Ten days later, the official roads in the counties in the disaster area were opened one after another, and urgent official documents flew like snowflakes to the government offices: 16 counties were hit by snowstorms to varying degrees, with more than 200,000 people affected, more than 1,300 people killed, more than 2,000 houses collapsed, and tens of thousands of cattle and sheep froze to death......

Jiang Anyi's head was as big as a bucket, and 15,000 stone of grain was transported to the disaster area, and there was no trace like pepper, and the official documents asking for grain from various counties quickly drove Jiang Anyi crazy. The urgent performance sent to the court has not yet been replied, and Yang Dashuai, the governor of Anxi, replied that the grain and grass have been prepared, and it will not be shipped until the will of the court, and the grain stocks in each county are less than 10,000 stones, and they are being transported to the disaster area one after another, and this grain can only last for three or five days.

It is really difficult for a clever woman to cook without rice, not only the people in the disaster area have to eat and drink, but also the government soldiers, garrisons, and people who go to the disaster area to dredge the road must eat food. Jiang Anyi regretted that the official document of mobilizing the people to go to the disaster relief was a little too hasty, but he did not expect that under the stimulation of the salary of 20 wen a day, nearly 60,000 people responded to the government's call in just 10 days to clear the roads in the disaster area, and this number is still growing by thousands every day. It is easy to do things when there are many people, but when there is a shortage of food and grass, too many people will become a disaster.

An officer came in and said, "Your Excellency, the squires of the city have come to meet your lordship. ”

The announcement calling on the squire to donate food and money has already been posted, but it has not had much effect, and in the past ten days, he has only received dozens of stones of grain and more than 100 taels of silver, which is enough for what kind of money and food. Jiang Anyi is very dissatisfied with the rich squires in Huazhou, who doesn't know that there are many rich people in Huazhou, but he can't help these people if they don't pull out a dime, probably because his own governance annoyed these people some time ago, and they deliberately make themselves ugly.

In any case, the number of courtesies must not be less, and with the word "please", Jiang Anyi got up and tidied up his official robe and came to greet him outside the lobby in person. A group of people came from the road, and in the center was a young man, and next to him, the owner of the Fu Ji family and the head of the Wu family, these people were all the leaders of Huiye Mansion, rich and powerful, how to accompany this young man.

The young man saw Jiang Anyi standing at the bottom of the steps, and took a few steps forward to salute and said, "Student Ning Qingzheng pays a visit to the mansion." ”

The people beside him saluted one after another, saying "Meet your lordship".

Jiang Anyi helped him for a moment and said, "Everyone, please come inside." He took the lead in walking towards the lobby, muttering in his heart, Ning Qingzheng, Ning family, I have heard that Ning Ze has a son who is very smart, and he was promoted at the age of twenty-two, so this is the son.

After a few polite words, Ning Qingzheng made his intentions clear, and said with a smile: "My lord, student Ning Qingzheng, and Ning Ze, the servant of the Ministry of Labor, my father, were ordered by my grandfather to donate food and materials to the government to help my father and fellow villagers tide over the difficulties. This is a list of materials donated by the Ning family and several other gentry, please take a look. ”

Jiang Anyi said with a smile: "Jiang has long heard that the Ning family has a phoenix, and today I can see that it is really extraordinary. The young phoenix is clear in the voice of the old phoenix, and Brother Ning will definitely be able to overload Ling Zun Ning Shilang in the future. ”

"Adults have an overreputation, and students dare not be."

Taking the list from the officer's hand, Jiang Anyi looked at the list, his eyes immediately widened, and it was written on the top: 11,000 stones of grain. Fixed, Jiang Anyi looked at it again, and sure enough, it was 11,000 stones, and there were more than 10 details listed behind, of which the Ning family donated 2,200 stones; Looking at the silver again, he donated 30,000 taels of silver, of which the Ning family donated 6,000 taels of silver.

