Six-tailed love

Chapter 48 Drought
After the court was too early, the ministers were still discussing the matters discussed in the court just now.The severe drought in central Hubei is unheard of.It's winter now, and Central Hubei is located in the south, so how can there be a severe drought?And the towns around it are all as usual, and Ezhong has become an isolated island in the cold winter, which is really strange!

Ye Tianheng and Lin Changjing walked side by side, Ye Tianheng asked: "Do you think this is a monster?"

Lin Changjing said: "It's hard to say, but such a phenomenon has never happened in Ezhong, something unusual must have happened. We must go to Ezhong to investigate thoroughly before we can find out."

Ye Tianheng said: "Even if Yao Qianshou doesn't recommend you, are you still planning to volunteer?"

"That's right. If the truth cannot be found out, the people will always be in dire straits."

"But have you ever thought about what will happen if Chen Guo takes the opportunity to go south when you go to the south?"

"I am not the only general in the DPRK, but on the northwest side, please pay more attention to the prince."

Ye Tianheng sighed, and said: "I always feel that there is something wrong. Yao Qianshou is so active in recommending you as an imperial envoy to investigate the Hubei incident. I'm afraid he has bad intentions."

Lin Changjing's expression also turned serious, and he said: "I will try to go back quickly, Your Highness must be more careful in the hall."

"Okay, you can leave today."

"I'll go back and prepare, and leave immediately."

Ye Tianheng seemed to have thought of something, but he opened his mouth, but still didn't say it.He nodded to Lin Changjing and said, "Be careful all the way."

Lin Changjing nodded, turned around and left quickly.

What Ye Tianheng wanted to tell Lin Changjing was that Wu Xinlan was ill.It is said that she was ill for several days and stayed in her own room unable to go out.The queen went to see her in person, but she politely turned her away, saying that she was not in good health and was afraid of bumping into the phoenix body.The imperial physician only said that she was tired and prescribed some tonics for her.Ye Tianheng didn't want to affect Lin Changjing's mood before he set off. Moreover, even if Lin Changjing only had friendship with Wu Xinlan now, he hoped that the two of them would not get close. After all, one is a general and the other is a concubine.Thinking about Wu Xinlan's body, there will be no serious problems, even if there is, it is not Lin Changjing's turn to care about it.

The atmosphere in Jinren Palace has been gloomy recently, and Concubine Jin locked herself in her room for several days without going out.Even Wu Xinlan's personal maids, Cui'er and Hong'er, could only bring the food into the house and leave. They hadn't "seen" Wu Xinlan for a long time, and they could only hear her haggard voice.Originally, Wu Xinlan would tell these two little girls about any illness or sadness, but this time, for some reason, she suddenly isolated herself from the outside world, which made Cui'er and Hong'er very uneasy.

Today, Cui'er and Hong'er finally couldn't bear it anymore, they agreed to go into the house together to ask what happened to Wu Xinlan, even if they were blamed by the master, it doesn't matter.Just when they were about to enter the house, the door of Wu Xinlan's room opened for the first time. When Wu Xinlan appeared in front of the two with a radiant face, they were stunned.

"Ma'am?..."

Wu Xinlan wore bead ornaments on her head, red makeup on her face, and a gorgeous hibiscus brocade dress, she didn't look like a patient at all.She looked up at Cui'er and Hong'er, with a look in her eyes that they had never seen before.They only heard her slowly say in a cold voice they had never heard before: "The former Wu Xinlan is dead."

The situation in central Hubei was much more serious than Lin Changjing had imagined. The land was cracked, not a single blade of grass grew, and there was no sign of life.The accompanying soldiers were all selected to be physically strong, and because they knew that there was a shortage of water here, they prepared enough water, but even so, everyone felt very uncomfortable, and their bodies were about to be overwhelmed.At this moment, a small black spot appeared in front of them, and everyone approached slowly, only to realize that it was a person who had fallen on the ground!

After a soldier went to check, he turned to Lin Changjing and said, "General, you're still alive!"

Lin Changjing walked over and knelt down to check.There was indeed a trace of breath, and the man opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, but he couldn't make a sound.Lin Changjing put his ear close to his mouth, and heard a syllable similar to "water" in his mouth with difficulty.Lin Changjing raised his head, stretched out his hand to the soldiers beside him, and said, "Water."

The soldier handed over the water, and Lin Changjing opened the bottle cap of the water bag, and passed the bottle to the man's mouth.As soon as a little water was poured out of the bag, the man grabbed the water bag without knowing where it came from, and sucked it greedily.The soldiers on the side couldn't stand it anymore, and reminded Lin Changjing: "General, we don't have much water left."

Lin Changjing didn't speak. After the man drank the water in the bag, he asked, "How far is it from Qingzhu Village?"

The man looked forward with his eyes and said, "Just...just ahead..."

Lin Changjing nodded, and ordered to the soldiers: "Everyone hold on for a while, and we will reach Qingzhu Village in no time. Help this man to my horse."

"General, use my horse to carry him." A soldier said.

Lin Changjing said: "Leave one horse to carry people, and discard the rest of the horses. The water source in Qingzhu Village is not enough, and these animals cannot be allowed to occupy the water of the common people."

"Yes, General!"

