My Cultivation Has a Progress Bar

Chapter 371: Chapter 6: Grain Panic

Outside Jinhua Prefecture City, beside rows of irrigation canals, stretched vast paddy fields. They were dotted with farmsteads made of a few thatched huts, and occasionally, patches of uneven land were planted with various vegetables and spices.

Near the city gates, two low-ranking officials from the Governor’s Office were guiding a young man wearing short, narrow-sleeved Daoist robes and a waist token from the Daoist Scripture Hall as he inspected the ears of rice in a paddy field.

In the distance, a few farmers hid behind a haystack, staring at the group and chatting quietly among themselves.

"What are those officials up to?"

"Are you blind? Can’t you see they’re inspecting the ears of rice?"

"I’m asking *why* they’re looking at the ears of rice."

"You! Asking questions so aggressively. You’re a natural-born cucumber, just begging to be smacked!"

"Well, I think you’re a walnut, begging to be hammered!"

"You really are begging for a smacking. No wonder you always go see Doctor Ma."

"I see Doctor Ma because of how big *mine* is. The whole village knows. Doesn’t your family know too?"

The two men’s argument grew louder and louder, but they showed no sign of coming to blows. An old man behind them, who had been smoking a long-stemmed pipe, picked it up and started whacking them both on the head.

They turned their heads and saw it was the old man. At his gesture, they looked back at the group of officials, only to see a middle-aged man in green official robes walking briskly toward them.

"Greetings, Sir!" The old man stepped forward and took the initiative to greet the official. He used the Taoist fist-and-palm salute, though his execution was rather clumsy.

"One of you, come here. The gentlemen from the Daoist Scripture Hall have some questions."

Hearing this, the two younger men subconsciously took a step back, which displeased the middle-aged man in official robes. He then said to the old man, "You, come with me."

The one inspecting the ears of rice was Wenhai. He had come to handle this matter personally.

He pulled the mature grains from the stalk and used Wood Spirit Qi to strip away their husks. However, not all the grains had kernels underneath; only about one-fifth of them yielded rice.

He didn’t know the specific yield, and when he asked the officials beside him, no one knew. So, he sent someone to fetch a local farmer to ask about the situation.

When the man was brought over, Wenhai looked straight at the old man and said directly, "What’s the rice yield like this year?"

The accompanying official beside him immediately snapped, "Answer truthfully! If you dare to deceive us, you will be charged with collaborating with bandits!"

Common folk would sometimes lie through their teeth just to survive, and many were ignorant of the broader situation. Slapping them with a heavy accusation to scare them straight was a basic skill for low-level officials dealing with the populace. The rights and wrongs of such a method couldn’t be explained in just a few words.

The old man was genuinely startled. His mind went blank for a moment, and he instinctively tried to figure out how he should answer.

"Just answer truthfully. Don’t overthink it."

A Qi Cultivator next to Wenhai added this reminder.

The Qi Cultivator’s voice was gentle, which calmed the old man considerably. He then answered instinctively, "It’s bad. The last two years have both been bad. Last year’s harvest was a little less than the year before, and this year it’s much less. After paying the rent, there’s not enough to eat. Come winter, we’ll have to rely on the government’s congee sheds to survive."

An official beside them immediately chimed in, "Thanks to the good fortune of the Daoist Scripture Hall, the prefectures and counties of Nanlin Road have plenty of surplus grain stored away. Back then, Daoist Zi Luan said the Inspectorate could allocate it as they saw fit. Later, when Daoist Changqing took over as Pacification Envoy, he followed precedent and likewise assigned the granaries to the Inspectorate."

"With the poor harvests everywhere these past two years, the Inspectorate has been opening the granaries to distribute grain as is customary..."

Wenhai’s scalp tingled when he heard this. He quickly interrupted, "Were the refugees from Mozhou Road also helped with grain from those granaries?"

"Yes!"

"Then have you inspected the granaries?"

"No. But with decades of reserves, it should be more than enough to get through this disastrous year!"

"..."

Wenhai was at a loss for words. He glanced at the old man staring at him hopefully and said, "Let him go back."

