fan the flames vs vex

fan the flames

verb
  • To intensify or worsen an already difficult situation. 

vex

verb
  • To cause (mental) suffering to; to distress. 

  • To toss back and forth; to agitate; to disquiet. 

  • To twist, to weave. 

  • To annoy, irritate. 

How often have the words fan the flames and vex occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )