In June of the same year, it was when the war in Youzhou was tense. In addition, Concubine Wu Hui's birthday is approaching, and all kinds of people inside and outside the palace are already busy, which can really be said to be a happy event inside and a war outside.

The existence of these two things alone has made Tang Xuanzong sleepless all night, but unexpectedly, at this juncture, the Shandong territory has suffered a great drought that has not been encountered in a century.

Man-made disasters are not peaceful, natural disasters are coming, how can Tang Xuanzong bear this? He had no time to take care of this matter, and in desperation, Tang Xuanzong could only hand over this matter to Zhu Jingqi to deal with it on his behalf.

Zhu Jingqi is a master of the court, familiar with the world, has profound qualifications, and is an old minister in the court, quite prestigious. Tang Xuanzong entrusted him with full authority for disaster relief, out of trust and testing for him.

The most severely affected area by the drought this time is Ji County in Dengzhou, Shandong.

Jixian County is located on the Shandong Peninsula, which was originally a livable place for the people to be prosperous. But I don't know why this year is so abnormal, so that it has gradually developed into a drought.

If common sense extrapolates from common sense, locust plagues usually occur after droughts. As a result, the situation faced by the people here will inevitably become even more severe.

There is a way that the people take food as the sky, and if there is a long drought, there will be no food, and without food, there will be no life. Over time, it will inevitably lead to popular unrest and social unrest. Therefore, we must not relax and slack off, so as not to cause a catastrophe.

Therefore, the most urgent task at present is to find ways to raise food so that the people's minds can be temporarily reassured and the urgent needs can be relieved.

However, such a large loss of money and grain cannot be solved by relying only on the strength of Jixian County. For now, we can only hope for the imperial court.

Qu Liqing, who was the county magistrate at that time, was a good official who loved the people like a son, and since he took office for more than three years, Qu Liqing has really worked hard day and night in order to make the local people live a stable and happy life.

Over time, he naturally became the lord of a county loved by the people.

In the face of this natural disaster, Qu Liqing, as the parent of the people, advanced and retreated with the people of the county.

In order to solve this difficulty, he did not hesitate to scatter his family wealth to sell iron, and did his best to prevent the people under his rule from suffering from hunger. But he himself was so busy and tired that his shape was broken. When everyone saw Qu Liqing working so hard, they were smiling and their hearts were dripping blood.

However, such a virtuous and noble person who regards all the people as his own must also face the miserable situation of "the old and the young". Although he is over half a hundred years old, he has no children under his knees, and he still has an elderly mother to support.

Qu Liqing has been honest and honest all his life, but this time he encountered this kind of change, and the situation at home is becoming more and more stretched.

In order to enable her to concentrate on disaster relief, the old mother of the family tried to kill herself several times. As everyone knows, Qu Liqing has never regarded her as a burden, on the contrary, the old mother is his spiritual sustenance.

If the mother mourns, the spiritual pillar will collapse, and at that time, who should preside over the safety of the county? Wouldn't such an act be trapped in a state of disloyalty, filial piety, benevolence and injustice? How could such a result be pleasing to a loving mother?

A few days later, tens of thousands of stone relief grains urgently allocated by the imperial court finally arrived in Jixian on time, which can be said to solve the urgent need here.

When the county magistrate Qu Liqing and a group of poor people saw that the food relief had arrived, their hearts were suddenly overjoyed, and they smiled happily.

However, when Qu Liqing opened the grain bag to inspect the grain, he made a new discovery.

After repeated inspections, Qu Liqing was surprised to find that these grains had actually become moldy and spoiled. What's more, a lot of insects were found wriggling in some food bags. There is every indication that these grains are most likely old grains from the next year.

Seeing this, Qu Liqing's tired heart, which had just improved, fell into the abyss again.

If these wicked things were known to the people, would not they give rise to many more troubles? If the people of the whole county resented the court because of this, and provoked a popular uprising, it would really cause a monstrous disaster.

So far, the only way to do this is to immediately block the news so as not to end badly, I hope Qu Liqing is just worrying about the sky.

Although this place has suffered from natural disasters, it is said that if there is food, it is already thankful. However, in any case, there is something wrong with the dignified court actually using the moldy grain for disaster relief.

