Zhao Hao stood behind Zhao Shouzheng, not conspicuous. Except for Zheng Ruozeng, almost no one noticed this energetic young man.

Just last night he told Zheng Ruozeng that in a few days you will see my father's determination.

Unexpectedly, Zheng Ruozeng heard Mr. Zhao's shocking declaration this morning.

Not only Zheng Ruozeng, but Gu Dadong and those old gentlemen were also stunned.

The attendants outside the pavilion could not help but talk about it, and they all felt that the new magistrate was daydreaming.

"Old parents, the river embankment is winding and sixty miles long." Gu Dadong couldn't help but remind Zhao Shouzheng that even if only a single embankment was repaired, the county could not afford it.

"I have said that you don't need to contribute money to repair the dike, let alone the common people. This county has a way to solve it!" Zhao Shouzheng repeated his words, then looked at the group of wealthy people with sharp eyes and said:

"But the premise is that I need your full cooperation this summer to help me organize the people, so that they will obey my orders and go all out to defend their homeland!"

"At least before September, no one is allowed to contradict me!" He paused, and then glanced at a few of them with a cold gaze and said, "As long as you can do it, I can do it too!"

"..." Gu Dadong, Zheng Ruozeng and others looked at each other, and after a moment, they nodded together and said, "Yes!"

"Haha, okay, let's high-five each other!"

Zhao Shouzheng then stretched out his hand, clapped his hands with the gentry one by one and said, "Let's work together, each doing our part, to protect Kunbei from floods this year! If you break this oath, the whole county will attack you together!"

The homes, clansmen, and farmland of these gentry were all in Kunbei. Although they could hide in the county town when the flood came, such a large industry would be ruined, and they would have to provide relief to their clansmen and tenants who had no food to eat after the disaster. Naturally, the losses were huge.

So there is no need to worry about their enthusiasm for building the dike. They are just worried that the county magistrate will take the opportunity to force donations and collect money...

Now that the magistrate has sealed the hole himself, everyone's interests have suddenly become consistent, and the attitudes of the gentry have naturally become correct.

This is why it is easy for rich people to make friends.

Zhao Shouzheng also asked them to send one or two young men from each family to stay with him throughout the flood season so that he could establish smooth communication channels with each family.

"Forget it. As long as our parents keep their word, all the men, women, old and young in our Zheng family will be assigned by the county!" Zheng Ruozeng called his two sons and said, "Yinglong, Yiluan, you will serve our parents from now on."

Then he introduced Zhao Shouzheng: "After I returned home from fighting the Japanese invaders, I served as a staff member of the Susong Circuit. Entrusted by the military governor, I sailed with my two sons to various places to identify the roads and obstacles, investigate the situation and obstacles, and compiled a book called "Three Wu Water Conservancy Records", which contains the most detailed hydrological map of the lower reaches of Taihu Lake. I present it to my parents for reference."

Zhao Hao thought to himself, he is indeed an old map fanatic.

Yes, it was Zheng Ruozeng who marked the Diaoyu Islands on my country’s maritime map.

"Thank you very much." Zhao Shouzheng helped Zheng Yinglong and Zheng Yiluan up, and took the "Three Wu Water Conservancy Records" wrapped in oilcloth as if he had found a treasure.

Gu Dadong and others also appointed their own children to follow their elderly parents and obey their orders.

This was his first inspection, so Zhao Shouzheng naturally wouldn't hastily propose a specific strategy for repairing the dike...mainly because the young man behind him hadn't thought it through yet.

He simply ordered each family to patrol a section of the river bank and report any dangerous situation in a timely manner.

At this time, County Magistrate He also arrived with a group of county officials, and Zhao Shouzheng let the tired gentry go home to rest.

Looking at those gentry who usually don't like to talk to others, they become humble and submissive in front of the master, and even leave their children to serve him.

This puzzled He Xiancheng and others. They wondered where the twisted master got such great charm.

Without taking time to think about it, He Wenwei quickly led the crowd to pay their respects to the master, and then kept apologizing.

"I didn't call you. What crime have you committed?" Zhao Shouzheng waved his hand, motioning them to stand up.

After expressing their gratitude and standing up, the officials stood in groups in the thatched pavilion, making up for their morning duties.

Master Zhao sat on a stool with a big sword and a golden horse. He slowly glanced at the officials and clerks and said with a faint smile:

"Mr. He and Mr. Zhou already talked about this yesterday. The rest of you are still unfamiliar to me, so why don't you introduce yourselves first?"

"Yes, sir!" Upon hearing this, the officials secretly breathed a sigh of relief and finally felt less panicked.

"I'm Xiong Xiasheng, the county magistrate!" Xiong, who was regarded as not easy to mess with by the previous county magistrate, was the first to step out and salute.

Although there were other officials with higher ranks than him, the Dianshi, who was not in the official ranks, had a formal office in the county government and was in charge of one of the two most important duties in a county - criminal law, so he was undisputedly ranked fourth.

The county magistrate, the chief clerk and the registrar are the assistant officials of a county, and the rest are miscellaneous officials.

The leaders of the miscellaneous officials were the principal and vice principal of Kunshan County School, Wu Jiaoyu and Lu Xundao. The former was a Juren, and the latter was a Gongsheng. Therefore, although the county school was poor and insignificant, the school officials were from a legitimate background, and their status was naturally higher than all the miscellaneous officials.

Li Zhi was supposed to be in charge of the school for Zhao Shouzheng, but Zhao was suddenly assigned to act as the magistrate of Kunshan. I have heard of acting as the magistrate of a county, but I have never heard of acting as the magistrate of a county school, so Li Zhi is still the teacher of Wu County and naturally will not show up here.

After the two men stepped down, two ninth-rank officials, Inspector Zheng Qian of the Inspection Department and Deputy Inspector Hua Qian, stepped forward and saluted.

The patrol inspection office was set up to maintain public order in areas far away from the county seat. It commanded thirty to fifty archers and was responsible for inspecting pedestrians, cracking down on smuggling, and arresting thieves.

The inspection office of this county is located in Jinxi Town, the southernmost part of the county seat, which is a bit like the emperor is far away. You can do whatever you want on weekdays, so don't live too comfortably.

However, Jinxi Town is located between the Kunnan Lake and the Kunnan Lake, and the floodwaters are now above the chest. The director and deputy director of the Jinxi Town Police Station had no choice but to take their archers to the county town and obey the orders of the county magistrate.

Then came the county's three ambassadors - Ambassador Zhu of the Taxation Bureau, who was in charge of collecting taxes from merchants, butchers, and miscellaneous markets.

Ambassador Niu of the Inspection Office, who was in charge of the resale of tea and salt, and Ambassador Yang of the River and Lake Office, who was in charge of collecting fish taxes.

These three were all low-ranking officials, but they were all envied by everyone and were very rich.

Then came the hard-working team of post officials in the county... the postmaster of Kunshan Post, the manager of the express delivery shop and the ambassador of the delivery office.

The post station was an official guesthouse for receiving officials passing through; the express delivery station was the Ming post office that was responsible for delivering letters, such as the 800-li express mail; the delivery office was a state-owned express delivery agency that was responsible for assisting in the transportation of military supplies and tributes.

In short, it's all about hard work, having to be three feet shorter than others and serving them.

These are all the miscellaneous officials who have the honor of serving in a county.

ps. Chapter 2 is delivered.