After delivering the goods to the Huo family, Jiang Zhi rushed to the county government office for two purposes: one was to report on her work and to indicate that her pharmacy had resumed normal operations, and that Magistrate Zhang could wait to collect taxes.

Secondly, it was also an advance notice that Xujia Village would be selling green grains again this year.

Last year, because I didn't know the rules, and only considered that Xiang Dejin and others would help me, and that the grain was only sold to wealthy families, I just pushed my cart over.

As a result, Errui and Tiangui almost ended up in jail, but they managed to escape punishment by claiming that the village needed green grain to exchange for money to buy more grain.

Later, Miss Huo placed an order for green grain, and Zhang Juntou brought merchants to the village to buy it, successfully selling all the green grain.

This year, Jiang Zhi also wanted to ask Magistrate Zhang for advice as soon as possible.

We need to find a good way to handle this so that both farmers benefit and those who want to eat it can enjoy it.

At noon in April, the sun was blazing hot. Jiang Zhi and her companion dodged the cars and pedestrians, walking along the eaves of the street.

First, he sold the hemp and wood ear mushrooms to a general store, then ate a bowl of wontons by himself at a street stall before entering the county government office.

It was the county magistrate's time to rest, but there were still yamen runners on duty.

Upon learning that Village Chief Jiang of Xujia Village had arrived, two familiar yamen runners came over to greet him and had a servant bring him coarse tea. They also sent a message to the back office to see when the county magistrate would be available.

Jiang Zhi and her companion had already eaten their fill, so they weren't in a hurry. They simply sat and chatted idly with the constables, talking about some recent interesting things happening in the city.

Soon, Magistrate Zhang met the two men in the cool hall.

Upon meeting, before Jiang Zhi could even bow and speak, Magistrate Zhang asked, "Is your pharmacy now able to make medicine?"

Jiang Zhi said, "We've been open for half a month now. We came to the city today to deliver the first batch of powder to Huo Family Pharmacy."

Magistrate Zhang nodded: "That's perfect. Then make more. Can you pay your taxes now?"

Sure enough, money was what Magistrate Zhang cared about most.

Jiang Zhi said, “Magistrate Zhang, I know that the county government is short of funds and I have been working overtime to make medicine. However, this is only the first batch of medicine. Various medicinal materials need to be prepared, and the people who make the medicine are not yet skilled enough! We can’t speed up the process. The tax should be due in six months.”

We can't rush this.

The Qingquanwan Pharmacy was just built, and the powdered medicine is only just being made. Where would the production line come from?

Sure enough, upon hearing Jiang Zhi say that the pharmacy was still under adjustment, Magistrate Zhang simply nodded casually: "I was too impatient! Medicine making is something that can't be rushed!"

However, if you can't meet the deadline, you can increase manpower; if you don't have enough people, you can take a few more refugee households back with you.

There are many refugees now; taking them away is giving them a way to survive. You've managed Xujia Village very well.

There were naturally many refugees; when Jiang Zhi entered the city, he saw families walking around outside the city.

The war continues, and the refugees keep coming. Jiang Zhi didn't come here to take in the refugees.

She quickly shook her head: "No money. The houses in Xujia Village look nice, but they're poor. The villagers owe a lot of money for building houses, and they're still waiting for the money to buy food."

A good official is one who knows how to complain about being poor.

The villagers are still subsisting on vegetable porridge.

My powdered medicine is just getting started, and the mosquito coils are still in production.

If you're penniless, prioritize making money before talking about ideals and righteousness.

Magistrate Zhang encouraged them, saying, "I intend to make Xu Family Village a model village!"

Jiang Zhi remained unmoved: "I am already struggling to protect myself. If the county magistrate were to set such an example, I would be nothing more than a straw doll riddled with holes."

"It's a small matter for me to lose face; if I betray the magistrate's trust, I will damage your reputation."

Jiang Zhi was well aware of the ins and outs of the workplace.

