Chapter 62 The baby points out the water source to save the people
The atmosphere in the main hall of the Yunmeng County Government Office was so oppressive that it was hard to breathe.
Magistrate Liu Changming, a middle-aged man with a bloated belly, was kneeling in the center of the main hall.
Beside him knelt a group of subordinate officials, including the county magistrate and the registrar.
Chu Chongjin sat in the main seat, toying with the imperial envoy token bestowed by the emperor in his hand, without saying a word.
But the more silent he remained, the more terrified Liu Changming became.
Mu Fang stood like an iron tower beside Chu Chongjin, his hand on his sword, his cold gaze sweeping over the crowd below, making them feel as if they had thorns in their backs.
Mu Yu was held in Xiao Beichen's arms and sat quietly to the side.
She was carefully "smelling" the smells emanating from the officials in the hall.
The fat uncle kneeling at the very front smells the worst.
It wasn't just a simple gray, but rather a greasy, rancid blackish-gray, mixed with the stench of copper coins.
Bad guy! Big bad guy!
Mu Yu mentally gave him a thumbs up.
Finally, Chu Chongjin spoke.
“Magistrate Liu, when I entered the city, I saw tens of thousands of disaster victims outside the city, displaced and crying for food. But inside your county office, you are all flushed and reek of alcohol.”
"Could you explain to me where the 100,000 taels of silver and 5,000 shi of grain allocated by the imperial court for disaster relief went?"
Liu Changming trembled all over and immediately kowtowed, tears streaming down his face.
"Your Highness, I'm innocent! This humble official is innocent!"
"The disaster is far too severe, and there are too many victims. The imperial court's grain and funds are... just a drop in the ocean!"
"To appease the disaster victims, I have been working day and night for three days and three nights without sleep! I had just finished discussing with my colleagues how to procure food and had a sip of water to moisten my throat when His Highness summoned me..."
His performance was vivid and expressive.
If Mu Yu hadn't been able to "smell" the increasingly strong stench of lies emanating from him, perhaps even Xiao Beichen would have believed it.
Chu Chongjin said sarcastically.
"Really? To discuss?"
He threw a file in front of Liu Changming.
"These are the account books of 'Drunken Immortal Pavilion,' the largest restaurant in the city, which I just ordered my men to raid."
"It is clearly recorded that, starting three days ago, the Yunmeng County Government ordered one 'Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea Banquet' and ten jars of top-quality 'Daughter Red' wine every day."
"Magistrate Liu, is this how you discuss how to raise funds for cornbread for the disaster victims, using shark fin and abalone as a basis?"
Liu Changming's face turned deathly pale in an instant.
He hadn't expected that the Ninth Prince would be so decisive and efficient, having already figured out most of his background as soon as he arrived in Yunmeng!
Behind this, the influence network that the Marquis of Suiyuan had cultivated in Jiangnan for many years must be at play.
Liu Changming was a pawn planted by Sikong Ming in Yunmeng.
His mission was not disaster relief, but to allow the disaster to escalate, create chaos, and force disaster victims to sell their land at low prices, thus paving the way for Sikong Ming to control the grain supply in Jiangnan in the future.
He had assumed that since the imperial envoy's entourage had come from afar and were unfamiliar with the area, he could easily manipulate and deceive them.
Who would have thought that the Ninth Prince would act so unpredictably!
"Your Highness! This...this is slander! Someone has framed us!"
Liu Changming still tried to argue his case.
"Noisy".
Chu Chongjin waved his hand impatiently.
Yan Ziche understood, stepped forward, and read aloud: "According to the investigation, the Yunmeng County granary, which shows a grain inventory of 3,000 shi (a unit of dry measure), is actually empty. In addition, 50,000 taels of silver, 3,000 taels of gold, and more than 100 land deeds were found in a secret room in the artificial hill in the backyard of Magistrate Liu's residence!"
These words shocked everyone in the room.
Liu Changming collapsed to the ground, his face ashen.
"Decisive and efficient, just like that," Mu thought to himself, secretly praising.
This Ninth Prince usually appears gentle, but once he gets serious, his methods are even more ruthless and decisive than mine, a military general.
"Liu Changming, as an official appointed by the imperial court, disregarded the people's livelihood, embezzled disaster relief funds, causing people to be displaced, and his crime deserves to be punished."
Chu Chongjin's voice was cold and devoid of emotion.
"Drag him away and behead him. Hang his head at the city gate as a warning to others."
"All other officials involved in the case shall be dismissed from their posts and imprisoned to await further punishment!"
"yes!"
The Xuanjia soldiers charged forward like wolves and tigers, dragging Liu Changming and the others, who were crying and begging for their lives, away.
Soon, a shrill scream came from outside the hall, then stopped abruptly.
The remaining officials in the hall trembled like leaves, not daring to utter a sound.
Chu Chongjin's gaze swept over them.
"From now on, all affairs, large and small, in Yunmeng County will be under my personal control."
"I don't care whose people you were before, I'm only giving you one chance."
