With the support of Tian Gui, Xu Gen, and their group, as well as the silent attention of Liu and Tian Shi, and the "unapproachable" Xiao Man Ye, Jiang Zhi took the opportunity to accept the position of village chief.

However, she also had something to say: "Since everyone supports me to be the village chief, I'll make it clear from the start that I have a bad temper and I always speak to people in a way that is appropriate for them."

"If you act like a decent human being and speak and act reasonably, I'll be willing to discuss things. But if you act like a ghost, trying to be sarcastic or resort to evil tricks, don't blame me for turning my back on you."

"Both men and women are born of mothers and raised by fathers, eat grains and get sick, and when they die, they are just a pile of rotten flesh ravaged by maggots. Nobody should flaunt what's in their crotch."

"And another thing, if anyone tries to pull any tricks or cause trouble in front of me, humph! I'll show you what I'm capable of!"

Her words were really harsh, but the Xu family members didn't even flinch.

Compared to the old ways in which Granny Jiang used to hurl insults at her mother, father, relatives, and even ancestral tablets, this was already considered mild.

She even said that whoever caused trouble in front of her... Granny Jiang was the most troublesome; it was peaceful as long as she didn't curse people.

Li Laoshi was greatly impressed and delighted.

He felt he should admire Jiang's wife for another skill: her ability to recognize medicine was different; her insults were venomous, not barbed.

Jiang Zhi continued, "As long as you can trust me and follow my arrangements, I will try my best to help everyone get a meal."

Whether we can get enough to eat is hard to say; it all depends on the whims of Heaven. If Heaven wants to harm people, even the gods can't do anything about it.

Let's collect as much as we can, so that everyone can have some meat and a drink during the New Year!

After saying the bad things, say something nice to boost morale.

Tian Gui and the others clapped and cheered: "Good, Village Chief Jiang is right, we will follow your arrangements from now on."

Zhang Juntou laughed heartily: "Village Chief Jiang, you must keep your word!"

Only then did he finally feel much relieved.

Zhang Juntou was initially unwilling to let a woman become the village chief.

Before going to the county government, Li Laoshi had suggested that Jiang's wife take his place, but he had been scolded by her.

In Zhang Juntou's opinion, no matter how capable a woman is, it will be difficult for her to gain the respect of the people if she wants to become an official.

All we need to do is make Xu Errui the village chief, with Jiang Shi assisting him. No one can say anything about that, and it won't cause any problems.

However, in the county government office, Magistrate Zhang inquired about the Xu Family Village.

He then mentioned that the Jiang family planned to plant two crops of corn and intercrop sweet potatoes in furrows, and also mentioned that they would grow rice on the mountain and use heated brick beds to dry the rice.

Unexpectedly, Magistrate Zhang was very interested in these matters, especially the kang (heated brick bed). He kept asking questions and praising it, saying that Ba County was damp and cold, and the kang was the best way to prevent moisture and was very practical.

Zhang Juntou has already started using a large kang (heated brick bed), which is indeed warm and saves him a lot of money. However, not everyone likes it; many people find it too hard and experience back pain when sleeping on it.

However, it's still worth promoting.

First came the oak powder, now there are methods for growing grain and the traditional heated brick bed.

As for the medicine, that's a long way off.

We haven't even had a meal yet, so we can't talk about medicine for now.

This alone made Magistrate Zhang value Jiang Zhi highly: If everyone were like this, how could the country not be prosperous and the people at peace!

Therefore, when it came to personnel appointments, Magistrate Zhang said, "Those who achieve great things do not concern themselves with trifles."

"When selecting officials, only those with talent should be employed. If someone is incompetent, even a relative should not be used!"

"Although the Xu family boy is sensible and can listen to his mother, he still went around in circles."

"The people are the priority. Let him be a mother for a few years, and wait until Xu learns the ropes."

Zhang Juntou had only attended a private school for two years, but he could still understand these few sentences from the Analects.

