Like other buildings in the city, Yangzhou government offices were also destroyed in this war, and even seemed to be more severe than houses and shops.

Its outer wall collapsed, and only half of the gate was left. Even the two stone lions squatting at the door were missing feet and broken teeth, covered with scars. They were obviously pushed down and smashed, and then stood up again. The only place that was better than the houses was that the second hall here had been repaired for a while, so that at least officials and others could handle affairs.

Looking at the prefect's yamen that were so damaged, Li Ling felt even more helpless. Such a look would naturally have a great impact on the prestige of the government. He really had a long way to go. Chu Lian and others followed him back to the yamen, and their faces were complicated, and they didn't know how to speak, for fear that the new adults would get angry.

It was not until Li Ling coughed and asked, that they looked up and said, "It seems that this yamen has been repaired? Did you call the people to do things?"

"When I say that, it was not the idea that the officials and others made. Lu Xie's family sent someone to help us repair it, saying that the yamen could not be really destroyed. However, because the city was short of food later, the people couldn't continue to support it. The two families needed a large number of people to maintain order when serving porridge, so they did not continue to help us repair the yamen." Chu Lian replied bitterly.

Because Yangzhou City was captured by rebels, too many officers and soldiers were killed and killed, resulting in many casualties in the city, which made the government's prestige in the local area plummet. Now it is difficult to implement the government orders of the government office below, so it is naturally impossible to summon Ding Zhuang to repair the office at this time.

When Li Ling heard this, his brows quickly frowned: "Lu family and Xie family?"

"Yes, the lord may not know much about the general public sentiment here when he first came to Yangzhou. Let the officials explain it to you first." As he said, Chu Lian invited Li Ling to a pretty intact public house. Without fragrant tea, he poured him a cup of water.

During this period, most of the others went to other signing rooms to work on their own responsibilities. The prefect arrived today, but had not officially succeeded yet, so they were not willing to follow him.

Li Ling did not mean to leave everyone, and let them leave. Then, while drinking the clean water of the well, he said: "The Lu family knows that they are one of the nine surnames in Jiangnan and have always been the masters of Yangzhou. Because of the relationship between the mainland prime minister of the dynasty, they have become the leader of the nine surnames. Their power is not only in Yangzhou, but also in the entire Jiangnan. They should not be underestimated."

"What the Lord said is that the Lu family is indeed very powerful, and even our government office has to rely on them in many things. Especially in some commercial affairs, the Lu family is deeply involved here. It can be said that half of the commerce and trade in Yangzhou cannot be separated from them. In addition, the land they have mastered is worthy of being the first in Yangzhou."

Li Ling nodded. He had already mastered this before coming here and was mentally prepared. But now he valued another family: "What's the situation with the Xie family?"

"If there is any other family in Yangzhou City that can compete with the Lu family now, it is the only one of the Xie family. Because this family discusses family background and origins are still above the Lu family." Chu Lian looked at Li Ling and said, "The Xie family is said to be descendants of the Xie family of the rich clan of the Jin Dynasty..." "Xie family? The former king and Xie Tang, the Xie family who flew into the homes of ordinary people? The Xie family of Xie An of the Eastern Jin Dynasty?" Seeing the other party nodding, Li Ling frowned again, "That's all from hundreds of years ago. Does his Xie family still have such glory and power?"

If Li Ling is still acceptable to the Lu family, he would be a little confused about the newly emerged Xie family. As he said, the Xie family in the Eastern Jin Dynasty was indeed famous in the world, and it was no exaggeration to be called the world's number one, but that was the old yellow calendar hundreds of years ago. After experiencing the three dynasties of the Tang and Song Dynasties and the current Dayue Dynasty, and hundreds of years of imperial examinations, can these old antiques stand firm?

Then, Li Ling remembered another point, even if the Xie family is not powerful, shouldn’t it be a family in Jinling? Why did he come to Yangzhou?

"I don't know that the Xie family was indeed far inferior to the original power, and only had some family property, and had no influence in the officialdom and the people. However, a hundred years ago, when Taizu's reign became a dynasty, the Xie family made great efforts and handed over almost all their wealth to Taizu, asking him to recruit soldiers and horses. Moreover, after Taizu accomplished his career, the head of the Xie family at that time did not take credit. Not only did he not seek title from the court, but he refused all official positions, and even withdrew from the important land of Jinling and moved to Yangzhou.

