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

After Shen Zheng saw him leave, she called Zhao Xiu, took out a map from her arms, and unfolded it in front of the two of them.

It was the first time that Zhao Xiu saw this map, and he couldn't stop screaming in surprise.

"Sir, this map is so exquisite. Not only does it show the topography and terrain at a glance, but even the names of the streets and the mansions of the wealthy are marked!"

Zhao Xiu secretly thought in his heart that if his master was not the reincarnation of a god, then he must be a hermit who could even get something like this!

Shen Zheng did not answer, but pointed to the location of Wei Mansion and asked: "Whose residence is this Wei Mansion, and why is no one living there?"

Zhao Xiu didn't even need to look at where she pointed to know where she was talking about.

There is only one Wei Mansion in the entire Tongan County, and that is the residence of the previous county magistrate.

When Zhao Xiu thought of Magistrate Wei, he curled his lips. They were both county magistrates, but that man was not even as good as a single hair of yours!

Seeing that he just curled his lips and didn't say anything, Shen Zheng couldn't help but ask, "What's the matter? What did County Magistrate Wei do?"

Zhao Xiu became excited when he heard about this. His face showed disdain, mixed with a bit of disgust. That man had been working in Tongan County only four years ago. At that time, Zhao Xiu was also a small constable who had just joined the county government.

After a moment, Zhao Xiu asked, "Does your Excellency know how much tax was collected during the autumn harvest in Tong'an County when the county magistrate Wei was in office?"

Shen Zheng really had never found out about this, so she asked directly: "How much?"

"The tax is 50% of the original amount." Zhao Xiu said angrily.

"What?! Why dare he do this?"

Even Shen Zheng was shocked. When the famine was severe, the local government could adjust taxes at its discretion. After all, the government had to operate, and the grain that should be turned over to the national treasury had to be turned over.

Although this regulation was discretionary, not many local officials actually used it, and basically all collected autumn grain according to the standard of 20% tax.

This is because all the officials who adjusted taxes "at their discretion" before never had a good ending.

The logic is very simple and most officials understand that exploiting the people is the worst possible option. If you raise taxes at this time, the county government will make a lot of money, but the people below will suffer.

People are having a hard time, the overall economic level is declining, do you still want to revive this place? Do you still want to make it rich?

It's just nonsense.

If this happens once, life in this place will become increasingly difficult, and the place will fall into a vicious cycle.

Unless someone can come up with a grain that can produce 1,000 kilograms per mu like Shen Zheng, then raising the autumn grain tax would be a dead end!

Sure enough, Zhao Xiu’s next words confirmed Shen Zheng’s previous thoughts.

"In fact, before that, our county was not as poor as when you first came. It was still a little bit better."

Zhao Xiu was a little unconfident when he said this, because the little bit in his words was really just a little bit, and still not as much as the other counties in Liuyang Prefecture.

Shen Zheng suddenly felt a little distressed. Before she came, everyone had lived a hard life.

Zhao Xiu sighed and continued, "That man is really not as good as you, sir. At that time, he levied heavy taxes to build his mansion, which made everyone miserable. So no one wants to get involved in the Wei Mansion now. And the prefect at that time was not yet Lord Yu. The people in the county took a lot of effort, and the prefect sent someone over. Fortunately, the man surnamed Wei was finally punished in the end."

When Shen Zheng heard this, she reached out and patted Zhao Xiu on the shoulder.

"It's in the past."

Zhao Xiu smiled immediately upon hearing this, "It's all in the past! Now everyone is saying that the hard times before were a prelude to meeting you, sir! It's all worth it!"

Shen Zheng was stunned. How could this drag her into this?

Seeing that she didn't say anything, Zhao Xiu asked again, "My Lord, is there anything you want to ask about the Wei Mansion?"

Shen Zheng came back to her senses, pointed at the Wei Mansion on the map and said, "What do you think if we set up the county school here?"

Zhao Xiu clapped his hands when he heard this, "How could I not have thought of this? Whether it is the location or the land, this Wei Mansion is extremely suitable for being converted into a county school!"

In fact, it’s not that he didn’t expect it, but the Wei Mansion is a shame to everyone in Tongan County.

What was used to build this Wei Mansion?

It was built with their blood, sweat and food! So every time they saw the Wei Mansion, they felt very uncomfortable.

But now Shen Zheng's proposal made Zhao Xiu feel much more comfortable.

Isn't converting Wei Mansion into a county school actually taking from the people and giving back to the people?

Is there any more suitable place than this!

The two smiled at each other, and Shen Zheng asked, "Shall we go take a look now?"