Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 86: Master Xia is tall and hard (Alliance Leader Xiaohua adds more)
After a heavy rain, there was severe waterlogging here. Many vegetable fields and orchards were flooded. Fortunately, the planting area in Fuliang County is not large. They are all some marginal farming lands. Most of the economic crops are in the mountains, so the losses are not much. Some houses were flooded, but there is really no way to solve this problem. Fortunately, there are not many things, so it is not a big deal if you just clean them up.

But Poyang County downstream was in a terrible situation. Water came in from all directions, causing the water level of Poyang Lake to surge. River water backflowed into many places, three of the four granaries were flooded, and half of the arable land was submerged. Almost all the arable land along the lake was wiped out.

Don’t say it has nothing to do with County Magistrate Xia. Those are all County Magistrate Xia’s properties… He spent money to rent the land, hire the people, and grow the crops! He wants to cry now, really…

The magistrate of Poyang County, a seventh-rank magistrate with a white beard, ran to Fuliang County crying at night and pulled Xia Lin's sleeve tightly, saying sorry to Xia Lin with tears and snot.

County Magistrate Xia's heart was bleeding, but what could he do? Even though he knew that 70 percent of his stuff must have been stolen by this old man, he had to save face.

It was just that three of the four granaries were flooded, so he had the nerve to open his mouth. Xia Lin stared at the old man in front of him with tears streaming down his face, smiling but already feeling like a jerk in his heart.

Usually the fire dragon burns the warehouse, but now you bring a water dragon to lick the warehouse, right?
Okay, okay, you old man, you're playing tricks on me, right? Today I'm going to teach you what it means to be in trouble.

"It just so happens that Lord Guo and the prince are also inspecting Fuliang. Tomorrow I will go to Poyang with them to take a look." Xia Lin said with a smile: "Lord Geng, don't panic. They are just three large warehouses. No one will die."

He emphasized the words "head falling to the ground" so much that even the Poyang County Magistrate shuddered. At this moment, he seemed to have something to say, but the words could not come out at all.

After seeing off Magistrate Geng, Xia Lin sat in front of the hall. The lights had been blown out by the wind, and the weak fluorescent light from outside shone on his face, making his face look uncertain.

There are four granaries with a storage capacity of more than 3.5 million kilograms. The money is a small matter. What is more important is that this is the grain Xia Lin has stored to deal with the great famine that may occur next year.

These foods are also the foundation of his confidence. Now three out of four are gone. He even deliberately chose a location that would not be flooded, but who knew that his house would still be robbed.

Why not store the grain here? This is actually a helpless move. It is grain, a large quantity. It is purchased from all over the country, and basically it has to be stored in the warehouse when it lands at the port. It is really not worth it to add a section of mountain road to travel. Now Xia Lin looks very rich, but in fact he wants to spend every penny, and he wants to dig out half a pound of glutinous rice from the cracks in the city wall.

But when he heard the water level rising downstream yesterday, he knew that the warehouse could not be saved and these people should be killed!

He took a deep breath and punched the desk, and all the furnishings on the desk fell to the ground.

But he actually knew that anger could not change the present situation, so he had to do something.

So Xia Lin took advantage of the night to come to where Lao Guo was staying. As soon as he entered the room, he saw Lao Guo flipping through the Spring and Autumn Annals. He shouted, "Master Guo, stop reading the Spring and Autumn Annals. You've been flipping through the same pages for two years. You were flipping through these pages when I first met you, and you're still flipping through them now. There's no need for this between us, right?"

Lao Guo rolled his eyes and put the book down: "What are you doing here so late at night? Are you here to cry poor again?"

"I'm not crying poor." Xia Lin's eyes changed: "I want to kill people."

Old Guo frowned and twirled his beard with two fingers: "Who to kill?"

"The magistrate of Poyang County, Geng Shuang."

"How dare you! You actually want to kill a seventh-rank official in front of me. If you can't come up with a reason, you won't be able to escape after being beaten today."

Xia Lin sat down and began to tell the story of the granary. Only a quarter of the more than 3.5 million kilograms of grain was left. Lao Guo blushed on the spot when he heard it. His face was as red as Guan Gong.

"Three and a half million kilograms of grain, one month's food for five hundred thousand people. Five hundred thousand lives, young and old." Xia Lin's voice choked up when he said this. He rubbed his eyes and said, "The grain in the fields has been flooded. I have nothing to say. I just have to keep investing money to plant. If the grain in this warehouse is gone, it's gone for real."

After hearing what he said, Lao Guo was naturally very angry. He was a murderer, and now that he had retired to the second line, he was not an easy person to get along with.

“Can you find evidence?”

"Evidence?" Xia Lin sneered, "Where can Huolong Shaocang find evidence?"

"That's not going to be easy." Old Guo narrowed his eyes and looked Xia Lin up and down twice. "Come with me to Poyang County tomorrow. This kind of thing happened under my jurisdiction. Haha, it's quite funny."

