"There is such a wide ring?" Wang Erzhu muttered a few words and happily put it in his pocket.

No matter what this thing looks like, it looks great, and it’s made of jade, so it should be worth some money!

"My friend, can I come to your house and talk now?"

"Let's go, let's go."

The four followed Wang Erzhu home and walked for about twenty minutes to a wooden house surrounded by an orchard.

The house was extremely simple, with only one room and the stove outside.

There was only a sticky kang and a dirty table in the room.

The room seemed a bit crowded with five people.

Fang Zheng took a few glances and came to a conclusion.

Wang Erzhu is an old bachelor and has no family. Otherwise, he should be able to rent another room outside.

After all, I still have an orchard.

Wang Erzhu was quite capable. Knowing that he had met a rich man, he quickly took out two dirty broken bowls and scooped two bowls of water from the bucket in the corner of the room.

Putting it in front of Emperor Jing, he smiled shyly and said, "Drink, drink water... just two bowls."

Emperor Jing smiled and nodded, but did not move, and Guo Tianyang did the same.

This broken bowl is so dirty, it's really hard to eat from it.

Fang Zhengyi and Zhang Biao didn't mind. They each took a bowl and drank it all.

I'm indeed thirsty. I've seen things dirtier than this before. As long as the water is clean, it's fine.

Wang Erzhu felt happy when he saw that the other person didn't look down on him.

Emperor Jing said, "I came here to see the local conditions and customs of the county, and then do some business in the county, so I want to ask you, what do you think of the situation in Xinzhang County? Are the people living well?"

Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Wang Erzhu became alert again and looked at Emperor Jing carefully.

The next second, he said with a sullen face: "You don't have eyes, can't you see for yourself? Good, great! The people have food and drink, and live and work in peace and contentment!"

Guo Tianyang was unhappy: "Hey! How can you talk like that?"

"Wait a minute." Emperor Jing raised his eyebrows and stopped him, saying, "I think the people in the city are not in good spirits, not as good as you say."

Wang Erzhu said sarcastically: "Do you have eyes?"

"You don't believe what you see, so you have to ask me to tell you, right? Don't you want to hear good things?"

The Emperor Jing was speechless for a moment because of his sarcastic words. Fang Zhengyi pulled him aside and whispered, "Master, let me ask him. Is he wary of us?"

"Why is he speaking in such a sarcastic tone?"

"If people are restricted and can't speak normally, they can only speak in a weird way."

Fang Zheng turned around, walked towards Wang Erzhu and said with a smile: "Don't be angry, fellow villager, I just asked you a question. Just tell me whether the life of the people in Xinzhang is good or not."

Wang Erzhu's face was full of disgust: "Stop pretending. Who is your fellow villager? You are a stranger. As soon as I saw you, I knew you were sent by the government to collect good words. If you want to hear good words, why don't you just make up some lies yourself? I am telling the truth. I am the unlucky one!"

"Let's go, let's go quickly. My place is too small to accommodate all these big Buddhas!"

After Wang Erzhu finished speaking, he actually started pushing Fang Zhengyi.

Fang Zhengyi tried his best to compete with him, shouting, "How could such a thing happen in broad daylight? Did the Xinzhang County Magistrate ask that bastard Sun Sheng to send people to collect good words from the people?"

Dog official?!

Wang Erzhu stopped what he was doing and looked at Fang Zhengyi in disbelief.

"You...are you really from out of town doing business?"

Fang Zheng said, "Of course. My father and I came here from the capital with our family not for business. We couldn't compete with others in the capital and were suppressed by our peers, so we had to move to a smaller place. We heard that Xinzhang County has a clean government and is well-known in Hengjiang Prefecture, so we came here."

"But I see what you mean...it doesn't seem to be like that? Brother, just tell me, we came all the way here, and we already lost most of our wealth in the capital. If we lose again here, we will really have no way to survive."

After hearing Fang Zhengyi's miserable words, Wang Erzhu slapped his thigh and sighed, "Hey, you've come to the wrong place. If you want to do business, you should go to Pingwan County. I heard that it's the best place to do business. You can make money by selling anything."

"So what's the problem here?"

Wang Erzhu said: "You don't know, this Xinzhang County...is rotten to the core!"

"Everything looks good on the surface, but what about the reality? Let me tell you, everything is much more expensive than in the outside world, and ordinary people can't get involved in business!"

"What's going on?" Fang Zheng asked hurriedly, "I see the prices of goods sold on the street are much cheaper than in Beijing."

Emperor Jing and others pricked up their ears and listened carefully.

Wang Erzhu added: "Just listen to their bullshit! Those businesses are all owned by well-known landlords in the city. The prices he calls are low, but if you can buy at the price he calls out, I will call you daddy!"

Everyone looked at each other.

"Can you tell me in detail? How could such an unheard-of strange thing happen? It is said that the new county magistrate in our county is an expert from the capital. How could he allow such a thing to happen?"

Wang Erzhu had already opened his mouth, chattering non-stop: "Yes, who the hell said it wasn't?! When this new official first took office, the people of Xinzhang actually welcomed him very much. He did a lot of practical things. When the landlords bullied the people, he went to crack down on them. When unscrupulous merchants sold inferior goods as good ones and the prices were too high, he sent people to crack down on them severely."

"Even when officials bullied the people, he took action to punish them severely. In the first two months after he came... everything was good, no one was bullied, and things were sold very cheaply."

"But who would have thought that within two months, the prices in the city would start to soar. The prices listed were still cheap, but you couldn't buy them at the original price unless you went through the back door!"

"Especially the price of medicinal materials has increased several times. If anyone gets a minor illness, all their wealth will be lost and their life will be wasted!"

Emperor Jing looked solemn, and murmured, "Golden outside, rotten inside. I didn't expect it to be so rotten?"

"Oh, it's not just that. The officials and landlords who used to bully the people are back, and they're even more violent! If anyone dares to say anything against it, the rest will suffer."

"Many people used to be well off, but after a few minor illnesses and disasters over the past year, they have fallen back into poverty. Their land has also been sold to big landlords... so they have to work as farmhands."

"Everyone guesses that the local wealthy families have long been colluding with officials and businessmen. For new merchants like you, I dare say you will be squeezed out within a month and won't be able to survive here!"

Land annexation and local gentry monopoly seem to indicate collusion between officials and businessmen.

Fang Zheng was thinking in his heart.

Wang Erzhu was so excited that he suddenly stamped his feet: "It was okay in the past few years, and life was getting better and better, but now it's not okay anymore. If it continues like this, I'm afraid we won't have enough to eat!"

"What a mess! The damn court is so useless that it sent such a stupid county magistrate! But, do you think there is a possibility that it is because our Dajing has no money from the war with the Jin Kingdom, so they are trying to make money from us ordinary people?"

Guo Tianyang felt as if someone had grabbed his heart, and he quickly looked towards Emperor Jing.

......