Li Zhisheng lives in the township chief's official residence, which used to be the home of the second largest gentry in the area.
The first gentry's house was of course the place where the village offices were held.
He, Honeysuckle, and everyone from the inspection station just arrived here yesterday.
Today he is going to Zhengjia Village, where the clan is the strongest in the township.
Use forceful means to deal with Zhengjia Village, kill the monkeys and scare the chickens, and other villages will no longer be a problem.
Li Zhisheng walked in the front, followed by deputy mayor Jinyinhua behind him.
Du Lin, the inspection director, followed with five inspectors.
Zhengjia Village is not far from Guanyin Hall, so they walked there.
Ahead is a small river with a wooden bridge across the river.
This small river is the mother river of Guanyintang, directly connected to Yimen Fort. It is called Qingjiang River.
Li Zhisheng used to be able to take a boat from Yimen Fort to Guanyin Hall, but now the river is too shallow to take the boat.
On the other side of the bridge is Zhengjia Village, the destination of their trip.
When Li Zhisheng came to Zhengjia Village, his first stop was the granary.
The granary is guarded by two squads of soldiers.
When the squad leader saw Li Zhisheng and the others arriving, he said happily: "I've been waiting for you. I've received the order from the regiment leader in advance.
Leave the granary to you and I can return to the team."
He was extremely happy. Guarding the granary and dealing with village affairs here made him feel dizzy.
Now I finally don’t have to worry about these troublesome things and can return to the team for training.
"Okay, let's start the handover."
Li Zhisheng quickly handed over the granary, and the squad leader left Zhengjia Village with the soldiers.
Li Zhisheng ordered people to beat gongs and go from house to house to notify the villagers to come to the granary for a meeting.
Soon most of the villagers in Zhengjia Village rushed to the granary.
Li Zhisheng stepped forward and announced directly: "I am the township leader Li Zhisheng.
I manage the village's tax collection, military recruitment, repair of water canals, and distribution of water sources for farming in several nearby villages."
He then added: "Zheng Biao has been executed by the governor's office, and his son was either executed or executed.
Their family will never return to Zhengjia Village.
You don’t have to repay the money you owe to the Zheng family. I will start dividing the land right away. You can now decide how many acres of land you want to borrow."
When the villagers heard the good news, they immediately became excited.
Li Zhisheng struck while the iron was hot and began to borrow grain and land.
There was no danger of the gentry coming back, so the villagers began to consider their own interests.
Knowing that the land loan policy is a very good opportunity, they rush to borrow land, fearing that the good land will be robbed by others.
It took him two full hours to complete the land loan work.
The villagers got a new land deed, which was a woodblock-printed land deed with Commander Su's seal printed on it.
Li Zhisheng stamped the township chief's seal and wrote the name of the person who loaned the land, the time, the number of acres of land, the location of the land and other information in the blank space of the land deed.
After completing the land loan work, Li Zhisheng looked at the villagers and said: "I will call those whose names are called to stand up."
Li Zhisheng obtained the list of family members joining the army from the military, and he read the names of these people's fathers.
The villagers were very worried and didn't know what happened. When they heard their name, they stood up from the crowd.
"Those who are literate, take a step forward."
After Li Zhisheng finished speaking, no villagers came forward. They were all illiterate.
"If you can figure it out, take a step forward."
A little old man came forward shivering.
"Sir, I am responsible for raising chickens for Mr. Zheng. The steward and I have learned addition and subtraction. Does this count?"
"Calculated."
Li Zhisheng began to read out the policy:
"In accordance with the requirements of the Commander-in-Chief Government, the village requires villagers to self-govern and first elects the village chief.
The village chief is the leader of the village, equivalent to the previous security chief.
It was the position of Zheng Biao's second uncle in the village.
One of the tasks of the village chief is to count how much tax you pay. It is best to choose someone who knows how to count.
You can start electing the village chief now."
Li Zhisheng chose two people who looked real among the remaining people.
He placed a bowl in front of the three people and gave each of them a grain of wheat.
When villagers want to choose someone to be the village leader, they throw wheat grains into his bowl.
