Chapter 31 The Picture of Poverty in the Rain and Mist

Zhang Zhong rode his horse and galloped in the heavy rain, and when he came to the foot of the mountain, he found that those people had not eaten and were still working.

"Adults are coming, adults are coming." Amid the shouts of a sharp-eyed child, others also spotted the prefectural magistrate through the rain.

Zhang Zhong turned over and dismounted, wiped the rain on his face with his hands, and looked at the people under the shed, not only the people who were working here at this time, but also some children who were also following their families, or a few gathered together, looking at him with curious eyes.

"Where is the steward? What's the matter, when it's so dark, you don't eat and still work? Zhang Zhong saw the longing of the figure over there by the light of the fire under the shed, and shouted loudly.

Immediately, a person in charge ran over and said respectfully: "Lord County, everyone is not tired, I want to do more, don't worry, my lord, I didn't go up the mountain at night, in the afternoon, someone came up with an idea, so that everyone can dig before dark, and only transport it at night, and it is easier to transport soil than when digging, and it can be transported even if you can't see it." ”

"Whose idea?" Zhang Zhong didn't expect the people in the county to work in such a way.

"It's Brother Pan, Brother Pan is here, the adults want to see you." The man in charge shouted into the crowd, and a little girl of twelve or thirteen years old was squeezed out, and she didn't know what was rubbing on her face, left and right.

At his feet was a pair of straw sandals, the front of which was opened, revealing a large female finger, the trousers were shortened, patched like clothes, and a naked two-year-old baby was held in his arms, and the little baby grabbed the clothes around the little girl's neck with a small hand, and waved curiously there with a small hand half-clenched fist.

"Brother Pan, come on, my lord, this is the brother Pan who came up with the idea, the family name is Zhu, that little baby is her younger brother, she has a sister above, and two younger sisters below, one is nine years old, one is seven years old, one is called Brother Wang, and the other is called Brother Wang."

The steward beckoned, asked the little girl to come over, and introduced to Zhang Zhong, saying in detail, Zhang Zhong understood as soon as he heard it, there are four sisters in the family, and there is a younger brother, and from the name, you can hear that the family wants to have a male baby.

"Great, sir." The little girl Pan Brother took a few steps forward and shouted timidly at Zhang Zhong.

"Oh, okay, Brother Pan, how did you come up with that idea?" Zhang Zhong tried his best to soften his voice, beckoned the person who had prepared a change of clothes for him for a while, took the dry clothes in this person's hand, ripped off the cyan silk lining inside, and wrapped it around the naked little baby.

"My lord, how can you give up this? Brother Pan, if the adults ask you, don't you say it quickly. The steward was a little distressed by the torn clothes, and at the same time, he was grateful to the county magistrate in his heart, and urged Brother Pan, who didn't dare to speak.

Brother Pan touched the silk cloth with his hand, felt the smoothness on it, and finally mustered up the courage to say: "My sister is married, I have to take care of my sister and younger brother when I am at home, and I have to work.

When chopping firewood, let the third sister take her younger brother when picking vegetables, let the fourth sister wash clothes, in a yard, I can see them, when I go in to cook, let the fourth sister take the younger brother to see the pot, let the third sister light the fire, I dig rice to cook, and I can see them. ”

Brother Pan couldn't say it too clearly, and gave a simple example, which seemed to have nothing to do with the idea of working over there now.

Many people may only be able to listen to a general idea and not understand the connotation, but Zhang Zhong can understand what it contains, which is what his son and daughter-in-law said when they arrange things at home.

Thinking that his son and daughter-in-law would always spend a lot of effort to cultivate them when they met some smart children, Zhang Zhong decided to leave this brother behind.

"Well, well said, reward." Zhang Zhong nodded with satisfaction, and glanced at a person next to him, who immediately took out a dozen copper coins, grabbed them in his hand and handed them over.

"If you are rewarded by your lordship, take it quickly, otherwise your lord will be unhappy." Seeing that Brother Pan didn't dare to stretch out his hand, the steward urged again.

Zhang Zhong watched Brother Pan take the money and asked the steward, "What's the matter with so many children and the elderly?" ”

"Adults, they are all working people's families, you let people eat a lot of food every day, everyone found that as long as you mix some wild vegetables into it, you can make more people full, the little baby can pick wild vegetables, and the old man helps repair the household belongings that work hard, make a basket or something.

In the morning, the people near home called the family over, my lord, these people don't need to be paid, we eat the food, oil and salt every day, and the adults will not spend money. ”

The person in charge was a little worried, and explained to Zhang Zhong, emphasizing that there was no need to spend more money, for fear that the county magistrate would drive people away.

When Zhang Zhong heard this, he didn't feel good in his heart, it wasn't caused by him, but now it was under his control, he couldn't arrest the person surnamed Wen from the capital and let him spit out a lot of money.

