Chapter 146: Sending You to the Sky (14)

Shen Minghuan had already gone to Yan State for three months, and Nie Shiyun was delayed for a month on his way back. After returning, he immediately found Nan Huaijin.

So it took them two months to get to know each other.

Nie Shiyun didn't know if such a short time was enough for them to become friends, but even if it wasn't, Nie Shiyun felt that anyone with a conscience would feel pity and sadness if they met this person.

People like Nan Huaijin were forced to kneel in the mire with scars all over their bodies. This was far more than just the absurdity of Emperor Yong. This stated the sins of the entire Yong Kingdom.

Nan Huaijin's clothes were thin in the cold wind, but he seemed not to feel the cold.

He recalled the conversation that the courtiers had just passed by and asked for confirmation: "Shi Yun, the three provinces of Huaixi suffered from large-scale waterlogging?"

Huaixi is half a month away from Yongdu, but news of such a serious disaster will arrive quickly, within ten days at most.

Today, there is a saying about the fate of a country. If the king of the country is not virtuous, God will send a warning, which is a sign of the ruin of the country. War is usually accompanied by disasters. The more chaotic the world is, the more disasters there will be.

Nan Huaijin knew that there had been many disasters, large and small, in various parts of the Three Kingdoms in recent years, and waterlogging was one of the most common. But he discovered that droughts and floods in previous years mostly occurred in summer. Now that it was autumn, how could there be floods that killed and injured thousands of people?

Nie Shiyun sighed, "That's right. The food was almost harvested, but unfortunately, all of them were drowned due to heavy rain. The people tried their best to rescue, and there were thousands of casualties, but most of them were still washed away by the rain."

"What did your Majesty say?" Nan Huaijin lowered his eyes and thought carefully, feeling that something was not quite right.

Nie Shiyun became a little angry when he thought of the useless arguments in the court. He said dullly: "The magistrates of the three provinces have sent several letters in succession. Your Majesty promised to exempt the three provinces of Huaixi from taxes this year."

Nan Huaijin frowned, "No relief food? No resettlement fees? Isn't the funeral hall responsible for the victims?"

"Huaixi is rich. The grain produced in this land can fill half of the imperial court's granary. His Majesty originally did not even intend to exempt taxes." Nie Shiyun clenched his fist and cursed rebelliously: "Foolish king, he wants to be hungry. Kill all the people.”

"Be careful!"

Nan Huaijin finally realized what was wrong, "Three provinces in Huaixi were affected, but Huainan was not affected at all?"

The Huaihe River runs through the southwest and can flood three provinces. Huainan, which is located in the lower reaches of the Huaihe River, should not see any changes.

Nie Shiyun didn't know why Nan Huaijin suddenly mentioned Huainan again. He scratched his head, frowned and thought hard, and said with certainty: "No, I didn't mention it during the court meeting."

Even if he couldn't help but doze off, he was still listening.

Nan Huaijin's eyes were solemn, "Shi Yun, I need to ask you for something dangerous...forget it."

He shook his head as he said, "It's too dangerous. I'll think of other ways."

"Danger?" Nie Shiyun's eyes lit up. "I'm not afraid of danger. Tell me what it is. I can definitely do it."

It is best to be so dangerous that you have to fight with many people from other countries on horseback and with swords.

"Don't put yourself in danger." Nan Huaijin taught him, "A gentleman does not stand in danger. If something happens to you, what will Lieutenant Nie do? It will be too late to regret it by then."

Nie Shiyun was impassioned: "I'm not a gentleman... No, don't be angry. What I mean is..."

Nie Shiyun was thinking hard, and Nie Shiyun suddenly had a flash of inspiration, "A gentleman must do something that he shouldn't do!"

What a passionate oath, he said it like it was flattering.

Nie Shiyun smiled sweetly at Nan Huaijin, "You have already mentioned this, how can I not do it because of the danger? If my trip can help the suffering people in Huaixi, it will be worth it. "

Nan Huaijin's eyes struggled and hesitated, but he was a very decisive person and did not hesitate for too long.

He was never given much time to think, and he was never given a chance to make the right choice.

All dilemmas, all mistakes.

It's all regret.

He painted in the void with his fingers, "This is the territory of the Yong Kingdom. The Huaihe River runs through the three provinces of Huaixi, from northwest to southeast, and enters the sea through Huainan. The water that can submerge all the food cannot disappear in a vacuum. Last year, three embankments were built in Huainan. The imperial court has not allocated funds for repairs, so how come there is no movement at all?”

Nan Huaijin sighed feebly, "To say the least, even if the prefect of Huainan did not need the help of the court, he repaired the breach of the embankment by himself. The water level rose, so there should be a break anyway - it is also possible that he wrote it, but the matter was not serious, so he did not You didn’t know if you brought it up during the court meeting.”

But this possibility is too low.

Nie Shiyun covered his head, "You mean, the magistrates of the three provinces of Huaixi lied?"

He was frightened for a moment by this act of bullying, but soon became happy again, "Isn't this good? At least it means that the people are fine and will not starve to death."

Nan Huaijin sighed again: "It's not that simple. If there is no disaster, where are the thousands of people who died? The food is fine, and the court has waived taxes, so where will the extra food be sent? Such a huge lie and deception , is it really the little prefect who has the guts to do this?”

"That's why I said that this is a very dangerous thing." His voice was low and shallow. I don't know if he wanted to persuade Nie Shiyun to give up, or if he wanted the other party to have stronger confidence.

