After dinner, they continued chatting until the second watch, and then the Zhao father and son tactfully said goodbye.

The rain continued on the way back. Zhao Hao sat on the boat, watching the water level of the river rise again, and he couldn't help feeling uneasy.

If this is the case in the upper reaches, the situation in the lower reaches of Taihu Lake must be even worse.

I'm afraid that once my father takes office, he will face a big test...

Oh, I don’t know if the second master is mentally prepared.

Thinking of this, he turned around to look at his father, only to see Zhao Shouzheng sitting cross-legged at a low table, staring at the two notes in front of him.

"What is wrong with you, father?" It is Mr. Zhao's responsibility to relieve the Second Master's worries.

"Well, what should I say?" Mr. Zhao scratched his head, looked at his son with a wry smile and said:

"Yesterday, after listening to Magistrate Zhang's experience, I felt that being a good county magistrate was not difficult at all. But today, after listening to Mr. Hai's teachings, I felt that being a good county magistrate was not easy at all! What do you think is going on?"

"The answer lies in my father's own words." Zhao Hao smiled faintly and said, "It is easy to be a good county magistrate, but it is not easy to be a good county magistrate."

"Indeed." Zhao Shouzheng nodded in agreement and said, "After listening to Magistrate Zhang's words, I didn't want to work hard at all. But after listening to Lord Hai's words, I feel that I still have a lot to learn."

"That depends on what kind of official father wants to be." Zhao Hao opened the window with a smile and reached out to catch a handful of cold rain.

"Will you be a comfortable and carefree lord like County Magistrate Zhang? Or will you be a self-sacrificing and honest lord like Lord Hai? Or will you take a different path from them?"

"Well, this one..." Zhao Shouzheng couldn't help but feel troubled. He thought he would definitely choose the former without hesitation, but for some reason, he just couldn't say it.

"Don't worry." Zhao Hao shook his head gently, swung his wet right hand, closed the window and said, "You can think about it slowly. There will be plenty of time to think about this problem when you get to Kunshan."

"Yeah." Zhao Shouzheng nodded and asked the most practical question: "What about us now?"

"Right now." Zhao Hao thought for a moment and said realistically, "Obviously the former method is more in line with our actual situation. But the latter method is more conducive to our governance of Kunshan."

"so what?"

"Let's see if we can combine them and use them together." Zhao Hao said, pinching his chin.

Zhao Shouzheng smiled and pushed both books to his son, saying, "Then I'll leave it to you, son..."

"I don't understand this kind of thing either." Zhao Hao smiled bitterly and said, "The importance of each rule, the size of each long-servant's power and responsibility, there is a lot of knowledge here, and outsiders can't do it."

"Then..." Zhao Shouzheng thought carefully and said, "There is no one around us who has done this before."

"Don't worry, father." Zhao Hao smiled expectantly and said, "I'll find you someone who knows the business tomorrow."

He is more than just knowledgeable, he can be said to be the ancestor of all legal advisors, the number one legal advisor in history.

Zhao Shouzheng was overjoyed when he heard this.

~~

The next day, Mr. Zhao got up early and dragged Zhao Hao out of bed again.

"Hurry up, hurry up, aren't we going to ask for help from an expert today?"

"Then there's no need to be so anxious." Zhao Hao rubbed his sleepy eyes and muttered, "The sun hasn't come out yet."

"It's raining all day, how can the sun come out?" Zhao Shouzheng couldn't help but said excitedly as he squatted down to put on his son's boots:

"I am now eager to recruit talented people and don't want to delay for a moment!"

"It's worn backwards..." Zhao Hao said helplessly.

"Well……"

Ma Xianglan covered her mouth and chuckled, then replaced the Second Master who was causing all the trouble, and quickly helped Zhao Hao wash and dress.

"Let Cai Ming send a car to take you to Wu Ji today." Zhao Hao looked in the mirror and saw the young man who looked energetic again, and nodded with satisfaction.

"The young master didn't bring your secretary..." Secretary Ma pretended to be resentful. In fact, she was very happy to be alone with Zhao Hao these days, right?

"You don't want to go to the kind of place we're going to today." Zhao Hao chuckled. Seeing Secretary Ma's mouth slightly open in the mirror, he rolled his eyes at her helplessly. "It's not the kind of place you think."

"I didn't think about anything." Secretary Ma smiled and combed Zhao Hao's hair. This young master couldn't even invite Qi Jingyun, Zheng Yanru and other Qinhuai courtesans.

"What are you going to do at Wuji?"

"Miss Jiang should still be here, right?"

"Yes." Of course she is. Why would she leave if you don't leave? Miss Xueying is still waiting to go with you again.

"That's good. I'll ask her to buy food, medicine, sacks, ropes..." Zhao Hao thought for a moment and said, "Anyway, I want everything that can be used for flood control. I'll take as much as I can get."

"Yes, sir." Ma Xianglan's heart suddenly tightened, realizing that her comfortable days might be coming to an end.

~~

The father and son went out in a carriage today.

A convoy consisting of three double-horse carriages headed north along West Huangchenggen Street.

The sound of raindrops hitting the wall of the car made them both feel anxious.

"Why does it keep raining?" Even the slow-witted Zhao Shouzheng realized that something was wrong. "It was sunny the day we came back."

"Yeah." Zhao Hao nodded and said, "My uncle said this morning that his colleagues from the Water Conservancy Bureau told him that the water level of Taihu Lake has exceeded that of previous years by one foot. This year's flood situation is bound to be very serious."

"Well, after the governor summons you, let's go to Kunshan right away. I'm getting more and more worried." Zhao Shouzheng sighed and said, "I didn't sleep well last night."

"Isn't it because you are eager to recruit talented people?" Zhao Hao asked with a smile.

"Both, both have their reasons." Zhao Shouzheng said with a wry smile: "In the first half of the night, I was eager to find talents, and in the second half, I was worried about the people's sufferings."

"Ha..." After saying this, both the father and son laughed at the same time.

The father and son were in sync, thinking back to last year when they were racking their brains for the qualification to take the provincial examination. Unexpectedly, a year later, they were already worrying about the safety of the area.

Sometimes, life is so fucking stupid...

Before they knew it, the carriage had passed Taiping Gate and stopped in front of Taiping Dike.

When the father and son got out of the car, they saw the three judicial offices of Nanjing standing in a triangular shape on the bank of Xuanwu Lake.

The first to bear the brunt was the Nanjing Ministry of Justice.

Looking at the sign of Nanjing Criminal Department, Zhao Shouzheng couldn't help but asked with a smile: "Son, could this expert be an official of the Criminal Department? That's great, at least we don't have to worry about the criminal law."

"Haha, just look." Zhao Hao kept the secret and his eyes fell on the small island in the middle of Xuanwu Lake. That was the famous Houhu Yellow Book Library.

"What a pity, it has long been worthless..." Zhao Hao sighed.

Hai Rui told him that through his own land surveys in Chun'an and Xingguo counties, and by comparing the grain tax archives when he was working at the Ministry of Revenue, he could clearly see that although the Yellow Book was updated every ten years, the land recorded was far from the actual situation - the population was only half of the actual population, the land was only 70%, and more than 80% of it was misattributed...

'The suffering of the people all comes from this! '

Hai Gong's eight words were still echoing in Zhao Hao's ears until he saw Hua Shuyang and a fifth-rank official coming out of the yamen holding umbrellas.

ps. Chapter 2, please give me monthly tickets and recommendation tickets~~