365, Enemies Meet on a Narrow Road
365, Enemies Meet on a Narrow Road
However, when they were coming out of the palace, unfortunately, they met Zhao Rui who had just returned from outside at the door.
Seeing Zhao Rui's face appear in his sight, Lu Mingfei secretly shouted "Oops!" in his heart.
How could I meet this person here!
"Greetings, Young Master." The steward bowed to their Young Master when he saw him coming back.
Lu Mingfei turned sideways to make way for Zhao Rui.
He didn't know Zhao Rui's true identity, so he pretended to see him for the first time, and followed the steward to bow to the eldest young master of the palace as a greeting.
"Who is this?" Zhao Rui asked casually when he saw unfamiliar faces entering and leaving the palace.
His eyes, which had originally been passing by unintentionally, fell on the other person. For some reason, this person gave him a familiar feeling?
"Master, this is the prince's guest," the steward replied.
Is he his father's guest? Zhao Rui looked at the man with his head bowed and said, "Lift your head and let me see."
Could it be that he recognized him? Lu Mingfei raised an eyebrow in his mind. But he was certain of one thing: the current him and the him who used the identity of "Mr. Wang" were completely different people.
Unless Zhao Rui has X-ray vision, he can see through the disguise and see the real him under the human skin mask.
However, he didn't think Zhao Rui had this ability.
When Lu Mingfei heard Zhao Rui calling him to look up, he did not panic at all. He raised his head calmly and looked at Zhao Rui calmly.
"Who are you?" Zhao Rui asked.
"I am the magistrate of Li County." Lu Mingfei responded neither humbly nor arrogantly.
"Li County Magistrate?"
Zhao Rui's gaze lingered on the man's face for a moment, then he turned to look at the steward standing nearby and asked, "A mere county magistrate is qualified to come see my father?"
The manager was stunned for a moment, not knowing how to answer this question.
As the steward of the palace, he naturally knew that the two young masters in the palace had been at odds since childhood, and only their prince still hoped that the two young masters would be friendly and respectful to each other. However, the servants all knew that their eldest young master had done many things to embarrass their prince in the past.
In the early years, when their prince was not in the palace, this young master almost regarded himself as the prince.
But now that their prince has returned, the person who will be in charge of the palace in the future will naturally be their prince. However, it is obvious that their eldest young master will not give in so easily.
If their eldest young master knew that the guest who came today was related to their prince, he would definitely make things difficult for the other party.
The steward immediately made up his mind that he must not let their eldest young master know that Lord Lu knew their eldest son, otherwise Lord Lu would be in trouble today.
Seeing that the steward didn't know how to respond to Zhao Rui's words, Lu Mingfei took over and replied to Zhao Rui, "I am an official appointed by the court, why am I not qualified to see the prince?"
"You are just a small seventh-rank official who doesn't even have the qualifications to see this general, and you dare to see my father?" Zhao Rui looked at the young official in front of him with disdain.
However, Lu Mingfei didn't care about Zhao Rui's disdain. He snorted and laughed, turned around and walked away. He felt that he was lowering himself by saying one more word to such a person.
This made Zhao Rui very angry.
Seeing this small, seventh-rank official being so disrespectful to him, Zhao Rui was furious and shouted, "Stop right there! Did I let you go?"
After hearing what their master said, the soldiers behind stepped forward to stop the people.
However, the guards who came with their masters today are not pushovers either.
Seeing that these people dared to disrespect their master, Guard Ma was the first to stand in front of their master and use the sword in his hand to block these people.
Lu Mingfei turned around and looked at Zhao Rui, who was picking on him, his eyes narrowed slightly. He hadn't even gotten back at this bastard yet, and he dared to stop him here!
Last time he didn't let the snake bite off the bastard's vitals, it was really too easy for the bastard!
"Young Master, Lord Lu is here to see our prince. You, you've made such a scene at the gate of the prince's mansion, I'm afraid the news will reach the prince..." Upon seeing this, the steward hurried out to help, hoping that their young master would not embarrass the guest.
But before he could finish his words, he was slapped by their eldest young master.
“Bang!”
"You dog slave, do you have the right to speak here?" Zhao Rui cursed.
The manager was slapped in the face and didn't dare to say anything.
Lu Mingfei felt a little angry when he saw the steward get slapped for him.
He wanted to scold Zhao Rui, but when the words came to his lips, he changed his words and said, "I wonder what instructions the young general has?"
He knew in his heart that if he continued to talk here, Zhao Rui would definitely bring people to Li County to cause trouble for him.
He himself was not afraid of Zhao Rui, but he was worried that Zhao Rui's actions would affect the development and progress of Li County.
Zhao Rui walked over step by step, staring at Lu Mingfei and asked, "Have I seen you somewhere before?"
"Probably not." Lu Mingfei replied calmly.