Jiang Anyi stood up, bypassed the public case, bowed deeply to everyone, and said with respect: "The princes are well aware of the righteousness, and Jiang has thanked the people of Huazhou." ”

Ning Qingzheng smiled and replied: "Your Excellency is polite, the Ning family has been from Huazhou for generations, the villagers are suffering, the Ning family empathizes, the ancestor of the family ordered that in addition to the rations, all the food should be taken out to help the old folks get through the difficulties, which can also be regarded as sharing some worries for the adults." ”

Sitting down again, Jiang Anyi sighed with emotion: "The good deeds of the princes, Jiang is inexplicable, this matter will be played by the officials of tomorrow, ask for merit for the princes, and the Ning family will save the trouble, and these righteous deeds should be commended." After the disaster, the government will erect a monument to promote the name of the princes, so that the good deeds of the princes will be known to the world. ”

Stimulated by the righteous deeds of the Ning family, good news continued to come from all over the country, and the squires in Wenjin County, led by Old Man Han, also raised 3,000 stone of grain and grass, plus the donated grain transported to the disaster area from other counties, the total amount has exceeded 30,000 stone, and Jiang Anyi can finally breathe a sigh of relief.

The court's will finally came, and it was agreed to transport 50,000 stone of grain from the Anxi Prefecture for disaster relief, which was regarded as the court's disaster relief grain and grass, and did not need to be returned by Huazhou. However, Jiang Anyi's request for 500,000 taels of silver for disaster relief was rejected, and only 200,000 taels of silver were allowed to be used for disaster relief, but Huazhou was allowed to pay less than 300,000 taels of tax silver this year and postpone the payment until next year, which allowed Jiang Anyi to temporarily embezzle 300,000 taels of silver for disaster relief.

There is money and food, and there is no panic in my heart. Jiang Anyi was full of enthusiasm, and he wanted to take the opportunity of this snow disaster to replan the official roads in the northwest and repair some pavilions along the way, so that it would be convenient for merchants and help the people make money, and the fields on both sides of the road could be fully utilized.

Xin Fei came back from Jingyuan County and described to Jiang Anyi the disaster relief situation he saw along the way.

Although he knew that corruption could not be eradicated, the local officials still turned a deaf ear under Jiang Anyi's repeated reiterations, which was clearly a slap in the face, Jiang Anyi was ashamed and indignant, slapped his palm heavily on the coffee table, and his legs couldn't bear it, and it broke with a "click", and the tea cup rolled to the ground.

"Jiang Lang, this kind of thing is not uncommon, I have seen several times the government disaster relief, less than two out of ten can really be used by the people, the disaster relief rules issued by the Huazhou government still have some effect, these corrupt officials and corrupt officials are somewhat restrained, otherwise it will be unbearable."

Xin Fei's words not only did not calm Jiang Anyi's anger, but added fuel to the fire, Jiang Anyi got up and said: "No, I will go to the disaster area tomorrow to see who dares to violate the money and food for disaster relief, and I have to cut off a few heads." ”

"Jiang Lang wants to go, you might as well make an appointment with the general, there are many violations of discipline in the army, you are a magistrate, it is not easy to manage military affairs." Xin Fei suggested, "Bring Qin Ziyan with you, Long Wei and Long Wei have the right to supervise hundreds of officials, and it is more convenient to have him by his side." ”

The next day, Jiang Anyi, Guan Pingzhong and Qin Ziyan took dozens of people to the disaster area. This trip was a private visit to Weifu, Qin Ziyan divided the people into 16 groups, and went to 16 counties to secretly inquire about the situation, Jiang Anyi and Guan Pingzhong rushed to Lutong County on light horse, where 1,500 officers and soldiers were stationed, Xin Fei mentioned to Jiang Anyi that the captain Zhaowu who led the troops had disturbed the people.

There were still more than 10 miles away from Lutong County, and a group of officers and soldiers galloped by, and the road behind the snow was full of mud, and the splashed mud fell on the bodies and faces of the migrant workers who were taking refuge on the side of the road. Jiang Anyi and Guan Pingzhong were both wearing ordinary fur coats, and they avoided the side of the road like migrant workers, and a strong man scolded angrily: "These dog officers and soldiers, I don't know where to go to the scourge, and they have eaten up the cattle and sheep in the nearby villages for more than ten days." ”

An older man sighed: "It's nothing to eat something, but the hateful thing is that these guys still spoil the eldest girl and the little daughter-in-law, and they don't dare to take care of the county magistrate when they go to the government to complain to the county, saying that the garrison from the government can't afford to provoke them, and this gang of plague gods doesn't know when they will leave." ”

"I heard that Lord Assassin Shi is a good official, why don't they go to Huiye Mansion to complain, and let Lord Jiang withdraw this group of officers and soldiers who have suffered from the plague."

