Chapter 127 King Qi Comes to Play
"Sir! This plan is absolutely unacceptable!!!"
Inside the government office of Yanping County, the county magistrate Song Deqiu had already planned to worship the Dragon God and pray for rain, but the county magistrate Meng Jiang immediately stopped him.
"Do you think I really want to worship this so-called god?"
Song Deqiu was at his wit's end and sighed.
"You've seen the wheat seedlings sent from Anping County. Not only are the ears large, but they're also growing well. I don't want to pray for rain, but the people around Anping County have already begun secretly worshipping the Dragon King, simply to pray for rain. As a government official, how can I remain indifferent?"
In just three days, Song Deqiu had discovered that people in Yanping County had begun secretly worshipping the Dragon King. He didn't know how the news spread, but now people's hearts were uneasy, and many people were crazy about praying for rain.
No matter what kind of god this is, as long as it can rain, Song Deqiu is willing to do it, but County Magistrate Meng Jiang said.
"Sir, you are an official appointed by the imperial court, holding the lives and property of the people of this county in your hands. However, our Beiyang is now the fiefdom of His Royal Highness the Prince of Qi. Lian Gehui is only a ninth-rank official, and he was merely holding an altar to offer sacrifices to the gods in the county. His Royal Highness the Prince of Qi certainly has no knowledge of this. However, you are the head of this county. If you do something unholy without informing His Royal Highness the Prince of Qi first, what will you do if His Royal Highness the Prince of Qi blames you for it?"
It's not easy to be an official. It's even harder when there's a prince above you who only cares about asking for money and food.
Song Deqiu looked ugly and ferocious.
"What should he do? Ever since the King of Qi arrived and took over the fiefdom, the grain and head taxes have been rising every year. He demands money and gifts from merchants. How can this be considered a fiefdom now? It's the King of Qi's backyard. He can do whatever he wants. We informed the King of Qi of the potential drought this year in April, but not only did he ignore it, he even increased the grain tax. What should I do? What should the people of Yanping County do?"
He gritted his teeth in anger and pounded the table hard, but was immediately stopped by Meng Jiang.
"Sir, I know you are wholeheartedly serving the people, but the court has made such arrangements. How can we disobey the imperial power? Why don't you write a memorial and send it to the Prince of Qi's palace? We can see what the Prince of Qi has to say and then perform the sacrifice to the gods..."
Meng Jiang continued to persuade him kindly, and Song Deqiu had to agree. He thought that if he wrote a memorial and sent it over, the King of Qi would be able to see it in just one day, and there was no time to delay things, so he quickly started writing the memorial.
But when writing the memorial, Song Deqiu was still secretly cursing the emperor in the court for his stupidity, saying that even if he was to divide the sons, it should not be done in this way.
Since ancient times, the feudal lords were not allowed to leave their fiefdoms, make friends with officials, or hire mercenaries. But what is Your Majesty doing now?
Since the eight kings were enfeoffed, each prince became a real local emperor of his fiefdom. No matter how the imperial court arranged the fiefdoms allocated to the princes, the princes would always collect grain and money from the fiefdoms, and even recruit soldiers. Each of them had his own army and tried to seize the throne.
How can the world not be in chaos when this is the case?
Things were actually okay in Beiyang. The King of Qi kept increasing taxes, and even though he occasionally conscripted soldiers, most of them were sent to mine or train. It wasn't that crazy. However, Song Deqiu's family was from Dongyin, where the King of Jin was. Bandits had long been a problem there. Whether they were bandits or not, who knew? But the people had already suffered.
According to the news sent by the tribe some time ago, the people in Dongyin have already risen up in rebellion. It is not known how the rebellion is being suppressed now, but if the drought in Beiyang continues, it is likely that it will sooner or later suffer the same fate as Dongyin.
With the idea of slowing down the chaos in the world, Song Deqiu wrote a memorial and sent it to Prince Qi's Mansion.
