There is a progress bar in my cultivation of immortality

Chapter 365 Food Panic

Outside the city of Jinhuai Prefecture, next to the canals, there are continuous rice fields, dotted with several farms consisting of thatched houses, and occasionally a variety of vegetables and spices are grown in some sloping areas.

Near the city gate area, two seventh-rank petty officials from the Chief Envoy's Yamen were leading a young man wearing a Taoist priest's waistband and a narrow-sleeved Taoist priest's jacket to inspect the rice ears in a rice field.

A few farmers in the distance were hiding behind a haystack, staring at their group and chatting in low voices.

"What are these officials doing?"

"Are you blind? Didn't you see them checking the rice ears?"

"I'm asking why they want to see the rice ears?"

"You are a person who can be so angry when asked. You are a born cucumber and you don't need to be photographed!"

"I think you are like a walnut, in need of a hammer!"

"You are really unlucky. No wonder you see Dr. Ma every time you see a doctor."

"Look, Doctor Ma, because I am big, everyone in the village knows about it. Doesn't everyone in your family know about it too?"

The two people were arguing louder and louder, but they didn't show any signs of starting a fight. Behind them, an old man smoking welding smoke picked up the cigarette rod in his hand and hit the two of them on the head.

They turned around and saw that it was the old man. At the old man's signal, they looked towards the group of people and saw a middle-aged man in green official clothes walking over quickly.

"Greetings to the master!" The old man took two steps forward and took the initiative to greet the official. He used the Taoist fist-holding ceremony, but it was a bit nondescript.

"Here comes someone. The adults from Daozang Hall want to ask something."

When the two young men heard this, they subconsciously took a step back, which made the middle-aged man in official clothes displeased, so they said to the old man, "Follow me."

It was Wen Hai who checked the rice ears, and he came to do this personally.

He pulled the mature millet from the ears of rice and used the wood spirit energy to remove the husk. However, there were not all rice grains under the rice husk, and only about one-fifth of the millet could produce rice.

He didn't know the specific output and asked the officials on the left and right. No one knew, so he asked people nearby to ask about the situation.

When others were invited over, Wen Hai stared at the old man and said directly: "How is the rice production this year?"

The accompanying official immediately scolded: "You must answer truthfully. If you dare to deceive, you will be punished for banditry!"

People sometimes tell lies to survive, and many of them are unreasonable. Putting a big label on someone and scaring them before speaking is a basic skill for low-level officials to deal with the people. There is a sentence or two about what is right and what is wrong. Not sure.

The old man was really startled, his mind suddenly became confused, and he was instinctively thinking about how to answer.

"Just answer truthfully and don't have any other ideas."

A Qi practitioner next to Wenhai also reminded him.

The Qi practitioner's words were very light, which calmed the old man's mood a lot, and then he said instinctively: "No, the past two years have not been good. Last year it was less than the year before, and this year it is much less. After paying the rent, it is not enough." For food, we have to rely on the Yamen porridge shed in winter."

An official next to him immediately answered: "Thanks to the Daozang Palace, various prefectures and counties on Nanlin Road have saved a lot of surplus grain. At that time, Taoist Master Ziluan said that the governor's Yamen would allocate it on his own. Later, Taoist Master Changqing took over as the pacifier. As usual, each granary was assigned to the governor's office."

"In the past two years, the grain harvest has been poor in various places, so the governor's office has opened warehouses to release grain as usual..."

Wen Hai felt a little numb when he heard this. He quickly interrupted and asked: "The refugees on Mozhou Road were also rescued with food from the granary?"

"Correct!"

"Then have you visited the granary?"

"No, decades of savings are always enough to survive this disaster year!"

"..." Wen Hai didn't know how to reply. He glanced at the old man who was staring at him eagerly and said, "Let him go back."

...

Ten days later.

Investigation reports on granaries in various places were handed over to Zuo Xuan.

Zuo Xuan calmly finished reading the investigation report, and asked after a long silence: "You mean, the people on Nanlin Road will not be able to survive this winter?"

"This is not the key, the key is the Mozhou Road investigation report!"

As Wen Hai spoke, he took out another investigation report and said in a deep voice while handing it out: "There is almost no harvest in the north, south and west of Mozhou Road. Only the southeastern coastal area can barely survive!"

"I'm afraid that the number of refugees we will face by then will be several times or even ten times more than a few years ago, and..." Wen Hai swallowed his saliva, "Also, I estimate that Haizhou Road and Ningzhou Road will also have food supplies. There is a certain level of production reduction.”

Zuo Xuan's head suddenly got bigger. She had the responsibility of countering the rebellion on Mozhou Road, and she also had to build magical golden bodies in various places. In addition, she also had to beware of the 'First Day' and Taiyin evil cultivators. If a big disaster really happened, Damn it, none of these things can be successful!

"Did Yu Min confess?"

She quickly finished reading the case file in her hand and asked in a low voice. At this moment, she thought with some self-blame: These things could have never happened, as long as she was more serious.

"Meow~"

The calico cat sensed its owner's emotions and jumped onto Zuo Xuan's shoulders.

Wen Hai lowered his head and said, "She probably won't confess."

"Then send her on her way!"

Zuo Xuan gave orders in a cold voice while stroking the calico cat.

After Wen Hai responded, Zuo Xuan said again: "Originally, I planned to let you follow the army to Mozhou Road to investigate the truth behind this matter, but now it is not important. You will still follow the army to Mozhou Road, but the army will be stationed there. In Yongsui Mansion, your main duty is to stop the refugees on Mozhou Road, do you understand what I mean?"

"Understood!" Wen Hai nodded.

"If you understand, go get busy."

"Yes!"

Zuo Xuan looked at Wen Hai's leaving figure, gently stroked the calico cat's chin, and listened to the purring of the calico cat. After more than ten breaths, she walked back to the office area and comforted Haizhou Road, Mozhou Road and Ningzhou Road respectively. Make him write a personal letter.

The sky will definitely not fall down. There are actually only a few grains in the hands of the common people. The real ones who have a large amount of grain are the rich households. Nanlin Road is not afraid. It will only take a little blood from the rich households to calm the situation. The key is the other three road.

If the people who have no way to survive make a fuss, it will definitely disturb the spirituality and disturb Xiaoshanfujun who is in retreat in the Liuxin Sect. Then she will really commit a serious crime, and forging the golden body is a mandatory task, which must be related to Xiaoshanfujun's promotion. The opponent obviously wanted to disrupt Mr. Xiaoshanfu's arrangement.

As for purchasing grain from other places, the only way to go is Linshui Mansion, because the Liangjiang area is the territory of the Zhenyang Sect, and the northern plains are currently overwhelmed by rebellion.

So after the letter was sent, Zuo Xuan immediately called three inspectors to discuss secretly sending a caravan to Linshui Mansion to purchase grain.

the next day.

Li Lin came to see Zuo Xuan early in the morning. He had two things to report.

The first thing is the investigation by the governor's office, but there are no clues, which is no surprise; the second thing is the source of pollution.

"The pollution on Nanlin Road is very light. There is no fixed source of pollution. The methods they use are very secretive. They should be man-made. As long as there are clues in the investigation, it is very straightforward on Mozhou Road. They will remove the contaminated bodies Burying them underground or throwing them into water sources not only leads to food failure, but also causes outbreaks of plague in some places."

Li Lin reported here, Zuo Liang's figure appeared at the door, holding a military report brought back by the secret agent in her hand!

(End of this chapter)