The journey of the only child of a peasant family to take the imperial examination

"Ah? You still have to go out for inspection so late?" County Magistrate Yang said in surprise, and his tone paused.

"What? You don't want to?" Zhang Pingan raised his eyebrows.

County Magistrate Yang quickly bowed and said with a wry smile, "I dare not. Your Excellency is diligent in his work and loves the people. I should emulate your virtue and take you as my role model!"

After saying this, he made a gesture of invitation and said with a smile, "Please go first, sir!"

So the two of them went to the beach together with a few yamen runners.

First, we went to the breakwater near the pier.

Now, Ci County is not only closely watched by its superior Zhang Pingan, but also has a large number of naval forces stationed there and a large number of foreign population.

County Magistrate Yang worked diligently and without any adulteration, and the repair and reinforcement of the breakwater was done very well.

Zhang Pingan looked at it and nodded, praising it: "Very good, County Magistrate Yang has worked hard!"

Upon hearing this, County Magistrate Yang smiled brightly and said modestly, "I dare not take any credit for it. It was all thanks to your Excellency's careful arrangements!"

A few people walked along the breakwater at the seaside. As the sky grew darker, the wind and waves on the sea became stronger and stronger.

Unlike the usual tides, these waves clearly carry plenty of water vapor.

County Magistrate Yang sniffed and said, "It looks like this rain is going to be quite heavy!"

"Most of the old farmers will observe the weather. If the weather is not right, they will definitely harvest early. In addition, Lord Zhou has also sent fast horses to notify the surrounding areas. I hope it will not affect the people's harvest this year!" Zhang Pingan said with some concern.

When it was completely dark, everyone returned to the city.

As soon as Zhang Ping'an arrived at the back court, a servant came forward and reported, "Sir, in the evening, as you instructed, I took the map to the camp outside the city to find Master Zhou. He has already sent fast horses to the surrounding villages and towns to supervise the autumn harvest. He also brought your message to the village heads to arrange for people to help with the harvest!"

"Okay, I understand," Zhang Pingan replied, pinching his eyebrows tiredly.

Tonight is destined to be a sleepless night!

By midnight, with the rumbling thunder, heavy rain began to fall outside.

Zhang Ping'an was awakened from his bed by the thunder, so he simply put on his clothes, got out of bed and went to the study.

Standing by the study window, looking at the drizzling rain outside, Zhang Pingan could only sigh.

The feet are steaming with the heat of the earth, the back is burning with the scorching sun. There is no idle land in the world, yet farmers still starve to death.

From ancient times to the present, life has been so difficult for the lower-class farmers!

The heavy rain continued all night and gradually subsided at dawn the next day.

Zhang Ping'an didn't sleep in the second half of the night.

But fortunately, the final result is good.

After the sky was completely bright, Lieutenant General Zhou sent someone to inform that the villages and towns under him had already started harvesting the crops overnight. The village head organized the families who had finished harvesting to help the families who had not yet harvested.

Therefore, this rainstorm ultimately caused little damage to the people, which made Zhang Pingan feel relieved.

It rained heavily for three days and the water level at the seaside rose a lot.

At one point, Zhang Pingan even felt like the dam was about to collapse.

Fortunately, nothing happened in the end.

Lieutenant General Zhou had been staying in the yamen for the past few days. When he saw that the rain had stopped, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Damn it, I said God wouldn't be so blind. The rain has finally stopped. This autumn harvest is crucial!" Lieutenant General Zhou cursed.

"Yes, at least the people don't have to worry about winter this year," Zhang Pingan also said.

Lieutenant General Zhou slumped back in his chair, sipping his tea, and suddenly asked, "By the way, Lord Zhang, has your friend returned from the sea?"

"Which friend?" Zhang Pingan asked back, pretending to be stupid.

"It's the kid from the Ge family. His family has been royal merchants for generations," said Lieutenant General Zhou, raising his eyebrows.

"Oh, you mean him? He did come back. What's wrong?" Zhang Ping'an responded with an inquiring look.

He was really curious about the relationship between Lieutenant General Zhou and Green Bean Eyes, so why did he care about him so much?!

Lieutenant General Zhou saw Zhang Ping'an's look and spread his hands helplessly. He sighed and said, "Master Zhang, please don't look at me like I'm on guard against a thief. I'm a rough man and I don't speak in a roundabout way. Let me tell you straight. My master just wants to do business with Young Master Ge. Since it's a business, the final decision still belongs to Young Master Ge. I have no bad intentions towards him. I'm just passing on a message!"

"Master Zhou wants to do business with Brother Ge?" Zhang Pingan was really surprised. "Does this business have to be done by Brother Ge? Why are you waiting for him to come back from the sea?!"

"Then I don't know," Lieutenant General Zhou continued, unwilling to elaborate. "Please help introduce us, Lord Zhang. We are sincere and don't want to use force before we even meet. If possible, we would like to sit down and have a proper discussion as politely as possible!"

First use courtesy, then force. Zhang Pingan smiled in his heart.

I don’t know how the green bean eyes caught their eye.

"I will tell Brother Ge the truth about this matter. In the end, he will have to make the final decision himself," Zhang Pingan said finally.

"Thank you very much, Lord Zhang," Lieutenant General Zhou said with a fist salute.

Within two days, the sky cleared up completely.

The county government needs to arrange tax collection.

Chen Jianqiu and Fang Ziqi also returned from the other two counties temporarily to rest.

Both of them were extremely tired. This tiredness was not physical, but mainly because their minds were tense all the time and they felt a little overwhelmed.

It’s too mentally taxing!

This also made Zhang Pingan reflect on himself. There are still too few available people around him, and he should train more capable people.

This year's tax collection will still follow the old rules, and County Magistrate Yang will be mainly responsible for the county.

Fang Ziqi and Chen Jianqiu were responsible for the other two counties.

It needs to be collected within a time limit, and finally transported to the provincial capital by the county lieutenant, and then transported to Lin'an and deposited into the national treasury.

Lieutenant General Zhou even grumbled a few words about this: "After collecting the rations from the national treasury, we have to allocate them to the military, and then finally transport them back. Isn't that troublesome?"

Zhang Pingan explained in a deep voice: "One thing at a time, the imperial court's rules cannot be wrong, there's no doubt about that!"

Because Zhang Ping'an supervised the autumn harvest very strictly this year, and before the heavy rain came, he also sent people to various villages and towns to notify them in advance and urge the village heads to rush to harvest, so the common people have a very good impression of Zhang Ping'an, the county magistrate.

They also actively cooperated in collecting taxes after the autumn harvest.

The situation of yamen runners going to the countryside to collect taxes violently as in previous years did not occur.

This year can be considered a bumper year. After paying taxes, the remaining food rations are enough for the common people to barely get by!

Green Bean Eyes is still recuperating recently. In addition to eating delicious food every day, he also sells all the goods he brought back and makes a small profit.

After all, no matter what era, there is no shortage of rich and powerful people!

Zhang Ping'an told Admiral Zhou that he wanted to invite him to dinner and do business with him, but Green Bean Eyes didn't think it was a big deal.

He said nonchalantly, "Then go ahead. It's nice to be invited to dinner! I have to go and find out for myself whether it's a human or a ghost!"

"Anyway, you'd better be careful. Lord Zhou has a lot of power behind him. Since the rebellion in the south was quelled, he has a high prestige among the people. Even if you can't make a deal, don't offend him," Zhang Pingan advised.

"I understand this principle!" Green Eyes waved his hands.

However, he never expected that the business that Lord Zhou wanted to do with him would require him to travel so far.