The meaning here is: if you want to do great things, you can't care about trivial matters. When I'm in office, I only choose people with talent.

If someone lacks talent, you won't use them even if they are close to you; if someone has talent, you won't abandon them even if they are your enemy.

Magistrate Zhang is not ashamed that Jiang is a woman, and is still going to entrust her with a position.

Although the village chief is not considered an official, his name is still recorded in the register of officials in the six departments of the county government.

A female village chief set a precedent in Pingchuan County, and if things go wrong, even the county magistrate will have something to say about it.

Zhang Juntou thought about the county magistrate who personally went to the countryside every day to supervise agriculture...

Zhang Zheng is working tirelessly for the people's livelihood, and it seems he's going all out.

At this moment, seeing that more than half of the men and women in the village were willing to let Jiang Shi be the village chief, Xu Changming was so angry that he trembled and shouted hoarsely, "How can you men be subordinate to women!"

But nobody paid him any attention, including his own son.

Instead, his son came over and advised, "Dad, if you're tired, go back and rest. I want to hear about the arrangements for planting grain!"

He was a filial son, but without food, how could he possibly support his elders? He couldn't just keep making empty promises and trying to appease them; of course, eating was the priority.

His son and grandson were disobedient, leaving Xu Changming feeling humiliated and speechless.

He could only stomp his foot angrily, glare at his second son's equally disobedient sons and grandsons standing in the crowd, and then turn and leave.

Those who had just joined in the opposition, including "Brother Qing," could only leave dejectedly.

Now that the village chief has finally been elected, it's time to get things done.

Zhang Juntou called Jiang Zhi aside and said that he needed villagers to provide labor for him.

Building a post station requires a large area of ​​flat land. If they want to minimize the use of village land, they must now cut down the trees on both sides of the official road and move soil and stones to fill in the pits and depressions.

This is a huge undertaking for people who lack machinery and equipment.

"Are the workers paid?" Jiang Zhi asked.

Zhang Juntou looked at her strangely: "This is corvée labor. Not only is there no pay, but you also have to bring your own food. Do you think this is like being a hired laborer?"

As expected, being the village chief is no easy job.

It's the busy season for spring planting, and farmers need seeds and grain.

In the end, I got nothing and had to work for the government on an empty stomach. I was afraid I would be scolded if I opened my mouth!

Jiang Zhi was unwilling to just comply: "Since it's corvée labor, then let it be done during the winter off-season. I don't have time now!"

Let's start haggling!

Zhang Jun didn't hide anything from her and said directly, "The work must start before summer. If you drag your feet, you'll be the one punished."

However, this is your first task as village chief. I can help you speak to Magistrate Zhang and ask for a tax exemption this year.

Jiang Zhi knew that this was another example of the "great shifting of power" in officialdom, robbing Peter to pay Paul, dragging and pulling along the same old tricks.

It seems this matter absolutely must be done.

After leaving Zhang Juntou's place, Jiang Zhi immediately took office as the village chief.

They took Errui to find Xu Genyou and Tian Gui and asked them what difficulties they needed to solve.

Tian Gui said, "There are no seeds!"

Xu Genyou said, "We're short of food at home!"

This was exactly what Jiang Zhi had anticipated; the government's limited supply of seeds was simply not enough.

If there is a lack of seeds in the spring, there will be famine in the autumn. People cannot survive on oak powder alone.

They couldn't borrow food themselves, and over a hundred people were starving. It was similar to last year's game, which started in hell mode.

Although there was some food on the mountain, Jiang Zhi never even considered it.

A hundred or two hundred catties of grain is just a drop in the bucket, and it will also make people develop a habit of waiting for it to be delivered to their door.

There is a way to solve this problem, which is to buy grain.

In fact, Jiang Zhi already had a plan in mind to raise money to buy grain and seeds, but the villagers still had to "support themselves" first.