Chapter ~ 06
Case Bulletin and Canal Recruitment
Wang Guangjin, upon hearing this, made a bow to Wang Wanying and teased, “It is this elder brother’s fault.”
“Alright, stop teasing your sister.”
Madam LĆ¼ handed the account book in her hands to Wang Guangjin: “This is the family property that Wanying and I have tallied. Jin’er, take a look.”
Wang Guangjin took the account book but did not look at it. Instead, he presented it to Shen Zheng with both hands.
“I respectfully ask the Magistrate to accept this token of sincerity from the three of us.”
Shen Zheng pushed the account book back.
She had been pondering this all alongāif she took all the banknotes and land deeds, it would be too greedy.
But if she refused them all, she could not bear to part with them, so she had to think of another way.
She spoke up: “The ransom of one thousand taels of silver is absolutely necessary, but the rest of the banknotes cannot be accepted by the county office.”
The three of them were about to try to persuade Shen Zheng, but she raised her hand to stop them.
“I have a solution that benefits everyone. I hope you will hear me out.”
The three of them nodded in agreement.
Assistant Registrar Xu, standing nearby, was also quite curious about what scheme Shen Zheng would come up with this time.
Shen Zheng spoke: “I have a large batch of rice seeds in my possession, but I am worried about finding good fields for trial seedling cultivation. Although there are many vacant fields in the county, most are poor and barren. To plant there, we must first enrich the soil.”
“This batch of rice is expected to yield much more than ordinary rice, and it is closely tied to the food security of the county’s residents. Therefore, I do not wish to wait.”
Before Shen Zheng could finish explaining her intent, Wang Guangjin interjected: “This humble one is willing to offer the Wang family’s prime fields to the Magistrate for rice cultivation!”
Shen Zheng shook her head.
“I do not want ownership of your family’s prime fields. I only wish to trouble you to help me raise a batch of seedlings. After the seedlings sprout, they will need to be transplanted and cultivated.”
Currently, the county’s people mostly grew millet, not rice.
The reasons were twofold: first, Tong’an County had no canals or ditches to irrigate the fields; second, the rice yield in this world was not particularly high, and the difference in harvest between millet and rice was negligible.
For these reasons, the people were naturally unwilling to plant riceāit was laborious and unrewarding.
If Shen Zheng forced the people to plant rice now, it would certainly provoke dissatisfaction.
So she had to start with trial fields for seedling cultivation first.
Once the people saw the rice harvest, there would be no need for her to say anythingāthey would all be vying to plant it.
Hearing Shen Zheng’s words, Wang Guangjin cupped his hands and said, “This humble one is willing to help the Magistrate solve this problem.”
For a landlord, farming was a simple matter.
“One more thing.”
Shen Zheng continued: “To fully promote rice cultivation throughout the county, we must dig canals and ditches. Many able-bodied men have families to support, and I do not wish to force conscript labor.”
“However, the county office is extremely poor right now. Not to mention wages, even providing meals would be difficult.”
“Just now, I noticed in the account book that there are two hundred *shi* of grain recorded. May I borrow these from you first? Once the rice is harvested, I will repay them.”
Having said this, Shen Zheng felt a little embarrassedāeven the county magistrate had to borrow grain.
Wang Guangjin became anxious upon hearing this: “Magistrate, there is no need to speak of borrowing or repaying! Once I return home, I will have someone deliver all the grain to you!”
Madam LĆ¼ also agreed: “This is a good deed that benefits the people. If the Magistrate refuses to accept even the grain, we would truly be ashamed.”
Shen Zheng had no choice but to accept, thinking to herself that once the rice was harvested, she could certainly repay them.
She would just give it back to them then.
With that, Wang Guangjin took the banknotes from Madam LĆ¼’s hand, pulled out a stack, and placed it on the table.
Then he took Madam LĆ¼ and Wang Wanying by the arm and hurried out of the courtroom.
“This humble one will return home first to count out the grain!”
Shen Zheng picked up the banknotes on the table and lookedāfar from being one thousand taels.