Nie Shiyun was not as dignified as him. Even though he knew that there was a huge conspiracy hidden behind it, he was still immersed in the joy of Huaixi being free from disasters and casualties.

He smiled, stretched out his hand, and wanted to pat Nan Huaijin's shoulder like he did to his comrades in the army, but he was afraid that this man was also injured, so he had to slowly withdraw his hand, and his smile was also withdrawn.

He patted his chest instead: "Huaijin, I am also a Yong countryman."

-I am as determined as you to make Yong a better country.

Nan Huaijin smiled reluctantly.

They have been here for a long time, and Nie Shiyun will be in trouble if he doesn't leave.

Since the decision has been made, Nan Huaijin will not delay any further, "Tomorrow morning, if you say so... His Majesty will agree to appoint you as an imperial envoy, you will detour halfway and go to Huaixi in person. Whether there is a flood or not, you will know it at a glance."

"The person behind the scenes will definitely stop you at all costs, Shiyun, it's very dangerous."

Nan Huaijin didn't stop him again, in fact, he didn't stop him very resolutely.

He whispered, "I'm sorry."

Nie Shiyun smiled helplessly, "Why are you apologizing? Yongguo is not just your responsibility, and you didn't deliberately lie to me to let me die. Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. In fact, I'm pretty good at escaping."

*

Hongcheng was robbed by mountain bandits seven times in ten days.

The imperial court's troops were stationed at the border to deal with the Jin army, which was ready to move, and they were also eyeing to continue expanding outward, so they would not return to help because of such a small matter.

The cost of the government soldiers was high, and the prefect saw that the bandits only robbed and did not occupy the city, and felt that it would not affect him, so he was unwilling to send troops. He was afraid that the court would blame him, so he concealed it.

The local small nobles were so annoyed that they packed up their belongings and went to other towns.

As for the farms outside the city that could not be taken away, they were occupied by the bandits. Although it was painful, this kind of thing was normal in troubled times.

They were just small nobles who still needed to rely on the royal family, and they didn't have the confidence to force a fuss.

The city lord died in the hands of bandits while fleeing. As the city lord, he was guilty of abandoning the city and fleeing. According to the "Yan Law", he should be executed, and the prefect was too lazy to avenge him.

So Shen Minghuan bought the city of Yan.

It's a bit inappropriate to say this.

How can being a parent official be called buying and selling cities? That's called working hard for Yan. Hongcheng is Hongcheng of Yan, and he is just an ordinary nobody in charge of governance.

The selection system currently in practice is still to select filial and honest people, and the richest people can often become the most filial and honest talents.

After the nobles left, Shen Minghuan's Chamber of Commerce settled in Hongcheng and quickly opened a shop, and then respectfully sent some specialties and a letter to the prefect.

The prefect touched the gold and was moved to tears by their character of worrying about the country and the people. He immediately filled all the official positions in Hongcheng with their names.

Hongcheng is in ruins.

Although the nobles left, they were unwilling to let the things in their houses be sold to the lowly people. They took away everything they could take away, and burned everything they couldn't take away.

Only refugees and slaves were left in the city, and the granary was so clean that not a grain of rice could be found.

Fortunately, the nobles left in a hurry, and the grain in the fields had not been harvested in time, which barely saved the city from starvation.

Shen Minghuan remotely commanded the city lord to recount the number of people in the city, without distinguishing between civilians and slaves, and reorganized the household registration for everyone.

With work-for-relief, because there were enough people and Shen Minghua was willing to let them eat, the reconstruction of Hongcheng progressed quickly. It didn't take long for the grain to be harvested, and the buildings in the city were almost repaired.

The prefect was originally coveting this batch of grain, and was thinking of some excuse to collect half of it, but Shen Minghuan gave a large batch to the bandits, calling it "protection fee".

The prefect was guilty, and since he didn't ask for money for the protection fee, he had to turn a blind eye.

Some nobles saw that Hongcheng was stable and wanted to come back to take back their own land. The mountain bandits who received the "protection fee" were very dedicated. If they didn't escape quickly enough, they would lose their lives, let alone enter the city.

Since the nobles were not coming back, the land could not be left empty. Shen Minghuan couldn't do such a wasteful thing, so he divided the land for each adult according to the number of people. In winter, he couldn't farm, so he also organized them to open up wasteland outside the city.

In other words, Shen Minghuan had money and could transport food from other places, otherwise he couldn't afford such a pretense.

The prefect was afraid that the other party would come to him for the money, not only did he not make any comments, but he just kept silent and pretended to be dead every day.

Hongcheng was too far from Yandu, and it took too long to go back and forth, and Shen Minghuan couldn't keep watching.

Xie Zhifei wanted to ask for his life, but Shen Minghuan refused. He sent the two children who were rescued with Xie Zhifei to assist the city lord.

He also sent the teacher to continue teaching the children.

The two children are very smart. Although they have only studied for three months, they can already read a lot of words, and simple calculations are no problem, which is enough for handling general affairs.

Shen Minghuan did not expect them to do anything big. After all, he and Xie Zhifei are in control of the general direction. The two children have lived in the Shen Mansion for three months. He and Xie Zhifei trust their character very much.

After all, there are too few people available. The two children go there half for supervision, half for learning, and half for tempering.

If they can grow up, Shen Minghuan plans to leave them to Nan Huaijin.

Nan Huaijin will be powerful in the future. How can he not have confidants under his hands?

Since then, Hongcheng has changed a lot.

If Emperor Yan knew about this, he might be a little wary.

Unfortunately, he didn't know.