You are unlucky and I am tough

Chapter 154 Door-to-Door Registration

Prefect Zhu was a man of clear organization and good planning. After drinking tea, he asked three questions, one of which was about the specific situation of sweet potatoes and potatoes for future planting research.

The second thing was the identity of Cheng Shuang, the mysterious doctor, and he asked if he could introduce him to someone.

The third issue is how to solve the serious problem of poisonous miasma in mines. It is well known that workers who mine for a long time will be poisoned, but these are chronic poisons that will only form over three to five years. The court's solution is to adopt a one-year rotation system and combine it with decoctions, so it is not a big problem.

But if people, as Magistrate Zheng explained, stay in the mountains for a few days, they will be poisoned, which will be a big problem for future mining. Not to mention the long-term and large-scale supply of detoxification medicines requires a lot of money, I am afraid that even if we spend money to hire people, we won’t be able to find many people willing to come and open the mine. Then we can only use some prisoners, and the progress is too slow.

After listening to them, Cheng Shuang directly wrote a guide to the growth habits and planting of sweet potatoes and potatoes and gave it to them. As for the recommendation, she directly refused it. How could she recommend someone if there was no such person?

She was clueless and didn't reveal any useful information. She played dumb and said that she was just a country girl who had hardly left the village. She didn't know why she was chosen and didn't know the identity of her master, so she didn't dare to ask more.

Prefect Zhu was speechless. He had asked County Magistrate Zheng, who had his legal advisor explain the situation to him. There was no doubt about Cheng Shuang's identity. She had grown up in the village. Everyone in the village could testify that she had no medical skills before, but had learned them after frequently traveling back and forth to the county town a few months ago.

He could not think of any other explanation for how he could learn medical skills at such a rapid speed except that he had received guidance from a master. However, the other person followed his master's orders and refused to reveal his identity. He had always done good deeds and was beyond reproach, so he could only give up.

Finally, regarding the poisonous miasma in the mountains, Cheng Shuang first described in detail the formation of the poisonous miasma in the mine, and then suggested that Prefect Zhu find someone to cut down the dense forests that were never exposed to the sun in the mine and the trees on several high hills nearby.

Then the toxic rotten soil deposited on the surface of the mine will be cleaned up, allowing the poisonous gas in the mountain to dissipate, making it no different from mines in other areas.

After asking his advisor to write down everything, Prefect Zhu talked to Wei Qinglang about the grain huller and the fan wheel, saying that he had reported the blueprints to the court not long ago, and the promotion of the two things had already begun in Dongzhou, and the emperor would also remember his contribution.

The imperial envoy sent by the court was already on the way. Before the imperial envoy arrived, he wanted to go into the mountains and ask Wei Qinglang to lead them again.

There are many people coming this time, so the road will be marked and opened up first, so that there is no need to ask Wei Qinglang to lead the way every time. Of course, it is only a small path that can be used by people, mules and horses.

Wei Qinglang naturally agreed to make another trip. How could he refuse when the prefect of a state came with such a large army? Of course, he was also willing to lead the way, hoping that the matter would be resolved as soon as possible and they could move as soon as possible.

It was already late after the conversation, so Governor Zhu and his group stayed in the village for the night, setting up tents in the village threshing ground just like last time.

Before dawn the next day, Wei Qinglang packed up his things and took them into the mountains. Wei Nanxing also went with them. This time, Cheng Shuang did not go.

Early in the morning, she went to the river with her two cousins ​​to wash clothes. She met Xu Daqing's wife and chatted with her about gossip. She said that after she left yesterday, Bai Xiuqin threatened to have an abortion and took her daughter to live with Cheng Lao's family.

She claimed that she would not leave until she was given an explanation and would fight with the family to the end. Yu went into the room and closed the door, and it is said that she has not come out until now.

The prefect and the county magistrate suddenly came to the village, but they didn't dare to make a big fuss, so the matter came to a standstill.

Cheng Shuang listened with great interest. The excitement of this matter far exceeded her expectations. There would be more trouble after having a child, and she wanted to see how it would end.

In the afternoon, when Cheng Shuang was teaching a group of children in the yard, Mr. Wang, the lawyer who stayed in the village, came to the door with several yamen runners.

