The husband is the future chief [infrastructure]

After visiting for a period of time, Lin Zhao found that most of the people in Lin'an were poor, but the country gentry lived very well. They just saw him coming, and on the surface they complained that life was hard.

Today, Lin Zhao took the people from the yamen to the surrounding villages to observe the people's conditions.

This time I went to Jixiang Village, which is about 20 miles away from Lin'an City.

The name of Jixiang Village is very auspicious, but nothing auspicious happened in this village. crops will suffer.

The county lord came to inspect in person, and Li Zheng of the village was standing at the entrance of the village to greet him early.

Lin Zhao didn't bring many people with him on this trip, so the master stayed in the yamen so that when someone went to the yamen to appeal for justice, someone would be responsible.He only brought three or four officials here, and of course Chen He was also with him.

The officials in the yamen are usually lazy, and they all say that there are three fires for new officials. Even if they are ordinary, they are quite diligent now, for fear that one of the three fires will burn on their heads.

The weather was hot in May and June, and Lin Zhao and the others wore casual clothes with narrow sleeves and walked for a long time in the carriage. He asked the yamen who was leading the way, "How long will it take to arrive?"

The Yacha replied: "It's almost time, my lord, how can we arrive in half an hour."

The village Lin Zhao went to this time is called Heifeng Village, because there are strong winds here all the year round, and people of the older generation say that there are Heifeng monsters living in the mountains, so the village got its name.

Lin Zhao arrived at the place when it was getting dark. Lizheng had been waiting at the entrance of the village since he had lunch, and he didn't see the newly appointed magistrate until dark.

Li Zheng looks to be over 50 years old. He looks a little old, but his body is still strong.

The common people had never seen any high-ranking officials before, and this was the first time he met the county magistrate. As soon as Lin Zhao got off the carriage, he led a group of people from the village to greet him on their knees.

"Heifeng Village is taking everyone to meet the county magistrate!"

"You don't need to be too polite, the official is here to visit this time. It's getting late today, please arrange a place for him." Lin Zhao said as he helped him up.

Seeing that although the magistrate who came this time is young, he speaks very softly, and his voice is also louder.

"My lord is serious. The room has already been cleaned up for you, but it is a bit shabby. Please don't dislike it."

"No problem."

What Li was preparing for Lin Zhao was his own son's room, and the sons and their family were squeezed into another small room for the time being.Chen He said that he kept watch at night and just made do with the night on the tables and chairs outside.The rest of the yamen stayed at the homes of other villagers for one night.

The old-fashioned rough house, with crumbling tiles, looks unsafe at all.Such a house is considered good in the whole village.

This time, Lin Zhao planned to start from Heifeng Village and go west, visiting several villages along the way.

Waking up early the next morning, Lin Zhao started to visit the village after eating a little farm food.

Lin Zhao asked a few questions about how the fields here are like, what are they mainly planted, planting once a year or twice a year, is the landslide serious during the rainy season, and if there is a strong wind, how many days can it last at most.

He didn't forget what Jiang Ziyan said earlier called iron ore powder. People from the Ministry of Industry said that iron ore powder usually contains iron ore powder, but the iron mines owned by the entire Wei Dynasty were scarce, and the only few iron mines produced It's just average, it's usually used to make weapons, and it's even more difficult to buy some iron ore powder.

There are many mountains here in Lin'an, so after Lin Zhao focused on asking a few questions about crops, he asked, "Are there any mines here?"

Li Zheng has lived for more than 50 years, and he has never understood what a mine is.

"My lord, what is a mine?" None of the villagers knew.

Lin Zhao thought about it, and chose a more popular way to explain it to them.

"There are many fields and mountains here, is there anyone who reclaims the barren hills?"

This question is easy to answer. Gai Yu Linzhao has no airs of being an official since he came here, and the villagers are not afraid of him. They replied enthusiastically: "Yes! Many people in our village have gone to the mountains to farm. Anyway, No one cares, whoever cultivates can grow more food."

"Have you reclaimed wasteland and planted things, but there is no improvement?"

Suddenly no one said a word, because although the wasteland that everyone reclaimed did not grow well, they could still harvest a little.

At this time, someone suddenly said: "Yes, yes, the piece of land my family dug last year, no matter what is planted, it will not grow."

As soon as the man finished speaking, a villager next to him interrupted and said, "Stop talking about Wang Mazi, it's because you're lazy that you dug a little bit of land, and you didn't see you watering it in the sky. What are you looking for?"

Wang Mazi is well-known in the village as a lazy eater. Now that everyone is farming on the barren hills, he can't do anything. The old mother at home is pressing him hard, so he picks up a hoe and digs a piece of land.

But he did water it, but not so often.It's okay if the growth is not good, but it can grow anyway.But the strange thing is that no matter what he grows, he can't grow it.

At this time, when he heard others refute him, he refused, and quickly argued: "No, my lord, the land dug by the villain is really evil, and it's too strange to plant whatever it is and die."

