Chapter 212 The Imperial Commissioner

In the 21st year of Kaiyuan, there were fifteen roads in the country. Each road was appointed as an interview and disposal envoy, referred to as an interview envoy, in charge of the inspection of criminal prisons and the supervision of prefectures and counties. To a certain extent, it was not an official position, and it did not have its title on the official list of Tang dynasties. Like the border governor, it was an imperial envoy sent by the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty to various places.

The Henan Road Interview Capital is located in Bianzhou, which is today Kaifeng. It is located in the important center of water and land, with great connections, Wei Bo in the north, Jianghuai in the east, Jingchu in the south, and Jingchu in the Tang Dynasty. The road to the east of Chang'an and Luoyang is passing through Bianzhou. Bianzhou has a large population and developed water transportation. It has been an important town in the Central Plains since ancient times. All dynasties have competed with the Central Plains here. In addition, its land is fertile and its agriculture is developed, so it plays an important role in the Tang Dynasty.

But starting from the beginning of the ninth year of Tianbao, the seven states including Bian, Song, Pu, Chen, Xu, Hua, Cao, etc. on Henan Road had not rained for four months, the riverbed dried up, and the winter wheat died, and the disaster began to appear. The court issued an order to open warehouses and release grain in various prefectures and counties. It was because of the opening warehouses and release grain. The natural disaster caused man-made disasters. A month ago, the tragedy of hungry people looting grain warehouses and killing county magistrates broke out in Gushu County, Songzhou, where the drought was the worst, and three thousand hungry people fled to Moshan south of Songzhou under the leadership of Yang Zhi, a native of Songcheng, to occupy the mountain as king. At the same time, tens of thousands of porters at the Bianzhou canal transport terminal began to gather people to cause trouble because they had no work to do for three consecutive months. The Bianzhou transport branch office was smashed, and the riots of the canal transport residents began to spread to various places.

An old official who retired from his officialdom at home finally could not bear it anymore and wrote to the court, pointing out that some officials embezzled disaster relief food. In late April, the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, Li Longji, finally issued an order to enfeoff the former Beiting Jiedushi Li Qing'an as an interview envoy of Henan Road and came to inspect all parts of Henan.

At night, in Kaifeng County, where the Bianzhou Prefecture is located, the streets are deserted. Teams of yamen runners patrolled the streets in groups of three or five, but when they walked around, the patrol range was always circled with several brothels as the center. The lazy man knocked on the bamboo tubes in a breathless manner. The sound of dying about to break up added several nightmares to the people in their sleep.

‘Bang!Bang!Bang!Bang! Pay attention to the candle.

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The doors and windows are closed!’

At this time, a carriage galloped over and stopped in front of the back house of the state government office. An official got off the carriage and knocked on the door. After a moment, a crack opened, "Who are you looking for?" asked an old family member.

"Please tell the prefect Wu, and let me tell you that the Sima Yang Runing of Songzhou asked for a meeting."

"Oh! It's Sima Yang, please come in first!"

The official flashed into the door and asked, "Can you disturb me so late? Is Prefect Wu sleeping?"

"Not yet! I'm reading in the study. Sima Yang, please wait here, I'll inform the master."

The prefect of Bianzhou was surnamed Wu and named Wu Qing. He was over fifty years old. He was a Jinshi in the seventh year of Kaiyuan. He served as a doctor in the Ministry of Revenue, a subordinate minister, and a chief minister of the Song Prefecture. He served as the prefect of Bianzhou since the fourth year of Tianbao, and has been serving as the prefect of Bianzhou for almost five years.

Wu Qing was born in a poor family, but he was very good at ease. His wife was the sister of Zhang Yun, the Minister of Revenue. With the backing of the Zhang family, Wu Qing's career was smooth sailing. At the end of last year, when the imperial court expanded its prime minister, he was finally nominated as a candidate by Zhang Yun. Although he did not succeed in the end, he escaped the storm of the princelings' purge, and Wu Qing couldn't help but feel a sense of gratitude.

However, this time the drought on Henan Road pushed him into the hot spots of the Tang Dynasty. A few days ago, he received a quick letter from Zhang Yun. The emperor had decided to appoint Beiting Jiedushi Li Qing'an as the interview envoy of Henan Road, reminding him to pay attention.

At this time, Wu Qing was not reading a book, but was considering how to deal with Li Qing'an's possible inspection. Li Qing'an was the only survivor of the princely party. The prince was deposed and the princely party was cleaned up. Gao Lishi, his backstage, was also dismissed. It can be said that Li Qing'an's backstage was lost, but he had Zhang Yun as the backstage. In terms of strength, he had the emperor's orders to strictly prohibit interviews from interfering in local government affairs. In this way, he had more means to deal with him.

