Chapter 351

Xing Prefecture, Li Family Village.

After several light rains, the sky finally cleared.

The faint smell of blood and rust that had lingered in the air seemed to have been washed away by the rain, fading considerably.

In the fields, the earlier lifeless grayish decay had not yet completely disappeared.

But the originally compacted land, under the continued effect of the deep trenches' isolation and adjustment of the 'Stabilizing Land Disk',

had stopped deteriorating and even faintly showed a weak trace of 'vital energy'.

The most important thing is that main irrigation canal flowing through the village.

Upstream, the several simple 'filter sedimentation pools' built under the Ministry of Works' guidance and the laborers' strenuous effort took effect.

The outflowing water, although still not clear enough to see the bottom, had seen the previous shocking blue foam almost vanish, and the fishy smell greatly diminished.

After the medical officer sent by the authorities repeatedly confirmed, he finally nodded, allowing villagers, after boiling, to cautiously use the water for livestock drinking and limited farmland irrigation.

"Alive! The land lives! The water can be used!"

Old farmer Li Lao San squatted on the field ridge, cupping a handful of soil that was still somewhat gray but no longer dry and powdery, his voice choked with emotion.

"Imperial Court... Imperial Court hasn't forgotten us!"

He looked at the wheat seedlings in the field that, although still yellowish, had at least stopped continuing to wither and die, and hope rekindled in his heart.

Not far away, the first batch of disaster relief grain seeds dispatched by the prefecture had arrived, to be distributed by the village chief and the lower-ranking household department officials who had gone to the countryside, according to the degree of disaster, to each household.

At the same time, it was announced that the summer tax on the disaster-stricken fields would be completely waived.

"Your Majesty's benevolence! Imperial Court's grace!"

The villagers held the golden grain seeds, gazing at the struggling crops in the fields, then looked at the Ministry of Works officials and artisans still busy in the fields, debugging various strange devices, their eyes full of gratitude.

The initial panic over 'earth plague' and 'monstrous evils' gradually dissipated in the face of the authorities' sustained publicity, concrete disaster relief actions, and the Ministry of Works' display of 'miraculous' methods.

In its place arose a sense of post-disaster relief, and a spontaneous feeling of belonging toward an Imperial Court that could respond swiftly and had not abandoned them.

"I heard it was the method personally brought by the Minister of Justice from the capital, Zhao Qingtian?"

"Yes, and there are those glowing plates, heard to be a new treasure from the Investigation of Things Institute, specially for dispelling the evil qi of this land!"

"His Majesty surely knows we've suffered disaster here, otherwise he wouldn't have sent such a high-ranking official and waived our taxes..."

Similar scenes were also unfolding, to varying degrees, in other areas affected by the 'bone-corroding' plague, such as Lu and Bo prefectures.

The Great Chen Imperial Court's efficient mobilization, the Ministry of Works' swift response based on Fortune Momentum and rune techniques, and the spare-no-expense disaster relief and tax-exemption policies acted like a solid dam, firmly holding back the panic wave triggered by the 'bone-corroding' plague and keeping the disaster's damage to a minimum.

The people's hearts, after experiencing the initial panic, became more cohesive thanks to the Imperial Court's strong measures.

In stark contrast, the scene on the other side of the light curtain, within the 'False Song' territory, was as follows:

False Song, the villages west of Ying Tian Prefecture (note: originally Song Prefecture, upgraded to Nanjing Ying Tian Prefecture after Zhao Kuangyin's ascension).

Here there is no strange blue foam contaminating the water source, and the land has never become compacted.

But another kind of 'withering' is silently spreading.

The heavy taxes and various 'levies' and 'provisions' imposed to maintain the 'Divine Martial Army' were like invisible straws, greedily sucking the last drop of fat and grease from the populace.

Most of the able-bodied youths in the village were conscripted to build fortifications and transport grain and forage, leaving only the elderly, weak, women, and children to struggle to maintain the fields.

During the spring planting season, due to lack of labor, livestock, and seeds, many fields lay fallow, overgrown with weeds.

