46 The New County Magistrate Arrives

In the County Magistrate’s residence, guard Wang Li was urging the servants in the residence to do their work.

“Hurry up, Master will arrive in the afternoon. Throw away all the unwanted things and tidy up the main courtyard first!”

historical

This County Magistrate’s residence was made luxuriously by the former County Magistrate. Even the bowls were made of gold. Who knew how many commoners had been bullied.

After the former County Magistrate was arrested, the servants in the residence looted the entire County Magistrate’s residence. Everything needed to be rebuilt. The newly bought servants had not been properly trained, and their work was messy.

Thinking of the arrival of the heir-son lord in the afternoon, Wang Li walked around restlessly. The residence had not been properly built yet, and he did not know if the master would blame him.

On this side, Ming Zhiyan, who was sitting in the carriage, took a sip of tea and slowly placed a black piece on the chessboard.

“Crown Prince, the assassins have all been executed.” The voice of a guard came from outside the carriage.

Ming Zhiyan replied unhurriedly, “Let’s continue on our way.”

“Yes!”

A group of guards riding tall horses escorted a noble carriage as they slowly set off. The original spot was left with the corpses of the black-clothed men with broken limbs. Fresh blood dyed the soil below red.

Knowing that it was already five o’clock when Ming Zhiyan arrived at Shifeng County, the street vendors had already left the city, so not many people saw the new County Magistrate’s carriage.

The carriage silently arrived at the County Magistrate’s residence. Wang Li led the crowd and waited in front of the residence. Seeing the arrival of the carriage, he hurriedly went forward to welcome it.

“Crown Prince, you’ve worked hard all the way. Food has been prepared in the residence, please have your meal.”

Ming Zhiyan stretched out her slender hand to open the curtain of the carriage and bent down to get out. His handsome face was expressionless. “First, tell me about the current situation in Shifeng County.”

Wang Li followed Ming Zhiyan and reported the information he had gathered over the past few days. “Most of the people in the government office are relatives of the previous County Magistrate. They act as accomplices and henchmen and treat the government office as their own home. They harm the people and oppress their colleagues who have no backing..”

“The refugees in the county are all gathered at the West District’s Chenghuang Temple. The previous County Magistrate did not allow them to develop the land, so they rely on the wild vegetables on the mountain to feed themselves. The farmers in the countryside are also having a hard time. The relief rations issued by the Imperial Court last year have not been distributed to the people.”

Ming Zhiyan’s cold voice rang out, “Find a reason to throw those trash from the government office directly into the prison and replace them with our own people.”

Wang Li paused for a moment, but he still braced himself and said, “Most of the relatives of the previous County Magistrate have committed crimes, so it’s not difficult to find a crime. However, we didn’t bring many people this time, so what if we don’t have enough people to replace them?”

“In such a big county, we can always find capable people who were bullied by those useless officials.”

“Yes.”

..

The arrival of the new County Magistrate was bound to cause some commotion in this remote county.

When the County Magistrate Ming took office, the first thing he did was to dismiss all the officials who usually bullied the common people, and those who broke the law were all sent to prison.

This made the common people clap their hands in delight. It also worried the gentry who thought that Ming Zhiyan was only here to take advantage of them again.

When the previous County Magistrate was in office, these gentry had colluded with him many times and did some things to harm the common people. They were afraid that they would be punished for their previous behavior, so these gentry all hid.

However, the war between the local gentry and the new County Magistrate still broke out.

County Magistrate Ming issued a decree that allowed the people of the county to develop the empty lands, and organized the refugees to build houses and develop lands.

This decree affected the interests of the local gentry. Many of the wasteland in Shifeng County had already been occupied by the former County Magistrate and the local gentry. So if the people wanted to develop these lands, they had to buy it.

Knowing that the decree issued by Ming Zhiyan had damaged the interests of many of the local gentry, they did not hide anymore. They joined forces to go to the government office to force Ming Zhiyan to withdraw the decree.