Chapter 11: Grain-eating bird disaster!
Above the public fields of Gucheng, in the low clouds, there was a [Liuyun Flying Boat] floating.

A burly man stood at the bow. He was wearing a light green official uniform embroidered with clouds and wheat ears, a copper seal and a silver ribbon around his waist, and a bamboo box at his feet.

The cage looked only about one meter square, but at this moment, black birds kept flying out of it and headed straight for the farmland below.

Next to the box were two middle-aged men wearing the same official uniform. The slight difference was that they had copper seals and green ribbons on their waists.

The three people were Chen Shijie, the chief officer of Gucheng Sinongjian, who was a ninth-rank official.

The adjutants Gao Linong and Tang Wanchun, who were in charge of Ji Tian and Jun Shu, were of the ninth rank.

After the three people, there was another person with an iron ruler on his waist. He was a clerk sent by Li Wenzhen, the magistrate of Gucheng County. He was responsible for recording the entire monthly review process and was a complete tool.

When all the black birds in the cage had flown away, the county clerk began his routine work and asked, "Excuse me, Lord Chen, what species is this black bird?"

Chen Shijie turned around and bowed in return, "This bird is called 'grain-eating bird', also known as 'vulture bird', and is mostly seen in the north. I specially sent someone from my hometown to bring it here to be used in the assessment of local agricultural officials."

The clerk in the study asked again, "What is the content of the Lesser Heat test?"

Chen Shijie said: "During the Lesser Heat solar term, Yuan rice is about to mature, and grain-eating birds like Yuan rice the most. This assessment is to see how the officials of the Ministry of Agriculture deal with the natural enemies of the farmland."

The clerk seemed to have never seen this grain-eating bird before, so he asked cautiously, "Is it similar to a locust plague?"

"It won't be that exaggerated. After all, it's just an ordinary assessment."

The clerk took out a pen and paper from his waist and asked, "Master Chen, please give us the detailed scoring criteria."

Chen Shijie pointed to the box and cage and said, "I have moved the public fields in Gucheng to the Great Heat season. The heat is unbearable and will drain the vitality of the officials quickly. After an hour, the birds that eat the grain will return to the cage, and I, Lords Gao and Tang, will rate the officials below."

"It depends on the extent of damage to the farmland that each official is responsible for."

"If less than 10% of the original rice is damaged, it will be rated as Grade A."

"Those with damage of less than 20% will be rated as Grade B."

"Less than half of the damage is caused, so it is rated as Grade C."

"If more than half of the plants are damaged, there will be no score for this assessment, and the plant will be punished to be replanted and use cultivation techniques to speed up growth. If the damage is repaired, the plant can be re-evaluated as Grade C."

The clerk quickly wrote it down on paper and then bowed and said, "Thank you for your answer, sir. I will not disturb the three invigilators."

After saying that, he turned and went into the cabin, waiting for the results to come out, and then asked Chen Shijie to approve it and report to the county government.

Below the public fields of Gucheng, the situation was already in chaos.

No one expected that the test questions would come from the sky, and so suddenly!

Black flocks of birds circled over the fields that each agricultural clerk was in charge of.

However, these birds were just circling and had not moved yet. This was Chen Shijie giving the clerks time to react.

There are people below who react quickly and have begun to cast spells quickly.

[Moving clouds], [wind], [thunder], [rain], it's so lively.

Everyone wants to drive away these uninvited guests as soon as possible.

"Oh my god, I recognize it. It's a northern vulture that feeds exclusively on grain seeds and is very difficult to drive away!"

"Damn you, examiner! There is no such bird in my southern part of the country. How can you use this as a test question?"

"Chen Shijie is from the north, could it be that he specially brought this here?!"

"The Lesser Heat test is about natural disasters. How come vultures are not considered natural disasters?"

"Ah! My newly-eared rice! Get out of here, you stinky birds!"

"..."

There was confusion, cursing, crying, and the public fields that had been quiet for the exam suddenly became filled with the howling of ghosts.

Zhao Xing recognized it as a granary bird immediately because he was so familiar with it!
In his previous life, when he changed his job to become an agriculture official, he encountered this problem before. In addition, various "natural disasters" often occurred in the territory, which were extremely difficult to deal with.

Of course, it is still far worse than the "locust plague". That is extinction-inducing and will eat away your roots.

"What kind of bird is this? Why can't the wind blow it away? Why can't the rain stop falling? Even thunder is not afraid of it? Brother Zhao, Qian Dong, how should we deal with it... Brother Zhao?"

Chen Ziyu lowered his head to look for Zhao Xing, but found that Zhao Xing had already run to the haystack area.

Only a voice could be heard in the wind: "Don't just stand there, hurry back to your respective fields and think of a solution. If you can't do anything else, go and chase them away by yourselves. Protect as many as you can!"

Hearing Zhao Xing's voice, Qian Dong and Chen Ziyu also acted quickly.

At this moment, I can’t take care of anything else, all I have to do is race against time.

At this time, Zhao Xing was very glad that he had not slackened in his practice of the straw man magic in the past few days.

Because at present, straw puppets are the most efficient way to deal with it. [You made a straw puppet (repeat)]

【Straw Puppet (Reprint)】

[Proficiency: 854/9999]

【Effect: Follow orders and repeat the process over and over again.】

[Proficiency +1]

[You made a straw puppet (repeat)]

【Straw Puppet (Reprint)】

[Proficiency: 864/9999]

【Effect: Follow orders and repeat the process over and over again.】

[Proficiency +2]

The upper limit of the proficiency of elementary spells is 9999. Every 1000 proficiency points will increase by one level, which is called "Spell Level ", which means the power will be raised to a higher level.

Since Zhao Xing learned the "Liu Chuan Bian Fa", the proficiency of the straw figures he made was very high, but it had not yet reached the "first turn" level.

But this will be about quantity, not quality.

"Faster, faster, faster..."

Zhao Xing's hand speed was so fast that it was almost blurred. Since taking the Dao Embryo Pill, his vitality has increased day by day, and his physical condition has also improved a lot. After a while, the haystack in front of him became shorter at a speed visible to the naked eye, and at the same time, one straw man after another began to run towards the destination.

One, two, ten, fifteen...

A quarter of an hour later, the circling black bird landed and began to eat the Yuan rice.

When Zhao Xing saw this, his face changed.

His responsibility field is five mu, which is half the size of a football field, but now there are not enough straw men.

"Xingyun!"

A golden light flashed from his fingers, and he flew straight over his farmland, where low clouds and mist covered it.

Zhao Xing at this time is no longer the same as a month ago. The range of the moving clouds almost covers most of the five acres of land.

The effect of the clouds and fog slightly hindered the granivorous birds, but it was only a slight deterrent.

"thunder!"

Zhao Xing cast another spell, the clouds turned from white to gray, thunder began to roar, and purple lightning flashed.

"Coax~"

The fallen granivorous birds scattered again and raised their bodies again.

But it still refused to leave, hovering in the sky, as if looking for an opportunity to descend, or as if waiting for the thunder to stop.

Zhao Xing no longer hesitated and immediately sped up his actions, because he knew that this could only block it temporarily and could not stop it forever.

The Lesser Heat Assessment will take a long time to select the best candidates from more than 500 people.

Only twenty people at most can get an A grade or above.

"My best score before was only B-low, and most of the time it was C-up or C-medium, which was just the passing line. There will not be many evaluations in the future, and each one is crucial to me."

Zhao Xing was thinking about it and reached out with his hand, but felt nothing. It turned out that the haystack in front of him was empty.

He immediately rushed to another haystack, pulled out the grass and weaved it. At this moment, suddenly several figures ran to his haystack and snatched the "materials" from him.

Zhao Xing was not the only one who mastered the straw man magic and found it useful. Many minor officials also came into the know of it.

"Get out of here, I saw this first!"

"What do you mean this is yours, a public pasture..."

"Are you going to leave or not?!" Zhao Xing picked up a stone and threw it at the other person. His face was vicious and his eyes were fierce. The gamer nature that was deeply rooted in his bones in his previous life was inadvertently revealed.

"You, you are so unreasonable..." The man was frightened and stepped back suddenly. He was about to curse, but when he saw Zhao Xing's ferocious face and a sickle in his hand, he immediately realized that this was not someone to be trifled with, so he had to run away.

Seeing this, others didn't dare to come closer. There were still many haystacks, and there was no need to compete with such a ruthless guy who would smash people at the slightest disagreement.

Zhao Xingfu continued to make straw men.

(End of this chapter)