Rise From the Humble

After Zhu Ping'an learned about the situation in the prison, he had an idea in his mind. However, based on the principle of "listening to both, the light will be clear, and the partial belief will be dark," he changed his regular clothes, took Liu Mu and Liu Dadao out of the county office, and went to the countryside below for incognito service. Conduct private visits and go to the field to further understand the situation and fully conduct research for the implementation of the idea.

After Zhu Ping'an left, Zhang Danian, the jailer of the execution chamber, immediately went to report to Zhang County Magistrate and Chief Yao.

"This little county gentleman just walked around the cell and asked a few prisoners about their conditions? What does he want to do?"

After listening to Zhang Danian's report, Zhang County Cheng was a little confused as to what Zhu Ping'an wanted to do, and turned to look at Chief Yao.

Chief Yao is the equivalent of a think tank among their party members. Zhang Xiancheng will refer to Chief Yao’s opinions on many major matters. For example, if he unites the subordinates of the Sixth House and refuses to cooperate with Zhu Pingan, it is Chief Yao’s idea. .

"What did he ask? Start from the beginning." Chief Yao narrowed his eyes and looked at Zhang Danian.

"When he first entered the prison, he asked how big the prison was? How many cells? Later, when he entered the outer prison, he asked why there were so many prisoners in the prison? What crimes had they committed? Later, he asked several prison inmates why they were detained. Arrested? After entering the inner prison, he asked the inner prison why there were so many prisoners? Why were they all detained?" Zhang Danian replied truthfully.

"How does he look after understanding the situation?" Chief Yao asked again.

"Expression?" Zhang Danian was stunned, tried hard to recall, and replied uncertainly, "It seems very solemn."

"Haha, that's right." Master Yao laughed when he heard this, "Do you still remember the time when the little county magistrate went to court to summon all the officials of the county government for the first time? The little county magistrate divided the official affairs of the county government. He In addition to taking overall responsibility, he was also in charge of the trial of the case. Haha, Zhang Dianli worked slowly and meticulously, and the files were never handed over to the small county official. The small county official was unable to understand the backlog of litigation cases. He had no choice but to do anything to Zhang Dianli. I couldn't wait any longer, so I had no choice but to go to the prison to find out the situation. Seeing that the prison was overcrowded, of course I must have had a big head and looked unserious."

After listening to Chief Yao's analysis, County Magistrate Zhang was convinced and couldn't help but laugh. It was indeed true. What else could the little county official do besides look solemn.

Zhang Dianli also laughed together.

The room was filled with the triumphant laughter of the three of them.

While the three of them were laughing proudly, Zhu Ping'an and his party had arrived at the first village, which was the closest village to the county seat. Zhu Ping'an entered the village and first went to the fields to see how the crops were growing.

Zhu Pingan was born in a rural area. His uncle was not engaged in production and his fourth uncle was lazy. Thanks to their "blessing", Zhu Pingan often went to the fields with his father and elder brother since he was a child. He was no stranger to crop planting and harvesting.

The agriculture in this village is mainly based on growing rice. The rice in the fields is about to be harvested. The rice is yellow and orange, but the overall growth is very average. Judging from the traces in the fields and nearby, the rice here has experienced waterlogging. Zhu Ping An estimates that the yield per acre of land will be reduced by about 20% to 30%.

There was an old farmer nearby who was resting in the field between farming. Zhu Pingan came forward to chat. He learned from the old farmer that their rice had indeed just experienced a flood disaster. After the flood, there was an outbreak of locusts. Fortunately, the scale of their village was small. I was lucky enough to escape, but this crop of rice production is expected to be reduced by at least 30%.

"Alas, there was a disaster and the grain production was reduced, but the taxes were not reduced at all. These days are sad." The old farmer sighed.

"Old man, when floods and locust disasters occur in our village, is there no organization in the village to report it to the county government? After reporting, the county government will send people to assess the disaster situation and report it to the state government. Part of the tax can be reduced or exempted as appropriate." Zhu Ping'an was puzzled. asked.

"We have reported it, why didn't we report it? For so many years, we have reported every disaster that happened, but it's useless. No one cares about us. After so many years, we still have to pay as much tax as we need. If we don't pay, we will be fined. Even They also arrest people. These officials only know how to collect taxes, and they are not responsible for our life and death. The family of the big cow in our village was the most severely affected by the disaster last year. Poor people, their few acres of paddy fields only produced less than 10% of the harvest of previous years. He failed to collect the taxes and was imprisoned years ago. Now it's time to harvest rice again. Daniel is still in prison. How do they harvest the rice from the fields when they are an orphan and a widower? Ah, hey, life is hard these days." The old farmer shook his head, sighing again and again, and the wrinkles on his forehead were as deep as the ravines in the fields.

When Zhu Pingan heard this, he frowned. His predecessor had neglected his duties.

According to regulations, disasters should be reported at all levels. The people should report to the county magistrate. The magistrate should report it to the superiors as soon as possible, and then form a disaster investigation team. The magistrate should personally go to the countryside to investigate the disaster, count the number and scope of the disaster, prioritize and carry out disaster relief. and apply for corvee tax exemption

From what my father-in-law said, it seems that none of the previous Jingnan magistrates have done this, which is already a serious dereliction of duty.

However, in ancient times, there was a lack of supervision and restrictions on the powers of county magistrates, and such cases of dereliction of duty and even abuse of duty often occurred.

If an official fails to act, the people will suffer greatly. Zhu Pingan has truly felt this.

People's livelihood is not easy.

Zhu Pingan said goodbye to his father-in-law, went into the village and visited several households, and then went to the next village.

The situation in this village is very similar to that in the previous village. They are all in the same situation.

For the third village, Zhu Pingan chose Dayao Village, which was the village where Mr. Yao met at the city gate when he came to Jingnan.

After arriving in Dayao Village, Zhu Ping'an first learned about the crop situation in the village, then asked the villagers about Yao Lao's residence, brought a cake, and took Liu Mu and Liu Dadao to visit Yao Lao.

Knocking on the door and entering Yao's home, Mr. Yao was stunned for a moment when he saw Zhu Pingan coming to the door. When Zhu Pingan called Mr. Yao with a simple smile, Mr. Yao recognized Zhu Pingan. He was surprised and excited at the same time. With trembling lips, he shouted "Common people pay homage to the magistrate" and then knelt down to pay homage to Zhu Ping'an.

Before Zhu Pingan could wait for Mr. Yao to kneel down, he stepped forward to support Mr. Yao.

"The county magistrate, you have really come to our Dayao Village. Old wives, sons, and daughters-in-law, please come out and pay homage to the county magistrate. The county magistrate has come to see me, an old man." Mr. Yao excitedly walked towards the house. Li shouted repeatedly, urging his wife, son and daughter-in-law to come out to see Zhu Pingan.

"No need to be polite, please get up, please get up." When the Yao family came out to pay their respects, Zhu Ping'an waved his hand and asked them to get up.

"Master Magistrate, you can come as soon as you come, why do you bring anything with you?"

As Yao Lao said this, his face was filled with glory. He then turned to look at his wife, son, and daughter-in-law, and said proudly and show off, "When I told you, you still didn't believe me. I'm just talking face to face, what's going on now, the county magistrate made a huge promise, and it's coming as soon as he says it."