The first poisonous scholar in Daxia, starting from the abdication of the prime minister

It took them twenty days of rushing all the way to reach Ningzhou Prefecture.

Looking at the dilapidated Ningzhou, Gu Jingzhi was overwhelmed. He had expected that Ningzhou would be dilapidated, but he didn't expect it to be dilapidated to this extent.

As the group stood at the city gate, the prince said with some complexity, "Ningzhou wasn't a wealthy prefecture twenty years ago, but it was still the prefecture of seven counties with a population of one million."

"But after going through wars and chaos, it came into the hands of our Great Xia. Now it is only four counties with a population of over 100,000."

"..."

This is a state capital, even worse than some county towns in the south.

Just over 100,000 people...

When Gu Jingzhi was working in the Hanlin Academy, he also looked up information about Ningzhou Prefecture. Of the more than 100,000 people, nearly half were in the prefecture capital, and the remaining four counties had a total of no more than 40,000 people.

Fufeng County has the smallest population, with only more than a thousand households and five to six thousand people.

What the hell is this county town?

"Let's enter the city first! We'll consider everything later!"

Even though Ningzhou is very poor, he has come here now and he still has to live his life and take care of the people here!

Gu Jingzhi entered the city with the imperial guards, which immediately caused a sensation.

After all, Ningzhou, which has been poor for more than ten years, has not seen such a grand scene for a long time. The streets, which are usually not crowded, are now full of people coming to watch the excitement.

Gu Jingzhi looked at the people on the street. Compared with the capital... even the poorest neighborhood was much better off than here.

At first glance, you can hardly see anyone on the street who can afford to wear silk.

It was even worse than Gu Jingzhi had imagined.

"Let's go to the government office first!"

Gu Jingzhi watched all the way and had a rough idea in his mind.

The convoy arrived in front of the government office. Looking at the office which was also a bit dilapidated, Gu Jingzhi sighed in his heart. It seemed that everything had to start from scratch!

When he got out of the car, an official was waiting in front of the government office with a dozen people.

"Ningzhou Prefecture Procurator Wu Xiang, along with the officials of Ningzhou Prefecture, greets the Marquis..."

"Meet the Marquis..."

"No need to be so polite..."

Gu Jingzhi helped the man up, looked at Wu Xiang and said with a smile: "Wu Xiang, you were a Jinshi in the 14th year of Jianwu. Is what I said wrong?"

"what?"

Wu Xiang was stunned and asked, "Does the Marquis know me?"

"I've reviewed the Ningzhou archives. Speaking of the entire Ningzhou Prefecture, the only person who has been promoted from the county level is you, Wu Xiang!"

Gu Jingzhi smiled slightly.

Wu Xiang has been an official in the court for six years. Now he is a sixth-rank prosecutor, in charge of the criminal law of Ningzhou Prefecture. Before this, apart from the prefect, there was only Wu Xiang left in Ningzhou Prefecture.

Because of Gu Jingzhi, the original prefect was transferred to another place, but even so, he happily went to take up the post.

After all, Ningzhou Prefecture is too poor.

The original prefect was only of the fourth rank, and he was appointed as the prefect by exception. Ningzhou itself had already fallen to the lowest level of prefecture.

Gu Jingzhi glanced at everyone and said, "Go into the government office first. I have something to discuss with Lord Wu!"

These words were naturally spoken to Lin Feng and Chen Yu. The Prince's family and the Qiao family had special identities, but this was not specifically pointed out!

Liu Sandao has now been promoted to the fifth-rank magistrate of Ningzhou, and is considered Gu Jingzhi's deputy. If Gu Jingzhi wants to discuss Ningzhou official business, he naturally has to stay.

The group entered the government office and were served tea by a servant.

Gu Jingzhi looked at the tea foam floating in the tea, without any disgust, and directly picked up the teacup.

Wu Xiang smiled awkwardly and said, "My Lord, this government office is now..."

"It's okay. Life is tough for everyone, and I understand!"

Gu Jingzhi smiled faintly and said, "Your Majesty has appointed me as the Northwest Tour Patrol and concurrently the Ningzhou Prefect. I think I will be staying in Ningzhou for a long time. This Marquis is not here to enjoy himself!"

"This……"

Wu Xiang naturally couldn't say that he didn't believe it.

Gu Jingzhi just smiled faintly, and then said: "The person next to me is the judge of Ningzhou. If I am not in the government office, you can let him make the decision if you have any problems!"

Although Liu Sandao is a martial artist, he also read books of sages in his early years.

But because he offended someone, he could only go to the Internal Guard Bureau to be a head, in charge of prison affairs.

However, after following Gu Jingzhi for a period of time, I have made great progress in some things.

After the two sides exchanged greetings, Gu Jingzhi said to Wu Xiang, "Next, as the official in charge, please tell me about the situation in Ningzhou Prefecture!"

"This one……"

Wu Xiang said shyly, "My Lord, our Ningzhou is poor and we don't have much land, so there aren't many things to do..."

"I'm sure the Marquis has seen this too. Ningzhou Prefecture only has four counties under its jurisdiction. Currently, each county is staffed with only a chief official, just like the Ningzhou Prefecture government. Counties with slightly larger populations do have some assistant officials, and Fufeng County is the worst off."

"Our Ningzhou has a small population, fertile land is scarce, and the population is getting smaller and smaller!"

"I've learned all about this!"

Gu Jingzhi was somewhat helpless: "It's just that, when the Ming Dynasty was founded, Ningzhou Prefecture had a registered population of 800,000. How come in just 20 years, the population has dropped to only 120,000 or 130,000?"

"This...is not because we are too poor!"

Wu Xiang said, "In the early years, there were still some powerful families in Ningzhou. Although they didn't have much fertile land, they took advantage of the Ningjiang River. With the support of the powerful families, the people could still make a living!"

Gu Jingzhi nodded slightly.

Ningzhou used to be the land of Yun State. In order to defend Daxia, a military headquarters was established here and controlled by the Gu family.

The Gu family has more than 100,000 Gu family soldiers, so Ningzhou is naturally stable.

When a place is stable, all industries will naturally prosper. There are many industries among the wealthy families, and Ningzhou is not poor.

But after the Gu family was exterminated, this place was annexed by Daxia. However, the largest Gu family and Lin family gradually became depressed, and other industries gradually shrank. Also, due to various reasons such as the changes in Ningzhou, it is now in ruins.

Gu Jingzhi said, "A state capital that can support tens of millions of people, no matter how dilapidated it is, wouldn't have only so few people left, right?"

"This one……"

Wu Xiang said helplessly, "Ningzhou originally had seven counties, but the three counties that mainly produced grain were transferred to the neighboring Qizhou Prefecture in the second year of Jianwu, so..."

"Understood!"

Gu Jingzhi nodded.

This is probably the work of some people, deliberately weakening Ningzhou.

After all, the people of Ningzhou were tough in the early years, and it was the place where Yun State recruited elite soldiers, so some measures are understandable.

but……

Gu Jingzhi frowned: "Even so, the remaining four counties can't only support such a small number of people, right?"

"It's all the bandits' fault!"

Wu Xiang said, "The remaining four counties don't have any good farmland. They're just hills everywhere, and some are winter paddy fields, which can't produce any food at all!"

"Add to that the bandits causing chaos, and over time this person either left or went into the mountains to become a bandit. Every time it was time to collect grain, there would be bandits coming down the mountain to cause chaos!"

"People work hard all year round, but the food they grow is sold cheaply to others. Over time, no one farms anymore, and people gradually leave!"

Gu Jingzhi: “…”