Mr. Zhao's eight-man sedan chair and all the ceremonial guards are still at the bank of Loujiang River and have not returned yet.

When entering the city, I had to take the sedan chair of County Magistrate He.

Zhao Shouzheng stopped all the music and the group just followed the sedan chair into the city in silence.

Zhao Shouzheng thought to himself that he might be the most low-key county magistrate in the history of the Ming Dynasty.

When his sedan chair was about to enter the city from Chaoyang Gate, he suddenly heard a noisy voice.

Mr. Zhao lifted the curtain of the sedan chair and saw that both sides of the street that the officials had tried so hard to separate were filled with people.

With the faint light of the angry lantern, you can see that there are men and women, old and young, standing in the rain.

Many people were carrying bags, shouldering loads, and pushing carts.

And the heart-wrenching cries of the children reminded Zhao Shouzheng and his party that these were the people who had come to the county town from Kunnan to seek refuge.

"Stop." Zhao Shouzheng stopped the team.

County Magistrate He and Chief Clerk Bai also hurried down from the sedan chair.

"What the hell is going on?" County Magistrate He felt dizzy. He really seemed to have seen a ghost today.

Not only did Gao Jieyuanying fail to receive the people, he had clearly ordered the three shifts of clerks to lead the laborers to clear the entire Chaoyang Street. So where did so many people come from?

"Those peasants from the south heard from someone that the new master was coming to the city, so they all gathered here..." Hu Bantou of the express team hurried over to report:

"There are too many of them. We dare not chase them away."

"Alas..." County Magistrate He sighed in frustration. What was going on?

At this time, he saw that County Magistrate Zhao had already got off the sedan chair. He didn't even bother to open an umbrella and quickly ran to the side in the rain.

"The situation here is unclear, please enter the city first..."

"Shut up and stand aside." Zhao Shouzheng glanced at him coldly.

County Magistrate He thought to himself, "Fuck it! I'm an eighth-rank official, how can you talk to me like that?"

Well, think about it, he is the top scholar. Forget it, don't get angry, just stand aside with your head down.

"My fellow elders, I am Zhao Shouzheng, the newly appointed magistrate of Kunshan." Then Mr. Zhao bowed to the people and asked in a serious tone:

"I don't know why you are gathered here, but you can tell me."

Victims of the disaster continued to pour in from all directions. In just a moment, there were countless more people outside Chaoyang Gate.

"Excuse me, are you Mr. Zhao, the top scholar who has made countless contributions to Beijing?" an old man asked in a trembling voice.

"It's me." Zhao Shouzheng nodded. He didn't expect that his deeds would spread to Kunshan.

"Please save our elderly parents' lives!" The old man knelt down and refused to get up as if he had seen a savior.

"Please let our elderly parents live!" Many people knelt down.

"Please save our elderly parents!" All the victims knelt in front of Zhao Shouzheng like a fallen wheat field.

Zhao Shouzheng was deeply shocked by the scene before him. He quickly pushed away the guards and helped the kneeling old man up.

"Please stand up quickly, old man. Everyone, please stand up quickly." Zhao Shouzheng said loudly to the victims, "Since I am the father of this county, it is my duty to do my best to help every person affected by the disaster!"

"The evil God has finally opened his eyes and sent us Zhao the champion." The old man said with tears in his eyes: "The common people in Kunshan have been soaked in bitter water for too long. I don't know how many people will starve to death this year..."

Many people began to sob. It wasn't even June yet and the flood had already occurred. They were afraid that the whole year's harvest would be wiped out.

"Everyone, don't worry. Since we are here, we will not abandon anyone!" Zhao Shouzheng loudly comforted the victims, "Everyone, don't worry. No one will starve to death in Kunshan County this year!"

"Our old parents are here, we are finally saved!" The victims' faces, which had been tortured to numbness, finally showed some expressions, as if they saw a glimmer of hope again.

"It's so late and it's still raining, elders, please don't stay here." Zhao Shouzheng then asked, "Do you have a place to stay? Do you have dinner?"

The victims shook their heads dejectedly, and were suddenly pulled back to reality from their illusion of the blue sky.

Most of them had just fled from Kunnan today, and those who had relatives in the north had already gone there to seek refuge. Only those of them who had no relatives had no idea where to go tonight.

"Lord He, Lord Bai?" Zhao Shouzheng turned around and looked at the two assistants.

"What instructions does the county magistrate have?" The two men hurried forward and asked respectfully.

"Has the county prepared a place to accommodate the disaster victims?" Zhao Shouzheng asked in a deep voice, "Has the porridge relief started?"

"This..." The two looked at each other, and the former said with a stiff face: "Reporting to the county lord, there is a place in the north of the city for the people to take refuge in the city. As for distributing porridge... we need to open a reserve warehouse."

"The previous Feng County Master meant to open the warehouse after the County Master receives the seal." Bai Shouli also whispered: "This is also the good intention of Feng County Master."

"What good intentions! If our county arrives two days later, will the victims starve for another two days?"

"Don't worry, Your Excellency. It's not like they have to escape in a hurry because of a flood. They will always have food for a few days." County Magistrate He also whispered to Zhao Shouzheng.

"Are you speaking human language?" Zhao Shouzheng glanced at him coldly.

Shit! County Magistrate He felt like he was going to explode.

"Settle the people immediately. I will go and hand over to County Magistrate Feng!" Zhao Shouzheng shouted, wishing he could kick these officials in the buttocks.

"Oh, yes..." County Magistrate He, Chief Clerk Bai and a group of clerks secretly cursed their bad luck.

We have been busy for several days to welcome the new county magistrate. Today, we have been waiting in the heavy rain for a whole day. Everyone is cold and hungry, and we have to take care of these peasants...

But everyone knows that a new official is in high spirits when he takes office.

Didn't you see that County Magistrate He was used to establish his authority? Everyone had no choice but to hold their noses and endure it.

"Take the common people to the North City Anmin Society..." Bai Shouli quickly cheered up and made arrangements.

"Mr. Wu, please go with them." Zhao Shouzheng was really worried, so he sent an imperial envoy.

"Yes, sir." Wu Cheng'en bowed to Zhao Shouzheng and took over the task of supervision.

Zhao Shouzheng comforted the victims again, and then, with cheers of "Qingtian", he got back into the sedan chair and went back into the city.

Zhao Hao also got on the carriage and stared through the curtain at the dark crowd left behind, wondering what he was thinking.

"Your father played well today." Xu Wei, who was sitting next to him, said calmly, "But someone wants to put him on the fire."

"It's good to have a roast, it's such a humid day." Zhao Hao sneered indifferently.

In those days, information was not so well-informed. It had been less than five days since Dad was appointed as the acting governor of Kunshan, but the disaster victims not only knew his identity, but also his glorious deeds in Beijing.

It's obvious that someone is behind this.

"Interesting..." Mr. Zhao and Xu Wei said at the same time. After that, they looked at each other and laughed.

They are all people who are not afraid of trouble.

~~

There is also a Chaoyangmennei Street in Kunshan County, which is probably the result of the bad taste of the former top scholar Gu.

One mile along this street, the intersecting street is the Yaqian Street, which is a standard feature of all county towns in the world.

Kunshan County Government Office is located in the center of Yaqian Street.

But the sedan chair did not go directly into the yamen, but circled from east to west, which was called "purple air coming from the east". When it arrived in front of the eight-character wall, it was called "douqinglong".

Then they lit firecrackers and carried Master Zhao into the place where he would live and fight for the next few years.