jdhmnovel Chapter 704 I Don’t Believe How Difficult This County Magistrate Is
Chapter 704 I Don’t Believe How Difficult This County Magistrate Is
The medical apprentice next to him hurried to boil the medicine. Bai Wanwan sighed. No wonder countless people died in floods and droughts in ancient times because the medical conditions and food were not up to par.
It's okay if some government agencies take action, but most government agencies do nothing. They will only think of ways to report it when there are heavy casualties, but by then it's too late to say anything.
Because it took ten days or half a month for the news to reach Bianliang, the people could only starve to death or die of disease.
Gu Sinian walked over and said, "Little girl, what are you thinking about?"
"I just feel a little sad. This government is really incompetent."
Gu Sinian sighed and said:
"Deceiving their superiors and concealing the truth from their subordinates, this is what these officials do.
Therefore, one must be very careful when selecting officials, otherwise it is very easy to cause disaster."
Bai Wanwan looked at him and said, "Now that the county magistrate has been killed, is there anyone who can take his place?"
Gu Sinian shook his head and said, "How can it be that easy? You can't just get the position of county magistrate."
Bai Wanwan blinked and said, "How about letting me go?"
"Ah?" Gu Sinian was dumbfounded. "What are you, a little girl, getting involved in? Besides, this is the county magistrate. How about...how about you give it a try? If that doesn't work, I'm still here!"
Bai Wanwan chuckled and said, "I'll just be the acting county magistrate, otherwise this county will be in chaos, right?"
Gu Sinian touched his nose and said, "Will it be okay if I let you be the county magistrate? Okay, you try. If you can't handle it, I'll take over."
The next day, Bai Wanwan, wearing an official uniform, strode out with big strides, and everyone was stunned.
The four maids beside her also changed into men's clothes. Miao He chuckled and said, "We can also enjoy the feeling of being an official."
Bai Wanwan coughed and said:
"I am now the Bai County Magistrate, Zhiwei and Lexi are my chief clerks, Taoyao and Miaohe are my county lieutenants.
If we govern well, I don’t believe it will be difficult to be a county magistrate.”
Zhiwei squatted on the ground, sorted a pile of curled pages into order, and sighed:
"This county is truly poor. Look at what's written in this booklet. Of the thirteen counties in the southern border, this one ranks last.
We had suffered from disasters before. First, there was a drought for more than half a year, and all the seedlings in the field dried up.
It finally rained, but it rained so heavily that it caused floods. The ridges of the fields collapsed and the stored grain was soaked and rotted.
Many people from the county have left in recent years. Some went to the richer counties in the south, while some failed to leave and just... disappeared.
There is no food stored at home, and the county government has no money, so taxes cannot be collected. The little money in the treasury is not enough to repair a section of the river embankment. During the last flood, the river embankment collapsed.
Take the matter of getting married, for example! Seven out of ten young men in their twenties in the village are still single. It’s not that they don’t want to get married, but that they can’t afford it.
In the past few years, there have been two county magistrates, one of whom ran away with the money in the treasury.
One only knows how to ask for things, and he doesn't care whether the people are having a hard time or not. This is the situation, it's so difficult!"
Bai Wanwan turned to that page, her eyes widened, and she pointed at the words, counting them one by one:
“I owe the grain bank three thousand and five.
I owe eight hundred for the ironwork and the land.
The amount owed to the salt merchant is three thousand.
And last year, we used 60,000 yuan from the government to repair the riverbank..."
When she finished counting, she straightened up and took a deep breath: "This adds up to nearly 70,000 taels!"
Zhiwei, who was standing nearby, came over to take a look and was also shocked: "So much? I checked our county government's treasury the other day, and they couldn't even gather a hundred taels of silver."
Bai Wanwan put the account book on the table and her voice became low:
"This debt has been outstanding for several years, and the merchant has come to collect it eight times, so the county government can only drag its feet.
How can we pay it back? Even if we sell all the land in the county, it still wouldn't be enough.
They go to be county officials and enjoy the good life, but I come here to pay off debts for others. How can I live like this? "
No wonder Gu Sinian’s expression at that time was hard to describe. It was such a huge pit!
The Thirteen Counties in the Southern Border are quite interesting to talk about. They are similar to the Thirteen Guardians of Jiangsu as later generations called them, a total of thirteen counties.
But there's no comparison between the two. They all have a wealthy family, while here everyone is extremely poor.
It is said that the water towns in the south of the Yangtze River should be a land of fish and rice, with crops growing in the fields and fish and shrimps in the water, so life should be pretty good.
But it has not been like this in recent years, there have been constant floods.
Just as the seedlings were planted in the spring, a flood came, washed away the ridges of the fields, and soaked the seedlings.
After waiting for the water to recede with great difficulty, I quickly replanted some crops, but before they could grow, the next flood came.
After a busy year, the harvested food is still not enough to fill our stomachs.
Some families have little food stored and have to tighten their belts as soon as autumn comes.
Some villages even have difficulty getting water. The river water is very muddy, and even when it boils, a layer of mud settles at the bottom.
The county government had even less money and could not even raise enough money to repair the river embankment. When the water came, they could only watch it flood. The more it flooded, the poorer they became, and the poorer they became, the less they could withstand the disaster. It was a vicious cycle.
The people in these thirteen counties are just getting by, hoping that there will be no floods in the future so that the fields can produce enough food.
Tao Yao beside him couldn't help but say:
"I heard that the Sixth Prince went to the richest county in the southern border, but we happened to run into this poor county.
Girl, why don't we just forget it?"
It’s terrible. The county government is in debt and there is no way to govern it.
Bai Wanwan coughed and said:
"Don't be impatient, take your time. The more this happens, the more we need to rectify it, right?
Otherwise, who will take over this mess? If more corrupt officials come, won’t this place be ruined? "
The yamen runners were all shocked. They didn't expect a child to say such words.
The leading yamen runner was called Li Hu. He knelt down and said, "County Magistrate Bai, if you can help the people of this county have something to eat, you will be our god from now on. We will do whatever you ask us to do."
The people in this county are really suffering, and the county magistrates they meet are not good people.
Bai Wanwan looked at him and said, "You two should get up first! We still need to think about this matter carefully."
Bai Wanwan placed her finger on the spread-out sheepskin map and pointed at the winding blue line in the northern border of Qingshui County. That was the Qingyi River, which flooded all year round.
she asked:
"Look here, the Qingyi River suddenly narrows here, like a bottleneck.
Every year during the flood season, the water from upstream is blocked here, and once it overflows, it floods three or five villages along the coast.
If we build a dam here, can we stop the water flow?"
Master Wang came over first and shook his head.
“I have tried. Two years ago, the county magistrate here thought about it and put piles here.
But just when the dam was three feet high, a torrential rain came. The water from upstream was so strong that it overflowed directly from the top of the dam and loosened the dam foundation by half a foot.
Craftsman Lao Zhou squatted down, staring at the terrain on the map and frowning:
"Not only is the water strong, but the bottom is sandy, not rocky, so the dam foundation is not solid.
No matter how high it is built, once the water soaks in, the bottom will be hollow and it will collapse sooner or later."