In March, everything revives, grass grows and birds fly, it is the best time of the year.

This is also the busiest part of the year for farmers. Sowing and planting rice seedlings is just for the harvest of autumn. Especially for the important land of Dayue granary like Huguang, there will be a spectacular scene of busy farming in counties and busy planting in every village at this time of year - at least in those years.

But the situation in Huguang this year is completely different. Everything you see along the road is depressed. In those villages and fields, there are few people who see hard-working farmers. However, the weeds and flowers have begun to sprout in the fields where food should have been planted, and are crazily absorbing the nutrients of the land. Many villages are even empty and almost no longer popular.

Leading the team on such a desolate official road, Li Ling's expression became even more serious, which made the ten guards who were walking with him look particularly dull. They just kept hitting horses and galloping forward. After an hour, they drove out about twenty miles.

Shortly after leaving Beijing, Li Ling had quietly escaped from the team of imperial envoys with clear-cut but multi-eyed and larger targets. Then, while the entire team was taking a boat and walking on the water, he brought a small number of confidants to Huguang by land. It has been ten days since the two sides separated today.

The reason why he chose to travel in such a condom was to avoid various social engagements along the way. With the current trend in the officialdom of Dayue, he was bound to be visited and feasted by many local officials. This would take a real social engagement along the way, which would make him reach Huguang one month later;

The two are also to avoid people's eyes and avoid letting the officials in Huguang truly grasp their whereabouts and thus target them. It would be too difficult to find out the truth of certain things. Only by secretly investigating can we obtain first-hand and most realistic clues.

However, in this way, their safety and comfort are far inferior to those of the team. However, Li Ling and the others were not caring about it. They had suffered hardships before in the southwest and northern borders. This kind of sleeping in the open is common for them. As for the danger, it is naturally very safe to have masters like Yang Zhen and Li Moyun.

"Sir, it's getting dark, and there's another village ahead. Why don't we stay there?" Yang Zhen, who was walking in front, looked up at the sun that was about to set, then turned his head and suggested.

Li Ling did not rush to make a decision first, but asked, "According to the distance, we are not far from Suizhou City, right?"

"Yes, we have entered the boundary of Suizhou, but we are still several days away from the city of Zhou. Going further is Guang'an County." Another follower explained, "But from this point of view, I'm afraid I can't reach the county today."

Li Ling nodded: "Then let's stay in the village in front for a night, and strive to enter Guang'an County tomorrow to see if you can find out something from the county town."

When everyone heard this, they were excited and agreed, driving the horses to speed up and move forward. They had not entered the city much during this period, and the birds faded out of their mouths, just in time to relax.

A few riders walked quickly, and soon arrived at a small village that was slightly dilapidated. As you can see, there were still barren fields, but the popularity here was stronger than elsewhere. A few wisps of smoke had already floated out of the chimney of the house. An old man was hunched over and planting rice seedlings in the fields with difficulty.

Seeing this, Li Ling stepped forward and shouted: "Old man, I'm polite."

The other party carefully inserted the seedlings into the soil before slowly straightening up. While pounding his hands on his back, he raised his eyes to observe Li Ling who had reached the ridge of the field and the people with extraordinary temperament behind him. A trace of panic flashed in his eyes and hurriedly bowed: "Don't you dare, don't you dare... Are you guests from other places?"

"That's right, Li, the surname of Xia, came to Huguang to do business. He saw it was getting late, so he thought about staying in the village for one night, but he didn't know if it might be convenient for you here?"

"Ah? You're staying here, this..." The old man suddenly looked embarrassed, but then he saw Li Ling take out a small ingot of silver: "I'm waiting to bother you, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I have some feelings here. If the old man is willing to take it in, this is yours."

"Since the guests have said that, there is an empty yard in my hometown, so you should be able to stay there." The old man said, and walked up and glanced at the silver in Li Ling's hand from time to time. Seeing this, Li Ling generously handed the silver to him: "Thank you so much, please take us there."

"Okay, please follow me." The old man felt the weight of the silver and was happy, so he quickly led them to the village. Not long after entering the village, he stopped in front of a mud tiled courtyard and greeted the inside: "Old woman, there are distinguished guests at home, prepare more food tonight."

