"This Huang family is also the oldest family in Qiuyang County. It has been passed down for more than ten generations. Although it is not the most prominent household in Qiuyang County, but because of its kindness and kindness, it has always been It is highly trusted by the local people."

    "Nowadays, farm laborers and their masters cultivate farms and mulberry, according to the court's laws, they are divided into four or six, and some places can adjust themselves according to local conditions. The former county magistrate did not know how to do the rectification. Sang is in chaos, and all of them are higher than the imperial court's regulations."

    Du Heng listened to Jiang Qi asking about the news, and he had visited the village before, which is true.

    "The big households have 40% or 60% of the labor labor, 37% or 28%, and what's more, there are 190% of the farm laborers!"

    Du Heng's eyes froze when he heard this, and he said coldly: "These big households are too big. Too greedy! The county was full of bandits and bandits back then, so how could you know that it wasn’t these gentry big families who oppressed people and forced them to a dead end.” “

    But now in the county, only the Huang family and a few families with which they have good relations are still dealing with farm laborers according to April 6 The farm laborers all know that the master of the Huang family is kind, but it is a pity that the Huang family has limited land and does not recruit many farm laborers, and many farm laborers can only look at it and sigh."

      Since the rise of the Wei family from the previous magistrate to the incumbent , There are many tests for the big families in the county, and those who have not been close to them, have repeatedly suppressed their business. Many households with unstable foundations can only move closer to the Wei family due to the power and influence.  

      In this way, the Wei family became more and more powerful in Qiuyang County, and almost no one could match it.  

     In the past few years, the brothers of the Wei family have achieved fame one after another. The eldest brother Wei Hongming has been promoted, and the second brother Wei Bai has also achieved fame as a scholar. There are more than one floor on the lintel of the Wei family.   

     Since Wei Hongming won the election, he has bought land wantonly without paying taxes, recruited batches of farm laborers, and squeezed the farm laborers' share as much as possible.   

     The Wei family set an example, and the households with which they made good friends followed suit. Most of the farm laborers in the county received lower share than the farm laborers in other counties. 20% of the amount.

    After a long time, the trend has formed, and the Huang family has become an alternative to maintaining the status quo. In recent years, the Wei family has suppressed the Huang family.

    Opening the same storefront, digging out the people of the Huang family, and buying the mountains, forests and fields of the Huang family, is almost overwhelming.

    Du Heng said: "I think the Wei family has nearly 300 mu of land. In the early years, the Wei family was just a mediocre generation in the county. The fields, mountains and forests were only established in recent years. Although it is a home for students , but it’s not like he has so much money for him to make a fortune.”    

       Jiang Qi said: “When Wei Hongming was studying in the early years, he admired the famous Bairong Academy. He once went to Luoxia County to study. He didn’t want to learn.

      He was not transparent and failed the assessment of the academy. Although his desire to study was not fulfilled, he managed to find a marriage." "When he was  young, he was quite romantic, and he was always good at teasing, so he fell on the cloud by chance The young master of the family."    

      When Qin Xiaoman heard about the Yun family, his eyes widened immediately: "You are talking about the Yun family who have been in business for generations, so the husband of Wei Juzi is Yun Qingwen!"

      Jiang Qi  nodded Head: "The Yun family is a well-known family of merchants. They have a big tea business. I think they are quite famous in Luoxia County. When I talk about Fu Lang, I immediately think of it." Qin Xiaoman lowered his eyes, feeling a little unlucky.   

      Du Heng understood in an instant, and went on to say: "Wei Hongming met Yun Qingwen, who was born as a merchant, and he has a rich old man, so the Wei family can afford to buy so many properties?"

    "That's roughly the  case The Yun family is a businessman. Although he is a son-in-law who likes to read, Wei Hongming is from Qiuyang County after all. The Yun family is not willing to marry his brother so far away. I don’t think Mr. Yun and Wei Hongming have already made a private decision for life. The Yun family can only agree to this marriage."    

     At the beginning, Wei Hongming went to study because of his childhood fame, and the Yun family supported his son-in-law and spent a lot of money to make connections, so Wei Hongming was sent to Bairong Academy.     It is an academy with a century-old reputation. Wei Hongming studied for a few years and became a scholar. After returning to Qiuyang County, he won the exam again.

    However, after returning to Qiuyang County, leaving the father-in-law's territory and gaining fame, Wei Hongming gradually exposed his romantic nature, and he often hang out in the Goulan tile house, and set up three or five concubines.    

