344, Li County
344, Li County
It was not until early July that Zhao Lang received a handwritten letter from Lu Mingfei, and learned that Lu Mingfei had been transferred to a small county under Beijun to serve as the county magistrate.
As for the reason, the letter did not explain.
What was the reason that would bring Lord Lu to Beijun as the county magistrate at this critical moment? Did something happen in Jingdu Prefecture that Lord Lu decided to come here on his own?
Based on his understanding of their Lord Lu, he was afraid that the latter was more likely.
"Your Majesty, why are you frowning?" Li Qun saw that their prince's brows were furrowed even as he read the letter, so he asked worriedly, "Did something happen in Kyoto Prefecture?"
"Lord Lu is coming."
“Isn’t this a good thing?”
Good news? Zhao Lang pondered this matter in his mind, "Maybe."
"You secretly find two people to go to Li County and buy a house, preferably one close to the government office, and clean it up." Since Lord Lu is coming, he wants to make sure Lord Lu has a comfortable place to live after he arrives.
"Yes." Upon hearing this, Li Qun happily went downstairs to make arrangements.
Zhao Lang waited for more than half a month.
The Ghost Festival was over before they received the news that Lord Lu from their family was coming.
Because he didn't know the exact time Lord Lu would arrive, he arrived in Li County a little earlier to wait for him.
So when Lu Mingfei brought his men to Li County and saw the people waiting for him at the city gate, he knew that Zhao Lang was waiting for him in the city.
Zhao Lang didn't come to pick him up in person at this time, probably because he didn't want others to know about their relationship. He could understand this because even if Zhao Lang wanted to pick him up, he wouldn't let that person come.
When he saw the person Zhao Lang sent to pick him up, he whispered to him, "Go back and tell your master that I have something else to do here and won't be able to see him until later."
"Yes." The guard hesitated for a moment, but nodded in agreement.
After Lu Mingfei and his group entered the city, he brought Captain Guo and his group to the yamen.
However, the government office here looked shabby and small, and was completely incomparable to the six government offices in Kyoto Prefecture. It was even more shabby than the Hanlin Academy where he had worked before.
This is not surprising. All officials are trying their best to work in the six ministries. The atmosphere of just one yamen is completely different.
However, for Lu Mingfei himself, it doesn’t matter where he works, whether the environment is better or worse.
Because he had sent someone to notify the people at the yamen in advance, when they arrived, there were people waiting for them at the yamen gate.
Seeing a handsome young man getting off the carriage, the lawyer hesitated for a moment, but finally stepped forward and asked, "Excuse me, are you the Lord Lu who has come to take over the position of Magistrate of Li County?"
"It's me, and this is my official seal." Lu Mingfei took out his official seal and document proof.
The lawyer checked the official seal and verified the identity documents of the new masters. After confirming that there were no problems, he returned the official seal and identity documents to the new masters.
"I am a legal advisor in the yamen. My surname is Chen and my given name is Yin. Nice to meet you, sir." The legal advisor saluted the new county magistrates and introduced himself.
The county lieutenant and the county magistrate also came over to pay their respects to the new county magistrates.
Lu Mingfei began to suspect whether Zhao Lang had sent someone to greet his new subordinates in advance, which was why these new subordinates were so respectful and polite when they first met him, their superior.
"Sir, you have worked hard on the journey. We have prepared hot tea and snacks in the backyard. Please go in and have some hot tea first," said the lawyer.
"There's no rush. Let's deal with our current affairs first." Then, Lu Mingfei introduced Captain Guo to the legal advisor, the county magistrate, and the county lieutenant, as well as the issue of the resettlement of this group of fugitives.
Their county can get a group of people for free, so the legal advisor, the county magistrate, the county lieutenant and others naturally will not push them away.
When the lawyer saw that their masters seemed to attach great importance to these fugitives, he mentioned several relatively good villages and waited for their masters to make a decision.
In fact, on their way here, Lu Mingfei had already learned about some of the situations in Li County and knew that what his master said was true.
However, there are quite a lot of people here, and it may not be possible to accommodate so many people in one village. The most important thing is that land will be divided when people are accommodated there.
If they are all arranged to go to one village, there will be less land to be distributed.
So after asking his master's opinion, he divided the group into three groups and arranged them to three different villages.
Later, various procedures had to be handled for these fugitives, and he left these matters to his legal advisor.
Knowing that these fugitives came here penniless, even if they had some money hidden on them, it probably wouldn't be much.
Adhering to the principle of being a good person to the end, Lu Mingfei personally paid money to buy some food and seeds for these people, and then asked the officials from the county government to lead these people to the village where they would settle.
He also took over the yamen's account books and keys from the previous retired leader, which meant he officially accepted the new position.
After all this busy work, it was already noon.
