The atmosphere in Tianniu Prefecture City is particularly solemn today. You can tell from the soldiers at the top of the city. The entire high wall is full of soldiers walking back and forth. These are the city guards of Tianniu Prefecture, a city of one state. , in addition to the government officials and policemen who maintain public security in the city, this is another army dispatched by the city lord.
Generally, there will be two armies of this size in each state capital, and the same applies to the next level. One is the city guard that can be dispatched by the city lord. This kind of army is usually selected from inside and outside the city. It has some skills and some martial arts skills. It has the name of a soldier, but it has no actual status as a soldier.
In the eyes of military experts, the city guards are actually the so-called "rabble", while the other group that can play a role at the real critical moment is the garrison. These soldiers are not like the city guards. Their activity areas are generally in the camps. , and they are all foreigners, and they are truly elites who can go to the battlefield.
The city guards were wearing bright armor and patrolling with guns. On several streets in the city, police officers in armor could be seen. Even the traffickers and lackeys from outside the city could see this formation. The weather today was Niuzhou is different. The dirty streets in the past have been cleaned up and become much brighter.
The common people walking among them couldn't help but become a little more cautious, but the martial arts warriors were still carefree. They were located in major teahouses, drinking their own tea, listening to their own books, or ordering a jar of wine and walking with their fellow travelers. After receiving the drinking order, the sound of shouting and drinking was particularly harsh in the Tianniu Prefecture city.
At the gate of the east city, the city lord and his officials, large and small, were waiting at the city gate early in the morning. They lined up quietly on both sides. Against the slightly chilly breeze in the morning, these usually aloof officials did not dare to complain at all and looked straight in the eyes. Looking at the official road at the city gate, it rained heavily last night and it cleared up just before dawn.
The ground was still wet, and many officials' brand-new shoes and official uniforms had some mud splattered on them.
Weng Rui, the city lord, was a martial artist in the Wugang realm. In the civil service system of the Yin Dynasty, spiritual cultivation was also a qualification for official promotion. Of course, it was not that people without any cultivation could not get ahead in the official system. It was just the whole atmosphere. In this way, if you don't have any cultivation, you may not be able to suppress your subordinates.
Having been in a high position for many years, Weng Rui has perfected his qi-nurturing skills. His expression is calm, calm and majestic. Just standing there, there is an invisible aura that overwhelms the entire audience.
The waiting team waited for about a quarter of an hour, and finally figures appeared at the end of the official road. There were only three people, and they were all wearing yellow geldings from the Da Yin Station. Two of them were wearing the official robes of the Jiangwu Hall and the official uniforms. With the long sword, Weng Rui's eyebrows jumped slightly. One of them turned out to be a major cultivator of the Six Scenery of Heaven and Human Realm.
As for the leader, he was dressed in black warrior attire, with an exquisite gourd tied around his waist, and his long hair tied casually behind his back. He was holding the reins in one hand and touching the saddle with the other. He looked like he was not awake. Judging from the appearance, , he is only about the same age as Weng Rui, and the only thing that can prove his identity is probably the mace on the saddle.
There are very few warriors in Da Yin who use maces. Even according to Weng Rui's knowledge, there are also very few people who use maces in dynasties other than Da Yin. It's not that they don't have similar inheritance and martial arts, but to avoid taboos. The taboo comes from the guards of Kanyuin, the Central Empire.
When he got closer, Weng Rui took the lead in saluting.
"Tianniu Prefecture City Lord Weng Rui and other officials in the city have met the guards." As for the two officials from the Martial Arts Hall, they did not mention it directly. Their identities were not worthy of being compared with the guards. They obviously knew this. There was not the slightest hint of displeasure on his face. On horseback, his face was solemn and his eyes were not squinting.
"Weng Rui? How many years have you served in Tianniu Prefecture?"
"Returning to the envoy, this year marks the end of ten years."
The sleepy-eyed man on the horse smiled, "Interesting, in ten years, as the city lord of a state, you didn't even know that an evil god appeared in your territory?"
"I would also like to ask the envoy to move. The envoy has prepared lunch. The envoy has been tired all the way and can rest for a while. The envoy will report aside. There is something hidden about the matter here. Please be sure to listen to the envoy. We will report it to the official and then make a decision." Weng Rui said in a deep voice. In fact, this matter is no longer his alone. Stealing divine power is not something that happens overnight. When he came to take office, Tianniu Prefecture already had such a situation. An evil god.
Huangfu didn't even raise his eyes. He was a walker and a patrolman of the Kanyu Academy of the Central Empire. He had traveled to too many countries and had seen too many hidden things. He had long been numb to these so-called touching stories. It sounds like that, and the story called Da Yin Tianniu State is nothing more than that.
The outcome was doomed, so he didn't bother to say anything else. He just nodded, "Okay, let's lead the way."
