Chapter 278 It’s so bad for us!

When the people in Wangjia Village knew that Jiang Lianzhu wanted to dig a pond, they all came to help, without asking for any wages. Even people from the neighboring village came to help. On the sixth day of the New Year, dozens of people came, and everyone brought their own farm tools. Jiang Lianzhu didn't even need to prepare any tools.

Jiang Lianzhu is very grateful to everyone. If you don’t want wages, then you can provide meals! !

Anyway, it’s the New Year, so the food is well prepared.

They were treated to delicious fish, meat and drinks, and they dug up a large area in one day.

Wow, there were even more people coming the next day, as many as forty or fifty people.

Then, a two-acre pond was dug in just a few days. Jiang Lianzhu didn't ask for it to be dug too deep, just a little over one meter, probably no taller than a person.

Buy lotus root seeds first. Lotus root is not a common crop in Shili Town and the quantity is small.

But there are so many people!

More people means easier work. The villagers helped Jiang Lianzhu collect lotus roots from the neighboring town. Jiang Lianzhu paid the money, and the capable people in the village helped with the running. In two days, they brought back a cartload of lotus roots.

He also asked people to plant lotus roots.

Many people have never planted lotus roots, so people from all over the village came to watch the master plant lotus roots.

After planting the lotus roots, we wait for the weather to clear up and the snow to melt and water to accumulate. Once the water accumulates, we can plant the fish fry.

Fish fry are easy to find, they are everywhere and are not a rare thing.

It’s just that people in the countryside don’t like to eat fish because they are afraid of getting a fish bone stuck in their throat. If a fish bone gets stuck in their throat, it’s like the sky has turned dark. Some children have even been choked to death. Generally, people prefer to eat meat and eat less fish.

Everyone finds it novel that Jiang Lianzhu raises fish. If you want to eat fish, you can just catch them in the river. Is it necessary to raise them specially?

Jiang Lianzhu just smiled and said nothing.

We were so busy that it was already the 10th day of the first lunar month, and Dabao and his classmates were about to start school.

Because the entire New Year period was peaceful, there were no assassins and no outsiders came into the village to inquire about the situation, the Jiang family relaxed and planned to go to town in two days. Dabao still had to go to school.

***

Daliangzhou, the capital.

Once prosperous, now desolate.

Most of the shops on the street were closed, and there were only a few pedestrians on the street.

The most crowded places are the streets of basic markets where food and grain are sold. All kinds of people gather here in a hurry, buy some daily necessities, and then go back.

Now that the old governor has been arrested and the new governor has not yet taken office, everything is not back on track.

There are all kinds of people roaming the streets, including bandits, vagrants, refugees and beggars.

At the Nanshi morning market, amidst the shouts of people selling buns and fried cakes, a few refugee beggars, dressed in rags and with faces so dirty that their original features could not be recognized, shouted loudly.

"Oh, Heaven and earth! We can't live any longer! We can't live any longer! The old emperor's fate has run out. He listened to the Taoist priest's slander and deliberately sacrificed the lives of the people of Daliangzhou to heaven to increase his lifespan! Our wives, children, and parents died unjustly!"

"We heard from people in the capital that the old emperor is incredibly cruel and has contracted a strange disease. He's dying soon, and within three years he's killed his brothers and sisters to barely extend his life. Now he's using the people of Daliangzhou as a sacrifice to the gods. He knew we were suffering from a natural disaster, but not only did he not care, he even deliberately poisoned the food to kill us. The more people die, the longer he'll live... This is outrageous!"

"We can't survive anyway, so what are we afraid of? There's nothing we dare not say. The poisoned food is the palace's stored food, deliberately distributed to us. This time, so many people in Daliangzhou died, we can't just let it go. We want to overthrow the old dog Xuanhong. We, the lowly people, also have human lives, why should we extend his life..."

These remarks, like a huge storm, caused great shock in Nanshi.

Most of them were in disbelief and didn't even dare to respond.

If anyone is caught making such treasonous remarks, his entire clan will be executed.

However, in Daliangzhou, a prefecture city on the border of Da'an State, there were also some bold people who interrupted and asked, "Who are you? Are you trying to save your lives? How dare you spread such nonsense?"

Several beggars and refugees, with desperate expressions, said, "We are the victims who survived this catastrophe. Our parents, wives, and children are all dead. This is not a rumor, it came from the capital! The old emperor has an incurable disease and believes in the Taoist priests' heresy, deliberately poisoning us innocent people. Human life is as precious as grass seeds! Fellow villagers!"

"Because our Daliang Province is located in a remote area, even if all of us die, it will not have any impact on Da'an State. He took the lives of our people in exchange for his own life. God is watching us! This dog emperor is really infuriating and hateful. We have exposed his evil deeds today, and we will go to the neighboring country for refuge. As the people of Da'an State, we can no longer do this..."

"I won't leave. My wife, children, and parents are all dead. There's no point in me living alone. I'll die here. Before I die, I just want to expose the true face of the dog emperor. He has caused us so much misery. He has caused us so much misery! I won't be able to close my eyes in peace!"

As he spoke, a refugee man ran into a pillar on the street, and blood splattered for several steps.

The onlookers were all stunned at this moment.

Many people who lost their loved ones in the disaster felt the same way and felt the incomparable sadness at this moment.

At this time, the officers and soldiers stationed in the city received the message and rushed over on horseback to maintain order.

"Everyone get down! Anyone spreading rumors or causing trouble will be executed on the spot!"

The crowd was in panic, screaming and falling, and several refugees had already escaped without a trace.

Even those who had hit their heads and were bleeding were taken away.

***

Capital city.

New storytellers came to several teahouses where storytellers and operas were performed.

It tells the story of a cruel emperor who, suffering from a serious illness, sought medical treatment everywhere. Several old con men from the mountains came and pretended to be enlightened masters, offering to cure the emperor and relieve his worries. To gain the emperor's trust, one of the fake Taoist priests used his evil magic and demanded that he extend his life at the cost of human lives. These lives were divided into different levels: brothers could have their lives extended for several years, while ordinary people could only have their lives extended for an hour. The emperor, in a fit of circumstance, used a natural disaster as an excuse to kill tens of thousands of people, thus extending his life by a few years...

The common people who listened to the story found it very interesting and cursed the tyrant king for his cruelty and inhumanity.

Unfortunately, when I went to listen the next day, the storytellers had all disappeared and their whereabouts were unknown.

Some sensitive people noticed that there were constables investigating something in the teahouse, and careful people also found that they were constables from the Six Gates.

This is very interesting.

***

The snow has melted quickly these days, and the pond is already half full of water.

Jiang Lianzhu was stocking fish. She had just bought several large buckets of fry, including crucian carp, silver carp, white bream, snakehead carp, and black carp.