At noon, he treated his guests to a meal at the largest restaurant in the county.
The new subordinates in the county government sat at the same table.
There were two tables for Captain Guo and his people, and one table for his own people, making a total of four tables.
As for those people he didn't know or had no relevance to him, Lu Mingfei would not invite them for the time being.
He had originally wanted to invite the previous retired leader to dinner, but after handing over the job to him, the old leader hurried away in a carriage. He left so quickly, as if he was afraid he would ask him to stay and continue serving as county magistrate.
While eating, he asked Captain Guo, who was sitting next to him, "Brother Guo, when are you planning to leave for Beijing?"
Captain Guo said, "We'll leave tomorrow morning."
"Are you leaving so soon? I was thinking of keeping you here for a few more days so that I can show my hospitality before leaving." Lu Mingfei said with some regret.
But he also knew that Captain Guo and his men would probably rush back to the capital after sending the prisoners to Beijun.
It’s still a long way from Beijun back to Kyoto Prefecture.
It is now mid-to-late July. Here in the north, the sun is shining brightly at noon, but it is already a little chilly in the mornings and evenings. It will soon be cold.
Even if I set out from Kita-gun back to Kyoto Prefecture now, I would definitely not be able to go home for the Mid-Autumn Festival.
"Haha, we are here on orders this time and have to return to Beijing to report, so it is inconvenient for us to stay here any longer.
When you return to the capital, I, as your eldest brother, will definitely set up two tables at Yipinxuan to welcome you, Brother Lu." Captain Guo's words were also a way of wishing Lu Mingfei a good return to the capital to serve as an official, so that he could celebrate with him.
Lu Mingfei could clearly hear the blessing for him in Captain Guo's words, "Haha, in that case, I'll accept your good wishes, Brother Guo."
Most people who were transferred to such a small place to serve as county magistrates were people without any background. Even if they did achieve something in such a small place, that achievement would be taken away by their immediate superiors.
By then, it will be someone else who will be promoted, and you will have to stay in this position for the rest of your life.
Moreover, it was not easy to resign from office these days. Especially in a small, remote place like this, if there was no one to take over, it meant that the previous county magistrate could not leave and had to work here until his death.
Didn't the retired leader just now run very fast? I'm afraid that old leader has been waiting for decades for his successor to come here and take over his position.
However, Lu Mingfei wasn't worried about how long he would stay in this position. If he was going to get things done, it would be the same anywhere. On the contrary, returning to Kyoto Prefecture would restrict him in every way, making it difficult to accomplish anything.
It would be better to stay here, it would be more convenient to do anything.
***
While Lord Lu was having dinner outside, Zhao Lang was still waiting for Lord Lu to come back alone in the house.
Seeing that their young master had been sitting here waiting for someone, and that Lord Lu hadn't even appeared, Li Qun felt sorry for his master and came over to persuade him, "Young master, why don't you eat something first?"
"My lord, I don't know how long it will take for you to return. The food in the kitchen is ready. I'll have someone bring it over for you to eat first."
"No need, let's talk about it later." Zhao Lang had just eaten a piece of dessert and didn't feel hungry, so he waved his hand and asked the subordinates who were chattering in his ears to go away first and not disturb him while playing chess.
“…” Li Qun had no choice but to leave.
After leaving the house, he called someone over and asked when Lord Lu would be back.
***
Here, Lu Mingfei and his friends had three rounds of drinks and were almost done with their meal.
He also learned some of the real situation in Li County from his legal advisor, the county magistrate, and the county lieutenant.
When he saw the guards around Zhao Lang again, he thought that Zhao Lang was urging him to go back, so he made an excuse of being drunk and left early.
When he left, he did not forget to ask someone to settle the bill, and also arranged for Captain Guo and the others to stay at an inn in the county town.
The sun was very strong at noon and there were not many people on the road.
Sitting in the carriage, Lu Mingfei lifted a corner of the curtain and looked out. He saw mud brick and thatched houses on both sides of the street. The people he met on the road were mostly wearing patched clothes.
It can be seen that the living standards of the people here are very poor, which is far from comparable to that in Kyoto Prefecture.
And there was another problem. When he entered the city today, he found that the city gate looked shabby and the wall looked quite old.
So, this small city on the border has poor military defense from the inside out.
Hu Bing doesn't need to send a lot of troops. Just two hundred of them are enough to massacre all the men, women, and children in this county.
Since he has come here to serve as a county magistrate, the first thing he should do is to improve the military defense capabilities of the area under his jurisdiction.
First of all, this city gate needs to be renovated.
But today he looked at the county government account book and found no money in it. It would be strange if there was money in such a poor place!
Thinking of this, he shook his head, knowing that the next task for him as a county magistrate would be very heavy and the burden would be difficult to carry.
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