Pick up a princess to be your wife

There was a time when Li Mu had seen countless people with the same expression as them.

Before Li Mu rose to prominence, during Wu Fengxian's rebellion, the wandering refugees were just like them, living corpses.

Seeing the group of constables whipping people, sparing neither the elderly nor children, Li Mu and Zhong Wu were both furious.

Li Mu also knew that Da Ning had only unified the country for less than three years. Although it had issued a series of lenient policies, there were still many places in this vast country where corruption and filth could be hidden.

After all, Hexi Road was not Li Mu's original territory, and there were no Li Mu's loyal officials in this area.

If you don't come and see for yourself, you won't know the specific situation of the place.

Li Mu walked up to a constable who was dozing by the roadside, immediately bowed, and his face was full of smiles.

"May I ask, sir, what are you doing?" Li Mu asked in a low voice.

The constable glanced at Li Mu and said irritably, "Are you blind? Can't you see we're clearing the road?"

"But why are there so many old, pedantic scholars working here?" Li Mu asked.

"Dashi Village is only populated by the elderly, the weak, the sick, and the disabled. Do you expect us to do the work ourselves?" the constable said irritably.

"Do they receive a salary?" Li Mu asked.

"Why are you asking so many questions?" the constable asked impatiently.

Li Mu took out a piece of broken silver, his face full of an embarrassed smile.

“We are itinerant merchants from Hedong Road, and we would like to learn about the local customs and culture from you, sir,” Li Mu said.

The constable saw the silver and snatched it without any hesitation.

He glanced at the tall warhorses behind the two men, clearly not recognizing them as warhorses, but finding the four horses quite imposing.

Judging from their clothes, they are dressed better than the average person.

Looking at Li Mu's behavior, he does seem like a traveling merchant.

"To be honest, even we constables are barely scraping by, let alone these poor people. Salary? Where would we get a salary? We're lucky if we can even get a full meal," the constable said.

"Isn't that similar to corvée labor? Da Ning has explicitly stipulated that corvée labor has been abolished throughout the country," Li Mu said.

“What kind of forced labor is this? There are six landslides on this road. At this rate, it should be finished in about ten days. If we make them work, at least we'll provide them with one meal a day. If we don't make them work, they might starve to death anytime soon,” the constable said.

As the constable spoke, he glanced around and a pitiful look appeared in his eyes.

"Sigh, they're all pitiful people," he muttered to himself.

"Did the county order you to do this?" Li Mu asked.

"Originally, Da Shi Village was very remote, so the road collapsing was no big deal. Da Shi Village only had a few dozen households; whether they could come and go was none of the county government's business. However, one of the county magistrate's concubines was very fond of watching the sunrise. Here~"

The constable pointed in one direction.

"Dashi Village is situated on a high elevation, with a naturally formed viewing platform on top, making it an excellent spot to watch the sunrise. My wife loves to go there to watch the sunrise, so this path must be kept in good condition year-round."

Otherwise, it wouldn't be these poor people who suffer, but us, the officials in charge. We had no choice but to conscript so many laborers from nearby areas to clear the road.”

"Does the magistrate's wife often come to watch the sunrise?" Li Mu asked.

"Not really, it only happens two or three times a year," the constable replied.

It seems Wang Xiaoli was right; the magistrate of Tongling County is indeed a corrupt official.

Just because one of his concubines liked to watch the sunrise, and only came two or three times a year, he didn't hesitate to use two or three thousand people to clear a road for her.

However, road construction is not unreasonable. But the county magistrate did not pay any salary, which is tantamount to conscripting laborers.

This is blatant disregard for national law!

The constable suddenly remembered something and said, "Actually, there's another path leading up the mountain behind Dashi Village. It's a stone path, so it won't collapse. This narrow path was built so that the magistrate's wife's sedan chair could be carried up there."

Good guy!

It turns out that the entire road was built by the magistrate to please his concubine!

Li Mu discovered that this seemingly fierce constable didn't actually seem to be a heinous criminal.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have said so much all at once.

From his words, Li Mu could tell that he was quite dissatisfied with the county magistrate.

It must be because he's been in this line of work for so long, spending all his time with people like that, that's why he looks so fierce.

The constable seemed to have started talking and was about to say something more when suddenly a loud shout rang out.

"Liu Yuan!"

A constable strode over and slapped the constable named Liu Yuan hard on the forehead.

"All you do is slack off all day long! Get back to work!"

"Foreman Zheng, please calm down. I'm keeping an eye on them while they work." Liu Yuan immediately snapped to attention and quickly picked up the whip.

Zheng Mao glanced at Li Mu and his companion, then looked at the warhorses behind them.

"What are you doing?" Zheng Mao asked coldly.

"Officer, we are two traveling merchants. We've heard there are tea trees in this Dashi Village, and we'd like to come and see what the quality of the tea is like," Li Mu replied politely, bowing slightly.

Zheng Mao glared at the two men coldly and said in a cold voice, "Don't bother the officials while they're working, or I'll drag you both down to the fields with me. Get lost!"

"Please calm down, officer. We'll get out of here right now."

Li Mu bowed repeatedly, then prepared to leave with Zhong Wu.

Zheng Mao called out again.

"stop."

He walked over and circled the four warhorses.

"Those who want to do business in Tongling are welcome, but they'd better bring some gifts to show their respect to their father," Zheng Mao said coldly.

These four horses are so tall and majestic that they are instantly pleasing to the eye.

This horse might be even better than all the horses in the county government office!

If we take this back to the magistrate, it will surely please him.

"Oh? Sir, please accept this small token of my appreciation."

Li Mu took out a full five taels of silver and handed it to Zheng Mao.

Zheng Mao took it casually, but his face was full of disdain.

"You think you can get rid of me with just five taels of silver? Do you think I'm a beggar?" Zheng Mao said coldly.

"Officer, what else do you want? We came here today to scout the place, and we only have enough money left for the round trip." Li Mu said.

"Oh, since you're out of money, I'll keep these horses," Zheng Mao said.

"What?"

Li Mu actually knew exactly what Zheng Mao was thinking, but he pretended not to understand.

"I said, leave these horses for me, don't you understand? Do I have to repeat myself a few times?" Zheng Mao shouted angrily.

"This...I'm afraid it's not appropriate."