Thinking like this, He Shen felt that he should go down again, take a look with his own eyes, and then decide what to do.
the other side.
When Liu An, the prefect of Taiyuan Prefecture, saw He Shen, he kept silent and said nothing. When his mind moved, he couldn't help but speak again to test.
"By the way, I have caught all the unscrupulous people who attacked you last time. Sir, how do you think we should deal with them?"
He Shen was slightly stunned when he heard this. Only then did he remember that the people who attacked him were still imprisoned.
"..."
After He Shen hesitated for a moment, he waved his hand and said: "Well... those common people, let's just lock them up temporarily..."
"However, be sure not to mistreat them. The Japanese officials will personally interrogate them in a few days."
"The common people are honest and simple, and they may have been deceived by attacking me rashly. The things behind this may not be as simple as imagined."
When Liu An heard He Shen's words, he was slightly startled at first, and then nodded thoughtfully.
Liu An, aware of He Shen's attitude, paused, changed his words and turned Xi Min into a common person.
I only heard Liu An say: "Your Excellency is wise and what you said is absolutely correct, but the lower official has neglected this point. The lower official will definitely make arrangements for those common people."
"…………"
Seeing Liu An who was so knowledgeable, He Shen smiled with satisfaction and said, "It's good that you understand. Speaking of which, the next batch of disaster relief food and grass from the imperial court is expected to arrive in the next two days."
"I have the authority to preside over disaster relief matters under the sacred orders, but I still don't understand the current disaster situation in Taiyuan Prefecture."
"I wanted to inspect and visit a few days ago, but I was attacked by the people again. However, the disaster is so severe that there cannot be any delay."
"If the prefect has nothing to do today, you can accompany me to continue to inspect the disaster situation in Taiyuan. After all, we are officials who have suffered."
"…………"
"Your Excellency serves the country and the people. You are truly a role model for all officials in the imperial court. I am so impressed by my subordinates..."
Prefect Liu An's flattery comes one after another.
After flattering him, Liu An patted his chest again and promised.
"Your Majesty will be inspecting the disaster area today, and I will naturally be well prepared. Just like a few days ago, when people attacked your Majesty, it will never happen again. I will guarantee it with my head on my neck."
"..."
He Shen heard this, waved his hand and said, "Your Majesty, your words are serious. Today's inspection is different from a few days ago. You and I will bring some followers, wear ordinary people's clothes, and pay a private visit incognito."
"This time, there is no need to make a big fanfare or alarm officials in other places."
Hearing what Heshen said, Liu An was stunned for a moment, then hesitated for a long time, and finally nodded...
Immediately afterwards, he said goodbye to Heshen and went to change clothes.
Looking at Liu An's leaving figure, He Shen suddenly found an advantage in this man.
An advantage that made him a prefect.
That is, there are no principles. He Shen will do whatever he says, and Liu An will never object or question it.
People with such a personality can get along very well in the officialdom.
"..."
Whatever kind of person his immediate boss is, he will unprincipledly become someone similar to his immediate boss.
His immediate boss is a corrupt official, and he is a corrupt official.
His immediate boss is an upright official, so he is an upright official; his immediate boss is a cruel official, and he is a cruel official...
He does whatever his boss asks him to do. He doesn't care who the boss is or whether his boss's order is right or wrong...
Regardless of whether it is harmful to nature or disrespectful to human life, he is just loyal and does things for his superiors.
Therefore, every one of his bosses is willing to reuse him and promote him.
Even so, the winners of official party criticism often retain such people.
Compared to Liu An, He Er is far behind in this regard.
Sure enough, as soon as Liu An left, He Er eagerly persuaded He Shen.
"Master, you were attacked by those unruly people just a few days ago. Why do you have to pay a private visit incognito today? It's too dangerous..."
"As a kid, I would say, even if we want to win people's hearts, we don't have to do it so personally..."
When He Shen heard He Er's words, he shook his head slightly and said, "Don't worry, after the farce a few days ago, Liu An's heart has already sounded the alarm."
"This time, for a private visit incognito, he will definitely arrange for a large number of official officials to accompany him secretly."
"What's more, once I take off my official uniform and official hat, and without those imperial envoys that show my status and honor, no one will recognize me."
"Things like what happened a few days ago will not happen, and there will be no danger. Don't worry."
"Furthermore, my purpose this time is to help the people of a certain area and win the hearts of the people of the world..."
"How can we do this if we don't know the full picture of the disaster area and the real situation?"
Seeing that He Shen had made up his mind, He Er, as a servant, had no choice but to obey.
He went to find an ordinary piece of clothing that was not very conspicuous, and helped Heshen put it on.
