Chapter 2880 Believe
For two consecutive days, Bai Shan did not mention the matter of building a stove. Instead, he asked the village chief to lead the villagers to open three or four salt fields on the beach and drive them directly into the sea to dry the salt.
Song Zhubu followed Bai Shan for two days and felt that Bai Shan's efforts were in vain. However, seeing that Bai Shan was determined not to turn back even if he hit a wall, he rarely expressed any objection.
However, the sun was too strong at the beach, so Song Zhubu said to Bai Shan, "Sir, there are still many things to deal with at the county office. Why don't I go back first?"
"No need," Bai Shan said, "County Magistrate Fang is at the county office. Let the village chief take care of the new salt field. Let's go inspect the next village."
Song Zhubu: "...Sir, are we going to leave this salt field to them? What if they secretly cook salt?"
Bai Shan disagreed, "Smuggling salt is a serious crime. Their family is all here, and I've already opened a salt field here. How could they be so desperate?"
"I haven't decided who will manage the saltworks yet. I'll decide when I do. Anyway, the sun won't produce any salt anytime soon, so let's keep it for now."
Song Zhubu: ...
The village chief was very sad after hearing this.
Bai Shan, however, found him privately and circled out several areas for him, saying, "I've checked these past two days. These areas have the highest salt content. Some even have brine underground. So you need to dig salt fields from here to here. If there's brine, melt it and dry it in the salt fields."
The village chief was shocked and asked quickly, "Since we already have brine, we can just take it, mix it with water, and boil it again before using it. Why do we need to dissolve it in the salt fields?"
Until now, the village chief still doesn't believe that salt can be produced by the sun.
Bai Shan insisted, "You're right to listen to me. Now you can dig salt fields and dry salt. I will come back after a while."
Although the village chief was worried about the future of the village, Bai Shan paid the wages, and he already knew that the village was secretly boiling salt, so the village chief did not dare to disobey him.
He could only sigh and respond.
Seeing that he obeyed, Bai Shan took his men to other villages to conduct inspections with confidence. At present, the main focus was on spring planting. Bai Shan also took a look at the situation of the wheat.
Manbao followed him with a cart of medicinal herbs, providing free medical treatment. They returned to the county town only after she had used up all the herbs.
Dong Xianwei and Song Zhubu, who were already dark, became even darker. However, Bai Shan and Zhou Man always wore hats, and it might be natural that neither of them got much tanned, which made Song Zhubu very jealous.
As soon as they entered the city, Song Zhubu subconsciously wanted to follow them back to the county government office, but his servant came running over and said, "Master, the old lady is not feeling well."
Upon hearing this, Chief Secretary Song immediately said, "County Magistrate Bai, I'm going home to see my mother first. The county government office..."
Bai Shan nodded immediately and said, "Go ahead. We are here at the county government office. Please tell the old lady to take care of herself."
Song Zhubu agreed, immediately picked up his robe and hurried home with his servants.
Manbao watched him run away and said with a click of his tongue, "I was originally trying to be polite. If the illness is not serious, I can also go out to see patients."
Bai Shan said, "Don't scare him now. Let's go back."
Manbao nodded.
The county government office was very quiet and seemed particularly peaceful on the surface. As soon as the two entered the county government office, County Magistrate Fang immediately came out to greet them. The three of them went to the office to talk.
County Magistrate Dong looked around and went to find his subordinates.
When his subordinates saw him, they said with horror, "County Lieutenant Dong, you're finally back. Do you know how big a problem has been these past few days?"
County Magistrate Dong calmly asked, "How big of a deal is it?"
The other party lowered his voice and said, "County Magistrate Fang took advantage of the absence of the County Magistrate, you, and Chief Clerk Song to check the salt works' accounts. He found something amiss and immediately arrested Manager Song. Not only that, but the two clerks from the Household Affairs Office were also arrested and are now in jail."
He said with tears in his eyes, "It would have been better if you had come back half a day earlier. This morning, County Magistrate Fang took us to search the homes of the three people."
County Magistrate Dong asked curiously, "Did you find anything?"
"They found it! Lots of expensive silks and satins, and several sacks of copper coins. Manager Song is only in his early thirties. Even if he worked for another thirty years, he wouldn't be able to earn so much with his salary and the land at home. Now he can't explain where the stuff came from, and there are errors in the accounts. Unless the county magistrate shows mercy, he's dead."
County Magistrate Dong said, "County Magistrate Bai will not show mercy. Tell them to give up on this idea."
Most of the things were done by County Magistrate Bai and County Magistrate Fang together.
Although Bai Shan now values County Magistrate Fang more than him, County Lieutenant Dong is the person who has been with Bai Shan the most since he came to the county.
He had been watching how the county magistrate handled local affairs and relationships.
To be honest, although it is a bit reckless, it must be said that he is doing it much faster than County Magistrate Lu who slowly laid out his plans before taking power.
Of course, the result is definitely clear. If Bai Shan wins, then he will be the one who has the final say in Beihai County Government from now on; if Bai Shan loses, those families will not only remain the same as before, but will even become more powerful than before, and perhaps County Magistrate Lu’s business over the years will be ruined.
However, County Magistrate Dong was not in a hurry at all. He said to his subordinates, "Don't talk nonsense anymore. We are just following orders. We will do whatever the superiors tell us to do. Do you understand?"
The subordinate nodded blankly and asked, "Shouldn't this remind Master Song?"
He remembered that their boss had a good relationship with Song Zhubu.
The thought had barely crossed his mind when his boss slapped him on the head. County Lieutenant Dong said unhappily, "Do we really need to remind them? They've already gone home. We're just a bunch of yamen runners in charge of public security. We just need to protect the people under our jurisdiction and the officials, and prevent the villains from causing trouble. Don't worry about the rest."
Subordinate: “Oh.”
County Captain Dong sent his subordinates away, turned his head to glance at the office over there, and couldn't help but sigh. It seemed that the county was going to be in chaos again. I wonder who will suffer this time, or whether both sides will suffer.
It’s a pity that he doesn’t have the ability to be a fisherman, otherwise it would be very profitable for him to be a fisherman at this time.
In the office, Bai Shan was flipping through the account book. County Magistrate Fang was very considerate. He specially marked the problematic accounts in red and made notes on the margins so that Bai Shan could understand them at a glance.
He handed the booklet to Zhou Man and asked, "Only one steward was arrested?"
County Magistrate Fang said, "Sir, Beihai County must pay a certain amount of salt to the Qingzhou Governor's Office every quarter. If we arrest too many people and can't make enough salt, we will be held accountable."
Bai Shan said, "If you don't catch them, will they be able to cook the salt on time?"
"this……"
Bai Shan said very straightforwardly: "Catch all the people who can find out the problem now, and then interrogate them. Arrest all those who can reveal the problem, and then investigate further."
See you tomorrow
(End of this chapter)
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