The group soon arrived at Qingzhu Village. There were no people on the streets of Qingzhu Village, and the villager who was rescued earlier was a little confused. Lin Changjing and others had to find the village chief's house by themselves.When they arrived at the village chief's house, everyone saw a gray-haired old man pushing the door and going out. The old man was taken aback when he saw Lin Changjing and the others, then he understood, knelt down and said to Lin Changjing, "Sun Zheng, the grass-roots man, sees the imperial envoy!"

Lin Changjing helped him up and said, "You are the village chief of Qingzhu Village? Do you recognize me?"

Sun Zhengdao: "The imperial envoy is very handsome, you can tell it at a glance. Besides, in this extraordinary period, only people come out, how can anyone come in?"

Lin Changjing was not too polite with him, and asked, "How is the situation?"

Sun Zheng said with a serious face: "My lord, please come in and talk about it."

Lin Changjing followed Sun Zheng into the courtyard, and was surprised to see that the courtyard was full of people. After seeing them, all the people in the courtyard focused their attention on them.Sun Zheng explained that since the drought, most people in the village have fled outside, and those who couldn't leave were gathered here by him.Before the wells in the village were exhausted, he had asked people to collect the water from the wells that could still produce water and put them together, and he would distribute the water to prevent the villagers from looting.Lin Changjing saw that most of the people in the courtyard were old, young, sick, disabled and women, all of them looked haggard, but they were all very peaceful. They looked at Lin Changjing and his group eagerly, with a gleam of hope in their eyes.

"Good job." Lin Changjing praised.He turned to the people in the courtyard and said: "Please rest assured, everyone, the imperial court sent us here this time to solve the drought here. If the problem is not resolved for a day, we will never leave."

"Retribution..."

An abrupt voice sounded, and everyone's eyes turned to a disheveled old man sitting in the corner.Lin Changjing walked over and asked, "Old man, what did you just say?"

The old man didn't look up at him, but kept repeating the word "retribution".Sun Zheng stepped forward and said: "My lord, you don't need to worry about him. He always said this these days, but he didn't answer when you asked him anything. My lord, let's go into the house with me to discuss the investigation of the drought."

Lin Changjing nodded, turned around and left with Sun Zheng.

When he came to Sun Zheng's house, Sun Zheng told Lin Changjing that apart from a few wells, Qingzhu Village's main source of water came from a flooded river running from east to west, and since the severe drought, this river has completely dried up.

"Have you ever sent someone to check the source?" Lin Changjing asked.

Sun Zhengdao: "Earlier, I sent people to look over it, and found nothing abnormal."

"Take me there again."

"Yes, my lord."

The source of the Fanhe River is a mountain named Lianyuan in the northwest of Qingzhu Village. The mountain road is complicated, and Sun Zheng called two young and middle-aged men from the village to lead the way.The villagers of Qingzhu Village, including Sun Zheng, didn't really think that they would get anything from this trip, because before Lin Changjing and his party came here, they had checked here several times, but they found nothing.But Lin Changjing is the official of the imperial court. Although they feel that it is a waste of time, they have to follow his instructions.This time, however, they made an unexpected discovery.

"General, what's there?" A soldier pointed to a place and asked.

Lin Changjing and others looked in the direction of his finger, and there was indeed a white mass there.When they got closer, they realized that it was the skeleton of an animal.

A young villager who was traveling with him said "Hey" and said, "It's a cow! Could this be the one lost by the old Wang's family?"

Another villager also echoed: "Hey, it really looks like that one. You see, there is a crack in its corner, which was knocked out when it was fighting with Lao Zhang's cattle last year."

Lin Changjing turned around and asked, "Is this a cow from the village?"

Sun Zhengdao: "My lord, the Lao Wang and Lao Zhang they are talking about are both villagers in the village. A few days ago, Lao Wang and his family fled Qingzhu Village. The animal couldn't be taken away, so they stayed. Beating Lao Wang these days The original home passed by, and there was no sign of the animal. We thought it ran away by itself, but we didn't expect..."

Lin Changjing said: "You said you came here to check, when was it? Didn't you find this skeleton at that time?"

Sun Zheng recalled: "We came here to check about seven days ago. As for the old Wang's cow... it seems that it has been missing for four or five days."

Lin Changjing looked at the pile of bones and said, "It's impossible to become like this so quickly in a few days, as if... was left over from being eaten by something."

Everyone couldn't help but get chills down their spines. What kind of thing can eat such a big cow so clean?While everyone was contemplating, there was a sudden noise from the bushes not far away, and everyone hurriedly chased in the direction of the sound.

"Report to the general, no abnormality was found!" A soldier came to report.

"General, come and see this way!"

Everyone rushed over to take a look, and saw a three-foot-wide indentation stretching forward in the grass. Surprised, everyone followed the indentation and walked forward, and found that the indentation disappeared until the entrance of a cave. .

"Village Chief, do you know what's going on in this cave?"

Sun Zhengdao: "The villagers seldom come to the back mountain. Most of these caves live with wild beasts, and we dare not disturb them."

Lin Changjing thought for a moment, and said, "This thing must be very big. You guys should seal the hole with stones first, so that it doesn't get out. The village chief and I will go back to the village first. I have something to say." Ask that old man who was sitting in the corner just now."

(End of this chapter)