"Master, Yang Sima of Songzhou asked for a meeting and said that he was here to send a letter on the order of Prefect Cui!" The butler's report came from outside the door.

Wu Qing immediately thought of the prefect of Songzhou Cui Lian. He turned out to be a prime minister, but now it is not. His brother Cui Qiao became the Yang Party, and Cui Lian also changed his party.

There are people in the court who are good at being an official, which is a famous saying for local officials. Therefore, relying on senior officials in the court has become the driving force for local officials to continue. Those with sons think about marriage, those with daughters think about marrying a daughter, or become disciples, or turn around and turn to attract them as classmates from fathers or needlework friends of mothers. All kinds of reasons must be used in any way that can be thought of.

The prefect is also considered a high-ranking official. The prefect of Shangzhou is from the third rank, and the prefect of Zhongzhou is from the fourth rank. Sometimes, these senior officials of the third rank and fourth rank will also be appointed as a fourth-rank assistant minister as their backing. There is no way. There are more than 600 prefects in the country, but only a dozen ministers.

Wu Qing was a little far away, he withdrew his thoughts and smiled: "Please come in!"

After a moment, Yang Runing walked in quickly, bowed and smiled, "I arrived just now and disturbed the envoy Wu."

"You're welcome, Sima Yang please sit down!"

Wu Qing asked Yang Runing to sit down, ordered the maid to serve a cup of tea, and then asked with a smile: "I heard that Yang Sima has sent me a letter?"

Yang Runing quickly smiled and said, "Actually it's a verbal message. My Prefect Cui ordered me to send a verbal message to Prefect Wu."

"Oh! What's the message?" Wu Qing picked up the tea and glanced at him silently.

"Premier Wu, we have found out the person who informed the emperor. Look..."

Yang Runing said while observing Wu Qing's reaction. If Wu Qing's reaction was shocked, he could discuss countermeasures with Wu Qing based on this. When he saw Wu Qing holding a teacup and drinking tea as if nothing had happened, he didn't blink his eyelids and his hands didn't tremble at all, and he couldn't help feeling disappointed.

"Did Taishou already know who it is?"

Wu Qing smiled disdainfully. Not to mention the rumor, he even knew the content of the rumor letter. He knew that Cui Lian ordered Yang Runing to come to find his intention. The hungry people rebelled in Songzhou, and the situation was very serious. Cui Lian was scared and wanted to form an alliance with him in order to deal with Li Qing'an together. If everyone was Zhang's party, there would be room for negotiation, but they were Yang's party. They did not plan with him. Even if they wanted to cooperate, Zhang Yun and Yang Guozhong would go to talk. This prefect Cui was still a bit naive!

Wu Qing couldn't refuse openly. He smiled slightly and said, "The news I just received is that Li Qing'an has entered Xuzhou, and he will arrive in Bianzhou the day after tomorrow. Yang Sima would rather go back quickly and let Prefect Cui seize the time and prepare well!"

The implication was to tell him that they had no time to cooperate. Yang Ru Ning understood Wu Qing's polite refusal, and was very depressed. He had to get up and say, "Okay! I hope we still have a chance to cooperate."

Yang Runing said goodbye and left. Wu Qing took a sip of tea and continued what he thought just now. Li Qing'an had arrived in Xuzhou, which reminded himself that there was not much time left.

The official road was dusty, and the rain had not fallen for several months. The trees on both sides were stained yellow by the dust, and there was no trace of green. The river on the roadside was dry and the bottom was the cracked land, and the land was a finger wide. The official road was the boundary between the two counties, Xuchang County to the east and Changge County to the west.

Not far from the side of the official Taoist Ge County, there is a Dragon King Temple. Hundreds of farmers were holding rain prayers in front of the temple. Three animals were offering fruits on the table. A white-haired old man was holding incense and praying to God. Behind him, hundreds of farmers knelt on the ground and crawled and kowtowed devoutly.

That afternoon, a group of people came from afar on the official road, about 300 young men. Their clothes were unique, all of them were black robes, leather belts, horizontal swords, and arrows on their backs. They were all burly and majestic. This was Li Qing'an and his personal soldiers who came from Xiangyang.

Although Li Qingan knew that his Western Regions Strategy Letter would be effective, he did not expect that he would be an interviewer in Henan. Perhaps this was the contradiction between Li Longji. He wanted to re-activate himself, but he felt that the timing was wrong, so he sent himself to Henan for inspection.

