Niao County is Lin Ye's second stop in Yunzhou. Even if Lin Ye has not announced the route, people can guess that Lin Ye will definitely come to Niao County.
Niao County experienced a flood last fall, and Lin Ye was bound to go and see how the disaster relief work was going.
Just on the river embankment, a group of civilians were still busy. After all, the Governor was coming, and this place was bound to be watched. Who dared to deal with it carelessly by local officials?
Officials at the level of county magistrate, if they are in the county, naturally have great authority.
But, let alone the Protector-General, even if the Governor-General comes, the county magistrate has to hold his breath and concentrate as much as possible.
What's more, the level of Lord Fu Zhi is far behind that of Lord Protector.
In the more than 200 years since the founding of Dayu, there has never been such an official position.
I used to think that since Yunzhou was revoked as a big city, there would no longer be high-ranking officials like the city lord.
Who would have thought that not only is there one, but he is not even a little bit older than the city lord.
Looking at the rank, it is true that they are all second-rank officials, but the Protector-General holds all the military and political power in his hands.
County Magistrate Song Lou has not been able to sleep well since the day he received the news.
He knew that if the Protector came, there were two things he must see.
The first is river construction. Last autumn, due to heavy rains, the river overflowed its embankments, causing damage to people in more than 20 villages and towns. It remains to be seen whether the river embankments have been rebuilt and whether they have been raised.
Second, the resettlement of the victims and the resumption of production in spring, just after the spring plowing, the Protector will definitely go to the fields for a walk.
If there are any minor mistakes in other places, the Protector-General probably won't hold on to them too much.
But if these two things were even the slightest bit inappropriate, then Song Lou knew very well that he should be the first target for the Protector to establish his authority.
Thinking this way, he can still leave his name in Qing history. The first blow of Sanbei Protector was given to him...
In the past few days, Song Lou hardly left the river embankment and lived in a tent at night.
The people he assigned to patrol along the river embankment every day, and even if they saw an ant nest, they had to fill it with some mud.
It was so difficult to work hard and beautifully at the same time. He felt like his hair was falling out in handfuls these days.
He also specially sent people out to investigate where the Lord Protector's team had gone. If they could go out a hundred miles, don't go out fifty miles.
If Lin Ye could be guarded so easily, then he wouldn't be the same Lin Ye who was worried about ghosts.
Not long after leaving Yunzhou, Lin Ye broke away from the large group of people and came to Niao County in a light and simple way.
The origin of the name Niao County is probably because there are many water pools and complex river channels.
Lin Ye and the others did not take the land route, but came by water by boat.
While the county magistrate Mr. Song was still guarding the river embankment, Lin Ye and his three small boats had already docked at the county pier.
I have to say that the scenery in Niao County is indeed as beautiful as a painting.
In the hundreds of miles of water and reed marshes, birds started to fly in groups.
After docking, Lin Ye looked back at this place, thinking that if he wanted to play, he could indulge himself here and not get tired of it for three to five days.
If I have a chance in the future, I can bring Zina over to have a look.
Accompanying Lin Ye were Zhuang Junji and Pang Panghai with a dozen soldiers.
After they got off the boat, they asked about a convenient place to rest, and then walked towards the county town.
Not far away, I heard a noise in the distance.
Following the sound, I looked over and saw a group of strong men in their twenties and thirties driving a group of ragged-looking people away.
While Lin Ye stood there and watched, a fisherman who was packing up his fishing nets cursed.
"What a bullshit Lord Protector, one visit is not enough to torture you."
Lin Ye turned his head and looked over: "Brother, will you protect me from everything?"
The fisherman said: "I heard that the newly appointed Protector of the Three Norths by the imperial court is coming, and he is said to be older than the original city lord. Since the past few days, the beggars in the county have been in bad luck, and they have all been kicked out...
..."
The fisherman said: "If the beggars are driven out, there will be no beggars in Niao County? There were floods last year, and with the drought in March and April now, the people who come out to beg are not real beggars, they just can't survive this spring...
..”
He sighed and said nothing more.
Lin Ye nodded and asked, "Isn't it possible to catch fish in this water pool?"
"Fishing?"
The fisherman snorted again: "Who dares to fish without paying the fishing tax? If you are caught, your home will be ransacked. If you can't find anything from your home, you will be exiled."
Lin Ye wasn't that angry just now, but when he heard this, his eyes were already a little cold.
"Just watch..."
The fisherman said to himself: "God knows how many of these flowers will starve to death when they are driven out, but the adults don't care. The guards are here. When they see how clean this place is, they have to praise our county magistrate."
What’s the sentence?”
The fisherman's wife gave him a tug and said, "You are the only one who talks a lot."
The fisherman said: "Yes, I am the only one who talks a lot. I can choke myself to death if I don't speak. Last year, we collected a fish tax, but as a result there were floods and we couldn't catch many fish. In the winter, we collected a fish tax again, saying it was to build river embankments."
use......"
He looked at Lin Ye: "You are a foreigner, have you ever seen this scene in your hometown? To build the river embankment, the government did not allocate funds, but asked the people for money."
Lin Ye echoed: "That's hateful enough."
The fisherman's wife stopped the fisherman again and signaled him to stop talking.
The fisherman muttered: "What am I afraid of? I'm not from this village. I'm just resting here. We'll leave in a while."
