Three Kingdoms: Jiangdong is no longer a rat

Chapter 168 Bluestone
Yan Yi attached great importance to this inspection of the village, and the arrangements he made went far beyond distributing salaries and announcing tax orders.

Next, he personally visited the orphans and widows in several villages, and like in Yuncheng, ordered the household department to allocate money and grain according to the standard of 20,000 coins and 50 shi of grain per village to provide relief to the orphans and widows.

After providing relief to the orphans and widows, he would walk along the streets, inspecting the houses and walls, and asking the village head and elders about farming, weaving, training the people, and organizing the ten and five groups. He was so familiar with the details that he could often get to the point and identify the problem in just a few words.

Since crossing over, Yan Yi had frequently traveled around the village, inspecting at least dozens of pavilions and villages. The various cover-ups that Yicheng's officials had put in place to deal with his inspections were rendered meaningless in front of him.

Soon, several derelict local officials were publicly punished, and one of them was even beheaded.

The accompanying Qiantang officials, both big and small, were terrified and sweating profusely.

Today's experience had left a lasting impression on them. Not only had they witnessed Yan Yi's methods of governing the people, but they had also seen his ruthless side. They were eager to return to the city immediately, sort out the messes at home, and avoid the spotlight.

They originally thought that the Lord of Qiantang was only good at military affairs, but unexpectedly, he was also deeply involved in political affairs and was even harder to fool than Zhu Zhi.

How will I live my life from now on?
Compared to these frightened officials, Quan Rou was much calmer.

Among all the people in Qiantang, he had the most contact with Yan Yi, and his understanding of Yan Yi increased day by day. He knew that Yan Yi was a man who was lenient and strict at the same time, and as long as his subordinates did not go too far, he would not take it too seriously.

Within this scope, with the power in his hands, he has been able to obtain a lot of benefits.

As for those parasites who abused their power to amass wealth and become violent, if they died at the hands of Yan Yi, they could only blame themselves for being too greedy and too stupid.

He wished more people like this would die.

Quan Rou sneered in her heart, and seeing Yan Yi walking towards the inner door, she hurriedly followed him.

Everyone went out of the gate and, led by Le Zheng, came to a quarry not far from the house.

The quarry is located at the foot of a hundred-meter-high hill. There are huge rocks scattered throughout the quarry, some square, some round, some large, some small. Most are raw stones that have not yet been hammered or hewn, while a few are already formed.

Since all the villagers working here had gone to the village to welcome Yan Yi, the place seemed very quiet and empty.

Half of the hill behind the quarry has been hollowed out, revealing a deep gap.

There are twenty or thirty similar hills around this hill, with vast mountains and rugged rocks.

Yan Yi was very interested in the local specialties. He walked towards the quarry as his footsteps on the gravel road made a series of clicking sounds.

Le Zheng followed closely beside him, explaining as they walked, "Young Master, most of the people in the pavilion rely on this bluestone for their livelihood. I'm not boasting, but the bluestone produced locally is of top-notch quality. Not only can it be used to build houses, pave roads, and construct walls, but some of the rarest ones can even be carved into artifacts."

Seeing that he looked proud of himself, Yan Yi couldn't help but smile. He gave him an encouraging look and motioned him to continue.

Le Zheng said with great delight, "In terms of material, the local bluestone can be divided into three grades: rare, high-grade, and low-grade. For bridges, wall tiles, well curbs, and the like, the low-grade can be used. For steps, column bases, stone beasts, incense burners, reliefs, and other items found in noble residences, the high-grade can be used. As for rare, only distinguished families like Shaojun can afford them. Some of the finest rare items were once presented to Your Majesty by the previous Lord."

Yan Yi's eyes flashed with surprise. He picked up a palm-sized bluestone from the ground, played with it, and asked, "Since it is so valuable, why are the people here still so poor?"

A trace of fear flashed across Le Zheng's face, and he stammered and stopped talking.

Quan Rou had no desire to argue with a mere village head, so he smiled and said, "Young Master, you don't know that although there are many bluestone hills here, the deeds to the hills are not in the hands of the villagers. They cannot benefit from them, and can only earn some labor fees."

Yan Yi understood a little and lowered his voice a little, "Who has it?" Quan Rou said word by word, "The mountain deeds within a ten-mile radius are all in the hands of the Zhao family."

As soon as these words were spoken, the entire place fell silent, with only the faint sound of rapid breathing to be heard. The surrounding residents showed obvious fear.

Quan Rou's eyes revealed a hint of gloating. In the past, even he would not dare to offend Zhao. But now, he wished Zhao would die quickly.

If the Zhao family does not perish, how can the Quan family make further progress?
Yan Yi heard this and smiled faintly: "Today I know Qian Tang's surname and name."

The people around were so frightened that they dared not breathe.

Yan Yi pointed to the hill ahead and said, "Quan Jun, I want to build a road here to connect to the official road and expand this place several times. What do you think?"

Quan Rou knew that the Zhao family was about to be destroyed, and said respectfully, "Very good!"

Yan Yi nodded slightly and walked around the quarry, as if he saw a mountain of copper coins.

He withdrew his gaze, sighed slightly, and thought to himself: "Although this mountain is beautiful, it's a pity that the stone is not made of copper or iron."

For Yan Yi, what he cares about most are copper mines and iron mines.

However, the production area of ​​Jiangdong's copper and iron mines, mainly in Danyang County, is not within his sphere of influence at the moment.

Everyone followed him closely, and many of them were already thinking about the land of Qingshi Pavilion.

When Yan Yi eats meat, he should leave some soup for them, right?

Everyone returned to their homes with their own thoughts.

Yan Yi secretly gave Cao Qiu a wink.

Cao Qiu understood and quietly left the crowd. After a while, he returned with several scrolls of bamboo slips.

He walked up to Yan Yi, bowed, raised the bamboo slips in his hand high, and said in a loud voice: "This humble official has something to report!"

Yan Yi showed a look of surprise: "What's the matter?"

Cao Qiu said seriously, "When the officials distributed the wages to the villagers, they found that very few people came to collect them, far less than the number of households recorded in the register."

Yan Yi took the bamboo slips and looked at them for a while, then turned his gaze to the music director beside him and asked, "Are all the people in Yueqing here?"

The music director bowed his head and said, "Young Master, before your carriage arrived, I had already called back all the villagers, not one was left behind."

Cao Qiu scolded him, "Nonsense! The registered population shows a total of 673 people, but there are less than 400 villagers here. Where did the other 300 people go?"

According to the law, residents of the village were not allowed to leave the county at will. If they wanted to travel elsewhere, they had to obtain a pass such as a "chuan" or "guosuo" permit. Failure to do so would likely result in being considered a refugee or fugitive, with consequences ranging from confiscation of land and houses to even more severe punishment.

(End of this chapter)