Jingxiang bent down and pulled a piece of soil from the field. After rubbing it with both hands, the soil from the ground turned into powder and fell from between his palms.

Jingxiang, who had a gloomy face, walked on the ridge of the field. It was supposed to be when the seedlings were as green as a blanket, but in the fields, the seedlings were sparse and some cracks were clearly visible.

An old farmer bent over, carried a load of water, put the bucket in the field, scooped out the water from the bucket with a wooden scoop, and watered the seedlings.

Jingxiang walked over and looked into the bucket. It was only half a bucket of water, it was so turbid that it was half mud and half water.

"Brother-in-law, why is this water like this? Is it because there is no water source?" Jing Xiang asked.

Seeing Jing Xiang's dress and the people who were following him were also majestic, the father-in-law quickly threw the wooden pie and handed over his hands. "This official, God is going to make things difficult for us. It has been three months since the Chinese New Year. There has not been a rain, so there is no water source. This is the old man last year. When he saw that the snow was much thinner than in previous years, he knew it was not good, so he dug a hole and saved some snow water. But he never expected that it would not rain for several months!"

"My father-in-law is an experienced person, but why aren't there many people like me who dig holes and hold some snow water like me?" Jing Xiang asked in confusion.

The old farmer smiled bitterly: "The officials don't know anything. In the middle of winter, many people don't even have thicker clothes. How can they come out to dig a hole? If the hole is not dug out, the people will freeze to death."

Jing Xiang sighed to the sky, without saying anything, turned around and walked away with a staggering pace.

Walking up to the official road, Jing Xiang finally couldn't help but feel angry. He threw the whip in his hand on the ground, looked at Wu Jian beside him, and said angrily: "If it weren't for the time when I came out for a walk today, would you believe what you saw? This year's drought, obviously last year, the court's central peasant officials and Sitianjian had warned him, and the court also allocated money to renovate water conservancy. Where is the canal? Where is the canal?"

He flew up and kicked a stone on the official road to the place where it was supposed to be a canal on the roadside. Where was it filled with mud and withered wild weeds filled it all over the place.

"Jing Xiang, our Ministry of Revenue has allocated the money. I personally handled this matter. As far as I know, the Ministry of Works has not deducted it and sent it to various places as much as possible." Wu Jian said.

"Yes, the court paid the money, but the water conservancy project that needs to be renovated has not moved at all. Wu Jian, this is Chang'an County, how far is this place from Chang'an City? They dared to fool the court like this. After repairing the canal, they fooled it, and claimed that the water conservancy of the entire county was completed. A lot of money was stuffed into their purses. They were so bold that it was really incredible." Jing Xiang was extremely angry.

Wu Jian smiled bitterly.

The Ministry of Works will check the project afterwards, while the Ministry of Revenue will review the accounts, but it is obvious that both departments have been cheated, or they are not cheated at all, but have been in the process of being in a mess with those people and have gotten a share of the pie from this matter.

"I'm going to chop off the head of the Chang'an County Magistrate!" Jing Xiang turned over and said angrily.

Wu Jian grabbed Jing Xiang's head and said, "Jing Xiang will calm down for a while. The county magistrate of Chang'an County is named Dai!"

Jing Xiang was stunned for a moment, and after a while, he lowered his head down.

"What's going on? Chang'an County is like this. Will Wannian County be better? Will Qinchuan be better at 800 miles?" Wu Jian was also worried and worried when he heard Jing Xiang's sigh.

When Fan Sheng was summoned to hurriedly step into Jingxiang's official hall, he saw Jingxiang with a sad face.

"Jingxiang, what happened?" Fan Sheng rarely saw such a helpless look on Jingxiang's face.

"Fan Sheng, you are in charge of the Palace Front Office. Do you know nothing about such blatant corruption?" Jing Xiang looked at Fan Sheng, but suddenly became angry. Fan Sheng was his confidant and his partner, but instead he found a place to vent his anger that had been silenced in his heart.

He pounded the table hard and shouted: "Do you know that the funds allocated by the imperial court for water conservancy construction were greedy by those borers. They had not repaired them at all, and they had not repaired them. The drought is approaching and the fields are not harvested. What kind of scene will be next? Do you dare to imagine?"

Fan Sheng shivered and said for a while: "Jing Xiang, these things are not the responsibility of my Palace Front Office. Now the main force of our Palace Front Office is mainly under the rule of Li Ze in the north and in the south! These things should be the affairs of the censors. Whether the officials are competent is the affairs of the Ministry of Personnel. We just need to ensure the loyalty of these officials. I want to intervene in other matters, but I am afraid that it will cause trouble!"

Jing Xiang sat down dejectedly and waved his hand at him.

