Poor Family Chapter 547

  Chapter 547 There are bandits in a small county

The county government is located in the middle of the county. In the middle of Shayang Street is a four-story wooden building called the Bell and Drum Tower. It is also a fire observation tower. From a high place, you can see any corner of the county. It is second to the Jialeng Pagoda in Dayun Temple in the southwest corner of the county.

  To the west of the Bell and Drum Tower is a wide square, where the county government is located, with its back facing west and east, while the east is a community temple, which is a place for various folk activities.

Li Yanqing's official residence is located behind the county government office. This is also the prerogative of the county magistrate. He can take half of the county government office for himself. The entire county government office occupies an area of ​​about ten acres, and the back house occupies six acres. Divided into two, the left and right courtyards are separated by a high wall. The two acres of the left courtyard are guest rooms, usually for staff and followers, and the four acres of the right courtyard are for the owner.

  Besides, the former county magistrate lived here for four years. It can be seen that a lot of effort has been put into the layout of the entire house. Every building is very delicate and elegant. Whether it is a big tree or a pond or a rockery, each has its own sentiment.

Li Yanqing brought hundreds of large boxes of luggage this time, and dozens of yamen servants helped carry them together. After a while, they moved all the large boxes into the house. With so many things, it would take half a month just to tidy them up. up.

  At this time, Cao Yun stepped forward and said to Li Yanqing: "Husband, we may still need to hire a housekeeper and some maids and servants."

This time they went south with only three maids, and none of the servants. Li Yanqing nodded, "Butler, Baoyanzhai has a single uncle in Jiangxia's manor, who is a native of Jiayu County. He is reliable, and my father recommended him to be my housekeeper."

   "Has he been notified?"

   "Should have been notified earlier, I suspect he has arrived, but I don't know where he is now?"

   While talking, Yang Guang came to report: "Officer, an old man surnamed Shan came outside, saying that the old man arranged for him to come."

  Li Yanqing laughed, "Say Cao Cao, Cao Cao will be here, you lead him in!"

Not long after, a thin old man was ushered in. He was in his fifties, and he was in good spirits. He seemed very smart and capable. More importantly, he could speak Mandarin fluently. He knelt down and kowtowed , "The villain Shan Shouxin kowtows to the county lord!"

   "You are Uncle Shan! Please get up."

  Li Yanqing asked him to get up, and asked with a smile: "Uncle Shan speaks official Chinese so fluently, he must have stayed in the capital before!"

Uncle Shan stood up and said: "I used to sell flowers in the capital, and I have been in small business for more than ten years. I am old and want to go back to my hometown. It happened that Baoyanzhai recruited Jiangxia Manor to be a steward, so I applied. The villain last year I went to the capital to deliver flowers, and even met the county magistrate."

   "I'm ashamed, I didn't pay attention, but Uncle Shan is the steward of the manor, isn't it a bit wronged to come to be my housekeeper?"

   "Where! Where! It is my honor to be the housekeeper for the county lord, and the villain is still the steward of Baoyanzhai, and the proprietor even specially increased my salary."

  Li Yanqing introduced Cao Yun to him again, and Uncle Shan hurriedly stepped forward to salute, "The villain sees Madam!"

  Cao Yun blushed a little, it was the first time someone called her Mrs., but there was nothing wrong with her title, she was indeed Mrs. Magistrate, even though she was only seventeen years old.

Cao Yun then said to him: "We came to Jiayu County this time, and we basically didn't bring any maids and maids. We want to hire a few more maids and servants, as well as coachmen, grooms, porters, servants, gardeners and accountants. Do you see if there is a suitable candidate?"

Uncle Shan thought for a while and said: "The easiest thing to hire is a maid. The young lady here goes to a big family to work as a maid at the age of eleven or twelve, and then returns home to get married when she is seventeen or eighteen. The price is not expensive. A month Three or four pennies, the price is also the same for servants and women, and it is easy to find, like coachmen and grooms, it is not difficult to find, but it is difficult to find tents, which requires a clever pen, but villains can pay attention."

   "Leave this matter to Uncle Shan, find more people and let me choose."

Seeing that his wife is worthy of being a lady of the family, Li Yanqing does this kind of thing in a very orderly manner, and there is Hu Qing'er to assist him, so he doesn't need to worry about it at all, so he stood up and said with a smile: "My lady, continue to arrange, if you have anything, you can ask Zhang Hu and the others for help." , I'll go to the county government to have a look."

   "The officials are easy to go!"

Li Yanqing instructed Hu Qing'er a few more words, then left the official building, and brought Zhang Bao and Zhang Ying to the front county office. The county office arranged the main building gate, lobby, second hall, welcome hall, and third hall along the central axis. , There are courtyards and east-west accounting rooms on both sides, a total of six groups of courtyards, more than a hundred houses, and a place for banquets and gatherings called group rooms, a place for officials to work is called Cao Fang, as well as silver warehouses and granaries.