But the matter has come to this point, although Qu Liqing is the lord of a county, compared with those senior officials in charge of this matter, he is simply not in the stream.

Moreover, the formation of such a situation is by no means the result of the covert collusion and manipulation of a few people, and it will inevitably involve a wide range of people. Judging from the current situation, Qu Liqing can only swallow his anger, and it is not appropriate to make any moves.

After the incident, Qu Liqing arranged for all the grain guards and people on this trip to rest in the government office for a while, and received them by himself. After all, this is a bad official sent down from above, and he can't be neglected.

I saw that as soon as the grain officer entered the county office, his ugliness was revealed, and all kinds of problems were revealed.

This person is more than six feet tall, with big shoulders and a round waist and a strong body. As long as the grain officer sat down in his seat, no matter how strong the chair was, he would squeak.

And the next scene made people laugh and cry.

Let's talk about Qu Liqing first, since the grain officer entered the door, he has been respectful to him, and he didn't even dare to breathe.

There is a way to be careful to sail the ship of ten thousand years, and this is also to avoid falling into the truth.

But what about the grain officer? It hasn't stopped since I entered the door. He first looked at the slightly humble county government and sighed a few times, and then sneered at Qu Liqing in public.

The grain officer knew Qu Liqing's temperament and style very well, and he would never care about it, so he became more and more unreasonable and presumptuous.

I saw him slowly sit on the chair with his buttocks spread out, his hands on the edge of the chair, and his hands on the edge of the chair, which was very ridiculous.

Seeing this situation, Qu Liqing on the side immediately ordered people to serve snacks and tea and other things, so that he could entertain him.

Seeing that everything was ready, the grain officer first squinted his eyes and glanced cursorily at the things on the table, and then, with great impatience, lifted the teacup in front of him, sniffed it from afar, and then immediately covered it. Then he quickly got up and said, is this for people to eat?

Seeing that he was so arrogant, the official in front of him was indignant in his heart, and he almost wanted to beat him up in front of him, but he was stopped by Qu Liqing in time.

When he was young, the grain officer and his party left for the time, and Qu Liqing and others devoted themselves to the work of disaster relief and peace of mind.

Early the next morning, the official came to report that someone had beaten a drum to complain. However, because of the special identity of the person who was accused, the official was afraid, so he inevitably spoke a little hesitantly.

After careful questioning, I learned that the person who caused the trouble was actually the local bully "Zhu Sangui".

Zhu Sangui's original name was Zhu Sangui, and he was a native of Jixian County. Because of his wealthy family and his relationship with Zhu Jingqi, he has no king's law.

And Zhu Sangui and his people even relied on their own power, so that they almost reached the point where no one dared to mess with them in the local area. Even Qu Liqing himself is still afraid of him, not to mention how much the common people are afraid of him.

Don't look at Jixian at this time, it has reached a difficult situation of having no rice to eat and no water to drink, but Zhu Sangui's family can be called rich.

This situation and scene are somewhat similar to what Du Fu wrote in his poems - "Zhumen wine and meat stink, and there are frozen bones on the road." ”

Now it seems that although no one can freeze to death at this time, it is a fact that the wine and meat have stinked.

But don't expect him to give money to the victims, he won't come and loot you, he'll already burn high incense.

You must know that on weekdays, Zhu Sangui's style of doing things has always been to eat and drink for nothing. Not to mention that it is impossible for him to give you a penny, even if he does, no one dares to ask for it, otherwise his life will be difficult to protect. If not, how could Zhu Sangui be called Zhu Sangui?

The people smiled at him on the surface and respectfully called him "Third Master", but in private they called him Zhu Sangui. A person is afraid of people, and eats people without spitting out bones.

Besides, the person who beat the drum to complain was a poor local people, just because his brother couldn't bear the hunger in his stomach a few days ago, and there was nothing to eat at home, so he did not hesitate to sneak into Zhu Sangui's house to steal.

Unexpectedly, in the process, his younger brother was accidentally discovered by the family in the house. When the people saw this, they chased them out of the house.

The thief was already sluggish because he had not been able to move for many days, and several family members followed after him, so that the man eventually collapsed to the ground.

