Guo An stopped and asked following the words of Ning Deyou and Qinong.
Seeing this, Ning De's face was filled with joy, and he quickly raised his hands and said, "I would like to inform you, the county magistrate, that there are more than 10,000 households living outside the city, and more than 800 hectares of fields!
Even if the county magistrate takes me and others to inspect three hundred acres of fields every day, it will take a year to inspect it once.
The county magistrate only needs to order me and other housekeepers to do such tedious and menial tasks as inspecting the land and household registration. How can the magistrate be bothered every day?
Moreover, the county magistrate has deigned to go to the village to inspect the village in person, so the grain chief, li chief, and armor chief of each li must come forward to pay homage to the county magistrate.
The county magistrate can just take this opportunity to have a detailed and in-depth understanding of the conditions of the households in each village!"
Hearing this, Guo An smiled slightly and said, "I am going to the village this time. I just want to use this free time in the yamen to understand the living conditions of the people under our rule in Wanping County. It doesn't mean much."
Ning Deyou and Qinong's expressions froze slightly.
Guo An looked up and sighed at the group of farmers who had been following them and keeping a distance from them.
"However, since these farmers already know that I and you are coming, let them come over just in time to ask some questions!"
Now, Ning Deyou and Qinong's faces became tense again.
However, in front of Guo An, it was difficult for the two of them to make any small moves, so they could only order an official to invite the armor commanders and grain commanders from far away.
"The king of the common people has come to see the county magistrate!"
"The little people would rather Da Guang see the county honor!"
"Xiaomin..."
The visitors were all a group of old men over sixty years old. Guo An did not want to provoke them without any reason, so he quickly returned the greeting with a slightly cupped hand.
"Guo An, the magistrate of Wanping County, has met all the elders!"
"Guo County Zun is the magistrate of Wanping County and we must not do this!"
"Exactly, Guo County Zun Sha Sha and the others..."
All the old men were shocked by Guo An's actions, and their faces were filled with fear.
"Although I am the county magistrate, I am only higher than you in official position. But here, you are the juniors and elders. When I see you elders, you should be polite to the juniors!"
Guo An quickly replied, these elderly people are not only the local bullies of each village, especially the grain chiefs, they can also go directly to the capital to meet with Lao Zhu for an interview, and they are not easy to mess with.
Then, after some humility, he returned to the topic.
"I wonder what the magistrate is doing here this time?"
An old man with a kind face asked Guo An respectfully.
Guo An explained harmoniously: "Guo An was fortunate enough to be favored by His Majesty and other superior officials, and was hastily appointed as the magistrate of Wanping County. However, Guo An's talent was shallow and he was afraid that Wanping County could not be managed well, so he took Ning Hufang with him.
The two people from each household took the yellow book and the fish scale book to have a good understanding of the conditions of each village under the jurisdiction of Wanping County.
Only in this way can we start to govern Wanping County."
"I see!"
All the old men breathed a sigh of relief.
"Your Excellency Guo County has just taken office, and he is so conscientious and tireless in thinking about the tens of thousands of people in Wanping County. I, the people of Wanping County, are blessed!"
"As long as the common people don't stab Guo An in the back, Guo An will be satisfied!"
Ning Deyou and all the old men couldn't help but change their expressions.
"Guo Xianzun's words are serious. It's too late for us to respect and love such a good official like Guo Xianzun who loves the people like his own son!"
"Exactly, exactly. We, the people of Wanping County, are not fools. We know how to be a good official..."
"Haha, thank you elders for your support!"
Guo An laughed happily, stopped talking, and asked directly to the old man who spoke first: "I wonder how many acres of land there are in Ning's hometown?"
"It makes Guo Zhixian laugh. As the grain chief here, I have the most acres of land in my family. There are ten acres of official land and twelve acres of private land!"
Guo An nodded slightly and continued to ask: "I wonder how many acres of land the person with the least land here has?"
Hearing this, Ning Daguang and Ning De had a flash of doubt in their eyes, but now Guo An had the Yellow Book and the Fish Scale Book in his hands, and they couldn't hide it even if they wanted to.
"Back to the county magistrate, the family with the fewest acres belongs to the Zhuzhu family. A family of four only has three acres of official land and two acres of private land!"
"Only five acres of land can feed their family of four for a year?" Guo An asked again.
"Reporting to the county magistrate, we untouchables can never have enough to eat. As long as we don't starve to death, we'll be lucky!"
Ning Daguang laughed at himself.
"What if there is no food to eat?" Guo An continued to ask.
"If you don't have food to eat, you'll eat wild vegetables, tree roots, or fish in rivers, whatever you can eat. Or you can work as part-time laborer for some wealthy families. In the end, you'll have to sell yourself to some rich and powerful people.
s home……
However, Beiping Prefecture is fortunate to have been granted land by the King of Zhongshan, and basically every household has official land for farming, so there really won’t be any starvation!”
It seemed that he really saw that Guo An, the newly appointed county magistrate, didn't understand anything, and Ning Daguang had nothing to hide.
"call……"
Guo An exhaled slowly and asked again: "I wonder if there are cattle in Ning's hometown, and what farm tools are used to cultivate the land?"
"Reporting to the county magistrate, I only have two plowing oxen at home. As for the agricultural tools used to cultivate the land, they are only plows, columbians, hoes, harrows, shovels, hoes, sickles and other agricultural tools..."
Ning Daguang explained in detail.
Guo An listened in a daze, understanding some of the words but not others.
"Guo An is ashamed. He has only studied classics since childhood, but is not very familiar with these farm tools. I wonder if Guo An can see these farm tools?"
What a strange magistrate!
Ning Daguang and several people in Ningde were all stunned, and some did not understand the newly appointed magistrate of the county.
However, at this moment, the legs of several people who had already stood were trembling, and they were very happy to go back and rest for a while.
"This is my honor, please come here, the county magistrate!"
"Mr. Ning, you're so polite!"
However, before Guo An, Ning De and others reached Ning Daguang's home, they saw a somewhat familiar government servant running over in a panic from a distance.
Before they could reach Guo An and Ning De, they already started shouting, "County Lord, County Lord, something big has happened!"
"What makes you so panicked?" Guo An asked.
"The County Honor... The County Honor..."
The officer's face turned red, he took a few deep breaths, and said hurriedly: "The Shangguan of the Chief Envoy's Department has just handed down a decree. His Highness King Yan requires all states and counties in the Beiping Prefecture to cultivate 10,000 hectares of land each within two years.
!”
"Create 10,000 hectares of land in two years?"
Guo An's expression changed.
As for Ning Deyou, Qinong and others on the side, their mouths opened wide!
"Ten thousand hectares of fields, how is this possible?"
"Ten thousand hectares, how can we cultivate it with just tens of thousands of people in Wanping County?"
Ning Daguang, Wang Shilai and other old people also had sad faces.