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February 13th, Qianzhou...

On the empty road, the army of Far East was slowly advancing, and bare tree poles could be seen everywhere around. The bark and leaves on it had been used by hungry victims to fill their hunger. What we see was a depressed and sad scene.

On both sides of the road, thousands of people were lying in vain and numb, all of whom were refugees who fled from other states and provinces, looking at the Far East army walking in front of him with horror.

The entire land seemed to have lost its vitality, and its life was as if the end of the world was coming, which made the Far East soldiers who were traveling very heavy.

Liu Ce is also in a heavy mood. Since he entered Qianzhou, the seriousness of the disaster has far exceeded his expectations. Naturally, there are natural disaster factors, but more of it are caused by man-made disasters.

"I really didn't expect that the year of disaster would be such a bleak scene. I really want to say...yes..."

Jiang Pei looked at the scene of refugees everywhere and hungry and skinny. Under his emotions, he, who was usually good at speaking, could not speak a word now...

In addition, the two brothers who accompanied him also had a deep feeling as well as Jiang Pei. After witnessing the suffering of the Northern disaster victims along the way, his heart was filled with inexplicable depression.

When Liu Ce heard Jiang Pei's words, he sighed helplessly. Wu Sidao, who was accompanying him, stepped forward and advised:

"Mr. Military Governor, you don't need to sigh. In the year of the Great Wilderness, natural disasters and man-made disasters are the most urgent task to find ways to make these people have hope of survival and stop the civil unrest..."

Liu Ce nodded and responded: "Don't you know what you are talking about? It is said that the overlords respond to the war, but they do not know that compared with the battlefield, the most difficult thing is the people's situation and government affairs.

The north has been drought for years and the people are living in poverty. It is caused by the inaction of the court and local governments. Natural disasters are terrible, but what is even more terrifying is..."

"Report~Mr. Military Governor, we have arrived in Fuhe County in front. The local county magistrate Yu Zhixiao has knelt down to greet him five miles away from the county town..."

Before Liu Ce finished speaking, he was interrupted by a fast horse. After hearing that he had arrived at the county town, he immediately ordered: "Send the entire army to accelerate the advance, and bring the hungry people together. Since he has come, he cannot watch the people starve to death..."

"Abide by the order!"

The fast horse left, and in a short while, a team of soldiers rushed towards the refugees, regardless of their crying and forced them to the team...

Outside Fuhe County, the county magistrate Yu Zhixiao brought a sectarian and three yamen runners to welcome him outside the county town, looking up and waiting for Liu Ce's army to arrive.

The official uniforms worn by these officials were all covered with patches, and there was no time to clean the stains on their faces, giving people a very sloppy impression.

"Here, hurry up, kneel down and greet..."

When Liu Ce's army appeared in the distance, Yu Zhixiao hurriedly ordered the yamen runners and clerks to kneel on the ground and wait for the arrival of the iron-blooded warlord.

After Liu Ce, Wu Sidao and the three brothers of the Jiang family approached, Yu Zhixiao took the lead and shouted: "The magistrate of Fuhe County, Yu Zhixiao, paid homage to the Marquis of Hanling~" Then he knelt down heavily.

Liu Ce looked at Yu Zhixiao and the group of yamen runners and clerks behind him, and frowned. After thinking for a while, he raised his hand: "Get up, my military governor will not kneel down."

"Thank you, Marquis of Hanling..."

When Yu Zhixiao heard this, he thanked him, and then stood up with the clerk behind him and the yamen runners, standing aside and standing aside with a plea.

Liu Ce thought about it and took the lead in dismounting and asked: "Mr. Yu County, I will ask you, as a local parent official in Fuhe County, you will take care of all the big and small matters within 30 miles around you. Then tell me, what explanation will be given to the thousands of hungry people I saw along the way?"

Yu Zhixiao bowed and replied: "Reported to the Marquis of Hanling, most of these hungry people came from other provinces to flee from famine, and the officials also opened porridge sheds to provide disaster relief.

But now the county granary has no food to provide relief, and the big households in the city have fled to other provinces to avoid disasters, so they have left to make another living.

Not to be hiding from the Hanling Marquis, now you can’t even supply even if you ask the officials to gather a meal of rice porridge that the army eats. I will ask the Hanling Marquis Mingjian…”

Liu Ce shook his head slightly, turned around and said to Quanluo: "Let everyone rest on site outside the county town and solve the orders of lunch and other military governors on their own!"

"Abide by the order!"

When Jiao Luo heard the order, he immediately went to the army to issue Liu Ce's orders. Liu Ce, Wu Sidao, the three brothers of the Jiang family, Ye Yin and Huangfu Zhai, followed Yu Zhixiao and his group into the gate of Fuhe County.

Everything the group saw in the county town was not essentially different from the suburbs. When Ye Yin saw the two families preparing to eat because of famine, he felt how real and terrifying the famine he said in Liaodong and that he was saying that famine would force a man into a lunatic...

After everyone arrived at the county magistrate's yamen, looking at the dilapidated yamen lobby, Liu Ce snorted gently and shook his head in extreme disappointment when he looked at the absence of a complete furniture utensil around.

Yu Zhixiao did not understand the meaning of Liu Ce's move, but just stepped forward and bowed and said:

"Hanling Hou is forgiven. In order to let the victims drink more porridge, the officials did their best to sell everything they could. This made the government officials unable to find a decent chair. Please forgive me..."

