Jiuxi

Chapter 1011 1009 [Difficulty in Traveling]

When Du Wang finished his story, the head of Dujia Village also received the news and rushed over.

This man's name was Du Huo. He was both the head of the village and the patriarch of the Du family. In this era when imperial power did not extend to the countryside, he had absolute jurisdiction over more than a hundred households in the village. Whenever there were conflicts and disputes among the villagers, he would make the final judgment alone, and even the officials from the county government could not interfere.

Compared to Du Wang, who had never spoken to the county officials in his life, Du Huo had obviously seen some of the world. As soon as he arrived, he bowed in a proper manner and said, "Greetings, sir. I am Du Huo, currently the head of Dujia Village."

Lu Chen turned his head and saw that this Du Lizheng was probably in his forties or fifties. From the appearance, he looked slightly better than Du Wang, but still limited. After all, there were only more than a hundred households in the entire Dujia Village, and as the head of the village, he could not get any benefits.

"If you don't mind, please find a place to sit first."

Lu Chen gave a calm instruction, then looked at Du Wang and said, "Old man, just now you said that you heard the county officials talk about the new policy of the court. Do you still remember what they said?"

Du Wang apologized, "It seems that there are a few provisions. The court wants to reduce the rent of poor families like me, to set up schools in the county and larger villages, and to open some medicine shops in the prefecture and county. These are all I remember."

Lu Chen asked again: "Besides these policies, what else do you think you need most?"

"This, this, this..."

Du Wang waved his hands repeatedly and said, "How dare I talk nonsense?"

"Then put it another way."

Lu Chen signaled him not to be nervous and said gently, "How has the county magistrate done over the past year? Have the county officials ever bullied the people?"

Du Huo winked at him, but Du Wang didn't see it at all. He thought for a moment and said, "Sir, I dare not lie. The county magistrate is a good official. This spring, I don't have money to buy seeds for spring farming. There are many families in the same situation. It was the county magistrate who persuaded the gentry and merchants in the county to lend us poor people some money, and he didn't charge interest. Otherwise, many people would not be able to farm even if they got the land."

Lu Chen asked again: "What about the official?"

Du Wang finally smiled and said, "It's much better than before! The county officials won't beat people up at will. I haven't been stopped from selling firewood in the county town this year. It's not like before when I had to pay two cents to enter the city."

Du Huo couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

He knew that this group of strangers had extraordinary identities. Most likely, they were like what was described in operas, high-ranking officials who came from nowhere on a secret visit. Their purpose of coming to Dujia Village was self-evident. They must want to know the details of Linchuan County.

If Du Wang spoke nonsense, it would be hard to say whether the officials in the county government would be in trouble, but their Dujia Village would definitely be held accountable later.

Lu Chen knew what Du Lizheng was thinking after just one look. He didn't bother to pay attention to it. He shifted his gaze to the little girl's face and asked, "Your name is Du Ni'er? How old are you?"

The little girl replied timidly, "Ten... twelve years old."

Looking at the pair of confused eyes on her thin face, Lu Chen felt more and more upset.

He only needs one word to change the little girl's fate, and he will definitely do it, but how many Duniers are there in this world?

In other corners that he can't see, who cares about the life and death and suffering of these children?

Among all the people present, Qin Zilong had been with Lu Chen the longest and understood his own prince's thoughts the best. He immediately called a personal guard to walk out of the courtyard and whispered something in his ear. Then he saw the personal guard leave quickly.

Lu Chen noticed that the little girl's toes were curled up in her straw sandals, so he repeated, "Don't be afraid, I'm not a bad person."

Facing his gentle gaze, Du Nier gradually calmed down and said softly, "Don't be afraid."

Lu Chen nodded, and then said to Du Huo: "Du Lizheng, I am the inspector of the Prime Minister's New Policy Office. I am on a trip to various places to check the implementation of the new policy. Later I will go to Linchuan County to meet with the county magistrate Gao Yong, so you don't have to worry or be afraid. Now please gather everyone in the village, I want to talk to everyone."

Logically he should have taken out the official seal as proof, but Du Huo didn't understand all that. Besides, the dozens of tall horses outside were enough to prove the identity of this group of people, so he quickly agreed.

Soon, hundreds of villagers gathered cautiously in the threshing ground of the village. Only after Du Huo explained Lu Chen's identity and purpose to them did they relax a little.

Lu Chen began to chat with them about family matters, such as how many people were in the family, how many acres of land they had, how the harvest was, how much food they could save throughout the year, whether it had increased compared to before, and whether it was enough to feed the family. They all talked about topics related to life and survival, without any official tone or airs.

The villagers were reluctant to answer at first, but as time went on and Lu Chen remained approachable, they gradually became enthusiastic.

From noon to sunset, when the sound of horse hooves reached everyone's ears, the conversation came to an end.

The villagers looked over curiously and saw dozens of knights and seven or eight carts coming.

