Walking the Path of a Workaholic in Cliché Novels (QT) Chapter 73

The wealthy people in the county knew about the new magistrate’s appointment earlier than the common people.

“It is said that he is a young scholar.” The head of the Bai family stroked his greasy beard. A group of them were eating roasted whole lamb in their yard. They cut the meat piece by piece, and their mouths were full of oil.

“Young scholar? Will he ruin our good fortune?”

They all disliked young scholars, who were full of youthful vigor and did not know how high the sky was and how far the earth was. They thought that if they passed the imperial examination and became an official of the court, they would have a say in this land.

Pooh! In Dingsha County, even if there was a dragon, it had to coil up; even if there was a tiger, it had to lie down.

“A kid, whose hair hasn’t even grown out yet, can’t even understand what we’re saying. He just gave us a gilded gift and went back.”

“That’s right, a mere county magistrate, why should I be afraid of him? Humph, those bandits outside the pass won’t recognize him as a county magistrate. Well, eat meat. Mutton is nutritious. After eating the meat, find two concubines to have fun with.”

A few people burst into laughter and enjoyed eating meat and drinking wine.

At this time in the yamen, An Yinong was flipping through the booklets sent by the county magistrate. The pile was more than one meter high and contained information about the county’s population, taxes, criminal cases, etc. He wanted to extract the information inside and classify it for easy retrieval later.

“Ahem.” He waved away the dust in the air, then wiped the cover of the book with a wet handkerchief. “When will this be finished?”

He had just finished speaking when four blue-grey shadows appeared in the hall below. They were all ghosts who looked like scholars wearing turbans.

“Students Wei He/Zhang Xuefeng/Huang Tianshi/Liu Ming pay their respects to His Excellency the County Magistrate.”

Before An Yinong could react, Gu Zhengzhong appeared beside him holding a wooden box. “Leave the trivial matters to them. As a master for more than a hundred years, they will always be able to handle these matters.”

“Sir.” An Yinong stood up, closed the book in his hand and threw it aside, and walked over in two steps. He gently held Gu Zhengzhong’s hands with both hands, his eyes flickered, and his expression and movements were full of surprise.

“I missed you so much.”

Gu Zhengzhong wanted to say that there were outsiders (ghosts) here, but the rules melted into a pool of spring water the moment he saw that look. How could Yinong be wrong? It was these four ghosts who appeared at the wrong time.

“Ahem.” Gu Zhengzhong glanced at the four stunned ghosts, and the four immediately lowered their heads. Feeling uneasy, he built another transparent wall.

An Yinong noticed his movements and asked him in a low voice: “Sir, do you miss me?”

“I missed you so much.” Such straightforward love words made people feel embarrassed, and the tips of Gu Zhengzhong’s ears turned red.

“How much do you think?”

“Daily letters to comfort lovesickness.”

This answer was quite satisfactory, and An Yinong turned to talk about something else: “Why are you here? I thought it would be a few days before I could see you. If I knew that you were coming, I wouldn’t light up the lights and work this late at night.”

At this time, as if he thought of something, he took a step back: “Sir, stay away from me. I haven’t washed up yet and am covered in dust.”

“Pah, pah, pah.” The system silently applauded: The host was amazing. He didn’t say a word of ‘like’, but every word was filled with cherishment and love.

Moreover, he had clearly expected Gu Zhengzhong to come here a long time ago, and he was able to give such a genuine “surprise”. If he used his acting skills in his career, he would have no problem winning a few Best Actor awards.

Gu Zhengzhong was indeed distressed, but he did not say sweet words. Instead, he pragmatically said: “This box contains the wild grass roots that Yinong was looking for. In addition, I brought you some useful manpower. I will give you a list later, feel free to use any of them.”

“The county government is full of other people’s minions and spies, and I am short of people.” An Yinong said happily.

Gu Zhengzhong pointed at the four little ghosts who were bowing their heads and said, “These four people were originally legal advisors. They are used to organizing documents. If you have anything to do, just leave it to them. Don’t tire yourself out.”

An Yinong readily accepted the advice. He turned around and bowed: “Thank you all.”

The four ghosts were flattered: “No, no, no.” So the four ghosts worked, and the pages flew everywhere.

“If farmers want to understand the local situation, they don’t have to ask the businessman.” Gu Zhengzhong went outside for a walk and brought back more local “insiders”.

