Xia He realized that the old man had something else in his words and wanted to ask more.

Unexpectedly, the old man turned over, leaving only his back to him, and he scratched his butt and farted.

"I don't know, I'm just a country boy, I don't know anything, don't disturb my nap!"

"you!"

Erpang was a little annoyed and was about to pull the old man, but Xia He stopped him by shaking his head.

"The scouts asked the ordinary villagers earlier, and they only knew that there was a plague that infected the river water. As for other things, they couldn't explain it."

"This old man is obviously not an ordinary person..."

Then he took out a silver ingot from his bosom, weighed it in his palm, and said with a smile:

"My dear father, it's hot and thirsty. Why don't you use this money to buy some wine to relieve your fatigue?"

The old man glanced back pretending to be uninterested. When he saw the silver, his eyes gleamed, but he still pretended to be reserved:

"Hey, I'm not greedy for this little money."

But he quickly got up from the ground, and came over quickly with a smile on his old face as bright as a chrysanthemum.

He reached out to take the silver and couldn't wait to put it in his mouth and take a bite.

Er Pang was annoyed and said unhappily,

"You old man, you've taken the money, why don't you tell me what's going on here?"

"Don't be impatient, don't be impatient..."

The old man coughed again, then lowered his voice and said:

"Since you are asking sincerely, I will not hide the truth from you. This is not a natural disaster, but a man-made disaster!"

He looked around before continuing:

"There is a Quanyang County nearby. A year ago, a new county magistrate came. His surname is Zhao."

"This person is not a simple person. Several counties nearby are poor, but it is said that the governor of Laizhou is behind this County Magistrate Zhao."

"With such a powerful backer, he came here not to govern the people, but to find something - the three-legged toad!"

"Three-legged toad?" Xia He was a little surprised. "Strange beast?"

"The general does have some insight."

The old man then spoke:

"This creature lives in a poisonous swamp deep in the mountains. It has three legs with golden pupils and is extremely poisonous. However, it can sniff out treasures and find medicine. It is a rare and exotic beast."

"What's even better is that it is a treasure. Toad venom can be used to make strange poisons, toad skin can be used as medicine to prolong life, and even its blood can be refined into 'Miasma-avoiding Pills', which allow people to come and go freely in poisonous miasma!"

"Has Magistrate Zhao been found?"

The old man shook his head.

"Of course not, but he has not been idle this year. He has done several major things in the county."

"It just so happens that the harvests were not good in the past two years. The weather this year was good enough to get a good harvest, but unfortunately there was an insect plague and we almost got nothing."

"The farmers had no harvest and were on the verge of starvation. Several large households in the county began to buy land at low prices, forcing the farmers to sell their land to survive."

"Now, the farmers have some food and money, which is barely enough to survive."

"But after two months, the grain was almost gone, and it was not yet time to plant. The county magistrate said he had received an order from the imperial court to increase taxes here."

"Those farmers couldn't pay the taxes, and they lost their land, so they had no choice but to sign a contract to sell themselves, becoming slaves to the landlords."

"These farmers were forced into the mountains to look for Baochan, but the beast was very cunning. Once frightened, it would spit out poisonous miasma. Those who were hit would fester all over and die within three days!"

The old man spat.

"The landlords didn't care about the lives of these untouchables. Those who died of poisoning or disease were thrown into the abandoned village at the foot of the mountain and left to die. Their bodies rotted and their poisonous blood seeped into the river, which caused the plague!"

"Besides, isn't it a coincidence that there has been no insect plague here for decades, but as soon as the county magistrate arrived, the insect plague became so serious, hehe."

Er Pang's eyes turned red and his fists clenched.

"Dog officer!"

"Brother He, I was wondering why no one in this county came to help us. It turns out that they are forcing the people to go and look for the three-legged toad!"

"You dog official! You are worse than a beast!"

At this time they were already close to the border of Dengzhou.

Logically speaking, the officials here should have already learned about the Eastern Expedition.

In short, starting from Quanyang County, they will begin to draft soldiers into the camp.

"It seems that they are not very cooperative?"

Moreover, the county magistrate and the landlord were so calculating that they turned these people into slaves at almost no cost.

And he took away the fields from their hands.

As for the sick people, they were thrown into a nearby village.

They were not allowed to go out, so the plague was contained in a small area.

"There's an insect plague all of a sudden? Why didn't it happen earlier or later, but just happened to happen by chance?"

"Brother He, let me take some people to chop off that bastard official!"

Erpang volunteered.

Xia He pondered for a moment and asked, "Father, is Magistrate Zhao in the county government office now?"

The old man was suddenly startled.

"Zhao County Magistrate, what Zhao County Magistrate? I am just a country bumpkin, how can I recognize a county magistrate?"

"I didn't say anything, and you didn't remember anything!"

Xia He was too lazy to pay attention to him anymore, so he turned to Er Pang and said:

"Pass the order down. After the whole army rests, we will change the route to Quanyang County. I want to meet this 'Zhao Qingtian'!"

"yes!"

Xia He will not let go of any strange beast.

Therefore, Xia He was also very interested in this three-legged toad.

As for this County Magistrate Zhao, he sneered inwardly and might as well ask him what the officialdom in Dengzhou was like.

However, Xia He did not easily believe what the old man said.

Instead, he took Erpang and headed straight for the blockaded village.

Before they got close, they saw several burly countrymen standing at the entrance of the village, holding sticks and with fierce looks in their eyes.

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