When several families in Jiangjia Village began to collect grain, many families were watching.

Xu was driven by this atmosphere, or maybe he was really afraid of what would happen, and the next day he joined a few families who collected grain in advance.

Several men of the Jiang family were responsible for cutting the rice in the field, and Jiang Zhiyue followed Mrs. Jiang, Zhang, and Sun to take the cut rice to the threshing floor to be husked and dried.

When Jiang Zhiyue was holding the rice, she put a lot of it in the space when people were not paying attention, and when she got to the threshing floor, she avoided people to take it out.

The Jiang family found out about Jiang Zhiyue's small movements and helped her cover it up.

Jiang Zhiyue snickered in her heart, feeling that it was a wise decision to leak a little space at the beginning, and it was really much easier to do things.

At noon on the third day, the scorching sun was still high in the sky, and soon dark clouds drifted in the sky to obscure the hot sun.

The people who were drying the grain in the threshing floor hurriedly pulled the grain to their homes, fearing that the heavy rain would wet the grain that had been collected with great difficulty.

After only a quarter of an hour's work, the rain poured down.

Some people are glad that the grain has been harvested, otherwise the rice will sprout on the ears after this heavy rain.

The confiscated grain panicked, but he couldn't wipe off his face, so he could only say with a dead duck's mouth: "If you can't say that this rain will be in the next place, the rice will be full of water and you can produce a few catties of more grain, you still collect the grain in advance, and you will regret going when the time comes." ”

The rain didn't last long, and it stopped in the middle of the afternoon, but the sky was still gray and heavy.

Before anyone could breathe a sigh of relief, the sky darkened and there was a buzzing sound.

Jiang Zhiyue stood in the courtyard and looked up, and a large number of flying insects flew from a distance.

She reacted and reminded loudly: "The locusts are coming, quickly close the door, and the cellar entrance is also blocked!" ”

Jiang Yuqing took Da Lang and Erlang to the cellar, covered them with a lid, and covered them with several layers of oilcloth, and covered them with another layer of soil.

The rest of the people hurried back to their respective houses and closed the doors, and when they saw the locusts flying in, they quickly beat them, and then gathered together in the halls.

Old Man Jiang stood by the window with a cigarette pouch and sighed: "Hey, how can this confiscation of food be done." ”

He has been persuaded to persuade everything, but he has seen in the past two days that the families who collect grain are less than one-third of the households in Jiangjia Village.

"It's not your turn to worry about it, I told you in advance, and you want to help no one come to borrow food when the time comes." Mrs. Jiang reminded.

"I know what I know." Old Man Jiang frowned, took a puff of his cigarette, and said in a heavy tone.

Can he not have points in his heart, there are hundreds of large and small households in Jiangjia Village, and if you borrow one, you will come to the second one, where will you borrow so much grain at that time.

He lent this grain to others, then a few boys in his family would have to go hungry, although he was kind-hearted, but he was not unclear, and it was precisely because he could see through that he was uncomfortable.

And the fields in Jiangjia Village were in chaos at the moment, and there were constant cries accompanied by the sound of locusts flapping their wings.

The locusts attached to the rice stalks began to gnaw at great speed, and the confiscators tried to snatch the grain from the locusts' mouths, but they would sink into the fields just after the rain, and there was no time to harvest them.

All kinds of cries and shouts in the field were mixed, and Jiang Hengrong's field, he slapped his mother-in-law in the face.

"It's all you, not to mention that only half of the grain is collected, but now it's okay, it's gone."

Jiang Hengrong's mother-in-law was slapped to the ground, looked at the man who beat her in shock, and yelled in collapse: "It's not all you said that you are afraid that there will be no locust plague to collect all the grain, we only received half of the grain in the field, and now you are complaining about me, it was not you who agreed to this at the beginning." ”

Jiang Hengrong's face turned blue and white for a while, and he kicked at the mother-in-law who was sitting on the ground, and his mother-in-law also stood up and tore him together.

The same situation happened to other people, seeing Hengrong and his mother-in-law tearing together, they seemed to have found an outlet and a reason to evade responsibility, and they shirked their responsibilities to their relatives around them.

And the people who received the grain and wanted to come out to take a look at the situation looked at the miserable situation outside and were dumbfounded!

At this time, if you don't hurry up and grab a few more bundles of food and go home, why don't you fight with your own people.

The people who could have harvested enough food for a few days missed the opportunity, and the locusts had eaten up what was here and moved on to the next place.

The sputters looked at the empty fields and began to sit on the ground and weep.

Some people began to rejoice that they had been persuaded to harvest the grain in advance.

