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

The sun was blazing at noon, and the stone carvings at the door entrance were slightly oily.

Since the dam stopped working in the morning, Shen Zheng had some free time.

She got off the carriage with the pages of the criminal investigation book she had copied last night. There were countless lazy cicadas hiding in the big tree inside the door, chirping so heart-wrenchingly. The officers were carrying ladders to catch cicadas, and they saw her when they looked up.

"Sir Shen?" A familiar-looking officer hurriedly lowered the ladder and came over to greet him. "Are you looking for the Minister? Let me pass the message on!"

Shen Zheng smiled and nodded, said "trouble", and asked the driver to bring the bag of herbs from the carriage.

The officer took the herb bag and sniffed it quietly, smelling a bitter fragrance.

Shen Zheng walked towards the main hall and said to the officer, "These are herbs for cooling off summer heat and repelling insects. I brought some for your yamen to try. If they work, just follow the recipe and get them."

"For us?"

The officer felt a little dizzy, perhaps because of the noise of the lazy cicadas or the sun.

Not long after, the officer who went to report came back and took Shen Zheng to Ji Benchang's study.

After entering the study, the heat dissipated a lot and a faint scent of ink came to her. Ji Benchang was looking at something with his back to her, and turned around when he heard the noise.

"Xiao Shen, you've come just in time. Please help me take a look. They've revised this notice three times, and it always seems a little off. Can you take a look and see if there's anything else that needs to be changed?"

Thinking that she was here to ask for a favor, Shen Zheng walked over without being in a hurry.

When he took the notice, the ink stains on it were not yet dry, obviously it had just been delivered to Ji Benchang not long ago.

Looking down, I saw the meticulously written tiny characters on it, which began: "Recently, a strange frog appeared in the suburbs of Beijing. Its back is green-brown, its belly is like solidified fat, its limbs are webbed, and its voice is like the mooing of an ox."

People like to call "frog" "xiama", while official documents of the imperial court are more formal and directly call it "frog".

With just a few strokes, the bullfrog was vividly sketched out, and Shen Zheng nodded in approval.

Ji Benchang pushed the chair towards her legs and motioned her to sit down and watch.

After searching for the chair with her butt for a while, she slowly sat down and then saw: "This frog has a ferocious feeding habit. It hides during the day and comes out at night. It feeds on insects, fish and shrimp in the fields, and it likes to prey on native frogs."

Seeing this, Shen Zheng asked softly, "Have the agriculturalists also observed this frog preying on its own kind?"

"If it wanted to eat it, we put it together with frogs, small fish and shrimp yesterday." Ji Benchang frowned and said, "I saw it with my own eyes. The beast didn't eat the frog legs with the most meat. It actually bit the frog's head directly and swallowed it whole in a short while. It was really vicious..."

Shen Zheng nodded slightly and looked behind her. Ji Benchang said with lingering fear, "Fortunately, you discovered it in time. If you had let that beast run rampant, who knows what would have happened to the rice fields... After the notice is issued, I have to go to Ruiguxuan in person to check it out before I can rest assured."

The high-yield rice in Ruiguxuan is the gold nugget of the entire Great Zhou Dynasty, and it must not be destroyed.

He was muttering to himself while Shen Zheng was looking at the notice quietly.

On the back was written: "Frogs are known to be friends of crops, repelling pests. Now, this strange frog is feeding on them, causing pests to wreak havoc on rice, beans, and vegetables. To eliminate this scourge, the court will send personnel to capture it. We hope you will cooperate actively. If you spot any traces of this strange frog, please report it to the nearest government office so that we can work together to curb its spread."

The language is clear and the logic is clear.

But in Shen Zheng's eyes, this was an unqualified notice.

The person who drafts the document should usually sit in the "office" and rarely go to the grassroots level, so he will not understand what a frog weighing two or three pounds means to the people.

Seeing her frown, Ji Benchang asked, "Xiao Shen, what do you think of this notice?"

Shen Zheng shook his head slightly, "I think there are three more things that need to be supplemented."

"Three places?" Ji Benchang thought there was only one at most, and his face instantly sank.

Shen Zheng nodded, took out a brush, dipped it in ink, and wrote, "First, some people, after discovering strange frogs, will not report them to the court, but will capture them on their own. Therefore, the method of capture must be clearly stated on the notice."

This is actually very easy to understand. When most people see an official, they are like mice seeing a cat. They can't even walk on the road. Naturally, they will think - why should I report to the government if I can do it myself?

Moreover, the image of people in the court is not necessarily kind in the eyes of the people.

If they ask people from the imperial court to catch frogs in their fields, the people will start to worry about their crops before the frog catchers even arrive.

What if it gets trampled on? What if it gets uprooted? You'll just have to swallow your anger.

Taking all these factors into consideration, Shen Zheng guessed that the majority of people should catch frogs on their own.

"What about the second one?" Ji Benchang asked.

"The second is that frog is a meat dish on the farmer's table."

She wrote, "While this can be used as food, it harbors many worms. Eating it raw can cause abdominal pain and bloody stools. In severe cases, if live worms enter the body, it can be life-threatening. If you wish to eat it, cook it over high heat for at least a quarter of an hour, until the flesh turns white and no traces of blood remain. Remember this."

Ji Benchang was stunned.

How come he forgot this...

"Xiao Shen, this..." He looked at the words on the notice and asked speculatively, "Did Doctor Li say this?"

Shen Zheng nodded. "Doctor Li spent the night reading medical texts. Although this strange frog isn't mentioned in the texts, medical records clearly state that paddy field creatures carry live worms and shouldn't be eaten raw, as it could be life-threatening. Doctor Li also said this strange frog reproduces quickly and is ferocious, making it particularly attractive to live worms."

"That's great." Ji Benchang said suddenly.

Shen Zheng looked up in confusion.

it is good?

What's good?

Is the walking biochemical matrix okay?

Ji Benchang quickly added, "With Doctor Li's living medical book here, those people will definitely not dare to act recklessly!"

So this is the best one.

Shen Zheng smiled and wrote the third point: "If anyone knows the date and location of the first sighting of this object, please report it to the local government office. Upon verification, a reward of ten taels of silver will be given."

Ji Benchang's eyes followed the pen, and his gaze fell directly on the last two words.

"Ten taels...? Isn't that too much?"

For him personally, ten taels of silver is a huge sum of money.

Shen Zheng tapped the word "first appearance" with the tip of her pen.

"There will only be one first appearance. Whoever's information is true and who discovers the strange frog first will get the ten taels of silver."

After a pause, she continued, "If Master Ji feels bad, I will give these ten taels of silver to the Ministry of Revenue."

Ji Benchang choked, suppressed his impulse, and waved his hand in a generous manner: "My Ministry of Revenue is such a big government office, how can I ask you to pay money?"

"I have my own thoughts." Shen Zheng suppressed his smile and said seriously, "Now, some people are spreading rumors, confusing this strange frog with the Huihe Project. This is detrimental to both me and the project..."