"Ah, when will this life ever have an end..."

A white-haired old man sat under the broken eaves of his own home, watching another convoy of grain-laden creaking wagons creak along the distant official road, his eyes filled with numbness.

"Taxes that can't be paid, service that can't be finished... I heard they're going to fight again up north."

"That's right, our stored grain is almost gone, and the authorities' demand notices have come down again."

Beside her, the old woman beat her sore waist and legs, sighing, "I heard that in Jiangning Prefecture, many weaving families have gone bankrupt, said... said it's to let the cheap, good cloth from the south (referring to Great Chen) take over."

"South..." the old man's turbid eyes flashed a glimmer of light, then quickly dimmed; he shook his head, daring not to speak further.

The existence of the light curtain, coupled with the authorities' strict blockade and publicity, left ordinary people knowing very little about the concrete situation of the Chen dynasty on the other side.

But some vague messages always trickle out, through traveling merchants and through the occasional border-crossing refugees.

It is said that over there taxes are light, corvée labor is few, and the authorities even distribute new-style farm tools;

It is said that the artisans there can build machines that turn by themselves without oxen or horses;

It is said that the emperor there greatly values the people's fields and harvests...

These fragmentary bits of information, like faint sparks in the darkness, though unable to light the way ahead, give those gasping under heavy oppression a faint, inexpressible longing, and a deeper despair for the present reality.

The people's hearts, like flowing water, always tend toward places that can nurture life.

On the 'False Song' side, there is ever-heavier oppression, a future without visible hope, and the people's livelihood difficulties aggravated by the penetration of the Great Chen economy.

On the Great Chen side, despite natural disasters there is a strong response, taxes are lightened, new technology brings hope, and the Imperial Court seems truly to care about the feelings of these ordinary folk.

The disparity in the people's hearts between the two sides of the light curtain is like a constantly tilting scale, becoming ever more evident.

Bian Liang, the imperial palace.

Chen Wen, in the gaps between reviewing memorials, closed his eyes and focused his mind.

He could clearly feel that the vigorous vortex of Fortune Momentum within him, which had originally been abundant, had not diminished due to the 'bone-corroding' disaster; on the contrary, it seemed... more solid, more vast.

A thick, warm, vital force flowed in from all directions of the Great Chen territory, especially from the prefectures and counties that had just experienced calamity but had been successfully pacified, trickling in to merge into the vortex, making its flow smoother and more powerful.

He understood that this was the people's will, the power of the myriad beings' thoughts.

It was the old farmer of Li Family Village's choked voice as he cupped the soil, it was the Lu Prefecture commoners' kowtow of thanks upon receiving the grain seeds, it was the countless people, in the face of disaster, who, because the Imperial Court had not abandoned them, kindled trust and hope.

These seemingly minor emotions and beliefs, when gathered together, became the fundamental and greatest power that sustains the dynasty—Fortune Momentum.

"The 'bone-corroding' plague that destroys the land is certainly perilous."

But as long as people's hearts stay united and the foundation does not collapse, this Fortune Momentum will only grow stronger through tempering, becoming firmer with each setback.

"Zhao Kuangyin, you rely on the evil power of the iron crow, oppress the people with harsh rule; even with strong troops, how long can you maintain it?"

Chen Wen opened his eyes, his gaze piercing the hall, as if he could see the scene of devastated livelihood beyond the light curtain.

I hold the people's hearts as I hold a sharp blade, steady and solid—this is the foundation of Fortune Momentum; how could you shake it?

He picked up the vermilion brush, and on a memorial concerning the trial implementation of a new disaster relief and production restoration regulation in the Xing, Lu, and Bo prefectures, he marked it with an "approved" sign.

He knew that true strength did not lie in possessing how extraordinary a power, but in being able to let the people of this land live in peace and prosperity, seeing hope.

The people's hearts' orientation will ultimately decide this confrontation across the light curtain, and the final outcome.

And he was walking on the correct path.

Fortune Momentum flowed joyfully within his body, seemingly responding to his belief.