      Yun Qingwen was also brought up pampered. When he arrived in Qiuyang County, her husband changed his face and felt cheated. He couldn't stand this dirty air, so he had a big fight with Wei Hongming and went back to his mother's house.     The Yun family cut off the financial support for the son-in-law, but by then Wei Hongming had already made a name for himself and owned a lot of paving businesses previously supported by the Yun family. He had a little money, so he went to buy mountains, forests, farms and farms to make money for himself.    

      Wei Hongming is generous and spends a lot of money. Although he has a property to generate money, it is not as fast and as much as the old man gets the money. He tries his best to squeeze the farm laborers and the people who work with him to maintain his big overhead.    

    Du Heng sighed: "Yun Yun's family supported him so much."  

     Qin Xiaoman suddenly realized that it was no wonder Yun Qingwen had such a bad temper.     But hearing what happened to him, he felt embarrassing, and not every scholar supported by his wife's family is a kind person, and most of them are unlucky.  

      He secretly grabbed Du Heng's sleeve corner, fortunately Du Heng treated him and Qin's family like a day for several years.    

     Du Heng patted his hand on his cuff lightly to comfort him: "I understand, you go down first."    

    Seeing Jiang Qi leaving, Du Heng pulled Qin Xiaoman to sit down: "The nature of the Wei family is definitely to be Suppress it, otherwise the common people will only be exploited."

      "But  this Wei family is cunning, and they haven't made any serious mistakes on the surface, and they can take advantage of the loopholes in the court's laws and regulations. If you rectify him, I'm afraid he will lead the way." If people contend, many things will be difficult to deal with."   

     Du Heng said: "The strong dragon can't overwhelm the local snake, how can I go straight to eradicate it, such a household with lingering power can only be used as checks and balances."    

    On the side of the county government After doing an investigation and weighing the pros and cons, people outside have already been discussing it.

    "At the time, the county magistrate was in office, and there was a bad debt in the county treasury. If Wei Juye hadn't contributed a large sum of money, how could the county magistrate have An Sheng today. The county commended Wei Juye that day, and he must have praised Wei Juye a lot. There is no need to say much this time, the magistrate of the county has a steelyard in his heart."

    Wei Hongming had a table of caring and frequent guests, and during the dinner he heard everyone's flattery.

    Since Zheng Ren received the gift, every time the country gentry and merchants in the county wanted to go to a banquet to ask the county magistrate to show respect, they were always pushed back by the county magistrate on the grounds of official business, and everyone guessed what the county magistrate meant.

    This is a reluctance to make friends with the gentry and merchants on matters other than official business, so as not to get dirty.

    When Jiang Zuowu was taken away, he felt a little uneasy, he was afraid that Du Heng knew something, but fortunately Jiang Zuowu was removed even though he was useless, fortunately he received many offerings from the Wei family in the past and never revealed anything to Du Heng .

    He used this to live a life of calamity, not wanting his second brother to be an idiot, to be scolded by the county government and be detained for education in the county school, but fortunately he was not deprived of fame.

    After seeing the battle of the county magistrate, the Wei family did not dare to be too arrogant. For the past six months, they have tried their best to do things as much as possible, so as not to let any crimes fall into the hands of the county magistrate.

    He honestly stayed away for so many days, and the next thing he saw was the position of the Wei family in the heart of the county magistrate.

    Hearing the reassuring words from Chang Chang during the dinner, Wei Hongming also felt quite useful, and he just waited for the county government to announce that he didn't believe that anyone else would dare to argue with his Wei family.

    In a few days, the county government issued a notice.

    But it was the Huang family who did not report any expectations who received the notice.

    Huang Wenguang was quite surprised when he received the news from the workshop that the county government was going to purchase the stone and wood from the house. If the people from the workshop hadn't come to spread the news himself, he would have thought it was a misrepresentation.

    After all, he had never had any negotiations with the county magistrate, and it was really surprising why the county government chose the Huang family.

    Earlier, I heard that the county government had to buy some building materials to build water conservancy projects. When they got the exact news about the workshop, everyone in the county who could afford it submitted their application materials.

    Huang Wenguang guessed that this good job would most likely fall to the Wei family, and that was the case. Since the family met the conditions, it would not take much trouble to submit applications from left to right, but they didn't want to be selected by the county magistrate.

    He was very happy to learn of this, and hurried to the county government office to go through the formalities.

    Negotiate the price, pay the deposit in advance, etc. with each household. The county government is in a hurry to deal with water conservancy matters, and the matter is naturally handled quickly.     "The history of hard work is busy. At that time , Caomin

    will definitely send people to do their best to cooperate with the workshop. The construction of water conservancy in the county will be completed as soon as possible, so that the farmers in the village will be less troublesome."

Fortunately for the people of the county."