...

「Ten days later.」

The investigation reports on the various granaries were delivered to Zuo Xuan.

Zuo Xuan calmly read through the reports. Her head was starting to ache. After a long silence, she asked, "Are you saying the people of Nanlin Road won’t make it through the winter?"

"That’s not the critical part. The critical part is the report from Mozhou Road!"

As he spoke, Wenhai produced another investigation report. He handed it over and said in a grim voice, "The northern, southern, and western parts of Mozhou Road have harvested almost nothing. Only the southeastern coastal region can barely sustain itself!"

"I’m afraid the number of refugees we’ll face will be several times, perhaps even more than ten times, greater than a few years ago. And..." Wenhai swallowed hard. "And I estimate that Hai Zhou Road and Ningzhou Road will also see some degree of crop reduction."

Zuo Xuan’s headache instantly worsened. She was responsible for quelling the rebellion in Mozhou Road, she had to oversee the construction of the Divine Art Golden Bodies in various locations, and she also had to guard against ’the first day’ and the Taiyin Evil Cultivators. If a major disaster were to strike, not a single one of these tasks could be completed successfully!

"Has Yu Min confessed?"

She quickly finished reading the file in her hand and asked in a somewhat subdued voice. She thought with a pang of self-reproach, ’None of this had to happen. If only I had been a little more diligent.’

"Meow~"

The Calico Cat sensed its owner’s mood and leaped onto Zuo Xuan’s shoulder.

Wenhai said with his head lowered, "She’s probably not going to confess."

"Then send her on her way!"

Zuo Xuan issued the order in a cold voice while stroking the Calico Cat.

After Wenhai acknowledged the order, Zuo Xuan continued, "I had originally planned for you to accompany the army to Mozhou Road to investigate the truth behind this matter, but that’s not important anymore. You will still go with the army to Mozhou Road, but they will be stationed in Yongsu Prefecture. Your main duty is to stop the refugees from Mozhou Road. Do... you understand what I mean?"

"Understood!" Wenhai nodded.

"If you understand, then get to it."

"Yes, ma’am!"

Zuo Xuan watched Wenhai’s departing figure, gently stroking the Calico Cat’s chin and listening to its purr. After more than ten breaths, she walked back to her desk and wrote personal letters to the Pacification Envoys of Hai Zhou Road, Mozhou Road, and Ningzhou Road.

’The sky won’t fall. The common folk only have a small portion of the grain. The wealthy households are the ones with the large reserves. Nanlin Road isn’t a problem; we’ll just need the rich families to bleed a little to calm things down. The other three Roads are the real key.’

’If the desperate commoners riot, it will surely disturb the spiritual energies and interrupt the Xiao Shan Lord, who is in seclusion with the Six Heart Sect. Then I would truly be guilty of a great crime. Besides, forging the Golden Bodies is a mandatory task, and it must be related to the Xiao Shan Lord’s advancement. The enemy is clearly trying to disrupt the Xiao Shan Lord’s plans.’

’As for purchasing grain from other places, the only viable route at the moment is through Lishui Prefecture. The Liangjiang Region is True Yang Sect territory, and the Northern Plains are currently too preoccupied with their own rebellion to help.’

Therefore, after sending the letters, Zuo Xuan immediately summoned three Patrol Envoys to discuss secretly dispatching merchant caravans to Lishui Prefecture to purchase grain.

「The next day.」

Li Lin came to see Zuo Xuan first thing in the morning. He had two matters to report.

The first was the Inspectorate’s investigation, which had turned up no clues—this was not unexpected. The second was the source of the contamination.

"The contamination in Nanlin Road is light. There’s no fixed source; their methods are very secretive. It must be deliberately caused by someone. An investigation will certainly turn up traces. Mozhou Road, on the other hand, is much more direct. They’re burying contaminated corpses or throwing them into water sources. This has not only caused crop failure, but has also led to plague outbreaks in some areas."

Just as Li Lin finished his report, Zuo Liang’s figure appeared in the doorway. She was holding a military report brought back by a spy!