Chapter 2543: Not Conspiring
It was another one of the two grand court meetings in a month. The main content of this grand court meeting was the upcoming spring planting and the Ministry of Personnel examination to be held tomorrow.
Manbao did not say a word about the two important events. She was quietly looking to the side and back at County Magistrate Guo.
County Magistrate Guo raised his eyelids to look at her, thinking that she was looking at County Magistrate Tang, so he poked County Magistrate Tang hard out of friendship for her.
County Magistrate Tang was startled by the provocation and turned back to glare at him without saying a word. County Magistrate Guo then gestured for him to look at Zhou Man with a faint look.
County Magistrate Tang looked at Zhou Man.
Manbao looked at them in confusion, completely unaware of what they were up to.
When County Magistrate Tang saw this, he immediately turned around and glared at County Magistrate Guo.
County Magistrate Guo: ...
After the grand court meeting, County Magistrate Tang deliberately rubbed his waist as he stood up, and said to County Magistrate Guo with a half-smile, "County Magistrate Guo, you have quite a strong hand."
County Magistrate Guo looked at Zhou Man, curious about what her look meant.
Manbao coughed lightly, forced a smile, and stepped forward. "County Magistrate Guo, are you free at noon? Thank you for your care over the years. I'd like to invite you to have some tea at Qingfeng Tower."
County Magistrate Tang, standing by, said quietly, "In all these years, I've never seen you invite me to Qingfeng Tower for tea."
Manbao hesitated for a moment and then said, "So, will you come with us, brother?"
County Magistrate Tang stared at her intently, then snorted after a long pause and said, "No."
After saying that, he turned and left.
County Magistrate Guo was very curious about what Zhou Man wanted to talk to him about.
"Introduce Magistrate Xun to me?" Magistrate Guo widened his eyes in surprise. Did Zhou Man need to introduce him to the magistrate of the neighboring county?
Manbao smiled and told them that they wanted to build a road.
County Magistrate Guo understood instantly and after a moment's contemplation, he said, "Our Wannian County has always had a fixed number of labor services. I'm afraid the people will object to this sudden increase in the length of the road."
He said, "After all, people from Wannian County rarely go to Yongzhou. Whether it is repaired or not, it will not make much difference to us. It is not far from the existing official road."
Manbao opened his mouth wide. He didn't expect that County Magistrate Guo would object. Building a road is a good thing.
"County Magistrate Guo, do you know how much vegetables are worth in Wannian County right now, and how much they are worth in Liyang County?" Manbao said, "Building the road alone will benefit countless people by bringing in more agricultural and sideline products from other places."
County Magistrate Guo smiled slightly. "Master Zhou is right, but the goods from Liyang can't come in. They are consuming the goods from Wannian County. If Liyang wants to make money from Wannian County, shouldn't they pay for the construction of this road?"
"Liyang County is already responsible for a section of the road," Manbao paused, feeling something was wrong, and then changed the subject, "How about this, since County Magistrate Guo has this intention, why don't you have a face-to-face meeting with County Magistrate Xun?"
County Magistrate Guo raised his eyebrows, somewhat disappointed that Zhou Man had actually reacted.
However, building roads is indeed feasible, it just depends on how much effort one has to put in.
So County Magistrate Guo nodded and decided to find someone else to deal with it.
Manbao breathed a sigh of relief and poured tea for County Magistrate Guo, "County Magistrate Guo, please have some tea."
It was a rare occasion for Zhou Man to treat him, so County Magistrate Guo naturally wanted to taste the tea carefully.
Manbao hurried back to the palace. When it was time to leave the court, he ran to find Bai Shan and snorted, "They are all old monsters. They all want to dig a hole and bury me."
Bai Shan listened to her story and smiled, saying, "Conscription orders are a big deal. It's best to reduce the number of conscriptions if possible. This road will connect your fiefdom, Liyang County, the imperial farm, and the new city. It's a serious matter. You think you're being fair by giving each person a certain distance, but it also depends on their willingness."
He said, "County Magistrate Guo has the upper hand in this matter, so he'll naturally reap the benefits. You're right not to participate. No one dares to expand the section of road you and Princess Mingda claim anyway. Let the two counties wrangle the rest between theirselves."
Manbao had noticed that County Magistrate Guo was trying to bargain, and that he was planning to convince her to conquer County Magistrate Xun, so she had to withdraw in a hurry.
After all, she is not a local official, so it is not appropriate for her to get too involved in such matters.
Local affairs were too troublesome, and she felt that things in the Imperial Hospital and the Imperial Medical Bureau were far less satisfying.
Although Bai Shan served in the government for a short time, he was exposed to no less things than Zhou Man.
She had always been at the top. She was the one who came up with ideas for matters within the Imperial Medical Bureau and the Imperial Hospital. She also wrote memorials to the emperor and important officials like Wei Zhi. They were discussing big issues and had no idea that the people below were discussing more detailed matters.
It was so detailed that it even had to decide whether the Imperial Medical Bureau should buy a table and chairs with its own money or transfer them from other departments.
Bai Shan smiled at her and said, "Don't worry about them for now. We have already issued a military order for this section of the road. After all, you are the lord. Why don't you take some time to visit the village and find out if they are in any trouble."
Manbao nodded immediately upon hearing this and said, "Okay, we'll go there tomorrow after we get off the government office. We'll ride fast and take the small road, and we'll be there soon."
Regardless of whether County Magistrate Guo agreed to build that section of road or not, the three sections of road that the three of them had originally decided on had already begun construction.
Taking advantage of the fact that the farming season had not yet arrived, County Magistrate Xun seized the opportunity and notified the village heads to attend a meeting in the county that day. He then selected laborers from five villages and issued ten-day labor orders.
According to the decree of the Great Jin Dynasty, every household must send one adult male to serve for twenty days every year, with two more days added in a leap year. This year is not a leap year, and the magistrate of Xun County has now issued a ten-day service order, which means there will be ten days left in the autumn and winter.
Generally speaking, if it is not a life-threatening matter, such as a river embankment about to be destroyed, a knowledgeable county magistrate will deliberately avoid the busy farming season and basically serve during the slack farming season.
It is not yet the busy farming season, so when County Magistrate Xun issued the conscription order, although the people under him were somewhat dissatisfied, they would still prepare.
The section of road belonging to Zhou Man was naturally used by the laborers in Zhou Man's fiefdom, and Zhou Man was responsible for the expenses of the laborers.
Manbao handed the matter over to Zhou Wulang and Zhou Lizhong.
It was the first time for Zhou Wulang and Zhou Lizhong to take on such a job, but Zhou Wulang had served in the military before and had a rough idea of what it was like.
Therefore, he prepared food and vegetables early in the morning, bought some pork and gave it to the woman he hired to cook, and watched her give people gas and water every day.
When Manbao and Baishan came riding on horseback, everyone was still working. Zhou Wulang was standing in front of a big pot, waving his hands and stirring the vegetables.
Seeing Manbao coming over, he immediately handed the spatula in his hand to a woman and ran up to her, "Manbao, why are you here?"
Manbao got off his horse, looked at his fifth brother, and asked in surprise, "Fifth brother, why are you like this?"
He looked dusty and darker. Didn't she just see him last night?
Is it because the light is dim at night so we can’t tell black and white?
Zhou Wulang grinned and said, "I just helped them move a few baskets of mud, and it turned out like this. Look, a lot of it has come out in three days."
Manbao came over and saw that the road had been widened a lot. It could accommodate two carriages driving side by side. It was more than twice as wide as before. Before, a single carriage would have stumbled forward.
See you at 6pm
(End of this chapter)
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