Tiger Guards

Chapter 172 The Queen Heads North
Wenxi, Tongxiang.

Hu Ban led a dozen people out for an inspection and saw busy figures everywhere in the fields on both sides of the Sushui River.

Within a month, Hu Ban was already capable of performing the duties of a county magistrate.

There is nothing easier in the world than being an official. He feels that even if he is a little stupid, he can still be competent for the position of county magistrate.

There is no need to consider the faces of any powerful people, nor is there any need to adjust the various officials in the county government.

All you have to do is execute the official documents from the county, the Sili Xiaowei's office, and the Huben Zhonglang Jiang's camp.

The county affairs were under the management of Zhao Yan, and Zhao Yan and Zhao Ji did not issue any orders to collect supplies.

The various orders can be summarized into three types. The first is to encourage farming, and to encourage all kinds of forces that can be persuaded to engage in agriculture; even if they are mountain people, if they are willing to come down the mountain and participate in farming, all their previous sins will be forgiven.

The second method is to count the population and transfer the skilled population to Pingyang.

The third is the internal adjustment of materials. The rewards for young and strong applicants will be forwarded through the county, and about two-thirds of the rewards will be sent directly to their families.

However, there was a serious shortage of food in the market. In order to stabilize the price of food, the rewarded five-zhu coins were not allowed to plummet.

Therefore, what Hu Ban focused on was to supply food in limited quantities and prices. Only in this way would the military salaries paid to the front line be meaningful.

The precious Wuzhu coins would not depreciate and be intercepted by officials who had grain reserves and connections.

Although population is precious, at this time, Hu Ban was brave enough to kill people even if they were from the same hometown.

After several small-scale house raids, Wenxi finally stabilized.

Even if the people don’t have enough to eat, they won’t starve to death.

One day when he was on patrol, he saw cavalry coming from the north on the road.

The emissary also saw his carriage and rushed to where Hu Ban was, saying, "Sir, Minister Zhao has given the order."

He dismounted, took out a personal letter addressed to Hu Ban, handed it to him, and said, "If Lord Zhao has no objection, the prefecture government will convey this to all counties in a few days to offer sacrifices to the locust god."

"We still need to offer sacrifices to the locust god?"

Hu Ban was puzzled and opened the handwritten letter from Zhao Ji, which said that a firewood pile should be built every eighty steps on the ridges of each field, and the numbers should be A, B, C, and D.

The vertical and horizontal spacing should be between fifty and eighty steps. It can be dense, but the sparsest spacing should not exceed eighty steps.

When the locusts swarmed, they took turns lighting the firewood pile every night, and finished it in batches over four nights.

Give Hu Ban a month, and on May 15th, Zhao Ji will send people to inspect all counties together with the five inspectors of the county.

Those who fail to build a firewood pile in the correct manner will be dismissed from office at the very least.

For every set of firewood piles built, you will be given fifty yuan.

The firewood pile does not need to be very large, but there are requirements for its placement.

To set up the most durable star-shaped fire, one pile of firewood requires eight thick pieces of wood.

You don't need to pile up a lot of grass, just enough to ignite the firewood pile.

Hu Ban carefully studied the structure of the firewood pile in Zhao Ji's painting, as if this structure contained some sacrificial secret.

The price of small green locusts has skyrocketed, and Anyi has already developed the best way to take them.

It must be dried thoroughly in the sun, then the stone slab is coated with oil, preferably pressed from plants such as sesame oil, and then fried.

Then grind it, mix it with roasted grain powder, and roll it into pills with honey.

Through special channels, Hu Ban also got some Qinghuang Zhuanggu Dan that flowed out of Anyi City, and he felt that it was really good.

As a hero of the Tiger Guards, Hu Ban would naturally actively implement Zhao Ji's orders.

But I always feel that there must be other benefits. I feel that I should build denser and larger firewood piles in my own fields.

If time were not so tight, he suspected Zhao Ji would ask the counties to set up more dense firewood piles.

When it comes to setting fire to worship the locust god, the more vigorous the fire, the better.

Having made up his mind, Hu Ban asked Pei Zheng, the chief clerk beside him, "I've seen the Minister's plan to burn the locusts with fire, but I'm afraid the people won't like it. What can we do?"

The people certainly don't like setting fire to locusts, and now during the busy farming season, they are all trying to find ways to make scoop nets and storage boxes.

Just wait for the locusts to swarm in May, catch and kill them, and sell them to Anyi for money.

Pei Zheng thought for a moment and said, "Fire can drive away evil, and I think it can also bring blessings. We should gather those who are good at propaganda and have them travel around the villages to persuade the people. We should also gather the village elders to persuade the men and women of each family. Minister Zhao will not harm our people, so I think this move will definitely benefit us. We can just do our best to implement it."

