From the Carp that Brings Children to the Celestial Officials

Chapter 428 Natural and man-made disasters
More than three hundred years have passed in the world of Huangliang, but to the outside world, only a year has passed.

To many cultivators who have reached a high level of spiritual attainment, this is nothing more than the time it takes to take a nap.

Throughout the year, aside from keeping an eye on the development of the Yellow Millet World, You Ming also spent his time monitoring Yang Qinglian's cultivation progress.

In the blink of an eye, Yang Qinglian turned ten years old.

However, her progress in cultivation remained at a snail's pace.

With the various enhancements from the [Cave Abode] and You Ming's meticulous guidance, she finally succeeded in breaking through to the late stage of [Bright Qi].

Admittedly, this speed is not slow by any cultivation sect.

But considering the various resources invested and You Minghua's efforts, her progress is truly touching.

Chen Xiujie had been hiding for many days and hadn't been seen by anyone. He made the excuse that he was about to break through to the [Tribulation] stage, but in reality, he just didn't want to be stimulated by Yang Qinglian's cultivation speed anymore.

"Qinglian, you're making good progress."

"If you break through to the [Enlightenment] stage before you turn twelve, I will give you a magical artifact."

You Ming patted Yang Qinglian's head, his face still beaming with a smile.

He never blamed Yang Qinglian; it was indeed not easy for an ordinary person to cultivate.

Although Yang Qinglian's aptitude is not good, as long as I urge her, she will definitely complete the cultivation tasks in a down-to-earth manner.

"Great."

"I want a flying artifact. I saw Uncle Zhou can fly by riding that wooden staff. It's so impressive."

Yang Qinglian had gradually realized that her aptitude might not be that good, after all, there were other monsters and cultivators inside this [Cave Heaven].

Those people didn't have You Ming's guidance, but their cultivation speed seemed to be even faster than mine.

She was feeling down, but hearing You Ming's promise made her happy again.

You Ming looked at Yang Qinglian, who was smiling broadly, and the corners of his mouth also turned up.

This little girl's greatest strength is that she's carefree and doesn't take anything to heart; she's also very easy to coax.

"Alright, go play for a while, come back to cultivate here tomorrow."

You Ming waved his hand, and Yang Qinglian cheered and ran out.

Over the years, she has made several friends in the cave. Although they are all demons, they can all speak human language and communicate without any obstacles.

After Yang Qinglian left, You Ming was preparing to continue monitoring the development of the [Huangliang World].

But at that moment, a faint ringing sound came from outside.

This is the [Sound Transmission Bell] outside the cave. When the bell rings, it means that something important has happened in Yuanling County that You Ming needs to handle.

You Ming's figure flickered and disappeared from the spot.

The next moment, he appeared within the Dharma Realm of Yuanling County, dressed in a robe, and sat before the desk.

Wu Mo and the others had been waiting under the table for a long time. When they saw You Ming appear, they quickly bowed.

"My lord, the messenger from Changning Prefecture just came to deliver a message, saying that a severe drought has occurred on the south bank of Bibo Lake this year, with a complete crop failure across three thousand miles, affecting several prefectures. Many disaster victims are constantly heading north, and we are instructed to take precautions to appease them."

Wu Mo quickly presented the documents and respectfully began to speak.

You Ming took the document, scanned it with his divine sense, and all the information became clear.

"Natural disaster...man-made disaster..." He was quite surprised when he first heard the news.

Nowadays, with deities residing in the world, such large-scale disasters are rare. After all, deities govern the land, and only when there is some external force that even the deities cannot resist can a major disaster occur.

For example, before Qinglianjun died, he was entangled in karmic obstacles, which was almost equivalent to him turning evil, and caused floods that stretched for thousands of miles.

When the former River Goddess gave birth, she caused immense suffering to the people living on both banks of the Wanli Cangyuan River. Especially since this River Goddess had an extremely high background, ordinary local deities couldn't really intervene.

However, this drought is the result of both natural disasters and human-caused calamities.

In the Nine Provinces, besides the largest Cangyuan River, there is also the Tongtian River in the north.

This river is exceptionally turbid, with extremely heavy silt, and its current is so swift that it is almost impossible to navigate by boat. Yet, it flows through six provinces and provides irrigation for millions of people.

The River God of the Tongtian River is a fourth-rank water official, only slightly lower than the River God of Cangyuan.

However, a few days ago, this River God had a conflict with a powerful demon in Liangzhou, the westernmost prefecture, and the two fought each other.

In the heat of the moment, he even secretly mobilized a large amount of river water to flood the great demon's cave.

This caused a sharp drop in water volume downstream.

But as luck would have it, just ten years ago, the imperial court was preparing to build a canal running from south to north, one section of which would draw water from the Tongtian River.

Under normal circumstances, the Tongtian River has abundant water, so there will naturally be no problem.

This time, however, due to the upstream water shortage and the downstream canal diverting water, the people of the three downstream states of Sizhou, Bingzhou, and Qingzhou were short of water when they were preparing for irrigation, which ultimately led to a sharp drop in grain production.

Although various water deities mobilized water from different places to quickly bring rain to this area, it still caused extremely adverse effects.

Because after the disaster struck, grain merchants in various prefectures and counties began to raise grain prices, hoping to make a fortune.

However, this forced the people of several prefectures to rebel, causing great turmoil.

As the imperial army surrounded and suppressed the matter, it was temporarily suppressed, but this large area of ​​disaster-stricken land was still like a bomb, ready to explode at any time.

Currently, the river god has been detained, and the best outcome for him is likely to be the removal of his official position.

If the situation becomes unmanageable, I'm afraid I'll have to suffer a fatal blow.

You Ming looked at the document, but he was unsure how to evaluate it.

This can only be described as a series of coincidences coming together to trigger this turmoil.

However, You Ming had been a god for decades and was no longer the novice he once was. He had actually seen some hidden dangers behind this.

To be honest, although the dynasty is currently at its peak, the emperor who ascended the throne fifteen years ago was not a law-abiding ruler.

To put it nicely, he was a great ruler.

To put it bluntly, he's someone who loves to cause trouble.

For example, starting ten years ago, more than 100,000 laborers were conscripted to dig the canal, and in order to speed up the completion of the project, more laborers were sent every year.

You Ming knew that digging the canal was a good thing, but rushing it would only increase public resentment.

The drought, on the surface, is due to people driving up grain prices, but it is also a result of pent-up resentment among the people, which has now erupted.

"My lord, there is another matter. The temple keeper has reported that the Yuanling County government is preparing to conscript a thousand laborers to dig the canal."

You Ming was just talking about the canal, but he didn't expect that the conscription issue would already be assigned to Yuanling County.

(End of this chapter)