() "One acre of land!"
"arrive."
"Has the exact number of disaster victims in this county been counted?"
"My Lord, we have just calculated that there are 11,412 households and 56,123 people in need of relief."
"One acre of land!"
"arrive."
"How is the progress of the household registration work in this county?"
"Reporting to the county lord, we have registered 121 communities and 6,050 households. There are still 7,211 households being registered. It is expected that all of them will be completed within four days."
"One acre of land!"
"arrive."
"How is the progress of the land registration in this county?"
"Reporting to the county lord, all military land has been re-registered, and as of noon today, 7,823 hectares and 4 mu of civilian land has been registered. The rest is being measured as soon as possible, and it is expected that all will be measured and registered within six days."
"One acre of land!"
"arrive."
"... ... ... ... ... ... ... "
Although Tian Yimu looks like a sly guy, he is definitely very capable at work. Qin Mu entrusted most of the civil affairs to him. Although he is very busy and has not received any salary, he manages all the tasks assigned to him in an orderly manner.
So much so that Qin Mu felt that his triangular eyes and rat-like beard were quite pleasing to the eye. After a few days, he had gradually developed a habit: whenever he had a problem, he would go to Tian Yimu for help.
No matter what you ask, Tian Yimu can always answer with data accurate to the single digit. Because he is professional, people can rest assured.
If this continues, the twenty taels of silver reward will most likely fall into his pocket in three months.
Of course, this is just a possibility, because Tian Yimu has many strong competitors who are eager to do the hard work and are not much different from him.
For example, Wu Wangcai, Qin Mu gave him tasks such as catching thieves, rectifying the market, and cracking down on price-gouging merchants, and he also did a great job;
After a few days, he arrested sixty people, all of whom were scoundrels who stole things and kicked widows' doors. There was no free food for these people in the county jail, so Wu Wangcai asked Qin Mu for instructions and sent all these people to the countryside to help the people plow the fields. The public security in the county was extremely clear at the time, and no one picked up things on the streets and no one locked their doors at night.
As for those merchants who raised prices, Wu Wangcai would first block the entrance of the shops and then recite the laws of the Ming Dynasty to them incessantly. It is said that many people had fainted after being recited by him.
His methods were numerous and numerous. Thanks to his efforts, although commodities in Huichang County were scarce, their prices were relatively stable, which was a remarkable achievement. With this, he was qualified enough to compete with Tian Yimu for the 20-liang prize.
*****
After the affairs of Yanei were back on track, Qin Mu breathed a sigh of relief. After a brief thought, he hurriedly wrote several letters.
He also asked Liu Meng to find some smart men and personally instructed them: "Each of you take a letter and leave immediately. No matter what, you must hand the letter to the recipient before the end of the year. If the other party asks you, you only need to answer 'I will know after reading the letter', and don't say anything else."
The guards each received a letter. The first recipient's name was "Li Yan", the second was "Li Dingguo", the third was "Liu Zongzhou", the fourth was "Gu Jiang", and the fifth was "Zheng Sen"... ... ... ..
Every time he handed over a letter, Qin Mu would carefully remind the guards who were delivering the letter of matters that needed to be paid attention to. Seeing Qin Mu's seriousness, the guards did not dare to neglect him and responded with awe.
After finishing this matter, Qin Mu did not stop for a moment. Today was an auspicious day, and he had people prepare the three animals. When the auspicious time was about to arrive, he would go to the Sheji Altar in Huichang to worship with great fanfare.
According to him, it was to make up for this year's spring prayer sacrifice, praying to God to bless Huichang with good weather, prosperous livestock, and good harvests.
This is to give hope to the refugees who are in dire straits, and to strengthen the people's confidence and perseverance in overcoming the famine.
These days, "Spring Prayers and Autumn Reports" is not only a major event for the emperor and officials, but also the top priority for the people in the year, and cannot be taken lightly.
This concept has continued for thousands of years, and all the people believe in it. If there is a famine in a certain year, the first thing that comes to people's mind is that someone has offended God, so God has sent down the famine as a punishment. Even the emperor had to avoid the palace, reduce food, issue an edict to accept advice, and let the censors point out his mistakes.
Huichang had not held the spring prayer and autumn report grand sacrifices for three years since the war. As the county magistrate, Qin Mu's grand supplementary sacrifices during this extraordinary period were of extraordinary significance.
This move not only strengthened the people's confidence in surviving the famine, but also announced that Huichang had resumed normal governance. Another point was that Qin Mu wanted to assert his right to sacrifice.
When the people in the city heard that the magistrate was going to make up for the Spring Festival, they rushed out of their homes and followed him all the way to the Altar of Land and Grain.
It was roughly estimated that there were at least 30,000 people present, crowding around the Altar of Land and Grain, a huge black mass. The sun was scorching hot in the sky, and people were sweating profusely, but no one left without permission.
