The noble families hide a large number of skilled craftsmen. How could they easily let them go unless they have no other choice?
It is such a waste of resources that so many talented people and such a rich place fall into the hands of a bunch of corrupt families.
The situation in Southern Liang was not chaotic, so how could she take advantage of the situation?
She was just worrying about where to find the old craftsman on the tea mountain. God really loved her and sent him to her.
Qiao Xin smiled and said to Magistrate Wu: "Haven't we always been worried about having too few people? Now we have them! There must be a lot of people living by the river in Lu'an fleeing north. Magistrate Wu must strengthen patrols and do a good job of screening. The Xia family and the Lou family will definitely not miss the opportunity to absorb hidden households and expand their power. We have to be on guard!"
County Magistrate Wu was startled and began to pay more attention to the current situation!
"I will prepare it right away. Your Excellency has already sent the message. I think he should have known about this matter!"
"Well, I have to go to Lu'an in person to see the specific situation. Besides, Shunzi is still there and hasn't come back yet!"
Magistrate Wu was shocked and tried to dissuade him, "Madam, you must not do that. A gentleman should not stand under a dangerous wall. Lu'an is in chaos right now, and anything could happen. It's really not a good time to go there easily! Shunzi has Zhang Jun and others with him, all of whom are good at martial arts and have great skills. They should be able to handle the current situation!"
Qiao Xin flatly rejected Magistrate Wu's suggestion and said, "I know what's going on. You don't need to persuade me anymore. During my absence, Anhua County will be left to you to take care of! I'll leave you a hundred men. It shouldn't be a problem to protect your personal safety. The second brother has already sent people to support you!"
!”
County Magistrate Wu looked up in astonishment. He did not expect that the old lady would even consider his safety.
. Since the old lady settled down in Anhua County, she has helped him recruit a lot of people. Some of them are not only good at fighting, but also can read and write, which greatly relieved his own pressure.
The people around me have already upgraded their muskets to cannons!
All this was thanks to Qiao Xin. When some of the small families in Anhua County saw him, they no longer dared to look down on him and had to call him respectfully: County Magistrate!
I didn't expect Qiao Xin to consider his safety at this critical moment! The Qiao family never treated him as an outsider from the beginning to the end. He actually got all the security, status and reputation that the family could not give!
County Magistrate Wu felt a lump in his throat and suddenly lowered his head, saying "hmm" in response!
"If there are still people who don't know how to restrain themselves and jump up and down, Lord Wu might as well kill a chicken to scare the monkeys, so that they will be completely afraid of you, and then we will have less resistance in the future. We have endured what we should endure, but we can't let anyone trample on our bottom line!"
"Kill one to warn the rest, first courtesy and then force?"
"Yes, first use courtesy and then force, kill one to warn the rest. To be honest, none of them are innocent. They bully the weak, force good people into slavery, and disregard the law. Each of these incidents is a bloody history of the common people."
There were a lot of evidences of the crimes of these noble families, so they didn't need to bother looking for them. The reason why they didn't move against them was that their deployment was not in place yet, so they didn't act rashly, which gave the other party a chance to restrain themselves.
But judging from the recent period, they seem to be even more arrogant and don't take Magistrate Wu and Qiao Yunqing seriously.
Then what kind of mercy is there?
Catch one or two of the most aggressive ones, throw the evidence in their faces, and raid their homes; they won’t believe it and won’t behave themselves!
Magistrate Wu coughed and actually began to evaluate the wealthy families in their county in his mind.
It is said that the prince must pick on the weak. When there is a confiscation of property, one cannot immediately look for the one with too strong a family background, for fear that the situation will get out of control. Nor can one go too weak, as it will not have a deterrent effect!
Magistrate Wu's eyebrows turned and he asked tentatively: "Madam, what do you think of the Lou family?"
Qiao Xin raised her eyebrows and said: "Go find the family that has caused you the most trouble, is the most arrogant and domineering, and is the one that you dislike the most! Of course the evidence is conclusive!"
Do we need to go out of our way to find this evidence? We grabbed a lot of it, and his desk can hardly hold it all. If the Lou family still doesn't know how to restrain themselves, then don't blame him!
.........
Qiao Xin had just arrived at the border of Lu'an when he received a report from his subordinates that County Magistrate Wu had taken action against the Lou family the day after Qiao Yunqing's troops arrived!
Tsk tsk, this official always says one thing and means another!
Then he saw the 100,000 taels of silver, shops, farms, slaves, more than 300 hidden households, more than 500 private soldiers, and weapons of unknown origin that were searched from the Lou family!
"How come they actually keep private soldiers and hidden weapons?"
"The Lou family has always had connections with the Yizhou Iron Mine. They were involved in the attack on the adults. This time, the adults sent two thousand soldiers to raid the property. The three counties moved together and completely wiped out the Lou family's power at lightning speed!"
Qiao Xin looked at the long list handed over by his subordinates, and suddenly wanted to turn back and confiscate a few more noble families. No wonder the emperor liked to confiscate the homes of ministers when the treasury was out of money!
This is obviously the fastest money-making business in the world!
She worked hard to lead everyone to farm, dig mountains, build roads and engage in industry to barely have enough food and clothing, but a middle-class family in Anhua County had a huge amount of silver worth 100,000. How much supplies would she have to sell to get such a net profit?
A powerful local tyrant has fallen, and the large number of hidden households relying on the Lou family have been exposed again. The next time taxes are collected, the government office will be able to increase its income by a lot!
Those noble families who still want to continue to stretch their claws around will have to retreat for a while!
It can be said that County Magistrate Wu achieved multiple goals at once and reaped great rewards!
"Lord Wu has already taken action. We should speed up our journey. Has there been any news from Zhang Yun?"
Zhang Jun shook his head: "Not yet. If there is any news, I will report it immediately!"
Qiao Xin nodded. Come to think of it, she had said so much nonsense today, she must have been stimulated by Magistrate Wu’s actions!
After going around in circles, she is the one who needs money the most. She must make some profit this time!
Qiao Xin led his men to Lu'an quickly. Shunzi, Zhang Yun and others had already taken a large amount of supplies and troops. They took advantage of the chaos to escape from Lu'an and went deep into the mountains, rushing back!
Having witnessed the chaos of Southern Liang many times, Shunzi had long since developed the habit of preparing for a rainy day, and never kept all the supplies and men he had obtained in one place.
When the riot broke out, Shunzi was just delivering a batch of supplies to a farm he had purchased outside the city. In the county shop, there was nothing left to worry about except a small amount of inventory, two local employees, and three or four guards.
Seeing such a situation, the guys would probably hide at home. As for the guards, there is no need to worry about them. They are all old people who have traveled with him all over the country, and each of them has his own means of taking refuge!
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