It was the noon break at this time, and the county office seemed a bit deserted, and the county magistrate Yang Ju was not there, but by coincidence, Li Yanqing met the county magistrate Zhou Ping head-on. Zhou Ping was about fifty years old, with a bad nose, A pair of piggy eyes are always sleepy. It is said that this person is extremely fond of wine and spends most of the time in the wine jar. He calls himself Zhou Jiupin, but everyone calls him Zhou Wine Bottle.

   "Mr. Li is here to see the county government?"

   "Exactly! County Captain Zhou might as well introduce it for me."

   "Okay, the county lord, please follow me."

Zhou Ping led Li Yanqing out of the county office first, pointed to the square in front of him and said: "This is the square in front of the county government office. Elephants and archers practice here. Sometimes banquets are held for the elders in the country, or the Shangyuan lantern viewing is held here. This is also the second most open place in the county, second only to the opposite temple square."

  He turned around and pointed to a big drum next to the gate, saying: "This is the Wendeng Drum, also known as Mingyuan Drum. The county magistrate will open the court when the people complain about their grievances, but generally try not to use it."

   "Isn't the county magistrate handling the case?"

Zhou Ping shook his head, "Yang County Chancellor is in charge of document collection, urging taxation and labor, building bridges and roads, and educating imperial examinations. A staff member was taken away by him."

   "Where did the former magistrate go?"

"I went to Yuezhou to serve as the magistrate of Baling County. He stayed here for four years. He can be said to be a man of inaction. A few staff members are in charge of handling it, and he has done a few bad things, and he will tell the county king slowly in the future."

   "I don't know what Lieutenant Zhou is responsible for?"

  Zhou Ping's old face suddenly turned red, "I am mainly responsible for training township soldiers, arresting bandits, and maintaining law and order. Actually, there is nothing wrong with it?"

  Li Yanqing smiled slightly, "I brought a few men with high martial arts skills, why don't we let them serve as deputy to the county lieutenant!"

   "Of course, you can be the head of the township soldiers, and you can also be a head catcher."

  Li Yanqing was taken aback, "Is there no head arrest in this county?"

  Zhou Ping shook his head, "Since the two captors died in the hands of the Jiang bandits, no one dared to take up this position."

   "Is it the Yangtze river water thief?"

Zhou Ping sighed, "Yangtze River pirates have not stopped for decades, and they have always been a trouble in the river. Yao Si, the black dragon king of Dongting Lake, is the most notorious. The section from Dongting Lake to Jiangxia is his territory. The two head catchers in the county were all killed by him, but last year a new water thief appeared in the Ezhou area, named Zhang Shun, nicknamed Xiao Gan Ning, also known as Langli Baitiao, and ran away with a dozen water thieves. Specialize in grabbing the business of the Black Dragon King."

Li Yanqing thought to himself, it turns out that Zhang Shun, the baitiao in Langli, is here. Of course, Li Yanqing also knows that many famous heroes in the late Northern Song Dynasty did not all go to Liangshan, such as Suo Chao and Yang Zhi from the Daming Mansion, Xu Ning and Qin from the Forbidden Army. Ming and so on will not go to Liangshan.

In fact, Li Yanqing wanted Yan Qing to be the headhunter. Unfortunately, since the night of the ambush he showed up in his mansion, there has been no news. Perhaps it is because the promise he made to him was only half fulfilled. Song Jiang's life and death I don't know, even if he doesn't come to serve him, it doesn't count as breaking his oath.

Without Yan Qing, I can only consider Zhang Hu. Zhang Hu is a prudent man, and it is more suitable to be a capital officer. Yang Guang can be his deputy. .

  Thinking of this, Li Yanqing turned to Zhang Ying and said, "Go and call Zhang Hu and Yang Guang!"

  Zhang Ying flew away, and Li Yanqing asked Zhou Ping again, "I saw that there are money banks and granaries in the county government office, why don't you see a prison?"

Zhou Ping bowed and said, "Jiayu County doesn't have a prison camp, and all the prisoners caught will be sent to Jiangxia. There is a prison camp there, but there is a temporary detention center next to the North City Gate, which mainly detains people who are not criminals. , and some other transfer prisoners are also temporarily detained there, and will be sent to Jiangxia in at most three to five days."

   Just as he was talking, Zhang Hu and Yang Guang hurried over, Zhang Hu bowed and saluted, "See the county magistrate for humble posts!"

Li Yanqing smiled and introduced to Zhou Ping: "This Zhang Hu is the head of the most elite Huben camp of the Northwest Army. Tiger's deputy, let them take charge of the village soldiers."

   Zhou Ping knew in his heart that with these two, the township soldier probably would have nothing to do with himself, but he didn't dare to say more, so he nodded in agreement.

Li Yanqing gave him Zhang Bao and Zhang Ying together to serve as the head arrester and the head of the yamen. Zhou Ping agreed to them one by one, and Li Yanqing said to the four of them: "It's still noon. My subordinate, you can take up the post today, if you have any difficulties, come back and tell me!"

  The four of them bowed together and saluted, "I obey the order!"

  【Towards a thousand monthly tickets, I hope you can help Lao Gao! 】

  (end of this chapter)

Chapter end