clear waters, and unique scenery. If Lord Yushi came last year, Lord Huang would be happy to take him to climb the mountains and look at the clouds in his spare time."

Just after leaving the village that had been completely wiped out, the government servants dragged a heavy cart and struggled to follow Sun County Cheng's donkey.

"Master Huang likes mountains and rivers, and loves to splash ink when he is free. My wife's ancestors were tea merchants. The couple have climbed the mountains near Jinling in the past few years. My wife also picked a lot of wild tea back. It's just that in recent years, there are often strange phenomena in this mountain, and the common people say that the mountain god is angry. Gradually, even fewer people go hunting on the mountain. Mr. Huang and his wife have not climbed the mountain for a long time."

Just as he was talking, Sun Xiancheng suddenly noticed that Sun Peng had stopped, and looked back.

The latter squinted his eyes and looked towards the distant mountains: "In the mountains... there are often visions?"

"Yes," Sun Xiancheng nodded, "It's rumbling, and sometimes the ground shakes."

"Has no one checked out what's going on?"

"Master Huang once sent someone to look at it, but they didn't find anything strange. Moreover, not only our Jinling, but also Wuyin, Yi'an and other places are said to be in the same situation. The people all said that this is the mountain god. Get angry."

Whether it is a mountain god or not, Sun Peng does not know, but most likely someone is pretending to be a ghost.

On the way back to Jinling, Sun Peng was silent all the time. Sun Xiancheng knew that he was thinking about something, so he didn't bother him, but kept walking along the road to check the conditions of the fields.

At the gate of the county government office, Sun Xiancheng was about to get off the donkey's back. Sun Peng stepped forward, dismounted and walked up the steps, and said a word.

"Sun Xiancheng, prepare some strong men in three days, I want to go up the mountain."

"Hey?"

"I'm going to see why this 'mountain god' has been angry."

*****

Sun Peng's letter must have reached Yushitai by now.He didn't know whether the imperial court was willing to order the imperial envoys to send food relief to the victims, but it was far from quenching thirst.He discussed with Xie Chen for several nights, and he has already made a preliminary plan.

It snowed heavily all night, and the next day, the heavy snow rested for the first time, and the accumulated water from the snow was boiled, temporarily solving the water problem for a day or two.

Although the water canals were changed, it was not impossible to drink water, but most of the gentry and wealthy businessmen dared to underestimate the heavy snow that night, and sent people to fill cans quickly.

At this time, there were servants from the Yamen who sent invitations to them one by one.

"Where did the post come from?"

"It was sent by the Jinling County Government."

"Master Huang is dead, what else does Sun Xiancheng want to do, what is the eldest prince, isn't the eldest prince... the eldest... the eldest prince?!"

Invitations from the Jinling County Government, like butterflies, were sent to the local gentry and wealthy merchants in Jinling who had not yet left.

On the invitation card, it clearly stated that the former prince of Da Chu, the eldest prince who has been a monk for a long time, will summon everyone in the Jinling county government.

Could it be that they want to take the opportunity to search for another layer of people's fat and people's ointment?

What is the purpose here, no one knows.A wealthy businessman hurriedly sent someone to the governor's mansion to deliver a letter, and Ren Cuiyuan was also taken aback.

He finally dug out the letter sent by Wang's family in the capital and read it carefully.

Looking at it, he couldn't sleep for several days and nights, complaining in his heart why he was so unlucky.Emperor Xihe sent several supervisory censors to take up his post, but how could he come to Jiangnan Dongdao, and the person he bumped into was actually the son of Dali Siqing.

It was nothing more than a supervisory censor, but the eldest prince came after him.

The Wang family is the first, and although the eldest prince is a monk, he is a competitor for the throne after all.

This... this... this one or two, how could he be so unlucky to meet them all!

"My lord... My lord... This man is still waiting outside to answer, what do you want to order?"

"What orders! Tell them to figure it out! That's the prince, the prince! What can I order!"

The steward shrank his neck from the training, and was about to go out to answer, when Ren Cuiyuan suddenly stopped him again.

"Go, arrange some other people to go to the mountain to watch over it, and don't let people touch the mountain."

"All the mountains?" the steward asked in a low voice.

