Chapter 188

Most of the townsfolk were unclothed, their hair was disheveled, their bodies dirty, and they smelled of a foul smell.

Zhou Song saw that Zhao Fusheng saw such a situation in the town, and was deeply afraid that she would be dissatisfied in her heart, so he hurriedly summoned messengers and asked them to drive people away.

The messenger shouted loudly and drove away the crowd of people who were watching the commotion.

Zhou Song said with a smile:

"I didn't know that the adults were coming to Tunli so soon, if I had known earlier, I would have swept the streets and ordered them not to go out."

Zhao Fusheng shook his head.

She remembered her recent trip to Baozhi County, where although the people in the county could see that they were poorer, the situation was not as serious as that under Wan'an County.

It stands to reason that the internal affairs of the imperial court are not in her charge, but the responsibility of Pang Zhi County.

But after the court gave up here, this was her territory, and she asked Zhou Song:

"What is the situation of these Wulidiantun under your rule?"

"Thanks to the blessing of the adults, the situation in Wulidiantun is much better than that of other villages and towns because of its proximity to Wan'an County." Zhou Song hurriedly replied.

Zhao Fusheng didn't want to listen to him say such an official word, and from the living conditions of the people in the town, it didn't look like 'life was good'.

She thought for a moment and summoned the messenger who had said she was willing to move.

The messenger trembled, and after being named by her, he showed a frightened look, and followed the side of the carriage tremblingly.

Zhao Fusheng asked him:

"What's your name? Where to live? How long has it been on an errand? ”

He was about thirty years old, of medium stature, but a little thin.

A set of ill-fitting errand uniforms was worn on the body, and in many places it had been worn out, and it looked like it had been passed down for many years.

When he heard Zhao Fusheng's question, he was still a little at a loss, until Zhou Song glared at him:

"When adults ask you, you still don't tell you honestly."

The messenger hurriedly answered a few times, and then said:

"Back to the adult, my surname is Wang, my family is the second, everyone calls me Wang Er, my family lives in the town, my father was a messenger in Tunli back then, and when he was older, I took my father's job."

"The son inherits the father's business."

Zhao Fusheng said.

Wang Er saw that she had a gentle attitude, as if she was gossiping with herself, and the uneasiness in her heart gradually suppressed, so she nodded, and said a little shyly:

"Many people in our village and town government offices are like this."

"You are on duty in the government, how much do you earn a year?" Zhao Fusheng asked unhurriedly.

Wang Er said:

"About two taels and five dollars of silver a year."

Zhou Song listened to it and wiped his sweat frequently, not knowing what the purpose of Zhao Fusheng's question was, so he could only keep accompanying the smiling face, and was supported by the messenger to follow the side of the carriage, walking quite hard.

"How many people are in your family?" Zhao Fusheng asked again.

"My father has passed away, my mother is still alive, my wife has given birth to three children, and I live separately from my two younger brothers."

"Who does my mother live with?" Zhao Fusheng asked with a smile.

Her tone was gentle, and the coldness and oppression of the ghost rider were not visible, and the questions were all trivial things, and Wang Er's tense heartstrings gradually relaxed:

"Mother lives with me now."

Zhao Fusheng nodded:

"In other words, there are six people in your family."

"Yes." Speaking of his mother, wife and children, Wang Er's face showed a smile.

But he soon realized his gaffe, and hurriedly tightened his face again, revealing a tense look.

"Are your three children sons or daughters? How old are you? ”

Zhao Fusheng asked again.

Her questions were strange.

She is the newly appointed Ling Si of the Demon Suppression Division, and this time she went to Kuailiang Village for the ghost case in the village, but after this Ling Si finished the case, he didn't say much about the ghost case, but seemed to be more interested in the lives of the errands.

The old tun chief was puzzled, but he didn't dare to interrupt the conversation, so he had to follow the car and listen to the conversation between the two.

"There are two sons and a daughter, the eldest is nine years old, and the youngest is a daughter, just three years old." Wang Er was also a little uneasy, but what Zhao Fusheng asked was all trivial things, and there was nothing strange about it.

He secretly glanced at the old tun chief who wiped his sweat, and replied in a proper manner.

"This age is just the age of reading and literacy." Zhao Fusheng sighed deliberately.

Wang Er immediately laughed:

"How can you afford to read? If I can grow up safely in the future, I will be able to support my family if I take over my position—"

After he finished speaking, he saw Zhao Fusheng frowning.

The de facto ruler of Wan'an County seemed to be silent for a moment, and the atmosphere of the convoy froze.

Wang Er was a little scared, and subconsciously turned his head to look at Zhou Song:

"Lord Zhou—"

"Shout you kid don't talk nonsense!" Zhou Song immediately scolded him.

"No nonsense."

