The Whole Village Thrives After Adopting a Lucky Girl - Chapter 449

Chapter 449: Chapter 445: Making Trouble_1
“Stop playing around, we’re going to eat dinner soon.”

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Yingbao pushed away Wei Zhan’s hand, turned around, and gently pushed away his head that had leaned in: “You go sit down, I am going to look at the accounts.”

Wei Zhan then squeezed himself next to his wife, stretching his neck to say, “I’ll look at it with you.”

Yingbao felt helpless, so she just let him be.

The ledger was riddled with errors and had obvious signs of tampering.

The more Yingbao examined it, the angrier she became.

This cannot continue, this county needs some serious restructuring, otherwise, wouldn’t she starve next year?

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However, before she could even start to set things straight, a large group of brightly-dressed folks had gathered outside the Commandery Princess Residence clamoring for food.

Some of them were shouting that their ancestors had always lived in Zhouhe County and existence had never been easy. However, with the arrival of the princess, a massive construction project had begun, making their lives even more unbearable.

Yingbao called over official Song, and asked, “Is this residence newly built by the Imperial Court, or is it a remodeled old house?”

Official Song bowed and said, “The old residence was purchased and remodeled by the Imperial Household Department. Money was also spent to purchase the surrounding land, and it did not disturb the people.”

Yingbao now understood.

Apparently, someone doesn’t take her, a commoner commandery princess, seriously, and is pushing her into a corner.

Fine then.

“Send a few people to quietly find out who those people outside are and who is leading them. Don’t alarm them when you find out, gather more evidence against them, big or small. I want everything from petty theft to bullying the weaker people. Make sure to get statements from the victims.”

“Isn’t this inappropriate…” official Song hesitated, “Princess, those people are all local powers, we’ve just arrived, we should not provoke them.”

Yingbao gave official Song a sidelong glance, “Are you saying that I, the Emperor-appointed Princess, am to be manipulated by these unruly folks in my own fief? Even if they slander me, I cannot speak up?”

Official Song bowed, “Your servant does not mean that, it’s just…”

Yingbao waved her hand dismissively, “You don’t have to say more. You are not needed in this, I will have others do it. You can go now.”

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Official Song wanted to say something else but ended up saying nothing, he bowed his head and left.

Yingbao then called Chu Shun and told him what to do.

Chu Shun agreed without hesitation and left on his mission.

That evening, Wei Zhan returned from outside the city with his men. When he heard about the people who had dared to cause trouble at the gate of the Princess Residence, he was furious.

“They’re desperate!”

We Zhan said, “During these past few days, I’ve been to several villages. There are many peasants who have no farmland of their own and rely on renting fields for their livelihood. However, the wealthy gentry and officials are colluding, falsely reporting the number and grade of their land to avoid taxes, the missing taxes are then imposed on the peasants.”

“In the villages, I heard various rumors of the ways the officials extract money from the peasants. One old man said they had to pay ‘sunshine tax’ for sunbathing under the city walls, failure to do so would lead to their arrest and subsequent ransom…”

Yingbao heard all of this with a stern face. She then drew out a dagger and gave it to Wei Zhan, “My master gave this to me, you take it. If you encounter such things, just arrest the officials involved. After interrogation, put them on trial in public and let the victims testify against them. If their crimes are severe, kill them on the spot!”

This place is her fief, there is no need to take any criminals to the Prefectural Government Office for trial. As long as the evidence is substantial, she can instruct the local magistrate to execute or imprison the criminals.

Of course, high-ranking officials still need to be sent to Beijing, where they will be tried by the Ministry of Justice. Only after the Emperor’s approval can they be executed.

We Zhan took the dagger, looked at it, then sheathed it again.

Although his position as a second-rank National General was largely ceremonial, he had dozens of followers who accompanied him.

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If he really wants to, handling a few low-ranking officials would be no problem.

However, it is Official Song’s duty to supervise him and Yingbao’s actions. If they were to do anything inappropriate, he would admonish them or directly send a report to Beijing to file a complaint.

Therefore, Wei Zhan is more restrained outside, afraid of causing trouble for Yingbao.

The next day, the troublemakers returned.

This time, they not only yelled outside, calling for the Princess to leave Zhouhe County but also waved their clubs, pitchforks, and other weapons, attacking three or four guards at the door.

When Yingbao and Wei Zhan heard the news, they walked out and stood on the steps, smirking.

These people might think that because she was a woman, she was easy to bully, but they didn’t know that even a commoner princess could have them killed on the spot.

“Guards! Arrest these rebels!” shouted Wei Zhan, “Those who resist will be killed without mercy!”

All of a sudden, about a hundred guards appeared from behind the troublemakers, surrounding the group of forty or fifty people.

Seeing this, the troublemakers were immediately thrown into panic. Some dropped their weapons and begged for mercy.

But there were ten or so thugs who were fearless and started shouting that they would fight the guards to the death, only to get injured by the disarrayed swords of the guards.

After this, the thugs became scared, all of them laid on the ground begging for mercy.

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“Take them to the County Government Office!,” Wei Zhan waved his hand and a hundred or so guards began to drag the rebels towards the County Government Office.

The area outside the princess residence soon cleared as the crowd of spectators disappeared.

Yingbao and Wei Zhan climbed into a carriage and headed towards the County Government Office.

Magistrate Mei had already heard the news and knew that the princess and her husband were visiting, so he rushed out to greet them.

Wei Zhan and his wife did not leave the carriage and said, “From yesterday until today, dozens of rioters have attacked the princess residence. Magistrate Mei, as the master of a county and in charge of its peace, you decided to turn a blind eye to this, how is that? Do you think that because you are so far away from the Emperor, you can treat Zhouhe county as your own territory?”

Magistrate Mei turned pale with fear and fell to his knees, stuttering, “I truly did not know, and we never received a complaint from the princess residence.”

Implied in his words was, if it was really so serious, why didn’t the princess residence come to the county government to report it?

Yingbao laughed, looking at Magistrate Mei, she found out that this man, in his fifties, was the same county magistrate who had handled the case of the Jiang and Chen families more than ten years ago.

How coincidental.

“Magistrate Mei, today I am handing over these rioters to you, I will come for the result tomorrow. If you try to conceal their crimes, suppress the truth, and cover up for the criminals, you need not stay in Zhouhe County anymore, find a higher position elsewhere.”

After Yingbao had said this, she turned to the Guards Captain, “Write down the names, birthplaces, and house registrations of these people. When you return, check them one by one, make sure to verify the family situations of everyone within five degrees of kinship.”

The Guards Captain boweed, “Yes!”

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Magistrate Mei turned white as he listened.

Among these people, many were relatives of his subordinates, as well as riffraff invited by the county magistrate himself.

They originally intended to intimidate the commoner princess and make her stay obediently in the residence without causing trouble. However, she ended up injuring so many of them and dragging them all the way to the County Government Office.

If she found out that he was involved, he was afraid he would not be able to keep his official hat.

What should he do?