"Well, let's do this first, tomorrow I will send food and oil and salt a little more, and I will survive this period of time."

Zhang Zhong can only arrange like this, and it is absolutely impossible to drive people out.

"Lord Xie, everyone is relieved this time, my lord, you haven't eaten yet, have you? We'll eat together here for a while. The person in charge said happily, and the people around him who were also worried were now relieved.

"I've eaten, you eat, I'll come and see, eat early, rest, and continue to work tomorrow." Zhang Zhong felt uncomfortable at the thought that there would be fat slices for him when he ate.

The person in charge waved his hand and let the people around him disperse, "My lord, I'm not tired, I usually look for things to do, but I can only get one meal, and I can do it all day." ”

Zhang Zhong nodded, didn't say anything more, followed by the person with another set of dry clothes, in a corner, pulled up a curtain, and changed the wet clothes.

This night was another night that made the people happy, and the mark of the county magistrate as a good official had been deeply imprinted in their hearts.

Early the next morning, Zhang Zhong got up, had breakfast with the people, prepared a little, looked up at the sky, the light rain was still falling, he knew that today was the time to face some things, turned over and got on the horse, took a group of guards, and splashed away in the sound of the people's congratulations.

Zhan Zhubo and Xiao Xiancheng also got up early in the morning, freshened up, and drove to the yamen, and those merchants also pulled the sellers of the fields over.

The door of the yamen was half opened, propped up with sticks, and began to deal with the things that would happen today, maybe it was raining, or maybe the people really didn't have anything to trouble the yamen, and after waiting for more than an hour, there was no one who came.

When the sound of horses' hooves came to the sound of 'stamping', it was also telling those who had ideas in their hearts that the prefectural magistrate was coming.

Zhang Zhong came to the door of the yamen, dismounted and landed, straightened his already soaked official uniform, and walked in.

There are also people here who have prepared dry clothes for changing, and after a lot of busyness, in the anxious waiting of Zhan Zhubo and Xiao Xiancheng, Zhang Zhong finally came to the signing room.

"What happened to you two today? Last night, the county went to the other side of the mountain to take a look, and the progress was not bad. ”

Zhang Zhong said indifferently to Zhan Zhubo and Xiao Xiancheng.

Xiao Xiancheng looked at Zhang Zhong's appearance and said secretly, "You just pretend here, what should you do later?" ’

He said: "Zhang County Order, the people in the county live and work in peace and contentment, there is nothing to do today, oh, those merchants are here, the land has been bought, it is better to do their land affairs first." ”

"Isn't it in a hurry, it's still raining outside, and you can't repair the house immediately if you buy the land." Zhang Zhong said this deliberately.

Sure enough, his words made Zhan Zhubo and Xiao Xiancheng show expressions like they had already known.

How could Xiao Xiancheng let go of the opportunity, and continued: "It's raining now, and you can't build a house, you can do other things, mainly to reassure the businessmen, Zhang Xian ordered you to see, I and Zhan Zhubo have written down all the things you said, as long as they come and see the same, the three of us will stamp it again, and the matter will be done." ”

He deliberately accentuated the printing when he spoke, and looked at Zhang Zhong with a smile, Zhang Zhong hesitated with him, and said: "It's better to take a good look, in case something is inappropriate, wouldn't someone suffer?" ”

"Whether it is suitable or not depends on what those businessmen say, Zhang Xianling will not think it is inappropriate to say to himself, why hasn't he come yet?"

When Xiao Xiancheng spoke, he looked at the place at the door, Zhang Zhong himself, when he came in just now, the Shen Wenwen went from behind, he should be looking for a businessman, and when he saw Xiao Xiancheng looking at the door, he also followed.

Said Cao Cao Cao arrived, and the words here fell less than ten breaths, and the footsteps could already be heard, and after waiting for a few breaths, Shen Wenshu came over with a group of businessmen.

First of all, there was a transaction between the person who sold the land and the merchant, and there was no need to use the seal of the county order in the transaction, and the three people in the yamen could take care of things, just one person, so Zhang Zhong did not take out his own seal.

Xiao Xiancheng did not force it, stamped it with his own seal, and waited for the people who sold the land to go out, so he said to the merchants: "This is the document drawn up by the county, you wait and see, is there anything that disagrees?" ”

A piece of paper was delivered to the hands of the merchants, and the merchants just walked away, and yesterday they already knew what was written on it, one for each person, and after a little glance, they shook their heads to indicate that they did not disagree.

"Press the mudra." Xiao Xiancheng first used his own printing paper to cover it, Zhan Zhubo also did the same, and then the businessmen pressed their handprints, dipped them in ink one by one, and pressed the red fingerprints on their respective papers.

After the handprint was pressed, everyone's eyes were on Zhang Zhong's body, Xiao Xiancheng got a piece of paper and respectfully handed it to Zhang Zhong, "Lord County Order, it's your turn." ”