"Officials and officials protect each other, will Lord Assassin Shi offend the officers and soldiers for our common people? Alas, let's stay up, the salary of ten cents a day is not low, and if you can do it for a full month, you can have a good year this year. ”

Jiang Anyi and Guan Pingzhong frowned when they heard this, Guan Pingzhong was annoyed that his soldiers were too indulgent, and let themselves lose face in front of Jiang Tingshi. In addition to being annoyed by the garrison's misdeeds, Jiang Anyi also learned the news from the mouths of the migrant workers that the wages were ten cents a day.

Jumping off the horse, Jiang Anyi walked to the older migrant worker and asked, "Brother, this day's salary of ten wen is still worth people, can you get the money on the same day, does the government cover food?" ”

The man looked at Jiang Anyi, shook his head and said, "I don't know." Then he got to work.

Jiang Anyi got on the horse depressed, and continued to walk towards the county seat with Guan Pingzhong, Guan Pingzhong smiled: "How can adults ride a high-headed horse, how can they earn ten cents, no wonder those people don't believe it." ”

All the way to the mud, the two of them rode horses and walked slowly, not far in front of the city wall of Lutong County, the ground was empty of mud, there were several tea stalls at the gate of the city steaming, Jiang Anyi said: "Brother Guan, let's rest, drink tea to warm up, and inquire about the news by the way." ”

The tea boss poured two cups of steaming boiling tea and put two plates of tea on the table. Although the tea was ordinary, the chill disappeared after taking a sip of hot tea, Jiang Anyi was about to ask the tea boss about the situation in the contract county, only to see the team of officers and soldiers galloping over, with three sheep tied to the horseback, and the two leaders were each holding a little girl in their arms.

The horse did not slow down when he entered the city, so frightened that the people who entered and exited the city gate hurriedly hid to the side, and the tea boss sighed. Jiang Anyi took the opportunity to ask, "What are these people doing?" ”

"Alas, you don't know, guest officer, these people are the garrison sent by the government to help us with disaster relief." The tea boss sighed and shook his head.

Jiang Anyi said: "What kind of disaster are they for?" ”

"Relief for the disaster of robbing cattle and sheep, relief for the disaster of robbing women", the tea boss scolded angrily: "This group of bastards is the scourge of the contract county, and the county commander is a turtle with a shrunken head, and he doesn't dare to care." ”

Jiang Anyi asked again: "I came from Huiye Mansion and saw an official document saying that migrant workers are paid 20 wen a day, just now I heard that the contract county only pays 10 wen?" ”

The tea boss sneered: "The remaining ten Wen said that they bought grain, and I guess they were divided by the old men in the county." ”

After drinking tea, Guan Pingzhong learned that his subordinates were stationed in the military camp outside Xicheng, and Li Yingfa, the captain of Zhaowu who led the army, recruited a family in the county seat as a temporary military camp, and lived in the city with dozens of cronies.

Guan Pingzhong and Jiang Anyi came to the requisitioned barracks, this is a wealthy businessman surnamed Cao, his family moved away and vacated the house, there are four soldiers sitting in front of the door, they are shouting and guessing boxing, there are two wine jars on the ground, and there are roast chickens and lamb legs wrapped in oiled paper next to them.

Jiang Anyi glanced at Guan Pingzhong and walked inside. The four soldiers shouted: "What are you doing, you dare to trespass on the barracks, how many heads do you have." ”

Stopping, Jiang Anyi said to Guan Pingzhong with a smile: "General Guan, the military camp was originally like this. ”

Guan Pingzhong flew up and kicked down the soldiers beside him, and scolded: "Blind your eyes, see who the master is?" ”

Only then did those soldiers see that it was Xuanwu General Guan Pingzhong, and they were so frightened that they knelt on the ground and snorted their heads, Jiang Anyi ignored them, stepped into the house, and broke into the hall.

Far from the hall, listening to the woman's cry and the man's laughter, Jiang Anyi's face was so gloomy that it was about to drip water.