Yingchun did not come out until quite some time later. She quietly told her, “Carry the water in with me. Keep your head down and only watch where you’re walking. Don’t look around.”
Li Xiaoxiao nodded and quickly followed her inside, pouring the water into the bathtub in the bathing room.
After they finished, Yingchun gestured for her to take the bucket outside while she quietly approached Magistrate Meng and bowed. “Master, the water is ready. You can bathe now.”
Madam Liu wiped her tears and stood up. “Master, you’ve been traveling all day and must be tired. Let me attend to you while you wash up.”
Magistrate Meng nodded and entered the bathing room with Madam Liu.
Li Xiaoxiao returned to the back kitchen. Mama Mao was busy preparing the evening banquet to welcome Magistrate Meng back. When she saw Li Xiaoxiao return, she hurriedly said, “Master is back, and we don’t have enough water. Go fill these two large vats again. Once they’re full, come back and help me.”
Li Xiaoxiao acknowledged her and pondered as she drew water. Magistrate Meng had been away for so long, yet he had not managed to bring back a single penny or a single grain of food. How was he planning to deal with the huge problem at the city gate? Was he going to continue emptying out his own family’s savings to fill the gap, or could he come up with a better solution?
What would he do?
She was very curious.
The next day, when she went out of the city to graze the ox, she happened to run into Constable Shi, a plain saber hanging at his waist as he patrolled. His expression was solemn. Sitting on the ox cart, she greeted him with a bright smile. “Constable Shi.”
Constable Shi knew her as well. She was the girl who had gone to the county office with Meng Guanqi that day. He frowned. “You’re still going out to graze the ox today? You can buy fodder for just a few coins. Why do you have to go out every day? Don’t you know it’s not very safe outside?”
Li Xiaoxiao said indifferently, “My old ox likes eating tender grass. It doesn’t like dry fodder.”
Constable Shi was momentarily speechless. He was just about to lecture her, but when he remembered her identity, he swallowed the words that had reached the tip of his tongue.
Li Xiaoxiao jumped down from the ox cart and pulled Constable Shi aside. “Constable Shi, there are so many people outside the city. Have you registered them in a roster?”
Constable Shi was stunned. “What’s the point of registering them? It’s a complete mess. People come and go every day.”
Li Xiaoxiao widened her eyes. “If you don’t register them, won’t all the grain we’ve given out be given away for nothing?”
Constable Shi was completely baffled. “What do you mean? The grain was released from the granary by the magistrate. Could we possibly ask for it back?”
Li Xiaoxiao lowered her voice. “Our magistrate came home yesterday. I heard from people in the residence that he wasn’t able to borrow any money or grain. Since the people above aren’t willing to shoulder this responsibility, are they going to drag our magistrate out and execute him to pay for the grain? Of course, whoever ate it should be the one to repay it!”
Constable Shi was puzzled. “Those people all lost their homes when the floods swept them away. They’re barely clinging to life on a bowl of porridge. What do you expect them to use to repay it?”
“If they can’t repay it now, then let them owe it and repay it when they have grain in the future. Surely our magistrate can’t keep paying out of his own pocket? Magistrate Meng doesn’t have a mountain of gold and silver. We can’t keep making him shoulder the cost like this.”
Seeing that Constable Shi still looked completely confused, Li Xiaoxiao continued, “They’re refugees now, with no land and no grain. What if the magistrate requires them to register their households in Miyang County? Once they become residents of this county, won’t the money and grain they owe the county office eventually be recoverable?”
Constable Shi’s eyes widened. “Register their households?! But, but…” According to the laws of the Great Wu Dynasty, these refugees merely had nowhere to live for the time being. Once the disaster had passed, the imperial court would still send people to deal with the aftermath, and most of them would be arranged to return to their hometowns. That was why magistrates everywhere were unwilling to accept these refugees.
Li Xiaoxiao raised an eyebrow. “Magistrate Meng is bold enough to release the grain from the granary. Why wouldn’t he dare let them register their households here directly? We can’t let these people eat their fill, wipe their mouths, and walk away, leaving Magistrate Meng to clean up the mess, can we? If we let them register their households here, the taxes and grain can eventually be recovered. By then, although Magistrate Meng was wrong to open the granary and release grain without authorization, the county’s population will have increased greatly and its tax revenue will have risen. Isn’t that a real achievement?”
Constable Shi stared at her in shock, completely speechless.
Li Xiaoxiao leaned forward slightly. “So, we should strike first. Anyone who still wants to come here to receive porridge must unconditionally agree to register their household in this county. That’s the only way Magistrate Meng might be able to recover what he owes.”
Constable Shi hesitated, then stammered, “B-but if we set this precedent, I’m afraid the other counties will follow suit and try to compete with us for these people…” If a lower county suddenly gained more than a thousand residents, that was a genuine achievement. Who wouldn’t want to compete for them?
Li Xiaoxiao did not care.
“Let them compete for them. We’ll charge fifty jin of grain per person. We’ll say it’s the amount they owe for eating and living here for free. As long as the other counties are willing to provide that grain, these people can choose whichever county they want to register their households in.”
Constable Shi looked at her and sighed. “You’re ruthless!”
This was simply killing two birds with one stone. It could resolve Magistrate Meng’s predicament in one stroke.
If the refugees had no grain to repay, then they could only settle down in Miyang County. The grain they owed could always be repaid someday.
With Magistrate Meng working things out over the next few years, he could recover all the grain that had been lost, while the county would also gain more than a thousand residents. If the magistrates from other counties came to compete for the people, that was easy too.
