Jing Xi's thoughts returned to this morning with Shen Ling's questioning.

When he woke up today, he met Mu Qiao under Mu Feng's introduction, and then was taken out of the city by Mu Feng and Mu Qiao.

Outside the city, the farmland dried up, and because there was no water to irrigate, the land cracked a gap, facing the vast sky, as if laughing at the desolation of the world.

Jing Ci frowned, the drought here was much more serious than he had imagined.

"Where is the canal for irrigating the farmland over here?" he asked. ”

"The national teacher comes with me."

Mu Feng slowly led the way in front with a fat belly, and there was no anxiety on his face.

Everyone walked along the farmland, and gradually they could see people outside the city, and a cry was blown into Jing Xi's ears by the wind.

Jing Xi looked around and saw a middle-aged woman dressed in shabby clothes and describing her emaciation.

She hugged the food in her arms tightly, tears flowing from her sunken eye sockets, "Master Wang, please do well, leave us some food." ”

Opposite the woman stood a richly dressed old man, whose brows furrowed tightly, and he looked very embarrassed.

"Eldest sister, it's not that I don't want to keep it for you, it's really no choice, this tax has suddenly risen by three layers now, and there are still so many mouths in the family waiting for this bit of food to eat."

The woman begged bitterly, "Master Wang, you have so much land, and it is nothing to you to take less of my family, can you leave me something to eat." ”

The old man sighed deeply when he heard this, and spread his hands full of helplessness, "Now the land is dry, and many of the rented land has not been harvested, if it were in the past, I would not have put this grain in my eyes, but now I can't protect myself, how can I help you?" ”

Then a drooping child came out of the house, and she embraced her wife's legs, and because of her thinness, her eyes were unusually large on her face.

The child looked directly at the grain bag in the woman's hand, and said pitifully, "Mother, you are hungry." ”

The woman's tears fell even more when she heard this, and she patted her child, "Master Wang, look at this child, there is little food at home, in order to save food, she hasn't eaten for a few days, you let me keep a handful, can I keep a handful?" ”

Master Wang looked at the child, and finally nodded.

"Okay, it's not easy for everyone in this world, so you can take it and take it, and it will be regarded as my accumulation of virtue and good deeds."

The woman hurriedly thanked her, "Thank you, Master Wang, you are the lifesaver of our family, and when it rains next year, I will definitely try to grow more food for you." ”

Master Wang raised his hand to stop the woman from thanking her, and pointed to the bag in the woman's arms, "Okay, give me the grain." ”

Even though she was reluctant, the woman still handed the grain bag to Master Wang, and then carefully took out a handful of grain from it.

She was overjoyed, "We have food, you have food." ”

The child didn't understand that this food was not easy to come by, only knew that there was no need to be hungry, she clapped her hands happily, "Great, there is food to eat, great." ”

Seeing the happy appearance of the two, Master Wang shook his head, sighed and went away with the food.

Jing Xi saw everything in his eyes and didn't speak, he followed Mu Feng all the way forward, such scenes appeared repeatedly, but others were not as lucky as that woman.

If they didn't give it, the landlord instructed the subordinates to forcibly seize it, and in the end, these people could not keep the grain, but were beaten up.

About another hour forward, Mu Feng's tired waist passed straight to the rough air, and he kept wiping his sweat with a handkerchief in one hand.

"Here it is."

Jing Xi stopped, and saw that the originally spacious river channel had been shortened a lot, but there was still a lot of water flowing slowly into the reservoir that had been built.

There are several gates in the reservoir, and the water that should be irrigated by the reservoir to the farmland outside the city is now firmly blocked in the reservoir.

On the contrary, the gate at the other end of the city was open, and the water was rushing towards the city.

Jing Xi's face sank, "Now that there is no rain on drought days, the water here is still abundant, why not open a reservoir to irrigate farmland?" ”

Mu Feng seemed to be shocked by Jing Xi's words, "If the reservoir is opened, there will be no water in the city." ”

Seeing him like this, Jing Xi was a little displeased, and he explained: "You can choose to open the sluice gate at different times, so that there is water outside the city and water inside the city." ”

Mu Feng shook his head quickly, and resolutely refused, "No, no, no, this reservoir can't be opened, if this river is exhausted, then there will be no water in the city, and the gains will outweigh the losses." ”

"This river is a tributary of the great river that runs through the north and south in China, and it will not stop flowing for a while." Jing Ci tried to convince Mu Feng.

But no matter how Jing Xi slept, Mu Feng refused to open the reservoir.

A bird's cry pulled Jing Xi's thoughts back from the morning, and he told Shen Ling what had happened.

After listening to all the things, Shen Ling slapped the table angrily.

"Although it doesn't rain, that reservoir can completely irrigate farmland so that the people can grow food, if it weren't for Mu Feng's failure to open the reservoir, the fields outside the city would not have dried up at all!"

Thinking of what Mu Feng had done, Shen Ling gritted his teeth, "The people are already struggling to make a living, and he dares to add three layers of taxes, which makes the people at the bottom who have no grain harvest how to live!" ”

Jing Xi's eyes looked out of the railing, and under the surface of the peaceful life of the people in the city was the wailing of the people outside the city, and the people in the city did not use water, but the blood and tears of the people outside the city.

Thinking about the information he had gathered today, he said faintly, "If you want to solve the drought and deal with the matter properly, almost all the county officials here need to be replaced, and the energy spent will take at least five years." ”

"It's only five years, and I can still afford to wait."

Shen Ling has a casual attitude, as long as the people here can live a peaceful life, five years is nothing.

When the subordinate who was waiting on the side heard this, he suddenly said, "The Lord must not stay here for a long time, otherwise the forces under the Kyoto flag will be turbulent and there will be chaos." ”

Shen Ling was slightly stunned, and then patted Jing Ci's shoulder again.

She looked sincere, "Don't worry, I will do my best to help you, and I can go back sooner by then." ”

Jing Xi looked back, his eyes with a light smile, slightly shining by the white sky light.

Previously, Shen Ling was anxious to ask for the emperor's shackles, and he was in a hurry to send away those girls who had thoughts about him, so the wedding was in a hurry, and many people still didn't know that he and Shen Ling were married.

He grabbed Shen Ling's slender jade hand, and his tone was very gentle, "After Pinghan returns to Beijing, I will definitely hold a make-up wedding for you, and marry you in the scenery." ”

Shen Ling was bumped by the fawn in his chest, and he didn't realize what Jing Ci said at all.