The weather continues to be dry, and it hasn't rained a drop of rain for two months.

In the Central Plains, locusts have come one after another, but they are still caught by countless locust hunting armies in various ways, and the locust plague has not yet appeared, but the crops in the field have not been saved.

The crops were not eaten by the locusts, but there was no water, and they died of drought day by day.

The small stream and the small river are cut off, and the large river also exposes a large area of the riverbed, leaving only the shallow flow in the center of the river.

The government has begun to tell the people that the drought will continue this year, so some fields cannot be saved, so there is no need to fight the drought in vain. There is no water to pick, and you can't win if you pick. Instead of working in vain, let's catch locusts together for food.

Locusts caught everywhere are now piling up.

Fortunately, the grain exchange locusts on it have been continuing, and there has been no change, and the locusts have pulled over and the grain has been exchanged without any discount.

Xinke's champion Lang was newly awarded the post of secretary of the province from Liupin, originally Ma Zhou insisted on refusing to accept, he said that he wanted to go to the locality, and it was best to go to a remote place to take up the position, even if it was a county of Jiupin.

However, on the grounds that he would stay in the capital for a while and study collectively with other scholars in the ministry, the emperor still let him take up a post in the secretary province first.

Then, Luo Cheng asked Ma Zhou to go to Yanshi County to take up a temporary post and let him serve as the county commander.

The previous Yanshi County Commander had been promoted and transferred away because of his meritorious service in curing locusts.

Ma Zhou's tenure as a Yanshi is a temporary post, and the official statement of the imperial court is that he is seconded to the secretary of the provincial secretary Lang Benguan, so his official title is the secretary of the provincial secretary Lang Zhiyanshi county affairs, and there is still a big difference between the county and the county order.

When Ma Zhou arrived and found out that his Zuo Erguan County Cheng was actually Li Gang, he was a little surprised, this former scholar of the Hanlin Academy and the crown prince Zhan Shi was now busy organizing locust hunting and drought fighting in the county all day long.

Most of the fields have been designated as abandoned areas, and only a few fields near the river and water have been reserved as crop preservation areas, and people have been organized to dig wells and use water trucks to fight drought.

Li Gang didn't welcome the young magistrate Ma Zhou, and in the following time, the old master Li Gang seemed to be a different person.

Now he doesn't talk about those Confucian scriptures or sage remarks, nor does he talk about the induction of heaven and man, he is just doing something down-to-earth now.

"I know that the Inner Ministry has been collecting locusts, but in fact, His Majesty is merciful, and he is using the grain of the Inner Treasury to subsidize and relieve the people." Li Gang said with admiration.

In Yanshi County alone, there are a large number of locusts caught every day, but the people in the Inner Servant Province do not refuse to come, and they will exchange as many as they want.

Three catties of locusts and one catty of millet have not changed since the beginning, and it has been changed for two months. Although it is not as good as a pound of jumping bugs and two pounds of millet, the locusts are larger.

Outside the Yanshi City, the Inner Service Province also sent people to build several huge locust warehouses, which were full of sun-dried locusts. On the other hand, in the processing workshop, it is also grinding locusts for dry flour day and night.

Li Gang also knew that the province used locusts to dry and grind flour, and then mixed them with other miscellaneous grains, or made into health powder, or simply made into feed, which was used to feed chickens and ducks.

But he still thinks that at this time, the locusts have already harvested too much, and if the market behaves, it can be completely reduced by a big price.

"Those workshops employ a lot of people in the county, and they settle their wages with grain every day, which is also a disguised relief for the people."

Ma Zhou was naturally clear about this, but he still firmly believed that the actions of the Inner Servants were not entirely charitable, and should still be profitable.

He wouldn't think it was all an act of relief and charity, as Li Gang did.

As a newly arrived magistrate, Ma Zhou spent a few days running through the entire Yanshi County, and then summoned the county Cheng Li Gang and other officials.

"According to the observation and estimation of the secretary of the Provincial Taishi Bureau, the drought in Henan will intensify, so the grain in the first half of this year is basically not guaranteed, and now there is Li Xiancheng leading everyone to catch locusts, the effect is very significant, and there are basically no swarms of locusts in the county, which is a good thing."

"But I think we can't just stare at the locusts, it's a difficult time now, we have to exterminate the locusts, we also have to prevent disasters, there is no harvest this summer, then before the autumn harvest, there is still more than half a year, and the people's rations must be guaranteed."

Ma Zhou had a booklet in front of him, which was recorded during his time running down.

"Now many people in the county still have grain in their hands, and this locust has been exchanged for grain, and each family has also changed a lot, which is a good situation, and there is also a lot of grain in the warehouse. Normally, even if there is no harvest this summer, we will still not find a famine, but in preparation for a rainy day, a certain proposal to tighten the supervision of the granary in the county, suspend grain trading transactions, implement a quantitative distribution system, set the allocation amount according to household registration and population, and lock in grain prices! ”

Ma Zhou's meaning is very clear, now many people are not short of food, but after all, there will still be some people who will be short of food, and I am afraid that everyone will see the drought and locust plague, and there will be a phenomenon of grabbing grain and hoarding grain.

In this way, everyone can buy grain, and they can avoid panic and hoard grain, so that the price of grain will soar and the people will not be able to afford it.

"We are not short of food, but we need to prevent a climate of panic and food grabbing."

The county recorded the matter, "Ma Zhi County, although there is an official warehouse of the imperial court in the county, there are still a lot of private grain merchants, if the grain price is locked, I am afraid that they may not be willing." ”

Ma Zhou said very politely, "Grain merchant? The grain merchants are also the grain merchants of Daqin, and now in this special period, do they still want to hoard Juqi and manipulate grain prices to make a fortune? Whoever dares not to cooperate will be considered guilty! ”

"What sin?"

"Rebellion!"

Ma Zhou said coldly, "The Great Qin Law Decree, rebellion, is a crime of plotting to endanger the society, plotting to overthrow the imperial court and endangering the country. ”

Cold sweat broke out on the forehead of the county clerk, Ma Zhou wanted to negotiate the crime of treason against the grain that refused to lock the price, and it could indeed be related, but after all, it still gave people a feeling of being too harsh and cold.

But Ma Zhou said that during the special period, everything was strict, and he didn't have nothing to say.

The officials in the county all looked at Li Gang, after all, although Ma Zhixian was the champion of the new department, after all, Li Xiancheng was the prince's teacher, and he used to be Zaifu.

"I think what Ma Zhixian said is right, the more this time, the more stable it is, the grain merchants want to make money, but they can't make money at this time."

Ma Zhou cast a grateful look at Li Gang, and then said, "Of course, in addition to ensuring the safety of the granary and implementing the quota allocation, I think that when we take advantage of the current time, the county will organize and take out the grain to hire young and strong people, build roads and bridges, build embankments and canals, build water conservancy, and transform the city. ”

Li Gang immediately nodded, "I agree with Ma Zhi County's plan!" ”

It is said that the new official took office with three fires.

As the new champion, Ma Zhou did not stay in Chang'an City to enjoy the feeling of the stars holding the moon, did not linger in the banquets of those wealthy families, did not rush to visit the high-ranking officials, but went down to take up a post, and as soon as he came, he had to do practical things, this attitude, as well as his plan, were appreciated and supported by the officials below.

"Natural disasters are merciless, but people are merciful. We, Yanshi County, not only have to tide over the difficulties of the disaster, but also turn the disaster into a driving force, organize the people's forces, and do some things that need to be done together! ”

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