[Quick Wear] Daily Cleansing of Trash

Chapter 485 Protecting the Best Sister 27

Li Mingzhu, who was hiding on the roof, curled her lips, threw a ball of paper over Yang He's head, and quickly slipped away.

"Ouch!"

Yang He was hit directly. He touched his head and looked above him, but found nothing unusual. But when he lowered his head, he saw a ball of paper lying quietly on the ground.

"Who?" Yang He was shocked. "Who is it?!"

The cry attracted the servant outside, who hurriedly pushed the door open and came in: "Sir, what's wrong?"

Yang He looked at the paper ball in horror, not daring to reach out to take it.

The servant was confused and picked up the paper ball and handed it to Yang He: "Sir?"

Yang He swallowed, took it with trembling hands and opened it.

"what?"

There was no horror content inside as Yang He thought, only a strange-looking painting.

A horizontal line and a vertical line intersect, with a few black dots on top connected by a zigzag line, and the words "Twenty Years of Rainfall" written underneath.

Yang He was a Jinshi graduate who liked to study things. After a little thought, he discovered something strange about the picture.

He hurriedly took the paper ball and ran to the yamen archives, found the relevant content marked on the paper, and after some thought, he discovered something horrifying.

Yang He's body was shaky and he was supported by his men beside him.

"Really..." He was filled with panic, "There's going to be a flood!"

Yang He could barely be considered a good official. After confirming that a flood might occur, he immediately contacted the governors of the other two states to discuss how to deal with it.

However, among the three southwestern states, Qianzhou, Yuezhou, and Yanzhou, except for Yang He who was relatively reliable, the governors of the other two states were as useless as Mei Tianliang.

Faced with Yang He's letter, the other two prefects did not take it seriously and even mocked Yang He for being a peasant and prone to worrying about nothing.

The situation is critical, and the people who remain in the southwest still need their officials to find ways to resettle them.

Li Mingzhu thought about it and finally decided not to take action against the other two prefects, for fear that natural disasters and man-made disasters would come together and bring suffering to the people.

Yang He did not receive a reply, and had no choice but to prioritize the safety of his own people and issue relevant decrees under pressure.

Finally, one night, the Feng River in Qianzhou broke its banks, and thousands of acres of fertile farmland instantly turned into ponds.

Fortunately, Yang He had already relocated the nearby residents in advance, so there were not many casualties.

When the people from the southwest who were coaxed and deceived by Li Mingzhu and others to the southeast learned that the Feng River had burst its banks and their hometown had become a vast ocean, they couldn't help but feel fortunate in their hearts and turned around to burn three incense sticks to the "Nine Heavens Holy Mother".

After the disaster, except for Yang He, the other two prefects in the three southwestern states did not provide timely disaster relief. Instead, they were still living a drunken life, drinking, eating meat, and sleeping with women, leaving the people to fend for themselves.

In this case, Zhang Rulan and the others will naturally not show mercy.

Taking advantage of the public outcry, Li Mingzhu led the people to attack the government office, killed the prefect with a knife, and opened the granary to release grain in the name of "Nine Heavens Holy Mother".

Public opinion was unstoppable. After a series of operations, Zhang Rulan successfully occupied the three southwestern states. Together with Dingzhou and Xiangzhou, she now had five states in her hands.

Things had come to this point, and Li Mingzhu and others did not hide anything. They directly raised the banner of "Holy Mother Church" and officially declared an uprising.

"You are committing a heinous crime punishable by the death of your entire clan!" Yang He was brought before Zhang Rulan with his hands tied, his face filled with grief and indignation. "Now that I've turned my back on you, I can still speak well of you to the Emperor. But if you persist in your wrongdoings, you will surely face a disastrous end!"

Zhang Rulan chuckled: "Nine Clans? If you can really help me find my Nine Clans, I would like to thank you!"

After the Zhang family encountered trouble, some of the male members of the side branches were exiled and the female members were sold, and their lives or deaths are now unknown.

Daxia is so big, and transportation is so slow these days. Looking for someone aimlessly is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Yang He was stunned and didn't know how to answer for a moment.

He didn't know Zhang Rulan's identity and thought she was separated from her family for some reason.

Li Mingzhu looked Yang He up and down, stroking her chin: "Actually, you're a pretty good person. Do you want to work with us?"

Yang He: "Huh?"

Li Mingzhu patted his shoulder with a smile and said, "I'm serious. So, you join us, and when my sister becomes emperor, I'll make you the chancellor!"

Yang He's eyes widened instantly, his face filled with grief and indignation: "You...you...you humiliated me?"

Li Mingzhu: "...How could I have that?!"

"A gentleman can be killed, but not humiliated!" Yang He's beard was so angry that it stood on end. "If I frown even once, I won't be named Yang!"

"Tsk," Li Mingzhu said bitterly, "Let me ask you, why do you become an official?"

Yang He said righteously: "Of course it is to serve the court and save the world and the people!"

Li Mingzhu asked a soul-searching question: "After serving as an official for so many years, have you succeeded in saving the country and bringing peace to the people?"

"Uh..." Yang He was speechless.

Yang He was born into an ordinary family, and his whole family worked hard to support him as a scholar.

When he first became an official, he was full of vigor and his mind was full of pleading for the people.

However, survival in officialdom was not easy. After twenty years, Yang He was only a small fifth-rank official in the southwestern border. Even the governors of the two neighboring states could boss him around, just because they came from prominent families.

And in their eyes, Yang He was just a peasant.

For so many years, he worked diligently in the resource-scarce Qianzhou, with no hope of promotion, and his initial high spirits were gradually worn away.

Zhang Rulan said seriously, "Lord Yang, Daxia today is like a piece of rotten wood, eaten away by termites and riddled with holes. With a little effort, it can be crushed into powder. While the rich feast and indulge in wine, the poor freeze to death on the streets. The people are living in misery, yet what is the court doing?"

Li Mingzhu asked, "Do you know what happened in Dingzhou?"

Yang He nodded subconsciously: "I know."

Li Mingzhu snorted twice. "Three years ago, Dingzhou was occupied by the Green Forest Army, and almost everyone in the city was slaughtered. After reporting this to the court, what did they do?"

Yang He opened his mouth and lowered his head dejectedly.

Li Mingzhu did not embarrass him and stated his own conclusion: "Dingzhou is remote, so Fuzhou and Xiangzhou are ordered to deal with it on their own."

"What a way to handle it yourself!" Zhang Rulan's face was unpleasant. "The people are suffering, but the court is indifferent and leaves the people to fend for themselves. Is there any need to be loyal to such a court?"

Huang Tiancheng, standing by, also spoke up: "My family was originally an honest and hardworking farming family. Because our land was coveted by Mei Tianliang, we ended up being destroyed. Did we do something wrong? No! This world simply has no room for people like us!"

Yang He lowered his head, looking ashamed.

Li Mingzhu loosened the ropes that bound his hands and whispered, "Master Yang, you don't have to reply to us right away. Go outside and see what the difference is between the past and now."

Yang He stared at the red mark on his wrist and finally nodded: "Okay, let me see what the difference is between you!"