Jiang Qinyu secretly admired Wei Chengzhong's thoughtfulness, and quickly stood up, saying to Wei Chengzhong, "Thank you, Lord Wei."

He arranged a quiet little courtyard for her and also arranged for his wife's trusted maid to come and take care of her. For a county magistrate who was busy day and night, it was really not easy to do this much.

“As for this fellow villager, he can come and go in the backyard during the day, but he has to stay in the front yard at night,” Wei Chengzong said, looking at Meng Tianze.

Meng Tianze quickly replied, "I'll leave everything to Lord Wei's arrangements."

His responsibility was to protect Jiang Qinyu, and perhaps occasionally run errands, but he shouldn't have been lingering in the magistrate's backyard.

Wei Chengzong nodded and told Jiang Qinyu to settle in, and later he would have Jin Suo and Ruyi take her to the yamen's office.

Jiang Qinyu entered the courtyard and immediately noticed the problem. She turned to the two maids and asked, "Did your mistress give me her courtyard?"

This courtyard looked like the main courtyard where Wei Chengzhong's family lived, making Jiang Qinyu feel like she had stolen someone else's house.

Ruyi seemed to be the kind of person who was steady and reliable. Upon hearing Jiang Qinyu's question, she immediately stepped forward and replied, "Reporting to the General's wife, my wife heard from the magistrate that you were coming to the county office to help, so she offered to let you stay here."

Their wife's original words were, "General Lu has done a great favor for you, and now his wife wants to help you do things for the people of Yongshan County. I have no other skills, but I am willing to offer this courtyard so that the general's wife can live more comfortably when she is in the county government office."

Jiang Qinyu sighed helplessly, “Madam Wei really doesn’t need to be so polite.”

It's just a place to sleep; it doesn't matter where she sleeps.

Ruyi and Jin Suo simply smiled and didn't say anything more.

General Lu's wife may not know that her husband and he were childhood sweethearts and betrothed. They grew up together, and after their marriage, he was devoted to his wife and never had any intention of taking a concubine.

Unfortunately, his wife was unable to have children due to an accident, and for many years she felt guilty towards her husband. She tried her best to share his burdens every day. During the years when her husband was suppressed, it was his wife who comforted him every day, which prevented him from becoming despondent.

It's just a matter of giving up her own courtyard for a few days. Her mistress doesn't feel there's anything wrong with it at all; on the contrary, she's happy because she can help the master.

Jiang Qinyu was unaware of all the things they were thinking. After putting her things away, she had Ruyi lead the way to the front yard, while Jin Suo waited in the yard.

The Yongshan County Government Office was originally small, but the previous magistrate, Zhu Youcai, oppressed the people and embezzled a lot of ill-gotten gains. He used some of these funds to expand the county government office, greatly increasing the size of the front courtyard, and the back courtyard was not to be outdone.

It's important to know that Zhu Youcai had eighteen concubines at the time. To accommodate so many concubines, he needed a lot of houses.

But this means it will take about fifteen minutes to walk from the backyard to the frontyard.

When Jiang Qinyu arrived outside Wei Chengzong's office, she heard him assigning tasks to his subordinates. There were seven or eight people standing inside, and he was giving instructions to each of them.

Jiang Qinyu went inside after those people came out.

"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting, Madam." Wei Chengzhong took a sip of tea, looked up and saw Jiang Qinyu, and immediately stood up to say.

Jiang Qinyu smiled and said, "Lord Wei, you've worked hard. Let's get straight to the point!"

"Alright, please, Madam." Wei Chengzhong was extremely grateful to Jiang Qinyu; he desperately needed someone who could get straight to the point.

Whether it was a lingering effect of Zhu Youcai's era or not, everyone who came to Wei Chengzhong to report something would ramble on and on before getting to the point, and they would also include a lot of flattery in their reports, which always gave Wei Chengzhong a headache.

Jiang Qinyu immediately said, "In my humble opinion, what Lord Wei should do now is to reorganize the various functional departments of the county government..."

She had already thought it through on the way here. Now that Wei Chengzhong is so busy, the biggest problem is that he has not been able to fully control the six departments of the county government.

In ancient times, county government offices had three shifts and six departments: the three shifts of bailiffs, soldiers, and runners, and the six departments of clerks, households, rites, soldiers, criminals, and public works.

The Six Offices correspond to the Six Ministries of the imperial court, essentially a microcosm of them. The Office of Personnel is in charge of the appointment, performance evaluation, promotion, and demotion of officials; the Office of Household Affairs is in charge of land, population, taxes, and finance; the Office of Rites is in charge of ceremonies, the imperial examinations, and schools; the Office of Military Affairs is in charge of military and political affairs; the Office of Criminal Law is in charge of criminal law and litigation; and the Office of Works is in charge of engineering, construction, land reclamation, and water conservancy.

The workshop staff should be responsible for issues like preventing floods and mudslides.

“What you say makes sense, but…” Wei Chengzhong frowned and said, “If there were to be major changes within the yamen at this time, I’m afraid many things would be affected.”

Jiang Qinyu smiled and said, "Lord Wei does not need to replace all the officials who do not engage in production at once. You can do it gradually according to the priorities."

She believed that Wei Chengzong understood this principle and was even already doing it, but he had too many things to do and hadn't had time to take the next step.

As expected, Wei Chengzong nodded and said, "I already have a clue about this matter. Thank you for reminding me, Madam."

“In that case, I’ll go check on the workshop. You may continue with your work, sir.” Jiang Qinyu stood up, nodded to Wei Chengzhong, and then left the room.

After Jiang Qinyu found out the location of the workshop, she said to Ruyi, "You go back first, Brother Meng will accompany me there."

"This..." Ruyi hesitated a bit, because her mistress had told her to follow General Lu's wife closely.

Jiang Qinyu said, "Don't worry, young lady, I won't leave the county government office. Surely nothing will happen to me inside?"

Ruyi was persuaded. After all, her master was the county magistrate, and General Lu's wife was a distinguished guest of her master. Anyone with a brain would not dare to offend the general's wife.

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