352, Meet Shangguan

352, Meet Shangguan

After spending another two days arranging matters in Li County, Lu Mingfei rushed to meet his current superior, Li Wannian, the prefect of Pingzhou.

This time he came to Pingzhou City, he came as the magistrate of Li County.

When he entered the city, he still passed through the gate of Pingzhou City. But this time, he entered with his true identity.

However, when he arrived at the prefectural yamen, the first person he saw was not the prefect, but the clerk in charge of reception at the yamen.

After he revealed his identity and purpose, the other party just said to him coldly, "Master Lu, please wait here for a moment. I will go in and pass the message."

"Okay, thank you for your help." Lu Mingfei knew that this meant he should wait, so he could only wait.

However, he didn't know whether the prefect was really busy or was deliberately ignoring him, so he waited for more than an hour.

The clerk who had gone in came out again and said that their master wanted him to come in and talk.

After waiting here for such a long time, Lu Mingfei didn't say anything after seeing the person. He stood up and followed the clerk into the backyard of the yamen.

After all, this is the prefectural yamen, which is much more upscale than the small, shabby yamen in Li County.

When he walked into the inner hall, he saw a middle-aged man in official uniform sitting at a desk, holding a brush and writing something on a piece of paper.

Perhaps she heard him come in, looked up at him, and asked, "Master Lu, right?"

"I am Lu Mingfei, your humble servant, and I am honored to meet the prefect." Lu Mingfei stepped forward and saluted respectfully.

"No need to be so polite, please sit down." Li Zhifu waved his hand, put down the brush in his hand, picked up the handkerchief beside him, wiped his hands slowly, and then walked out of the table.

Lu Mingfei, who was standing here, did not sit down immediately. Instead, he waited for Shangguan to come over and sit down before sitting down at the next seat.

Then he explained, "I have just arrived at my post. I have spent a few days familiarizing myself with the affairs of the yamen before I came to see you. I hope you will forgive me."

He said this to explain why he did not go to see his superiors as soon as he took office.

Judging from the fact that the prefect had just ignored him, he didn't think the prefect was a generous person. Working under such a person, Lu Mingfei could foresee that his future life would not be so easy.

However, as long as he does his job well, I believe these Li Zhifu will not make things too difficult for him, right?

If it weren't for the fact that his relationship with Zhao Lang couldn't be exposed, if Zhao Lang had just said hello to this Li Zhifu, Li Zhifu would probably not have dared to embarrass him. But if they did that, it would have exposed his relationship with Zhao Lang.

This is not necessary.

Before coming to Pingzhou to meet Li Wannian, Lu Mingfei had also learned about the details of this Li Zhifu. The Li family's foundation was in Jingdu Prefecture. This Li Zhifu was a member of the deceased emperor's family. He was sent here to serve as an official to supervise Prince Ding.

However, the late emperor has been dead for a long time now, and the situation of this Magistrate Li in Pingzhou is somewhat awkward.

Lu Mingfei wasn't sure whether Magistrate Li had joined Prince Ding or Young Master Zhao. However, there were two possibilities: Magistrate Li was either a member of the deposed emperor or the new emperor's faction.

Zhao Lang didn't find out about this either.

Of course, he couldn't ask about this kind of thing in person, so he could only guess in his mind.

The servant brought the tea over, and Magistrate Li picked up the teacup and motioned Lu Mingfei to drink the tea.

After taking a sip of tea and putting down the teacup, Li Zhifu said, "I have heard of your great name, Lord Lu, since I was in Pingzhou City."

"I never thought that you would come to a small place like Pingzhou to serve as a small county magistrate, Lord Lu."

"As long as you can serve the people, what difference does it make whether you are an official in Kyoto Prefecture or a small county magistrate in Pingzhou?" Lu Mingfei asked.

Magistrate Li took a steady look at the young official before him and chuckled, "I never thought that Lord Lu, at such a young age, would say such a thing."

After that, the two of them talked for a few more words. The magistrate Li asked him to be a good official of the county and govern the people under his jurisdiction, and then let him go back first.

"I'm leaving." Lu Mingfei stood up, bowed and turned to leave.

After leaving the prefectural government office, he got on the carriage that was waiting for him outside.

"Sir, where are you going?" asked the guard driving the carriage outside.

"Let's just go back." Zhao Lang was not in Pingzhou City, and Lu Mingfei didn't know what he could do here. It would be better for him to go back to his own territory to work.

"Yes." Guard Ma responded and drove the carriage away.

Two guards on horseback followed behind.

This time, Lu Mingfei came out as a county magistrate, so he didn't bring too many people with him, so as not to be too high-profile and draw attention to himself.

