Jing Xiang bent down, pulled a piece of soil from the field, rubbed his hands, and the soil turned into powder, falling from between his palms.

Jing Xiang, whose face was extremely gloomy, walked on the ridge of the field, which should have been the time when the green seedlings were like a blanket, but in the field, the green seedlings were sparse, and some cracks were already clearly visible.

An old farmer came over with a load of water and put the bucket in the field, scooped water out of the bucket with a wooden scoop, and watered the seedlings.

Jing Xiang walked over and looked into the bucket, but it was only half a bucket of water, and it was muddy and half water.

"Uncle, why does this water look like this? Is it possible that there is no water source? Jing Xiang asked.

Seeing Jing Xiang's dress and the few people who followed him were also imposing, the old man quickly threw away the wooden scoop and saluted with his crossed hands. "This official, this god wants to embarrass us, since the New Year, three months, there has not been a rain, where is there any water source, this is still the time when the little old man went to the year, saw that the snow was much thinner than in previous years, he knew that it was not good, so he dug a pit and saved some snow water. But I never thought that it would not rain for months! ”

"My husband is a veteran and has experience, but I have come all the way, why haven't I dug pits and stored some snow water like my father-in-law?" Jing Xiang asked puzzled.

The old farmer smiled bitterly: "The officials don't know, in the winter, many people don't even have a thicker clothes, how can they come out to dig a pit?" The pit was not dug out, but the man froze to death. ”

Jing Xiang looked up to the sky and sighed, didn't say anything more, turned around, and walked away with a little staggering.

Walking all the way to the official road, Jing Xiang finally couldn't hold back the anger in his heart, threw the horsewhip in his hand on the ground, looked at Wu Jian beside him, and said angrily: "If it weren't for the micro-service to come out for a walk today, would you dare to believe what you saw?" This year's drought, obviously last year, the peasant officials of the DPRK and the Central People's Republic of China, and the Si Tianjian had warnings, and the imperial court also allocated money to renovate water conservancy and canals? Where did the aqueduct go! ”

With a flying kick, he kicked a stone on the official road to the place where the road should have been a canal, where it was stuffed with mud and withered yellow weeds.

"Respectfully, our household department has allocated the money, and I personally handled this matter, and as far as I know, the Ministry of Industry has not deducted it, and it has been distributed to all places." Wu Jian said.

"Yes, the imperial court gave money, but the water conservancy project to be renovated has not been moved at all. Wu Jian, this is Chang'an County, how far is it from Chang'an City? They dared to fool the imperial court like this, and the city built a canal, and after fooling around, they claimed to have completed the water conservancy of the entire county, and stuffed a lot of money into their own purse. Jing Xiang was furious.

Wu Jian smiled bitterly.

The Ministry of Works will inspect the project after the fact, and the Ministry of Household will review the accounts, but it is clear that both departments have been deceived, or have not been deceived at all, but have been in the process with those people, and have also received a piece of the pie.

"I'm going to cut off the head of the Chang'an County Commander!" Jing Xiang turned over his horse and said angrily.

Wu Jian grabbed Jing Xiang's horse head and said, "Jing Xiang is angry for the time being, the county order of Chang'an County, the surname is Dai!" ”

Jing Xiang was stunned for a moment, and only after a while did he hang his head.

"What's wrong with this? Chang'an County is like this, will Wannian County be better? Will Eight Hundred Miles Qinchuan be better? Listening to Jing Xiang's long sigh, Wu Jian was also worried.

When Fan Sheng was summoned to hurriedly step into the Jingxiang official hall, he saw Jingxiang with a sad face.

"Respectfully, what's wrong?" Fan Sheng rarely saw such a helpless look on Jing Xiang's face.

"Fan Sheng, you are in charge of the front division of the palace, do you know nothing about such blatant greed?" Jing Xiang looked at Fan Sheng, but suddenly his anger burned, Fan Sheng was his confidant and his partner, but it allowed him to find a place to vent the anger that had been accumulated in his heart.

He slammed the table violently and shouted: "Do you know that the funds allocated by the imperial court to build water conservancy were greedy by those moths, and they didn't repair it at all, they didn't repair it." The drought is coming, the fields are not harvested, what kind of scene will be next, do you dare to imagine? ”

Fan Sheng shuddered, and only said after a while: "Respect, these things are not the responsibility of my palace front division, and now the main force of our palace front division is mainly under the rule of Li Ze in the north and in the south!" These things should be the affairs of the imperial historians, whether the officials are competent or not, that is the matter of the officials, we just want to ensure the loyalty of these officials, other things, I want to interfere, I am afraid that it will cause trouble! ”

Jing Xiang sat down dejectedly and waved his hand at him.

"That's it, I'm wrong for you, and I'm in a hurry. Next, you go and take a good look and see if there are those places where the money is really being paid for, and those places will be affected by the drought, how much will it be affected, how much the harvest will be affected, and how many places will not be harvested. ”

"Okay, I'll arrange for someone to do this right away." Fan Sheng nodded.

