After Gouzi Tian left, they wandered around for half a day before returning to the yamen at night. Before resting, Zhang Zhong wrote a notice. He wrote that he needed a lot of ginseng that was more than a hundred years old. They could come over to sell it or exchange it for something that could be fulfilled.
When the notice was posted, many people were anxious. They heard that the new County Magistrate had put his son's matter aside to deal with the case. Now, he was going to get ginseng for his son.
Everyone was asking around. Some people even wanted to go to the mountains to see if they could find ginseng. Some did it for money, some wanted to ask the County Magistrate for help, and some just wanted to help the County Magistrate's son get better.
The Registrar and the Deputy were very happy. Now, there was one more thing for Zhang Zhong to think about. They could not do anything else. The Registrar, Zhan Kaijin, originally wanted to find something to do tomorrow and send Zhang Zhong to a faraway place to work. However, he was stopped by the Deputy, Xiao Chi.
"Brother Xiangyun, we can't do this. What if that person says that it was us who ordered him to do this? Zhang Zhong will be angry and send both Zhang Zhong and that person to the capital. If the people there really find out something from the interrogation, we can't think it through.
His son has not woken up yet. Let's wait until nighttime to see if he is still reading those books. If he is still reading them, he will not have much energy tomorrow. "
"Brother Buyong is right. We can't continue to take risks. Doesn't he want ginseng now? Why don't we find some ginseng for him? Those businessmen who came over are still being detained by him. When the time comes, the fertile land can be turned into a wasteland. Then, we can reap the benefits. "
The Registrar finally thought of the best idea. The Deputy listened with a smile on his face. However, he was a little unwilling. Zhan Kaijin had thought of a good idea. If he could not think of it, it would mean that he was not as good as Zhan Kaijin. Hence, he said, "This is not right.
We can't do this. We should tell those businessmen. They know a lot of things. You have to learn more in the future. Otherwise, it will be easy for you to get into trouble. "
"Brother Buyong is right. We should let those businessmen take care of this. We have to be quick. Otherwise, when the weather gets hotter and it rains a few more times, someone else will think about it."
Chief Secretary Zhan Kaijin was easy to talk to. If someone pointed it out, he would listen.
After that, he said, "Brother Buyong, that Zhang Mazi is just locked up now. He hasn't been interrogated yet. Do we need to do that?" Speaking of this, he gestured around his neck with his hand.
The county deputy hurriedly waved his hand and said, "You can't do that. Didn't you see that we left four guards behind tonight? Even the food that the prisoners ate was prepared by Jinlai Tower. If we want to make a move, it'll be easy for him to get hold of our weakness. We need to plan for the long term. "
"That's fine. Let's take the long term into consideration. Fortunately, the food was delivered from Jinlai Restaurant. Those people who were locked up seemed to have been starving for three days. Let's take away the money and food in the account. If we don't give them something to eat, they will starve to death."
Chief Secretary Zhan Kaijin said with a lingering fear. Deputy County Magistrate Xiao also just thought of this matter. In the past two days, he was so focused on how to deal with County Magistrate Zhang Zhong that he forgot about the people in the prison. The yamen runners didn't go there either. Today was the third day.
While they were thinking about the prisoners in the prison, Zhang Xiaobao was also thinking about it. There were more than 120 prisoners in the prison. From the files, it seemed that they didn't commit any serious crimes. Some of them didn't pay the rent and tax, some of them snatched the steamed buns to buy steamed buns, and some of them stole money from others on the street.
What was even more ridiculous was that one of them ordered six dishes in Jinlai Tower and ate all of them by himself. Then he didn't have money to pay the bill, so he was locked up. Jinlai Tower was originally owned by County Magistrate Wen's relatives.
The test papers of more than 120 prisoners were directly drawn out. There was no time to care about the rest. Zhang Zhong put two cucumber slices on his eyes. After reading them one by one, he said to the guard next to him, "
"Tomorrow, you protect Erniu and take those merchants to the riverside to have a look. Also, take a walk around the wharf. I'll ask the county deputy and the Chief Secretary to follow them. They must walk around for a day so that I can handle the case and release them."