"Forget it, I blame you for your mistake, and I was also anxious. Next, you can check it carefully and see which places are actually paid and done, and those places will be affected by drought, how much impact will be, how much impact will be, and how many places will be eliminated."

"Okay, I'll arrange someone to do this right away." Fan Sheng nodded.

"The court has to make arrangements in advance." Jing Xiang lowered his head, "Otherwise, there will be a big mess. Do you still remember the chaos more than 20 years ago?"

"Of course I remember!" Fan Sheng said: "First it was flooding, then drought. After finally recovering a little bit, a locust plague shattered everyone's hope. The natural disasters that swept the whole country, led to the great riots that swept the whole country. When did the Tang Dynasty collapse begin?"

"A lesson from the past, some people of the latter's army always forget to hurt after healing their scars. After only a few good days, they dare to even be greedy for such money!" Jing Xiang said in pain: "What's the situation in the north?"

Fan Sheng looked at Jing Xiang's appearance and whispered: "Jingxiang, you have been to the north. When you know who has a very high enthusiasm for building roads and water conservancy. Every time you build a land, the first thing you do must be these things. Although the drought on their side is just like ours, judging from the information sent back, they are very affected. The green seedlings in the fields are growing very well, and there are always water in the canals. There are countless water trucks on the edge of all rivers to drive the water trucks, and then they will send the water to various places along the well-connected canals."

"Did this drought have no effect on them?" Jing Xiang interrupted him. When he was in trouble, he really didn't want to hear his biggest competitor but was living extremely well.

"Of course there will be an impact, and reducing production is also essential, but it will not hurt its roots." Fan Sheng said decisively.

Jing Xiang looked at Fan Sheng and said for a while: "Fan Sheng, tell me, if we have no hope of autumn harvest in a few months, a large number of refugees will appear in the territory, and our biggest opponents will have no worries about food and clothing, and they will have strong soldiers and horses, what will they do?"

"This is still a question. Of course, it is to raise troops south, take advantage of the situation and rob, and fall into the water..." Fan Sheng suddenly stopped.

"Yes, of course I'm going to beat the dogs in the water." Jing Xiang took a deep breath: "I finally understand why at the end of last year, the Tang soldiers mobilized on the border and repeatedly provoked each other. It turned out that they were forcing us to respond and consume more resources, food, and money. They did not want to fight at that time, but after this autumn, they were afraid they would fight."

"Jing Xiang, I will keep an eye on the situation over there. If there is any disturbance, I will definitely receive the information as soon as possible." Fan Shengdao.

"Now you will tilt more resources to the Third Highness, and helping him take E Yue is serious." Jing Xiang shook his head: "Once we are in chaos, we will definitely fight to the north. If we are not in chaos and can stabilize our position, then Li Ze will not easily move troops."

"Yes!" Fan Shengdao.

Jingxiang stood up and said, "You go and do things, hurry up and get all the time. There is a letter I wrote to the third prince on the table. You send someone to him. His pace is about to speed up."

"clear."

"I will go into the palace to see His Majesty now."

Emperor Zhu Wen of Daliang was originally very fat, but now he is getting fatter and fatter. Sitting on the Hu bed, he is like a mountain of meat. What surprised Jingxiang was that today, Dai Chao was actually here, and there was another person next to him, Wang Shu, the surrendered minister of the Tang Dynasty who is now the Secretariat of the Central Committee.

Although Wang Shu is the Central Secretariat, he is a short husband. Compared with Dai Chao and Jing Xiang, he is not on the same level. He is more of a lubricant used by Zhu Wen to balance the disputes between Dai Chao and Jing Xiang. Of course, it is also a benchmark for the former Tang ministers who have lowered Liang.

"Lao Jing, you are here just in time. I originally wanted to ask someone to call you." Zhu Wen smiled and waved his hand to let Jing Xiang sit in front of him.

"I wonder what important things are for Your Majesty to call me?" Jing Xiang asked with a smile.

"Some new personnel appointments." Zhu Wen said: "Now in Luzhou, Shi Zhuang is aggressive and has repeatedly invaded, and the front is quite tight. I am going to let Du Rong, the commander of the imperial guard, stabilize the situation there."

Jing Xiang glanced at Dai Chao and immediately understood the meaning behind the appointment: "If Du Rong goes, who will take over as the commander of the Imperial Army?"

"I'm going to let Yu'er come back." Zhu Wen said: "The commander of the Imperial Army is responsible for the safety of the entire Chang'an. He leads tens of thousands of the most elite troops and cannot pretend to be others."

Jingxiang stood up and said sternly: "Your Majesty, I object!"

Looking at Jing Xiang's expression, Zhu Wen was surprised. Even though Jing Xiang had different opinions from him in the past, he rarely spoke as quickly as he is now, but would persuade him in a circle. Is this seemingly something wrong today?
Chapter completed!