A mutter came from the room. Because it was a local accent, Li Ling and the others couldn't hear what the people were saying, but the old man showed a hint of embarrassment on his face. Then he quickly walked into the house, lowered his voice and said something. When he came out, he saw a gray-haired peasant woman saluting them with a smile: "It turns out that it's a distinguished guest. If you don't dislike it, just live in my house. But there is nothing good at my house, don't be surprised..."

"It's okay. As long as you can fill your stomach," Li Ling smiled, then led by the old man to the other side to look at the stronger yard, where they can spend the night.

"This yard is a big deal for my son. He took his wife and children to the county town to make a living, so it was empty here. You happen to live here." The old man introduced casually, then helped them open the door, revealing the quite empty space inside, with almost no furniture, but there were a few rusty farm tools.

Seeing that Li Ling and the others were a little strange, the old man smiled bitterly again: "I have suffered a disaster in the past six months, and the things I can sell at home are almost sold, so I can only feel wronged that you can just build a floor here. I can make some bedding and other things..."

"I won't bother the old man anymore, we will take it with me." Li Ling waved his hand in disregard, "By the way, I forgot to ask, don't you know the old man's surname?"

"Haha, Xiao Lao's surname is Zhong, I dare not call it expensive... Then you rest first, and Xiao Lao will bring the food here later."

"Okay, it's my fault." Li Ling agreed to send the person away, and then the others carefully checked the area in the courtyard. After confirming that there was no danger, they immediately took off the bedding and other items and settled down.

After they had laid bedding in several rooms, the old man Zhong also brought a tray over, with an apology and humble smile on his face: "There is not much food at home, only this little brown rice porridge and a little wild vegetables to serve. Please don't dislike it."

"We don't dislike it. It's good to have something to eat." Li Ling said as he took the first step to take a small bowl of porridge soup. When the others saw that the adults said so, they naturally had no objection and took the food one by one.

The food was indeed too bland and too little. After only two bites, the porridge and vegetables were eaten clean, but the few people's stomachs were not full at all. This made the old man a little embarrassed. It was not good to leave and he was a little dazed.

Seeing this, Li Ling said casually: "Don't feel guilty. We went all the way in Huguang and ate hot food here. By the way, I heard that there was a disaster here last year, which led to the loss of food and the people's hardships, but it's true?"

This is his real purpose in entering the village to live in. Only by talking to these people at the bottom can he grasp the truth of the disaster.

"Of course it's true. Everyone has seen it. Our family really can't come out with anything to eat. You know, my Zhong family was originally a wealthy family, but when the locusts that day came and the government urged the taxes, they emptied all our stored food... Because of this, my two sons would take their family to the county town to find work, and they were not just for stuttering?"

Li Ling's eyebrows jumped, and Yang Zhen, who was beside him, reacted faster and said in surprise: "You are all suffering from disasters, and the grain is not collected. Are you still coming to collect grain taxes?"

"Oh... what's the way? This is stipulated by the law of the king. If the food is not handed over, the result will be even worse. Just like the Feng family next to you, all three sons were arrested and have not been released yet." The old man sighed.

Li Ling narrowed his eyes: "Then the government has no idea to help you? Didn't you give you silver or food?"

"This... I didn't have it last year, but in the first month of the New Year, there was such a thing, but the food was not enough to eat. Each household was only about ten kilograms, and it was still brown rice. That's it. The old woman and I were reluctant to eat it before." As he said that, he pointed to the rice porridge that everyone had just despised.

These words made the old faces of several people blush. The food he looked down upon was the best in the other party's family. Li Ling also owed his lower body: "Old man, this seems to be a little wrong. As far as I know, the imperial court has always had regulations on disaster relief. At least one person can get more than 20 kilograms of food every month, but why did he cut a lot when he got here?"

"Is there such a rule? I have never heard of it. If this is true, our village would not have starved to death several people during this period."

"There are still people in the village who starved to death? How many are there?"

"There are two families, a total of seven... They are already poor, and they were completely harvested last year, and there was no food to save their lives... But later the government came and we didn't let us talk about this casually." The old man said this, thinking that he had already let go of his words, and looked panic-looking.
Chapter completed!