When He Shen heard this, he became more and more dissatisfied.

He Shen said, "What's the use of satisfying me? It's not that I live here, the people's satisfaction is the most important thing..."

"If the next time I come, the common people still live like this, I will kill you with the ace of Qincha..."

When Fang Yue, the magistrate of Duanxian County, heard this, she was so frightened that she didn't say a word, and with a bang, she fell to the ground...

After sending away Fang Yue, the magistrate of Duan County, the rest of the day, He Shen spent the rest of the day on his patrols...

After several years of drought, a sudden locust plague, and heavy taxes and miscellaneous taxes, this township is full of an atmosphere of helplessness and despair...

After discovering this, Jean Heshen's mood was inevitably a little depressed.

“……”

The locust plague has only been in place for a few months, and the only grain that the people have left has already bottomed out.

With no food to eat, the panic of the people has reached the extreme...

In Heshen's view, if there is no more food to be delivered, there will be a large-scale violence. Chaos and uprightness. Righteousness. The emergence of the army is probably in the near future.

In fact, along the way, He Shen has seen many people fleeing the famine, for a mouthful of food, making big moves, and even facing each other in life and death.

“………………”

Night!

Sitting in the carriage rushing back, He Shen touched his chin, muttered, frowned, and thought about what he had gained since the day!

After this day's observation, He Shen found two very serious problems in front of him.

First of all, the food gap in Taiyuan Mansion is much bigger than He Shen imagined...

The 100,000 stones distributed by the imperial court are far from enough for disaster relief...

However, 100,000 stone of disaster relief grain and grass, saving some food, can still last for a month or two...

He Shen was ready early, so he wasn't worried.

“……………”

Note: "One bucket, one quintal, and one stone are the traditional units of measurement in China, and the specific weights are as follows

One bucket is equal to five catties.

One load is equal to ten catties;

One stone is equal to one hundred and twenty catties; ”

100,000 stone of disaster relief grain and grass is equal to 12 million catties of grain, even if it is a million mouths, it can survive for a while.

What really worries He Shen is another problem.

“……………”

After personally visiting the towns and villages, He Shen found that the people of the towns and villages had a superstitious belief in the locust god far beyond his imagination...

No wonder even Liu An, the prefect of Taiyuan, didn't dare to touch the locusts, and he didn't even mention it...

Under the coercion and temptation of He Shen, after finally deciding to cull the locusts, Liu An, the prefect of Taiyuan, even put the nearby local army. The team was brought in in case of the unexpected.

I thought it was just that Liu An was afraid of death...

Now it seems that He Shen thought things too simply, and also underestimated the ignorance of the people in this era.

“……………”

Originally, in He Shen's view, dogs would jump over the wall when they were in a hurry, let alone live people.

Although the people are afraid of the locust god, in the face of major matters related to the life and death of their own families, any religious myths are false...

People with red eyes, that's people blocking and killing, Buddha blocking and killing Buddha, not to mention culling locusts...

However, in Heshen's current view, the actual situation is not so simple...

Compared with culling locusts to save themselves, the people are more inclined to wait for the relief of the imperial court, and to escape the famine to seek a way to survive...

These people in Taiyuan Mansion are willing to hand over their fate to an unknown rather than take a fight...

What's even more terrifying is that after the locust plague, those gods and witches in Taiyuan Mansion took advantage of the situation to preach, which made people panic, but it made the people believe in the locust god's theory.

According to Liu An's plan, if the government wants to mobilize the people to extinguish the locusts in the Taiyuan territory, it must first persuade the squires and clan elders in various places...

Originally, He Shen thought that this plan was feasible, and felt that as long as he came forward and persuaded the squires and clan elders everywhere in the name of the emperor...

After that, it should be easy to extinguish the locusts in the Taiyuan realm...

But after understanding the actual situation, He Shen knew that the biggest difficulty in front of him was not the squires and clan elders everywhere, but those hateful witches...

Although the squires and clan elders are the representatives of pedantic and outdated forces in the townships, they ,...

However, if you want to convince them, He Shen still has a way.

In fact, it is not difficult to persuade the squires and clan elders from all over the country to assist the government and cull the locusts, because under the nest, there are eggs...

“………”

He Shen softened his temples and asked softly: "Lord Prefect, which is the most influential temple and Taoist temple in Taiyuan Mansion...?" ”

When Liu An heard this, his eyes moved, and it was obvious that he had found something in He Shen's words...

Arching his hand, Liu An said: "Lord Hui, this Taiyuan Mansion is different from other places, all kinds of witchcraft legends are widely spread, and the local people are deeply affected by it..."

"Because of this, the locust temple is the head of religion in Taiyuan Province, with great influence, continuous incense, and many believers."

