17: Chapter 17 Crisis

Time flew by.

Pei Qingyun rode a fast horse and arrived at No. 2 Mine.

It had to be said that the speed of a fast horse was far beyond that of a carriage.

It was over thirty li from No. 1 Mine to No. 2 Mine, yet he had spent less than two quarter-hours.

This speed was a notch faster than if he had traveled on foot.

Upon arriving at No. 2 Mine, Pei Qingyun went directly to find another Elder, who was the person in charge of No. 2 Mine, Pei Tianquan.

After inquiring about the situation at No. 2 Mine, Pei Qingyun discovered that the situation there was much better than at No. 1 Mine.

But compared to a few months ago, No. 2 Mine was also showing a trend toward collapse.

Just like at No. 1 Mine, the probability of exotic beasts appearing at No. 2 Mine was also much higher than a few months ago.

This investigation result undoubtedly confirmed his hypothesis.

But Pei Qingyun was not in a hurry to draw a conclusion.

However, his mood grew increasingly heavy.

As the saying goes, "Things happen in threes."

If No. 3 Mine was in the same situation or even worse, then Pei Qingyun had reason to believe his hypothesis was correct.

The situation in Wuyang County was collapsing step by step, but it had not yet endangered the foundation.

Beside him, Pei Tianquan saw Pei Qingyun's expression constantly changing and assumed the Old Ancestor was angry, so he asked cautiously, "Old Ancestor, if there is anything Tianquan has not done well, please point it out, and Tianquan will certainly make changes according to your instructions."

Upon hearing this, Pei Qingyun was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized what was happening.

However, he did not explain, but as before, after giving repeated instructions, he left.

Traveling rapidly all the way, Pei Qingyun arrived at No. 3 Mine.

In less than an hour, Pei Qingyun had visited all three mines.

Just as he had expected, the situation at No. 3 Mine was similar to No. 2 Mine and was temporarily safe. As long as the two of them followed his instructions, the losses would be minimized.

Only the situation at No. 1 Mine made Pei Qingyun somewhat worried. If the Demon erosion intensified, Pei Tianming alone would be unable to defend it.

But in two days, the Evil Suppression Bureau would take action. At this juncture, the Family simply could not spare any extra manpower to support No. 1 Mine.

"There are really not enough people. I only hope the situation does not deteriorate so quickly." Pei Qingyun sighed softly, his eyes full of helplessness.

From the time he had Transmigration to this world, it had been at most a little over a day.

In such a short time, this was all he could do.

After all, plans could not keep up with changes.

Originally, he had wanted to scout for some talent within the Family, but unfortunately, there was no time.

However, he was confident. As long as they survived this tribulation, the Family would enter a fast track of development.

Leaving No. 3 Mine, Pei Qingyun did not go to inspect other Family industries, but returned directly to the Pei Family grounds.

A morning of rushing about would surely leave an ordinary old man exhausted both physically and mentally.

But for Pei Qingyun, it was nothing.

The essence, energy, and spirit of a Five-Viscera Martial Artist were dozens of times greater than those of an ordinary person. Even though he was in his twilight years, his spirit and energy were far superior to some young men who had not practiced martial arts.

The reason he returned to the Family grounds was that Pei Qingyun wanted to extend the investigation of the changes at the mines to all Family industries.

Every Family industry had a corresponding person in charge. Pei Qingyun only needed to control the general direction; the matter of investigation could be completely handed over to the Family Head, Pei Tianrong.

After Pei Tianrong consolidated and summarized it, he would report back to him.

After returning to the Family grounds, Pei Qingyun went directly to the Family Head's small courtyard.

At this moment, inside the study.

Pei Tianrong's brows were tightly locked; he would occasionally scratch his head and sometimes look at the ceiling, as if pondering some difficult problem.

And on his desk, a thick pile of documents was waiting to be reviewed.

But in the next second, Pei Tianrong suddenly picked up the brush in his hand and began to review them earnestly.

"That is about it; I will review the rest in the afternoon."

It was unknown how much time had passed before Pei Tianrong stretched his back. At this time, the large stack of documents had already been reduced by more than half.

This was also his daily life as the Family Head.

Dull and tedious.

If it had not been for the Old Ancestor designating him as this Family Head, he might not have chosen this path back then.

Just as Pei Tianrong was preparing to walk out of the study, Pei Qingyun was walking in from outside the door.

Upon seeing Pei Qingyun, he was like a mouse seeing a cat and immediately sat back at his desk properly.

"Old Ancestor, you came to see me; is there something the matter?" Pei Tianrong said.

"What, can I not come if there is nothing the matter?" Pei Qingyun's cloudy eyes flashed, and the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.

Pei Tianrong opened his mouth to defend himself, but the flattering words could not come out.

"Alright, I came here specifically to give instructions. You must already know about what happened at the mines. What is your opinion on this matter?" Pei Qingyun understood Pei Tianrong's temperament and did not want to make things difficult for him, so he spoke directly.

Once they started talking about serious matters, Pei Tianrong immediately changed his expression and said sternly, "I have already learned about the matter at the mines through the guards. In addition, I have also asked the persons in charge of each industry to organize the recent status of their industries. If the situation develops as the Old Ancestor predicted, Wuyang County will fall into crisis before long."

"However, Tianrong believes that at least within these few months, Wuyang County will still be safe. I have already planned to send more manpower to the mines to strengthen the guard."

"In addition, I believe this matter may not necessarily lack a turning point. The increased intensity of Demon erosion within Wuyang County has long been an established fact, and the Prefecture City has received the news early on. Perhaps the Prefecture City believes that the current situation in Wuyang County is still within a controllable range. If the situation collapses further, the Prefecture City will not just sit idly by and watch Wuyang County fall."

Listening to Pei Tianrong's reply, Pei Qingyun was deep in thought.

As one of the five counties of Anhe Prefecture, Wuyang County ranked at the bottom of the five counties in terms of resources, population, and geographical location, but Wuyang County also had its own strategic resources.

Grain!

More than forty percent of the entire Anhe Prefecture's grain supply came from Wuyang County. This also made Wuyang County the veritable granary of Anhe Prefecture.

If Wuyang County were to fall for a long time, even if Anhe Prefecture transferred grain from neighboring prefectures, it would only solve the immediate crisis.

Without this forty percent of grain, Anhe Prefecture would inevitably face a famine.

This was also the basis for Pei Tianrong's confidence in saying these words.

But thinking about it carefully, Pei Qingyun felt that some aspects were not so reasonable.

If Anhe Prefecture had already known the situation, knowing that it was difficult to suppress the Demon disaster with Wuyang County's own strength, why did they not arrange manpower to suppress the Demon disaster first instead of waiting for the Demon disaster to ferment?

Could it be that they would only take action when the situation reached a precarious point?

Thinking about it, the Prefecture Government could not be so foolish.

Then there was only one reason: the Prefecture Government simply could not spare any manpower, or even more seriously, the Prefecture Government might be unable to take care of itself.

Otherwise, why would the trade routes between the counties have been blocked months ago?