Zhao Fusheng quickly restrained his outward expression, smiled, and shook his head.

She wasn't actually angry that Wang Er had said the wrong thing.

Wang Er's words represented the current situation of many people at this time, and she sighed in her heart after listening to it.

But because of her identity, a look and a move affect the hearts of the people around her, so others are particularly attentive to her, her words and deeds are magnified, and a small expression can make the people around her panic.

Zhao Fusheng settled down and said:

"Your child is still young, do you have any other livelihood at home?"

"My mother and I wash people's clothes on weekdays, and there is still some land outside the city, and my family and my mother-in-law often play with it, and we can also gain something." Wang Er felt uneasy, afraid that he would cause a big disaster if he said something wrong, so he was extra careful about every word, and his speed of speech became a little slow, and he obviously began to think:

"A few children also help with some things, occasionally weaving some cloth and doing some embroidery work."

This is the norm for many families in the town, Zhao Fusheng looked at Zhou Tunchang, the old tun chief was instantly under great pressure, and nodded:

"The situation of his family is already settled."

"What about annual taxes?" Zhao Fusheng asked.

"Because he is an errand for the public business, the tax is less than that of ordinary people, and his family has six people a year, and he has to collect more than two taels of silver in a year." Zhou Tun said.

Wang Er's Yulu has a total of two taels and five yuan, which is equivalent to paying taxes for most of the year's income, and the family's food and drink are all filled by his wife, mother and other helpers.

Ordinary people live in poverty, and after giving birth to children, they cannot afford to educate, and in the future, when their children grow up, they will still follow the old path of their parents.

There is no day when poverty will come out.

It's no wonder that this Wang Er heard that after moving into the boundary of Kuailiang Village, he could be exempted from the tax of the Demon Suppression Division, and he was not even afraid of the haunting of the village.

Zhao Fusheng didn't know what to say for a while.

After a while, she said:

"If that's the case, moving into Kuailiang Village will really be good for you."

"This kid is greedy and wants to take advantage."

Zhou Tunchang said with a smile, Wang Er was not embarrassed when he was complained, but smiled.

"If I can really be exempted from taxes for three years, I run errands in the town, and my family doesn't have to worry, maybe thanks to the blessings of adults, I can save a few years of silver, and in the future, my two sons will get married and have grandchildren, and my grandsons will still be able to study, and they will not follow our old path."

When he talked about the future, he finally straightened his chest, and his eyes were a little brighter.

When the other officers heard him say this, they were also a little moved.

"Aren't you afraid of ghosts?" Zhao Fusheng asked rhetorically.

"Didn't you say that you have already taken away the ghosts?"

Wang Er said without hesitation.

These people pay a huge tax every year to the Demon Suppression Division, and they are convinced of the words of the people in the Demon Suppression Division - perhaps they dare not doubt it, nor do they dare to think deeply about the consequences of these people telling lies, for fear that after snooping into the endless despair, they will subconsciously believe it, and even such servants believe in the ability of the Demon Suppression Division to exorcise ghosts more than ordinary people.

Zhao Fusheng suddenly felt very stressed.

She lost the interest in continuing to speak, and did not speak again until the carriage returned to the town's inn.

Zhou Song was both frightened and a little flustered, and glared at Wang Er several times all the way, blaming this kid for not holding the door on his lips, which angered the big man.

The food in the village and town was not luxurious, and even a little shabby, but the old tun chief had done his best.

During the banquet, Gu Jiansheng sneaked to Zhao Fusheng's side and explained to her:

"In the middle of last month, a huge number of people from the county came here to collect taxes."

Wulidian Tun is not a wealthy town.

Especially with Wan'an County being gradually abandoned by the imperial court, the county officials and gentry who got the news in advance have already made plans.

And the people who are behind in the news know nothing and are still trapped in the county seat.

The people in the city are still like this, and the rest of the villages and towns are not clear, and Zhou Song and others don't know anything about the arrangements of the imperial court, so the towns and villages are still calm for the time being.

After the change of the head of the town demon division of Wan'an County, Pang Zhi County quickly began to manage the internal affairs of the county, and earlier in July and August, after the autumn harvest, people from the county had been sent to the townships and towns under the rule of Wan'an County to collect taxes.

Zhou Song, as the head of a tun, did not dare to relax in the face of the taxes to be paid every year, and he was ready to get through this hurdle smoothly.

In order to pay this large amount of taxes, the Tunzhong errand has not released any money for three months.

Everyone's trouser belts are tightened, and although it is still not good to rectify this table, Zhou Tunchang is really powerless.

There are still many such situations under the rule of Wan'an County, and Wulidiantun is relatively better, at least there is no tax money owed to the county government.

Zhang Chuanshi also whispered:

"Some towns owe a lot of money, and local officials are anxious, and they are afraid that they will lose their lives."