These little ghosts included both male and female, young and old, civilians and dignitaries. They had been warned before they came, so they were unusually obedient at this moment and basically told everything they knew. He originally thought it was just a simple conspiracy between bullies and local governments to oppress the people, but he didn’t expect it to become more and more terrifying the more he listened.

“Poor mountains and bad waters produce unruly people… The ancients were not deceiving me.” He paced around the room and finally sat down. On his table were some files that had just been sorted out, as well as secrets he had asked from ghosts.

There were indeed four big families in Dingsha County, namely Jin, Bai, Wu and Su. The four families were related by marriage and had joined forces to monopolize the water resources of Dingsha County.

It was a local feature that water was charged. Another feature was double taxation, one by the government and one by the bully. With double taxation, the people suffered terribly. This was not the biggest problem. The biggest problem was the serious land annexation.

The ten largest landlords were able to occupy 80% of the land in the entire Dingsha County, and all other farmers and herdsmen had to share the remaining 20%. As a result, more than 60% of the people had no land of their own and could only work as hired farmhands, renting land for which they had to pay half of the harvest.

In addition, there were too many horse thieves and mountain bandits outside the Great Wall, which posed a serious threat to merchants and herdsmen, and also made Dingsha County an “isolated island” with no way out or in. Finally, the local people lacked common sense, did not abide by the law, and acted in an extreme manner, which was also a reason.

In fact, a magistrate came to Dingsha County and wanted to change the county, but this magistrate touched the interests of some people in the county – a privately mined copper mine.

Private mining was not allowed, but the people of Dingsha County were poor and had no other options, just like a wolf that had been hungry for many days and clung to its bones. The county magistrate knew about the mine, but before he could start, the people of Dingsha County discovered it.

The local bully did it, the whole county concealed it and he was killed without a complete body. In addition, Dingsha County also has the tradition of sending a “bride”. In March, a young and beautiful woman was selected and sent out of the city to be presented to the horse thieves as “filial piety”.

These were not forced by others, but the choices made by the people of Dingsha County themselves. They chose to sacrifice others to fulfill their own wishes.

“Are you still motivated?” Gu Zhengzhong asked. An Yinong encountered such a realistic and dark problem as soon as he entered the officialdom. He didn’t know whether this had undermined his determination.

“Yes! Why not?” An Yinong turned his head and looked directly at Gu Zhengzhong. “I don’t care. The people here have been ignorant for generations. Why do poor mountains and bad waters produce unruly people? Because they are poor!”

Punishment will not make these people wise and kind. Only when punishment and poverty alleviation go hand in hand could the people here choose to become kind and prosperous. If being a good person meant being poor, 90% of the people in this world would choose to be a rich evil ghost. This was human nature.

“The people of Dingsha County are poor. First, they have no land, no livestock, no means of production, and can only work for others. The wages are low and often not paid. Second, the local environment is bad. Not only can the soil and water not produce good food, but there are also bullies, horse thieves and bandits waiting in the dark.”

An Yinong paced in the room, thinking. To change Dingsha County, the first thing to do was to clean up the surrounding villains that would affect it, such as the bullies, horse thieves, bandits and landlords.

First, to create a friendly environment, and second, to deter the local people, letting them know that the new county magistrate was a character worse than a bully. Moreover, construction required money, people, land, and materials, so suppressing bandits, killing bullies, and clearing landlords was the right way to suck some blood.

“Jin, Bai, Wu, Su.” An Yinong tapped the table with his fingers. There was no anger on his face, even though he had just learned about the many inhumane atrocities that had occurred on this land.

The Wu and Su families were just vassals. Although they had committed crimes, there had been no murder cases so they can just be beaten half to a pulp. The focus was on the Jin and Bai families.

“Both have a lot of money, a lot of land, and a lot of people. But I just happen to be short of money, land, and people. Don’t you think this is a big piece of fat meat dangling in front of me?”

These two families have been operating in Dingsha County for a hundred years. They have thousands of strong thugs alone, and it was said that they were also connected with horse thieves. How easy would it be to take them down?

An Yinong walked half a circle in the room, then turned around and said, “There are troops stationed nearby, right?”

Gu Zhengzhong did not answer, and An Yinong muttered to himself again: “The eldest son of the Jin family is an official in the garrison. He wants to mobilize these people…”

“Tell me,” he stroked his chin, “if I promised those officers and soldiers that I would give them half of the silver seized from the Bai and Jin families as military pay, would they be tempted?”

