Immortality begins with monks from the side sect

Chapter 98 Undercurrent surging
  When Chen Ci arrived at the front hall, he found that the person who came was just an ordinary disciple, and the letter he sent did not have the sealing talisman of Fuhu Altar. He thought it was not a big deal, so he relaxed a little.

He took the letter and opened it, there wasn't much inside.

First, Heshan Gaiden disciples from all over Xishan Prefecture can work harder in offering their essence and blood.

Chen Ci glanced at it and frowned slightly. Now that the weather has turned cold, there are few traces of wild animals in the mountains. At the beginning of the month, Lady Shi Sanniang only sent two mountain deer and one wild boar. The amount of blood extracted was better than nothing. If it weren't for some people in the mountains, The miscellaneous cultivator sent some essence and blood to replace the health-preserving pills, but he was afraid that it would be difficult to get even a hundred drops.

You must know that practicing the Five Ghost Transporting Method now requires three drops of blood essence in one day, and ninety drops in one month. This is also a huge burden.

Fortunately, the tone in the letter did not mean to scold him, so Chen Ci thought about it and didn't take it too seriously.

It's the Chinese New Year, where can he find the essence and blood? We'll wait until spring after the Chinese New Year.

Further down, Chen Ci glanced at it, then rubbed his eyes and looked twice more.

Heshan Gaiden disciples in various places in Xishan Prefecture need to cooperate with the government and county governments to help the people. If there is a disaster or a civil uprising, severe punishment will not be spared, and thunder may fall from the Red Dragon General Altar.

Chen Ci leaned back slightly. Could it be that he was getting violent?

Why, the disciples of Heshan Sect actually want to help the people?
  Still, since the sacrifice of essence and blood requires more effort, this joke is really a bit underworld.

Chen Ci's previous life had really been in Heshan. In the territory of the Hundred Thousand Mountains, the disciples of the Heshan Sect could be said to have taken life and death from the villagers in the village. As long as they didn't kill a few people to practice, they were already considered as masters. A great benevolent person within a hundred miles.

After throwing a golden bean to the messenger disciple and sending him away, Chen Ci called the three disciples in and asked, "Is there any unrest in the county recently? Is there anything major happening in the county? "

The three of them looked at each other and thought for a while, and then the eldest disciple Niu Ji carefully replied: "Sir, if we talk about big things, it is the recent cold weather, some places have been hit by disasters, and the price of food has risen again. There are traces of refugees.”

Food prices have risen again?
  Chen Ci vaguely remembered that food prices had risen a lot in the past few months, and he had made a small profit.

"How much has it increased?"

Chen Ci picked up the health tea and took a sip.

"The government grain store sells a pound of coarse grains for 20 cash, but there is a daily limit. A pound of coarse grains on the black market has already sold for 30 cash."

cough~
  How many?

Chen Ci suddenly remembered that he had sold a million catties of grain and lost 20,000 taels of silver in less than three months!
  What a profiteer! You are a profiteer!
  "Wait a minute, I remember looking at the harvest in previous years. A pound of coarse grains only cost six to eight cents. How come it has more than tripled in half a year?"

Chen Ci came to his senses. Thirty cents per pound of food was enough for poor people to earn less than thirty cents a day. Fortunately, this was a spiritual world. If it were a secular world, there would be an uprising.

Or is it because of the water main?

But with the price of food in Xishan Prefecture rising like this, it must be the government that is panicking. It has nothing to do with him, a disciple of the Heshan Sect.

If Chen Ci is short of money, forget it. As a disciple of a famous Immortal Sect and the Light of Heshan, he has to set up the Heshan Sect even if he donates all his family wealth.

But that's not possible now. There are really more than a million kilograms of grain stored in Sanyin Temple's warehouse.

After the three people explained the general situation clearly, Chen Ci understood the ordinary living conditions of Xishan Mansion.

Xishan Prefecture has many mountains and few fields. Taking Changping County as an example, there are only more than 20,000 acres of good farmland with a yield of 400 to 500 kilograms per mu. Sanyin Temple alone accounts for nearly one-third, and the remaining The yield of some miscellaneous fields is only one to two to three hundred catties per mu, which is barely enough to feed 60 to 70% of the county residents in a year.

However, it is also because of the mountains. Most of the counties in Xishan Prefecture rely on medicinal materials, ores, mountain products, etc., so the food gap comes from Dongshan Prefecture. There are Liuyun River for water transportation, and some grain merchants are willing to do this without compensation. Buy and sell.