“…………”

He Shen nodded, thoughtful.

After thinking for a moment, He Shen, who had a strange smile on his face, suddenly turned his head to look at Kazuji.

Seeing He Er's hanging, gangster look, He Shen couldn't help but smile slightly.

What is the so-called Shinto witchcraft, He Shen knows very well, they are a group of liars, except for the tongue lotus, basically have no ability.

After all, what kind of witchcraft and ghost magic is just something that a group of witches use to deceive the common people.

In fact, most of the theories of locust gods and heavenly punishment were propagated by these Shinto witches and witches...

Nowadays, most of the people's fear of the locust god is because these gods and witches have taken advantage of the year of great calamity to spread it around.

And if you want to deal with these witches, or with gangsters like Er, it is the most suitable.

Because, the gangsters are unreasonable and ruthless.

Thinking of this, He Shen said to He Er: "He Er, don't go back with me tonight, bring dozens of people and help me do something...

He Shen took Liu An, the prefect of Taiyuan, for a busy day, running around several towns outside the city, and only returned slowly in the evening.

By the time the two men walked around the city with a large group of officials and servants, it was already dark.

In the light of the torches, the horse team headed towards the prefect's mansion, and He Shen sat in one of the horse team's carriages.

There were lights in the car, and when I looked out of the window, it was so dark that I could barely see anything.

Only when the horse-drawn carriage occasionally runs over the potholes and slopes of the official dirt road, with the slight swing of the silk curtain, He Shen can see the road in front of him...

He Shen sat cross-legged on the thick black blind bearskin mattress.

He sat in silence in the carriage, his mind still on the issue of food.

Although he had 100,000 stones of grain in his hand, his mood still did not feel relaxed at all, but felt even heavier.

For the people of Taiyuan Mansion with millions of mouths, 100,000 stone of grain is not too much...

On Heshen's side, he can only make the counties open a large number of soup kitchens, two bowls of thin porridge a day for one person, hanging on his life, and it is far from helping...

This time, He Shen saw with his own eyes that the people all lived on bark and grass roots, and even more so, they took Guanyin soil to wrap their stomachs and eat in exchange for their children, which was not nothing...

In a trance, he seemed to see the sad and helpless looks of hundreds of people...

This made him in the rocking and bumpy carriage, he couldn't help but turn sideways slightly, subconsciously escaping, the pair of eyes in front of him full of confusion and despair.

He sighed, his hands up, rubbing his temples with his knuckles, it was too tiring.

Back at the mansion, the hungry group returned to the mansion, and the cooks immediately brought out the food that had been prepared for a long time.

A large bucket of soup, a large pot of vegetables, two large bamboo sieves stacked like a hill of yellow dumplings, and a small pot of white-flour steamed buns, were placed on the four large square tables in an instant.

The cooks held two stacks of stoneware bowls, shouted and ate loudly, and the meal began.

“…………”

The housekeeper of the Liu Mansion who led the team waved his hand: "Everyone, I have worked hard all the way today..."

"Now, we all eat with our bellies open, one white flour steamed bun per person, enough broth and water, eat and drink well, let's rest, and then we have to work." ，，

Before the housekeeper of the Liu Mansion finished speaking, the servants had already cheered and surrounded several square tables.

White-faced trowels are a precious thing, especially in this year of catastrophe, even landlords and squires rarely eat once...

That is, those who eat official meals can eat and drink enough in this year of great calamity.

More than dozens of people, you pushed me, and you shouted and scolded in your mouth, and in the blink of an eye, the small basin with the white-faced trowel was at the bottom.

Those who grabbed the white-faced trowel were proud, and those who didn't grab it were depressed.

A group of officials and servants picked up a big bowl and blew a breath, put aside a layer of oil on the soup noodles, and sighed with the soup with yellow dumplings and white flour steamed buns, shook off their cheeks, and ate and drank heartily...

And He Shen and Liu An, one is the minister of the Qincha, and the other is the local prefect, so they naturally won't eat with these people...

He Shen and Liu An each have their own delicacies and famous dishes to eat...

“……………”

In recent years, because of the great drought and the locust plague, the locust temple has attracted a large number of people to invest incense money, thus making a lot of money.

Benshan, located in the north of Taiyuan, has steep terrain and twists and turns, which is a beautiful mountain peak formed because of weathering and erosion.

It has no unique scenery and no historical allusions, but in recent years, it is one of the most famous mountains in Taiyuan.

Because, there is a locust temple on this mountain.

Although it is a temple, the person who presides over the temple is not a monk or a Taoist priest, but an old goddess surnamed Pan.

According to the old goddess Pan, her family is a descendant of the gods and is protected by the gods in the sky.

The legend of the locust god was what they began to propagate to the people of Taiyuan.