“……”

Zhao Fusheng was speechless.

The situation in Wulidiantun can show the current predicament of Wan'an County, and Zhao Fusheng still has a long way to go.

She rested for a while in Wulidiantun, and after noon, she was ready to leave for the county.

Before leaving, she looked at the old tun chief who nodded and told him that after finishing the case in Kuailiang Village, he must go to the Demon Division of Wan'an County to report to her.

The old tun chief didn't dare to be sloppy, and responded with a little head.

This old tun chief is not young, as the head of a tun, he is undoubtedly competent to the imperial court - the annual tax is not ambiguous.

However, after coping with the imperial court, the servants still have to make up for it, and what will he do to make up for the shortfall? In the end, it was still levied from the people.

She thought of the townspeople who had big heads, big bellies, and thin limbs when they entered the town, and how should those people in the village live like this?

This trip to Kuailiang Village made Zhao Fusheng feel quite bad.

She saw the true face of the people in the village under her rule, and the death of Zhuang Siniang and the people of Kuai Village and Zhuang Village had made her very uncomfortable.

The ghost case is easy to conclude, and with her success in controlling ghosts, once the god list and hell are opened in the future, the ghosts will be easy to deal with, but the reason for the revival of the ghosts is because of the environment.

The root cause has not changed, just handling ghost cases is just a symptom and a root cause.

"Alas—" she sighed and waved her hand weakly:

"Let's go."

On the way back, Zhao Fusheng was not very interested, Gu Jiansheng saw it, and whispered with Fan Wusu and Wu Shaochun:

"Adults don't seem to be happy."

"Nope."

Fan Wusu shook his head:

"I don't see it."

"Two stunned!" Zhang Chuanshi listened to it on the sidelines and laughed.

Fan Wusu was furious when he heard this, and wanted to compete with him, but then he thought that this old man had piloted the ghost ship, and he was afraid in his heart, and forcibly endured this breath:

"Your Excellency is very happy."

"The adults haven't spoken for a long time." Wu Shaochun also said.

He is an honest man, and he said the same thing as Gu Jiansheng, Fan Wusu immediately sat up straight and guessed:

"Could it be that the food in Wulidiantun is not delicious, which makes the adults feel bad?"

……

Several people discussed in a whisper, Zhang Chuanshi did not join in, he clasped his hands behind his head, I don't know what he thought, the sarcastic expression on his face gradually dissipated, and his expression rarely became a little serious.

When I returned to Wan'an County, it was already dark.

Zhao Fusheng came back this time, Pang Zhixian and the others had already gotten the news and had already rushed to the Demon Suppression Division.

Fan Bi died standing in front of the government to greet him, and when he saw the two carriages returning from afar, and when he saw his younger brother get off the carriage after the car stopped, his heart that had been hanging for several days finally fell back to its original place.

He didn't rush to talk to Fan Wusheng, but stayed in front of Zhao Fusheng's car.

When he saw Zhao Fusheng open the car door and come out, a smile appeared on his face, and he was about to speak, Zhao Fusheng said:

"The ghost case in Kuailiang Village has been solved!"

As soon as her voice fell, the audience suddenly burst into exclamations.

Whether it was Pang Zhi County or the county officials, squires and miscellaneous servants in the government, their faces all showed a look of surprise when they heard this.

Since Zhao Fusheng left, the shadow shrouded in the town demon division of Wan'an County dissipated with her words.

At this time, Zhao Fusheng was a well-deserved ruler in Wan'an County.

Since she took control of the Demon Division of Wan'an County, she has handled six major cases in a row, and she is in a stable state at this time, her expression is gentle, and she has not shown the trend of losing control of the ghosts she controls because of the ghost cases, which undoubtedly makes Pang Zhixian and others more convinced.

Everyone surrounded her and got out of the carriage, and when Kuai Manzhou in the carriage also got out of the carriage, Fan Bi was stunned, but he didn't say anything.

Kuai Manzhou followed Zhao Fusheng's side, looked around, and then took Zhao Fusheng's hand.

Zhao Fusheng did not throw her away, but led her and stood at the door for a long time.

"What are you looking at?"

Zhang Chuanshi followed behind her, saw her stop, and asked in a low voice.

As he spoke, his gaze followed Zhao Fusheng's line of sight, and saw that her eyes fell on the archway of the Demon Suppression Division.

At this time, it was three quarters of the unitary hour (about 17:45 in the afternoon), the sun was westerly, and the afterglow of the sunset fell on the archway of the gate of the Demon Division, and the three big characters on it were illuminated: Demon Division.

The sign seemed to be brighter than ever, as if the dust had been wiped off it.

Zhang Chuanshi's Adam's apple slid and his eyes flashed twice, and he was about to speak, but Zhao Fusheng seemed to be gossiping with him:

"Lao Zhang, when you held the account book to ask for debts, what you wanted was this signboard, right?"