This stack amounted to a full three thousand taels.
Shen Zheng made a mental note of it. She handed all the banknotes to Assistant Registrar Xu.
“Please record this in the accounts, Registrar.”
Assistant Registrar Xu took the banknotes, still thinking about the rice Shen Zheng had mentioned earlier.
“This subordinate is unawareāwhat kind of rice is the Magistrate referring to? The yield can actually be much higher than ordinary rice?”
How could Shen Zheng explain that? She could only put on an air of profound mystery.
“When the harvest comes, the Registrar will know.”
Then she asked: “Is the case bulletin written?”
Assistant Registrar Xu nodded in affirmation: “It is written.”
Thinking that canal-digging was about to begin, Shen Zheng asked Xu to also write a recruitment notice for labor.
“Recruit at most five hundred people. They must bring their own tools. Three meals a day will be provided, and they will receive forty wen per day in wages.”
Assistant Registrar Xu was just about to pick up his brush to write when Shen Zheng changed her mind.
“No, noālet’s make it forty wen.”
Seeing Shen Zheng’s brow furrowed in her miserly manner, Assistant Registrar Xu could not help but laugh: “How much, then?”
“Forty! Just forty!”
The standard daily wage for ordinary laborers in the county was generally forty to fifty wen, but they had to provide their own meals.
The offer of forty wen per day plus three meals was already extremely generous.
In truth, the three thousand taels of silver in the county office’s accounts would not last long.
“Post it once it’s written. Once we recruit enough people, we’ll start the work.”
After saying this, Shen Zheng returned to her room.
She took out the map rewarded by the system. Apart from the town where the county office was located, there were six more villages within Tong’an County’s jurisdiction that also needed to be planned.
In truth, compared to other counties, Tong’an was quite small. Some larger county seats had dozens of villages under their jurisdiction.
The starting point for the canals was set at Xiahe Village, the northernmost part of Tong’an County.
To the north of Shanghe Village flowed a wide river from west to east.
Shen Zheng copied the map onto cloth and carefully delineated the farmland areas within Tong’an County.
Based on the terrain, she drew the general route of the canals, which would essentially cover all the farmland in Tong’an County.
Meanwhile, outside, Assistant Registrar Xu had finished writing the recruitment notice and posted it alongside the case bulletin on the bulletin board.
Nearby residents gathered around.
“What does it say? Can someone who can read read it out loud!”
“This must be the Wang family case bulletin, right? Why are there two notices?”
“Make way! Someone literate is coming!”
A middle-aged man outside the crowd dragged a young man dressed as a scholar over.
The crowd quickly parted to make way for them.
“Read it quickly! What does it say up there? Is the Wang family young master going to be beheaded?”
After quickly scanning both notices, the scholar shook his head.
“The bulletin says that the landlord Wang beat Miss Wang. When the young master stepped forward to protect Miss Wang, Landlord Wang pulled out scissors intending to kill the young master. During the struggle between the two, Landlord Wang ended up stabbing himself to death!”
“Stabbed himself to death? How is that possible! Then the young master doesn’t have to be beheaded?”
The bystanders were not particularly convinced by the bizarre story of Landlord Wang stabbing himself to death; they were more curious whether Wang Guangjin would still be executed.
The scholar nodded: “Madam Wang paid a ransom of one thousand taels of silver. The young master should have already returned home.”
“One thousand taels!”
A gasp went through the crowd. Not to mention one thousand taelsāmost of them had never even seen a hundred taels of silver in their lives!
“Damn it, that bastard landlord is really rich!”
“Isn’t this just buying your life with silver! You kill someone, pay some silver, and it’s all over? Is there no law anymore! I say every official in that county office is corrupt!”
Someone next to him shoved the cursing man.
“Keep your voice down. We’re still right in front of the county office.”
“What do I care! I’ll say itācorrupt officials!”
The two constables at the county office gate were the same ones who had been in the courtroom the day before.
Hearing their magistrate slandered, they could not contain themselves. With their hands on the iron rulers at their waists, they strode toward the crowd.
