Chapter 82: Honest Officials and Good Officials
When the sun set, Wei Changtian and his party arrived at Zhongling County.
It was indeed as the deputy general had said, the county town was not very big, the city gate was dilapidated, and moss was growing on the city wall, which showed that it had been neglected for many years.
There are two main reasons for this situation.
1. The people here are too poor.
2. The officials here are too rich.
Judging from the equally dilapidated mansion of the county magistrate, Zhongling County should belong to the former situation.
"Sir Liang, this country place is really shabby."
During the dinner, the thin county magistrate looked nervous and apologetically said, "If the food is not to your liking, I hope you won't mind it."
"Master Wang, what are you talking about? We are rough people who live in the open all day long. It's good enough to have a hot meal!"
Liang Zhen was not arrogant. He laughed twice and then started eating.
The county magistrate breathed a sigh of relief, with a look of gratitude on his face.
Everyone started to eat. Although there were no delicious dishes or good wine, it was better than the meal they had at the post station at noon.
While eating, Wei Changtian glanced at the thin county magistrate whose clothes were still patched, and thought that he looked like an honest official.
It's just that Zhongling County is located on a major transportation route and is not a barren place. No one knows why it is so poor under his rule.
Liang Zhen seemed to have the same doubt, so after eating for a while, he asked casually: "Sir Wang, along the way I saw that the land in Zhongling is quite fertile, and it is close to a wide river. Why is this county so poor?"
"this……"
Upon hearing this, the thin county magistrate put down his chopsticks with some guilt, his old face turned red and he was speechless.
Liang Zhen did not use his official position to pressure him, he just thought that every family has its own problems.
"Don't take it personally, Lord Wang. I'm just asking casually. If you don't want to tell me, forget it."
"well……"
The thin county magistrate opened his mouth and finally let out a long sigh, as if he wanted to say something but didn't dare to.
At this moment, Wei Changtian suddenly asked, "Sir Wang, the bandit problem in Zhongling County is probably quite serious, right?"
"this……"
The thin county magistrate was stunned: "Sir... why do you say that?"
He didn't know Wei Changtian's true identity and thought he was a relative of Liang Zhen.
Wei Changtian certainly wouldn't be idle to introduce himself - I am the son of the Wei family who killed the prime minister. He just explained while eating:
"We passed several villages along the way, but when we passed a village, we didn't see a single villager. Every household had their doors and windows closed, but it was obviously not a deserted village."
"It can be seen that these villagers must have hidden after hearing the sound of horse hooves."
"Ordinary people are so afraid of horses. I can't think of any other reason except bandits."
"Although it is winter season today, there are too many people offering sacrifices to their ancestors and burning paper along the way, and most of the graves are new, so I made such a guess."
After Wei Changtian finished speaking, everyone at the table looked at him with some surprise.
They had seen all these things, but had never thought about them so much.
The thin county magistrate also looked a little surprised.
He hesitated for a long time, and finally nodded bitterly.
"What this young master said is correct. In recent years, the county has indeed been plagued by serious banditry. The people are suffering so much that many have fled. That's why it is so desolate."
"Since there are bandits, why not suppress them?" Liang Qin wondered.
"Miss, you don't know, it's not that I don't want to fight..."
The thin county magistrate said in a painful tone: "But I really have no power to do anything!"
"Years of banditry have left large tracts of farmland barren, and many farmers can't even pay their land taxes."
"The people are poor, and the government is poor too. How can we afford to support the officials..."
"I'm not afraid of being laughed at by you all... The entire Zhongling County has less than a hundred detectives and soldiers, so how can we dare to suppress the bandits..."
"I knew there were bandits but I couldn't suppress them. I watched hundreds of thousands of people in Zhongling suffer... It's my incompetence, my incompetence!"
"this……"
Looking at the thin county magistrate who was beating his chest and stamping his feet, almost crying, everyone was silent.
Zhongling County is really too miserable. Such a big place can’t even support a hundred soldiers?
"If you can't suppress it yourself, why don't you report it to the county government and ask them to send people to suppress it?" Liang Qin asked again with a frown.
"Of course I have reported it, but the expenses required for the provincial government to send troops must be borne by the county government. It is difficult for Zhongling County to raise that much money."
The thin county magistrate gritted his teeth, clenched his fists and trembled as he said, "Besides, it's not enough to just raise enough money for the military pay, we also need money to bribe those masters in the state government."
"I, I really am..."
“…”
There was silence in the room. Everyone looked at the skinny county magistrate in tattered clothes, not knowing what to say.
Until Wei Changtian suddenly spoke again: "Lord Wang, no matter how small Zhongling County is, there should be a lot of shops and stores in the city. If we ask each of them to donate some silver, it should be enough to ask the state government to send troops."
“I haven’t tried it before.”
The thin county magistrate shook his head: "But except for a few families, no one else is willing to pay even a penny."
"They all think they are safe hiding in the city and don't care about the lives of the people outside the city at all!"
"Don't want to pay?"
Wei Changtian looked at the thin county magistrate like a fool and said, "Then use a knife to force them to take it out!"
"this……"
The thin county magistrate was stunned for a moment, and after a long while he managed to utter: "Sir, this is against the law..."
When he said this, everyone immediately understood why Zhongling County had come to this point.
There is no money to suppress the bandits, so the bandits are rampant, so the people are dying or fleeing, so there is even less money, so the bandits are even more rampant...
What a vicious cycle! If this continues, the entire Zhongling County will become a den of bandits in a few years.
In fact, the solution is very simple - find ways to get money, feed the people above, and ask the state government to send troops to suppress the bandits.
As long as the bandit problem is eliminated, all problems will be solved.
But the problem is that this Lord Wang is too "clear" and "righteous".
He was unwilling to spend money to curry favor with the officials in the provincial government, nor was he willing to force merchants to donate money through "illegal" means.
The result of this is that the bandit problem has not been resolved and is becoming increasingly serious.
Wei Changtian smacked his lips, and suddenly thought of a sentence Kangxi said -
An honest official is not necessarily a good official.
Now it seems that it does make sense.
…
The meal was a bit dull towards the end.
After listening to the situation in Zhongling County, Liang Zhen and others expressed deep sympathy, and then continued to eat and drink, with no intention of helping to suppress the bandits.
After all, this is the territory of Tanzhou. He is a general of Shuzhou and he is leading people to suppress bandits on someone else's territory... Although the thin county magistrate will definitely be grateful, it is unknown what the officials in the Tanzhou government office will think.
Except for Liang Qin, no one took the bandit problem in Zhongling County seriously. After eating and drinking, they said goodbye to the thin county magistrate's house and returned to the inn to rest, preparing to get up early the next day to continue their journey.
But what no one expected was...
They don't want to invite trouble, but trouble finds them.
Um. The five chapters I promised to update today seem a little difficult to complete. I owe a few for now and will make up for them later. (End of this chapter)
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