coobybook Chapter 355 Why Choose Jiangning Prefecture and Weishui Prefecture
Chapter 355 Why Choose Jiangning Prefecture and Weishui Prefecture
Qin Wan reacted immediately:
"Grandfather, if I remember correctly, Chizhou County is under the jurisdiction of Jiangning Prefecture, right?"
“That’s right, so you two should take this opportunity to go back to Chizhou County and see what’s going on in Taohua Village.
But you don't have to worry too much, Qin Yuan is guarding Taohua Village.
He did not send a message to the capital asking for help, so it is estimated that Taohua Village was not greatly affected by the drought."
After saying this, Prince Ding pointed to the two cities of Jiangning and Weishui on the map and said:
“According to the memorials the emperor received from officials from various places, these two cities were the first to be hit by drought.
And now, droughts have also occurred in the cities surrounding Weishui and Jiangning prefectures.
And there is a tendency for it to continue to spread to other surrounding cities.
Now, throughout Dayue, except for a few prefectures bordering Nanzhao, Xiqi, and Beixiang, all other prefectures have experienced droughts of varying degrees."
With the map, the brother and sister could more intuitively feel the presence of the drought-stricken city in Dayue.
Qin Wan asked:
"Droughts occurred simultaneously in the north and south, and spread from a certain prefecture city to surrounding cities.
Grandfather, was the drought in Dayue more than ten years ago also of this strange outbreak pattern? "
"Yes," Prince Ding nodded solemnly, "So grandfather is even more suspicious that this matter is related to the Changsheng Sect."
Although controlling the climate of a place still sounds incredible.
But Qin Jingnian did not refute this time.
Too much coincidence is artificial.
But Qin Jingnian didn’t understand how the other party did it.
Even if he and Wanwan found out that it was related to the Changsheng Sect, do they have any way to break the impasse?
At this time, Qin Jingnian's mind was filled with these questions.
Qin Wan put away the map and remembered something else he wanted to explain.
"Grandfather, after my brother and I leave the capital, please ask the Eastern Empress Dowager and the Queen in the palace to pay more attention to the movements of the Western Empress Dowager."
"Wanwan thinks that the Empress Dowager Cixi is related to the Changsheng Cult?"
Qin Wan nodded:
“It’s just a suspicion, but there’s no evidence. If there is a real connection, it will definitely be exposed over time.
It’s just that my granddaughter can’t keep an eye on the Empress Dowager West for a long time now, so she can only rely on the Empress Dowager East and the Empress.”
"Don't worry, Grandfather will go to the palace and talk to the two ladies."
It was urgent to investigate the drought, so the brother and sister did not delay and left the capital that day and headed for Jiangning Prefecture.
In the carriage, Qin Wan spread out the map, supported his chin with one hand, tapped the table with the other hand, and stared at the map without blinking.
Qin Jingnian came over curiously:
"Sister, what are you looking at? You've almost stared a hole in this map."
Qin Wan didn't even raise her eyelids as she slid her fingers across the two prefectures of Jiangning and Weishui.
"Brother, I'm thinking about a problem. We don't know whether the drought in Dayue is related to the Changsheng Sect, and we have no clues.
But what if we change our thinking?
Suppose, suppose this was really done by the Changsheng Sect.
Why were Jiangning Prefecture and Weishui Prefecture, where drought first occurred, chosen by the Changsheng Sect first?
Do these two prefectures have any common characteristics? "
Qin Wan stood up and carefully explained what he had just discovered:
"I just looked at the map for a long time. From a geographical point of view, Jiangning Prefecture is located on the dividing line between the north and south sides of Dayue.
Weishui Prefecture extends from west to east, right on the same line as the capital.
From a topographical perspective, both Jiangning Prefecture and Weishui Prefecture have large mountains and rivers.
For example, the Baihua River and Nanling Mountains in Jiangning Prefecture, and the Weishui River and Tianxing Mountains in Weishui Prefecture.
At present, this is all that can be seen from the map.”
Qin Jingnian followed Qin Wan's instructions and looked at the map carefully again.
Pointing to several other cities, he said:
"But sister, look at Huaiyang Prefecture to the east of Jiangning Prefecture and Xiashu Prefecture to the west. They also meet the conditions you just mentioned. They are located on the dividing line and have mountains and rivers.
Why did the Changsheng Sect choose Jiangning Prefecture to take action?
Anying Prefecture to the west of Weishui Prefecture and Luoyang Prefecture close to the capital also meet the requirements.
But the Changsheng Sect chose Weishui Prefecture to start its attack. Either they did it at random, or... these two prefectures must have something special that is different from other prefectures.
We just can’t see it from the map.”
Qin Wan agreed, "That's right, so we have to go to these two cities to check them out and see what the differences are."
It took only about seven days for the brother and sister to travel from the capital to Jiangning Prefecture, and they encountered many refugees fleeing famine along the way.
Apparently, the drought spread faster than they thought.
There are fewer and fewer cities in Dayue with water. If this continues, it will be useless for refugees to leave their homeland to escape famine.
The brother and sister could not help in other ways. When they came across a gathering of refugees, they would stop and find a low-lying spot to drain some of the water in the space.
Finally, the carriage arrived at Jiangning Prefecture.
Qin Wan lifted the car curtain and looked outside, "Brother, didn't they say that the drought in Jiangning Prefecture is the most serious?
Why are there so many refugees queuing outside Jiangning City to enter the city? "
Qin Jingnian also stuck his head out and was shocked to see so many refugees queuing outside the city.
“Is there a water source in the city?”
"I don't know. Let's go into the city and take a look."
There were so many refugees queuing up at the city gate that the two men had to go through a small gate reserved for officials and dignitaries to enter the city smoothly.
As soon as we entered the city, the carriage headed straight to the Jiangning Prefecture's yamen.
The carriage was forced to stop before reaching the yamen.
The secret guard driving the carriage said:
"Sir, Miss, the entrance to the government office is blocked."
Qin Wan lifted the curtain of the carriage and saw that the street in front of the government office was crowded with people.
The densely packed heads were all ragged refugees.
There is no end in sight and no idea what is going on ahead.
It was hot and there was a shortage of water, so the refugees were all dirty.
The moment the car curtain was lifted, Qin Wan almost vomited at the stench that hit her in the face.
Qin Wan quickly closed the car door and pushed Qin Jingnian, who wanted to stick his head out to look, back into the car.
"It smells a bit outside, don't go out yet."
"Miss, why don't you and the young master wait in the car while I squeeze over to get the prefect."
"No need, just find a refugee and ask them why they are gathering at the gate of the government office?"
"Yes."
After a while, the secret guard came back.
"Miss, the refugees said that the prefect is distributing porridge at the gate of the government office, and everyone is waiting here to get the porridge."
"Providing porridge to refugees? No wonder so many refugees are rushing into the city. The governor of Jiangning Prefecture is an official who works hard for the people."
"That's not necessarily true," Qin Jingnian raised his eyebrows, "If he was really a good official, why didn't he set up a porridge stall outside the city gate? This little space at the gate of the government office is enough for several people to drink."
With a chuckle, Qin Wan laughed.
Qin Jingnian was puzzled, "Sister, why are you laughing? Did I say something wrong?"
Qin Wan blinked, "Brother, have you ever thought of a possibility that the prefect didn't distribute porridge outside the city gate because he didn't have enough food or water.
That’s why we blocked some refugees by letting them enter the city, so that they can take turns to enter the city and eat porridge, thus alleviating the pressure on food and water.”
Qin Jingnian scratched his head:
"Is that so? I really didn't expect that."
Qin Wan shrugged: "We'll know when we meet the prefect later."