Wei Wende has been very depressed recently, because his request to open a warehouse for grain relief is like a stone sinking into the sea. And the torrential rain still has no intention of stopping, and the documents that are constantly urgent about floods in various places have flown to his desk one after another. He had only been here for a month, and he had encountered such a tricky thing.

He had been in the officialdom for a long time, and after thinking about it, he felt that the reason why his twists and turns did not attract the emperor's attention was that there was no weighty evidence, so he could not let the emperor really feel that there was a serious disaster here, because there must have been many places across the country that were also affected by floods. Therefore, Wei Wende decided to personally visit the most affected states and counties to see the local people injured. Then these were recorded in the form of a written record and reported to the emperor, which should be enough.

On this morning, Wei Wende took the officials in charge of Qiangu of Xuanzhou Mansion and the secretary of the household house, and others, under the protection of Yamen soldiers and personal guards, out of the city to Pinghu County, where the disaster was most severe.

It was raining lightly, and the soldiers and guards wore hats and robes, and rode horses to guard him on his left and right.

The Emperor of the Great Song Dynasty still attached great importance to him, and Xuanzhou City, which he was sent to, was an important military town, and the stability here involved the stability of the entire Wuyue. In Xuanzhou, there was a rebel army of Prince Wu Yue entrenched in Yaque Mountain, although it was later defeated and fled by officers and soldiers, but it was not completely annihilated, and continued to wander around Xuanzhou, and the local political situation was unstable. In order to support and cheer up the officials he sent, the Emperor of the Great Song Dynasty selected a strong martial artist from his internal guards as Wei Wende's personal guard to show his favor, which made Wei Wende grateful.

This Ouchi guard is a Taoist, and the Taoist name is Kongxuanzi. Dressed in a robe, holding a ghost hand gold wire whisk dust, the silk thread of the dust is golden, and it looks very dazzling. Riding a horse, he followed Wei Wende's palanquin.

Hugged by the soldiers of the Yamen, he went out of the city in the official sedan chair to meet the light rain and went to Pinghu County along the post road.

Pinghu County is the farthest county from Xuanzhou, and although they walk along the post road, it takes them almost three days to get there.

Along the way, Wei Wende saw that the Qingshui River beside the post road had turned into a roaring dragon, rolling in mud and sand branches, washing away countless rice fields. Along the way, people fleeing with their families abounded. Some of the victims were so hungry that they couldn't stand it, and risked their lives to stop him in the official sedan chair to beg for food, which made Wei Wende's heart heavy. These are vivid examples that he could not imagine sitting in the yamen. Only when you come down and see it with your own eyes can you feel something.

On the third day, they finally came to Pinghu County.

There is a lake in Pinghu County, the lake is very vast, like a mirror, so it is named Pinghu County, and the county seat is on the edge of Pinghu.

The water of Pinghu Lake is formed by the collection of mountains and streams in all directions, and the outlet flows into the Qingshui River, and then flows through Xuanzhou City.

Due to the rain for several days, the water on the surface of the lake has skyrocketed, and in the past few days, the torrential rain has become a disaster, and the lake has frantically overflowed the embankment, flooded into the county, and the whole city has been immersed in floods, and the deepest part of the flood has been waist-deep.

The magistrate of Pinghu County had already received the news, and took the officials and squires in the city out of the city to greet them, and respectfully welcomed Wei Wende and his party into the city.

Wei Wende lifted the curtain of the car, only to see that there was muddy and dirty sewage everywhere, all the way to the waist of the person. The lower part of his palanquin was also soaked in the floodwaters, and he had to sit on the stool with his legs curled so that his feet would not be wet by the water. There are two people in the front and back of his official sedan chair, and a total of four people are carrying, so it is still very stable, and there is no need to worry about falling into the water.

Looking at the flooded position on the wall, you can see that the flood once overflowed the roof, which shows the ferocity of the flood at that time, although it has receded a little, it is still very deep. Many of the houses along the way were empty, and the owners who thought they were inside had fled.

There was water flowing on the streets, and there were many people begging for food along the streets. Of course, their jobs are empty, and they rarely get food, let alone money.

Along the way, the sound of crying and wailing can be heard from time to time, many people hang white cloth prayer flags on the doors, and men, women and children dressed in linen and filial piety flow in and out of the water. It is believed that a relative died in this flood, and the family is doing funeral work.

After arriving at Yamen and listening to the report from the magistrate, Wei Wende learned that the county seat of Pinghu County was not the hardest hit, but the heaviest were the two villages, which were completely washed away by the flood, and the people were displaced and homeless, with a total of thousands of people. And there was not much grain in the yamen granary in the city, and the imperial court did not order the opening of the warehouse to release grain, and there was nothing to be done about it when the people starved to death in the city. Speaking of sadness, the magistrate of Pinghu County was in tears.

Wei Wende decided to go to these two villages to see them in person, so he set off overnight and rushed to the countryside

At dusk, they arrived at the first village that was most affected.

The village is nestled between the mountain passes, and a ravine that has been washed away by the flood can be clearly seen, and most of the houses in the village have been destroyed, except for a few pillars still standing there crookedly, indicating that this was once a peaceful village. There were only a dozen dull-eyed old and young people left, because there was no one to take care of them and they could not escape the famine, so they could only live by eating wild vegetables and peeling tree bark, and such days did not last long.