As a seasoned veteran, in the workplace, you need to make your superiors feel that you are capable, competent, and qualified.

But they can't be used casually; they can't be ordered around without overtime pay.

Whether Xujia Village was good or not, the shrewd and worldly Magistrate Zhang knew perfectly well that it wasn't worth risking his life for a little vanity!

Seeing that Magistrate Zhang was about to make empty promises and continue to use his rhetoric to manipulate things, Jiang Zhi quickly said, "Magistrate Zhang, I have come here with a difficult matter to ask for your advice!"

"Tell me! Are you short-handed?" Magistrate Zhang hadn't forgotten to promote the refugees.

Jiang Zhi said, "Last year, Xujia Village almost made a mistake selling green grains. It was the county magistrate who showed compassion for the people and gave us a minor punishment as a warning. We villagers are all grateful for your kindness and are thinking of sending you some tender corn sometime in the future."

Beside them, the servants serving tea stared in astonishment, their eyes wide. This peasant woman was incredibly bold, daring to pick the green grains!

Magistrate Zhang frowned and tapped the table: "There are clear regulations that forbid the destruction of green grain!"

Jiang Zhi turned to Er Rui beside her and said, "Did you bring your farming records? Show them to the county magistrate!"

Last year, when selling tender corn, Magistrate Zhang asked Errui to record the cultivation of crops in each season.

Xu Errui felt that his handwriting was really bad and he couldn't write short essays when he was about to go to the city.

We could only ask Scholar Xia to write it down for us. He wrote a long essay of a hundred characters about the process of making seedlings from fertilizer balls and growing early corn, and put it in a bag.

Upon hearing his mother's reminder, Errui, who was already sweating profusely from Magistrate Zhang's words "No destroying the grain," suddenly remembered that he still had his treasure with him.

He quickly took out the page: "Magistrate Zhang, our spring corn crop was planted in a timely manner so as not to affect the second crop. We did the same thing last year."

"The planting method is written here. If you plant it this way in other places, you can harvest two crops as well."

"Harvest two crops!" Magistrate Zhang remembered this, and realized that he had indeed asked the farm boy to record it.

He took the paper, unfolded it, and found the handwriting pleasing to the eye, and then the content inside to be meticulous.

Reserved "row spacing" and "nest spacing" in the nursery... all farm work is twice as much as in other places.

Jiang Zhi said, "The villagers of Xujia Village put in more labor and also hope for a better harvest."

Even before the late spring cold snap, they went into the fields, kneaded the damp mud soaked in manure into balls, pressed them into the seeds, and then carefully tended to them day and night, ensuring they were warm and comfortable.

"My hands are frostbitten and I'm chilled, all for the sake of selling a few more coins and collecting a few more bushels of grain, so that I can provide food for my family."

"After harvesting the early crop, we still need to rush to plant the second crop. Every day is planned out."

Our land is not idle, and our people are not free; we earn money through our labor, competing with the land for food. We hope the county magistrate can offer some assistance.

Jiang Zhi recounted in detail the hardships the people of Xujia Village had endured to rush to plant early crops, emphasizing that they deserved all of this.

If no one is allowed to destroy anything, and no one is rewarded for their hard work, then people will just lie down and go home to sleep.

If it weren't for the fact that Xujia Village sold its green grain last year, that Jiang Zhi paid the grain tax a year in advance, and that the rows of houses that had sprung up in Xujia Village wouldn't have been seen, Magistrate Zhang might have thought Jiang Zhi was exaggerating.

Facts speak louder than words.

Seeing that the former refugee village has now settled down and prospered, Magistrate Zhang needs to carefully consider what Jiang Zhi said and think about whether this ban really has any drawbacks.

No one is perfect, and nothing is ever perfect. All rules have their limitations.

If Xujia Village can make money by selling the grain they have managed to squeeze out, without affecting their normal harvest, then this is a viable way to generate wealth.