But the waterway manager of Yingchoujian also charges tax money for grain ships that are related to people's livelihood. One ship costs 500 taels of silver. Not to mention making money, the grain merchant may not be able to save the ship if he makes more trips. .

"I heard from people in the Huang family's caravan that no grain merchants have come to Xishan Prefecture for a long time. The government also sent people to inquire, but they couldn't even see the general manager. They only said that there was a talisman from the official family of Liang Guo. How could they tax others? But I can’t control it,”

Niu Ji said carefully: "These are just small inquiries, but I can't be sure whether they are true or false because they are far away."

"Well, I understand. Let's go and take a good inventory of the grain stored in the warehouse. It will be useful soon." Chen Ci pondered for a moment and then ordered: "Take my post and go find the Changping County Magistrate and ask him to find the big family in the county." If you have any trouble with the food collection, you can come to me and go down and do your work."

"Okay sir."

After all three people got down, Chen Ci tapped the table, but his expression was a little solemn.

There's something wrong with this.

It makes sense to say that the so-called waterway master who blocks waters and collects tolls is only for merchants and the like. Making money through robbery is naturally picking on the weak.

But a shipload of grain is only worth a few dollars. Who would believe that such a tax is not intentional?
  It doesn't make sense to deliberately prevent the price of food from soaring in a land, and possibly trigger a civil uprising. This is not robbery. This is obviously a slap in the face of the Xishan government office, and maybe a slap in the face of Jiuquan Temple.

But it's more likely that he was slapping Fuhutan in the face, and then Longhushan Jiuquan Temple was silently eating melons and watching the show.

Otherwise, Taoist Hutou would not have sent a letter to the Heshan disciples in each county. In the first place, he said that the essence and blood offerings should be made with more effort, and later in the day, he had to cooperate with the county government to help the people. It was like a schizophrenia.

Essence and blood.

Top grade Taoji.

I'm afraid it has something to do with these two things, and even the tiger-headed Taoist's Qi refining ability to attack the high-grade Taoist foundation can't help the waterway manager, so he can only endure it. I'm afraid that the spirit monster is also an expert who built the Taoist foundation.

Chen Ci subconsciously glanced at the white-bone heart-locking hammer on his waist, and his expression was a little ugly. Could this thing be supposed to be here?

Such a clear-eyed plot against a Heshan disciple who was preparing to attack the high-grade Taoist base. There was no one behind the waterway manager. Chen Ci absolutely did not believe it. Now he had boarded the pirate ship of Fuhutan, and he and the tiger-headed Taoist were both prosperous. If not, it is true that if one loses, both will suffer.

"Trouble, I hope I'm thinking too much."

Chen Ci breathed a sigh of relief: "But there must be someone behind Taoist Tiger Head, otherwise his high-grade Qi refining method would not have been picked up, as well as the bone-locking heart-locking hammer's sacrificial method. I hope my thighs here It's thick enough, but don't be a soft-footed shrimp."

At the moment, it is better to do the things that senior brother Xianyang ordered first. It is useless to think too far ahead.

"What, the county government said that every big household is only willing to donate a hundred stones of coarse grains?"

One stone, which is one hundred and twenty kilograms, and ten thousand kilograms of grain may seem like a lot, but in the past it was only seven to eighty taels of silver, and even now it is only more than three hundred taels.

Is this for asking for food?

Chen Ci laughed angrily: "Did the Changping County Magistrate say that this was my intention and that he should hold on to my post?"

Niu Ji clearly felt his master's anger, prostrated to the ground, and whispered: "Master, I heard that the big households complained that the landlords had no surplus food, and it was difficult for them to deal with it, so they sent away the people sent by the county government. .”

The landlord's family has no surplus grain. Does it mean that Mr. Chen's family has surplus grain?

It’s difficult to handle, so let’s not do it!
  "In this world, it's because of the rich landlords who have nothing to lose that the common people live such a hard life. At this time, they are still trying to make dirty money."

Chen Ci was heartbroken: "Of course I can only cough up this kind of money."

What, how much do you want Mr. Chen to donate?
  Don't think they are great people who donate food. These are all opportunities.

If they donate, it means Mr. Chen also donates, understand?
  No, essence and blood, try your best. Senior brother Hutou has a great opinion!
  Chen Ci touched his chin and felt that he understood the spirit of the superiors, and then this matter would be easier to handle.

"Go to the county government office and get me the list of people donating food."

Chen Ci cleared his throat and continued: "Master, I am of great use!"

(End of this chapter)