After all, in Heshen's view, Liu An, as a veteran in officialdom, must have been doing things like organizing manpower to cull locusts.
However, this time the locust plague came too quickly and spread too widely, so it was not very effective.
However, the facts are completely different from what Heshen thought, and even the opposite...
Hearing He Shen's words, the prefect Liu An looked horrified and replied word for word.
"Sir, how can locusts be killed with human power?"
"The locust plague is caused by the god of locusts in the sky. The punishment from heaven is that once you kill them with human power and offend the gods, there will be even greater disasters next year."
On the other side, Kazuji had the same expression and the same tone...
He Er said to He Shen repeatedly: "Master, locusts cannot be killed by human power. This is the ancestral teaching since ancient times.
After hearing what Liu An and He Er said, He Shen couldn't help but be stunned.
The locust plague is a natural punishment. Locusts cannot be killed by human power, otherwise they will offend the gods...
Are humans in this world and this era so ignorant?
If it were the human race in the prehistoric world, let alone whether there was such a god, even if there was, the Human Emperor would have already summoned an army to spread the ashes of the Locust God...
To regard disasters like locust plagues as natural punishment is quite ridiculous in modern eyes. It is ignorant, feudal and superstitious...
However, seeing the serious faces of Liu An and He Er, He Shen realized one fact...
Even though the current era has entered the 18th century, the Qing Dynasty still seems to have a divine right to kingship and lags behind the entire era...
Qianlong reigned in the 18th century AD and ruled the Qing Dynasty for a total of sixty years.
At the same time, the Industrial Revolution began in Europe.
Britain became the world's hegemon and began to colonize all over the world, laying the foundation for what would become an empire on which the sun never sets.
The Great Revolution broke out in France.
In North America, a man named Washington was born.
At this time in the Qing Dynasty, the civil and military officials headed by Emperor Qianlong turned a blind eye to this change and were still immersed in the dream of a heavenly empire.
Do they really not know? No, they knew it, but they had turned a blind eye in order to maintain their rule and power.
Just like Emperor Qianlong, as an emperor with many nations and states, in order to achieve the purpose of ruling the country, he worked hard and learned knowledge: he mastered five languages.
These five languages are Manchurian, Chinese, Mongolian, Tibetan, and Uyghur.
Later, he learned Russian during the confrontation with Tsarist Russia.
As the emperor who mastered the most languages in the Qing Dynasty, how could Emperor Qianlong be completely unaware of the changes in the world.
However, out of the need to rule, he has always pretended to be blind and deaf.
On Heshen's side, while he was thinking secretly...
On the other side, He Er felt that as a qualified housekeeper, it was necessary to inform He Shen some basic "common sense" that only the common people knew.
In He Er's view, He Shen would say things like "cull the locusts" entirely because he stood too high and had no common sense.
Although Liu An thought so too, he was only a "little" fifth-grade prefect.
He didn't want to get into trouble and ruin the face of He Shen, a third-grade official...
Only He Er, who was loyal to He Shen, would slowly explain to He Shen in a helpless tone.
"Master, you don't know something. The idea that the locust plague is the locust god is very popular among the people. At least, the common people believe it."
"Under such circumstances, if we rashly organize manpower to cull the locusts, we may not be able to get help from the people of Taiyuan Prefecture..."
"On the contrary, it will cause panic and shock among the people, and may even cause trouble."
"It is precisely because of this that when local officials are in office, when locust plagues occur within their jurisdiction, they generally consider themselves unlucky. No one will take the thankless task of organizing manpower to cull the locusts."
"Of course, if a local gentry organizes people to voluntarily cull locusts, the government will not stop them."
After listening to He Er's words, he glanced again at Liu An, the prefect of Taiyuan, who was standing there pretending to be dead without saying a word. He Shen suddenly felt that the lives of the people were so different...
The more because of this, He Shen not only did not recognize He Er, but instead looked gloomy, stared at He Er coldly, and said slowly.
"The sage said that if you don't speak, your strength will be strange to the gods."
"He Er, you just said a sentence about heaven's punishment on the left and a sentence about the Locust God on the right. I thought you were not my housekeeper, but the magic stick of the Locust Temple."
"In my opinion, although you are not very qualified as a housekeeper, it would be just right for you to be the host of the Locust Temple."
Seeing that He Shen was so angry, although He Er was completely confused, he still quickly lowered his head and admitted his mistake...
As for Liu An, the prefect of Taiyuan, he couldn't help but feel confused.
He, who is old at officialdom, didn't know that He Shen was beating himself up through He Er.
Or, to put it bluntly, he was criticizing Sang and Huai. On the surface, he was scolding He Er, but in fact, he was scolding him, Liu An...
