Raising chickens and pigs and digging for wild vegetables, the county magistrate's promotion wa

Chapter 91 Magistrate Zhao: How dare you confront me so directly!

Magistrate Zhao never expected that just a few sarcastic remarks from him would cause Magistrate Yang to flip the table.

After glancing briefly at Magistrate Zhao's clothes and boots, Magistrate Yang continued with disdain: "Ningyang County under my jurisdiction is indeed small and dilapidated, and the people are poorly clothed and hungry. It is certainly not comparable to Wenshang County under Magistrate Zhao's jurisdiction."

"But I'm just wondering, why don't you, Magistrate Zhao, stay in your Wenshang County? Why do you have to come to my small and poor Ningyang County? Are you showing off how rich your Wenshang County is, or how well you, Magistrate Zhao, dress?"

Originally, he had come with a fierce and intimidating air, but after Yang Shaofeng's barrage of barbs, Magistrate Zhao's momentum faltered, and his face turned ashen.

Yang Shaofeng, the county magistrate, didn't care what Magistrate Zhao was thinking.

You are a county magistrate, and so am I. We are both officials of the seventh rank, so why should I give you, Magistrate Zhao, any face?

Yang Shaofeng gave Magistrate Zhao a cold glance and stopped leading him to the back of the county government office. Instead, he snorted and said, "I wonder what brings Magistrate Zhao to Ningyang County? If it's official business, please go to the main hall of the county government office. If it's private business," Magistrate Yang said with a forced smile, "then please go back to where you came from. I'm sorry I can't entertain you."

Hearing Magistrate Yang's words, Magistrate Zhao's anger flared up even more. Pointing at Yang Shaofeng, he shouted, "Magistrate Yang! I'm only here to see you because we served in the same court. Don't be ungrateful!"

Yang Shaofeng chuckled, raised his right hand, picked at his ear with his little finger, and then looked at Magistrate Zhao with a mocking tone: "I've always been ungrateful. Do you think you, Magistrate Zhao, can bite my bird?"

Magistrate Zhao was slightly taken aback, then flew into a rage, pointing at Yang Shaofeng and cursing, "Vulgar! Vulgar! This is an insult to civility!"

Yang Shaofeng sneered again, "Refined? Of the more than two thousand people in Ningyang County, who doesn't know that I, Magistrate Yang, am a refined man? However, I am refined in relation to people, not to you, Magistrate Zhao."

At this point, Yang Shaofeng suddenly adopted an impatient expression, "Does Magistrate Zhao have something to say? If not, I won't keep you company any longer!"

Magistrate Zhao took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down, and said in a deep voice, "Alright, then I'll be frank. I hope that you, Magistrate Yang, can manage the people under your jurisdiction well."

Upon hearing Magistrate Zhao's statement, Yang Shaofeng was slightly taken aback and asked, "The common people? May I ask Magistrate Zhao, what has the common people of Ningyang County done in Wenshang?"

Before Magistrate Zhao could answer, Yang Shaofeng turned to look at Lame Wu and asked, "What did the people of our Ningyang County do in Wenshang County?"

Magistrate Yang was somewhat guilty.

After all, Shandong is a place known for its bandits. If some commoner really does go crazy and causes trouble in Wenshang County, the county magistrate himself will be held responsible. He can't say that it's wrong for Magistrate Zhao to come and question him.

However, Limpy Wu shook his head in bewilderment. "Your Excellency, the only place in Ningyang County that borders Wenshang County is Heshan. The people of Heshan are busy picking beans out of the mud, and we haven't heard of any other disturbances."

Magistrate Zhao snorted coldly and said, "Do you, Magistrate Yang, know that there are now several more households in Heshan Village under the jurisdiction of your Ningyang County?"

Yang Shaofeng was somewhat bewildered by what Magistrate Zhao said.

To be honest, Heshan is quite far from Ningyang County, but relatively close to Wenshang County. A round trip would take most of the day, so unless there was something important, Magistrate Yang rarely went to Heshan.

Magistrate Zhao continued, "The people of Heshan in Ningyang County are always telling the people of Wenshang County how great Ningyang County is. Now, some people in Wenshang County are even clamoring to move to Ningyang County. Doesn't Magistrate Yang have to give me an explanation?"

"The people of Wenshang County moved to Ningyang?" Yang Shaofeng finally understood what was going on.

In the first year of the Hongwu reign, the most important thing for the court was to launch a northern expedition against the Mongol Yuan dynasty. Things like the household registration system had not yet been implemented, and there was no explicit prohibition against people migrating.

The people of Wenshang County likely heard from the people of Heshan how wonderful Ningyang County was, and that's why they wanted to move there.

In matters like this, as long as Magistrate Zhao of Wenshang County agrees and I, the Magistrate of Ningyang County, also agree to accept the task, things can be handled smoothly.

but!

The people of Wenshang County wanted to relocate to Ningyang, and the magistrate of Ningyang County agreed to accept them. However, Magistrate Zhao of Wenshang County was unwilling to allow the people to relocate under any circumstances.

Because the number of registered households and the number of people in a county involve a whole host of issues such as population growth, tax collection, miscellaneous taxes, and corvée labor, and even future performance evaluations and promotions, no county magistrate is willing to let the people under his jurisdiction move away.

Unless they've been paid.

Magistrate Yang was pleased, but he put on a completely bewildered expression and retorted to Magistrate Zhao, "What nonsense are you spouting, Magistrate Zhao? What does this have to do with me? What does it have to do with the people of Heshan?"

"Furthermore, His Majesty has not issued an edict forbidding the people from relocating, so why should you, Magistrate Zhao, have any say in where the people move to? Why don't the people of Ningyang County think about moving to your Wenshang County?"

"Damn it, you're just a lowly seventh-rank official, the same rank as me. Instead of thinking about how to govern Wenshang County well, you've come here to cause me trouble. I just said that you, Magistrate Zhao, have quite the airs of an official, and I was right!"

Magistrate Zhao was once again subjected to Yang Shaofeng's blatant bullying. Finally, unable to bear it any longer, he let out a cold snort, turned around, mounted a donkey, and looked down at Yang Shaofeng, shouting, "Magistrate Yang, you! You just wait until I impeach you! Farewell!"

Watching Magistrate Zhao ride away on his donkey, Magistrate Yang spat and cursed, "Damn it, daring to threaten me? What a piece of trash!"

Immediately afterwards, Yang Shaofeng turned to the lame Wu and said, "Remember to have someone tell the heads of the various villages and hamlets that if relatives from other prefectures and counties come to seek refuge, they should be taken in. They can register the relatives in the county register later. I am only afraid that there are too few people under my jurisdiction, not that there are too many."

After finishing his angry outburst, Magistrate Yang Shaofeng simply took Lame Wu and headed to the road construction site in the south of the city.

A road nearly thirty meters wide would definitely be considered the biggest project in Ningyang County, and Magistrate Yang couldn't afford to be careless about it.