    After finishing the formalities, the Household Code History handed it over to Huang Wenguang: "Okay, Mr. Huang might as well go and meet the county magistrate." Huang Wenguang took over the formalities, feeling that things went smoothly, which was a bit unreal, just as it

    was Uneasy in his heart, he immediately raised his eyebrows when he heard Dian Shi's words.

    On the way to the second hall to meet people, Huang Wenguang felt a little apprehensive.

    Entering the hall, Huang Wenguang saw the young face sitting in front of the desk. It was not the first time he saw Du Heng. When Du Heng was in office, the common people in Youjie County all paid their respects on the street.

    After that, I didn't get close contact with him very much, and the big households in the county were a little jealous of this young county grandpa.

    When Du Heng took office, the big households in the county felt that he was young and had a good appearance, and they didn't pay much attention to him.

    Seeing that he has just taken office, all the property offered by the big households in the county will be accepted according to the order, which is expected to be easy to handle.

    Not wanting to turn around, the county government issued a red list, commending a series of gift-giving households, praising these households for filling the county treasury, and even the magistrate came to give verbal praise.

    The big families who offered gifts knew that they had suffered from being dumb, but they didn't dare to say anything more. They were slightly unhappy with the new county magistrate, but they didn't expect to send Jiang Zuowu away after a while. Many households that Jiang Zuowu had a lot of contact with were shocked, and they felt a little in awe of the young county magistrate.

    Huang Wenguang never liked flattery, and when he offered gifts, he only meant one or two to show his sincerity, and he didn't make a big gift.

    On the contrary, Du Heng's use of hoarding troops to suppress bandits made him quite admired, and then he started to build water conservancy projects, so that Qiuyang County could see some vitality.

    "Huang Wenguang, a grassroots man, has met the magistrate."     Du

    Heng heard the sound and put down the pen in hand: "Get up, there is no need to be polite, can you go to the household office to complete the formalities?

    "

"My official intention is that the common people will be able to use water trucks when watering in spring and summer. This time, your forest farms and stone farms must actively cooperate." "Your Excellency is for the sake of the people, and the grassland people must fully cooperate.

    "

    Du Heng nodded in satisfaction. .

    "Master Huang is the direction of the people in Qiuyang County. This official is very happy. The family of a big gentry is the backbone of the local government. If they do more for the people within their capabilities, then it will be the relationship between the imperial court and the county. Blessed."

    Hearing Du Heng's words, Huang Wenguang felt an indescribable feeling in his heart. He was surprised how such a good thing fell to the Huang family. The principle is that the county magistrate had done some investigations earlier.

    In recent years, Qiuyang County has been uneasy, evil is in power, and the people have suffered. As a long-standing big family in Qiuyang County, the Huang family wants to contribute to the local people, but their strength is really weak, so they have to maintain the original intention of the family training. Today, however, it has already been run on by treachery and evil, and it is not as prosperous as it used to be.

    Now suddenly I saw that the parents and officials in Qiuyang County chose people to do things and make decisions, instead of valuing gifts and flattery, as if the sky had been covered by dark clouds for too long and the sky suddenly appeared, and they were at a loss for a while.

    Although he had deep emotions and what he wanted to say, he didn't know where to start or what to say when it came to his mouth. In the end, he only had a short and solemn sentence: "Caomin should put the people of the county government first." Du

    Heng Looking at Huang Wenguang, he said, "I believe that you and I are on the same road. Don't let me down. I hope you can help with the water conservancy. The county government will remember its kindness." Huang Wenguang knew it well, and quickly thanked Du Heng

    .

    This Huang Wenguang just came out of the county government office, and the fact that Du Heng selected the Huang family's Lin Shichang has already spread among the people who submitted the application materials.

    The person who had praised Wei Hongming before was a little uneasy, and remained silent for a while.

    It was still Wei Hongming who kept his face and said that the county magistrate had some cleverness in making such an arrangement, and after the crowd dispersed, he would even drop the cup.

    "The Huang family is such an idiot, they dare to fight with the Wei family. I have seen him restless. What does Xiaozhi County mean? The Wei family's big mountains and forests are not big enough for him to quarry rocks and logs. The small mountain at home!"

    "He is just a county magistrate who came from Juren, if I hadn't gone to run for the general election, and now he has the opportunity to press me?" Seeing that

    Wei Hongming was so angry, the steward said, He quickly comforted him and said: "How dare the Xiaozhi County fight with the master? It's just an opportunity for the Huang family to flatter the horse. Our Wei family is here. It's just an opportunity to cooperate with the county government, and it's just a disdain to throw it to the Huang family. that is."