Weng Rui was stunned for a moment. He was a little surprised that Huangfu Zheng was so talkative. As long as he was the envoy of the Central Empire, no matter which dynasty he went to, he would receive some special treatment. The emperor had to bow his head and salute when he saw them, because they What they represent is not their individuals, but the will of the Central Empire Supreme.
Even a commoner without any official status would receive preferential treatment in other dynasties.
"Yes, envoy please!"
Weng Rui got on his horse and led everyone towards the government office. During this gradual process, many lower-level officials had already left one after another. For them, their task was just to make up for the welcome and let everyone know. This guard from the empire just saw the Tianniu State's attitude.
After entering the government office, passing through the halls and courtyards, a large number of officials were screened out. Finally, when they came to this exquisite courtyard, there were only two officials around Weng Rui, one civil and one military. The military attache was the commander of the Tianniu Prefecture garrison, and his rank was He is a little lower than Weng Rui, who is the city lord, but because there is no domineering relationship between the two, they are polite to each other.
Civil servants are the highest-ranking officials in the government except the city lord Weng Rui.
As soon as a few people sat down, a group of young women whom Weng Rui had found appeared like butterflies in flowers, carrying various exquisite dishes and bringing them to Huangfu Zheng's table. Waves of fragrant wind blew towards Huangfu Zheng's face, making Huangfu Zheng's sleepy eyes disappear. Then it became a little brighter, but the eyes were very clear, and there was no evil or lust in the eyes looking at these women.
Weng Rui saw all this in his eyes, and the thoughts that originally appeared in his mind were dismissed by him. He only let these women finish serving the dishes and then left.
"Let's talk!" Huangfu, who was sitting on the main seat, was eating slowly, and the two officials from the martial arts hall next to him also started to move.
"yes!"
Weng Rui did not dare to say anything more, and immediately told all the things about the evil god in charge of wind and rain in Tianniu Prefecture, including the origin of his heels. Although Da Yin's court's control over these things had been slightly weaker for a while, But for local officials, they still have a clear grasp of what happens within their jurisdiction.
What's more, Tianniu Prefecture is close to the divine capital, and no matter how brave the officials are, they would not dare to act arrogantly under the emperor's nose.
Following Weng Rui's narration, Huangfu was listening to it with great interest. Good stories and good food were much more interesting than a boring journey.
That happened 140 years ago, and the weather in Tianniu Prefecture has not always been smooth. For the people who depend on the sky for food, there have never been four solar terms that will never change. At that time, Tianniu Prefecture experienced a severe drought for five years, and the developed water system could not save Tianniu Prefecture from the drought.
Countless victims fled, and the dry cracks in the paddy fields were more than three feet deep. At that time, Tianniu Prefecture was filled with yellow dust, and the red ground was thousands of miles away. Wherever the victims passed, it was like locusts passing by, and the vegetation on many hills was billowing with the tide of hungry people. Among them, there is simply not enough to see. Bark, grass roots, and soil, as long as they can be used to fill their stomachs, are all eaten by the victims without exception.
This is only seen in the general environment. What is not seen in the disaster victims is even more terrifying. People at that time can no longer be called human beings. It is just a common thing to change children and eat, and change wives to eat. Like wild beasts, they stood firm to prevent themselves from falling while looking at their fellow travelers with green eyes.
Whenever someone falls, they become food in other people's mouths.
Under such a background, everything happens as a matter of course. The court's relief can solve the problem for a while, but it cannot solve the root cause. Five consecutive years of drought, such a big hole, the people of a state, the court cannot solve the problem at all. Can't keep it.
The evil god in the Tianniu State was born under such an environment. It was an old scalper who had become a vague climate. Its owner had long been lost in history and had not been written down. The old scalper After living for nearly fifty years, in the first year of the severe drought, I seemed to sense something. That night, the head of the household, who was already hungry and had no rice to cook but did not dare and could not bear to destroy the only cattle in the family, was told to kill. It took the meat and asked them to leave Tianniu Prefecture as soon as possible.
This family obviously didn't intend to do that. They saw the magic of the old scalper in their eyes. The muscles all over the body were lumpy and the hair was shiny. No one could have expected that this one cow could work in a day compared to three or four cows from other families. When will the drought end? The longer it goes on, the more some people feel that heavy rain is coming and the drought will eventually pass.
Once the drought is over, their family's livelihood will still have to depend on this old cow. During that disaster, too many people had this plan. Tianniu Prefecture is already prosperous, and the people's families all have some surplus, and there are No one is willing to leave their hometown for help from the imperial court. The longer they wait for months, a year, or two years, and the longer the drought lasts, the more they feel that it will be over soon.
No one expected that the drought would last for five years. By then, it would be too late.
At that time, not long after the drought started, the family just thought the dream was strange, and did not do anything else. Life went on as usual. After a few days, they woke up early in the morning and found the strong and strong old cow in their cowshed. The cow died in it. If the owner did not kill it, it sacrificed its life and offered its body to them...