The Prince of Qi's Mansion was the most imposing and luxurious mansion in Beiyang. When the memorial was delivered, the Chief Secretary Hou Cheng sorted it out and placed it in the study. Then Prince of Qi Gao Zhan entered the study with a pretty man in his arms.
"Who sent this memorial?"
King Gao Zhan of Qi did not like to fight for power. He was fond of male homosexuality and was destined to have no children in this life. So after being enfeoffed as the fief of Beiyang, although he asked for money and food and sent the people to dig salt mines, he did not have many soldiers under his command. He planned to wait for his brothers to fight for power and then find a powerful one to join him.
He had salt in his hands, lots of salt.
Therefore, the King of Qi did not manage his fiefdom much, and most of the time he let his chief secretary Hou Cheng manage it.
"Your Highness, the Prince of Qi, Song Deqiu, the prefect of Yanping County, has sent a memorial requesting that an altar be held in Yanping County to offer sacrifices to the gods and pray for rain. Your Highness, please grant your permission."
The King of Qi had already been hugged by the pretty man and was sitting on the chair. Hou Cheng turned a blind eye to this. Instead, the King of Qi frowned when he heard the news.
"Sacrifice to the gods? It's so dry, and these useless officials don't know how to irrigate the land, but only know how to sacrifice to the gods. They have this money, but instead of giving it to me, they give it to these useless gods? No!"
The King of Qi refused directly and sneered.
"Send someone to tell Song Deqiu that since he has money for the sacrifice to the gods, he should send me 100,000 taels of silver. Isn't that a lot of money? It seems that I have been giving them too much face for a long time, making these people greedy and disobedient."
…
Hou Cheng knew that there was no water in many places in the river, and the water used by the King of Qi was also transported from thousands of miles away by people in the palace. However, seeing that His Royal Highness the King of Qi was angry, he naturally did not say much and just nodded.
"Yes, Your Highness."
This news was sent back within a day. When the county magistrate Song Deqiu saw the people from the Prince of Qi's Mansion coming over to ask for money, he was so angry that he trembled all over. But then he summoned people over, and the merchants in Yanping County collected 100,000 taels of silver, and then he respectfully sent the people from the Prince of Qi's Mansion away.
"Look, this is what you said about reporting to His Royal Highness the Prince of Qi. If His Royal Highness the Prince of Qi cared about our lives and the people, why would he act like this?"
Song Deqiu was so angry that he was shaking all over. He couldn't breathe for a while without checking. Meng Jiang, who was standing beside him, was so scared that he quickly called a doctor. After the doctor came, Song Deqiu felt better.
The main function of Yanping County was to mine salt for the King of Qi, a very large salt mine. In the past, people could make money by selling salt, but after the King of Qi came, he wanted money, salt, and food, and he almost squeezed the people out of their money.
Now, His Royal Highness the Prince of Qi has taken away another 100,000 taels of silver, and Song Deqiu is so angry that he wants to die.
"No! We must hold an altar to pray for rain! We must offer sacrifices to the Dragon King! Everyone knows about the incident with the Dragon King of the West Sea. The people are even kneeling outside the government office to pray for rain. The farmland outside is even dry. If we don't pray for rain, how will we collect the autumn taxes this year? Will the people starve to death?"
Song Deqiu was gasping for breath in anger. In the past few days, everyone in Yanping County and even the nearby villages had heard about the story of Canglang, the Dragon King of the West Sea.
So praying for rain is imminent.
"But sir, you are disobeying the imperial order, which is a serious crime punishable by death..."
Meng Jiang was also helpless. He knew that the people were in difficulty, but the King of Qi would not allow it. The King of Qi would not allow such superstitious things. If the Lord did not listen, he would probably lose his head in the end.
"Then let His Royal Highness the Prince of Qi kill me! I've had enough of life anyway! Meng Jiang, Dongyin is already in chaos, and Daxia will sooner or later..."
"Sir, be silent!!!"
