The playboy county magistrate

"Uncle Village Head! Good Uncle Village Head, Uncle~ let's talk this out, why are you in such a hurry to leave~"

"We just noticed you haven't been in a good mood lately, so we were telling you jokes to cheer you up. That city wall is so high, if we really jumped down and died, that would be one thing, but if we survived, we'd either break our arms or legs, or damage our brains, wouldn't that just cause trouble for everyone? We're not that stupid."

"Yes, yes, we were just saying that. We're living the good life, who wants to ruin it?"

"Uncle Village Head, just tell us what you want us to do! We're young and strong!"

"We didn't want to work before because we didn't have enough to eat, since we could eat a lot. If the work was too physically demanding, one person would probably have to eat the whole family's food. We're doing this to lighten the burden on our families."

"Who doesn't want a wife, kids, and a warm bed? We deliberately give others the illusion that we're all useless, so that others can get married. Otherwise, if any one of us were to leave the rest of the group, they would all be outshone and become old bachelors."

The village head was so angry he laughed. These people had such a string of ridiculous arguments and twisted logic.

Those watching from a short distance were stunned. Some even doubted whether they had heard or seen correctly, rubbing their eyes and ears in disbelief.

Even worse, some people, without thinking, reached out and pinched the arm of the person next to them hard, causing the person to cover their mouth and spin around jumping.

"Are you fucking crazy?! What did I ever do to you that you hit me so hard?!"

He rubbed his hands together and smiled, "I just wanted to see if I was still dreaming or not fully awake. I'm relieved that you're in pain."

"Our Lord Li is really something. These brats, who among us has ever tried to curry favor with them? We're lucky we haven't been driven to our deaths by their tempers. Not to mention now, watching these brats huddle together in a circle, pledging their loyalty to the village head, looking like they're afraid of not getting any work to do."

"Let's go, let's go. We should get busy with the task the magistrate assigned us. We can't let all the troublemakers start working while we haven't even begun. Otherwise, we'll be laughed at."

The crowd dispersed, and no one paid any attention to the village head who was unable to escape.

The village head also saw the people watching the commotion not far away and then leaving without looking back, and he was furious.

Since we're already here, can't we at least give ourselves a hand?

A bunch of bastards!

The village head was also worried that this group of people would seize the opportunity and snatch away the good and efficient workers first, leaving him with few good candidates to choose from when it was his turn.

That won't do!

Clearing land is hard work; women, the elderly, and children can't do it.

"Stop circling around me. The person in charge of assigning you tasks is County Lieutenant Feng. Go to the yamen and find County Lieutenant Feng!"

Without a word, the troublemakers ran away. The village head dusted himself off, and from afar, he heard one of the troublemakers shout at him in a loud voice—

"Uncle Village Head, next time you should get to the point. Aren't you hindering our efforts to contribute to Fuyu County?"

The village head was furious and really wanted to chase after those brats and kick each of them.

But he couldn't worry about that now; he had to hurry up and select people to work under his command.

Li Xuanzhi had nothing to do again. After assigning all the tasks, he went back to his room to sleep.

There was no other way; Fuyu County was dirt poor. The silver in the government offices these days was all obtained through their own efforts.

Files from previous years?

No, that's even less likely.

The people are struggling to even get enough to eat, so where would they find the energy to gossip and cause trouble?

Since every household has nothing, there is no theft.

Looking at it this way, they may be a bit poor, but their crime rate is surprisingly low, which is really worry-free.

Li Xuanzhi felt comfortable, but he was troubled by the fact that lying in bed for too long was tiring, and he had to turn over to his side every now and then.

In contrast, everyone else in Fuyu County, especially those over ten years old, was involved and working enthusiastically.

In the accounting room of the yamen, Miss Gu was fiddling with the abacus, making a clattering sound, and she even had to squeeze in a moment to drink water.

There was no other way; there were too many places to spend money, and the county magistrate had personally appointed her as the chief accountant, so she had to keep track of all the accounts.

When the purchasing staff came to collect the money, Miss Gu Liu didn't forget to teach them some tricks on how to bargain and reduce prices, emphasizing that every penny saved counts.

The people of Fuyu County were used to hardship and were naturally frugal. With the help of Miss Gu Liu's little tricks, they took "frugality" to the extreme.

The troublemakers successfully found County Magistrate Feng, and made all sorts of oaths, promising to work hard and so on.

County Magistrate Feng was quite annoyed and cursed inwardly that Li was a cunning old fox.

But he also knew that his responsibilities, such as drilling wells, excavating irrigation canals, and building reservoirs, were far more important than anyone else's, and he could not afford to make any mistakes.

If anyone slacks off or does their job perfunctorily, when a real problem arises, it will be an absolute catastrophe.

As Magistrate Li said, good steel should be used where it is most needed.

These troublemakers treated all the people equally, since everyone disliked them.

Therefore, they are able to achieve complete fairness and are absolutely capable of doing a good job of supervision.

The people wouldn't be resentful, thinking they had no right to govern them.

After all, anyone who dares to be dissatisfied can simply choose not to participate. If they don't make money, there are plenty of others waiting to do so.

The magistrate mobilized all the people in the county in order to unite them, encourage them to be positive and work together to build their shared hometown.

This is also to give them the opportunity to earn money and food, so they don't have to wait for others to give them charity without dignity.

They are so grateful for the opportunity to improve their family's quality of life that they don't care what others are doing.

Besides, these troublemakers have finally started doing something worthwhile. They're all acquaintances I see often; who wouldn't want to see people who've gone astray get back on the right path?

It's not like we're in a hostile relationship with neighboring countries; why do we have to fight to the death?

Only Gu Liu's mother's side is facing an awkward situation in recruiting workers.

Although a few female workers were willing to go and weave cloth and make clothes to supplement their family income, these women were either widows or the only "labor force" that their families could rely on, and they made the decision out of desperation.

Fortunately, weaving is the least urgent matter for now. After all, there isn't enough raw material, and hiring fewer people temporarily won't have much of an impact.

Instead, we can make good use of the existing people and let others see what benefits they can gain. Eventually, some people will be tempted to join.

Once more people join, the difficulty of recruiting female workers will naturally decrease.

County government office.

"Something terrible has happened, sir!"