Zhuang Junji glanced at Lin Ye and signaled him not to say anything more. If he asked more questions or stayed longer, he might harm the fisherman.
Lin Ye nodded and left the dock with Zhuang Junji and the others.
I wanted to go into the city to have a look, but now I realized that there was probably nothing visible in the city.
Even those begging were driven out of the county. What they saw when they entered was all lies.
The group of them went to a fishing village not far away. Lin Ye just heard the fisherman talk about the fish tax, and he wanted to ask more about it.
Zhuang Junji reminded Lin Ye that it was best not to go into the village to inquire more during the day. If someone was to target him, the villagers who were questioned would also be implicated.
Lin Ye thought it made sense, so everyone found a secluded place to wait until dark.
Fortunately, there was a forest not too far away from the village, so there wasn't really any place to hide.
Pang Panghai glanced outside the forest: "This village looks quite big, and there are not many people there. Could it be that they have all gone fishing?"
Lin Ye said: "You will know when it gets dark."
Pang Dahai is a little anxious, but fortunately, darkness will come soon.
When night fell, no matter how stupid Pang Panghai was, he could tell that something was wrong with this village.
The whole village looked dark, with not even a single light on.
"When I saw few people in this village during the day, I felt something was wrong."
Zhuang Junji said: "I looked at the distance from the city wall to here. If you stand on the city wall and look south, this village will be the first to be seen."
Lin Ye hummed. Of course, what Zhuang Junji could see, he had already seen.
In this village, the entire village did not know where they were driven. The villagers they saw during the day were all pretending to be there.
In order to fool Shangguan's inspection, the officials in Niaoxian County were so crazy and crazy.
Zhuang Junji said: "Actually, you can figure it out without asking. This village is close to a lake. There were floods last autumn. This village must have been affected by the disaster."
Pang Panghai said: "Those bastards were afraid that the general would see the hardships of the people here, so they simply drove them away."
Zhuang Junji said: "Hardship? Hardship is only the second thing local officials are afraid of being seen by the officials above."
Pang Panghai asked: "What about number one?"
"Talking nonsense."
Zhuang Junji said: "If this village is just poorer, they won't panic. They are afraid that the people in the village who can't survive will complain when they see the Lord Protector coming."
Lin Ye looked into the distance: "First go to the village to see the situation, and then go to other villages to inquire."
Everyone followed Lin Ye towards the village, but Lin Ye suddenly stopped because he found that even at night, there were still people guarding the entrance to the village.
"Pang Panghai, take this person and don't make any noise. Everyone in this village will be left behind. When you come back, don't call me General, just the Shopkeeper."
"yes!"
Pang Panghai responded, waved, and quietly walked over with the dozen or so soldiers.
Zhuang Junji sighed lightly: "This is still the prosperous age of Jade. It is hard to imagine how far these guys can deceive others if the world is not good."
Lin Ye thought of the fisherman who dared to tell the truth during the day. He said that he was not from this village, and he could still rest at the pier. It shouldn't be too far away.
I'll go look around again tomorrow morning, and I'll probably be able to get a feel for the situation.
Not long after, there was a sound of footsteps, and Pang Panghai led his men to capture all the people who were watching the village.
There were a lot of people, thirty or forty of them, but facing Lin Ye's personal soldiers, these rogues didn't even have a chance to fight back.
To defeat them like this, Lin Ye's dozen or so soldiers would have no problem defeating thirty or forty. Even if they were five times more, they wouldn't suffer a big loss. If they could kill people, even if they were ten times more, they would still be able to kill one of them.
"The big shopkeeper."
Pang Panghai came back with two people and threw them on the ground. The two guys were already tied up.
"I found that person."
Lin Ye asked: "Which person?"
Pang Panghai said: "That's right, the fisherman who chatted with the big shopkeeper during the day, both of them were kidnapped by these bastards."
Lin Ye raised his eyebrows.
Behind Pang Dahai, two soldiers came back carrying the couple on their backs.
Pang Panghai said: "Fortunately, they are not so bold as to kill people directly, but... the fisherman brother is not in good condition either. He must have been beaten by them for a long time."
Lin Ye stepped forward to check, and his face became even colder.
He used some of the wound medicine he brought with him on the fisherman. The fisherman was as angry as a gossamer and didn't appear to be injured. It was obvious that those bastards used harsh techniques.
For example, a stick is wrapped with a layer of towel and leather, and the person is injured internally, but there are no obvious wounds on the outside.
"Big sea."
"exist."
"Cripp their hands, don't chop them off, choke them, and stone them."
After a slight pause, Lin Ye continued: "Smash it until it turns into mud and falls off."
"yes!"
Pang Panghai responded and went up with the dozen soldiers.
Not long after, bursts of whining sounds came from the entrance of the village. The sound was not loud, but it sounded so sad and shrill, like a ghost crying or a wolf howling.
Lin Ye squatted down and carefully checked the fisherman's injuries.
There must be internal injuries. Lin Ye didn't bring a complete set of wound medicine with him. With the medicine he was using now, it was uncertain whether he could be saved.
Look at the woman again, her face is so swollen that her original appearance is no longer visible, like a ball.
There are also bags one after another, looking at them under the moonlight makes people feel even more chilled.