The next morning, Lao Guo took Xia Lin to Poyang County. This incident did not alarm the prince because he was busy. The water level rose and there were many things to do at the dock, so he could not get away.

After arriving in Poyang County, the first thing they did was to visit the granary, which had become a ruin, said to have been destroyed by a flood, but when Lao Guo went to check it out, he found that many of the wooden boards in the granary were dry, and some places were obviously demolished by humans. Although there was indeed water inside, it was obviously just caused by rain, not flooding.

At this moment, Lao Guo was almost losing his mind. He squatted there for a long time without saying a word, staring at the three damaged warehouses for a long time without moving. Xia Lin stood there with his hands behind his back. The old man and the child stood in the rain like a statue, and the warehouse next to them was like the background board of a performance art.

"Take it."

Lao Guo suddenly turned around and threw something to Xia Lin. Xia Lin saw that it was Lao Guo's tiger talisman. He was shocked by this move and said, "Master Guo, what are you doing..."

"They used extraordinary measures, but you didn't use them? I lent you the tiger talisman for emergency rescue. As for how you use it, I don't care."

After listening to this, Xia Lin held the tiger talisman tightly, bowed to Lao Guo and said, "Master Guo cares about the people in every possible way, which is a blessing for the people."

"Don't talk nonsense to me. I will stay in Fuliang for another ten days." Lao Guo's face was gloomy and he said, "If you can't give me an explanation, I will kill you."

"You will definitely live up to your destiny."

Xia Lin held the tiger talisman, looked at Lao Guo's back and chuckled. He was glad in his heart that he was lucky to have such a reckless leader. At least he was someone who could rush around in the court.

First of all, we need to determine why Poyang County dared to do this. The only possibility is that someone instigated it and it was profitable. But to know how many people were involved in this matter, we have to investigate carefully.

The next day, all roads leading to the outside world of Jiangnan Province, whether by land or water, were set up with checkpoints. All caravans transporting grain had to be traced back to their sources, and there was even an order that all grain leaving Poyang should be confiscated. As long as they were serious about investigating, no one would be able to escape.

Xia Lin even led Lord Guo's soldiers to surround the county government office in Poyang County. Without his order, not even a fly could fly out.

At this moment, Lord Geng, the magistrate of Poyang County, came to the door and naturally wanted to argue with Xia Lin. However, after bringing his men outside and seeing the shining swords and guns as well as the standard armor, his heart skipped a beat and he slumped down on the threshold of the yamen.

Xia Lin stood two meters in front of him, looking down at the gray-haired county magistrate, and said expressionlessly: "Sir Geng, if we can get the grain back, it will be fine. You will lose your head alone, but if we can't get it back, you can decide whether I will kill your whole family!"

"You! You! You!" Magistrate Geng pointed at Xia Lin and said, "How dare you! Do you know who my relative is?"

"I will know." Xia Lin straightened his official hat. "But if we talk about courage, Lord Geng, you are the bravest! Someone come here!"

The soldiers around immediately stepped forward, and Xia Lin pointed at the county government office and said, "You are only allowed to enter the Poyang County Government Office, but not to leave!"

"Yes!"

After saying that, he turned around and left. Then he gathered all the businesses in Poyang County that were capable of handling large-scale transactions together in a house in the suburbs.

There were about 17 or 18 of those wealthy businessmen, who were usually the best of the best in this area. But now they were driven into the manor, which was heavily guarded.

This left many of them completely confused.

In the evening, Xia Lin walked in slowly from outside. After pushing open the door, the businessmen couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when they saw that it was Xia Lin. After all, the two places were so close, and they had basically done business with Xia Lin. They knew that he was an easy person to talk to, so naturally they no longer felt nervous.

But this time, County Magistrate Xia obviously came in with murderous intent. After he sat down, he smiled and said, "I have invited you all here today for no other reason than to ask, have you heard of the grain in Poyang County?"

The wealthy businessmen present looked at each other, some with confusion in their eyes while others had flickering expressions.

"I also believe that you are all law-abiding businessmen, but now something has happened, and I would like to ask for your cooperation. I will make it short. A batch of grain was lost in Poyang County, as much as more than two million kilograms. This is the emergency reserve grain of the court. You probably understand what the crime is, so I don't need to say more, and I don't want to torture you. Three days, I will give you three days to think carefully. If you can prove your innocence, the door is over there, and I will personally send you home. And if you accidentally colluded with the crowd, you can also tell the truth. Since you are also helpless, I will naturally make a big deal out of a small matter and fine you. But if you know about it and don't report it, let me find out."

Xia Lin smiled when he said this and put a short knife on the table: "Don't blame me for my steel knife. The higher-ups only give me seven days. If there is no reason after seven days, you can only complain to the King of Hell if you have any grievances."

After saying this, he stood up and left. When he reached the door, he also ordered, "Serve us good wine and good food."

(End of this chapter)