The result was just as Li Zhisheng expected, the man who knew how to count was elected village chief with a high vote.
Li Zhisheng patted him on the shoulder and encouraged:
"You will be the village chief of Zhengjia Village from now on. What is your name?
You have to work hard in the future, and if you have any problems, please report to me in time. If you encounter any trouble in the village, you can also come to me to solve it."
He guides the villagers' election process through his words. With a village chief who can count under him, his work will be much easier in the future.
Zheng Baiya said excitedly: "My name is Zheng Baiya. If you need anything, please tell me to do it."
He never thought that he would be able to become an official in this life, even a village chief.
In his eyes, the chief security officer was a very big person before.
Li Zhisheng took the village chief to the granary for a secret talk.
He explained the policies of the commander-in-chief to Zheng Baiya.
"Village Chief Zheng, if you, the village chief, want to be rewarded for your meritorious service, you must cooperate with me to clean up the bad habits in the village."
Zheng Baiya had just become an official and was worried that he had no place to express himself, so he told Li Zhisheng everything he knew.
Li Zhisheng knows how to deal with bad habits.
He plans to start with bad habits that have a small impact and gradually eliminate bad habits in the village.
He took his people to live directly in the old mansion of the gentry, preparing to fight a protracted war.
Early the next morning, Li Zhisheng went door-to-door with his inspection team to explain the policy and prevent villagers from binding their daughters' feet.
He ignored the looks of fools from the villagers and explained to them the dangers and punishments of foot binding.
All villagers know this policy.
The villagers began to discuss: "What's wrong with this mayor? A fool binds his daughter's feet, and she can still get married even though she's disabled."
Li Zhisheng led the village chief and inspector directly into the home of Zheng Shitai, a rich farmer in the village.
Entering the courtyard, I heard a girl crying in the side room.
Li Zhisheng led people into the house and saw a woman binding the feet of a ten-year-old girl.
The little girl cried heartbrokenly, while her father Zheng Shitai watched from the side.
Li Zhisheng immediately warned: "Stop binding your feet immediately. If I find it again next time, I will arrest you."
Zheng Shitai repeatedly promised: "Sir, I will not violate the policy and give up foot binding."
He turned to look at his wife and scolded her: "You didn't hear your order, please let go."
When Li Zhisheng saw that he was obedient, he went to the next house.
"Bah! You bitch, you can take care of my family's affairs. Don't bind your feet and wait to marry a bitch."
When Zheng Shitai saw Li Zhisheng leaving, he immediately cursed.
"Keep hanging on." Zheng Shitai ordered, "Don't cry. If you cry again, I'll sell you."
Li Zhisheng went directly to Zheng Shitai's house the next day. When he saw that his daughter continued to bind her feet, he took Zheng Shitai away without saying a word.
Putting Zheng Shitai in labor camp was a drain on the whole village.
Zheng Shitai's relatives and friends encouraged the villagers to resist, and Li Zhisheng warned that anyone who dared to resist would lose their family fields.
Many villagers just watched the excitement and did not dare to get involved in this matter.
Du Lin led the inspection team to directly suppress Zheng Shitai's relatives and friends.
After Li Zhisheng reported this to the General Office, all these people were sentenced to forced labor and forced to clean up the Qingjiang River waterway.
Li Zhisheng's methods shocked the villagers so that they no longer dare to underestimate the authority of the township chief.
He initially established his authority and began to announce that women would not be prevented from remarrying.
Li Zhisheng directly used coercive means to arrest several parents-in-law, and no one in the village dared to oppose remarriage.
The bad habit of infant drowning was relatively common in the village. Li Zhisheng first announced the establishment of a welfare home in the village and recruited people in the village to take care of the children.
After the orphanage was put into operation, he announced that infant drowning was not allowed.
If you cannot afford to raise a child, you can give the child to the village chief and send him to an orphanage. Infant drowning will be punished with a severe sentence.
Li Zhisheng caught a few examples, and these people were sentenced to severe sentences. The villagers fully understood the authority of the township, and the three bad habits in the countryside were slowly eliminated.
