Transmigrated into a female county magistrate during a famine, leading her country to prosperity

Li Hongmao continued, "Sir, please allow me to report that something happened to my original place of residence, which forced me and my fellow villagers to become refugees. We ended up in Tong'an County. It was Lord Shen who was kind-hearted and took me and my fellow villagers in. He not only allocated land and housing for us, but also provided us with food and work."

"Refugees?" Yu Zhengqing was a little surprised.

Although the Great Zhou cannot be said to be a rich and powerful country, there are only a few refugees. If a natural disaster causes the people to have no food to eat, local officials should open their granaries to provide relief.

Moreover, most people are unwilling to leave the place where they grew up. They believe that no matter how hard or difficult the life is, they can always get through it.

For someone like Li Hongmao who has left his roots and calls himself a refugee, something serious must have happened to his place of residence.

Yu Zhengqing asked curiously, "Where is your original place of residence?"

Li Hongmao didn't expect him to ask this, so he lowered his eyes and replied, "Your Excellency, I am originally from Lishou County, Hezhou Prefecture."

"Hezhou Prefecture?" Yu Zhengqing's voice was a little louder, and his tone was full of disbelief.

He originally thought that Li Hongmao's original place of residence should be an extremely cold and miserable place, but Hezhou Prefecture was only one prefecture away from his Liuyang Prefecture, almost bordering it, and although Hezhou Prefecture could not be called prosperous, it was definitely not so poor that its residents had to flee everywhere.

Li Hongmao nodded firmly.

Yu Zhengqing still had some doubts, and whispered: "How could he be from Hezhou Prefecture?"

He was about to ask more questions, but thinking that everyone was tired after a day's work and was eagerly waiting for dinner, he could only say:

"Have your meal first. I will talk to you in detail after dinner. Lord Shen will also come with you."

After Shen Zheng answered, she secretly gave Li Hongmao a look.

Whether it is to redress his grievances or to find a few more teachers for the county school, today is an opportunity and the two of them must seize it.

Li Hongmao secretly gave her a knowing look in return, and after the two of them compared names, they silently picked up their chopsticks to pick up the food and eat.

Because Yu Zhengqing was worried, the atmosphere of the meal was not warm.

Everyone was busy eating. After Yu Zhengqing finished eating and put down his chopsticks, Shen Zheng and Li Hongmao quickly followed.

After the three of them arrived at the study, Shen Zheng lit the oil lamp in the dark.

The wick made a tiny crackling sound as it burned, and the dim light danced in the room, adding a touch of brightness to the night.

Li Hongmao picked up the kettle and wanted to get some hot water to make tea, but was stopped by Yu Zhengqing.

"Let's just talk about the matter, no need to reason, sit down."

After the three of them sat down, Yu Zhengqing was the first to ask, "As far as I know, the residents of Hezhou Prefecture should not have been forced to flee. What kind of misfortune did you encounter at that time?"

Li Hongmao lowered his eyes and told Shen Zheng the whole story that he had told her before.

When he talked about how the Lishou County Court forced them to hand over their household registration, Yu Zhengqing felt a fire burning directly from his heart to the top of his head.

Veins bulged on his forehead and he slammed his right hand on the table so hard that the teacups on the table jumped up.

"You beast! You are unworthy of being a parent official! What a great Lishou County Court!"

Yu Zhengqing clenched his fists and placed them on the table, breathing rapidly.

Although Lishou County was not under the jurisdiction of Liuyang Prefecture, he was acquainted with the prefect of Hezhou Prefecture. Based on his understanding of that man, he would not instruct the county magistrate to do such a thing.

Seeing that his face had turned red due to rage, Shen Zheng poured him a glass of cold water from the kettle.

"Sir, please calm down."

Yu Zhengqing took two deep breaths to calm down the anger in his heart. Getting angry in the Tongan County Court would not solve the problem.

Although it was not his Liuyang Mansion's business, he encountered it today, so he had to take care of it.

After he returned to Liuyang Prefecture, he wrote a letter to the governor of Hezhou. He wanted to see who the Lishou County Magistrate was and why he was so arrogant!

He asked Shen Zheng: "Other counties treat refugees with great disdain. Why did you keep them here, not only register them, but also provide them with shelter, food and work?"

Shen Zheng knew that the opportunity to show off had come, but she did not exaggerate. Instead, she told the truth and expressed what she was thinking at that time.

"My Lord, first, the county was about to start digging a canal, and I thought it would be a waste of labor, so I asked Mr. Li and his fellow villagers if they were willing to stay. If they were willing to stay and dig the canal, I would give them citizenship."

"But at that time, the people of Tong'an County were paid for digging the canal, but Mr. Li and his fellow villagers were not paid. They were just provided with daily meals."

"Secondly, I really can't bear to see Mr. Li and his group wandering around. Although Tong'an County is not rich, it still has a lot of land. It shouldn't be difficult to give them a place to stay."

As soon as Yu Zhengqing heard it, he knew there was no falsehood in her words and nodded approvingly.

He couldn't help but sigh in his heart that the emperor's decision to allow women to serve as officials was truly wise.

Although he did not oppose women holding official positions before, he did not agree with it either and was a neutral wait-and-see person.

Now, County Magistrate Shen made him feel that women serving as officials were not inferior to men in terms of righteousness or in the smallest details, and they might even surpass men.

"You did a great job," he said in a deep voice.

Shen Zheng stood up and bowed, "Your Excellency, thank you for your compliment."

A compliment meant nothing to her; it was just what she was supposed to do as an official.

If Yu Zhengqing really thinks highly of her, then he should stop dwelling on her changes and stop looking at her with such a scrutinizing look. Only then would she be truly grateful.

Yu Zhengqing waved his hand to let her sit down, then turned to Li Hongmao and said, "When I return to the government office, I will definitely give you and your fellow villagers justice."

Li Hongmao didn't expect that Prefect Yu actually cared about the hardships of little people like them and even made him a promise.

He blinked his eyes to hide the tears, then knelt on the ground and said, "Thank you, sir."

In fact, he is very satisfied with his current life. It is a blessing from heaven that they can settle down in Tongan County.

But the pain of being beaten with sticks at that time was like a thorn in their hearts, and they found it difficult to breathe whenever they thought about it.

Yu Zhengqing helped him up, then turned to ask Shen Zheng, "What's going on with your county school?"

When Shen Zheng heard him bring this up, a look of joy rose on her brows and she became very alert.

Whether or not you can get that person depends on today!

The next moment, she changed her expression and said with a face full of shame: "Your Excellency also knows that Tong'an County is not rich. For ordinary families, it is very good to have enough income to fill their stomachs, let alone save money throughout the year."

Yu Zhengqing nodded. He knew that Tongan County was not rich. He had issued orders to provide support before, but the previous county magistrate was not up to the task and always made much noise but produced little results.

Over time, he became disappointed and no longer supported Tongan County.

After that, Shen Zheng took up her new post. Before he had time to pay attention to the changes in Tongan County, he was stunned by her letter.