Be a small county magistrate in ancient times

Chapter 527 How Much Do You Know?

After hearing this, Mo Li smiled and immediately expressed his desire to go to Wanzhou.

She worked hard for the students of Beishan County, and Meng Changqing thanked her sincerely. But considering the safety on the road, he still went to ask Chu Mufeng for two people, and divided ten people from his side, led by Lai Cai, to escort Mo Lixiao all the way.

Before leaving, Mo Lixiao felt guilty. He brought so many people from the county government. If he failed to invite the master, it would be a sin.

Meng Changqing comforted her, "It's normal that you can't invite one. Miss Mo, just think of it as traveling around the mountains and rivers and broadening your horizons, and it will be worth the trip. I have only one thing to say, Miss Mo, please listen to it, the so-called wise teacher is not about how much knowledge he has, but about his own character and ability to educate others."

The day we sent Mo Lixiao away was already the thirteenth day of the first lunar month.

It was the date agreed upon with Zheng Xidong and the others.

Meng Changqing walked back from the county government gate and deliberately walked past Zheng Xidong and the others' door. He even pretended to cough twice at the door. He waited and waited, but no one came out. He realized in his heart that they were probably not ready.

I decided to wait for half a day longer, until the evening, when it was almost time to leave the office, so I went to the room where Zheng Xidong and her colleagues worked.

Seeing Meng Changqing come in, the three of them stood up immediately, with nervous expressions on their faces.

"It's time." Meng Changqing asked, "Have you settled the accounts?"

Luo Yun looked at Zheng Xidong. Zheng Xidong was about to bite the bullet and reply when Mei Zi spoke first, "Your Excellency, no, we still have two account books left to be settled. Can we give them to you tomorrow morning?"

"No need." Meng Changqing said, "Tell me first, what did you find after looking at the accounts these days?"

"Sir." Zheng Xidong explained the situation honestly: "We have never learned how to read account books. It was only after Uncle Ma's guidance that we had some clues. We checked according to the method we just learned. There is no problem with the accounts we have calculated."

"Did the three of you come to the same conclusion?" Meng Changqing asked. Mei Zi and Luo Yun nodded.

"Okay." Meng Changqing asked again, "Then what do you see from these accounts?"

The three of them didn't understand why Meng Changqing asked this and thought they had answered the wrong question.

"You didn't see anything?" Meng Changqing urged them when he saw that they didn't say anything.

"Sir." Mei Zi hesitated after speaking, "I don't know if it counts."

Meng Changqing said: "If you see anything, just tell me."

Mei Zi whispered, "It has nothing to do with whether the accounts are correct. I see that the income is small and the expenditure is large. It seems that our county government does not have much money."

Meng Changqing's expression did not change at all. He asked Luo Yun and Zheng Xidong, "Did you see this?"

Luo Yun said, "I only paid attention to checking the numbers at the end of each book. I didn't pay attention to whether the county government had money."

Meng Changqing's eyes fell on Zheng Xidong, who lowered his head and said, "I didn't pay attention to it either."

"What else have you figured out?" Meng Changqing asked Mei Zi.

"The county government has a lot of expenses, and there are many reasons for it. Part of the expenses are for building roads and repairing city walls. But the revenue seems to be completely dependent on land tax and grain tax."

"You can see these from the accounts, which means you have put in a lot of effort." Meng Changqing stepped forward and patted the piled account books. "These account books have been checked many times by Master Cheng. The original intention of showing them to you is not to let you sort out the accounts, but just to see how much information you can get from them."