Gou Becomes a Boss in the Fairy World

Chapter 1477 Refining the Heart in the Mortal World (Twenty-one)

Although Qing'an County did not fall, the damage caused by the bandit army to the county was heavy and lasting.

The county of tens of thousands of people lost a large number of young and strong men, so Ye Xiangming had to recruit strong men from the countryside for training to make up for the loss of garrison troops.

In order to prevent the bandits from attacking again, the garrison of Qing'an County was expanded to 700 people.

Fortunately, a large sum of money was made from the previous raids on the wealthy, otherwise it would really be impossible to support it.

After the situation inside and outside the county was completely stabilized, Ye Xiangming sent a message to the prefectural capital to inform the county magistrate Yu Heqian and a group of gentry that they had been killed.

Then half a month later, the prefectural capital sent someone to deliver the appointment letter and commendation order.

Appoint Ye Xiangming as the county magistrate of Qing'an County, and concurrently the position of county magistrate, in charge of the military and political affairs of the entire county.

This means that Ye Xiangming is not only the top figure in Qing'an County, but also has unparalleled power.

The prefectural city actually has no way to deal with it. The bandit army has been harassing everywhere in the prefecture, repeatedly threatening the safety of the prefectural city.

Under such circumstances, no one is willing to go to the most dangerous county to serve as an official.

Ye Xiangming was simply promoted half a level, leaving him and Qing'an County to fend for themselves.

For the masters of the prefectural city, nothing is more important than the safety of their own family.

As for the murder of the county magistrate Yu Heqian, the prefectural city has no interest in investigating it at all.

Anyway, Ye Xiangming can say anything, as long as he does not ask for help from the prefectural city.

In the face of danger, everyone can only take care of themselves.

The newly promoted county magistrate Ye Xiangming, who holds great power, is not very happy about the promotion, because after the bandit army retreated, the drought did not show any signs of relief, and water and land transportation were basically cut off.

What is most infuriating is that the bandit army destroyed more than a dozen self-flowing water wheels set up on both sides of the Qingshui River, causing large areas of rice fields to lose irrigation and completely fail to harvest.

Ye Xiangming could only organize people to rebuild the water wheels with curses, and then try his best to save the rice fields that have not yet failed to harvest.

It is more tiring than dealing with the bandit army!

"This thief God!"

That day, Wang Chen and Ye Dai went to the county government to visit Ye Xiangming. While drinking the nourishing soup cooked by his daughter, the latter cursed: "You haven't come down yet, are you going to kill us all!"

Although the self-flowing water wheel was rebuilt at the fastest speed, the water level of the Qingshui River dropped seriously, which greatly reduced the water collection effect of the water wheel.

This year, the grain harvest in Qing'an County is a foregone conclusion. At present, it is estimated that even 30% of the normal harvest may not be achieved.

This is very scary.

If the drought continues, we will be thankful that only 10% or 20% of the grain can be stored in the autumn harvest as in previous years!

Moreover, the water route has been completely cut off by the bandits, and the trade route is deserted. Qing'an County cannot buy grain from outside even if it has money, which means it is trapped here.

"My dear son-in-law."

Ye Xiangming put down the soup bowl in his hand, and said with some difficulty: "I need to trouble you for something."

He wanted to reopen the trade route and buy a batch of grain from the south to Qing'an County.

But it is obviously unrealistic to expect local merchants to complete this task, so he plans to organize a caravan from the county government to go to the south to buy grain.

Ye Xiangming hopes that Wang Chen can be the leader of this caravan!

"I really have no choice."

Ye Xiangming said helplessly: "The grain stored in the county warehouse is not enough for tens of thousands of people in the city to survive the famine. If we can't buy grain, many people will die in the next two years."

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He knew very well that in the current situation, the task of leading the caravan to buy grain was very dangerous.

The road was long, and it would take one or two months to go back and forth, and anything could happen during this period.

But Ye Xiangming had no choice.

He used to be the county magistrate, and only needed to worry about military affairs, but now he is in charge of military and political affairs. After taking over the county government, he found that Qing'an County had a lot of problems.

Take the most important county treasury for example, the grain stored in it is less than one-third of the prescribed level!

Where did the other two-thirds of the grain go?

Ye Xiangming wanted to investigate, but the treasurer burned himself and his entire family to ashes.

Including the account books!

Ye Xiangming knew that there were too many tricks in this, but he couldn't clean up the county government again, right?

It couldn't operate normally.

Fortunately, a large amount of gold and silver was seized during the previous house search, so he could only hope to buy grain from outside to solve the problem.

"Daddy!"

Ye Dai was pale. She didn't expect that her father couldn't wait to push Wang Chen into the kang after drinking the nourishing soup.

Even though she was gentle and filial by nature, she couldn't help but get angry at this moment: "How could you do this?"

Ye Xiangming smiled bitterly: "Daier, it's not that Daddy is heartless, it's really... Alas!"

He has been working hard during this period, his hair has turned a lot gray, and his frowning face looks particularly haggard.

Ye Dai was speechless for a while.

"It's okay."

Wang Chen patted his wife's hand, and then said to Ye Xiangming: "Leave this matter to me."

Since he married Ye Dai, he had to take over the cause and effect of his wife's family, not to mention that it was related to the people of Qing'an County.

Ye Xiangming was delighted: "Great."

There was really no other suitable person to choose for this matter except Wang Chen.

After getting Wang Chen's promise, Ye Xiangming organized a large caravan as quickly as possible.

In order to ensure safety, he also dispatched 300 well-trained garrison soldiers, plus the escorts and porters in the county, as well as a larger number of errand boys.

The total number of the caravan exceeded 800.

Because only with so many people can basic safety be guaranteed and food for tens of thousands of people can be transported back.

All the mules, horses and trucks in the county were also emptied.

Three days later, the caravan left Qing'an County and headed for Yunze Prefecture under the leadership of Wang Chen.

Before leaving, Ye Dai and others moved to the county government office to live.

Yunze Prefecture is adjacent to Changyi Prefecture, and its area is much larger than Changyi Prefecture. There are many swamps in the territory, so even if there is a severe drought all year round, there is enough water to irrigate the farmland.

It can be called a land of fish and rice.

In previous years, Changyi Prefecture often purchased grain from Yunze Prefecture, and the caravan usually took the waterway.

However, the drought in Changyi Prefecture is extremely serious now. Many rivers have dried up. The waterways are not only blocked by bandits, but also unable to carry large merchant ships.

Therefore, the caravans in Qing'an County could only travel by land.

In order to avoid encountering the bandit army, the caravan deliberately went westwards after leaving the county town. After more than half a month of arduous journey, they finally entered the territory of Yunze Prefecture.

The journey was relatively smooth, and no bandits were encountered. Some rural thieves could not pose a danger to the caravan.

However, after arriving in Yunze Prefecture, the situation changed.

——

The second update is here.