On He Shen's side, while getting dressed, he warned He Er: "By the way, He Er, you have to remember that in the future, we cannot accept the money officials give us casually."
"Although silver is very good and everyone likes it, some silver is very hot."
"For example, this time, the officials of Taiyuan Prefecture gave us so much money because they were afraid that we would find out about their own scandals."
"That's why they chose to vomit blood and give me money to drag me into the water."
"You accepted this money on my behalf, which means you dragged me onto the pirate ship."
After a pause, He Shen continued: "In these two days, I am going to host a banquet for officials from Taiyuan Mansion. You are not allowed to accept any more money from them. Did you know that?"
When He Er heard this, he nodded dejectedly and said in a muffled voice: "Young man, I understand."
He Shen sighed and said: "We must pay attention to these things in the future by taking people's money and eliminating disasters for others. No one will give benefits to others in vain."
"Sometimes the stuffed pies contain poison instead of meat. If you eat them, you will die..."
…
After arriving at Taiyuan Mansion, Liu An vacated his own house for He Shen to stay temporarily...
Instead, he took his whole family to live in another house.
Liu An was not an upright official. The Taiyuan Prefecture he was in charge of was also an oil-and-water yamen. He embezzled a lot of disaster relief materials.
When it comes to family assets, Liu An can be said to be among the best among fifth-grade civil and military officials.
Therefore, Liu's Mansion is also a luxurious and magnificent mansion, especially the back garden of Liu's Mansion, which is a famous scene in Taiyuan Mansion.
The Liu Mansion covers an area of nearly thirty acres, shaded by lush ancient trees, covered with exotic flowers and rare grasses, and dotted with pavilions and waterside pavilions.
The rockeries, jade towers and carved corridors are layered on top of each other, with ingenious structures, simple and grandeur, which can be described as extremely heroic.
Because of this, when He Shen's place was tidied up, Liu An had already changed into a long gown and was waiting outside the door.
He Shen, He Er, and Liu An, along with a few official servants who were also dressed as ordinary people, rode out of the city in a carriage.
Along the way, He Shen learned a lot about the "real" situation in Taiyuan from Liu An.
As the saying goes, locusts swarm when there is extreme drought, not to mention that this time in Taiyuan, it is still a severe drought that has lasted for several years.
In the past few years, there have been few rains in the entire Taiyuan Prefecture. The lives of the people were not very easy and they were almost unable to survive.
I thought things would get better this year, but not long after, locusts appeared just after autumn.
At the beginning, there were only four or five people, scattered here and there, but no one took them seriously.
However, within a few days, the locusts had grown into tens of thousands or even over 100 million.
For a time, the mountains and fields were covered with locusts.
The people of Taiyuan Prefecture, despite the drought and lack of water, worked hard for a year and finally fought against the sky for the little food they could get...
Within a few days, everything was eaten by locusts. The people of Taiyuan Prefecture were in the most dangerous situation at this moment.
In fact, just after locusts were discovered in Taiyuan Mansion, Liu An had already asked the court for disaster relief food and grass. Even so, it was too late.
Because this kind of thing was sent from the local area to the province, and then from the province to the court, going around in circles, half a month had passed.
By that time, it was already too late to do anything, and the cucumber vegetables had long been cold.
Now, when the imperial court sends He Shen to provide disaster relief, the situation in Taiyuan Mansion has become even more serious.
The locust plague intensified, not only ravaging Taiyuan Prefecture, but also began to spread to the entire province.
Maybe, in a while, the entire Shaanxi will turn into a white land.
After hearing Liu An's introduction, I recalled that I personally went to the disaster area in the important town a few days ago and saw the tragic scenes...
He Shen's face instantly became serious.
He didn't expect that this locust plague would be much more serious than he imagined...
I thought it was just a disaster in Taiyuan Prefecture, but I didn't expect that the locust plague would spread to the entire Shaanxi Province.
After pondering for a moment, He Shen asked Liu An: "Drought is a natural disaster that cannot be repaired or undone. We cannot make the sun rise."
"However, we can still do our best to extinguish the locust plague..."
"If the government posts notices and invites people to participate, and the people in the whole government go all out to kill the locusts, the locust plague will be suppressed by us even if it will not be extinguished..."
"At least, it won't spread to other places and cause greater damage."
After hearing what He Shen said, not only Liu An, but also He Er had a look of horror on his face, looking at He Shen...
It seemed as if He Shen had said something earth-shattering.
However, the next words and explanations of the two of them made He Shen freeze on the spot.
"..."
In fact, what He Shen said just now was just a casual remark to show his understanding of locust plague control.
After all, He Shen didn't want to be treated as a layman who didn't understand anything by Liu An.
