Journey to the West: Starting by taking Sun Wukong as my disciple!-Chapter 542: Interrogation, Is it True?

On the surface, he put on a bitter smile, "I can help them temporarily, but I cannot help them for a lifetime, and besides, my family’s savings are not that much now."

"Oh, really? Is it because I inquired about it that you don’t have enough, or what?" the Accountant said.

"Sir, if it were you, and the grain in your storeroom was just enough to feed you alone, would you choose to help them or to look after yourself first?" Tian Peng countered.

To any ordinary mortal, the choice would naturally be to look after themselves first. There were so many people affected by the disaster; it was certainly impossible to take care of everyone.

Moreover, if one helped them now, when they themselves encountered difficulties later on, who would be there to help them?

However, although this was the logic, who wouldn’t know how to say a polite word or two?

The Accountant didn’t think twice before saying, "Every little bit helps, right? We can’t just watch the common folk starve to death, can we?"

By saying this, he was deliberately provoking Tian Peng.

Tian Peng didn’t get angry and replied with a smile, "The official has a good conscience. I lack such a conscience. After all, I’m a commoner. I have to think of myself first in any situation. I can only help others if I’m full and have the strength. Since the official is so kind, we’ll have to rely on the official for our town’s affairs."

The Accountant had wanted to provoke Tian Peng but hadn’t expected his provocation to backfire.

Having said so much himself, if he didn’t help others now, his previous words would have held no truth at all.

The Accountant looked towards the Kaifeng Prefecture Magistrate, realizing he had spoken too quickly and now couldn’t take his words back; he could only rely on the Kaifeng Prefecture Magistrate to salvage the situation.

"I see that although you can’t exhibit a selfless attitude in such matters, the fact that you’ve traveled so far to come here, just to seek justice for the townspeople, surely means you are among the virtuous," the Magistrate said.

"I don’t dare claim such. I’m simply trying to contribute in my own little way," Tian Peng replied modestly.

The Kaifeng Prefecture Magistrate observed Tian Peng, who was a wise man. If everything he said was true, he must also be someone who harbored concern for the whole world.

In due course, he’d send someone to check, and if the situation proved to be true, he would seize the opportunity to draw Tian Peng to his side. He was in need of an upright and intelligent person by his side.

Tian Peng didn’t know what the Kaifeng Prefecture Magistrate was thinking, but he could sense that the latter’s gaze was constantly moving over him, presumably still assessing him.

But with things having come this far, Tian Peng also found himself in a difficult position, wondering how he could explain further to make the officials of Kaifeng believe him.

"You say you came here to report to the authorities for the sake of the common people. I want to ask, it must have been a long time since you started experiencing drought troubles and the government’s inaction, right?" the Accountant suddenly asked.

"It’s been quite a while," Tian Peng reflected carefully; it seemed as though the County Magistrate had been coming to collect taxes every year since his earliest memories.

"How long?" the Accountant asked: "Three years? Five years?"

"I’m not very sure. It seems like ever since I can remember, the County Magistrate from our town seemed to collect taxes every year."

"How old are you this year?" the Accountant observed that he seemed quite young.

"I’m seventeen today," Tian Peng shared the age of the body he inhabited.

"My lord, the County Government Office of Huang’an Town, hasn’t it been here for over twenty years?" The principal clerk looked towards the official from Kaifeng Prefecture.

"Yes, that’s correct." The official from Kaifeng Prefecture took out a register and flipped through it, and indeed there was no mistake.

"If that’s the case, then your situation has not been for just a day or two. Our lord took office five years ago, but the register doesn’t contain any records about your affairs. That is to say, before you, not a single person has ever come to file a complaint. Can you tell me why that is?"

The principal clerk sneered, "Don’t tell me that you didn’t know you could file a complaint!"

"Of course not," Tian Peng said. "Actually, every year there are not just one or two who want to file complaints, but they simply can’t reach Kaifeng. My lord, do you know why that is?"

The principal clerk looked bewildered, "I’m asking you, why are you asking me instead? How would I know why they can’t reach me?"

"I’ve told you before, the people in the town can’t even eat their fill. Some are caught and beaten to death before they can even run away. Even if some succeed, they end up starving to death due to lack of food." Tian Peng explained.

This situation was indeed unimaginable for anyone, and the principal clerk choked on his words again, looking at Tian Peng’s expression, which did not seem like he was lying; the clerk could not bring himself to voice the doubts he harbored.

"You have always been in Bianjing, naturally, you cannot imagine our plight, just as the people of Chang’an never know how poor other places could be."

Tian Peng looked at the crowd; ever since he started describing the situation of Huang’an Town, these people had been full of doubts.

Now they truly couldn’t believe it, which was quite laughable. Each one lived under the sun but was just like a frog in a well.

"You bring a written complaint to have me investigate the corruption at Huang’an Town’s County Government Office," the official from Kaifeng Prefecture asked, "but there’s one thing I must tell you—adversities caused by a drought are not something that can be addressed by punishing a single corrupt official."

"Do not worry, my lord. We have already solved the drought situation because of the government’s inaction. As long as that corrupt official is punished and you grant us a two-year tax reprieve, our town will slowly improve on its own," Tian Peng said.

"You solved it on your own?" The principal clerk was surprised, "Unless it rained, how did you manage to do it?"

"By building an irrigation canal," Tian Peng said. "Isn’t building an irrigation canal what the government would do to solve a drought as well? If the County Government Office won’t take action, the people cannot just sit around and wait to die; they have to struggle on their own and find a way out for themselves."

"How did you construct this canal?" The principal clerk was still skeptical, "Building an irrigation canal, such a large project, isn’t something you can accomplish in just a few words; how did you manage it?"

"I gathered about fifty people in total, and we built the canal over nearly two months," Tian Peng said.

"I originally wanted to report this to the authorities two months earlier, but because we were building the canal, it got delayed by two months. Once the canal was finished and water was flowing, only then did I come here."

"Such a huge project..." The principal clerk was still in awe, "So many people, how did you gather them, relying solely on your passion?"

"Of course not," Tian Peng sneered. "I have no family, so I can act with passion, but others cannot. They have elders and younger siblings at home; they cannot completely neglect them. I distributed food; by giving them their daily rations of food, I managed to gather so many people to build the canal."

"So that was it."

The principal clerk had just mentioned how he had food and prioritized feeding the people first. If that was the case, indeed what he said earlier was mistaken; using such a method to distribute food to the people was certainly better than giving food directly to the people.

"But building an irrigation canal isn’t just about manpower; how did you know how to do it?" the official from Kaifeng Prefecture asked.

"I don’t know any special methods; I just used the simplest one."