At this time, staying alive is the safest way to survive.

Perhaps because Zhao Lang had returned to the army, Zhao Rui thought he had left with Zhao Lang. Therefore, when he came to Pingzhou City again this time, the people guarding the city gate to arrest him were gone.

This time when he came to Pingzhou City again, Lu Mingfei went to meet his superiors, presented some specialties from Kyoto Prefecture, and then returned to Li County to continue serving as the county magistrate.

Autumn is coming soon. Autumn is short in the north, and once autumn comes, winter will soon come.

So before that, he had to lead the people under his rule to prepare for winter. He did not want people to starve to death or freeze to death in the area under his rule.

But now in this place, there is no money and no people, so it is quite difficult to prepare for the winter.

Therefore, he had to wait until the village heads and village heads of each village arrived before he could distribute the work.

Before the village heads and village heads arrived, he was not idle. He familiarized himself with the situation in Li County and arranged some work.

***

Li County is close to Pingzhou City, so they can get first-hand information about the battle situation at the border.

Perhaps the people here have always been in such an environment. There is a war on the front line. As long as the Hu people do not break through the city and attack the rear, the people in the rear have never thought of running away. They still stay in their hometown and live a stable life.

Although he was worried about the people fighting on the front line, Lu Mingfei also knew that he could not go to the front line at this time, and even if he went, he could not help much, so he could only stay here in the rear.

In addition to being responsible for the general affairs in Li County, he is also responsible for the dispatch in Tong County.

When he was in Kyoto Prefecture, he had handed many things over to his senior brother to avoid exposing his identity. But now that he was in Li County, he didn't have to worry about so much.

The two places can communicate with each other, and he can also direct the work in Tong County remotely through letters.

There was a shortage of food on the front line, so all the food produced in Tong County was supplied to the front line, except for the food reserved for the local people.

At the beginning of August, Fu Lianxin arrived in Li County with a batch of grain and also brought him a piece of news, that is, there was a quarrel among several vassal kings.

The fundamental reason why these princes rebelled was because of grain tax.

After the autumn harvest, the people in all regions had to pay grain taxes. The more land and people they owned, the more grain taxes they would pay. Conversely, the less land and people they owned, the less grain taxes they would pay.

Originally, the boundaries between different places were not very clear, but now that interests are involved, they have become clear. So, if the land and population that were previously unclear now want you and I want them too, doesn't that mean we have to use force to resolve this issue?

After hearing the news brought by Fu Lianxin, Lu Mingfei was not too surprised. "I am surprised that they could wait until now to take action. I thought they would start fighting in the spring."

"They are not stupid. They robbed the land and the people in the spring. They have no ability to protect them and are just making things easier for others," said Fu Lianxin.

He was no longer the naive young master of the Imperial Tutor's Mansion. After his death, he had been completely transformed. He used to only see the surface of the same problem, but now he could see through it at a glance.

The two then chatted for a while about some things in Tong County and the front line.

Knowing that Fu Lianxin was thinking about his family, after finishing their business, Lu Mingfei said to Fu Lianxin: "I'll find someone to take you to see your family. Come back to me in two days."

"I'll be back tomorrow." Fu Lianxin didn't bother to be polite with Lu Mingfei, he just stood up and left.

As for the batch of grain sent by Fu Lianxin, Lu Mingfei had someone put it into the house where he was living now, and then he would notify Zhao Lang to arrange for someone to come and take it away.

With their current capabilities, it is unlikely that they can feed hundreds of thousands of Zhenbei soldiers, so he can only take care of Zhao Lang and the soldiers under his command first, and can only ensure that some of the soldiers have enough to eat.

He thought that the local vassal kings were beginning to cause chaos, and it would be unlikely for them to send people to the south to buy food in the future.

The Prince of Zhennan is now strictly controlling the flow of grain in and out, completely cutting off their possibility of buying grain from the South.

It seems that they still need to find a way to attract more people to their side. He can't control other places, but within the area under his jurisdiction, he can give the wasteland to the people who come here to cultivate.

As long as these lands were utilized and their newly cultivated grains and farming methods were used to grow crops, the grain yield could be increased. Even if they couldn't support hundreds of thousands of Zhenbei troops, they could still feed the people in other places and alleviate the current food shortage problem in Beijun.

However, the local princes are in chaos, and it shouldn't be long before they come into conflict with the imperial court, right?

That day, after Fu Lianxin left, Lu Mingfei thought about these things for a while, then picked up his pen and wrote a letter, which he had sent to the front line to Zhao Lang.

Today's update.