When the sun set, Wei Changtian and his party rushed to Zhongling County.
Indeed, as the deputy general said, this county town is not that big. The city gates are dilapidated and old, and moss still grows on the city walls. It is obvious that it has been neglected for many years.
There are no more than two reasons for this situation.
First, the people here are too poor.
Second, the officials here are too rich.
Judging from the county magistrate's similarly dilapidated mansion, Zhongling County should fall into the former situation.
"Master Liang, the countryside is really shabby."
During the dinner, the thin county magistrate looked nervous and said apologetically: "If the food is not to your liking, I hope you won't dislike it."
"Master Wang, what are you talking about? We are all rough people who sleep in the open all day long. It would be nice to have a hot meal!"
Liang Zhen had no airs, he laughed twice and took the lead in using his chopsticks.
The county magistrate breathed a sigh of relief, with some gratitude on his face.
Everyone started to eat one after another. Although there was no good food or good wine, it was somewhat better than the meal they had at the inn at noon.
While Wei Changtian was eating, he glanced at the thin county magistrate whose clothes were still patched, and thought to himself that he looked like an upright official.
It's just that Zhongling County is located on a traffic thoroughfare and is not a shabby place. I don't know why it is so poor under his rule.
Liang Zhen seemed to have this question as well, so after eating for a while he asked casually:
"Sir Wang, along the way I have seen that the land at the boundary of Zhongling is quite fertile and it is close to a wide river. Why is this county so poor?"
"this……"
The thin county magistrate put down his chopsticks a little guiltily after hearing this, his face turned red and he was speechless.
Liang Zhen did not use his official position to suppress him. He only thought that every family had scriptures that were difficult to recite.
"Master Wang, don't take it too seriously. I'm just asking casually. If you don't want to tell me, just forget it."
"well……"
The thin magistrate opened his mouth, and finally let out a long sigh, as if he wanted to say something but didn't dare.
But at this moment, Wei Changtian suddenly asked: "Master Wang, the banditry problem in Zhongling County is quite serious, isn't it?"
"this……"
The thin county magistrate was stunned: "This young master... why did you say this?"
He didn't know Wei Changtian's true identity and thought he was a member of Liang Zhen's family or something.
Of course, Wei Changtian would not take time to introduce himself - I am the young master of the Wei family who killed the prime minister. He just explained while eating food:
"We passed several villages along the way, but when we passed the village, we didn't see a single villager. The doors and windows of every household were closed, but it was obviously not a deserted village."
"It can be seen that these villagers must have hid after hearing the sound of horse hooves."
"Ordinary people are so afraid of horses. I can't think of any other reason besides bandits."
"In addition, although today is a cold day, there are too many people worshiping their ancestors and burning paper along the way, and most of the graves are new, so I made such a guess."
After Wei Changtian finished speaking a few words, everyone at the table looked at him in surprise.
They have seen all these things, but they have never thought about it so much.
The thin county magistrate's expression was also a little surprised.
He hesitated for a while, and finally nodded bitterly.
"This young master is right. In recent years, banditry has been serious in this county. The people have been miserable and have fled a lot, which is why it is so depressed."
"Since there are bandits, why not suppress them?" Liang Qin wondered.
"The lady doesn't know something, it's not that I don't want to suppress it..."
The thin county magistrate said in a painful tone: "But it is really powerless!"
"Bandits have been raging for years, and large areas of cultivated land have been abandoned. Many farmers can't even pay their land taxes."
"The common people are poor, and the government offices are also poor. How can there be money to support officials..."
"I'm not afraid of your jokes... There are less than a hundred police officers and soldiers in Zhongling County, so how dare they go to suppress the bandits..."
"I knew there were bandits but couldn't suppress them. I saw hundreds of thousands of people in Zhongling suffering... It's me who is incompetent, it's me who is incompetent!"
"this……"
Everyone was silent as they looked at the thin county magistrate who was beating his chest and on the verge of tears.
Zhongling County is too miserable, isn't it? Such a big place can't even support a hundred officers and soldiers?
"If you can't suppress it yourself, why don't you report it to the state government and ask them to send people to suppress it?" Liang Qin frowned and asked again.
"Of course, we paid for it, but the expenses required by the state government to send troops have to be borne by the county government. It is really difficult for Zhongling County to raise that much money."
The thin magistrate gritted his teeth, clenched his fists and said tremblingly: "Besides, it's not enough to just collect enough military salary. You also need money to take care of the bosses in the state government."
"I, I really..."
"..."
There was silence in the room, and everyone looked at the thin magistrate in ragged clothes in silence, not knowing what to say.
Until Wei Changtian suddenly spoke again: "Sir Wang, no matter how small Zhongling County is, there should be a lot of shops in the city. Let each of them donate some money, which is almost enough to invite the state government to send troops."
"I haven't tried anything before."
The thin county magistrate shook his head: "But except for a few families, others are not willing to pay even a penny."
"They all feel that they are safe hiding in the city and don't care about the lives of the people outside the city!"
"Don't want to pay?"
Wei Changtian looked at the thin magistrate like a fool: "Then use a knife and force them to take it out!"
"this……"
The thin county magistrate was stunned for a moment, and it took him a long time to say: "My lord, my lord, this is against the law..."
After he said these words, everyone immediately understood why Zhongling County had reached this stage.
There is no money to suppress bandits, so bandits are rampant, so people are dying and running away, so there is even less money, so bandits are even more rampant...
What a vicious cycle!
At this rate, it is estimated that the entire Zhongling County will become a gangster den within a few years.
In fact, the solution is very simple - find a way to get money, feed the people above, and ask the state government to send troops to suppress the bandits.
As long as the banditry is eliminated, all problems will be solved.
But the problem is that Mr. Wang is too "clear" and "upright".
He was unwilling to spend money to curry favor with the governor of the state government, nor was he willing to use "illegal" means to force merchants to donate money.
The result of this is that the banditry problem has not been solved for a long time and is becoming more and more serious.
Wei Changtian smacked his lips and suddenly thought of what Kangxi said -
An honest official is not necessarily a good official.
Now it seems that it does make some sense.
…
The meal felt a bit boring at the end.
After hearing about the situation in Zhongling County, Liang Zhen and others expressed deep sympathy and continued to eat and drink without any intention of helping to suppress a bandit.
After all, this is the border of Tanzhou, and he, the commander-in-chief of Shuzhou, leads people to suppress bandits on their territory... Although the thin county magistrate will definitely be grateful, it is unknown what the adults in the Tanzhou government office will think.
.
Except for Liang Qin, everyone pretended not to take the banditry in Zhongling County seriously. After eating and drinking, they left the Shou County Magistrate's house and returned to the inn to rest separately, preparing to get up early tomorrow and continue their journey.
But what no one expected was...
They don't want to cause trouble, but trouble comes to them.