And the place that suffered from the locust plague was not only Jiangjia Village, half of the entire fiefdom of the king of Changding suffered from the locust plague, the people cried and wailed, the gate of the county government was closed, and they did not dare to come forward before receiving the instructions from above.

--- Jiang family---

Jiang Yulai told him what had just happened outside, and everyone was a little silent.

Seeing that everyone was silent, Jiang Zhiyue also understood their feelings, but she also knew that there was not much time left for them to be sad.

She said: "Tomorrow morning, the third uncle and I will go to the county to inquire about the situation, and the others will not go up the mountain, just exercise at home, if someone wants to come to the door to ask for food, just call out!" ”

Listening to Jiang Zhiyue's serious voice, everyone nodded heavily.

Although the locust plague has just been struck today, and every household has not been left without food, it is difficult to guarantee that no one will be angry and blame them for the lack of food.

After saying that, they dispersed, but it is not clear how many will sleep peacefully tonight.

Early the next morning, after a brief breakfast, Jiang Yulai set off from home with an ox cart.

There was no notice from the town school, Jiang Yuchao and Erlang of the Jiang family still wanted to go, just a free ride.

Jiang Zhiyue is the first time to come to the county seat, and the lively scene on the street makes people can't imagine that there was a locust plague yesterday, and the impact of this disaster has not yet affected here.

"Third uncle, let's go to the county office." Jiang Zhiyue sat in the back and said.

"Okay."

At this time, many people had gathered in front of the county government from the townships below overnight, but the gate of the county government was closed, and no one opened the door no matter how many people outside shouted.

More and more people gathered outside, and some people began to incite the crowd to work together to break open the gate of the county office.

"We suffered a disaster, but this county order is hiding inside and no one is seen, maybe there is still a good food and spicy drink, let's knock the door open and let him give us an explanation." Someone shouted from the middle of the crowd.

"Yes, yes, knock the door open, and let the county order open the warehouse to release grain." More and more people should be reconciled, and they began to squeeze forward excitedly.

The door was overwhelmed and began to rattle.

Suddenly, the door was opened from within, and several officials with spears stood at the door to block the people who wanted to crowd inside.

"Silence, everyone listen to me." A voice came from behind the servant, Jiang Zhiyue stood on the ox cart and looked inside, it was the county magistrate with a round belly wearing a black gauze hat.

Seeing the county order come out, the people were still subconsciously afraid, and the resentment that had just been aroused dissipated a little, and the crowd gradually quieted down.

"The official knows that the crops in the field were plagued by locusts yesterday, but this is only the second day, and the official has to report to the capital to have food to be sent to you." The fat-bellied county commander said in a casual tone: "If someone makes trouble before this, be careful to take you down and put them in prison!" ”

"Master Qingtian, you have to save us, there is no food in this house, and the family will run out of food in half a month." A gray-haired woman fell to her knees and kowtowed to the prefectural order.

Intermittently, someone knelt down, pleading incessantly.

The county commander glanced out impatiently behind the crowd, and said loudly: "I know, let's all step down." ”

The door slowly closed amid the pleas of the crowd, and Jiang Zhiyue glanced at the people who were kneeling on the ground, and she couldn't bear it but couldn't help it.

She has the ability to come up with food to solve this crisis, but that will only expose her to danger.

It's hard to do it all over again, she wants to be safe and secure with the Jiang family, and she can't be willful until she has enough ability to protect herself and the Jiang family.

She couldn't bear to turn her head and tell Jiang Yulai to leave.

I didn't get any useful information in the county seat, so Jiang Zhiyue and Jiang Yulai had to go back.

However, she had a faint premonition in her heart that the imperial court would not open a granary to release grain.

As she thought, the current court has become a mess.

--- Wu Dynasty Palace---

"If you Aiqing is okay, retreat." The emperor sitting on the dragon chair said

"Your Majesty, please ask the Emperor to appoint the crown prince." An old minister stood up and said in a deep voice.

"Yes, Your Majesty, in order to stabilize the country's social welfare, it is better to set up a prince as soon as possible."

"The eldest prince is the eldest son and is honest and pure, and the minister thinks that the eldest prince should be appointed as the crown prince."

"The difference is that although the eldest prince is the eldest son, it is not orthodox, the eleventh prince is the queen's concubine, and the minister thinks that the eleventh prince should be appointed as the crown prince."

"But the eleventh prince is too young to bear the status of the country, and the emperor has many sons, so he naturally has to choose the most capable prince as the prince."

For a while, there was chaos in the court, and now there are thirteen princes who have not died in the emperor, except for the two youngest princes, most of the other princes have people standing in line, but there are also people who are silent and waiting for the opportunity.

