Upon hearing that Shen Xi had entrusted him with full responsibility for the upcoming interrogation, Qi Xiuwen immediately regained his energy and spirit.

That fear of being distrusted by the leader vanished.

"Okay, Xiuwen will definitely live up to the leader's expectations."

Shen Xi said she would let Qi Xiuwen conduct the interrogation, and she really did give him the authority. She then left the meeting room.

This is a town, and it doesn't have the facilities of the county. It's called a conference hall, but it's really just an ordinary room that's been temporarily set up as a conference hall and interrogation room.

Xing Xiuyan followed Shen Xi out quietly.

The guards continued to follow, never abandoning him.

Shen Xi suddenly asked Xing Xiuyan, "Xiuyan, do you think being a leader is easy?"

Xing Xiuyan didn't know how to answer. If we're talking about living conditions, the leaders have it much easier than ordinary people. Ordinary people have to work their hardest just to have three meals a day.

But in terms of the level of hard work, the leader works much harder than ordinary people, at least more hard than her.

It seems that problems easily arise whenever the leader doesn't pay attention to something.

Seeing her struggle, Chenxi chuckled: "Being an adult is really not easy, sigh!"

Xing Xiuyan was stunned and didn't know what to say. No wonder her sister Yingxue said that the leader sometimes said strange things and told her not to pay attention to them.

It feels rather incongruous for a girl who, despite her strong spirit, is still a minor, to express the sentiment that being an adult is not easy.

After sighing, Chenxi strolled slowly forward. There was nothing particularly special about the town, and the post-disaster reconstruction was not yet fully completed, making it appear somewhat dilapidated.

As Chenxi walked along, he asked Zheng Hongfang, who was following him: How many wells have been dug? How is the farmland being developed? How many people are living here? What is their housing situation? and so on.

It was all casual conversation, and Zheng Hongfang replied respectfully to each question.

Chenxi suddenly asked, "How does Qiaozhen compare to Lingtou Township?"

Zheng Hongfang immediately replied: "The people in Lingtou Township are a bit richer. Qiaozhen was robbed by bandits a few days ago and is now even poorer. Fortunately, no one died."

"Haven't the militia been trained? Haven't any bandits been caught or killed?"

Zheng Hongfang's face flushed slightly: "We've been training as militiamen for over a month, but all we've done is get stronger physically; there hasn't been much progress."

Chen Xi nodded. For someone with no prior experience, training is unlikely to be effective in a short period of time.

Yesterday's battle against the bandits proved Zheng Hongfang's words true.

Despite having so many militiamen, far fewer than their cavalry bandits, and with her guards also present, the militia's casualty rate was still extremely high.

In yesterday's battle, more than 200 militiamen and civilians died, and 400 were seriously injured.

Almost no one escaped injury, partly due to the bandits' superior martial arts skills, partly due to the advantage of cavalry, and partly due to the inadequate training of the militia.

I had expected the mortality rate to be relatively high, but I didn't expect it to be this high.

If it weren't for her protection, these militiamen and civilians would not have been able to win; they would have already been defeated and fled.

Having figured things out, Shenxi stopped asking about militia training and instead asked, "If there are any official documents or letters to the authorities, how are they submitted?"

With everything in disarray and needing rebuilding, the focus these days has been on restoring production and arranging personnel. There is still no set procedure for exposing the illegal activities of officials.

Zheng Hongfang replied very seriously: "All of them were submitted in accordance with the previous rules."

The previous rule, as stipulated by the imperial court, was that if ordinary people wanted to expose the illegal activities of officials, they had to obtain the consent of the village head first. If the person reporting the village head was the village head, they could go directly to the pavilion head to submit the documents, and the pavilion head would then submit them to the township head or town head.

If it's not a big deal, you can resolve it at the township level. The township head or town mayor will review the documents, and if they feel it's just a trivial matter, they will send it back to the village head so that the village can handle it itself.

If the matter is significant, documents need to be submitted from the township level to higher authorities.

The severity of this matter is entirely at the discretion of the officials; there are no specific rules or regulations governing it.

If you report anonymously, and you happen to have a good boss, there's a chance they might investigate; in the vast majority of cases, the report will be dismissed.

Another example is when a citizen sues an official. If a subordinate sues a superior, the official will be punished with twenty strokes of the cane before the case is even heard.

Various constraints prevent ordinary people from suing officials; they would endure any injustice that might befall them.

The advantage of this is that the vast majority of ordinary people are honest and dare not overstep any boundaries. Even if they are wronged, they will endure it and maintain a superficial peace.

There are many disadvantages. Suppressing public opinion is more dangerous than preventing a river from overflowing. If the people suffer for too long, and then encounter disasters or wars, they will erupt and cause unrest.

Now that the basic population of Bian'ai County has been well maintained, and the infrastructure construction and farmland reclamation have also been done well, the next step should be to refine various rules and regulations.

Instead of the simple punitive measures at the beginning, which have many loopholes and are suitable for use when things are chaotic, they need to be refined once things have calmed down a bit.

Have you ever had any contact with Ge Sishu?

The anonymous whistleblower's report was never taken seriously, which was related to Ge Liang's considerable power at the time and the county's management of the documents.

Go back and investigate who is managing these paperwork, and whether these people are connected to Ge Liang.

Zheng Hongfang nodded: "A few days ago, I had a meeting with Ge Sishu. He came to discuss the training of the militia on behalf of Ge Liang. When he learned that I was one of the first people the leader knew, his eyes looked a little strange."

"What's strange about it?"

"I'm a bit uncertain and they've asked me several times about my relationship with the leader and how I can get a meeting with him."

"The day before yesterday, he sent some gifts again, but I didn't accept them. Who knew something would happen yesterday?"

Shenxi had a good idea of ​​what was going on. Ge Sishu was a useful person. If used properly, he could be a rare talent.

Among a group of greedy people, being able to remain steadfast, stand firm, maintain one's own principles, demonstrates high emotional intelligence and good character.

They walked, looked around, and chatted as they went, and soon they were out of town. The town was small, and it took less than half an hour to walk out of it.

The surrounding farmland, which has been well cultivated and irrigated, is planted with wheat and some vegetables.

How much farmland in Qiaozhen is still uncultivated?

"In villages where the population is full, the farmland has already been planted. Only in some areas where the population is not full has the farmland not been planted yet."

Each village determines whether it is at full capacity based on its original household registration and the amount of land allocated to it.

Although there are quite a few migrants, it is still difficult to make up for the population lost in the past.

"Hurry up and plant grains or vegetables on the uncultivated fields as soon as possible. In a few days, the ground will freeze, and then there will be one less crop of grain."

"Yes, sir!"