It was not known whether the garrison troops were tempted or not, but An Yinong was tempted. It would cost a lot of money to help alleviate poverty and build infrastructure, and this money would not fall from the sky. Didn’t that mean he can only rely on…’gifts from nature’?

This “evil force” had already set its eyes on the assets of the two “evil forces” of the Jin and Bai families, and wanted to use the garrison to get something for nothing.

In the following days, An Yinong stayed in the backyard of the county government office during the day to work, or he would recite poems, compose couplets, play the piano, and paint. He often recited the spring flowers and autumn moons, and he rarely went out. But at night, he learned about the situation through the local wronged souls and sorted out the information from previous years.

According to his requirements, these little devils had to find out the situation of every household in Dingsha County, including the number of people in their family, their fields and livestock, whether there were any diseases, whether there were any difficulties in using water, etc.

An Yinong marked on a map of Dingsha County which village had a large number of poor people, which village had less usable land, and which villages needed to be pacified by the landlords. He did all this work at night with a lamp on, and no one else knew about it.

Most of the people in the county government had already defected to those two families. When they saw An Yinong wearing a blue shirt and reciting sarcastic articles all day long, they reported back, saying that the young magistrate was a fool who only knew the Four Books and Five Classics and had studied himself to death.

The Jin and Bai families were secretly delighted, thinking that such a brainless scholar was the easiest to fool. Therefore, they never troubled the new magistrate, and Dingsha County was peaceful and quiet, as if the magistrate had never been changed.

In less than ten days, An Yinong had basically figured out the distribution of power in Dingsha County, including the lairs and main personnel of the surrounding bandits, as well as the places where the wealth of the Jin and Bai families was stored.

He also obtained letters between the Jin and Bai families and the horse thieves. Afterwards, he wrote a secret letter and attached the correspondence between the Jin and Bai families and the horse thieves, hoping that special measures would be taken and the local garrison would be mobilized to clean up the pests.

At the same time, he finally went out, wearing a scholar’s outfit, with a silly expression on his face. He strolled on the street with his guard Tian and acted as an interpreter. Whenever he saw something of interest, he would look at it and ask questions. He communicated with local merchants in Mandarin and gestured with his hands and feet, just like a young fat sheep.

When they saw him, the street vendors had strange expressions on their faces, as if they knew his identity and spoke in a more reserved manner.

An Yinong noticed that their eyes were flickering, and they were looking at someone in the crowd. It seems that during the ten days he had been in the county government, everyone here had been “warned”. They wanted to block his ears and eyes so that he could only see what they wanted An Yinong to see and hear.

He pretended not to notice and continued walking, fanning himself. It was the season for fruits and vegetables to be put on the market, and he saw fruits and vegetables from Dingsha County on the street, as well as the cattle that the merchant had mentioned.

A yamen runner stood beside the cow, holding a piece of beef in his hand. His presence was to show that the cow died an unnatural death and was not deliberately slaughtered. As to whether it was true or not, it was hard to say.

The fruits and vegetables in Dingsha County were sweet and juicy, and although they are small in size, they are of extremely high quality. But the most surprising thing is the beef in Dingsha County.

The black short-horned cow was said to have been raised for only a year or so. Its hair was short and fine, and the meat was distinctly red and white, with beautiful marble textures. It tasted faintly sweet.

He bought a basket of fruits, ate beef roasted with local spices, spending only a dozen coins, and then continued to appreciate the unique county town on the border. As a border town, Dingsha County had scenery different from that of the Central Plains.

Merchants leading camels were common on the streets, and beside them were two hunting dogs with long faces and thin waists. From time to time, one could also see a foreigner with a high nose and deep eyes. Even the buildings on both sides were masterpieces of the fusion of Chinese and Western civilizations.

An Yinong observed that Dingsha County had plenty of sunshine and little rainfall, so most of the buildings here were made of mud bricks. The locals collected minerals to make pigments and paint them on the walls for decoration. These decorative patterns were very interesting.

He also noticed strange plants, like succulents, growing on the roofs of local houses.

“Oh~” He was about to take a closer look when he heard a woman’s charming cry, and saw a fair-skinned and beautiful woman falling softly in front of him, with one hand gently pressing her ankle and her face raised at forty-five degree angle.

“Sir~” She bit her teeth lightly, speaking standard Mandarin, her eyes were watery, and she looked very amorous.

“Oops!”

An Yinong was also frightened. He stepped back three meters and said, “Miss, men and women should not touch each other. Please don’t damage my innocence.”

Passerby: …

The woman on the ground: …