Bamboo rafts and canoes are dotted on the calm and soothing Leishui River. Fishermen are loaded with baskets of fish and shrimps, with joyful smiles on their faces.
In the past, when Gong Fu was the official guarding Tianjin, he imposed heavy taxes and plundered the common people, which made many people living on the rivers of Hunan and Lei miserable.
Nowadays, the county king has killed the Gong family, abolished the harsh government, implemented light corvee and low taxes, and those who make fishing as their livelihood all feel grateful to Liu Jing.
At this moment, several ships came from the north. The fishermen saw them from a distance and tried to avoid them. Everyone knew the flags hanging on the ships, which were ships under the command of the county prince Liu Jing.
It was on Liu Jing's order that the fleet went north to meet his family. Now his family of six are all in the poop of the flagship.
Liu He, wearing a boy's scarf, brocade robes and leather shoes, and wearing a short sword, looked towards the shore through the small window of the poop building. He could faintly see the Lingxian city wall. He couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief and sighed: "Ah, that's great.
Well, Ling County has finally arrived!"
Due to his age, he had never traveled far before. The farthest place he had ever been was the county town of Linxiang. Therefore, he seemed very interested in traveling for the first time. However, after spending many days floating on the water, he felt a little bored.
.
Liu Rao didn't find it boring, but she also wanted to see Liu Jing as soon as possible, so she looked eagerly and asked, "Will brother come to pick us up in person?"
Liu He said: "Brother is now the king of a county. He is busy with official duties and may not have time. But he will definitely send someone to pick us up."
Deng Yuan sat quietly on the couch and said with a smile: "Liu Lang will definitely come."
As expected, Liu Jing came to the ferry to greet him in person, but he did not make a big fanfare to make it known to everyone. Instead, he wore robes and hitchhiked, looking very low-key.
"Brother..."
"grown ups……"
As soon as Liu He, Liu Rao, and Liu Qun landed on the shore, they immediately ran toward Liu Jing with excited faces.
"Aruo, Ali, Hutou..." Liu Jing felt very happy when he saw the three of them. As usual, he rubbed their heads. Although they had only been separated for less than three months, in his heart,
It seems like a long time has passed.
Then he led the three children to greet his stepmother Zhang and his sister-in-law Lai Ci. Only at the end did he turn his attention to his wife Deng Yuan.
Looking at his long-standing, graceful and bright-looking wife, Liu Jing couldn't help but feel warm in his heart. He was now in his prime of life, and he was very greedy for tenderness. He had been separated from his wife for several months, and every night in the quiet of the night, he felt very
lonely.
This was not the place to talk. Liu Jing left his cronies behind to carry the supplies, while he took his family on a carriage and headed for his residence.
The residence he arranged for his family was not far from the county temple. It was Gong Fu's mansion in the past. After renovation, it was almost the same as his new residence.
The reason why he did not accept his family to live in the official residence was because such behavior in today's society was not honest enough and would be ridiculed by the people of the time. Of course, there was another very important reason. Liu Jing did not want to have an affair with his stepmother.
They live together so as not to disturb their mood.
When stepmother Zhang found out about Liu Jing's plan, she looked quite unhappy. Liu He and Liu Rao were even more dejected and could not help but sigh.
Lai Ci thought that Liu Jing did the right thing. Uncle Ji had just established prestige in Ling County, so it was better not to do anything outrageous.
Gong Fu became rich by plundering and doing business, and his family fortune was huge. Therefore, the building of the mansion was very luxurious. Even the four walls were made of bluestone, the red walls and green tiles, and the houses were connected with each other. They were comparable to those in Lin County.
There are very few.
Seeing that Liu Jing was obviously very considerate in arranging such a luxurious residence for them, stepmother Zhang's expression softened slightly.
Liu Jing was very familiar with this place and took his family on a brief tour of the mansion.
He had taken leave in advance today, so he didn't leave the whole day. Not only did he have dinner with his family, he even stayed here for the night.
At night, Deng Yuan had time alone with Liu Jing and handed him the letter from his father Deng You.
Liu Jing opened the letter and glanced at it briefly. The content basically did not exceed his expectations. The situation in Nanyang will continue to deteriorate in the future until the Battle of Guandu breaks out. Therefore, he did not respond to his father-in-law Deng You's concerns except a few insignificant words of comfort.
Can't do it either.
Deng Yuan said worriedly: "I have already written a reply to my father. Judging from the current situation, it will be a matter of time before Xinye falls into turmoil. I advise my father not to cling to the ancestral land. If things go wrong, he can avoid Xiangyang."
"Avoiding Xiangyang? This is also a good choice." Liu Jing nodded silently when he heard this.
The result he most hoped to see was that Deng You's family would go south and join him. However, this was just what he was thinking about. Unless he was at the end of his rope and was desperate, Deng You would never come to join him.
Deng Yuan nestled in Liu Jing's arms and said with a somewhat sad expression: "I hope that my parents, brothers and nephews are well and that we can meet again in the future."
Liu Jing sighed lightly: "Given my father-in-law's family background and reputation, whether it is Liu Jingsheng or Cao Mengde, he will be treated with great courtesy and safe. We will definitely meet again one day."
"Well..." Deng Yuan gently closed her eyes and said.
…………
Early the next morning, a refreshed Liu Jing bid farewell to his stepmother Zhang and his sister-in-law Lai Ci, and took Deng Yuan back to the official residence of the county temple. After settling his wife, Liu Jing immediately devoted himself to official duties.
March is the beginning of spring plowing, which is the busiest time of the year. At the same time, March has already entered the rainy season. Due to its low-lying terrain, Lingxian County suffers from waterlogging. In addition, in the past, officials, big and small, worked together to enrich their own pockets. Therefore, the dams
The wall had to be rebuilt.
Deploying ordinary people to serve at this time is tantamount to killing the goose to retrieve the eggs. In previous years, Gong Ying and others ignored the people's life and death, which resulted in widespread complaints.
Liu Jing could not do this. Fortunately, he had captured more than 1,700 rebels before. Later, he went south to exterminate more than ten surnames and captured more than 1,000 people. The total number of the two was more than 3,000. And most of them were
They are grown men, and it is most appropriate for them to serve and build fortifications on behalf of the common people.
At present, Liu Jing is mainly focusing his manpower on building dams to prevent flooding.
As for the city wall, he put it aside for the time being because he already had plans to move the county temple to Linzheng Township, so he had little interest in repairing the city wall in Lingxian County.
Linzheng Township is the location of Hengyang, the second largest city in Hunan in later generations. Although Liu Jing was not very clear about this, he was not blind. After personally inspecting Linzheng Township, he found that it was a hundred times better than the current Lingxian County in all aspects.
.
In fact, Liu Jing is not the only one with eyes. In the past few years, due to increasingly serious waterlogging, some people have proposed to move the county seat to Linzheng Township. This is just because Lingxian County has to mobilize people to repair fortifications every year. "It is profitable and profitable."
Picture", so it was rejected by corrupt officials.