Chapter 2813 Evaluation
Lord Yu paused, then sat down beside the bed and asked, "Lord He, what do you think of the Luoyang County Magistrate?"
Governor He narrowed his eyes and said slowly, "Him~"
He didn't speak for a long time.
Lord Yu said, "Don't worry, Lord He, what you said today will not be spread outside my ears."
Governor He shook his head slightly and said, "That's not the case. I've been ill for too long, and it takes time for me to remember you."
Lord Yu looked at Governor He, whose logic was clear and his speech was relatively clear, and he thought it would be a miracle if he trusted him.
Lord Xia also didn't believe it, so he asked directly, "He, Governor, two years ago, County Magistrate Luo was rated as poor. Why?"
"Two years ago," Governor He squinted his eyes, thought for a moment, and then sighed. "The year before last, Luoyang was in bad shape. First, there was a drought during the spring planting season. County Magistrate Luo failed to properly organize water conservancy excavations and irrigation. Residents of two townships under his jurisdiction fought over water, resulting in one death and three serious injuries."
This is considered a vicious incident. Normally, when something like this happens, the governor will give the local county magistrate a bad evaluation. However, Luoyang is Guo County, and everyone knows each other every day. As long as the relationship is not too bad, it will generally be considered average, and he will not be given a directly inferior evaluation.
You have to know that average means passing, and low means failing. If he gets such a rating for two consecutive years, he, the county magistrate, will either be demoted or dismissed directly.
Lord Yu then asked carefully, "Does Governor He dislike Magistrate Luo?"
Governor He smiled and continued, "After the beginning of autumn, the rain actually increased that year. The wheat has just been harvested, and the rice is still in the fields. I asked the old farmers, and they said that the water from the spring drought might have accumulated and is now falling. But I also consulted the director of the Imperial Astronomical Observatory and the Taoist priests at Xuandu Temple, and they both said it's not a big deal. The rain is just intermittent and will clear up after a while."
"The rain really came in fits and starts, raining for half a day each day, and the rest of the time it was either cloudy or sunny. But after seven or eight days in a row, he got scared and without informing the state, he directly ordered the people to rush to harvest."
Lord Yu and Lord Xia were silent. Combined with the low evaluation that County Magistrate Luo received, the outcome of this matter was clear.
Governor He said, "What do the common people know? They just do whatever the officials tell them to do. When they saw some landlords rushing to harvest, and the village head relayed the order to the county magistrate, they rushed out to harvest, even in the rain. The rice was still green."
"It even affected the neighboring county. The county magistrate sent runners to the fields to strictly forbid harvesting, which saved the rice," said Governor He. "The rain continued on and off for five days. The river was about to overflow when it stopped. Then the sun shone brightly for ten days. The drooping rice quickly turned yellow and was ready for harvest in half a month."
Lord Yu and Lord Xia were silent for a long while. They had both served as local officials and knew too well how important the last twenty days of rice growth were. If there was enough sunlight and water, the rice would quickly become full and mature within twenty days, and its weight could double.
"There's only a difference of fifteen to twenty days. The yield per mu in the neighboring county is twice that of Luoyang County. Although Luoyang County can generally handle this natural and man-made disaster on its own and won't have to appeal to the court, when it comes to each household, because of the early harvest, who knows how many people will have to sell their land, or even their children, to survive the year."
Therefore, Governor He gave him a low evaluation and even wrote a letter to the Censorate and the emperor to complain about him, suggesting that the court should replace him with a new county magistrate.
However, the imperial court had its own procedures and would not completely deny a person because of a single mistake, so the county magistrate was not replaced.
But the following year, Governor He only gave him a mediocre evaluation on the grounds that he did not handle the aftermath of the disaster well and could not properly arrange for the people.
Governor He didn't directly say whether he liked Magistrate Luo or not, nor did he directly state his evaluation of him. Instead, after explaining the reasons for his evaluation of him, he looked at Lord Yu and the other three and asked, "What do you four think of Magistrate Luo?"
Lord Yu and Lord Xia remained silent. Imperial Physician Lu scoffed and said, "What a fool! I'm a better county magistrate than him."
Doctor Tan tugged at his sleeve and asked him to be more low-key.
Governor He laughed, leaned back on the pillow and closed his eyes slightly.
He has talked too much today and is very tired.
Doctor Lu felt his pulse and nodded to the others, and they all stood up and said goodbye and left.
Governor He did not stop them.
When they went out, Mrs. He personally led people to serve them tea and snacks.
Lord Yu and the others quickly stood up and bowed to express their gratitude. Mrs. He was very kind, especially to Imperial Physician Lu and Imperial Physician Xiao Tan, with a smile on her face.
After a round of thanks, she casually mentioned, "When my master first fell ill, Master Zheng from the Medical Department also came to see him. He even said at the time that if his master came, he might be able to cure my master."
"It's a pity that Imperial Physician Zhou is a pillar of the nation and cannot leave the capital. We haven't dared to force her, but I heard that she recently arrived in Luoyang?"
Lord Yu's hand holding the teacup paused and froze slightly. He finally understood why they were able to see the seriously ill Lord He so smoothly. It turned out that the other party had other intentions.
Lord Yu and Lord Xia lowered their heads to drink tea and stole glances at Doctor Lu.
Doctor Lu: ...
Seeing that they were silent, Doctor Tan was afraid that the situation would become awkward if he waited any longer, so he quickly said, "Doctor Zhou is at Prince Gong's Mansion. How about this? I'll talk to Doctor Zhou first to see if she can spare the time. If she can, we can come and visit her."
Mrs. He immediately expressed her gratitude: "Thank you very much, sir."
She pressed the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief and said, "I also know that my master's illness is difficult to treat. I didn't expect him to be cured. I just wanted him to feel better. You gentlemen saw that he was fine today, but you didn't know that he was usually in pain all night long, especially at night, and couldn't sleep at all..."
Upon hearing this, Lord Yu sighed and said, "We will try our best to invite Imperial Physician Zhou to come and take a look. However, as Madam knows, Imperial Physician Zhou is here by imperial decree, and we cannot guarantee whether she can spare the time to come."
Mrs. He said she understood, and she enthusiastically sent the four people out, and even gave medical fees to Doctor Lu and Doctor Xiao Tan.
However, both of them declined. After returning to the medical department, Lord Yu still sent someone to Prince Gong's Mansion to deliver a letter.
The next day, Zhou Man found an excuse to sneak out and spent the whole day accompanying Prince Gong to lose weight. She was also very tired.
When she heard that he was treating a patient, she didn't despise him and turned to ask Doctor Lu, "What's his illness?"
Doctor Lu said, "It's probably an accumulation in the stomach."
Doctor Tan, standing by, said, "It's also called gastric reflux. It's basically incurable, but it's certainly painful. When we went there, he was forcing himself to speak to us despite the pain. His Majesty had previously sent Doctor Shi to see him. The He family should also know that this disease is incurable. All they ask is that Governor He feel better for the rest of his life."
See you at 6pm
(End of this chapter)
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