Zhang Chuanshi was in a trance, and when he heard her speak, he subconsciously nodded:

"Yes—"

As soon as the words came out, he immediately realized that he had said the wrong thing, and his heart was like a storm, and his face immediately changed, and he shook his head desperately:

"No, my lord said that he was joking, what am I doing with this sign? No! No! ”

People with weak hearts always talk a lot.

Zhao Fusheng smiled:

"Whether you are or not, you can't take this signboard from Wan'an County anyway."

After she said this, she took Kuaiman Zhou into the mansion and stopped talking to Zhang Chuanshi.

Everyone followed Zhao Fusheng into the hall.

Hearing that she had finished the ghost case again, everyone was very excited, led by Pang Zhixian and others, Zhang Luo wanted to book a table in the county restaurant to wash the dust for Zhao Fusheng.

The county gentry were full of confidence in Zhao Fusheng, and they were very happy to see that she was in a stable state.

Zhao Fusheng experienced this ghost case, and his body was not very tired, but his spirit felt tired.

But she didn't want to go against the crowd's enthusiasm.

The current situation in Wan'an County really needs some celebration to mobilize the enthusiasm of everyone in the county, so she did not refuse, but let Weide and others discuss the matter of setting up a table.

She knew that Fan Bisheng must be curious about the whole story of this ghost case, so she instructed Fan Wuxu to dictate this ghost case and have Fan Bisheng record it.

After sending the others to do their own things temporarily, she recruited Pang Zhixian and his master, as well as Gu Jiansheng, to go to the other side hall to talk about things.

"How much gold did Zheng He let you escort this time?"

As soon as Zhao Fusheng sat down, he got straight to the point and asked about the money that Gu Jiansheng had transported on this trip.

"After the lord handled the case in Baozhi County before, the local Xu Yachen and the squires plus Deputy Zheng Ling pledged a total of 34,000 taels of gold."

Gu Jiansheng heard her talk about business, and he also looked serious:

"Lord Zheng has always been very concerned about the affairs of adults, so he collected all his net worth, and sent a letter to the family of Dijing to ask for fundraising, in this month and a half, a total of 6,000 taels of gold were raised, and the gentry raised a total of 7,000, so a total of 13,000 taels were escorted."

He said:

"In addition, I also prepared a part of rice and rice worth 10,000 taels to pay off the debt, I don't know if the adults will allow it."

When Zhao Fusheng heard this, a smile appeared on his face and he nodded:

"Absolutely."

She looked at Pang Zhi County:

"Now that the population of the county is not large, some of the rice and millet sent by Zhenghe can be kept to fill the county's inventory, and the excess grain can be sold."

When Pang Zhixian heard this, he was stunned:

"Where to sell?"

The population of the county is not large now, and a batch of taxes has just been collected in the county in the past two months, which has not yet been included in the government treasury, and if Baozhi County transports rice and millet worth 10,000 taels of gold, it will not be a small amount.

There are not many rice and grain vendors left in Wan'an County, they are all some old acquaintances, and they are collected and collected, isn't it just the left hand and the right hand? It is better to ask these gentry to donate silver in the name of Zhao Fusheng.

"You can sell it to other counties."

Zhao Fusheng replied.

Although gold and silver are good, in such a world, food is always the foundation of the people, and it is also one of the hard currencies.

This time, in addition to gold and silver, Zheng He also sent food, which can be seen to be intentionally pleasing her.

"Out-of-town?" Pang Zhixian was stunned for a moment:

"If that's the case, wouldn't it be more convenient to ask Deputy Ling Zheng to help exchange the grain for gold and silver?"

"It's different."

Zhao Fusheng shook his head:

"At that time, you can hire people to send them out, and this is also an opportunity to communicate with outside businessmen."

After Wan'an County was abandoned by the imperial court, many merchants and gentry had already smelled the smell and abandoned it one after another.

Even if Zhao Fusheng has handled several major cases after taking office, which has stabilized the frequent ghost cases here, the news may not be spread, or it will be spread, and people may not believe it.

- Good things don't go out, bad things spread thousands of miles.

However, if you interact with the outside world in the form of business and trade, it will reduce the vigilance of some merchants, and once you trade and trade, it will naturally bring about the mobility of the population.

"Hiring manpower is also a way out for the people to provide a way to support their families, and to eliminate the impulse and possibility of some people to become traitors."

Zhao Fusheng remembered the cause of the tragedy in Kuailiang Village.

This case is a typical example of the resurgence of ghosts caused by environmental and human factors, and then the slaughter of the village.

Today is still a small plus.

5.4K's big change,Recently, I wrote that my daily life is actually in a good state.,At least I didn't wear a pain mask every day when I work~~~.

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