Chen Tingshu snorted and laughed, "I'm eating."
After saying that, he broke off another chicken leg and put it in his mouth and ate it.
The fat county magistrate swallowed the food in his mouth with a gulp and stammered, "Sir...sir...sir...why are you here?"
Chen Tingshu said, "I came to see if Lord He is living a comfortable life."
He glanced at the roast chicken on the table and said, "It seems that Lord He's flesh is really worth it."
The fat county magistrate said awkwardly, "Your Excellency is joking."
Throwing down the chicken bone in his hand, Chen Tingshu said, "I won't beat around the bush with you. Do you know anything about the disaster relief funds allocated by the court?"
The fat county magistrate shuddered, "I don't understand what you are talking about, sir."
With a sneer, Chen Tingshu said, "You don't have to pretend to be ignorant. The last time I came to your house for dinner, you specifically asked the kitchen to prepare those dishes. What did you mean by that? Don't you think I can understand that?"
"Scallions mixed with tofu, isn't it just to tell this officer that you are innocent?"
"The chicken in the belly is meant to tell me that there is something hidden here."
"I didn't realize you were quite smart."
The fat county magistrate was also quite moved after hearing this.
He put away his playful thoughts and said solemnly to Chen Tingshu: "Sir, I have seen everything you said and did since you came to Jiangnan. You are different from those ministers before."
Chen Tingshu also became serious. "What does Lord He know?"
The fat magistrate said, "I am only a ninth-rank official. It is really not my place to know or not know."
"It's just that through my observations and years of exposure, I have gained some insights into the inner workings of this place."
"Please follow me, sir."
The fat county magistrate took Chen Tingshu to his bedroom.
After groping under the bed for a long time, he pulled out a box.
The fat county magistrate opened the box and found several books inside.
"When I first arrived here, I looked through the county annals and saw some strange things about hairstyles."
"I was afraid of arousing suspicion, so I secretly copied it and hid it here."
Chen Tingshu flipped through it briefly and was horrified by the contents recorded inside.
This is just the situation in one county. There are countless more filthy and evil places in the entire Jiangnan Prefecture.
Chen Tingshu patted the fat county magistrate on the shoulder and said earnestly, "Lord He has a lot on his mind. When this matter is resolved, I will definitely recommend you to His Majesty."
The fat county magistrate honestly didn't deserve the responsibility, he just couldn't bear to see the people suffering so much.
After carefully putting the booklet away, Chen Tingshu said goodbye and left.
The fat county magistrate looked at the direction he left and stood there for a long time before returning to his room and closing the door.
After returning to his residence, Chen Tingshu did not rush to bed. He asked his servants to bring some midnight snacks and took out the map of Jinzhou to look at it.
The second day.
Chen Tingshu asked the Jinzhou prefect about the disaster relief situation in several counties near the prefecture.
Upon hearing the question, the Jinzhou prefect immediately said, "Everything is going well."
Chen Tingshu nodded and said that he planned to visit the county that was most severely affected by the disaster, but the Jinzhou prefect repeatedly stopped him.
"Your Excellency, please don't do that. It's still very dangerous there. Please think twice."
Chen Tingshu said, "I came here to solve the problem. If I retreat in the face of difficulties, what will happen to the people who have been affected by the disaster?"
For some reason, the Jinzhou prefect suddenly changed his temper and became a little tough, just not wanting Chen Tingshu to leave.
Seeing how persistent he was, Chen Tingshu didn't say anything more and pretended to agree to stay.
In the middle of the night, after the fourth watch bell rang, Chen Tingshu suddenly opened his eyes and got out of bed.
He quietly slipped out of the prefectural government office with a few personal attendants.
The horse hooves were wrapped in cotton cloth and made almost no sound when they landed on the road. They walked quickly towards Yuxiang County.
On the other side, Li Chengfeng also arrived in Jinzhou with Tiezhu.
He just took a rough look at the disaster situation in the area. After watching the officers, soldiers and civilians carrying out post-disaster reconstruction work in an orderly manner, he rode his horse directly to Yuxiang County.
Within Yuxiang County.
The rain finally stopped, and the people who were still able to move came out spontaneously to help the officers and soldiers clean up the mess.
The officers and soldiers who were monitoring the water level on the dam quickly ran to the county government office and said, "Sir, sir, the water level is finally starting to drop!"
County Magistrate Gao's eyes widened: "Really?"
The soldier's face was full of joy. "How dare I joke about this?"
Seeing this, County Magistrate Gao walked out excitedly.
"Come on, come on, I want to go and see it myself."
They walked slowly to the vicinity of the dam, and saw that the scale line on the big stone used to detect the water level had indeed moved down. They couldn't help but shed tears.
"Good, good, the people are finally saved!"
The scene at the disaster relief site at this time was quite different.
When it was time for dinner, the cooks asked the people to line up and distributed the watery porridge to them spoonful by spoonful.
The people, who had not had a full meal for a long time, were skinny and hunched over as they went to get the porridge.
Suddenly, a big man threw the bowl and said, "You give us this pot washing water to drink every day. Aren't you driving us to death?"
Then several voices followed suit, shouting, "That's right, everyone's hungry every day. What a rubbish the imperial court is! We should just rebel against it!"
Instantly, many voices followed suit, shouting, "You damned imperial court! They don't treat us as human beings! Let's rebel against them!"
The common people were stunned for a moment, and the cooks were also shocked by the sudden riot.
Then they took up their sheaths and shouted at them to quiet them.
Who knew it would have the opposite effect, and those people resisted even more fiercely.
He was still shouting, "The damn court, the damn emperor, they don't treat us as their subjects. Why don't we join the Immortality Cult? We'll have no worries about food and drink, and we can live forever!"
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