Hu Ban nodded and said, "To prevent the ignorant villagers from being misled by rumors, we should send five township officials to inspect each township. If anyone spreads rumors or slanders, they should be arrested immediately and taken to Jiangyi to be dealt with by Minister Zhao." Pei Zheng immediately agreed. "That's the way it should be. Wenxi should fully support Minister Zhao's policies. Anyone who treats this as a joke or just to attract attention should not be forgiven."

The people of Wenxi must set an example for other counties and be neighbors with the people of Anyi for generations. The greatest pleasure for the people of Wenxi is to surpass Anyi.

Hu Ban took action immediately. As long as the officials in the county government did not want to die, they would definitely agree to Zhao Ji's proposal.

Anyway, the reward money for building firewood piles in each county does not need to be allocated by the county.

There will definitely be some cases of misappropriation and false claims of this money. As long as it is not too excessive, Hu Ban will not delve into it based on his understanding of Zhao Ji.

Also today, Queen Fu Shou once again refused to leave Anyi.

As long as she doesn't leave, it will be difficult for the emperor to leave.

Zhao Rui ran back and forth several times and had already handed this task over to Zhao Fan.

Zhao Fan's status was lower and it was impossible for him to force the queen to set off.

As a last resort, he could only come to Wei's Manor to ask Fude to find a solution.

The secret passage to the vault of Wei's manor has been sealed, and there are guards on duty day and night, so no one can steal the money inside.

Every ten days, Zhao Yan would send people to patrol the secret passage.

Even if they wanted to dig a new secret passage to steal, they lacked time and reliable manpower.

Fu De had lost interest in guarding the treasury, so he came to Anyi Palace.

Inside Shaoliang Palace, when he arrived, Fu Shou was leading the palace maids to feed the silkworms in the silkworm room.

Several silkworm rooms are connected to each other. The two most troublesome tasks in feeding silkworms are picking mulberry leaves and cleaning the silkworm rooms.

When Fu De arrived, Fu Shou was tying wheat straw with other palace ladies. It seemed that they were preparing to leave after raising silkworms for this year.

Under the shade of the trees outside the silkworm room, Fu Shou was puzzled. "Brother, have you also lost your mind? Zhang Yang is a military man from a frontier county, and he admires the strong the most. When the Henei troops arrive, they will, as expected, ally with Minister Zhao. In today's court, what difference does it make between staying in Hedong and going to Luoyang?"

"General Zhang is loyal to his country. Hedong is powerful now, so we are friendly with him. He is definitely not the kind of person who would kowtow."

Fu De was in a depressed mood. He had not gained any military merit, and had never touched any gold. The people of Hedong were wary of him like a thief, but he found it difficult to get angry.

Furious, he said bluntly, "The emperor is in the north today, and the queen has lived in Anyi for a long time, which is not a good thing."

Upon hearing this, Fu Shou looked at Fu De carefully and said, "I understand. Then I will arrange for the carriage and set off tomorrow."

"only."

Fu De bowed and said, "I'll take my leave."

Fu Shou said nothing, watching Fu De leave, but clenched his fists in his sleeves.

She couldn't stop it, she could sense Zhao Yan's contradictory stance.

Zhao Yan hoped that the emperor would stay in Hedong and live a stable life; but Zhao Yan also had to consider Zhao Ji's safety, and naturally did not want Zhao Ji to have irreconcilable conflicts with the ministers and the emperor.

There are two different routes. All Zhao Yan can do is try not to get involved and leave the choice to the emperor.

Not giving advice is itself an attitude.

After Fu De left, Concubine Zhao came over with a plate of picked dead silkworms, looking downcast: "Empress, are you leaving tomorrow?"

She didn't want to leave because most of her relatives died in Chang'an or on the way east.

If a disaster really strikes, her uncle Zhao Rui will not be able to save her or provide her with any help.

Fu Shou glanced at Concubine Dong, who was enjoying the cool breeze, and said, "This is not something you and I can decide."

Concubine Zhao was puzzled. She wanted to say something, but it seemed meaningless.

Shaoliang Palace is a temporary palace. When the emperor goes on an expedition, what's the problem with them staying in Shaoliang Palace?
In Concubine Zhao's opinion, there was no problem at all.

But Fu De dealt Fu Shou a fatal blow, saying, "If you, the queen, are to die, you must die beside the emperor."

Otherwise, rumors will spread and the reputation of the Langya Fu family will be ruined.

Things have come to this point, what else can Fu Shou do?
Then let’s go north. If we die, we die together. It’s not like she will die alone.

When people really suffer from starvation, the first ones to die of starvation will not be the emperor or the empress.

(End of this chapter)