"Sir Cai Zhaoxu has met Lord Tang!" An official in his thirties and gentle and elegant stood in front of the county yard to salute Tang Feng. This person was the county magistrate of Jing County. Behind him were several Shuli and other officials from the county, all bowed to Tang Feng and others with smiles on their faces. Tang Feng hurriedly returned the tribute, and then entered the county yard gate accompanied by the county officials.

"I didn't expect that County Magistrate Cai was so elegant. If he hadn't been wearing all his official uniforms, I would have thought he was a teacher in a private school." Tang Feng looked at Cai Zhaoxu a few times, and then thought to himself. Just as he was thinking, the few people came to the second hall, and saw that there were only a few very simple chairs, a desk, and the others were some books and official documents in this not-so-large hall. It looked very shabby.

Seeing Tang Feng looking at the layout in the hall, Cai Zhaoxu smiled awkwardly: "It's a pity to laugh at me. My Jing County is a poor person, and the Xiaguan is a teacher, so the arrangement of the two halls is very casual."

"This arrangement is also very good. These two halls are for work. As long as there are tables, chairs and other items, it is enough. Why should it be too extravagant?" Tang Feng said with a hurried smile, and then staggered the topic: "Why, Lord Cai has been a gentleman before?"

"It is precisely because the lower officials were forced to pass the Jinshi exam, so they worked as a private school teacher for one year, so they developed the habit of miscellaneous books." While Cai Zhaoxu was speaking, a yamen runner had already sent tea in. He hurriedly took the tray himself and presented tea to Tang Feng and Lu An who came with him. After signaling to ask for it, he continued: "Because the lower officials were born in poverty since childhood, they knew the difficulty of being promoted to the minority, so they have been frugal in recent years and dared not have any inappropriate thoughts."

Tang Feng smiled and took the teacup and put it in his hand to thank him. He smiled and said, "If everyone in the Ming Dynasty can be as thrifty as Lord Cai, you will be as good as the people of the world. You are really a role model for the officials of the court." After saying these polite words, Tang Feng took a sip of tea, but suddenly frowned and almost spit out the tea in his mouth.

Tang Feng had drunk a lot of tea in his previous life and in this life, but he had never drunk such a difficult tea to swallow. Even the tea that he drank in such a remote place in Liaodong was much better than this tea. The tea looked fine, but it was bitter and astringent when he was in the mouth, and there were a lot of fine powder inside, so he could not be called tea at all. However, in order to avoid the bad appearance of Cai Zhaoxu, Tang Feng had to drink the thing that could be called tea with a bitter face and swallowed it. When he looked at Cai Zhaoxu, he saw that he was drinking the cup of tea with a complacent manner, without frowning at all because of the bitterness of the tea.

Tang Feng knew that he would probably stay here for two days. If he was always forced to drink such tea, he would feel uncomfortable. He didn't know if he would have diarrhea after drinking it, so he asked tactfully: "Mr. Cai, I don't know if your tea is..."

After hearing his words, Cai Zhaoxu slapped his head as if he remembered something: "Sir, I forgot to prepare tea and forgot to tell them, but I neglected my parents. Come and make a pot of good tea for the guests." As he said that, he bowed to Tang Feng several times.

Tang Feng still asked, "What does County Magistrate Cai mean? Do you still see people serving tea in your county government?"

"My Lord, please forgive me. This bad tea is what the yamen and the officials in their spare time. It is very inferior. Only when distinguished guests like the yamen come to the door will the officials make good tea. Today, because I forgot and did not order those people, they will make such bad tea." Cai Zhaoxu said and smiled apologetically.

Tang Feng then said relieved: "So that's it. I think the customs here are so. I have also been a county magistrate in the Nanzhili area, but I have never seen such a situation, so I can't adapt for the moment."

"Oh, have you ever been an official in Nanzhili? Then the official is disrespectful." Cai Zhaoxu said again. The two of them talked about the officialdom in Nanzhili with one word. When he knew what Tang Feng had done in She County, he was even more respectful: "It turns out that you are the Lord Tang who makes the powerful people in that place fear the three parts. The official admires you so much. I didn't expect that you can still drink tea and talk with the adults today. It's really a blessing in my life!"

Tang Feng felt a little embarrassed by his words. After a few humble words, he turned to the topic: "I believe that Lord Cai, you should also know the purpose of this official coming to Jingxian County this time, right?"

"Does the lower official understand that the lord cannot submit the tax for the previous tax? The villain reported this to the prefect Yang before the New Year. He also knew about it when the locust plague in our county last year, so he and the lower official submitted a complaint to the court. After that, the imperial court approved the request from the lower official, but he said that he would send people to investigate. It seems that the lord has come to investigate the situation in our county?" Cai Zhaoxu said immediately without any avoidance.

