But now they have come up, who wouldn’t want the highest peak? It is obviously impossible to ask the other two villages to go down, and there might even be a fight.

The three village heads gathered together and argued for a while before they decided how to distribute the caves, wasting a whole day's effort.

I thought it was over, but when it came to dividing the work, the villagers started to have opinions again and blamed each other. No one wanted to go hunting, after all, hunting meant possible death.

Because of the conflicts, they couldn't collect food, and the villagers were hungry. Their tempers became more and more violent, and they would fight at any time.

The village chief touched his face, feeling a stinging pain from the fight. He sighed deeply and said helplessly, "Old Wang is smart. He knew not to choose the highest peak."

"Instead, we chose Qingzhu Peak, where there's relatively more food. Obviously, the flood will take time to arrive, but we can't wait if we're hungry."

After a fight, the three village chiefs finally separated.

The two losing villages each found a hill to stay on. After two days of delay, the rain became heavier and heavier, and it became obviously more difficult to find food.

Wangjia Village is close to the mountains, and Goudan has a lot of relatives and friends. He has liked to hide in the mountains since he was a child. It is a very easy thing for him to hide and keep an eye on the three villages.

Keeping their actions in mind, he felt that the village chief was very powerful and could predict people's minds very accurately. His figure disappeared in a flash.

Following the vines up to the cave, he said excitedly: "Grandpa Village Chief, you are absolutely right. Those three villages directly chose the highest peak of Longtou Peak."

"But they fought that day, and then fought again the next day and separated. We wasted two days and didn't collect any food. The conflict got worse and worse."

Village chief Wang paused in pounding the medicine and frowned.

"This is not a good thing. The old man kindly reminded them to separate, and it would have been fine if they didn't listen, but why did they start fighting? This will only make food shortages worse."

"They might come here to steal. We need to have patrols every night. If we find anyone coming without permission, we will knock them out and send them back to their village."

Gousheng blinked his eyes and whispered, "Grandpa Village Chief, why are they quarreling? At this time, shouldn't they learn from us and unite to live together?"

Village Chief Wang sighed and said, "Remember this: there's nothing more terrifying than the human heart. The three villages can't be united if their hearts are not in harmony and they're wary of each other."

"Everyone knows they should tie themselves together and do their own job well, so that they can collect more food quickly, but they can't do it."

"Thirty years ago, several villages were also together, but in the end, only a few people were left. This shows the terrifying nature of human nature. Even your own village may not be so reliable, let alone other villages."

Gousheng nodded and said, "Grandpa Village Chief, I understand. Because of the uncertain danger, we should cut them off immediately and prevent them from getting close to us. This is the safest way."

Village Chief Wang hummed, "That's just one reason. The second reason is to isolate the plague. When people have no food, they become like wild animals and will eat their own kind, contracting the plague."

“……!!”

"Eat, eat people?"

"Well, this is the worst-case scenario. It depends on whether they can catch prey. If they can't, eating humans is inevitable."

Gousheng swallowed and suddenly felt that those three villages were more terrifying than wild beasts and were completely different from his own village.

Village Chief Wang raised his hand and touched his head, saying softly, "We villagers won't do that because we're not hungry. When we're extremely hungry, no one can escape cannibalism."

*

In the court, Emperor Gan sat on the dragon throne.

He looked at the memorial with a frown and anger on his face, and threw the memorial directly into the hall.

He scolded, "What's wrong with the fiefdom? No one has sent food there yet. A few days ago, they said everything was fine, but how come yesterday's report said there was a serious flood in the fiefdom?"

The Minister of Revenue shuddered, lowered his head, took a step forward, and knelt on the ground with a thud. "In reply to your Majesty, the memorial submitted a few days ago did not mention such serious matters."

"Maybe, maybe the dam broke."

Sensing the emperor's wrath, the merchant from the Ministry of Revenue broke out in a cold sweat and said cautiously, "Your Majesty, it's not that we don't have disaster relief, it's that we can't even get food in."

"It's still raining in Fengyi. Even if we ship the food there, it will be wasted if it gets wet. It's better to wait for the weather to clear up."

"Some people died in previous years, so it's no big deal."

Emperor Gan felt relieved when he thought about the past years. He stared at them intently and said, "My dear ministers, are you sure this won't cause a plague?"

The Minister of Revenue's eyes flickered. How could he know whether there would be a plague? It had been more than 30 years since there had been one, so it wouldn't be so easy to break out.

He said seriously, "To answer your Majesty's question, the plague that broke out more than 30 years ago was caused by hot weather, which caused the corpses to rot. Although it is raining in the fiefdom now, the weather is not too hot."

"A plague won't break out so easily."

Emperor Gan thought that the national treasury was empty. If he provided large-scale disaster relief now, there were too many people living in the fiefdoms and there simply wasn't enough food.

As long as there is no plague, it would be fine. It would be better to let a few more of them die, so that a lot of food can be saved. After the next harvest in Jiangnan, the national treasury will naturally have silver, money and food.

After thinking it through, Emperor Gan took a deep breath and said slowly: "The people are all my subjects. Now the flood disaster in the fiefdom is serious. Even if it means disaster, we must save them."

"The money collected by the four major families can be used to buy food from other countries and transport it to the fiefdom..."

"Oh, and also issue a notice asking them to go to the Northern Wasteland to make a living whenever possible. Going there will always provide a way to make a living, and it will also save some food."

The Minister of Revenue's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he complimented, "Your Majesty is wise. I've also heard that the Northern Wilderness is doing well these days. They say they've discovered some edible soil lumps, and they're letting the people grow them."

Emperor Gan raised his eyebrows and said, "Oh, you don't grow crops but grow clods of earth. Lord Jiang, are you crazy? Tell me the details."

After one stick of incense, the court officials all had complicated expressions.

"Tsk, isn't that perfect? ​​There are many people living in the Northern Wasteland to begin with, so it's a good opportunity to get more people there and relieve the pressure on the national treasury to provide disaster relief. Flood relief is difficult."

"If the food gets wet by accident, it will be useless."

The civil officials flattered them and were naturally happy to divert the problem. The Jiang family has always been kind and righteous, so they helped them solve the problem of the victims.

It just so happens that the Northern Wilderness is short of people, so I’ll give them a big gift.

The military generals frowned and looked at the complacent civil officials. They felt a great sense of oppression in their chests. These people were really too much. They had to speak to the Jiang family.

After the court session, Emperor Gan went to the harem. There was a child in the harem again, so there was hope for his longevity elixir, and the national teacher could also make it. As for the Taoist priest, he would definitely skin him alive after catching him.

Without his order, he dared to leave the capital without permission.

He deserves death!