Wei Wende got out of the sedan chair, comforted the poor villagers one by one, asked the entourage to give them some dry food they brought, and walked slowly at the edge of the village, standing at the entrance of the village, sighing and looking at the village that was washed away by the flood, and was very sad in his heart. As a parent official, it is difficult for him to accept the destruction and displacement of people's homes.

Wei Wende got into the sedan chair again with a heavy heart, and ordered to go to the second village.

There were all sheep intestine trails along the way, and there was no way to connect four people in parallel, and his palanquin driver also changed from four to two, taking turns to carry it, walking on the rugged mountain road.

As he was walking, there was a sudden swish, and a sharp arrow suddenly appeared in Wei Wende's official sedan chair, the wolf tooth arrow with a barb, only about an inch away from his nose, if it was a little more deviated, the arrow had already pierced his head.

He let out an exclamation, and at the same time, the Xuankong Daoist outside shouted, "There are assassins!

After that arrow, there were actually more than a dozen sharp arrows shot, but they were knocked away by the empty Xuanzi Taoist who followed the sedan chair with the Buddha dust in his hand.

Although the other party suddenly attacked, only one arrow could hit the sedan chair, which shows the speed of this empty Xuanzi's reaction.

After he knocked a dozen sharp arrows flying away, his body rose into the air, and his robe hunted with a hunting sound, like an eagle swooping down on its prey, in the air, and flew towards the bushes where the arrows were shot.

I heard a crackling scream of different heights, and soon it stopped. Kong Xuanzi grabbed the two assassins one in one hand and landed next to the sedan chair.

At this time, those well-trained soldiers had gathered around the official sedan chair, the shield bearer holding a shield to block the palanquin, guarding against incoming arrows at any time, and the knife and axe hand holding a simple knife to search the surrounding grass and jungle.

After searching all around, no other Assassins were found.

Kong Xuanzi killed most of the dozen or so archer assassins hiding in the jungle, captured the remaining two and returned to the car. Hurriedly asked Wei Wende, "My lord, are you okay?"

After that, he stretched out his hand to open the curtain of the sedan chair, and saw Wei Wende, who was pale with fright, curled up in a corner of the official sedan chair, and an arrow was inserted halfway through the wall of the sedan chair, and there was no blood on it, so it could be seen that Wei Wende was not shot.

Kong Xuanzi breathed a sigh of relief and said to Wei Wende: "My lord, Poor Dao has caught two assassins, wait for Poor Dao to ask who these assassins are." ”

Wei Wende nodded and said, "Okay! We must catch the person behind the scenes, this official is so sympathetic to the people's feelings, and loves the people like a son, but someone wants to kill this official, this person really deserves to die! Be sure to find out the identity of the assassin and see if there are any other assassins!"

At the same time as Kong Xuanzi was extorting a confession, the magistrate of Pinghu County, who had opened the road in front, heard that someone had attacked the prefect and was half frightened to death. After the battle situation was stable, he hurriedly ran to ask for peace in a panic with his official robe and crooked hat, and saw that the prefect was only frightened and not injured, so he was a little relieved.

Seeing the county magistrate coming, Wei Zhifu was furious, pointed at his nose and scolded, scolded the county with a gray face, the old face was red, and he confessed vigorously.

Kong Xuanzi used torture to extract confessions, and soon made the two assassins open their mouths, but the answer he got made him not satisfied, because these people were from the underworld, and they came to assassinate people by collecting money, and the person who bought the murderer came with a mask and didn't know who it was. Kong Xuanzi continued to torture to extract confessions, and the two assassins were tortured but could only confess indiscriminately, and the statements could not be corroborated by each other.

Kong Xuanzi opened the curtain and reported to Wei Wende: "My lord, these two people are killers on the underworld, hired to commit murder, and the person who bought the murderer is masked, and he only knows that it is a man, but he doesn't know who it is. ”

Wei Wende said hatefully: "In this case, kill these two people, and those who dare to assassinate this official will be killed!"

Kong Xuanzi clenched his fists and made a neck wipe motion towards the soldiers guarding the two assassins, and the two soldiers raised their waist knives and beheaded the two assassins one by one, and kicked their bodies down the roadside.

Wei Wende thought about the thrill just now, and after being scared for a while, he asked Kong Xuanzi what to do?

Kong Xuanzi instructed the shield bearer to block several shields on the three sides and the top of the sedan chair to avoid another attack with a bow and arrow. Fortunately this time, the opponent attacked from one side, and if it was from both sides, or multiple places at the same time, it would be difficult for the empty Xuanzi to take care of both.

Wei Wende felt a little relieved when he saw that the shield hand had sealed the shield around his palanquin, but this attack had lost his courage to cherish the people's feelings, and he was ordered to return directly to the county seat, leaving the hard-hit village behind.

I don't know if it was because of the strict precautions taken to prevent the assassins from having a chance, or if it was only this wave of assassins, and they returned to Pinghu County safely.

The magistrate first made arrangements, let the yamen cook make a table of good dishes, and called a few women in the Qinglou to accompany the wine, and sent a heavy gift of apology under the banquet, which swept away Wei Wende's gloomy face.