As Master Wang was too old to go into the mountains, he took a team of people and stayed in the village to handle the matters assigned by Magistrate Zhu, which was to register every household in the village, including the number of people in each household, the size of the houses, and the amount of land.

Master Wang had already dealt with Cheng Shuang yesterday, so the first family to come was the Wei family.

After Cheng Shuang asked clearly what they were supposed to do, she ended today's class early and sent the children home.

Looking at the children running out in a noisy manner, Master Wang asked curiously what was going on, and Cheng Lizheng explained to him.

After hearing this, Master Wang looked at Cheng Shuang with admiration on his face, "Madam Wei is truly a kind person. Please let the Lord of the Mansion know that he will definitely reward you."

"Master Wang, this is really embarrassing me."

Cheng Shuang invited him into the courtyard and said, "I only know a few words, so I'm just teaching you."

Cheng Lizheng was listening with a smile, very satisfied with Cheng Shuang's humility. In fact, he would teach his grandchildren to read when he had time, but in the past few days, several of the younger ones in his family came to take classes. After they went back, he could clearly feel that Cheng Shuang taught much better than he did.

A few yamen runners followed in and stood in the yard like door gods. Cheng Guqiu made tea with great fear and trepidation, then put it down and took Wei Xinyi back to the room, leaving the task of entertaining the official to Cheng Shuang.

After chatting for a while, Master Wang got down to business. He first asked about the number of people living in Cheng Shuang's house, then asked the yamen runner to walk around the house and measure the size of the house with a ruler, as well as the vegetable garden outside.

After finishing the work, a yamen runner returned with a booklet and whispered in embarrassment, "Master, the Wei family's house is a bamboo house. The cost is higher than an adobe house, but much lower than a brick house of the same size. How should this be recorded?"

"That's fine." Master Wang raised his hand disapprovingly. "Madam Wei has made great contributions. You should just record them according to their actual size."

Cheng Shuang knew why they were recording it, but Cheng Lizheng didn't know. He cooperated when Master Wang said he needed to register, and didn't dare to ask any other questions. Now he was looking at Cheng Shuang in confusion.

Cheng Shuang gave him a look that urged him to stay calm. After Master Wang and his group finished registering and left, Cheng Lizheng took them to the next door house and then returned.

"Shuang girl, tell the old man what is going on." Cheng Lizheng sat down and asked worriedly.

Although he was old, he was not confused. When he saw the prefect coming, he vaguely felt that something big was about to happen.

Cheng Shuang did not hide it and told him directly that the reason why the villagers suffered from headaches was because there was a mineral vein in the mountain, and what would happen next after the court people arrived.

Cheng Lizheng pondered for a long moment before asking, "So, those yamen runners said they wanted to register every household's population and land because the court was planning to relocate our entire village?"

Cheng Shuang took a deep breath. She knew that this answer was a bit cruel to the old man, but she nodded anyway.

"Grandpa Lizheng, iron ore is an important strategic resource for the imperial court. It won't be long before they send troops to garrison nearby. Several nearby villages will definitely not be able to stay. But don't worry, County Magistrate Zheng and Prefect Zhu are both good officials. The court will properly accommodate us."

"Do you know how much time we have left?" Cheng Lizheng's old voice trembled a little.

Cheng Shuang shook her head. "I don't know. It should only be within a few months."

"Oh..." Cheng Lizheng sighed and slowly stood up.

Cheng Shuang saw that he was swaying a little and reached out to help him, but Cheng Lizheng waved him off, "It's okay... I'll go talk to a few old friends and notify a few nearby villages so they can be mentally prepared."

The old man turned and walked out. Cheng Shuang looked at his back and felt that he seemed to have aged a few years. He sighed helplessly.

The discovery of the mineral vein must be this result. There is no way to have the best of both worlds. However, Cheng Shuang feels that this is not necessarily a bad thing.

Daliang was in its heyday, but the area around Chengjia Village was poor. In addition to the headache, it was also due to its poor geographical location. Goutou Town was the poorest in Qushan County. In recent years, more and more foreign merchants had left, and the area would become even more depressed in the long run.

So in her opinion, her reluctance to leave her hometown is only temporary. As long as she leaves here, no matter which county she moves to, it will be better than now.