What to check? Li Longji's imperial edict made it very clear: check whether the officials' food is short and whether local officials are in violation of the law. Is it because Li Longji cannot avoid his position as a censor for today?

"Empress, look over there!"

Several personal guards smiled and pointed at the people who were asking for rain at the Dragon King Temple. Everyone was in a very happy mood and no longer had to go to Liuzhou. Moreover, the lord's official position was restored, and the aggrievance accumulated in his heart for the past month was wiped out.

Li Qing'an looked at the rain prayer ceremony in front of the Dragon King Temple with great interest. It was the first time he saw people praying for rain. Anxibeiting relied on icebergs to melt water, not on rain, and there was no Dragon King Temple. However, he did not feel the drought was as serious as he walked along the way. Especially in Xuchang County, he rarely saw hungry people fleeing, and not all rivers were dry. Although the water in Yingshui was shallow and could not be sailed, there was still a little water, which could ensure that the people along the way could drink water. This was completely different from the situation where the thousands of miles of white bones and starving people were as he imagined.

"Zhang Yongqing!"

He turned around and shouted, and immediately ran up a young soldier with big eyes, "Empress, I'm here!"

"Isn't your hometown Xuchang? Let me ask you, is the drought this year the worst in your memory?"

"Report to the envoy, the drought is not yet serious. I heard from my father that the severe drought in the fifteenth year of Kaiyuan was the worst. I dug grass roots, peeled the bark, and ate nitro soil. Many people starved to death. Everyone fled to Xiangyang, and they all died of illness and starvation all the way. But now you see, the bark along the way is complete, but in fact...."

Speaking of this, Zhang Yongqing suddenly stopped, "What actually?" several guards around him asked in unison.

Zhang Yongqing sighed and said, "In fact, natural disasters are not terrible, what is terrible is man-made disasters."

"How terrible man-made disasters are? Tell me?" Li Qingan asked with a smile.

"My grandfather said that once there was a drought, the court ordered the opening of warehouses to release grain, but as a result, there were at least three liters of sand in a dou of rice. The officials and the officials were greedy for 30% of the rice. This is quite good, at least rice was eaten. Another time, it was a severe drought in the fifteenth year of Kaiyuan. My father led our family to Xiangyang. After returning, the ten acres of land in the family had been sold to a prince at a cheap price in the county. It was said that it was a land without a home. We went to discuss the matter, but we were told to redeem it at the market price. There was no money at home, so my father took us to Anxi to make a living. Alas!"

All the guards were indignant and told them about the unfair things they saw and heard. At this time, Li Qing'an suddenly found that there seemed to be a green area several miles ahead. His eyes lit up and immediately urged the horse to run forward. Everyone didn't know what had happened, so they hurriedly followed.

After about five or six miles of galloping, Li Qing'an held the war horse. On the side of Xuchang County, the official road was indeed a large area of ​​green tender bean seedlings, which were as many as hundreds of acres. Several yamen runners were busy in the fields. When they saw a large group of strange-clothed people coming to the official road, they shouted to the bean field: "Mr. County, there is something strange here."

After a moment, a middle-aged man wearing a hat emerged from the bean rack. He was wearing a seventh-rank official robe with a robe tied around his waist, his trousers were tied high, he was barefoot, and he was wearing a pair of straw sandals, his hands were covered with mud, and he was holding a bamboo pole.

Xuchang is a Zhongxian County, and the county magistrate is the seventh rank. This person is naturally the county magistrate of Xuchang. His surname is Han. He came out and asked, "What's the matter?"

"Look at the official road."

County Magistrate Han looked at the official road and saw hundreds of people riding horses standing high, with a black cloud covering the city. He was looking at this side. He felt a little panicked and hurriedly ran towards the official road. Several yamen runners hung their knives on their butts, and followed behind them.

"Where did you come from? What did you do in Xuchang?"

Li Qingan has been walking for two days, and all the way is bare and yellow, with his eyes furious. He suddenly saw a large area of ​​green, which is very pleasing to the eye. He really likes it in his heart, as if he has come to a place with great scenery.

He turned over and got off the horse, walked up and asked with a smile, "Are you the magistrate of Xuchang County?"

County Magistrate Han was stunned. Who is this? He actually asked himself this way. After a moment of thinking, he suddenly remembered a rumor I heard recently, and couldn't help but stammer and asked, "Are you the only one..."

Li Qingan laughed and said, "I am the new Henan Road Observer."

County Magistrate Han was so scared that he bowed: "Han Yue, the magistrate of Xuchang County, please see Li Envoy."

"No need to be too polite."