As soon as Lin Zhao heard what he said, he went up to him and asked him which mountain it was, and asked the Yacha to write it down, and he would go and see it when he came back from inspecting other villages.

After staying in this village for half a day, Lin Zhao set off for the next village.

For several days, he wandered around several villages.We walked all the way to the last village, which was far away, called Xifeng Village. When Lin Zhao arrived, some villagers were already harvesting wheat in the fields.

Xifeng Village is different from the previous villages. Most of the people in this village are tenant farmers. In the early years, due to the famine, they had to sell their land. There are few mountains on this side, and there is not much wasteland that can be plowed. , so basically rent other people's land.

Lin Zhao didn't enter the village, and got off the carriage next to a field. He walked up to the field ridge and helped an elderly man put a bundle of wheat on the cart.

Lin Zhao and his group, especially the government servants, all wore official uniforms with a big word for government offices written on them, and others could tell they were government servants at a glance.

The old man trembled with fright, and was about to kneel down and kowtow in fear and fear. Lin Zhao quickly helped him up, and said softly, "Old man, I am the county magistrate who just took office in our Lin'an city. Don't be afraid, I'll come over today Just to see how you are doing, and ask you a few questions by the way, not to blame you."

The old man got up tremblingly, half surprised and half happy, and said: "It turns out to be the county magistrate, this is the first time that this little old man has seen such a big official!"

Lin Zhao and the others quickly attracted the attention of other people in the field, and they all came over with sickles in their hands. They happened to hear him say that he was the county magistrate, so they all came over to salute him, so panicked that they didn't even dare to breathe .

Lin Zhao was helpless, and also knew that the people who had planted the land all their lives had a kind of fear of the officials and family members in their bones. He said a few words of comfort to make them less afraid as much as possible.

"Does the land you plant now belong to your own family?"

"No, no, these are the lands of the gentlemen in the city, and we are here to rent and plant them."

"How about the harvest? How much is the rent for a year?"

"One mu of land has about three and a half shi of grain, and it will be handed over to the owner at the end of the year for more than three shi."

"Turn in so much?" Lin Zhao was very surprised. There were two harvests a year, and a total of more than three shi was collected. After paying the rent, he could keep less than half of it.

There was a bolder man in the crowd, seeing that Lin Zhao was really here to understand the people's sentiments, and he spoke softly, so he said, "Master County, you don't know that there are more gentry gentlemen than this."

"Tenants like us who rent seeds have agreed with the owner at the beginning that they will buy the seeds, and we will go and collect them at that time. But every time we go to collect the seeds, we either say that we haven't bought them yet, or we Or just give a little bit, and finally ask us to pay for the seeds.”

"Sometimes natural disasters lead to poor harvests, but the rent that should be paid is not less than a copper coin. We are very helpless, and we dare not tear ourselves apart with them. At that time, we will not even have land to plant."

Someone made a start, and someone below agreed, saying: "Yes, I can't eat enough to eat every year, and after paying the rent, there will be nothing left."

Lin Zhao looked at their thin and shriveled faces, and remembered that when he first took office not long ago, all the country gentry and wealthy households rushed to see him, and none of them came empty-handed. All they took were good things, saying they were rich The flow of oil is not too much.It turned out that it was obtained by exploiting and looting the common people.

Lin Zhao secretly remembered that when he went back, he had to think of a way to stop this exploitative behavior, at least to give justice to the people.

Going back from Xifeng Village, Lin Zhao went to Heifeng Village again. This time he specially asked someone to find Wang Mazi to guide him, and he also wanted to go to the hill that didn't grow anything.

It was the first time for Wang Mazi to lead the way for the county magistrate. How could he have such an honor? His tail was so happy that he was leading the way while introducing him excitedly.

"My lord, I was the only one who went there to dig a piece of land on this mountain. They didn't come here, saying that the mountain here is not good for farming."

When Lin Zhao arrived, he saw that this mountain was really not suitable for farming.The mountain is not flat, unlike some hills that have terraced fields after being reclaimed.

The terrain of this mountain is indeed not suitable for farming, and I don't know what Wang Mazi thinks, he will come here to dig the land.

Lin Zhao followed him up the mountain to the place where Wang Mazi dug the field.He squatted down and took a look. The soil was a little dry and lacked moisture, but it didn't look any different.

When he came, he asked someone to bring a hoe, and he said, "Give me the hoe."

Wang Mazi was full of cleverness, how could the magistrate do it himself at this time?He hurried forward and said, "My lord, don't move, let me do it, we will dig whatever piece you want to dig."

Lin Zhao looked around and found a piece of land. There was some white powder on the upturned soil.

He pointed, "That's it, dig more, dig deeper."

"okay!"

Don't look at Wang Mazi's usual laziness, but at least he does farm work. He puts all his strength there, and he works very quickly.