Lingzhou City is in sight from afar.

As the Taoist walked along, he saw people dying of hunger everywhere.

Along the way, there were countless corpses lying on the roadside, the rivers were dry and cracked, and no grass could grow in the fields.

Although there are no human beings, the living people are like ghosts.

Outside Lingzhou City, there were crowds of disaster victims, huddled feebly under the heels of the city wall, looking into the distance, waiting to die.

Several city gates were closed tightly to prevent people from entering or exiting, seemingly to prevent refugees from breaking into the city. The only gate that was open was filled with fierce-looking soldiers, armed with sharp blades and wearing armor. Anyone who moved abnormally was directly regarded as an enemy and was on guard against the civilians.

Like a river.

But the Taoist entered the city easily.

The inside of the city is much better than the outside. Although most of the shops on the street are closed, there are no pedestrians on the street, and the doors of every house are closed, but at least there is still life.

After all, it is a big city in the state capital. Many of the people living in the city are wealthy businessmen and dignitaries. It seems that there is no crisis of running out of food.

Leading the donkey along the road, a place with high walls and red gates appeared at the end of the road in the distance. The situation suddenly changed.

The gongs and drums are noisy, and there is a lively atmosphere.

The entrance was heavily guarded and there were many carriages and horses. Servants were either sitting on carriages or leaning in front of the tea stall at the entrance, waiting boredly.

Inside, there was actually the noise of singing on stage and changing glasses, and there was a faint aroma of wine and meat wafting out.

When I looked up, I saw that it was the governor's office.

Inside the official office, a group of Lingzhou officials were sitting high in the hall, looking at the stage set up outside and singing a opera, while the state and county officials were whispering to each other inside, beaming with joy.

Some of them looked worried and restless.

His eyes kept looking at the two officials above the main seat in the hall, one was Qian Wen, the governor of Lingzhou, and the other was Xu Xuanming, the supervisor.

As the play was halfway through, Liu Yuanfeng, the governor of Anle County, finally couldn't help but stand up: "May I ask these two Shangguan officials? When will the food for the court's disaster relief be transported to Anle County?"

"Our county has suffered the most serious disaster. I have just taken office and have accomplished nothing in the past month. I can only watch the people starve to death. I really can't wait any longer."

There was quite a bit of anger and resentment in his words, and he hurried over to ask for food, only to see such a scene.

The originally false peaceful and festive atmosphere was suddenly interrupted.

Everyone looked at Liu Yuanfeng, the governor of Anle County, and Qian Wen, the superior governor of Lingzhou. The atmosphere became a little awkward and solemn for a while.

Qian Wen, the governor of Lingzhou, finally spoke, smiling and raising his head, suppressing the solemn atmosphere.

"Don't be impatient, Governor Liu. Some food for disaster relief from the court has indeed been shipped, but everything must have a regulation. Hasn't this been discussed yet?"

"And today is my fiftieth birthday celebration, so don't mention this matter anymore. I will give you an explanation later."

The play on the stage continued to be performed, but the people in the lobby were so excited that no one could calm down and listen to the play anymore.

In silence, the play on the stage finally ended.

Qian Wen, the governor of Lingzhou, made a gesture, and Xu Xuanming, the supervisor, finally stood up: "Everyone, please follow me in."

The side door opened, and Lingzhou officials filed in, and then Supervisor Xu Xuanming immediately closed the door.

There are boxes of various sizes placed in the side room. When the boxes are opened, they are filled with gold and silver.

It dazzles people's eyes and moves people's hearts.

Each box has the name of each county written on it.

"Please take a look, are there any problems?" Supervisor Xu Xuanming means that after taking this money, the matter of disaster relief food has nothing to do with them, and they will be responsible for the next disaster.

Everyone looked at each other, but no one dared to step forward for the time being, either because they didn't want to be the first to do so, or because they felt that it was too unrevealed.

However, Xu Xuanming seemed to understand people's hearts very well, forcing several officials to come forward and reveal their hypocrisy.

"Come on, come on, don't be polite."

"Everyone deserves this."

Liu Yuanfeng, the governor of Anle County, closed the box and said: "What I want is not money, but food, the court's disaster relief food."

Lingzhou Supervisor Xu Xuanming felt that he had lost his dignity and snorted coldly: "Do you want food? Do you want to take this money?"

When he walked to the door, he looked back at Liu Yuanfeng and said, "Let me tell you the truth, the grain has not been transported at all. The grain trucks that arrived in Lingzhou a few days ago were all empty."

"This money is not given to you by us. Think about it clearly. How much does it cost? Natural disasters are like this. This is the life of those refugees, but your life is yours."

"I would like to take a look. Do you dare not take it?"

Lingzhou Supervisor Shi was annoyed by the troubles made by Liu Yuanfeng, the governor of Anle County, so he threw away his sleeves.

All the officials in the room looked at each other, and finally someone reached out, and with the first one came the second.

In the end, only a few people were left and left angrily.

Others then came out to attend the birthday celebration of Lingzhou Governor Qian Wen. Supervisor Xu Xuanming and Governor Qian Wen looked at each other with smiles in their eyes.

Seeing everyone coming out, Governor Qian laughed loudly and invited the officials from top to bottom of Lingzhou to raise their glasses and drink together.

"Today is my official's fiftieth birthday, so I have invited theater troupes, music troupes and many ordinary people in the city to come and participate. Everyone gathers together to tide over the difficulties."

"It can be seen that our officials in Lingzhou care about the people, and they do not forget to celebrate their birthdays with the people."

Everyone in the audience raised their glasses to flatter him.

Supervisor Xu Xuanming brushed his beard and smiled happily, forgetting the unpleasantness caused by the Anle County Sheriff just now. In his opinion, this person was already a dead person.

"Don't be restrained, everyone, have fun and drink."

Now, there was peace on and off the stage.

The festive atmosphere of the birthday celebration has returned again, everyone is united and the whole hall is harmonious.

Supervisor Xu Xuanming's face was red and drunk, and he walked down from the top drunk.

"Go, go, it's ugly, get out of here!" He immediately drove off the stage a middle-aged man who was playing juggling, and stood on the stage, drinking like crazy.

The majesty brought by the scarlet official uniform made the middle-aged man obviously stronger, but he was kicked to the ground and did not dare to resist.

"Is there anything else interesting?" He burped and looked at the tables outside and the people standing on both sides.

"You are a poor Taoist!" At this moment, a young Taoist suddenly walked out and attracted everyone's attention.

There were many people here today, not only a whole theater troupe, but also some performers and jugglers were present.

Although the Taoist priest came uninvited, no one knew about it, and no one found it strange.

"Oh? What are you capable of as a Taoist priest?" Xu Xuanming was drunk, swaying back and forth, pointing at the Taoist and asked.

The Taoist smiled, pointed to the sky and said, "I have a strange technique called Immortal Cable."

The whole place was in an uproar, and the guests and officials were amazed.

Everyone has heard of the legend of this magical rope, but it is just a legend. No one has ever actually seen a person who knows this kind of magic.

Xu Xuanming, the Supervisor of Lingzhou, was suddenly startled, and his red face showed joy.

"Is it the legendary fairy rope that can transport people to the Heavenly Palace on the Clouds, the heavenly realm of gods?"

"Hurry up and show it to me."
Chapter completed!