"Because of this, Emperor Taizu gave them the Xie family's iron coupons and granted him the Changxing Marquis who was inherited by the Xie family. Although he was just a casual marquis and had no actual position, the Xie family's status in Yangzhou was still quite high. In addition, his family was good at doing business and had prosperous descendants, so he has now become one of the nine surnames in Jiangnan. In terms of influence and financial resources, he is not under the Lu family..."

Li Ling wanted to scratch his head. Is this a super double difficulty? The Lu family alone is already a BOSS-level difficulty for him. Now, if the Xie family is added, there is a Marquis there. He wants to use them to take action and seize food from them. The difficulty has really increased in geometric multiples.

After a while of silence, he remembered a question: "Since these two families have great wealth, what did they do when Yangzhou encountered disaster? Did the rebels have helped defend the city and attacked them?"

Chu Lian sighed with some angrily: "The government office did ask these two families for help that day, but they both used their limited ability and could only protect themselves as an excuse, stayed silent and defended their own land. As for those rebels, after attacking our Yangzhou City, they did have the idea of ​​these two families and sent troops to attack Lujiazhuang and Xiejiabao.

"But in the end, I was unable to enter the door, which caused a lot of people to lose. Afterwards, I heard that the two families took the initiative to take some money and grain to buy the rebels, so they did not get attacked by more soldiers."

Li Ling didn't know what to say. The strength of the Yangzhou defenders was too poor. Even the guards of ordinary families could withstand the attacks. They could not defend themselves with the support of cities. But then, his eyes flashed again and thought of a key: "These two families are so bold. If they hand over money and food to rebel, what's the difference between them and the rebellion of the enemy? After that, you didn't report to the governor's office. Will they punish them for their crimes?"

Once such a crime is really detained on both of them, even Lu Zhen will not be able to deal with it, right?

Chu Lian trembled, but he didn't expect that the new magistrate had such deep hostility towards these two families, and quickly said, "Sir, you can't blame them. Because in addition to his two families, many people in the city also fled into Lujiazhuang and Xiejiabao. They also had to hand over money and food to retreat to the rebels in order to protect everyone from infringement.

"If I really arrest this point, what will the court make in the end and say nothing about him. I'm afraid the people of Yangzhou will only be more disappointed with the government. This is really not a proper way."

Only then did Li Ling understand, nodded, and gave up the idea of ​​making a fuss about this matter in the future. No matter what the two families wanted to take in and protect ordinary people, this action alone gave him a different understanding of the two major families.

Because the actions of the Xu and Huating families were ahead, Li Ling felt a strong hostility towards these local tyrants, especially when he knew that he would inevitably have conflicts with the local gentry when he came to Yangzhou this time, so he took them for granted and wanted to suppress or even eliminate them.

Now, he suddenly realized that carrying such emotions would only make a wrong judgment. It would not only make it difficult to accomplish things, but would also cause greater trouble.

"Forget it, let's not mention these two families. So what's the specific situation in Yangzhou now? After the chaos, the lives of the people can be guaranteed. How should those whose homes were destroyed settle at night?" Retracting his mind, Li Ling began to face the most difficult and urgent problems of people's livelihood that need to be solved.

"If you want to go back to the emperor, the situation in Yangzhou is very bad. Not only the people in the capital city, but also the people in the counties under the jurisdiction of the county have their homes destroyed and they are unsustainable. At least 50% of the people can only stay on the streets at night, while 70% of the people can't even support themselves. They can only rely on a few gentry and tyrannical families to make good intentions and give porridge. But this is by no means a long time. The officials are afraid that it will not last long."

As a local magistrate in Yangzhou, Chu Lian still has a deep understanding of the situation inside and outside the city, and he also sees a greater hidden worry: "To be honest, the lower officials have been worried recently that if this situation continues, once the weather turns cold and the people are left unattached, and after someone is frozen to death, it may cause another civil unrest."

As he said that, he looked at Li Ling again and said with a worried look on his face: "Also, not long ago, the government office received a document sent by the governor's office, saying that we should... we should pay the tax as much as possible this year! God is pitiful. Now that Yangzhou has been destroyed, most of the people have no food and clothing, it is difficult for them to survive. How can they take out money and grain to pay taxes?

"Sir, I have no choice but to learn from you. I hope you will make decisions for the millions and millions of people in Yangzhou..." As he said that, Chu Lian had already stood up and was about to kneel down to Li Ling.

After the chaos, he was the only official in Yangzhou City, and all kinds of things were difficult to handle. Chu Lian could not cope with it. The official document sent by the governor's yamen became the last straw that overwhelmed the camel. He even had the idea of ​​resigning and escaping, if Li Ling had not arrived in time.
Chapter completed!