Beginning of Winter Assessment, Dreaming of Yin Souls, Great Misfortune!

"Anping Town's abandoned forge had originally been the site of the Heavenly Craft Workshop twelve years ago."

"While they were drawing up earthfire to light the furnace, a major problem occurred. The earth-vein fire went berserk, burning many people to death."

"My family used to have a factory here too. But just after we built a new forging workshop and recruited workers, the accident happened. Nanyang County later issued a ban, and it shut down soon afterward. It was a losing investment."

Zhao Xing sat in Zong Shichang's carriage, looking out at the stretches of wasteland and dilapidated houses.

They had circled the area for a quarter of an hour, yet there was not even a single decent tree in sight. There were only tiny, stunted trees everywhere.

There were weeds, but most were bizarrely shaped thorns. Only plants with such tenacious vitality could survive in scorched earth.

"Destruction is easy; rebuilding is hard. Three years ago, let alone trees, there wasn't even a blade of grass here," Zong Shichang said. "It's much better now. Chen Shijie has done quite a lot."

"Indeed." Zhao Xing nodded slightly.

Chen Shijie had come to take office in Gucheng three years ago.

For the nine years before that, no one had paid any attention to Anping Town's scorched land.

The previous head of the Ministry of Agriculture was afraid of getting involved and had never dared restore this land.

The land had been directly approved by Nanyang County, while the damage had been caused by Gucheng's Heavenly Craft Workshop. County gentry families like Zong Shichang's had also invested in it.

The issue of authority and responsibility had never been clarified, so it had simply been left hanging.

Since those above did not care, Gucheng's county magistrate, Li Wenzheng, had not wanted to bother