The Sheji Altar is actually an altar built of stone, slightly rectangular in shape, with two walls inside and outside, and the middle is filled with earth. The sizes vary, such as the Sheji Altar in the capital, which covers an area of more than 160,000 square meters.
In a small county like Huichang, the area of the Sheji Altar is only about 200 square meters.
According to the Zhouli "Kaogongji" "left ancestor and right community", the Taimiao was placed on the left of the imperial palace, and the Sheji Altar was placed on the right (west) of the imperial palace. Both ancestor and community are symbols of feudal regime.
The Sheji altars in each prefecture and county are generally located on the right side of the government office. Sheji is the collective name for "Taishe" and "Taiji". She is the god of land and Ji is the god of grains. The two are the most important foundation of agricultural society. Therefore, worshiping the two gods is also a top priority for the entire country.
Every spring and autumn, everyone from the emperor and his officials to the common people had to participate in the sacrifices. Therefore, the word "Sheji" was used to refer to the country.
Qin Mu wore his crown neatly, and under the watchful eyes of the crowd, he washed his hands, burned incense, and offered sacrifices. Every movement was meticulous and solemn. He bowed, and the people in the city followed suit, and no one dared to treat it as a joke.
When the sacrifice was in progress, a strong wind suddenly blew, blowing the gold, silver, and platinum paper all over the sky. Qin Mu, who was standing in front of the altar, had his face covered with platinum paper and his eyes were covered with dust.
The solemn ceremony had not yet ended, and he couldn't rub his eyes in front of tens of thousands of people, as this would most likely be seen as disrespectful to the gods.
He couldn't help but curse his bad luck in his heart. It would be fine if the platform of the altar was built entirely of stones, but the center was filled with loose soil, and when the strong wind blew, dust was flying everywhere.
If it was just a strong wind, it would be fine. You could just blink your eyes and endure it and it would pass. But in this summer, rain comes from wind and wind comes from rain, especially in mountainous areas like Huichang, where heavy rain can come at any time.
It was a scorching sun just now, but in less than ten minutes, the sky was covered with dark clouds. Several lightning bolts struck with a deafening roar, and heavy rain poured down.
Everyone was sweating just now, but immediately they were soaked. Including Qin Mu, tens of thousands of people became drenched in an instant.
The rain was getting heavier, with lightning and thunder rolling in. Amid the deafening thunder, the sky and earth were split by lightning, like a group of dancing dragons. Qin Mu, who was soaked through, was about to end the sacrifice as soon as possible, but suddenly he had an idea.
In the pouring rain, amidst thunder and lightning, he suddenly spread out his sleeves, raised his head to the sky, and began to dance like a madman.
He shouted excitedly: "God is speaking, God is speaking to us, do you hear it? People of Huichang, do you hear it?"
Tens of thousands of eyes stared in astonishment at this crazy magistrate, all of them were extremely surprised.
People were whispering and pointing at each other. Even a centenarian had never seen such a strange thing.
The county magistrate who came to worship at the Altar of Land and Grain suddenly went crazy.
Yes, Qin Mu looked like a madman now. Sometimes he knelt in the mud and sometimes he looked up to the sky and shouted: "God is talking to us... ... ... ... ... Didn't you hear it? Kneel down quickly, everyone kneel down!"
"God has said that, in consideration of our pious worship, he will ensure that Huichang will have good weather and good harvests this year. As long as we work together and unite as one, we will be able to successfully overcome the famine of the eyes."
"God said that he would watch our every move, that the people of Huichang were living in such a hardship that they couldn't even afford salt, and that he would give us the Huichang Salt Lake..."
The sky was as dark as ink, the rain was heavy, and there were thunder and lightning. Qin Mu, the crazy county magistrate, was bowing and dancing in front of the altar and talking nonsense. The scene looked extremely weird.
Many people couldn't help but look up at the sky quietly. Apart from the dancing lightning like dragons, the rumbling thunder and the sound of rain, people could hear nothing.
But why did the magistrate suddenly go crazy
The sense of awe for heaven and earth permeates everyone's heart, and it feels like a huge rock is pressing on the heart, making people kneel down involuntarily in the heavy rain and under the lightning and thunder.
Finally, Qin Mu bowed three times and kowtowed nine times to the heaven again with great piety: "Thank you very much for giving me the Chang Salt Lake. Thank you very much for your mercy."
None of the tens of thousands of people dared to stand, and they all knelt in the mud and kowtowed three times and nine times following Qin Mu. No matter whether Qin Mu was crazy or not, God could not be offended.
After the worship, Qin Mu regained his solemn expression, completely different from his previous crazy state.
The rain had not stopped yet, and he shouted without waiting: "Come here, send a message to Captain Ma, and ask him to immediately mobilize 300 men and horses to follow me to open the salt pond. Tell him that this is the instruction of heaven, and anyone who disobeys the will of heaven will be punished by heaven!"
***************
ps: 150,000 words but less than 3,000 collections, oh god, please let a lightning strike the protagonist, 555555555... ... .
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