Song Deqiu's words were interrupted by Meng Jiang, who quickly brought tea to Song Deqiu.
Song Deqiu's eyes were red and he felt indescribable pain in his heart.
In fact, many officials knew in their hearts that Daxia was probably doomed. Not to mention the natural disasters everywhere, everyone in the court was now protecting themselves. His Majesty was extremely incompetent, and even the aristocratic families had withdrawn from the court. Every move meant that Daxia was doomed.
Daxia is really finished...
The common people were ignorant and only knew how to make a living by farming, but the real officials were powerless to change after seeing all this. They could only watch the building collapse and eventually become the useless straw that was crushed to death.
"If there really comes a day when I must die, I'd rather die now than see lives destroyed and people displaced."
Song Deqiu thought of the letters sent by his clansmen, which said that villages after villages in Dongyin were wiped out, and the people even became slaves or food. How could this not make people terrified?
He couldn't bear to see the people under his rule become like that, and even if it meant death, he didn't want to see that day.
"...I am willing to die with you, sir."
What else could Meng Jiang say at this moment? Seeing that the master had already put life and death aside, he could only sacrifice his life to accompany the gentleman.
The people of Yanping County soon received a notice from the government office. A day later, the county magistrate Song Deqiu held an altar to offer sacrifices to the gods, praying to the Dragon King Canglang of the West Sea to send down divine rain to save the people from the drought.
The news spread quickly, and the people were ecstatic. They had long heard of the reputation of the Dragon King of the West Sea. When the wealthy families in the county built altars to prepare sacrifices to the gods, many people even took the initiative to send their live poultry as sacrifices to pray for rain.
The Prince of Qi's Mansion naturally learned of this news. Prince of Qi Gao Zhan was so angry that he smashed the cup and threw away the charming man beside him.
"Song Deqiu! How dare you disobey my orders!!!"
He was furious and called the chief secretary directly.
"Hou Cheng, come with me personally to Yanping County. I want to see how many lives Song Deqiu has on his hands after daring to disobey my orders and pray for rain!!!"
When the King of Qi gave the order, everyone naturally dared not disobey. They quickly prepared the carriage frame and travel equipment, and set off almost as soon as they were ready.
Song Deqiu didn't know that King Qi had come to cause trouble. After the people in the county had prepared the sacrifices and altar, he planned to pray for rain at the gate of Yanping County. The place there was spacious and the people could watch from there.
It was said that on the day of the Dragon King worship in Anping County, the Dragon King's true form appeared and hovered in the sky. This time, Song Deqiu only hoped that if the Dragon King Canglang of the West Sea was really there at that time, and if the Dragon King sent down a blessing rain today, he, Song Deqiu, would be willing to offer incense to the Dragon King for the rest of his life!!!
As Song Deqiu walked up to the platform, Qin Lang heard the task issued by the system in Wangjia Village.
[Ding Dong! Host, please complete the mission of bringing rain to Yanping County and make all the people in Yanping County become followers of Dragon King Canglang. Countdown...]
Qin Lang accepted the mission and immediately transformed into a black dragon, soaring away. For some reason, he felt as if he had grown larger. Furthermore, as his faith value grew, he felt as if something was different. The golden light emitted by the [Dragon Roaring in the Nine Skies] in the costume shop grew brighter, and the suit even seemed to be taking shape...
Thinking about this, Qin Lang soared over Yanping County in an instant, hiding his body and looking down. Unexpectedly, he did not see anyone singing praises for him, but someone coming to challenge him.
At the gate of Yanping County, the carriage of King Gao Zhan of Qi came galloping, and the people dodged in panic. The carriage and the hundreds of cavalrymen brought with them arrived in front of the altar in an instant. The next moment, King Gao Zhan of Qi appeared from the carriage.
"Song Deqiu! You disobeyed my orders and offered sacrifice to the evil god! This is a heinous crime! Soldiers, listen up! Destroy this offering to the evil god immediately!!! Such an evil god must not be born within my territory!!!"
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