Several princes were in front of the courtiers with different expressions, and some people didn't see a trace of excitement, as if the matter had nothing to do with them, but some people quietly looked up to observe the emperor's expression.

"Bastard!" The person sitting on the dragon chair above scolded angrily, and threw a piece of folding in his hand onto the head of the courtier who was the first to ask for the crown prince below.

The courtier knelt on the main hall with a weak leg, and the few people who had just spoken also knelt down in fear.

"The emperor is angry." The courtiers hung their heads.

"I want to make a prince before I die, are you cursing me or do you want to change the master!" The Emperor asked angrily.

"The ministers are loyal to Your Majesty, and they will never dare to have two hearts!" As soon as the courtiers hurriedly showed their loyalty, they did not dare to mention the matter of establishing the crown prince again.

The emperor was extremely angry, gasped for a few breaths, and the chief eunuch next to him bent forward with great eyes, and handed over the delicate ivory box in his hand.

"Your Majesty, the elixir." The eunuch's shrill voice echoed in the main hall.

The emperor put the elixir in his mouth and swallowed it, and the next moment he felt a burst of comfort in his body, his face was more ruddy, and his mood was a little better.

With this elixir, he can live forever, this world has been his for generations, and a group of bastards think about establishing a prince all day long!

He stood up and flicked his sleeves, and said loudly: "The matter of establishing the prince is not allowed to be discussed again, I have my own plans and retreat from the dynasty!" ”

Besides, Jiang Zhiyue's side, although she couldn't find out any real news, she wasn't too disappointed.

After an hour, the two finally returned to Jiang's village, and at this time, the front of Jiang's house was particularly lively.

"No matter where she Jiang Xiaoqing marries, she is a daughter who crawled out of my belly, and she can still refuse to recognize me as a mother, so let her help her brother with some food." Du Peony in the crowd shouted justifiably.

There is also a middle-aged couple standing next to her, which is Du Peony's old son Jiang Xiaoming and daughter-in-law Yuhe.

On the Jiang family's side, the Sun family, who had a slap mark on his face, was protected by Jiang Yuqing, and the three brothers Erlang, Sanlang and Shilang also stood in front of her and stared at Du Peony viciously, preventing Du Peony from coming up to beat people again.

"Bah, why should I give you my food?" Mrs. Jiang, as the first combat power, is scolding Du Peony.

The persimmon had to be pinched softly, and Du Peony just scolded Sun: "Let your old lady be hungry, and you are not afraid of choking to death when you eat." ”

Sun has been married to the Jiang family for so many years, and her waist has long been stiffened, she came out from behind the crowd and said:

"I didn't tell you in advance when I collected the grain in advance, what did we eat, what did we eat with our food, and you sold your daughter to get so much silver to buy grain in the town by yourself."

"You dead girl, you dare to talk back, it's really against you."

Du Peony scolded and ran over to tear Sun's hair, and Sun was not to be outdone and fought back.

Mrs. Jiang and the Zhang family hurriedly stepped forward to stop her, how can this Du Peony say that she also occupies a nominal mother of the Sun family, if this really fights, it will not be good for her reputation, and it will also affect a few boys in the family to say goodbye when the time comes.

"Xiaoming, Yuhe is coming to help my mother." Du Peony was torn by her hair and couldn't straighten her waist, so she could only shout at the top of her voice.

Jiang Xiaoming looked at the man of the Jiang family who was eyeing him, and pushed Yuhe hard, "I didn't see our mother being beaten, what are you doing here." ”

Sun's catch of Yuhe who was pushed forward is a beating, this woman is not a good one, after marrying Jiang Xiaoming, he has been plucking Du Peony and Jiang Xiaoming to fight the autumn wind, Sun directly vented his resentment against Du Peony on Yuhe.

Jiang Zhiyue squeezed into the crowd and stood next to the Jiang family, noticing that Jiang Yuchao and Dalang Erlang, who were supposed to be in the town, were also at home, but now was not the time to ask.

Jiang Xiaoming noticed Jiang Zhiyue who walked in, her eyes lit up, and she looked her up and down with squints.

Jiang Zhiyue noticed an uncomfortable gaze, and when she looked up, she saw Jiang Xiaoming's lewd eyes.

Her sharp gaze glared at him, but Jiang Xiaoming didn't seem to realize it, and still stared at him.

Jiang Zhiyue's expression was cold, and his spiritual power rushed towards him, Jiang Dalang and Jiang Erlang also noticed the situation here, and walked over in three or two steps and gave him a punch.

Jiang Xiaoming suddenly felt a sharp pain in his mind, so he had no chance to react at all, so he could only lie down and be beaten.

After enough breath, Mrs. Jiang and the others walked back to the door of the house, and the three people lying on the ground looked miserable.