Exile at the beginning: I rule the world by drawing cards

Chapter 59 The county magistrate comes in person
Seven days have passed since Tonghua Village was robbed by water bandits. The bandits were like gluttonous beasts. After snatching a batch of things, they fell into a deep sleep without any movement.

But even so, the magistrate of Sui'an County is still worried about the water bandits.

Ye Zhizhang stood behind his desk, which was filled with old case files and a detailed list of the losses to Tonghua Village.

His eyebrows were furrowed, with a lingering worry on his face: "The letter I sent to the city has fallen into obscurity, and there has been no reply yet. This year, tax collection is imminent, but our county has been robbed by water bandits. The people cannot pay the taxes, and the superiors are forcing them to do so." Tight. If taxes are forced, I will be a bad official. If taxes are relaxed, I will be squeezed out by the officialdom."

When he said this, he suddenly looked up to the sky and sighed: "It's difficult! It's so difficult to be an official -"

He sighed for a while and lamented that the world was ruthless and all bad luck happened to him.He also lamented why he couldn't think about it in the first place, gave up inheriting the family business, and came to this place to become an official.

The master standing aside listened to him sighing and became depressed: "Sir, please stop sighing."

"Long before you took office, the group of water bandits had been entrenched in the Xunjiang River for many years. They had committed many crimes over the years, and several surrounding counties had suffered greatly. You cared about the people and sent people to suppress the bandits several times. Although they returned without success, But you also really did something for the people."

Ye Zhizhang felt even more depressed when he heard the words "suppressed bandits several times" and "returned without success".

Is he really not suitable to be an official?
The master was completely oblivious and continued: "It shouldn't be our turn to suppress bandits. The southwest garrison camp is only a hundred miles away from here. But the water bandits have robbed so much money over the years. How have we ever heard from the garrison? Is there any movement? Those officers who receive high salaries every year are not worried, so why do you feel sorry for yourself——"

"I know everything you said, but..."

Halfway through the conversation, the yamen servant hurriedly walked in and reported: "Sir, Chen Li from Sanjiang Village is outside asking for an audience."

Ye Zhizhang was deeply impressed by Sanjiang Village. Commander Wang from the Southwest Garrison's Beida Camp personally escorted the key prisoners to Sui'an Town and told him to pay more attention to the movements in Sanjiang Village.

Although he didn't know the reason, he had to obey the order from above, "Go and invite people in."

Last time, Tonghua Village came and brought bad news.Now that people are coming from Sanjiang Village, Ye Zhizhang is inexplicably nervous. If water bandits rob the village again, he may not be able to continue his job as county magistrate.
In the main hall, Li Zheng knelt down and bowed respectfully: "The common people have seen the county magistrate!"

Ye Zhizhang sat in the court, smoothed his green official robe, and said: "No need to be polite, I wonder why Chen Lizheng came here this time?"

"The grass-roots people came here to report something important." Li Zheng took out a drawing from his arms and held it in both hands. "Yesterday, the villagers found suspected water bandits leaving marks on the mountain. The grass-roots people specially asked people to draw them. , please take a look at it, the county magistrate."

"what?!"

Hearing the word "water bandit", Ye Zhizhang was so excited that he suddenly woke up: "Hurry up and show it to me!"

The master hurriedly presented the drawings.

The county government has sent people to suppress bandits several times in the past few years, and they are very familiar with the habits of those water bandits.

Just by taking a look at the pattern on the paper, Ye Zhizhang was sure that this was exactly the pattern left by the water bandits!

He swept away the depression in his heart and said with joy: "Chen Lizheng, you have solved a big trouble for me this time!"

Li Zheng didn't dare to take credit: "The first ones to discover this were the children in charge of patrol in the village. The common people knew that the safety of the whole village was involved and did not dare to delay. They came early in the morning to ask the county magistrate for help."

Qin Mengshang taught him these words, and he has been memorizing them since yesterday, for fear that he would suddenly forget the words when he saw the county magistrate.Ye Zhizhang heard this and asked doubtfully: "Why does Sanjiang Village send children to patrol?"

Li Zheng said truthfully: "To be honest with you, since the incident in Tonghua Village, the villagers have been worried that water bandits will target them. In order to protect everyone's safety, Sanjiang Village temporarily set up a patrol team. Not only the prime labor force participated, but also children. participate."

"It was so"

While Ye Zhizhang admired him, he felt ashamed at the same time.As the magistrate of a county, he was unable to protect the people in the county. In the end, he had to rely on the unarmed villagers to resist the water bandits themselves. What a shame!

Seeing that his master was in self-denial again, the master reminded him: "Sir, our top priority should be to think about how to deal with the water bandits?"

Ye Zhizhang reacted instantly and said solemnly: "That's right!"

The water bandits are a matter of great importance. In recent years, several attempts to suppress the bandits have all ended in failure. There have also been several times where the water bandits' strongholds have been found out and they were prepared to be wiped out, but in the end they were always defeated by an army.The last time he suppressed the bandits, he sent people to ambush the water bandits on their way back. Unexpectedly, when those people arrived on the Xun River, they slipped away like fish in the water, leaving him with a few soldiers inside.

I originally thought that the water bandits would only do evil on the Xunjiang River, but this time Tonghua Village was robbed and gave him a big blow.

Now that the water bandits' intentions have been detected in advance, they must not sit still and wait for death.I couldn't do anything about them on the river, but now I'm in the mountains, can't I still catch fish?

Ye Zhizhang made a prompt decision, summoned all the government officials, put on casual clothes and pretended to be ordinary villagers, and returned to Sanjiang Village with Li Zheng.

The incident of water bandits sneaking into the village and leaving a mark caused a stir. Everyone spent the night in panic. When they heard that Li Zheng had returned with the county magistrate, they all stopped what they were doing and rushed to see the magistrate's true face after hearing the news.

After autumn, the summer heat dissipates and the sun is dazzling but not scorching.

The villagers gathered at the entrance of the village in eager anticipation. After waiting for a long time, a bullock cart slowly drove into view.

Li Zheng jumped out of the car first, followed by Ye Zhizhang, who was wearing a cloth robe, and a group of government officials.

The villagers who were originally afraid of the county magistrate were almost shocked when they saw this scene. Who said that the county magistrate was a dog official who squeezed the people?

Officials always ride in carriages when going out and ask someone to carry the sedan chair.If they hadn't known that the county magistrate was coming, who would have thought that the man in a cloth robe in front of them was the county magistrate of Sui'an County?

Ye Zhizhang originally ordered to keep quiet, but he didn't expect so many villagers to come.

"Chen Lizheng, take me to the back mountain first, and then we will discuss how to set up defenses."

Li Zheng hurriedly agreed and walked in front to lead the way.

This was the first time Ye Zhizhang went to the village for inspection. He carefully observed the situation in the village and saw someone fertilizing the rice piles in the field. He couldn't help but wonder: "After the autumn harvest, the land should be plowed and cultivated. Why are there such long rice piles? Want to fertilize?”

Li Zheng studied the charter of regenerated rice day and night and had already memorized it by heart: "Yongzhou has a warm climate and abundant rainfall. As long as proper fertilization is applied, the remaining rice piles can grow ears of rice again."

"Is there such a strange thing happening?!"

(End of this chapter)