Chapter 390 389 The Thief in the County Magistrate's Mansion

Returning to the room, An Xin lit a candle and took out several account books and a box that were said to have been taken out from a secret cabinet hidden behind a landscape painting in the study of the county magistrate's mansion. Inside the box were silver notes worth ten thousand taels, each worth one hundred taels.

An Xin sat at the table, poured herself a cup of herbal tea, drank it, stroked her chin and thought, then she went to the study in the county magistrate's mansion.

Based on her experience as a petty thief many times, she didn't find any place to hide treasures in the study of the county magistrate's mansion except for a secret chamber behind the landscape painting.

It is just an ordinary official's study.

After coming out of the study, An Xin also toured around the county magistrate's mansion. Apart from the silver in the mansion's accounting office that was used for normal expenses, An Xin didn't find any valuables stored anywhere else.

It is impossible that a county magistrate, not to mention being extremely wealthy and having embezzled mountains of gold and silver, had only about 10,000 taels of silver in his savings.

If that were the case, An Xin would give his integrity to the county magistrate.

Unfortunately, it is not the case, because every year the people sent out by the county magistrate's office would forcibly collect various exorbitant taxes from the people under various pretexts.

How could the Lingnan County Magistrate be an incorruptible official?

When An Xin opened the account book that the current county magistrate had secretly recorded, he saw that most of the various taxes collected by the county magistrate's office were pocketed by King Liang, and a hint of understanding flashed in his eyes.

Given the situation in the county magistrate's office, An Xin's speculation was indirectly verified.

Next, An Xin calculated the days when Leng Xiangbai and Zhu Shijing took Shangshu Gongsun away, and it was about time for them to come back.

In this way, they can also take action and stir up the stagnant water in Lingnan. I don't believe that by then, the ambitious prince King Liang will still be able to continue pretending to be fighting bandits for the people and causing his poor health to deceive the people and use them for his own benefit.

Before attacking the bandits, An Xin went to Hujia Village.

When An Xin brought Jiang Chenxi, Feng Yujue, Liu Huai, Lu Qinlong, and Fang Qingping who had changed into a neat and simple female uniform.

In the dark night, several people rode horses to the house of Village Chief Hu. When everyone in the room saw them come in, they stood up one after another, rubbing their hands awkwardly.

As soon as Censor Shan saw An Xin coming in, he snorted coldly at her, expressing his unhappiness at An Xin for throwing him here.

"Is Mr. Shan having a toothache?!" An Xin smiled and teased, "Aze, Mr. Shan is suffering from inflammation. Let him drink more water these days."

Chen Runze, who followed Shan Yushi to Hujia Village, nodded very seriously and said earnestly, "If it weren't for Lord Xiaoshanchang finding out, I wouldn't have known that Mr. Shan had a toothache. I'll go make him a pot of tea to cool him down and bring it to him."

Censor Shan looked at the back of the honest boy running out the door, glared at An Xin in annoyance, and said helplessly and angrily: "Aren't you here for something? Village Chief Hu received your letter and has called all the village heads and village heads he has trusted to come here and wait."

An Xin also knew that this was not the time to comfort the old man. Besides, Dan Jinzhe was just joking and was not really angry that An Xin arranged for him to come to Hujia Village to teach the villagers how to build terraces.

Some areas in Lingnan have many mountains and little land. If the terraces proposed by An Xin can really be built, it will be a major event for the country and the people. How could he be angry about it?

Jiang Chenxi and Feng Yujue were surprised for a moment when they saw Censor Shan here. They only knew that he had left the village, but didn't know he had come here.

An Xin was invited by Village Chief Hu to sit on a bench in the middle of the main hall. The daughter-in-law of the family brought them bowls of sugar water, which was the best thing a farmer could offer to entertain guests.

A county town has about a dozen counties and hundreds of villages.

An Xin looked at the leaders of various villages in front of him, including Village Chief Hu. They were the village heads and neighborhood heads who were contacted by each other and were considered to be more trustworthy. There were more than 30 of them, which was quite a lot.

However, whether or not they are trustworthy has little to do with An Xin and the others.

After all, if they don't keep their mouths shut or if there are people who are confused among the people they bring to do the work, they will be the ones who suffer in the end.

An Xin knew that the bandits stationed in the five mountain peaks were still snatching the newly harvested grain from the villages.

If her guess was correct, some of the looted food had been ordered by someone to be transported to another group of people who needed food more.

Even if An Xin had the ability to deal with the bandits, the food still had to be returned to the villagers who were robbed, just like the day they passed by the robbed Hujia Village.

The newly harvested grain was still drying on the field, and before we had time to take it home and hide it, bandits came to rob it.

Seeing the food that the whole family had worked hard for a year being stolen, more than a dozen people died in the village because of the fierce resistance.

There are many villages like this where this situation has happened. If the food is not returned to them as soon as possible, who knows how many people will starve to death this winter.

So An Xin said, "Three days later, at night, you will secretly take the strong laborers you can trust in the village and go to several bandit dens near your village.

At midnight, I will send someone to wait for you at the foot of the mountain.

When the time comes, you can follow them up the mountain, and maybe you can bring back some of the food that was stolen from your village by the bandits."

"This...is this true?" A middle-aged man squatting in the corner with a sad face asked excitedly and in disbelief.

People from other villages also looked at An Xin in astonishment. Even Village Chief Hu, who didn't know about this beforehand, stared at her with expectation.

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"Whether it's true or not, you may not believe it completely if I tell you now." An Xin said bluntly, "Anyway, when you take people there, you will know whether it's true or not.

Even if it's not true, it's no loss to you, right?"

All village heads, the head of the village thought, isn't that right.

Every village is now so poor that they are almost eating tree bark. They have no food and no money. They are the only ones left, just a bunch of bones. There is really nothing for them to worry about.

Jiang Chenxi glanced at his teacher and saw her nod. He looked at these people and said seriously, "But I still want to remind you that if we succeed in suppressing the bandits and there is still food left there, it is best not to make it public after you take it back.

Otherwise, if other bandits find out and rob us again, we might not be so lucky. "

When the village chief heard this, he was startled.

This situation, which was originally not taken seriously, has now become a warning after Jiang Chenxi's reminder.

If they get robbed again, there may not be anyone willing to fight the bandits again to get it back for them.

After seeing An Xin and the others finish their instructions, he said hello to the old man who was sitting next to them drinking tea, then mounted his horse again and disappeared into the hazy night.

So these people, with a half-believing and half-doubting attitude, said goodbye to Village Chief Hu and left. If An Xin could really take back all the food that was robbed from their village from the bandits, she would be willing to let them put up a sign for her.

With hope in their hearts, everyone prayed that what An Xin said was true and that they could get back the food that was stolen from their village.

Especially those villages where all the food was looted before they could even be brought home.

Even if not all of it, at least half of the food could be brought back, they would be satisfied.

Shan Jinzhe squinted his eyes and stood at the door watching An Xin and the others coming and going in a hurry. He felt that there was a reason why this person was valued by the emperor.

(End of this chapter)