"The court is going to make arrangements in advance." Jing Xiang lowered his head, "Otherwise, there will be a big mess." Do you remember the chaos more than 20 years ago? ”

"Of course I do!" Fan Sheng said: "First the flood, then the drought, finally relieved a little bit, a locust plague shattered everyone's hopes, one after another natural disasters, led to the big riots that swept the country, the collapse of the Tang Dynasty, is from which time." ”

"A lesson from the past, the teacher of the latter, some people, always heal the scar and forget the pain, it's only been a few days of good life, and even dare to be greedy for such money!" Jing Xiang said with some pain: "Over in the north, what is the situation?" ”

Fan Sheng looked at Jing Xiang's appearance, and said in a low voice: "Jing Xiang, you have been to the north, when you know that, for building roads, building water conservancy has a very high enthusiasm, every time you lay down a land, the first thing to do, must be these things, although the drought on their side is no different from us, but from the information sent back, they are very little affected, the green seedlings in the fields are growing very well, there has always been water in the canals, all the rivers are on the side, there are countless waterwheels to pick up the waterwheels, and then follow the canals that extend in all directions, Deliver water to various places. ”

"Isn't this drought affecting them?" Jing Xiang interrupted him, when he was unlucky, he really didn't want to hear that his biggest competitor was having an extremely good time.

"Of course, there will be an impact, and a reduction in production is also necessary, but it will not hurt the fundamentals." Fan Sheng said categorically.

Jing Xiang looked at Fan Sheng, and said after a while: "Fan Sheng, tell me, if in a few months, our autumn harvest is hopeless, and there are a large number of displaced people in the territory, and it is a mess, and our biggest opponent has no worries about food and clothing, and the soldiers are strong, what will they do?" ”

"This still needs to be asked, of course, it is to raise troops to the south, take advantage of the fire to rob, and beat the ...... into the water" Fan Sheng stopped suddenly.

"yes, of course I'm here to beat the Reservoir Dogs." Jing Xiang took a deep breath: "I finally understand now why at the end of last year, Tang soldiers were mobilized at the border again and again, repeatedly provocative, it turned out to be forcing us to respond, consuming more resources, grain, grass, and money. They really didn't want to fight at that time, but after this autumn, they were afraid that they would actually fight. ”

"Respect, I will keep an eye on the situation over there, and once there is a stir, I will definitely be able to receive information as soon as possible." Fan Shengdao.

"Now you are leaning more resources towards the Third Highness, and it is only right for you to assist him in taking Eyue." Jing Xiang shook his head: "Once we mess up ourselves, the north will definitely fight." If we don't mess up ourselves and can stabilize our position, then Li Ze will not move troops easily. ”

"Yes!" Fan Shengdao.

Jing Xiang stood up: "You go and do things, seize all the time, there is a letter I wrote to the Third Highness on the table, you send someone to him." His pace is going to pick up. ”

"Understood."

"I'll go into the palace now to see Your Majesty."

Zhu Wen, the emperor of the Great Liang, was originally very fat, but now he is getting fatter and fatter, sitting on the Hu bed, it is like a mountain of meat, to Jingxiang's surprise, today, Dai Chao is actually here, next to him, there is another person, who is now the Tang Dynasty minister Wang Shu.

Although Wang Shu is a Zhongshu Ling, he is an empty prince, and compared with Dai Chao and Jing Xiang, he is really not above the same level. He is more of a lubricant that Zhu Wen used to balance the dispute between Dai Chao and Jing Xiang, and of course, he is also the benchmark for those former Tang courtiers who have lowered Liang.

"Lao Jing, you came just in time, I originally had to ask someone to call you." Zhu Wen smiled and beckoned Jing Xiang to sit in front of him.

"I don't know what is the important matter for Your Majesty to summon the ministers?" Jing Xiang asked with a smile.

"Some new personnel appointments." Zhu Wen said: "Now in Luzhou, Shi Zhuang is aggressive, repeatedly attacking, and the front is quite tight, I am ready to let Du Rong, the commander of the forbidden army, stabilize the situation there." ”

Jing Xiang glanced at Dai Chao and immediately understood the meaning behind this appointment: "If Du Rong goes, who will take over as the commander of the forbidden army." ”

"I'm going to let Yua come back." Zhu Wen said: "The commander of the forbidden army is responsible for the safety of the entire Chang'an, with tens of thousands of the most elite troops, and he can't pretend to others. ”

Jing Xiang stood up and said sharply: "Your Majesty, the minister is against it!" ”

Looking at Jing Xiang's expression, Zhu Wen was taken aback. In the past, even if Jing Xiang disagreed with him, he rarely spoke as sharply as he does now, but would persuade himself around the bend, and today this seems to be something?

Dai Chao is not surprised, the situation is becoming more and more obvious now, Jing Xiang does not support Zhu Youyu at all, but prefers Zhu Youzhen, of course he will not support Zhu Youyu to come back to control the Chang'an Forbidden Army.