Chapter 79: The Jin Family 1/2

The boat County Magistrate Gou was riding was actually Zhu Qian’s. It was very beautiful, with a warm interior. There was even a small stove on the central table, boiling tea.

In addition to County Magistrate Gou and Li Qingzhi, there were two other people on the boat, servants hired by County Magistrate Gou during this period.

In the County Office of Daqi, there were actually quite a few staff members. Apart from the bailiffs, there were separate teams responsible for courtroom proceedings and executions, guarding and escorting, and investigating, spying, patrolling, and tax collection.

In addition, there were various offices in charge of different tasks within the county, such as the administrative office, household registration office, and workshop.

County officials like County Magistrate Gou would leave after serving for a few years, but the bailiffs and clerks in the county office were locals whose positions were often passed down through generations. If these people didn’t cooperate, the county magistrate wouldn’t be able to accomplish anything.

Previously, Zhang Yunquan was able to wield great influence in Chongcheng County because he had excellent relationships with these people and had established connections.

Having these connections brought huge benefits. For example, the former chairman of the Chamber of Commerce had hundreds of acres of fertile land, but according to official records, he only owned a few acres. For many years, he had only paid taxes on a small portion of his land!

Such occurrences were common throughout Daqi, although Chongcheng County had relatively fewer cases of this kind. Moreover, because Chongcheng County was relatively affluent, even if someone underreported their land, the amount of grain tax collected wasn’t significantly reduced.

When County Magistrate Gou first arrived in Chongcheng County, he felt restricted in every aspect. Feeling disheartened, he initially planned to do nothing. However, since he managed to eliminate Zhang Yunquan, his mentality has changed.

During this period, he punished some of the minor officials and clerks in the county office, reprimanded the remaining ones, spent money to hire some righteous officials to help with his work, and even hired two servants.

These two servants were in their forties. One was particularly good at accounting, and the other was skilled at handling various miscellaneous tasks. They both had relevant work experience. County Magistrate Gou hired them to help in Chongcheng County, paying each of them one hundred taels per year.

People with abilities like theirs would never lack money!

Seeing them, Li Qingzhi couldn’t help but think of the original owner of this body. The original owner didn’t like to study, and before anything happened to his family, his goal was to become a servant to a county magistrate.

When the two servants faced Li Qingzhi, their attitude was very good. People who had been in the officialdom for a long time couldn’t afford to offend others everywhere.

The four of them chatted while brewing tea in the cabin. Before long, they arrived at the construction site of the dock.

This kind of boat was relatively large, and boarding and disembarking required the use of gangplanks. After the boat was docked, County Magistrate Gou stepped onto the gangplank and onto the shore.

When County Magistrate Gou first arrived in Chongcheng County, he was initially hesitant to walk on the gangplanks because they were generally narrow and the boat would sway. But now he was very skilled at it.

Li Qingzhi and the others courteously let the two servants go ahead, with Li Qingzhi walking at the back.

Even though he was at the back, he was still very conspicuous. The people waiting on the shore immediately noticed him.

Li Qingzhi had been low-key at first because County Magistrate Gou was restricted in many ways when he first arrived in Chongcheng County, and Li Qingzhi was just an ordinary person.

He was afraid that being too high-profile would lead to someone targeting his family.

But now, the situation has changed.

Firstly, County Magistrate Gou had already established his authority, and secondly, even Hong Hui, who had previously resented him for being low-key, had turned against him… There was no need for him to be as cautious as before.

Li Qingzhi looked up and scanned the crowd, searching for the people from Miaoqian Village.

His vision was very good, and he first saw some merchants he had met during his participation in the Chamber of Commerce, including Zhu Qian. Then he spotted some familiar bailiffs maintaining order, and finally, he saw the people from Miaoqian Village.

Wait a minute, why was his father-in-law in the crowd?

Li Qingzhi was somewhat surprised and planned to ask him about it later.

Li Qingzhi was only somewhat surprised, but the people from Miaoqian Village were already in shock.

“They didn’t see wrong, did they? The one who came down from the boat with Magistrate Gou seems to be Li Qingzhi?”

“The village head of Miaoqian Village couldn’t help but ask Jin Dajiang, ‘Dajiang, is that your son-in-law?'”

“Jin Dajiang opened his mouth and said, ‘It seems like it.'”

“Another person said, ‘What do you mean? It seems like it! That’s Li Qingzhi; he’s worn that outfit several times!'”

“Yes, that’s Li Qingzhi.”

“How come he’s with the county magistrate?”

“Uncle Dajiang, what’s going on here?”

…

Jin Dajiang had no idea what was going on. His son and daughter never told him anything.

The other people in the village were just surprised, but Yao Zuming was afraid. He, who had originally stood beside Jin Dajiang, bent down and moved away, hiding behind the crowd.

Seeing this scene, the villagers whispered among themselves.

This time, Magistrate Gou came to win the hearts of the people.

At first, he had written hundreds of words to say, but the steward who helped him manage various affairs said it was unnecessary after reading them.

In the end, he only learned a few phrases in the dialect of Chongcheng County. Now, Magistrate Gou walked forward, repeatedly saying those few sentences: “Hello, everyone! I am the Magistrate of Chongcheng County! This time, as you all come to work, I will make sure everyone eats well! Today, we will slaughter a pig for everyone to eat meat!”

Not only that, the steward also prepared some live pigs, which were unloaded from the boat in front of everyone.

The conscripted laborers, upon hearing Magistrate Gou’s words and seeing those pigs, were excited. At this moment, there were also arranged people in the crowd shouting, “Thank you, sir!”

So in the crowd, one “Thank you, sir” after another resounded. Some even kneeled down and kowtowed to Magistrate Gou.

After some people did this, others followed suit and knelt down. For a while, many people knelt on the ground in this open space.

Magistrate Gou pretended to help them up, and heard these people shouting, “Sir, you are a good official!”

“Sir, you are a good person!”

“Great God of the Sky!”

…

Seeing this, Magistrate Gou was excited for a while, not even caring that these people were dirty all over, and actively helped them up.

Li Qingzhi had to admit that the two stewards around Magistrate Gou were really capable.

Of course, he had his own abilities.

After all, it was his proposal for the magistrate to personally come to the dock to console the people. He also had Zhu Qian find some people mixed in the crowd to guide the folks to thank Magistrate Gou.

There were quite a few laborers, but actually, no one dared to approach Magistrate Gou, and the order was maintained very well. When Magistrate Gou walked around the crowd, these people stood up under the shouts of the bailiffs.

But even after standing up, everyone was still very excited.

The class stratification in Daqi was very severe. Common people were afraid even of the bailiffs, and in their minds, the county magistrate was an even more esteemed figure. Now, the county magistrate came to speak to them and even said he would slaughter a pig for them to eat. To them, this was like something they could bring up repeatedly in old age, telling their grandchildren.

The people of Miaoqian Village exclaimed, “So the county magistrate is like this!”

“He really is a good official!”

“If I had known, I wouldn’t have brought food. We unexpectedly have meat to eat at noon!”