After traveling through time, the adults were completely in my hands

Qingshui County, located north of the Yangtze River, was originally a good place with fertile land and people living and working in peace and contentment. The residents here have lived here for generations and have simple customs.

Although petty thefts occasionally occurred in the county town, there had never been any major cases of arson, murder, and looting.

This also allowed the then Qingshui County Magistrate Zhao to live a very carefree life. However, in recent days, a series of strange events that occurred in Qingshui County made County Magistrate Zhao very busy and anxious, and he had no peace day or night.

In the past few days, people have been discovering poisonous snakes in the county town, both in people's homes and in the fields.

At first, the residents did not take it seriously, but as the number of venomous snakes increased and they began to attack poultry and residents, people in the county began to get nervous.

In plain areas like Qingshui County, it is rare to see poisonous snakes. It is really strange that so many of them have appeared all of a sudden.

In the past few days, not only have countless poultry raised by villagers been killed or injured, but many ordinary people have also been bitten by poisonous snakes. Several people have even died one after another due to severe snake bites.

In desperation, County Magistrate Zhao ordered his runners to post notices everywhere, looking for an expert who could catch snakes.

There was a man named Gu Qi in the neighboring county who had a unique skill in catching snakes inherited from his ancestors. After seeing this notice, he came to Qingshui County.

After Gu Qi arrived in Qingshui County, he came to the fields and found many caves that were suspected to be hiding places for poisonous snakes.

Without thinking much, he took out the powder he carried with him to lure snakes out of the cave and sprinkled it at the entrance of the cave. Sure enough, after a while, the poisonous snake smelled the scent and crawled out of the cave.

The powder that Gu Qi sprinkled at the entrance of the cave was a kind of snake-catching powder passed down from the Gu family's ancestors. It could not only lure snakes out, but also numb the snakes' limbs and make them lose their aggressiveness.

In the past, Gu Qi always caught snakes alive. But this time, seeing that there were so many poisonous snakes in Qingshui County, in order to kill them all as soon as possible, he no longer caught them alive, but caught one and killed it as soon as possible.

In this way, Gu Qi was busy in Qingshui County for three days and three nights, but on the fourth day, he suddenly disappeared.

County Magistrate Zhao quickly gathered people and went to the mountains and fields to search. Finally, they found Gu Qi lying on the ground deep in a valley.

Gu Qi was seen lying on the dead leaves, his body bent and curled up. When he saw everyone, he struggled to say the two words "snake demon" and then fainted.

Everyone hurriedly carried Gu Qi to the county clinic. Unexpectedly, the doctor in the clinic was shocked after examining him. It turned out that all the bones in Gu Qi's body were broken and there was no possibility of saving him. Sure enough, less than two hours later, Gu Qi died.

For a time, people in the county were in a panic. The appearance of so many poisonous snakes in the county was scary enough, and when they heard Gu Qi say the word "snake demon", they were even more frightened.

In order to avoid the attack of the snake demon, everyone in the county who had relatives in other places packed their bags and dragged their children to seek refuge with their relatives.

Those who don’t have relatives outside the city also keep their doors closed and try not to go out if possible.

Just like that, a small county town that was once peaceful and bustling became deserted and dilapidated in just a few days.

Seeing that more and more poisonous snakes appeared in the small county town, County Magistrate Zhao had no choice but to report the snake infestation in Qingshui County to his higher authorities.

After being reported step by step up the chain of command, the matter finally reached the capital, and the final memorial appeared on the dragon desk of Emperor Qingyuan.

Logically speaking, there was no need to mobilize the Jinyiwei for a case like this in a small county, but due to the special location of Qingshui County, Emperor Qingyuan still summoned Wei Qing into the palace.

Why is Qingshui County so special? Because not far to the north of Qingshui County is the fief of Huaiyang Prince, the elder brother of Emperor Qingyuan.

Many years ago, when Emperor Qingyuan and several princes were competing for the position of crown prince, Prince Huaiyang, who was the eldest prince at the time, was Emperor Qingyuan's biggest competitor.

Prince Huaiyang was not only as talented in both civil and military affairs as Emperor Qingyuan, but he was also the eldest son of the emperor. Therefore, many ministers supported Prince Huaiyang as the crown prince.

In the case of the lost disaster relief funds mentioned earlier, the person who was beheaded for stealing the disaster relief funds was Emperor Qingyuan’s uncle, Prince Fu, who was a member of the Huaiyang Prince’s party at that time.

At that time, the ministers in the court were divided into two factions regarding the selection of the crown prince. One faction advocated the eldest prince, that is, the eldest prince, to be the crown prince, and the other faction advocated the legitimate son, that is, Emperor Qingyuan to be the crown prince, because Emperor Qingyuan was born to the empress.

The two factions had been fighting openly and secretly for a long time, and finally the emperor at that time made the final decision and appointed the legitimate prince, Emperor Qingyuan, as the crown prince.

After Emperor Qingyuan ascended the throne, he immediately granted the Prince of Huaiyang a fiefdom north of the Yangtze River and drove him far away from the capital.

Now, although Emperor Qingyuan has been on the throne for many years, he is still very wary of Prince Huaiyang.

Now, a snake plague suddenly appeared in Qingshui County, not far from the fiefdom of Prince Huaiyang, which made Emperor Qingyuan's always tense heart immediately uneasy.

In Yanghe Hall, Emperor Qingyuan showed Wei Qing the memorial regarding the snake plague in Qingshui County and asked, "My dear Wei, what do you think of this?"

"Your Majesty," Wei Qing said, bowing, "As far as I know, snakes generally prefer to stay in dark, damp mountains or fields. However, I just read in a memorial that snakes have been spotted in the homes of many people in Qingshui County."

After a moment's thought, Wei Qing continued, "Snakes were rarely seen in Qingshui County before, but now so many have suddenly appeared. As the saying goes, when something is out of the ordinary, there must be something fishy. I think this matter must be more complicated than it seems."

After hearing this, Emperor Qingyuan nodded repeatedly: "Yes, I think so too."

Stepping down from behind the dragon table, Emperor Qingyuan put his hands behind his back, paced back and forth for a few steps, and said, "Not far north of Qingshui County is the fiefdom I originally bestowed upon Prince Huaiyang. Although Prince Huaiyang has remained obediently in his fiefdom for so many years, knowing my brother, I'm afraid he would never willingly accept being inferior to others."

After a pause, Emperor Qingyuan continued, "I once promised my father that as long as my royal brother has no intention of rebellion, I will never touch him. Now I only hope that my royal brother can stay in his fiefdom and abide by the law, otherwise..."

Emperor Qingyuan looked at the memorial on the dragon table with a serious look and did not say anything else.

Wei Qing stood below with his head lowered, his face expressionless.

After a while, Emperor Qingyuan raised his head and said to Wei Qing, "My dear Wei, I will hand over the matter of the snake plague in Qingshui County to you, the Jinyiwei. When you arrive in Qingshui County, you must thoroughly investigate this matter and report to me at any time!"

"Yes, I obey your command!" Wei Qing bowed and accepted the order.