They simply had to make up for the grain the refugees had consumed while eating and living in Miyang County for more than a month, and they could take the people away at any time.
That way, Magistrate Meng could recover all the grain he had given out, and there might even be a surplus. Then opening the city gates and providing porridge would no longer count as a mistake. He would also have won the people’s support and resolved the crisis.
As long as Magistrate Meng agreed to this plan, the matters that followed could be handled by his subordinate. All it required was a thicker skin, a more domineering manner, and a slightly worse attitude. If Magistrate Meng was unwilling to play the villain, then Constable Shi would do it!
Having figured this out, Constable Shi was filled with excitement. He clapped his hands and said, “I’ll register them immediately. Not a single one of them will escape my notice!”
Li Xiaoxiao nodded deeply in agreement. “Go, go! I won’t keep you. I have to go graze the ox.”
Constable Shi walked forward several steps, then came back and bowed to her. “Little sister, I’m going to shamelessly call you little sister. This idea of yours really saved our entire Miyang County. On behalf of everyone at the county office, I thank you.”
“No need to thank me, no need! Once you finish registering them, remember to present the idea to Magistrate Meng. Would he still not make good use of you after that?”
Constable Shi looked conflicted. “But this is clearly your idea…”
Li Xiaoxiao waved her hand grandly. “I’m just a kitchen maid. What would I want such a great achievement for? As long as I can peacefully graze the ox, that’s enough.”
Constable Shi felt even more deeply that she was selfless. He cupped his fists toward her and strode away.
Li Xiaoxiao jumped back onto the ox cart, flicked the whip, and the old ox leisurely pulled her toward the city gate.
Meanwhile, in the study in the back courtyard of the county office, Magistrate Meng had also heard a suggestion almost identical to hers from his son. He was stunned. “You mean you want me to accept these refugees directly and let them register their households in Miyang County?!”
With two dark circles under his eyes, Meng Guanqi had thought about it all night and finally come up with this idea. “Father, this is the best solution, and it is the only way we can ultimately extricate our family from this mess.”
Magistrate Meng had originally planned to confess his guilt. He had never expected his son to come up with such a solution. “B-but this isn’t according to regulations. There are very strict procedures for refugees to register their households locally.”
“Father…” Meng Guanqi interrupted him. “Do you have a better solution? Do you intend to confess your guilt? We’ve only been in Miyang County for half a year, yet we’ve already caused such a huge problem. If the authorities seriously investigate this, you know what the law would prescribe as punishment, don’t you?”
Magistrate Meng had previously served in the Ministry of Justice, so of course he knew.
He faltered, unable to say anything.
Meng Guanqi’s eyes were bloodshot. “If Father did not love the people as if they were your own children and could not bear to watch them starve to death, why would you have softened your heart and opened the granary to provide relief to the refugees? We took such a huge risk, and now we merely want to eliminate that risk. What have we done wrong? Besides, I thought about this carefully. If someone really impeaches you over this matter, you can instead write a memorial defending yourself. The difficulties faced by Miyang County, the difficulties faced by the refugees, and the disaster-relief funds from the imperial court that have yet to arrive may finally have a chance to reach the emperor’s ears. Then there may be a chance that the blame will not fall on you!”
Magistrate Meng said helplessly, “Prefect Song won’t agree.”
Meng Guanqi’s gaze was resolute.
“If Prefect Song really blames you, then tell him that you went to the prefectural government office precisely to ask for his instructions on this matter, but he avoided seeing you. It wasn’t that you failed to consult him.”
Magistrate Meng was shocked. “This…” They were trying to drag Prefect Song into this. Wouldn’t that completely offend him?
Meng Guanqi said, “Only if all the refugees register their households in Miyang County will there be any chance of recovering the grain we’ve given out. Or you can make an agreement with the refugees that they will only register their households here temporarily for three to five years. Once they repay all the grain owed to the state granary, whether they leave or stay, we absolutely won’t make things difficult for them.”
Miyang County was very poor, with vast land and a sparse population. Large stretches of wasteland lay uncultivated. If these more than one thousand people could really settle here and clear the wasteland, the amount of tax that could be collected after three to five years would certainly increase greatly. Both the population and tax revenue would see significant increases, and both could be counted toward Magistrate Meng’s performance evaluation.
With these two clear achievements, even if Prefect Song was his father’s superior, he could not deliberately make things difficult for him.
Magistrate Meng thought it over and over. There truly was no better solution. He sighed. “We’ll do as you say. I’ll have Master Peng…”
At this point, he suddenly stopped. Only then did he remember that Master Peng had already left.
Because Miyang County was so poor, the position of deputy county had remained vacant. He had originally intended to wait until he had firmly established himself in this position before recommending Master Peng for the post of deputy county. Who would have thought that Master Peng would be the first to betray him? Not only had he left, he had also taken most of Magistrate Meng’s trusted aides with him.
At the thought of this, Magistrate Meng’s heart ached, and he could not help coughing again.
Meng Guanqi looked at him worriedly. “Father, you haven’t been able to properly recover from your illness. Why don’t you leave everything to the people below and stay home to recuperate?”
Magistrate Meng shook his head. “I haven’t shown myself for a long time. No matter what, I have to meet everyone at the county office today and deal with the official business that has piled up over the past half month.”
Meng Guanqi had no choice but to escort him to the county office before going to class at the county school himself.
As soon as Magistrate Meng sat down, Constable Shi came rushing in. “My lord, this subordinate has something to report.”
Magistrate Meng put down his brush and said warmly, “You came at just the right time. I happen to have something for you to handle as well. It concerns the refugees at the city gate.”
…
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