"That's right, I heard that Jingxian was suffering from disaster, and I was very concerned. However, some people were afraid that there would be any mistakes, so I ordered my official to come here to find out. I wonder if Lord Cai could tell me in detail about this matter? If the county is indeed in trouble, I can not only exempt this year's taxes for you, but also ask the court to reduce this year's taxes."

"Since the Lord has asked, the officials should report it truthfully! If the court can really allocate some money and food to provide relief for the disaster, then the Lord will be the reborn parents of the people of Jing County." Cai Zhaoxu said as he stood up and saluted.

Tang Feng smiled and said, "Mr. Cai is dedicated to the people who govern the land. I am just doing my duty. You don't have to do this. You should tell me the details, so I can report to the court."

"Yes, sir, let me listen to me." Cai Zhaoxu started to say after taking a sip of the inferior tea. As the bag said, when the crops in the fields were about to mature and could be harvested last fall, a group of locusts suddenly came from somewhere. The number of locusts was not large at that time, only a hundred, and the county did not take it seriously. However, after a certain morning, locusts suddenly increased and attacked the rice that could be harvested in groups. Although the farmers launched a rapid rush to harvest under the command of the county, they were still much slower than the astonishing number of locusts. As a result, after a few days, more than half of the food was destroyed by locusts, and the yield of the snatched rice was greatly reduced because the time had not arrived.

After the calculation, Cai Zhaoxu realized that this amount of food was only enough for the people to eat by themselves. If they paid according to the tax rate of the court, many families would not be able to celebrate the New Year. In desperation, he had to report the matter to the mansion. Finally, after visiting the field in person, Yang Bin confirmed the news, and then submitted a statement to the court, requesting to exempt Jingxian from taxes.

"So that's the case. This is indeed caused by natural disasters. Moreover, you, Magistrate Cai, did a good job and did not do anything that would lose the hearts of the people because you wanted to communicate with the court. I should tell the matter to the court." Tang Feng said after hearing the matter.

"I would like to thank Lord Tang for this. If the people of Jingxian really have a good life because of Lord Tang, the officials will never forget your kindness forever!" Cai Zhaoxu said with a look of gratitude on his face. Then the few people went to the back hall to use the meal. Although it was just a few simple dishes, it was much better than the rough tea, so Tang Feng didn't say much.

After dinner, Tang Feng was arranged to rest in a court in the county. After sending Cai Zhaoxu and others away, Tang Feng called Lu An: "When will the few people you arranged to inquire about the situation come to the county town?"

"Because I'm afraid that someone will doubt it, these brothers will come to the county town at noon tomorrow, and today they will investigate the situation in the countryside outside the city. But I am really confused today. When I heard Mr. Xia's words at noon, I thought what he said was true, but after listening to the words of Crazy Cai, I felt that he did not lie, which was a bit difficult to distinguish." Lu An looked at Tang Feng with some confusion.

Tang Feng said hesitantly: "So it's too early to tell you to have a conclusion about this matter at noon. Since we heard two completely opposite news from both sides, we can't make a rush to make a judgment. This requires us to arrange for the people behind us to investigate secretly." It turned out that before entering the county town, Tang Feng was careful because of a conversation at noon, so he asked several clever people from the people who followed him to enter the city later, and then walked around among the people to ask about the situation. This may have unexpected results. In fact, Tang Feng originally wanted to visit him in a private manner, but later he thought that the news of his coming here had been spread. If the other party had a ghost in his heart, he might have a trick to deal with it, so he simply built a plank road and secretly crossed Chen Cang to attract the attention of Cai Zhaoxu and other county officials, and secretly sent people to investigate the matter, so he could find out the matter clearly.

After returning to the county government office, Cai Zhaoxu did not go to bed, but called his master and the captain to his study, and then said in a stern manner: "Looking at this Lord Tang, it's not so easy to get rid of my Jing County, so we have to be very energetic. Master Tong, have you ever found out the details of those who are in a difficult position with our yamen?"

The very old master yawned and said, "Don't worry, sir, we have already found out the details of these people. With just one word from him, we can take them all down."

"That's great!" Cai Zhaoxu nodded and said to the captain: "Captain Han, I will accompany Lord Tang to walk around in the townships tomorrow to make him convinced that there were locusts, so please bring someone to prepare earlier, so don't let Lord Tang see anything that shouldn't have seen."

"Yes, I will bring people to prepare tonight." Captain Han was a big guy, full of energy, and immediately replied loudly. The county government was very busy that night, and the lights were on all night.
Chapter completed!