When those family members saw that all the steamed buns they had stolen in their arms were rolling to the ground, they couldn't help but punch and kick them.

In the end, he was beaten to death and his body was violently exposed to the sun. All kinds of evil deeds can really be described as outrageous.

After his brother learned the truth of the matter, he wanted to swallow his anger and couldn't stop it. However, after returning home, he always tossed and turned, feeling deeply ashamed of the unjust death of his brother.

After much deliberation, he finally decided to risk his life to sue him. Even if he dies because of this, he can comfort his brother's spirit in the sky. And so there was what happened.

After Qu Liqing heard about this, he was so angry that he beat his chest and gritted his teeth. thought to himself: "These people are too lawless, I Qu Liqing is just fighting for this black veil, and I must bring the murderer to justice, so as to give justice to the innocent who died in vain!" ”

The next morning, Qu Liqing personally brought people to the door to confront him, but unexpectedly, there were twists and turns.

Zhu Sangui is ruthless, and he does everything to achieve his goals. And Qu Liqing knew this very well, so he decided to come here in person, after all, it was obviously impossible to ask someone like him to come to the hall for questioning.

However, what Qu Liqing didn't expect was that even if he went out in person, Zhu Sangui still didn't come out. It is only said that he is ill and not suitable to meet guests.

Seeing this, Qu Liqing couldn't wait to immediately lead people into the mansion to take it down. But Qu Liqing knew in his heart that if he acted like this without real evidence, once the above blamed him, it would be difficult to deal with things. It is a small matter for him to be dismissed from office, and it is a big matter for innocent people to be implicated. In desperation, Qu Liqing had to temporarily return to the government office and make another plan.

After returning to the government, Qu Liqing was so angry that he was so angry that the headache recurred again and had to go home to rest.

And the road home, which could have been completed with a cup of tea, took him more than half an hour. By the time I got home, the sun was setting.

The evening breeze gradually cooled down, and the dead leaves rolled to the ground with the wind, and then mostly returned to the corners of the walls, etc., without any power to move.

Qu Liqing, who was dejected, dragged his heavy sick body and walked slowly in this empty courtyard, never entering the house to rest.

It is not difficult to see from Qu Liqing's panting appearance and slightly trembling hands and feet that he is now very difficult to move every step, so that he can't even walk up the shabby low steps of his house.

In the end, he simply did not enter the house first, but sat directly on the steps in front of the door, followed by a sigh.

After several days of hard work, he felt more and more physically weak as he was already old.

Unconsciously, his temples were new white again, and there were many wrinkles on his forehead, and there was not much black hair left.

There is a saying that "the yamen of iron is beaten, and the official of flowing water." Even though Qu Liqing was unwilling to abandon the people under his rule and had no choice but to leave, sooner or later he would have to face this predetermined end.

Thinking that he would leave the people one day, Qu Liqing's heart was like a knife. In the depths of love, I can't help but cry, like this scene, who doesn't feel the sorrow in his heart?

However, no matter how hard it is, he will grit his teeth and stand firm, this is the courage of an official who cares about the people and his family and country!

At night, Qu Liqing, who was physically and mentally exhausted, was reading at the desk. Just when he was drowsy, he suddenly heard footsteps outside, so Qu Liqing immediately went out to check.

As soon as he opened the door, he saw a man standing in front of him with a smile on his face. looked closely, and it turned out that Liu Aodong came to visit him again.

Liu Aodong, people only knew him as a dissolute ranger, but they didn't know anything about his background and specific origin, which seemed to be very mysterious.

Even Qu Liqing, who is his uncle, knows very little about Liu Aodong, so much so that he doesn't even know how old he is this year.

Qu Liqing has been poor all his life and has no children and no daughters, how can this situation not make people feel pity? Even though the two are still called uncles and nephews on the surface, they actually regard each other as close relatives.

Liu Aodong returned this time to visit his uncle. Unexpectedly, during this period, he happened to hear about the bully Zhu Sangui openly confronting Qu Liqing.

With Liu Aodong's character, he will never give up with him, and he must teach Zhu Sangui a hard lesson to relieve his hatred.

So the maverick Liu Aodong quietly came to Zhu's Mansion that night without Qu Liqing's knowledge, wanting to give the invincible Zhu Sangui a little color.