Dragon King of the Wu River

An Weiyan was still delighted to see Su Qingyun agree.

As for whether she could succeed, that could be discussed when the time came.

Unfortunately, he did not know how to absorb the power of incense offerings. Otherwise, could he absorb some and give it to her later?

An Weiyan tossed and turned in bed for a while before drifting groggily off to sleep.

The next day, An Weiyan sprang up at the sound of his alarm, quickly washed up, and hurried to the other world.

Knowing that everyone here was waiting for him to get up before eating, An Weiyan naturally rose a little earlier.

He had already had the people of Linbei Town eating porridge for nearly two days, so today he switched to steamed rice.

Once the fragrant white rice was cooked, everyone grew incredibly excited. They exchanged glances, each able to feel the others' excitement.

"Even in the old days, we never ate grain like this."

"That's right. Only the gentry and officials could afford such fine rice. How could common folk like us ever get to eat it?"

Everyone was extremely excited, and several old men even had murky tears in their eyes.

Even when the court had provided disaster relief in the past, they had never gotten to eat such fine rice. At most, they had been given some dregs and husks.

Yet this newly arrived county magistrate had used fine rice even for the porridge he had cooked at the beginning.

And now he was serving white rice outright, its fragrance wafting everywhere.

They had never eaten such good rice in their entire lives.

"Thank you, my lord!"

Once they received their rice, all four or five hundred people dropped to their knees before An Weiyan again.

They thanked An Weiyan over and over.

Seeing this, An Weiyan hurriedly told them to get up. Looking at the people in their ragged clothes, he felt an inexplicable pang of sorrow.

They were all just people trying to get a bite to eat.

Well, since I've come to this world and become this place's county magistrate, I'll find a way for the people of this county to live prosperous lives.

At the very least, they should have enough to eat and warm clothes to wear.

With that thought, An Weiyan began making plans.

Soon, everyone ate their rice without leaving a single grain, even licking the bottoms of their bowls clean.

The group assigned earlier continued reclaiming land, while the others continued cleaning up Linbei County.

Linbei County as a whole was not particularly large.

The county office stood in the north facing south, though its location within Linbei County was somewhat closer to the southwest corner.

The residents were replacing tiles on some of the damaged houses.

The reclaimed land outside had also expanded considerably.

"Are there any books in Linbei County?"

Remembering what the Earth God had said yesterday, An Weiyan called Uncle Fu over to ask.

Apart from what he had learned from the residents, perhaps he could learn more from books.

There was also the Earth God's earlier advice that he should read more.

An Weiyan wanted to see whether reading some books here would benefit him, and also whether the writing here was the same.

"There are no scholars left in town, though a few account books remain..."

When An Weiyan asked about this, Uncle Fu hastily replied.

An Weiyan was immediately rather disappointed. After some thought, he let it go. If there were none, so be it.

He would bring some books over from his own main world later and see whether reading them would be of any use.

An Weiyan rubbed his forehead. "The nearest city is called Pingshui City, right? How far is it from Linbei County?"

Uncle Fu was not particularly surprised by all of An Weiyan's questions.

The Earth God had said that the arriving county magistrate was an otherworlder, not a local, so it was only natural that he knew little about this place.

Knowing how little An Weiyan understood, Uncle Fu patiently explained things to him.

Pingshui City had originally been called Zhenjiang City. It had been given that name because the Wu River ran outside the city, and a dragon king lived in it.

The dragon king had cultivated for nearly a thousand years and possessed extremely profound cultivation.

In the past, when the Jiang Kingdom had been at the height of its strength, it had still been able to keep the dragon king in check.

Naming the nearby city Zhenjiang City had also been intended to suppress the dragon king, letting him know the might of the Jiang Kingdom so that he would not cause trouble.

An expert had even performed a ritual to bestow that name. Once it was given, it had suppressed the Dragon King of the Wu River so thoroughly that he could no longer stir up wind and waves.

Afterward, however, the Jiang Kingdom's strength began to decline, and demons rose up everywhere.

The Dragon King of the Wu River gradually grew dissatisfied with being suppressed. He then stirred up winds and summoned rain, throwing the river's shipping routes into chaos and sinking ship after ship.

Torrential rain poured down, nearly flooding Zhenjiang City itself.

Later, the court sent someone to negotiate with the Dragon King of the Wu River. Only after Zhenjiang City was renamed Pingshui City was the matter finally settled.

Pingshui City was about a hundred and fifty li from here, and a tributary of the Wu River ran outside Linbei County.

They could take a boat into the Wu River and then sail on to Pingshui City.

The problem was, where would they find any boats in Linbei County now?

In the past, if they walked a little faster, making the trip to Pingshui City and back in one day had been no problem.

But that had been back when the divine power of the Underworld Administration spread far and wide in every region, and they seldom encountered danger on the journey.

Now, however, traveling to Pingshui City alone would greatly increase the likelihood of encountering danger along the way.

At this point, An Weiyan understood what Uncle Fu meant.

It was roughly as though every town and city had a tree.

Once the trees grew tall and large, they would begin sprouting dense branches and leaves, which would spread out until they touched those of the neighboring trees.

Where they touched, people could pass safely.

Beyond the branches, people could easily lose their footing and fall, putting them in danger.

But now, the branches and leaves of these trees had all been cut away, leaving great stretches of empty space between them that were extremely dangerous.

"From the looks of it, I won't be able to visit the county town anytime soon."

An Weiyan felt rather troubled. If he could go to the county town, perhaps he could exchange glass beads for some money.

If he could exchange them for gold, he would be able to repay the money he had borrowed.

Besides, although he had borrowed a hundred thousand, that money would not actually last very long.

Unless he found a way to make the people of Linbei County self-sufficient, he would have to keep pouring money into it.

"By the way, what's the story behind that Dragon King of the Wu River? Is he really a dragon?"

An Weiyan asked rather curiously. This Dragon King of the Wu River seemed quite hot-tempered.

He sank people's ships at the drop of a hat. Wouldn't An Weiyan have to be careful if he traveled the Wu River by boat in the future?

"He's just the dragon king."

Uncle Fu answered in bewilderment. The dragon king had cultivated for nearly a thousand years and had already outlasted several generations of their people.

Besides, the dragon king rarely showed himself, and everyone only knew to call him the dragon king.

As for anything else, how could they know so much?

Seeing that Uncle Fu did not know much about this, An Weiyan did not ask any further questions.