The Female Assistant of Wei Yuyan Shuangfei

After the embankment and water diversion channel of Shanghe Township were completed, Xie Tingwen did not stay and returned to Laigu County overnight.

The drought has come, and there are still many things that need to be dealt with by the county government. After having a simple breakfast with Xie Shuting, the father and daughter came to the study.

As soon as Xie Tingwen sat down, Uncle Qin served him two cups of tea, then tactfully left and stood guard at the door.

Xie Shuting sat on one side, drinking tea by herself, while Xie Tingwen sat at the desk, looking at the documents that Xie Shuting had been working on for the past month.

An hour later, Xie Tingwen let out a long sigh, rolled up his sleeves, walked to Xie Shuting's side, and slowly sat down.

"Shu Ting! Thank you for your hard work this month."

"My daughter doesn't dare. It's a daughter's job to share her father's worries," Xie Shuting said softly.

"Yeah!~"

Xie Tingwen nodded in satisfaction, took a sip of tea and said, "You handed over the market outside the city to the Chamber of Commerce. You are not simply throwing the matter away, are you?"

Seeing Xie Tingwen's expression of unable to hold back her laughter, Xie Shuting smiled calmly and said, "Father already knows, why bother asking this question?"

"Twenty thousand strings of cash a month, you're so brave to ask for it."

Xie Tingwen smiled and shook his head, thinking for a moment, "But since Shen Yancheng agreed, there must be some profit in it."

"The purpose of the Hu Ya is to make money. If you only think about taxation, the situation will not change in a hundred or eighty years."

At this point, Xie Shuting took a sip of tea and changed the subject, "As the saying goes, 'When you are poor, you will think of change.' Without money, the government can't do anything well, and taxes will eventually be borne by the people. It doesn't matter on weekdays, but what will the people do in a year of disaster?"

"good."

Xie Tingwen nodded approvingly and said, "Drought is inevitable now. Spring planting is impossible. If the people really plant, there is a high probability that they will have no harvest."

"But Laigu County has sweet potatoes as support, so at least there will be no problem this year." Xie Shuting said calmly, as if the drought was within his expectations.

"Yeah!~"

Xie Tingwen nodded slightly, but his expression was somewhat solemn as he asked: "A great disaster is about to happen, and Laigu County is on the trade route. I'm afraid many people will gather here at that time. This is also a test for Laigu County."

This was not a test for Xie Shuting, as she had started planning very early. All the grain stores of the Lian family merchants had a lot of grain in stock, so if the county magistrate cooperated with the Chamber of Commerce, there would be no trouble.

But he didn't know how many county magistrates were willing to cooperate with the Chamber of Commerce and work with the grain merchants to stabilize the civil unrest in the state capital and counties. This was something she couldn't estimate.

"Father, are you worried about the money and grain in Laigu County?" Xie Shuting said softly, stroking the cup.

"Hey!~"

Xie Tingwen sighed and said earnestly: "You can see it too."

"Since ancient times, disaster relief is nothing more than a matter of money and food. If the money and food are sufficient, there will be no problem." Xie Shuting said nonchalantly.

Whether it was a drought or a flood, the people were in need of food, because they could only carry a limited amount of it. Moreover, after paying taxes, there was not much left at home.

If farming could not keep up, it was common to eat wild vegetables and grass roots. Even in the prosperous Jiangnan area, the people had little surplus food at home, let alone other places.

Seeing Xie Shuting's calm expression, Xie Tingwen was startled and asked hesitantly: "Shuting! Tell me the truth, will there be chaos in Gu County?"

"Don't worry, father. He won't cause any trouble in Laigu County as long as I'm here."

Xie Shuting stroked the hair beside her ears calmly and explained softly, "My daughter notified Shen Yancheng to stockpile grain half a month ago. He can take as much as he can. If he can't sell it, the government will buy it back. Now, in addition to the official grain in the government warehouse, he still has 80,000 dan of grain in his hands."

"Eighty thousand dan?"

Xie Tingwen murmured to himself with a serious expression, "Based on the current flow of people in Gu County, 80,000 dan of grain can probably support 20 days. I think the turnover can be eased a bit."

Thinking of this, Xie Tingwen hurriedly asked, "Is there enough water in the city?"

"That's enough. Although we only dug four wells in the early stage, Captain Cao built an ice rink outside the city. The ice blocks piled up can last for three months, so there will be no trouble in Laigu County."

"Good, very good." Xie Tingwen laughed loudly.

"Father! Although we have food and water, but..."

Xie Shuting paused for a moment and said thoughtfully, "However, I suggest that you should submit a memorial to the court to request disaster relief funds."

"We already have food and water, so isn't it inappropriate to submit a petition to the court?" Xie Tingwen asked with a look of doubt on his face.

Although he was already a county magistrate, he still didn't know how to be tactful when it came to the complicated affairs of the court. He obviously didn't understand Xie Shuting's reminder.

Seeing Xie Tingwen's puzzled expression, Xie Shuting smiled calmly and explained, "I think the prefectures and counties around Yongzhou Prefecture have already submitted memorials. If father does not submit a memorial, what will the people in the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works think? What will the colleagues in Yongzhou Prefecture think?"

This is called being unsociable in official circles, and you will definitely be ostracized by others.

Even if you don't lack water or food when you come to Gu County, other prefectures do. If the Ministry of Revenue doesn't see your memorial to Gu County, the application documents of other prefectures will definitely be suppressed.

Whether the money will be given or not is still unclear. We will send people from the Ministry of Revenue to check and see if the officials from other prefectures and counties will be reprimanded. If they are given a bad review at the end of the year, they will have no hope of promotion.

"Yeah!~"

Xie Tingwen nodded and said solemnly, "I was not thoughtful enough about this matter. I will write a memorial and submit it immediately."

Xie Tingwen had just stood up when he suddenly seemed to have thought of something and asked hurriedly, "Master Zhu stayed in Shanghe Township and handed the burden of road construction to the refugees. What do you think of this?"

“That’s a good idea.”

Xie Shuting praised generously: "Find something for them to do, and don't worry about them causing chaos. It's just two meals a day, but..."

Xie Shuting said this and then changed the subject: "We don't need to feed these people enough, and we don't need to expect them to work hard. We just need to find something for them to do."

"Why is that?" Xie Tingwen asked with a suspicious look on his face.

"As the saying goes, 'When you're well fed and warm, you'll think about sex.' If we feed them too much, they'll have too much energy and the runners won't be able to control them." Xie Shuting said with a faint smile.

As the two were talking, they heard Lian Xi outside the door hurriedly say, "Miss! There's a letter for you."

Upon hearing this, Xie Shuting glanced at Xie Tingwen first, and then said in a deep voice, "Come in."

After Lian Xi entered the room, he handed over the letter without hesitation. Xie Shuting just glanced at the signature and felt something was wrong.

Before she could speak, Xie Tingwen said loudly: "You go and get busy first! Your father still has official business to attend to."

"The daughter has left."

Xie Shuting bowed, then led Lian Xi out of the study quickly and went straight to the back hall.

Xie Tingwen returned to his desk and fished out a few yellowed letters from the bottom of the desk. A solemn expression lingered on his face for a long time.