He looked at Zhao Rui, who was picking on him. He wondered if he had recognized him, or if he had a sixth sense that something was wrong with him. But no matter which one it was, as long as Zhao Rui didn't have evidence, he wouldn't admit it.
"If the young general has no other instructions, I will take my leave."
Zhao Rui looked at Lu Mingfei intently. "Li County Magistrate?" He remembered.
Thinking that if he continued to stop the guest at the palace gate and prevent him from leaving, word would get back to his father and he would have a hard time explaining himself, he stopped trying to stop the guest from leaving.
Meeting Zhao Lang's gaze, Lu Mingfei casually bowed, turned around, walked forward two steps, and got on the carriage that came to pick him up.
Only after the carriage in front of the palace gate left did Zhao Rui retract his gaze and walk into the palace.
The steward following behind raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead and followed him into the palace.
***
It was not until their carriage had left Pingzhou City that the horse guard driving the carriage in front asked the master sitting inside: "Sir, did Zhao Rui recognize you?"
"No. If he recognized me, he wouldn't let me go today." Lu Mingfei didn't think that Zhao Rui would let him go if he recognized him today.
Guard Ma nodded, that was indeed the case.
They all knew what they had done to Young Master Zhao last time. If Young Master Zhao really knew their master's identity, he would probably send people to chase them and kill them on the way.
There were no unexpected situations on the way back to Li County, and the group arrived back in Li County the next morning.
The first thing Lu Mingfei did after returning to Li County was to call his subordinates to hold a collective meeting, then asked someone to post a notice about spring plowing, and sent people to the village underground to notify the villagers.
After this notice was posted, those who did not have land or needed land to cultivate could come to the yamen to register and obtain land to cultivate.
The notice stated that for the first three years of receiving land for cultivation from the government, the tax paid to the government would only be 10% of the grain produced. It also stated that this 10% was for military rations, and the government would not take any of it.
Apart from this, you don’t need to pay any miscellaneous taxes.
You have to know that the common people who worked as tenant farmers for landlords had to pay 30% of their land rent to the landlords, and they also had to pay grain taxes. After paying these grain taxes and the landlords, the grain that the tenants finally kept was less than the grain they had paid.
But now the government has issued a notice that only 10% of the grain tax will be collected. What’s the difference between this and giving them the land for free to cultivate?
Therefore, after this notice was posted, the people of Li County rushed to tell each other, and whether they had land or not, they all went to the government office to register.
For a time, the street in front of the yamen was crowded with people every day.
Seeing so many people blocking the entrance to the yamen, it was inconvenient for those who were entering and leaving the yamen. Lu Mingfei instructed his advisor, "Have someone move the table to the city gate tomorrow. From now on, registration will be done there. Remember to inform everyone so they don't make the wrong trip."
"Yes, yes. I will explain it to everyone right away." The master replied.
After seeing their master enter the yamen, the lawyer went to tell everyone what their master had just said.
Many of them initially took a wait-and-see attitude towards this new master. However, since their master arrived, he has paid out of his own pocket to subsidize their small county and brought a group of them to do this and that.
Seeing that this small county was getting better day by day, even those of them who worked in the yamen not only received a generous monthly salary during the Spring Festival this year, but also took home clothes, food and other things. This was much better than the life they had before when they followed the previous county magistrate.
Therefore, now all the officials in the yamen, including the legal advisor himself, are wholeheartedly following their young master to work.
They didn't seek great wealth, but they wanted to provide their descendants with a safe place to live. Once the city wall of Li County was built, they would be able to sleep more peacefully at night.
For a period of time afterwards, both the city and the countryside became bustling.
The officials from the yamen went out early and returned late every day to measure the land for the registered people.
The people who received the land started plowing the fields with their whole family, young and old, without waiting for the winter to pass.
After learning that the people did not have enough farm tools, the county magistrate found a group of craftsmen to make farm tools day and night. These tools were either rented or sold to the people in need.
For those people who could not even afford the rent, they could work for the government office in exchange for new farm tools.
Most people chose the last option.
The government office asked them to register the time they were available to help when exchanging farm tools, and then come to help the government office on that day.
"Sir, your idea is the best. When everyone finishes farming their own land, they can come and help us farm. Then we won't have to hire anyone to help us." Even Fu Zheng had to admire the idea of exchanging labor for farm tools that their sir had come up with.
You know, last year they hired people to grow vegetables, and the daily wages alone were quite high. But now they only need to hire a group of craftsmen to make farm tools, which costs much less than last year.
"There are always more solutions than problems." Lu Mingfei said with a smile.
As soon as March came, large tracts of land outside the city were plowed and planted with crops.
After a winter passed, many people in Li County realized belatedly that no one had starved to death or frozen to death here, whether in the city or outside the city!
This winter, many of them felt that time passed faster than any previous winter, and winter suddenly became less unbearable.
And all of this is because of the arrival of their adults, all brought to them by their adults!
Today's update.
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