402: The grain officer was beheaded, and the officials were terrified. The situation in Qingshui County

“Lord, I’ve been wronged!”

The frail-looking man quickly explained. He had only pointed out a fake disaster victim; how did it escalate to questioning the court’s policies?

But the guards on either side didn't care about any of that. They moved swiftly, grabbing the shouting, frail-looking man and throwing him out of the line of disaster victims.

Bang!

The frail-looking man landed, kicking up a cloud of dust. Several of his bones were broken, and after twitching for more than ten seconds, he completely fainted.

There was an uproar at the scene.

Seeing the frail-looking man’s fate and being stripped of their right to porridge, the group of disaster victims no longer dared to voice any doubts.

Although there were tens of thousands of disaster victims present and only dozens of officials, in a world where martial arts were revered, what could they do?

A common man’s rage was useless; it would only cost him his own life.

A moment later.

The sky suddenly shook, as if thousands of troops and horses were galloping.

Large numbers of Demon Suppression Guard and Tiger Brave Army descended from the sky to the earth, uniform and with an Aura like a rainbow.

Thump, thump, thump.

The leader, riding a Fire Kirin, was extraordinarily mighty.

“Where did such a high-ranking official come from, so awe-inspiring?”

“I heard he’s the new Three Provinces Inspectorial Envoy, Lord Chu. I heard he rides a Divine Beast that breathes fire and can fly through the sky and burrow into the earth!”

“Rumor has it that in the neighboring Yue Province, he has already killed hundreds of corrupt officials. Aristocratic families, hearing Lord Chu’s name, were so scared they wet their pants… ”

“That’s him, that’s him!”

Most of the disaster victims didn't know that Chu Jiang was coming to inspect the Three Prefectures. They couldn't even get enough to eat, so who would pay attention to such things?

How to survive today was the most important consideration.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Several high-ranking officials from Qingshui County, seeing the large formation, hurried over.

“Wen Long, Chief Clerk of Qingshui County, and Wu Shan, Centurion of the Demon Suppression Division, greet Inspector!”

Behind them, more than a dozen officials, big and small, knelt down in a scattered manner.

They heard that the Yue Province Pacification Commissioner was beheaded by Chu Jiang with a single Demon Suppression Blade because he did not perform the kneeling salute.

His death was extremely tragic.

Their status was countless times lower than that of the Yue Province Pacification Commissioner, so when they received the news, they naturally dared not be negligent in the slightest.

“The County Governor did not know of your arrival, Lord Chu. We have already sent someone to inform him. Please, Lord Chu, and all of you, move to the county city so we can host a banquet for you!”

Chief Clerk Wen Long said.

However.

Chu Jiang did not heed Wen Long's words. Instead, he looked at the tens of thousands of disaster victims outside the city, his eyes cold, and said:

“Why is the order at this porridge distribution point so chaotic? Why is no order being maintained?”

“Ah… this, this…”

Wen Long stammered, thinking about how to answer.

“Grain officials, step forward!”

“Your subordinate… here!”

More than a dozen grain officials, led by the skinny grain official, stepped forward, trembling with fear and breaking out in a cold sweat, chilled by Chu Jiang’s gaze.

“Kill them!”

“Yes!”

Fu Yunxuan's Demon Suppression Blade at her waist flashed.

Swish, swish, swish!

Blade light shone, and more than a dozen heads instantly fell to the ground.

The dozen or so grain officials didn't even have time to think about how to respond before they directly became ghosts under the blade.

Hiss…

Seeing more than a dozen heads roll.

The officials of Qingshui County turned pale with fright, each of them Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering, filled with terror.

Their gaze towards Chu Jiang changed from awe to fear.

Initially, they thought the news from Yue Province was somewhat exaggerated, but this was not an exaggeration; it was a severe underestimation.

Without a word.

Before even a single sentence was spoken, he directly killed people, not listening to anyone's explanations. This guy was truly a harbinger of death in the world.

The disaster victims watching from afar were also shocked.

That skinny grain official had caused no small amount of trouble for the disaster victims.

He used moldy rice to cook porridge for the disaster victims, and those with weaker Physiques who ate it would suffer from diarrhea for several days, eventually dying from exhaustion.

All sorts of outrageous actions made the lives of the disaster victims utterly miserable.

In the hearts of the disaster victims, he was a harbinger of death.

Now, with Chu Jiang executing these dozen or so grain officials at once, at least for a short period, they would be able to barely fill their stomachs.

… …

Chu Jiang's primary reason for killing was to make an example of others. He couldn't kill all the officials in the Three Prefectures, which was unrealistic.

Killing all the officials in the Three Prefectures would immediately lead to paralysis and cause even greater unrest. Killing some, suppressing some, and winning over some was the only way to stabilize the situation.

“Describe the situation in Qingshui County!”

After killing the grain official, Chu Jiang finally looked at Chief Clerk Wen Long.

Wen Long stammered, still trembling. He had just been prepared to conceal some things, to muddle through, but now seeing the dozen or so headless corpses, he felt that if he dared to lie, he might not become a corpse now, but he would eventually.

He immediately said, “Lord Chu, Qingshui County currently has over 200,000 disaster victims, dispersed among various counties. The county city here is only a small portion.”

The disaster victims who could make it to the county city were already among the better-off ones, still barely resembling humans.

In other places, the situation was almost unwatchable, and describing it as starving people everywhere would not be an exaggeration.

“Qingshui County has never been a major grain-producing county, always relying on other counties for sustenance. In recent years, natural disasters have been continuous; either there are earthquakes or widespread plagues. Several major grain-producing counties in Lan Prefecture have been affected, with production plummeting, not even enough for themselves, making it impossible to support us. Therefore, the number of disaster victims increases year by year, and the number of deaths is incalculable.”

“Didn’t the imperial court issue a large amount of disaster relief grain every year? Where did it go?”

Fu Yunxuan asked. The Three Prefectures had always been short of grain, especially Lan Prefecture, which was the most grain-deficient of the large states.

But the imperial court allocated a large amount of grain every year.

“This… it was basically divided up by those people in the prefecture. By the time it reached our affected county, it was less than one-tenth, but the number of disaster victims is increasing every day, it’s simply not enough to eat!”

“Plus the official granaries…”

Wen Long became more and more engrossed in speaking, while the officials next to him frantically gave him eye signals, telling him to stop, or the heads of those bigwigs in the county city would be in danger.

“Plus the official granaries, they were long ago sold off, with very little left. The current grain is only enough for the disaster victims outside the city to eat for half a month!”

“If they eat one meal every three days, it might last for a month or so…”

Wen Long lowered his head, no longer daring to look at Chu Jiang’s extremely cold face. He didn’t even dare to take out the pre-optimized data booklet to show Chu Jiang.

Chu Jiang scanned the officials, all of whom trembled, kneeling rigidly, not daring to look up.

They were afraid of being made an example of.

Chu Jiang did not intend to use the grain confiscated from the aristocratic families in Yue Province for disaster relief. Moreover, eighty percent of that grain was likely left in Yue Province, to be distributed by the Demon Suppression Guard to various counties for disaster relief.

Only twenty percent was kept for emergency use.

He already had a plan for this situation. Besides executing corrupt officials, it was naturally to “friendly” borrow grain from aristocratic families.

Scraping the common people was useless; few still had surplus grain, and the official granaries had also been sold off, ending up in the pockets of the great families.

This was the same as in Yue Province.

“Lord Chu, there’s one more thing…”

Wu Shan’s eyes flickered, somewhat hesitant, but he still stepped forward and spoke.