Royal Gold Medal County Magistrate

"So wide a ring?" Wang Erzhu muttered to himself, happily pocketing it.

No matter what this thing is, it looks particularly good, and it's jade, so it should be worth some money!

"Old fellow, can we go to your house to talk now?"

"Let's go, let's go."

The four followed Wang Erzhu home, walking for about twenty minutes to a wooden house surrounded by an orchard.

The house was extremely simple, with only one room, and the stove was outside.

Inside the house, there was only a heated kang bed and a dirty table.

Five people in the house felt a bit crowded.

After a few glances, Fang Zheng made a conclusion.

This Wang Erzhu is an old bachelor, without even family members, otherwise, he should have built another room outside.

After all, he even owns an orchard.

Wang Erzhu was also good at handling things, knowing he had encountered wealthy people, he hurriedly took out two dirty, broken bowls and scooped two bowls of water from a bucket in the corner.

He placed them in front of Emperor Jing, smiling shyly, "Drink, drink water... only two bowls."

Emperor Jing nodded with a smile, but didn't move, and neither did Guo Tianyang.

These broken bowls were too dirty to drink from.

Fang Zheng and Zhang Biao didn't mind, each taking a bowl and drinking it clean.

They were indeed thirsty, and had seen things dirtier than this before, as long as the water was clean.

Seeing that they didn't mind, Wang Erzhu felt a little happy.

Emperor Jing said, "We have come here to see the local customs of the county, and then do some business in the county, so I want to ask you, what do you think of the situation in Xinzhang County? Are the people living well?"

Unexpectedly, these words made Wang Erzhu become wary again, carefully sizing up Emperor Jing.

The next second, he said with a sullen face, "Don't you have eyes, can't you see for yourself? Good, huh? Great! The people have food and drink, and live in peace and contentment!"

Guo Tianyang was unhappy: "Hey! How can you talk like that?"

"Wait a moment," Emperor Jing raised an eyebrow, stopping him, and said: "I see that the people in the city are not in good spirits, not as good as you say."

Wang Erzhu said with sarcasm: "You have eyes?"

"You don't believe what you see yourself, and you want me to say it, right? What you want to hear is good words, isn't it?"

His words were barbed, and Emperor Jing was momentarily speechless. Fang Zheng pulled him aside and whispered, "Your Majesty, let me ask. He's wary of us."

"Why is he being so sarcastic?"

"When people are restricted from speaking normally, they can only be sarcastic."

Fang Zheng turned around, walked towards Wang Erzhu, and said with a smile, "Old fellow, don't be angry. We're just asking you some questions. Just tell us whether the people of Xinzhang are living well or not."

Wang Erzhu looked disgusted: "Stop pretending, who's your old fellow? Outsiders, I can tell at a glance that you are officials sent to collect good words. If you want to hear good words, why don't you make up some lies yourself? If I tell the truth, I'll be the one who suffers!"

"Go, go! My place is small and can't accommodate you big shots!"

After Wang Erzhu finished speaking, he actually started pushing Fang Zheng.

Fang Zheng tried hard to argue with him, shouting loudly, "In broad daylight, under the clear sky, such a thing is happening? Sending people to collect good words from the people, is it that dog official Sun Sheng, the magistrate of Xinzhang County, is doing this?"

Dog official?!

Wang Erzhu stopped his movements, looking at Fang Zheng with some disbelief.

"You... are really here to do business from out of town?"

Fang Zheng said, "Of course, my father and I brought our family from the capital to do business. We couldn't compete with others in the capital and were suppressed by our competitors, so we had to change to a smaller place. We heard that Xinzhang County has a clean government and is well-known in Hengjiang Prefecture, so we came here."

"But looking at your expression... it doesn't seem that way? Brother, tell me about it. We came from afar, and we lost most of our wealth in the capital. If we fail here again, we really won't have a way to survive."

Hearing Fang Zheng's somewhat miserable words, Wang Erzhu slapped his thigh and sighed, "Alas, you've come to the wrong place. If you want to do business, you should go to Pingwan County. I heard that it's the best place to do business, and you can make money selling anything there."

"Then what's the problem here?"

Wang Erzhu said, "You don't know, this Xinzhang County... is rotten to the core!"

"On the surface, everything looks good, but what's the reality? Let me tell you, everything is much more expensive than outside. Ordinary people can't even get involved in doing business!"

"What's going on?" Fang Zheng hurriedly asked, "I see that the prices called out by street vendors are much cheaper than in the capital."

Emperor Jing and the others pricked up their ears and listened carefully.

Wang Erzhu continued, "Don't listen to their nonsense! Those businesses are all owned by the famous landlords in the city. The prices they call out are low, but if you go in to buy, if you can buy it at the price they call out, I'll call you 'father'!"

The crowd looked at each other in dismay.

"Tell me more about it. How can there be such unheard-of strange things? It is said that our county's new magistrate is a big shot from the capital, how can he allow such things to happen?"

Wang Erzhu's chatterbox had already opened, and he babbled on, "Yes, who the hell says it isn't?! When this new official first took office, the people of Xinzhang actually welcomed him very much. He did do many practical things. When landlords bullied the people, he went to crack down on the landlords. When unscrupulous merchants sold inferior goods and prices were too high, he sent people to severely crack down on them."

"Even when officials bullied the people, he also took action to severely rectify them. In the first two months after he came... everything was good, and no one was bullied, and things were sold very cheaply."

"But who knew that after two good months, the prices in the city began to skyrocket. The prices called out were still cheap, but you couldn't buy them at the original price unless you went through the back door!"

"Especially the medicinal materials, which have increased several times. If anyone gets a minor illness, their entire fortune will be spent, and their whole life will be wasted!"

Emperor Jing's expression was solemn, and he muttered, "Gilded lily. I didn't expect it to be so corrupt?"

"Heh, that's not all. The officials and landlords who used to bully the people have all returned, and they're even worse! If anyone dares to say a word against them, they'll suffer the consequences."

"Many people whose families were originally well-off, but after a year of this, if they encounter a minor illness or disaster, they become impoverished, and their land is sold to the big landlords... and they become long-term workers."

"Everyone guesses that the local wealthy families have long been colluding with the officials. I dare say that new merchants like you will be squeezed out within a month and won't be able to survive here at all!"

Land annexation, local gentry monopoly, it seems that official-business collusion is inevitable.

Fang Zheng thought to himself.

Wang Erzhu said excitedly, suddenly stomping his foot: "It was okay in the past few years, and life was getting better and better, but now it's not good anymore. If this continues, I'm afraid we won't even have enough to eat!"

"Damn it, messing around blindly. The dog government doesn't do human things, and sent such a bastard magistrate! But, do you think there's a possibility that it's because our Great Jing is fighting with the Jin Kingdom and doesn't have money, so they're trying to get money from us ordinary people in disguise?"

Guo Tianyang's heart felt like it was being squeezed, and he hurriedly looked at Emperor Jing.