Ren Cuiyuan gritted his teeth: "All."

What Ren Cuiyuan wanted to bring to the Jinling gentry and wealthy businessman was really at a loss.

When everyone arrived at the county government office one after another, Sun Xiancheng, who used to be busy with Mr. Huang, now ran around with a bald monk, couldn't help opening his mouth and laughing when he saw people.

Under the introduction of Sun Xiancheng, everyone realized that the monk in front of them was actually the eldest prince who wanted to summon them.A group of people hurriedly greeted each other.

Xie Chen stopped their hypocrisy, and said bluntly: "Everyone, do you know that there are natural disasters all over Changzhou, and the people are struggling to live?"

These days, the rich merchants are not just staying in their respective mansions, they naturally know everything about it clearly: "Your Highness, forgive me, this natural disaster is really..."

Xie Chen clasped his hands together: "Natural calamities can be avoided, everyone may wish to do some good deeds, so as to eliminate past karma."

These words were blunt and straight to the point. The rich merchants looked at each other in blank dismay, not knowing how to answer the words for a while.

Sun County Cheng happily stepped forward: "You are all big households in Jinling, and the food in your home may last for a while. I wonder if you can donate one or two, so as to create a ray of life for the people in the city."

"Your Majesty doesn't know something," a wealthy businessman said boldly, "We don't have much food left. The family, old and young, have dozens of mouthfuls, and that's what we eat. It's not that we don't want it. Everyone, young and old, have to drink the northwest wind."

"Yes, this natural disaster does not invite people to come. We are also the people affected by the disaster. If we don't have enough food and drink, how can we help others?"

The corners of Sun Xiancheng's lips drooped a little.He had the most dealings with this group of people. Huang Da had thought about it before he was alive. He wanted the gentry and wealthy businessmen to donate money and food to help the people of the city tide over the difficulties. When the disaster passed, everything would turn around.

But at that time, these people were so sanctimonious. When the disaster became more serious, they not only drove up the price of food, but even changed the water canal secretly.

Xie Chen raised his eyelids: "But how did I hear that the few of you had too much food in your home and even attracted rats, so you had no choice but to raise wild cats?"

The disguised sadness disappeared immediately on the faces of the wealthy businessmen, and they turned their heads in embarrassment, and no one dared to face Xie Chen directly.

Sun Peng was right next to him. Seeing this scene, he could only twitch the corners of his mouth, feeling cold in his heart.

I would rather raise a rat than donate it to the people in the city.Even the rice sold in various grain stores still has old rice hidden for many years.

These people's evil hearts are beyond words.

"If it's not convenient for you to donate food, you might as well lend it." Xie Chen said again suddenly.

This time, not only the wealthy businessmen in the room were stunned, but even Sun Peng and Sun Xiancheng were obviously caught off guard by his words.

"How... what kind of lending method?"

It has always been said that food is bought, sold, donated, and when it is lent.How do you borrow what you eat in your stomach?

Xie Chen glanced at the person who made the sound, and his eyes fell on Sun Peng, his eyes became softer: "As the lonely Prince Chu, I will make a written statement. After the disaster in the next day, you can rely on the written statement to ask the court for help." I want grain and silver."

He has lived in the mountains all these years, and there is no palace in the capital, so naturally he can only ask the imperial court to collect any food and silver.

In other words, Xie Chen's move is nothing more than the word "credit".The one who pays back the debt is him, and even the court.

The people in the room were somewhat hesitant, but Xie Chen stopped lobbying and sat down cross-legged, in front of everyone, and started chanting sutras with his eyes closed.

Sun Peng walked up to the crowd at this time, and without saying a word, he just bowed to everyone.

"I pay seventy stone."

"I offer one hundred!"

"I... I pay fifty..."

In the room, voices began to be heard one after another.

Whether it is thirty stones, one hundred stones, or two hundred stones, as long as it is food, enough to feed the hunger, and save lives, no matter how much it is, Sun Peng will immediately order someone to write it down, and even the written documents will be written in the fastest time. , and handed over to wealthy businessmen to sign and pledge.

On this day, when the rich merchants sent their family servants to deliver the promised food to the county government one after another, the people who heard the news all knelt on the ground, crying and kowtowing.

There is food, there is finally food.