Half a year after Yang Heshu took office, he finally confronted the local grain merchants and squires.
Unlike Mr. Bai, the grain shops in Luojiang County are basically opened by local squires or big squires from the state capital.
When Mr. Bai moved to Luojiang County, he saw that the grain shops in Luojiang County were no longer available, so he stopped getting involved. At most, he bought two shops in Luojiang County and gave them to his stewards to start a small business.
The grain shop he opened in the Mianzhou area was not very big. Several small shops could not even digest their own grain.
However, Mr. Bai doesn't like selling grain to grain merchants in Luojiang County. He has special partners, and Wu Grain Merchant is just one of them.
But the grain merchants and squires in Luojiang County are different. Yang Heshu's move is like taking food from their tiger's mouth. It's strange that they are happy.
Therefore, as soon as the small room next to the county government office was opened, all the squires and grain merchants in Luojiang County became quiet.
But that's a county government, and they can't use the methods they used to deal with competitors.
But they are not helpless.
Who doesn’t have a backer behind him?
Even though their backers may not be as big as Yang Heshu's, they can still impeach him in court.
After all, Yang Heshu is just a county magistrate now, right?
After the grain merchants found various connections and finally succeeded in impeaching Yang Heshu at the court, it was time for Yang Heshu to write a letter to the family and an official inquiry document from the Ministry of Officials.
While reading the letter, he said to Wan Tian speechlessly: "Do you think they are stupid? They give two or three cents more for a bushel of grain, or sell it for four or five cents less. Not only do they gain favor from the people, but they also make money themselves.
They had to throw out hundreds of taels and thousands of taels just to impeach me."
Yang Heshu clicked his tongue and said, "Don't they know that as long as I make a self-defense statement, the matter will probably go away? All their money is wasted."
Wan Tian just stood silent.
Yang Heshu didn't want him to answer. After reading the letter, he threw it aside. He walked for a while with his hands behind his back and asked, "How much grain do we have left?"
"There are quite a few."
Yang Heshu nodded, "Let them continue to sell and continue to limit the quantity. Hum, we don't care about them. Let people prepare horses. Let's go to the countryside to have a look."
As soon as I went out, I happened to bump into Master Zhang who had just wandered into the Yamen from outside.
Yang Heshu immediately waved to him and asked, "Have all the taxes and grain collected been settled?"
"Yes, it has been placed in the grain depot as ordered by Your Excellency, and the rest is stored in the Yazhong warehouse." Master Zhang paused and asked: "Sir, when will the tax grains paid in be transported?"
Yang Heshu said: "This matter is not urgent. We will talk about it after I come back from the countryside."
"Sir, are you going down the mountain?"
"Yes, I was just about to tell you that I found that few people in the county plant mulberry trees and raise silkworms. Unfortunately, I came to office a little late this year and have already missed a year. I plan to let everyone try planting mulberry trees next year.
"
Chief Zhang: "...Sir, the villagers are vulgar and I'm afraid they don't know how to grow mulberry and raise silkworms."
"What's so difficult about this?" Yang Heshu waved his hand and said, "Since they can grow grain and wheat, they should be able to grow mulberries."
"But silkworms are so delicate that we may not be able to feed them."
"Don't be afraid, it will take another year or two for the mulberry trees to grow." Yang Heshu was very confident in the people under his rule and said with a smile: "At that time, I will invite some women who are good at raising silkworms from other places to teach me and let everyone seriously
Learn it.”
Master Zhang did not expect that Yang Heshu had even thought of this. He had obviously planned it for a long time, so he couldn't help but said: "But sir, let alone the mulberry tree, the silkworms are precious, and I am afraid that no villagers will be willing to pay for it.
"
Yang Heshu nodded, "I have already thought of it, so I will choose some people to send some silkworm seeds to them. As long as they make money, I think there will be many people willing to pay for them the next year."
Yang Heshu wanted to give them all away directly, but his father had just warned him, so he had no choice but to take a step back.
Chief Zhang:...It is also a worry for the county magistrate to be too wealthy.
The troubled Master Zhang watched Yang Heshu stride away.
Yang Heshu got on his horse and left with a yamen servant and Wan Tian.
Wan Tian and the government officials were carrying baggage behind their backs. Apparently they had no plans to return to the county town in the past few days. Master Zhang looked sadly at their disappearing figures.
There are no robbers in Luojiang County, and there may not be one murder case every three to five years. Most of them are theft, neighbor conflicts, or violence between villages.
Most of these cases are handed over directly to the county magistrate. Cases that require the county magistrate to come to court for judgment cannot accumulate in a ten-day period, so Yang Heshu can leave at will.
The main reason is that Yang Heshu processes official documents very quickly, which is completely different from County Magistrate Fu in the past.
Now people in each village knew that Yang Heshu was their county magistrate. When they saw him riding into the village from afar, the children ran to inform the village chief.
Yang Heshu, the village chief and the elders in the village found an open space to sit down and chat.
This time when he went out, in addition to persuading everyone to plant mulberry and raise silkworms, he also advised everyone to plant winter wheat.
"I think the winter wheat harvested this spring is good. Many people have survived the most difficult period because of this season's wheat, and I have asked, the yield is also okay." Yang Heshu said: "Whether it is the yield of winter wheat or the subsequent planting
The rice that goes down is okay.”
An old man said: "It's okay, but I'm afraid if we plant again this season, the soil fertility will be thin."
Yang Heshu immediately said: "I think there is a good method of retting fertilizer in Qili Village. Why don't you all learn from it?"
Yang Heshu was interested when Man Bao talked about the power of the soil. He knew that their village had a method of retting that was better and faster than those outside, so he took note of it.
By the time Yang and Shu walked around outside and arrived at Qili Village, it was already several days later.
Although Yang Heshu was willing to endure hardship, he would not go out of his way to make things difficult for himself, so as soon as he arrived in Qili Village, he went to visit the Bai family with a smile.
After taking a bath and eating at Bai's house, Yang Heshu sat down in the pavilion of Bai's house feeling refreshed, holding a bowl of tea and talking to Mr. Bai comfortably.
"Where are Bai Shan and the others?"
Mr. Bai smiled and said: "They are going to school. When they finish school, I will ask my servants to bring them to meet the Lord."
Yang Heshu nodded and asked with a smile: "Does Mr. Bai still want to plant winter wheat this year?"
Mr. Bai raised his eyebrows and said with a smile: "I have some plans."
He wanted to try the new wheat seed. After all, he failed to catch up with the two seasons this year. He wanted to try whether the wheat he grew could be as good as the wheat grown by his three children.
Yang Heshu was surprised, "Is there anyone in the village growing winter wheat?"
Mr. Bai thought for a while and then said: "Occasionally I heard it mentioned by my servants, but a few families also decided to plant it."