Of the hundred thousand taels in banknotes, only one thousand were for Fang Zichen personally. The rest was allocated as Hezhou's government funds.
Zhao Ger's heart sank too. Before this, not only had Fang Zichen been overjoyed, but Zhao Ger himself had been thrilled. Now it felt like a cooked duck had flown right out of their hands—it was impossible not to feel disappointed.
But they couldn't keep the money.
No matter how much Fang Zichen loved money, he couldn't take this silver, and Zhao Ger certainly wouldn't either. He had come from hardship and knew all too well the suffering of the common people.
Fang Zichen was so angry he downed two bowls of water in a row. Doing a rough calculation: the prefect plus the thirteen county magistrates—half a year's overdue salaries—came to several thousand taels... He drank two more bowls of water.
The deputy prefect couldn't even sit still now, pacing back and forth restlessly in the office.
His political record wasn't great, but he was an upright man. Previously, Hezhou had three big sharks—the prefect and the assistant prefect had been in cahoots, and he was the only one who stayed honest. The county magistrates had other ways of lining their pockets, but he lived solely on the meager salary from the court and never took a single copper coin from the people. When he said his household couldn't make ends meet, it was genuine, not an act of pity-begging.
Fang Zichen had just read the letter when the bun fell from his mouth, his face turned pale, he swayed unsteadily, and ran off without a word. The deputy prefect couldn't figure out what he meant.
Was he not going to hand over the silver?
But word had it that this man was appointed by the Emperor, and the Emperor was no fool—he would not have sent a corrupt official.
Just as he was thinking this, Fang Zichen came back, slapped the banknotes on the table, and said: "Take this and distribute it!"
The deputy prefect was overjoyed. Fang Zichen shot him a cold glare. "I've calculated it—including grain, cloth, and supplies, the total comes to five thousand and nineteen taels. You'll handle this. No substituting inferior goods for quality ones. If I find out you've embezzled even one coin of my money, I'll have your head."
The deputy prefect nearly knelt. "Oh, my lord! I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare! Please rest assured, my lord."
Fang Zichen waved his hand and dismissed him.
Zhang Quan saw him slumped in his chair, looking utterly hopeless, and recalled what Xia Jinghong had said: "I want him to go happily."
He had indeed arrived happily enough. But now, it seemed Lord Fang had been dealt such a blow that he was quite deflated.
In the afternoon, Zhao Ger came to deliver food and found Fang Zichen lying on the table, sighing.
"What now?"
"Anhe County lost more people again. I'm planning to go take a look tomorrow."
Looking through the previous years' reports and tax records, the more Fang Zichen read, the more distressed he became. People starved every year—the numbers were horrifying. And autumn harvests yielded less than two dan of grain per mu of land.
[1 dan = 50 kg; 1 mu = 666.67 m²]
His second uncle was a mayor and went down to the villages for inspections every year; Fang Zichen had caught snippets of conversation over the years. Even someone as clueless about the outside world as him knew that in modern times, even poorly tended land could yield several hundred jin per mu. Da Xia couldn't compare, of course, but back in Xiaohe Village, a mu could still produce nearly two hundred jin of grain! He wondered whether Anhe County had faked its records.
[1 jin = 0.5 kg]
If they could not even grow a hundred jin of grain per mu—was it all weeds and sparse bean sprouts. Even in a place like Xiaohe Village, people couldn't eat their fill at every meal, so Anhe County must have it even worse. Recalling the emaciated, barely clothed common folk he'd seen along the road in the dead of winter, his heart ached for them.
Seeing this situation, he lost all desire to slack off and rest for a year or half a year before getting to work. It hurt as much as losing silver.
The other counties weren't in great shape either. Two county magistrate positions were also vacant due to previous investigations, but none were as bad as Anhe. Anhe County was only two days' journey from Hezhou City. Fang Zichen was already exhausted just thinking about it—farther places would have to wait.
Moreover... Hezhou had been poor for as long as the dynasty had existed. It wasn't entirely because the prefects oppressed the people—Hezhou was simply impoverished to begin with, and the prefects' misdeeds only made things worse.
Some previous prefects had been terrible, but Fang Zichen had seen the fiscal and merit records of Hezhou from past years while at the Hanlin Academy. During the old Emperor's reign, the officials sent to Hezhou had been good officials—diligent and hardworking, trying to replicate other regions' success formulas: raising silkworms, planting fruit trees, attracting merchants. But Hezhou was like a stubborn illness—it simply refused to get rich. If several generations of prefects couldn't make it work, he didn't think he could either. But with conditions so dire—whether the subordinates were exaggerating or there was some other reason—he had to see for himself on the ground.
If it was truly that poor, relief measures would have to be implemented.
Sigh. In office, one must do one's duty.
After all, I'm a good man born in the spring breeze and raised under the red flag—I can't just take the silver and do nothing.
Zhao Ger thought for a moment. "Then I'll go with you."
Fang Zichen brightened. "Great! We'll ride horses tomorrow."
Zhao Ger returned to the residence and summoned Feng Momo, instructing her to hire two cooks for the yamen. She was also to handle the other household shortages—with more people now, Uncle Tang and Aunt Jiang couldn't manage everything on their own. They'd need two more cooks here as well, and the plaque with the Fang family name had to be put up outside. The things they'd brought hadn't been properly organized yet either. There were so many miscellaneous tasks. Feng Momo told him not to worry—she would take care of the household.
Zhao Ger felt at ease leaving the two little ones with Xiao Feng and Uncle Tang. As for Guaizai...
Guaizai was currently lying on the bed, playing with his two little brothers, covering his mouth with his little hand and giggling—smiling without showing his teeth, as if bashful or demure.
Zhao Ger had no idea where he'd picked up that gesture, but he did it from time to time.
Guaizai would have to come along. Children need to get out and see more of the world.
His little playmates were gone now, and the inner courtyard was full of gers. Zhao Ger was almost afraid that if he went away with Fang Zichen for a few days, Guaizai would come back waving a handkerchief at him like a delicate young lady.
---
Anhe County, Ronghe Village.
The villagers had just gone out to the fields to work when someone called out from the edge of the next plot.
"Hey, Lao Wang."
"What is it?"
"The day before yesterday, you went to town to sell eggs, right? I heard we've got another prefect coming to our area. Is that true?"
News traveled slowly in the village. Lao Wang replied, "That's what the folks in town said. The new prefect came through our Anhe County the other day—over a dozen carriages and about a hundred guards stretched out in a dark mass. It was quite a sight."
"Brought that many people? No wonder this prefect hasn't been run out of Hezhou yet."
"Pah! You still call him prefect? They're all bloodsuckers, beasts, more like."
"Ah, come on, you can't say that. Maybe this one's decent!"
"Decent? Haven't you heard that good officials are supposed to be incorruptible? Which of the ones before was any good? Every last one of them was rotten."
"That's true enough."
Just as they were talking, the sound of hoofbeats rang out from up ahead.
A dozen or so horses came galloping toward them, kicking up clouds of dust. The young man at the lead wore a red cape and had pale skin—strikingly handsome.
And when they looked behind him—good heavens!
The people in the fields were instantly panicked, frozen in place.
Country folk had never seen such a formidable procession.
No comments:
Post a Comment