"What's all this noise about? The magistrate is almost here. Are you afraid he'll see you making such a racket?" A man in a long robe came out and said impatiently.

"Your Excellency, these people have come to the yamen to cause trouble. We were just teaching them a lesson when they told us to call you out because they want to see you." Two yamen runners stepped forward to complain when they saw the magistrate come out.

"Oh, who are you? What brings you to the county office?" County Magistrate Li Cheng asked politely after carefully examining the men, who were of distinguished appearance and had an air of authority.

"So you are the county magistrate of Shaoming County. I am Fu Changfeng, appointed by the imperial court to serve as the county magistrate of Shaoming County. These are the people I brought with me." Seeing that he was quite polite, Fu Changfeng naturally did not pretend to be mysterious and directly stated his identity.

"Ah, so you are the newly appointed magistrate. Oh dear, I was so mistaken. My name is Li Cheng. I hope you will not take offense, Magistrate Fu. Please come in quickly. I will send someone to inform the previous magistrate, Magistrate Wang, to come over."

Upon hearing this, and seeing the letter of appointment that Fu Changfeng took out from his sleeve, Li Cheng was immediately shocked and respectfully invited them inside.

"Li Chang, why aren't you hurrying over to invite Lord Wang over? What are you standing here for? We'll question you two later." Li Cheng's words were ostensibly a reprimand to the two constables, but he was also saying it on purpose to see what kind of temperament the new county magistrate was.

"It's alright. In the future, no matter who comes to the county government, we must not treat them with the same attitude as before, otherwise we will only bring disaster upon ourselves and offend others." Although Fu Changfeng said this, the warning in his words was already evident.

"Yes, yes, thank you for your forgiveness, sir. It was all my fault for being so blind and not recognizing you, sir." The two constables also took the opportunity to apologize.

After Fu Changfeng entered the county government office, he discovered that there were quite a few people there, but they all seemed to be doing nothing. Instead of documents, they were given rice bowls.

"My lord, please don't take offense. You may not be very familiar with the situation in Shaoming County. Let me explain it to you in detail. We have no choice but to accept this. We did not mean to neglect you. It is lunchtime, but the yamen is out of money, so everyone has to go home for lunch. That's why we brought our bowls home to eat."

Seeing the look in Lord Fu's eyes, Li Cheng was afraid of being blamed, so he offered an explanation.

Fu Changfeng was also somewhat confused about their methods, but since he hadn't figured out the situation yet, he naturally wouldn't punish these minor officials arbitrarily.

"You just mentioned the previous magistrate, Lord Wang. Is Lord Wang no longer serving in the county government? Or is he being transferred elsewhere?"

"In reply to your question, Your Excellency, Lord Wang is getting on in years and has applied to the court for retirement. He is now waiting for Your Excellency's arrival so that he can hand over his affairs and then return to his hometown with his family."

However, you may not know that the current situation of the yamen is such that even if we are not here, nothing serious will happen. This is because the common people will not go to the county yamen to file a complaint. They will go to the chieftain to resolve their problems. So, in Shaoming County, I may be so bold as to say that it is the same whether we are here or not.

However, now that you have arrived, I believe you will be able to change this situation.

Li Cheng briefly explained the situation of the yamen, and Fu Changfeng and the others understood. It seemed that the chieftain in the city was indeed very capable, having completely stripped the county yamen of its power. No wonder the county yamen looked lifeless; it was clearly just an empty shell.

"I am new here and do not know much about the situation in Shaoming County. I will need Lord Li's guidance in the future." Fu Changfeng bowed to him, but Li Cheng quickly moved away, showing great tact.

"What are you saying, sir? I still have much to learn from you. If you need anything, I will answer all your questions without reservation. My home is in an alley near the county government office. The backyard of the government office has been cleared out, and you can bring your family to live there."

"Lord Li, Lord Wang has arrived." The yamen runner Li Chang ran in and bowed to Fu Changfeng and Li Cheng. He was still a little intimidated by the new magistrate, whose imposing presence seemed even stronger than that of Lord Wang.

After Li Chang walked in for a while, Fu Changfeng and the others saw an old man walk in. He had a smile on his face and his hands behind his back. When he saw Fu Changfeng, he immediately said, "Oh, Lord Fu, you've come. My mission is complete. I'll tell you about the affairs of the yamen in a bit. Tomorrow I'll take my family back to my hometown."

Lord Wang looked like a kind-hearted person, with a smile on his face at all times. He spotted Fu Changfeng in the crowd at a glance.

"Lord Wang, I greet you. Where is your hometown, Lord Wang? Your accent sounds somewhat familiar." Fu Changfeng didn't rush to ask about government affairs, but instead started chatting with Lord Wang.

"Hehe, my family is from Jiannan Road. I heard that Lord Fu is also from Jiannan Road. It seems we are quite destined. However, I am getting old and will go home to be a farmer in the future."

"Yes, what a coincidence! I am from Guangming Prefecture in Jiannan Circuit. This is Zhuojin. Sir, you still have a strong local accent. If you were to return home, I'm afraid the children wouldn't even recognize you as a guest. You look so energetic. Even after returning to your hometown, you will surely bring benefits to the community. This is something we can only envy."

"Lord Fu, you certainly know how to talk. I'm already exhausted. How about we hand over the reins now?" Lord Wang smiled and returned to the main topic.

"My lord, shall we invite your wife to the backyard? I'll have Li Chang take them there," Li Cheng asked, seeing that they were about to discuss serious matters.

Fu Changfeng was about to say it was fine, but Xichun stepped forward and said, "Alright, then we'll trouble this young man to take us there."

Apart from Zhao Yuping and two other guards, everyone else followed Xichun and the others to the backyard of the county government office. The carriage still carried a lot of things that needed to be put away.

"Madam, this is the backyard of the county government office. Here is the key. If you need any instructions, just send someone to the county government office to find me." Li Chang said politely, handing over the key, which Taozi also took.

"Thank you. If there's anything we can do for you, please help us out. We're new here and not familiar with the streets yet." Xi Chun didn't make things difficult for him. She even gave Tao Zi a wink, and Tao Zi took out twenty coins and handed them to Li Chang.

"Thank you, Madam. I'll head back now." Li Chang said happily after receiving the money before leaving. They hadn't seen any reward money in a long time, and they were very excited, knowing they could show it off to others soon.