Liu Ce nodded with his eyes and said to Yu Zhixiao with a smile: "Mr. Yu County is really loving the people as much as his son. There are not many people like Yu County Magistrate in the world today..."

"Hanling Hou Mian Pian, the lower officials are really terrified. As the parents of the lower officials here, they should love the people as their children..."

Yu Zhixiao didn't hear the extremely deep resentment in Liu Ce's tone at all, and thought it was a compliment to him. Not only him, but even the three brothers of the Jiang family thought that Yu Zhixiao was a rare parent official.

Only Ye Yin and Huangfu Zhai understood that Liu Ce's mood was extremely bad at this moment...

"This military governor is hungry, please help County Magistrate Yu get some food for everyone..."

"Yes, the official will go prepare the meal now."

Liu Ce sat on the main desk, smiled slightly at Yu Zhixiao, and ordered him to prepare food.

When Yu Zhixiao left, Jiang Ying couldn't help but sigh: "It seems that County Magistrate Yu is really a poor and good official. Look at this government office, all the poor rats are going to move.

In order to let the people eat more porridge, I really gave up everything. If I could have more bureaucrats like this in the Great Zhou Dynasty, there would not be such a situation..."

Jiang Jing nodded and responded: "What my brother said is very true. Yu Zhixiao is really honest as an official. I heard that he has not greedy for a penny for twenty-five years. This kind of integrity is really admirable..."

Seeing that the three brothers of the Jiang family had a very high evaluation of Yu Zhixiao, Liu Ce just looked at them expressionlessly, and after a long time, he asked Wu Sidao: "Wu Mucheng, what do you think about this?"

Wu Sidao shook his head and said, "Yu Zhixiao is just a sour Confucian style. He is a good person, but definitely not a good official. In the years of disaster, he only knows how to use these victims to dig canals and irrigate fields to slow down the disaster.

What's more, Qianzhou is not a severely affected area. Fuhe County has been in good weather in recent years. I have ruined a good county town like this. Yu Zhixiao not only has no merits, but has made mistakes, but also a big mistake!"

Wu Sidao's words immediately made Jiang Pei feel a little uncomfortable. He immediately retorted: "According to Mr. Wu's meaning, is Yu Zhixiao an honest official or is it wrong?"

Wu Sidao said: "Three young masters, being honest and honest is the duty of being a bureaucrat. How can this be considered a highly praised deed? If the world relies on promoting the deeds of the Qing officials, do you think this country is still normal?

The first thing that officials do when governing government affairs is to stabilize the hearts of the people, especially in the years of great disasters, it will test the ability of parents and officials to do things in their own affairs. I would like to ask, do you think Fuhe County has achieved political achievements in stabilizing the hearts of the people?

As far as I know, Yu Zhixiao is a scheming person, not flexible, and does everything according to the rules and is extremely inefficient. Apart from the words of integrity, he may not have anything else to praise..."

Jiang Pei was speechless for a moment, but there was still a trace of dissatisfaction on his face. After a long time, he asked, "How did you determine that the people of Fuhe County are unstable?"

Liu Ce said: "Whether the people in Fuhe County are stable or not, you can tell if you look at it. General Ye, please ask you to go to the county town to visit the people's situation now..."

Ye Yin shook the Buddhist beads in his hand and bowed to his body and said, "I don't want to accept the order..."

After saying that, Ye Yin stepped out of the government office and went to investigate the people's situation...

"Hanling Hou, the food is here..."

After about an hour, Yu Zhixiao came to the hall with a pot of wild vegetable soup, a few sweet potatoes, and a few broken bowls with missing corners.

Everyone looked at these foods and frowned. Unexpectedly, the food in the government office was so incredible...

Yu Zhixiao said embarrassedly: "Forgive me, Marquis of Hanling, this is the last food for the government office. All the excess food is used to provide relief to the victims. Please forgive me..."

Wu Sidao asked, "Mr. Yu County, do you only eat these on weekdays?"

Yu Zhixiao sighed: "In the year of great disaster, it would be good to have these foods. Since the departure of Governor Zhang's family, no one has taken care of them in Qianzhou.

It’s very good to have these now, not to mention that seeing the people suffer from disaster, as a parent, how can we eat and eat..."

"Mr. Yu, you are very good..." Liu Ce looked at the wild vegetable soup without any oil and said in a deep voice, "Mr. Dignified the county magistrate has fallen into such a difficult field, and I have gained some knowledge. Tell me, how do I want this military governor to help you?"

Upon hearing this, Yu Zhixiao knelt down and said to Liu Ce: "Hanling Marquis, please leave a batch of food for Fuhe County and save the people in the county. They are really nowhere to live..."

Liu Ce's face darkened and said to Yu Zhixiao: "Since this military governor takes over the eight northern provinces in accordance with the will of the court, he naturally has the obligation to solve the livelihood problems of all people under his rule.

The military governor will naturally assign food, but before that, the military governor would like to ask you a question. The military governor vaguely remembers that the prefect of Han Kuang and Han transported a batch of relief grain from Weiyuan City to your county, which was as much as 20,000 stones.

But now, it’s only less than two months since time has passed, so why do you cry and say there is no food? Why is this? Please explain it to this military governor…”

Yu Zhixiao said, "Hanling Hou, how many days can the people eat just 20,000 stones of grain? The people in the city, together with the refugees, have less than 100,000 yuan. How long can they eat even if they give porridge once a day?

It is not easy for the officials to support 20,000 stones of grain for more than a month. Please ask Hou Mingjian, Hanling..."
Chapter completed!