Natural disasters and man-made disasters often appear together, and Jiangnan is the land of fish and rice, and it is the most prosperous and prosperous place in Daxia.

The mountains and valleys are high, the rivers are abundant, and the products are very abundant, and the imperial court can collect a large amount of taxes here every year.

It stands to reason that even in the event of a drought, the people will not be unable to survive by relying on the grain they have stored in previous years.

Moreover, drought is not as sudden as ground shaking or flooding, and the signs are months or even a year in advance.

As long as the local officials used a little bit of care and responded early, they would not have caused the displacement of the people, starvation, and finally forced the displaced people to revolt.

As the saying goes, the Taoist officials forced the people to rebel, and Shu Ange came to Jiangnan in advance in order to prevent trouble.

The uprising started in Muzhou, so the first place she and Quan Yunqing visited was Muzhou.

In any case, Shu Ange would not sit idly by and watch the people be exploited and harassed by bandits, or rogue officials.

Since ancient times, it has been necessary to purge local officials and rule with iron and blood. The richer the place, the more hands behind it, and the more people want to profit from it.

The emperor is far away, and the central government's control of the local government in this era is not strict enough.

The triennial assessment is just a tight spell for local officials.

As long as you don't make big mistakes during your term of office and take good care of the officials in charge of evaluation, it will not be difficult to get promoted.

To dot the upper peak and other connections, it is natural to rely on silver.

As for where the money came from, the people who were looted and complained bitterly had something to say, but if there was a glimmer of life, who would want to rebel?

Muzhou is really a good place with beautiful mountains and rivers, Shu Ange stood on the mountain and overlooked, the bare river and shallows made her frown.

"The drought was worse than we thought, and the river was moving a little strangely."

Shu Ange is not untargeted, she had looked at the topographic map of the waters in the south of the Yangtze River before she came.

Qiuyue Lake is the largest freshwater lake in the south of the Yangtze River, with blue waters running through Zhongzhou County, and Muzhou is one of them.

But from the mountain, the lake has shrunk a lot, and many ditches have been dug around it to divert water.

Normal water diversion is just that, in ancient times, when there was a drought, water diversion irrigation was a normal operation, but what Shu Ange saw was definitely not a normal water diversion method.

In some places, the fields have dried up and cracked, and large tracts have been abandoned.

However, some fields have sufficient water supply and are growing water-hungry rice despite months of drought, and it is now harvest season.

Under normal scheduling, in the event of drought, the fields will be replanted with winter wheat that requires less water.

"Well, it's not normal."

Quan Yunqing was wearing a light cyan robe embroidered with bamboo, her long hair was simply pulled up with a jade crown, and her eyes were a little more melancholy when she looked at the fields below the mountain.

He went out of Beijing with the lord of Fengyi, although he had selfish intentions, he was still for the people of the world.

The heavens sent a warning that there would be disasters in the south of the Yangtze River, and Quan Yunqing hoped that he would be able to turn the tide and reduce the impact of the disaster on the people.

In order to verify their guesses, the two went down the mountain to ask the local people for questioning.

The land is the root of the common people, and even if the land is dry and cracked, there are still people who find ways to cultivate it.

"Uncle, is this land yours?"

Shu Ange picked an old man with gray hair and a torn cotton jacket full of patches and asked.

"What? Is this land mine? It's mine! ”

The old man had some ears behind his ears, and he replied with a loud voice, and squeezed out a Sichuan character in his head because of sorrow.

"It's been a terrible drought lately, how do you water the land?"

Shu Ange followed the example of the old peasant, squatted on the ground, and asked with a humble face.

The old farmer sighed, his cloudy gaze surveying the young man.

This pair of young men and women, dressed in fine satin clothes and wearing jade pendants around their waists, are handsome and extraordinary, and they are by no means comparable to their mud legs.

It must be the young lady of the family, who goes to the countryside to play in idleness, curious about the daily life of these ordinary people.

"Alas, the watering was all carried from the village well. It hasn't rained for a few months, and the well at the head of the village is almost dry, so the dragon king is angry. ”

The old man hung his head and clearly did not have hope for next year's harvest.

Shu Ange squatted on the ground, brushed the soil with his fingers and asked: "Uncle, I saw on the mountain that many fields are diverting water from Qiuyue Lake for irrigation, why don't you dig a canal to divert water to irrigate the ground?" ”

"Hey, you are a descendant, where is the water of Qiuyue Lake that our people can use."

The old man smacked his lips and looked like he was making a fuss.

Quan Yunqing, who had been silent, interjected: "Uncle, who is irrigating the fields with the water of Qiuyue Lake." ”

"The two distinguished guests are not from Jiangnan, right?"

"We came to the capital to visit relatives here. I have always heard that Jiangnan is rich, and I am a little surprised to see that the drought here is serious. ”

"It's no wonder, in our Jiangnan territory, who doesn't know Wu Yinghou and Shanyang Bo, who dare to use Qiuyue Lake for irrigation, naturally these two families."

In Muzhou, this is not something that needs to be avoided, so the old man blurted out the names of these two families.

"So many fields, all of them belong to Wu Yinghou and Shanyang Bo? Then they're rich. ”

The old man shook his head with a sad face: "Alas, the family assets of high-ranking officials and nobles, we ordinary people dare not think about it. I just hope that God will rain sooner and that I will have something to eat next year. ”

"Yes, don't worry, uncle, I have some broken silver here, you can take it and buy some food to store."

Shu Ange took out some broken silver from his sleeve, and the old man hurriedly excused himself: "Hey, the son is old and decayed, and he is useless, where do I dare to accept the silver from distinguished guests." ”

"It seems that the old man has read some books, you have merit, and this money is used to reward you."

Shu Ange couldn't help but say, stuffed the broken silver into the old man's hand, and left with Quan Yunqing.

They didn't listen to the thought of this, so they changed places, asked other people, and went to the side of Qiuyue Lake to take a look.

I don't know if I don't know, but after this investigation, the results are shocking.

The fields of ordinary people are cracked, there is no good harvest this autumn, the government is not at all sympathetic to the people's feelings, and the tax is even heavier than in previous years.

That's it, the local tyrants occupy water sources, do not allow the people to drain and irrigate the fields, and even cause murders.

Local officials blindly favor the powerful, and ordinary people have suffered a lot of grievances.

As for Wu Yinghou and Shanyang Bo, they are just pawns placed on the surface by certain forces.

In the thousands of acres of fertile land, many of them are only borrowed by their names, and the real owners are someone else.

Officials are rampant and wanton looting, and local tyrants live extravagantly and domineeringly, so it is no wonder that the people rebelled.

"Let's go, let's go and meet the local governor and county first."

Shu Ange pursed his thin lips, his eyes were sharp, and his expression was solemn.

It's a tough battle, and she can only win and not lose.

"Wait for General Yang to arrive, and then meet with the state and county officials, so that they don't jump off the wall in a hurry."

Quan Yunqing's eyebrows condensed slightly, and put forward different suggestions.

It's not that he's afraid of things, it's just that he doesn't want Shu Ange to be at risk.