Traveling through the farm, I just want to earn money by farming

On the main street of the county town, a fast horse came galloping: "The people are retreating, and the court is reporting urgently." Pedestrians on the road dodged and kept looking out.

"Hurry, go and report to Master Xue Mingfu, and send an urgent report to the capital!" The yamen runner saw the speeding messenger from afar and hurried in to report.

When Xue Mingfu and others heard the yamen runner come to report that there was urgent news from the capital, they put down their official duties and hurried to the main hall.

"Fu Xue Mingfu, this is an urgent report to the capital. Li Tianshi observed the celestial phenomena and predicted the wind and clouds. He said that the flood season this year may come early. Funan Prefecture has received the heaviest rain. Tang Fuyin has arranged for the surrounding counties to make preparations in advance and evacuate the villagers to rush to harvest food. Fu Xue Mingfu, please make arrangements as soon as possible." The messenger explained the situation and its severity, handed over the urgent report, bowed and withdrew.

"Could this be a mistake? The weather has been fine recently and there have been no signs of illness." County Magistrate Wu hesitated.

The others also seemed to have concerns and looked solemn.

Xue Jingtang carefully read the urgent report again, looked up at the sky, and said, "Li Tianshi has never made a mistake since he took office as a general. I dare not take such a risk. It is better to make early arrangements to harvest and avoid disaster. Call all the township officials, elders, and village heads here. Let's discuss countermeasures as soon as possible to avoid this disaster."

After that, everyone took orders and made their own arrangements, and the work never stopped. The township assistants, village heads, and others who received the order then notified the village heads, explaining the severity of the situation. Those who were understanding naturally cooperated, while those who were stubborn were given stern words of persuasion.

The head of Chenjia Village received the news and hurried back to the village, urging the second son to hurry. Seeing his anxiety, the people from the surrounding villages who were on good terms with him also became concerned and returned with serious expressions to make arrangements.

As soon as they entered the village, the village chief urged the villagers to gather at the village entrance. Seeing the village chief so anxious, the villagers became nervous and ran over.

"Village Chief, what's going on? Didn't you go to the village head to discuss important matters? Why did you come back so solemn?"

"I don't know. As soon as we entered the village, he shouted for everyone to go to the village entrance. I'm afraid it's not a small matter."

"That's right, Wu Ge'er drove the ox cart so hard that it almost flew up."

"Oh my God, is something serious going to happen? Hurry up, run faster."

Seeing this, the villagers quickened their pace and stopped communicating.

"Have all the households arrived?" The village chief hadn't even had a chance to catch his breath. He glanced at the crowd anxiously, and only continued when he estimated that most people had arrived.

"Today, the village head summoned several of our village heads to discuss a major event. Li Tianshi, who came to the capital, observed the weather and clouds and found that the flood season in Funan Prefecture has come early, with concentrated rainfall. The higher-ups are asking us to quickly organize everyone to harvest grain and reinforce the riverbanks."

After the village chief finished speaking, the villagers actually felt relieved. Some villagers who were not convinced continued, "Could it be that the village chief is faking it? The weather is very good, how can it look like it's going to rain? Not to mention the flood season, in previous years, it never flooded here."

"Yes, yes, even though we have the plum rains for more than a month every year, we have never had a flood."

"Yes, village chief, although the wheat has turned yellow, it is not ready to be harvested yet. If we harvest it now, it will be very stale."

Farmers are busy with the fields and the crops all year round. They would rather suffer themselves than let the crops suffer.

The villagers talked about it and didn't take the news seriously.

"Master Li has seen that not only has the flood season come earlier this year, but the amount of rainfall is also greater than in previous years. So it is better to harvest less and prepare in advance rather than wait until the disaster strikes and lose everything." The village chief felt sad. Who wouldn't feel sorry for the food, but he didn't dare to gamble.

The higher-ups are taking it so seriously. If they don't take it seriously, and the predictions from observations come true, they will regret it so much that they can't make up for it even if they die.

The villagers still didn't take it seriously, and even smiled to comfort the village chief, saying that he was worrying too much. The village chief was so anxious that he didn't know what to do.

"Dear fellow villagers, please listen to me." Everyone turned around and saw that Grandpa Yu and his group were there.

When the village chief saw that it was Mr. Yu, he felt a little relieved and waited for Mr. Yu to continue.

"Since General Li Shilang took office, he has observed the celestial phenomena and deduced everything, and his predictions have never failed to come true. Therefore, his predictions this time are highly accurate. Since we can predict the future, why not make plans early and avoid this disaster? Furthermore, although our early harvest reduces the yield, it won't hurt our bottom line. If we ignore it and wait for disaster to strike, it will be too late to regret."

Mr. Yu's words really shook the hearts of the villagers. Mr. Yu said that Master Li had extraordinary magical powers and they were afraid that disaster was about to happen.

Seeing the villagers' interest, the village chief quickly said, "Mr. Yu has seen the world and important people. He said that General Li's predictions are correct. Besides, we'd rather believe it than not. We can't let our food be affected by luck after all the hard work!"

"Yes, the village chief is right. We will listen to him. We will start harvesting the wheat today to prevent the food from being damaged."

"Yes, yes, we listened to the village chief. Mr. Yu has confirmed that the test is accurate and there will be no mistakes."

The villagers were now anxious, eager to return and harvest the crops. Those who owned their own land were anxious, and those who rented their land were even more anxious. If the crops were to suffer a disaster, not only would they have to pay taxes on their land, but they would also have to worry about whether they could even fill their stomachs.

"Wait, I've made arrangements when I come back, so just listen to me. Almost everyone who's away from home has returned. Everyone, regardless of gender, will be divided into two groups, one to collect grain and the other to reinforce the dike. The grain-collecting group will start from the east end of the village, collecting from every household. The grain will first be placed at Qing Ning's workshop, which is on high ground and has a lot of space. The reinforcement group will raise the north river dike all the way and dig some ditches to drain the water. Families living in low-lying areas will move quickly, and the villagers will help. Those whose houses are unstable will reinforce them if they can, and those who can't will move. Saving lives is the most important thing right now."

After the village chief made some arrangements, the villagers consciously divided into two groups, each nominated a few responsible people, and singled out the younger and older people to make other arrangements.

After everyone left, the village chief called Qingning again and said, "Qingning, Aye used your workshop to store the villagers' food without consulting you. Please don't blame Aye."

Qing Ning sighed and said, "Grandpa Village Head, your words make me feel a little embarrassed. How can I care about such trivial matters when disaster strikes? I'm going to go back and clean up the workshop and chop some wood to put up the shelves to reduce the amount of water that gets in."

The village chief nodded with satisfaction and said yes. Qing Ning turned around and went back without any delay.

"Second sister, eldest brother Guo, and eldest brother Yu, where are you going in your carriage?" Qing Ning asked when she met the three of them on the road.

"Mr. Ma said that if there really is a flood, some people will definitely get typhoid fever, or even worse, an epidemic. So Mr. Ma asked us to go to the county town to buy some medicinal herbs and inform Master Xue Ming about this so that we can take precautions in advance."

Qing Ning didn't ask any more questions, just told them to be careful on the road. Then, as if thinking of something, he said, "Buy more slaked lime, white wine, mugwort, and some tarpaulin."

"Okay, got it." After saying that, the three of them drove away.