"Those who work diligently will be rewarded. Those who outwardly comply but inwardly defy will be executed. Those who neglect their duties will be executed. Those who embezzle or misappropriate funds will be executed!"
The four consecutive "kill" words seemed to lower the temperature in the entire county government hall to freezing point.
Subsequently, Chu Chongjin immediately began to issue a series of orders.
"Xiao Beichen, you immediately take your men to take control of all the granaries and pharmacies in the city, and coordinate the allocation of supplies!"
"Yan Ziche, you are in charge of registering all disaster victims' information, issuing identification tags to each household, and using these tags to collect food and medicine, while preventing fraudulent claims and withholding!"
"General Mu, we urge you to take charge of the county government office, oversee the entire situation, and dispatch troops to patrol the surrounding areas, gather all scattered disaster victims, and strictly prevent any unruly soldiers or bandits from taking advantage of the chaos!"
Just as everyone was busy, a soldier rushed in to report.
"Your Highness, something terrible has happened! In the refugee camp in the south city, many people are vomiting and having diarrhea, and their bodies are burning with fever. It's like...it's like they've contracted the plague!"
plague!
These two words made everyone's hearts clench.
After the floods, the most terrible thing is the epidemic.
Chu Chongjin immediately got up, took the medicine box left by Xie Zhiwei, and was about to rush over.
"I'm going too!"
Mu Yu jumped down from Xiao Beichen's arms.
“Father, Ninth Brother, I smell... the water there is sick.”
Her little face was very serious.
"There are lots and lots of black, sticky, bad stuff in the water. If people drink it, their stomachs will hurt."
The group rushed to the south of the city.
Sure enough, the situation here was even worse than at the docks.
In a makeshift shack area, a large number of people lay down, groaning incessantly.
Chu Chongjin immediately ordered the soldiers to isolate the area, and Xie Zhiwei's prescription was also distributed to be boiled.
But the root of the problem is the water source.
The disaster victims here drink water from an old well nearby.
Mu Yu was held by Mu Fang as they approached the well.
She immediately smelled a strong, putrid black odor.
"This is it! This is the place!"
She pointed to the well and said loudly, "The water is crying. It says it was poisoned and it's in so much pain!"
Chu Chongjin ordered his men to retrieve the body, and sure enough, they pulled several rotten dead chickens and ducks from the bottom of the well. Clearly, someone had deliberately poisoned the body in an attempt to create a plague and further exacerbate the chaos.
How malicious their intentions are!
The water in this well is no longer drinkable.
However, there were no other clean water sources within dozens of miles.
Just when everyone was at a loss, Mu Yu tilted her little head and kept sniffing the air with her little nose.
"Huh?"
She suddenly pointed to a patch of muddy ground not far away, which had been flooded.
"There's a sweet smell under the mud there."
"There is a stream of very clean water, sleeping."
Everyone looked in the direction she pointed, but there was nothing there except a muddy expanse.
Yan Ziche's eyes lit up, and he took out a geomantic map to compare it.
“That’s right! The map shows that this used to be a spring called ‘Sweet Spring,’ but it dried up due to an earthquake. Could it be…”
"dig!"
Chu Chongjin made a decisive decision.
Several Xuanjia soldiers immediately wielded entrenching tools and began digging in the muddy ground.
After digging less than a meter deep, a clear spring actually gushed out from the soil!
The spring water was clear and sweet, a world apart from the polluted well water!
The disaster victims erupted in thunderous cheers.
Looking at the newly formed spring, Mu Yu could "see" that it was a bright stream of water with a pale blue halo.
She secretly dipped her hand into the spring water and stirred it.
Then, she drew upon a sliver of good fortune from her pond of blessings and silently recited the "Water Purification Mantra" taught to her by the Turtle Prime Minister.
"Blessings."
A barely perceptible golden light flowed from her fingertips and merged into the spring water.
The already clear spring water seemed to become even more vibrant, as if it had been infused with life.
Wow! This water makes me feel so warm all over!
One of the braver disaster victims took a bite and exclaimed in delight.
Soon, everyone who drank the spring water felt refreshed, and the symptoms of those who were vomiting and having diarrhea were visibly relieved.
A great plague that could have destroyed the entire Yunmeng County vanished without a trace before this rediscovered spring, which had been "blessed" by a little koi fish.
The water level in Mu Yu's blessed pond has visibly risen a little.
After doing all this, the little baby let out a big yawn, and his eyelids started to droop.
After consuming your good fortune points, the side effect of excessive sleepiness begins.
She was dazed and confused as Mu Fang held her in his arms, still muttering to herself.
"Father...I think...I'm hungry again..."
Looking at her daughter's tired but content face, Mu Fang's heart softened and ached.
Meanwhile, Chu Chongjin gazed thoughtfully at the spring that was constantly gushing forth clear water.
The problems of food and water have been initially solved, but new problems have arisen.
He looked at the survivors, whose eyes were still filled with fear and confusion, especially the children who had lost their parents and sat blankly in the corner, and his brows furrowed.
Natural disasters can be prevented.
But how can the wounds in a person's heart be healed?
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