From the Carp that Brings Children to the Celestial Officials

Chapter 429 Disaster Victims Head North
The divine way does not interfere too much in human affairs.

Whether it's providing disaster relief or conscripting laborers, since the imperial court and government have already made the decisions, You Ming will only instruct the temple priests of Yuanling County to do their utmost to cooperate.

Yuanling County has a good foundation. After more than 20 years of governance by You Ming, although it cannot be said that there are no poor families, at least no one will starve to death.

You Ming also instructed Wu Mo to pay attention to restricting the movement of disaster victims.

Disaster victims are an extremely uncontrollable force wherever they are. If they are allowed to enter villages and towns, conflicts with the locals are inevitable.

Wu Mo had also considered these points. Since the disaster victims came from the south, he decided to set aside a valley on the south side of Yuanling Mountain to house them separately.

The south side of Yuanling Mountain is even steeper, and the mountain road is difficult to travel. With mountains blocking the way, as long as they send troops to block the road, the disaster victims will not be able to go north.

After giving the order, You Ming didn't concern himself with the matter further.

He was only responsible for the general direction; the specific details were handled by the gods below.

You Ming only emphasized one point: that is, to have the temple keeper allocate all the stockpiled grain, at least to ensure that the disaster victims have enough to eat in the short term.

Although the Niangniang Temple has remained low-key over the years, it has accumulated a considerable amount of donations due to its thriving incense offerings.

After giving the instructions, everyone went off to do their own work.

You Ming sat inside the main hall, looking up at the outside.

His gaze seemed to pierce through countless realms of existence, landing on the entire sky above Yuanling County.

Wisps of gray smoke could be seen gathering in the sky above Yuanling County, indicating that the county had not been very peaceful recently.

As the [Director of the Department of Childbirth, Preservation, Harmony, and Fortune], You Ming not only has the authority and responsibility to give birth to and raise children, but also has some ability to interfere with fortune and misfortune.

Therefore, he was able to see the changes in the overall fortune of Yuanling County.

However, it's just an extra layer of gray, which means that even if there are any problems, the impact won't be significant.

"Should we have the Divine Army strengthen its defenses? We've been training them for a thousand days, haven't we? This is what we've been waiting for."

You Ming thought for a moment, then with a flick of his sleeve, thick black mist suddenly appeared in front of him, and a cold aura filled the air.

In an instant, an altar appeared, its surface shimmering with a cold light.

In the void, the sounds of horses neighing and weapons clashing echoed continuously. Then, a powerful current of air suddenly rose from the center of the altar, and a dark wind like thunder surged up from the darkness, carrying with it an indescribable sense of oppression.

Amidst the surging winds of the underworld, a figure several meters tall slowly emerged.

The figure was clad in jet-black armor, exuding an aura of formidable strength, yet its form was as elusive as a ghost.

He gripped two eight-foot-long cleavers tightly in his hands. The blades emanated a faint chill, and each slight movement of the blades produced a heart-palpitating hum.

Tier 5 unit: [Black Prison General]!
These are divine soldiers created by You Ming using the cheat code [Troop Editing]. Although they are limited by their origin, even if they are upgraded to the highest level of five, they are only equivalent to the [Mysterious Light] level.

However, for more than twenty years, You Ming has been nurturing it in the divine altar, nourishing it day and night with yin energy and divine power. This [Black Prison Nether General] is vaguely breaking through its own shackles and becoming a higher level existence.

However, You Ming estimates that it will need at least a hundred years of nurturing.

In fact, if you want to create more powerful divine soldiers, you only need to select some with better aptitude.

However, those with better aptitude also require more divine power.

You Ming's divine position is only the seventh rank. If he were to raise a soldier equivalent to the [Dharma Aspect] or even the [Tribulation] level, the divine power he would have to pay each month would bankrupt him. After the [Black Prison Nether General] appeared, a dozen or so level four soldiers and thousands of level three soldiers poured out like a tide.

These soldiers were all imbued with a strong sense of yin energy. They stood in formation, their weapons gleaming with a cold, sinister light. The swords, spears, and halberds seemed to carry endless chilling and malevolent energy.

In an instant, the entire hall was filled with ghostly winds and malevolent energy. The altar flickered with a dark light and shadow, as if in a moment, this Yin City Dharma Realm had become the Netherworld.

You Ming looked at the army, although in his eyes these Yin soldiers were very weak.

But in any government office of the seventh rank, these would be considered absolutely elite.

He even dared to guarantee that his thousand soldiers could defeat the three thousand Yin soldiers of other government offices.

You Ming divided these divine troops into five groups, each patrolling a key route in Yuanling County. The most elite force, led by the [Black Prison General], was responsible for guarding the southern route.

If any monsters or demons cause trouble here, they should be killed on the spot.

……

Groups of disaster victims from the south were heading north.

They were like locusts swarming across the land, devouring almost everything edible along the way.

Many prefectures and counties are extremely wary of these disaster victims, after all, a group of hungry people might do anything.

Some villages, unable to be properly attended to by the government, formed fortified settlements to protect themselves, and even arranged for able-bodied men to patrol day and night.

If disaster victims approach, some people with gentler methods will offer them some food and send them elsewhere. But others will take a more drastic approach and drive them away directly.

However, this also led to several conflicts, resulting in the deaths of many people, both disaster victims and villagers.

In fact, by the time they reached Bingzhou, disaster relief work had become very difficult.

After all, those who could migrate thousands of miles to get here were not the old, weak, sick, or disabled; moreover, the fierce fighting along the way had ignited their inner courage and valor.

Many of these groups, though nominally refugees, were in fact not much different from bandits.

Some teams, because they were deliberately organized, were even able to fight the local government to a standstill.

You Ming even received news that Pingling County in Bingzhou had been breached by disaster victims. The county magistrate abandoned the city and fled, and the government offices and treasury were destroyed. After obtaining weapons, the disaster victims turned around and looted the city, causing a bloodbath.

This incident also made cities in various places more vigilant.

However, Yuanling County was quite lucky.

The number of disaster victims who trekked to Yuanling County was not large, only a little over 500, and most of them were of relatively kind nature. Therefore, as the relief work progressed, the tension between the two sides subsided considerably.

With the mediation of the temple priests, the county government also sent people to build a temporary camp in the valley on the south side of Yuanling Mountain.

Within a few days, many simple tents and shacks were set up, and these disaster victims finally had a place to settle down.

At the same time, the government office would provide porridge every day, which, although not enough to fill one's stomach, would prevent people from starving.

Moreover, due to the goodwill deliberately shown by Yuanling County, the sensitive emotions of these disaster victims were gradually softened, and they all readily complied with the arrangements.

(End of this chapter)