Without waiting for Liu An to explain, He Shen followed up and said: "Prefect Liu, let me ask you, do you really believe in the theories of heaven's punishment and the theory of the locust god that are spread among the people?"
Hearing He Shen's question, Liu An didn't know how to answer for a while.
Judging from Liu An's own reaction before, even if he does not believe in the theory of the Locust God and the theory of divine punishment, he is at least a supporter of this theory.
However, at this moment, Liu An did not dare to tell the truth for fear of getting into trouble with He Shen.
He deliberately lied to cope with the situation, but he was afraid of making He Shen even more angry...
Later, after Liu An hesitated for a long time, he still chose to tell the truth.
He cupped his hands and said: "Sir, the theory of heaven's punishment and the theory of the locust god have been circulated among the people for a long time and have far-reaching influence."
"In my opinion, this kind of thing should be treated with caution..."
When He Shen heard this, a half-smile appeared on his face.
After a pause, Heshen said: "Okay, since you think so, this locust plague is God's punishment for the people..."
"Then let me ask you, why did God send a punishment on your Taiyuan Mansion?"
"Did you, the prefect, do something wrong? Did you make the world angry and resentful? Or is the current emperor's moral character defective? This led to disasters one after another during his reign...
Hearing He Shen's straightforward and heart-breaking words, Liu An was so frightened that he trembled all over, but he no longer dared to speak casually.
Seeing Liu An being submissive, just lowering his head and listening to the instruction, pretending to be a coward, He Shen was not polite at all and continued to scold him with a cold face.
"As the highest local official in a land, you don't consider the livelihood of the people. Instead, you are restrained by the ignorant and superstitious words of the people, and you repeatedly delay business..."
"As a result, the locust plague has intensified and now has the potential to spread throughout Shaanxi. What's the use of local officials like you..."
"..."
"My lord, what you are saying is that the lower officials will know the crime, and the lower officials will know the crime..."
Liu An, who had a "lower" official position, did not dare to refute, but kept pleading guilty.
"…………"
Looking at He Shen who was so serious and calculating, Liu An sighed in his heart, could it be that this time he met a great upright official...
You know, when a normal imperial minister goes to the local area, according to the usual practice, he will usually join forces with the local officials to embezzle the disaster relief food funds.
The so-called inspection of the disaster area, understanding the disaster situation, and even rescuing the victims are just a face-saving effort. No matter how serious the disaster is or whether the victims are helpless, the imperial ministers will not care...
In order to provide disaster relief and eliminate locusts, Heshen must first unify the ideas of people in the officialdom...
"..."
This would have saved him from presiding over the culling of locusts in the Taiyuan Prefecture, but the officials below him were doing so in disobedience. In the end, the locust plague was not extinguished, but instead he got into trouble.
It is precisely because of this consideration that as Liu An is the leader of the officials in Taiyuan Prefecture, it is natural for He Shen to give him a beating.
However, in order to extinguish the locust plague in the future, there are still many places where Liu An can be relied upon. Therefore, after He Shen gave Liu An a stick, he immediately gave him a sweet date.
He Shen patted Liu An on the shoulder and said: "As court officials, we should put the court first, relieve the emperor's worries wholeheartedly, and be more considerate of the difficulties faced by the court and the emperor."
"If this locust plague can be controlled and extinguished quickly, the Emperor will have less trouble to worry about. Please send me a merit note. The second place in the ranking will be you..."
Having said this, He Shen smiled slightly and said meaningfully: "Prefect Liu, as court officials, we must take a long-term view."
Hearing what He Shen said, Liu An thought at this moment that he finally understood He Shen's thoughts.
He Shen wanted to take advantage of this locust plague to gain a promotion! ! !
Liu An had long heard that the current Emperor Qianlong was quite fond of He Shen.
As long as He Shen performs meritorious service, Emperor Qianlong will definitely reward and promote him...
Compared with embezzling the disaster relief food funds, it is obviously better to get promoted.
When the time comes, Heshen can eat meat, and he can also drink soup...
Get promoted and get rich, get promoted and get rich, after you get promoted, why worry about money...
Thinking of this, Liu An couldn't help but feel happy.
"..."
After all, if the emperor wants to reward He Shen in the future, he, the prefect who followed He Shen and worked hard without any merit, will definitely be able to benefit from it, and he can even be directly promoted to a rank and become a fourth rank official...
After thinking about all this, Liu An said resolutely: "I understand, I understand. It is the duty of local officials like us to solve problems for the court and share the emperor's worries."
"For the sake of the millions of people in Taiyuan, as your Excellency said, manpower must be organized to cull the locust plague. Your Excellency is far-sighted and thinks far-reaching. I admire you, and I will definitely follow your leadership in the future!!"