    Wei Hongming took a breather: "I'm afraid that the little county magistrate has grudges. First, the second child yelled at the gate of the county government office, and the new official took office three times. This matter is a bit out of character." "It's almost the end of the year

    , Since the Huang family got a big deal this time, let's send people to make the noise more lively and add some confidence. So that the county magistrate can know which households are doing the right thing and which households can't do things well even if they give him face." The

    housekeeper He knew what to do, but he couldn't help showing embarrassment: "Just who should be sent there?" It's the

    most appropriate way to use the bandits to cause trouble, but now they have been wiped out by the county government, and now they are all working hard on the construction site Woolen cloth. What's more, that idiot Yong Er was caught straight on the day Du Heng came to take office, and was imprisoned in the county government for several months, and the Wei family didn't even bother to fish for a waste.

    Yong Er was beaten badly in prison, he came out after his sentence expired, he hated that the Wei family didn't go to make connections to get him out, now he doesn't listen to the Wei family's order very much.

    When Wei Hongming heard that there was no manpower available to cover people's ears,

    he couldn't help feeling even more irritated: "This Du Heng!

    " Yes."

    In late December, Qiuyang County also hung up red lanterns and paper-cut window grilles for the New Year, in preparation for the New Year.

    The sound of firecrackers could be heard faintly in the market, and more children came out to play and run after them.

    The county yamen is about to close the yamen. After all, the local yamen is not as free as the academy. According to the law of the court, it only has a ten-day rest for the Spring Festival.

    In the past, when he was studying in the academy, it lasted more than half a month. Although Du Heng felt a little bit sorry for the shortened vacation, there were still important things to do in the county, and he didn't want to take a rest for too long, so that the construction period would be delayed.

    On the twenty-sixth day, the last day went to Yamen.

    Du Heng said in advance that he could come to the county government office an hour later. Although it was said that he was going to the government office, this day was actually a day for county officials to gather.

    Not doing business, just looking for fun.

    In the afternoon of the previous day, Gongzhuang sent a lot of poultry, rice and vegetables to the yamen, and Du Heng made some arrangements in advance.

    Early in the morning, Du Heng and Qin Xiaoman tidied up the two babies. Chengyi and Tan Ce hadn't been to the front office yet, and they were very happy to hear that they could go to the front office with their father today.

    He didn't snooze at all, he woke up early and ate breakfast on his own initiative, just waiting for Du Heng to take the two of them to the front office.

    When Du Heng and Qin Xiaoman led the baby out, they bumped into many officials and children, big and small, at the door.

    Although the officials were allowed to arrive later, many people came early to have fun because they were notified that they could bring their families to have fun.

    Yazhong split a small garden for the children to play together. There were a lot of pastries and food during the period. The children were a little timid when they first came and kept the ceremony. After playing for a while, they would be happy.

    We went to ride the rocking horse together and eat snacks. There were so many children together at one time, and we were very happy.

    The officials and their families saw that the county magistrate had made such a thoughtful arrangement, and everyone relaxed a little, and the county government was very lively.

    When the time came, a crowd gathered, and Du Heng made a brief summary of the work.

    "Since it's a day of fun, I don't talk much about official affairs. You have worked hard for a year and have a good year." The yamen invited singing and dancing

    prostitutes to watch the performance, and the highlight was the lottery activity prepared by Du Heng.

    Officials have only tried drawing lots to decide matters, and rarely take lottery for pleasure. Seeing the huge lottery box brought out, they are a little eager to move.

    Du Heng didn't whet his appetite either, after all, he ended the rally early and went home early for the New Year.

    "Please ask husband to do it for you."

    Qin Xiaoman rubbed his hands together, grabbed a ball of paper without any hesitation, and unfolded it in front of everyone.

    "Congratulations to the magistrate and husband, a leg of lamb!"

    Jiang Qi saw what was written on the paper, and sang the result out loud with a bang on the gong he was carrying.

    Du Heng applauded quickly: "After all, Husband is lucky!"

    The two unlucky couples were equally unlucky, and got the worst prize in it.

    Qin Xiaoman wrote the paper ball with Du Heng last night, so he knew what prizes there were. Although he only got a leg of lamb, he was still happy: "You burn it tonight." Du Heng readily agreed

    : "Success."

    The people below didn't know what the couple said, but they were so happy that they thought the leg of lamb was already a big prize.

    It wasn't until Jiaoyu got a party of Lu Mo that he realized that the magistrate's skills were not small.

    At the same time, someone caught poultry, rice, tea and salt, as well as pens, ink, paper, inkstone, cloth and satin... There was even someone who caught two acres of wasteland and wanted to reclaim it by himself... In short, there were all kinds of prizes prepared, and everyone laughed and caught them. Surprise and joy.