Thuan An Province
A few old horses walked slowly on the road, and the people sitting on them looked around quietly, making no sound, almost blending into the night.
It was not until the oil lamp hanging on the roadside in front gradually came closer that the people on the horse gradually revealed their faces. The leader was Qi Hongxin, the prefect of Shun'an Prefecture.
The horse he was riding was the oldest of the horses confiscated from the three gangs. It could no longer go on the battlefield. This kind of old horse could barely be used by high-ranking officials when they went out on business alone.
He didn't want to come over in an ox cart, which would make too much noise and easily disturb people. Qi Hongxin watched quietly and seemed to ask casually: "Zhi Lin, you have been with me for almost ten years, right?"
"Yes!" Yu Zhilin looked around cautiously and replied: "At that time, I remembered whether I had a longevity of eight or nine years, and I kind of forgot."
"You have forgotten, but I have not." Qi Hongxin said with a smile: "You were still a young hero who wanted to kill me at that time!"
Qi Hongxin looked at the man in front of him with soft eyes. This young hero had been following him since ten years ago, protecting him time and time again and intercepting numerous assassinations.
It's been ten years, it's been ten years of delaying others.
"At that time, I was deceived and said that you were a corrupt official and a cruel official." Yu Zhilin held his sword and said, shooting left and right: "I later found out that you are a very upright official and a good official."
"Actually, I am not an upright official. There may be room for discussion about the word greedy. I am a cruel official in the truest sense of the word." Qi Hongxin said melancholy: "The countrymen are being deceived, so I don't actually have to kill fifty-three people."
"It's enough to encircle and suppress three gangs. I have passed the killing of Deputy Inspector He Bi. Even if he deserves death according to the law, he still has to go through the process, not me."
"I am indeed cool, but I can't help it."
"At the end of the day, the road is over, so we should go in reverse and do it in the opposite direction. There is not a single word wrong." Qi Hongxin really thinks so. He himself also found that with the third term, his mentality changed, and his anger and anger became calmer. Resentment gradually filled my heart, and my actions became increasingly extreme.
"Furthermore, this time, knowing that twenty-three imperial officials are involved, I can only give them a date. Based on this, how can I be considered innocent?"
"How can it be so easy to be independent?"
"Pfft, what did the master say? Those corrupt officials should have been killed. What about cruelty? As for the twenty-three court officials, being honest and good officials is not stupid officials."
"If you overturn the table, not only will I fail to become an official, but I will also be in danger of being killed. How can I continue to benefit another party?"
"Sir, others don't know. I have been with you for ten years, and all I have seen is that you have benefited the people, which adds up to less than a million." Yu Zhilin simply turned around and said, "Sir, I know your thoughts. You just feel like you have wasted me. ——But I don’t think so, my becoming an official is just to be an eighth- or ninth-grade military attaché.”
"How can it be better than now? If I protect you for one day, I can save thousands more people."
"Really, you have such confidence in me, but I don't." Qi Hongxin smiled and said nothing.
How many monarchs are wise at first and then foolish.
How many ministers are wise at first and then greedy and violent.
"Me too, but I'm getting old and sick. Alas, I probably won't be able to wait until that day."
"That's a good thing."
As he entered the area with dense farmland, he saw more and more oil lamps, one by one leading directly to the burning bonfire in front of him. Qi Hongxin stopped talking.
Most insects have phototaxis, and locusts are no exception to this.
Buzz, buzz, buzz...
The sound from the sky made Qi Hongxin rein in his horse and look up. He saw a dense mass of darkness flying straight over from a distance under the hazy moonlight.
"The locusts are coming! The locusts are coming!" Someone not far away also heard the sound, looked up and saw this scene, and suddenly screamed.
An old farmer followed and shouted: "Don't panic! They are flying towards the bonfire. Pick up the bamboo basket and broom and prepare to kill them!"
Qi Hongxin's heart tightened. Whether this method can be successful or not, whether it is effective or not, success or failure depends on this.
His eyes were locked on the bonfires that were slightly closer to him. Under the night, the people hiding aside were also waiting nervously, waiting for the large flying insects to fly over, except for a few people who screamed one or two. The sound made everyone else hold their breath, fearing that the sound would scare away the attracted locusts in advance.
Buzz!
Until a large black spot fell straight onto the bonfire, and he wanted to escape due to the burning of the flames. Someone shouted: "Quick!"
One, two, three... several figures rushed over, raised the tools in their hands, and struck at the locusts that had lost their ability to fly or were slow to react due to being burned by the fire.
The large black spots that were just about to fly again fell into the bonfire with a crackle. Not only did their falling in not extinguish the fire, but on the contrary, the fire dimmed for a moment and then more than doubled in height!
A meaty aroma that made people twitch their index fingers wafted out from the campfire.
If I hadn't known that the smell was coming from locusts, which was so terrifying and disgusting, I'd be afraid that someone would have to swallow their saliva.
Further away, figures were swaying, and there were obviously many people following suit.
With tens of thousands of taels of silver, the whole government can be mobilized to cull the locusts.
This effect is really good.
Qi Hongxin's heart, which he had been holding on to, finally dropped to its original place, and he felt that his forehead was sweating due to the tension just now.
"With only about ten more days of work, we can completely kill the locusts in the house and remove all the locust eggs in the ground."
Even though the bonfire must have attracted locusts from the neighboring county, and several county governments could enjoy the benefits for free without spending a penny, others would definitely be unhappy, but Qi Hongxin felt that this was fine.
"Even if we are not the people of Shun'an Prefecture, if they are harmed by locusts, I can't bear to see them. If they don't care, then I will take care of them!"
"Sir!" He was thinking, but was interrupted again. Qi Hongxin turned around in surprise and saw Yu Zhilin pointing: "Look."
"If nothing else, if you, master, uncover the big case of Zhuoxing, all the officials in the government will be trying to protect their reputations, and no one will be able to care about serious matters."
"Now, see how attentive they are?"
"Yes!" Qi Hongxin couldn't help but show a smile, and then turned away: "But it won't take much time to mobilize so many people, and these tens of thousands of taels are distributed in the seven counties of the whole government."
"Come on, let's go back. The mining rights must be at least 30,000 taels, right?" After walking around, Qi Hongxin was very satisfied with the locust extermination operation. As soon as he returned to Fucheng, he summoned Su Ziji to see him.
When Su Ziji arrived, he was not polite and asked directly: "Master Su, how are you doing in charge of the mine? Do you have any regulations?"
Su Ziji smiled: "It's almost done, I'm just waiting for adults to go and see it."
"oh?"
So mysterious?
This is actually not official style. How can you respond to a superior official like this?
Moreover, Qi Hongxin always does things boldly and doesn't like this kind of pretentiousness. But facing Su Ziji who helped him a lot as soon as he arrived at Shun'an Mansion, Qi Hongxin still has some tolerance.
"It seems that Mr. Su has already taken care of this matter? Then I will let you go and have a look."