Li Qingan smiled and said, "I was about to go to the county, but I didn't expect to meet the county magistrate here."

County Magistrate Han wiped his sweat with the back of his hand and said, "I don't know that the envoy is here, so I haven't come far away to welcome him."

"Your bean field is the best welcome."

Li Qing'an was in great interest and ran down the official road, walked to the bean field and squatted down to look at the bean seedlings carefully. They were all tender and cute, like elves with Buddha-green green.

County Magistrate Han took a bucket of water, scooped a scoop with a spoon, and watered it cluster by cluster from the root, saying to Li Qing'an: "This is the county's public farmland. There are 800 acres of public farmland in this county. It used to be wheat fields, but all died. A month ago, we all replanted it into beans, and now it has emerged."

"Where is the water?"

Li Qingan turned around and asked curiously: "Where does the water come from?"

County Magistrate Han pointed at a distance and said, "We dug a deep well and it's there."

Li Qing'an walked past a bean field and saw a well in a low-lying area. He walked to the side of the well and lifted the wooden lid and looked at it. The well was probably four or five meters deep, and there were faint water waves under the well.

"I'm sorry, don't underestimate this well. Our bean seedlings on more than 200 acres of land are supported by it."

"Not bad! Not bad!"

Li Qingan nodded with a smile and said to Han County Magistrate with praise: "The key is that Han County Magistrate takes the lead. I think the people of Xuchang County should have mobilized them!"

"The county magistrate and chief clerk have gone to the countryside in the past two days. Zhengzheng and villages are mobilizing, and many farmers have come to see our bean fields, which is very effective."

County Magistrate Han sighed: "In fact, the key to drought resistance is four words: 'increasing revenue and reducing expenditure'. If you try every means to find water. If there is no river water, you can dig well water. When digging water, you must save water. Just like watering manure, water the roots of each seedling. Secondly, you must save food and spend. As long as you do these points, you can basically overcome the drought."

After hearing what Han County Magistrate said, Li Qing'an nodded repeatedly. This Han County Magistrate is indeed very pragmatic and capable. He needs an official like him to survive the drought.

As they were talking, a large number of farmers came to the official road, with hundreds of people riding donkeys and driving carriages. Everyone jumped out of the carriage and rushed towards the bean fields in a swarm. Several yamen runners hurriedly met.

Seeing that it was getting late, Li Qingan smiled and said, "Mr. Han is busy! I won't disturb you."

"No! No! I will lead the envoy to the county town to rest and arrange food and accommodation."

County Magistrate Han was panicked and the Henan Road Observer passed through, how could he not receive him? Is he still wanting this official hat?

Li Qingan patted his shoulder and smiled and said, "It's really no need. We don't go to the county town. We can just find a forest and stay overnight. We're used to it. As long as you do well in Xuchang County's drought resistance, I'll ask you to be promoted to your official position."

After saying that, he strode back to the official road, turned over the horse, and waved his hand, and the large group of people rushed with him. County Magistrate Han looked at Li Qing'an's back blankly. He seemed to have a dreamlike feeling, "Promoted?" He was excited and ran to the farmers who came to visit with a bucket.

As night fell, stars were scattered in the sky. Li Qing'an and his party had already left Xuchang County and entered Bianzhou. This was the territory of Weishi County. The county town was in the northeast, and there were about fifty miles. This area was hilly and terrain. Seven hills were distributed north-south and stretched for dozens of miles, just like seven giant dragons lying across the plain.

The hills were dense forests, not affected by the drought. The official road extended north along one of the ridges. There was no village in front of this area and no shop behind. Seeing that everyone was tired, Li Qingan looked around. His eyesight was beyond ordinary people. He swept around and saw a faint light on the top of the mountain in the northeast direction. He pointed to the light and smiled at everyone, "It seems that there are people over there, let's go and have a look."

Everyone cheered up and turned their horses to the northeast, followed Li Qing'an and rushed up the hill, only to find that there was a temple hidden in the dense forest, which was quite large. There was a plaque hanging in front of the temple gate. Looking at it with the stars, the words "Baolin Temple" were faintly written.

At this time, more than a dozen monks walked out of the temple. When they saw a large group of men in black, all with weapons, they couldn't help but feel uneasy. The temple host hurried forward and bowed to Li Qing'an and said, "I am Huineng, the host of Baolin Temple. Are the donors passing by or staying in the accommodation?"

"We stay for one night and we will give you money when we leave tomorrow morning."

"Amitabha! Donors must live, even if they are free, we dare not collect money."

Li Qingan smiled and turned around and said to everyone: "Everyone goes to the temple to rest!"
Chapter completed!