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

It would be fine if the emperor remembered Xu Zhubu's name, but why did he suddenly bring it up today out of the blue?

Could it be that Xu Yunyan's "reliance on improper means to gain power"... displeased the emperor?

Shen Zheng perked up and answered seriously, "He previously studied at Liuyang Prefecture School and was later accepted as a disciple by the current principal. Later, a disagreement arose between the two of them due to an illegitimate child, so he went to Tong'an County to serve as the chief clerk. He was already there when I took up the position. He helped me a lot back then, and I've always remembered that."

"I asked a simple question, and you answered ten questions." The emperor smiled and said, "Tong'an County is now a well-known and prestigious county. I think his achievements are not enough."

Shen Zheng's heart sank, and she subconsciously wanted to ask out loud.

What do you mean?

Do you want to pull Xu Yunyan out?

Are you going to send someone else to be the chief clerk of Tongan?

That won’t work!

To this day, Shen Zheng asks herself honestly, she has never met anyone more capable than Xu Yunyan.

In her heart, Xu Yunyan was like a turtle in a wishing well. He could ask for whatever he wanted and do whatever he wanted without even inserting a coin. He could just say it lightly and he would get things done perfectly without anyone being able to find any fault with him.

Furthermore...Xu Yunyan obviously knew that there was something wrong with her, but he never asked any questions and even tried his best to help her hide it.

Just imagine, if someone else were to be the chief clerk of Tongan County, how much more clever would she have to be to cope with it?

He knows how to shake the snot when it falls from his mouth, knows how to turn when the car hits the wall, and knows how to buy stocks when the stock price goes up... At this moment, she realizes more clearly how good Xu Yunyan is.

"Master Bi." Shen Zheng told herself to be calm in her heart. "He and I both know that his academic achievements are indeed not good enough. So before I left Tongan County, he told me that he wanted to continue to participate in the imperial examination. From what I know about him, let alone becoming the top scorer..."

After a pause, she felt that this was a bit of an exaggeration, so she changed her words: "...Even if I can't get the top score in high school, it's still very likely that I'll be admitted to the imperial examination."

"Oh?" The emperor said, half-smiled. "You think so highly of him? It makes me want to take a look at him."

This time, Shen Zheng was really confused about the emperor's thoughts.

It would be better to kill or cut him into pieces than to torture him like this.

So she asked directly, "Do you want to send someone else...to be the chief clerk of Tongan?"

Then she had to plan as soon as possible and find a good place for Xu Yunyan.

The emperor did not answer, but smiled and asked: "Guess?"

Shen Zheng followed him for two steps and whispered, "I am stupid."

The emperor chuckled softly, as if dissatisfied with her calling herself "humble minister" again, so he said lightly: "Since he wants to test, then continue with the test."

This statement was ambiguous, but Shen Zheng didn't dare to ask any further questions.

The emperor and his minister walked for a while, each with their own thoughts, and the emperor suddenly talked about Liuyang Prefecture.

"Liuyang Prefecture now has your Tong'an Cloth Shop and Seal Shop, as well as the Baiyun County mines and Quanyang County porcelain kilns. If you can manage them carefully and properly, it will surely become a highly respected and tax-paying prefecture that the imperial court relies on in the future."

His tone was calm, but he could not hide his expectations for the future of Liuyang Mansion.

Shen Zheng nodded after hearing this.

A province with high tax revenue generally has to meet three conditions: developed agriculture, prosperous commerce, and a dense population.

Under normal circumstances, the faster the flow of gold and silver in a region, the fuller the people's rice jars will be, the busier the shops in the market will be, and the taxes and labor services that the court can collect will naturally increase.

There is no doubt that Liuyang Prefecture will become a veritable "tax-collecting prefecture" in the future.

Thinking about the current situation in the mansion and Yu Zhengqing, whose term of office had not yet ended, Shen Zheng took the lead in speaking well of him.

"Master Bi, Prefect Yu has always been a man of stability and pragmatism. If it weren't for him, I'm not sure I would have taken many more detours, and Liuyang Prefecture wouldn't have been able to achieve its current prosperity..."

The emperor raised his sleeve to brush away the insects circling in the air and said with a smile, "I'm afraid you only know how to say good things for others."

Sometimes he spoke for the county chief clerk, sometimes he spoke for the prefect. When he entered the palace before, he always liked to speak for Yu Shizhang, Ji Benchang and other old guys.

He's really had enough of hearing this kind of nonsense.

Meeting the emperor's gaze with a hidden smile, Shen Zheng breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Master, please understand. These are my sincere words..."

"I know."

The emperor looked towards the row of houses not far away, stopped talking, and asked, "Are we almost there?"

Just as he finished speaking, the sound of sawing wood came from the corner, and the wind brought the fragrance of planing wood.

Xiao Yu let go of the Queen's hand and pointed at the corner, shouting, "It's the beautiful Yin Yin. They're planing wood today!"

The Queen smiled and ruffled her hair, "Shall we go and take a look?"

The group followed the sound. The closer they got, the clearer the sound of sawing became. After passing through a low wall, the view in front of everyone suddenly became clear.

There were several piles of newly split wooden boards piled outside the central bathroom. The craftsmen were measuring the size around the corner. Cui Jinyin interrupted while brushing off the wood chips from the corner of her skirt.

"The wall should be added right here!" She stomped her foot again to shake off the stubborn sawdust, then stood on tiptoe and raised her hand, saying, "It should be at least this high!"

The carpenter seemed to feel something was wrong, and his face was tangled: "Ms. Cui, if we want to add a partition wall, the old wall will have to be demolished and rebuilt, and the cost will be..."

"What did you say?"

Cui Jinyin seemed to have heard a ridiculous joke. She raised her hand and took off a hairpin from her head. Holding the tassel on it, she said, "They are worried if the wall is too low. In a word, is this enough?"

The hairpin, suspended by its tassels, swung beneath her hand, and in the sunlight, it shone with a dazzling array of colors.

Even the emperor and the empress were shocked by her "wealth" - exchanging a gold hairpin for a brick was like using a butcher knife to kill a chicken.

The emperor stroked his jaw, as if talking to himself, or as if asking Shen Zheng, "Is Prime Minister Cui's residence so wealthy? Or is it...Xu's residence?"

Shen Zheng was sweating for Prime Minister Cui, but at the same time, she felt no burden to add insult to injury: "I've heard before that the Prime Minister treats Cui Jinyin very well. Even the jewelry she wears is specially customized and unique in all of Shangjing."

"I see." The emperor nodded in agreement. "It seems that Prime Minister Cui really does love his granddaughter, Cui Jinyin, very much."

Shen Zheng nodded in agreement.

But whether Prime Minister Cui really loved Cui Jinyin, both the emperor and his minister knew very well.

The Queen was pulled over by Xiao Yu, and Eunuch Hong followed behind with small steps. There were many women watching, and Xiao Yu couldn't squeeze in, so he kept pulling at people's trouser legs.

"Make way, Auntie, make way, the beauty is coming..."

The women were busy giving advice to the craftsmen and had no time to pay attention to her, a little kid.

"We can build a small shed next to it to store tools. We can come and clean it when we have nothing to do, so that it won't get smelly after a long time..."

"Yes, yes! And... Big Brother, can I borrow your tools for a moment? I can make some bamboo castanets that I can hang at the door of the bathroom. When someone comes in or out, they'll make a sound."