Lu Chen stood on the mound and said loudly: "Fellow villagers, thank you for telling me so many things. This is a little gift I prepared for you."

Only then did the villagers know what was loaded on the cart.

Cloth, grain, coarse salt, pork and what they needed most: seeds for the next spring plowing.

Everyone's eyes suddenly lit up.

Lu Chen turned around and said, "Du Lizheng, please go and help distribute it." Du Huo agreed with great joy, and secretly marveled at the same time. Are all officials from the capital so generous? You know, these carts of things cost a lot of money.

Lu Chen looked at the cheering villagers, took a bundle from Qin Zilong, walked to the little girl, squatted down and said, "There are two pairs of warm shoes in here, one for you and grandpa, and two sets of winter clothes, one for each of you, take them."

Dunier looked at him blankly, tears welling up in her eyes.

Du Wang was surprised and immediately knelt down and said, "Thank you very much, sir, for your kindness. I kowtow to you!"

Yuchi Gui, who had been silent all the time, suddenly reached out and helped the old man up.

Du Nier took the bundle handed over by Lu Chen, hugged it tightly, and said softly: "Thank you, sir."

Lu Chen raised his hand and rubbed her head gently, then said to Du Wang, "There is a storefront of Lu's business in Linchuan County, which should be easy to find. Go to the store owner tomorrow and ask him to arrange a position for Ni'er as an apprentice in a weaving workshop. She is still young, so there won't be many things to do for her. The main thing is to let her learn some skills and learn to read. In addition, she can have enough food every day there, and she can also save some wages. Don't be afraid, when you go there and tell your name, someone will naturally welcome you."

Du Wang was so grateful that he was speechless at this moment. He could only hold Du Ni'er, and both the grandfather and granddaughter were in tears.

Lu Chen waved his hand and said, "Let's go."

He couldn't bear to look at the little girl's tender and thin face any longer, so he turned and walked towards his mount.

Just as I got on the horse, a burst of uniform shouting suddenly sounded behind me.

"Thank you, benefactor!"

Lu Chen turned his head and saw that all the villagers were kneeling and bowing to him.

"No need. I feel guilty for accepting this."

Lu Chen saluted towards the villagers and rode away on his horse. Yuchi Gui and dozens of his personal guards followed him, while the others stayed behind to continue distributing the cartloads of supplies.

Dozens of riders were walking slowly on the dirt road heading to Linchuan County, and the atmosphere in the team was quite solemn.

Lu Chen was still thinking about the little girl whose parents had both passed away and whose life was extremely miserable, so he said, "Zilong, that old man Lu may not dare to go to the county town to find the Lu family business. You arrange for someone to take care of this matter. Maybe we can't help everyone, but we can't just ignore it if we see it."

The latter sentence sounded more like he was comforting himself.

Qin Zilong said solemnly: "Don't worry, Your Majesty, I will definitely get it done and make sure that Du Nier will not be bullied in the company."

"Don't treat her too well. That's not good for her. If her life goes through too many ups and downs, it might cause her personality to change drastically. Anyway, you should consider it."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

After arranging this matter, Lu Chen fell into a long silence again.

The afterglow of the setting sun spreads all over the earth, and the world is peaceful.

Yuchi Gui looked at Lu Chen's stern face and sighed softly: "Actually, you have done very well."

"Senior, I just feel a little helpless and powerless."

Lu Chen narrowed his eyes and said slowly: "After leaving the capital, I have seen more and more suffering in the world. In some places, it is because the officials are bastards who think that they can be allowed to bully the people as before. This problem is easy to solve, just chop off their heads. But you can also see that at least there are very few such foolish officials who are not afraid of death. Most places are like Dujia Village. The officials are doing their best to implement the new policy, but the people are still suffering and have a hard time. They can't even afford a pair of decent shoes."

Yuchi Gui raised his head slightly and said with a sigh: "In fact, it has been like this for thousands of years. As long as a large number of people do not starve to death, history books will call it a prosperous era."

"Oh, prosperous times."

Lu Chen shook his head and laughed at himself.

His greatest feeling along the way was powerlessness. He cleaned up the bureaucracy, regulated commercial taxes, provided relief to the poor, built water conservancy projects, and encouraged farming. He used hundreds of lives to intimidate all those who were ready to make moves, and led countless loyal officials to promote the implementation of the new policy. However, it seems that he is still very far away from his ideal.

Seeing this, Yuchi Gui said, "I don't think you will back down just like that."

"of course not."

Lu Chen took a deep breath, his expression firmed up, and he said slowly: "I am 28 years old this year. Even if I have another 40 years to live, if I spend these 40 years doing only this one thing, I believe I will see the light at the end of the tunnel."

Yuchi Gui smiled and said, "Then I will try to live a few more years, maybe I can see the day when the world changes dramatically."

Lu Chen did not continue to indulge in that pessimistic mood. He tried hard to adjust his mentality, whipped his horse forward, and said three words with certainty.

"Will!"

(End of this chapter)