"Yes." The guards carefully trained by the Prince's Mansion were indeed different. They answered directly.
Zhang Zhong closed the papers and lay down to rest. Naturally, someone would turn on the lamp and put the dummies in place. When it was that person's turn to keep watch, he would pull the rope every once in a while.
Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan brought back some things they wanted to learn, so they rested in one of the rooms. They would only wake up after a while. The two of them lay on the bed, thinking about the coal. They couldn't fall asleep, so they could only chat.
"Cuckoo, there must be a lot of coal yellow, which is amber. We can dig it out and make jewelry for you." Zhang Xiaobao said to Wang Juan.
"I don't want that. I want diamonds. You'd better think about how to use the coal. We can't just put it there."
Wang Juan was not interested in those things.
"How else can we use it? Of course, we'll burn it. First, we'll find blacksmiths and ask them to help us melt the molten iron. Then, we'll make something like a furnace. Then, we'll continue to burn it in the furnace. Then, we'll make all kinds of blast furnaces, open-hearth furnaces, and converters. Then, we'll start to use those to make guns. After that, we'll make cannons. After that, we'll make cannons."
"Just keep dreaming. Seriously," Wang Juan interrupted Zhang Xiaobao. She moved the pillow and turned sideways comfortably. "Seriously?
Look at Li Xun's bodyguards, they all have crossbows. We can make our own. A fully metal crossbow, the kind that you have to step on to load. When the time comes, we can use it to shoot birds for fun. If not, we can make knives. We can make fewer of them. When we have nothing to do, we can just take one and hide it. In case something happens, we can use it to protect the seedlings.
As for the rest, we'll make some daily necessities, such as kitchen knives. In the future, all the chefs in our restaurant will use steel knives and scissors. We can sell them. Or we can wait and let the blacksmiths work hard to make more steel ingots. Then, we can sell them to the country.
Well, we have to keep it a secret. Maybe other places are using coal to make things. Also, we can use it for heating. The simplest is honeycomb coal. We won't mix it with other things. We can use yellow mud and coal. We can also use it in the kiln. That's what we'll do. "
Zhang Xiaobao really could not make use of the key advantages of coal, such as gas. He could only think of ways in his daily life. He planned to store the coal first and use it to make things. The only problem was that he did not have a high-pressure water gun. It would take a lot of time and effort to decompose the coal.
"Then let's do that first. How much do you plan to pay the people in Elm Tree Village?" Wang Juan could not think of a better idea.
"Let's calculate according to the amount they mine. Let's see how fast they mine. Anyway, we can't give them too little. They should become the richest village in Huayuan County." Zhang Xiaobao had long planned to make them rich. With a coal mine nearby, it would be bad for their reputation if others knew about it in the future.
Wang Juan did not think too much about this. As long as the people in the village could earn more money, she would see if she could pull the people in the village to her side in the future.
*****
Deputy County Magistrate Xiao and Registrar Zhan still did not go to bed early at night. Yesterday was basically equivalent to staying up all night. After all, it was the first day and they wanted to see more. Today, they still ate and drank in the small house. From time to time, people would come to tell them that Zhang Zhong was still awake.
When it was five in the morning, the two of them finally couldn't endure the torment of two days and one night. They directly fell asleep in this house. After blowing out the lights, the two of them laid down for less than a quarter of an hour before a series of gong sounds rang out. The two of them opened their hazy eyes and looked around as if someone owed them tens of thousands of strings of coins.
"Lord, it's not good. It's on fire. The granary in the yamen is on fire." A person who specialized in helping to keep watch at night hurried in and shouted loudly to the two of them. The two of them had not slept well. It was not as good as hugging a woman at home. Now that they had just fallen asleep, the granary was on fire. The two of them could not wait to find someone to bite.
"If it's on fire, go and save it. Why did you call us?" Registrar Zhan was still in a daze. When he heard that the granary was on fire, he immediately shouted.
Deputy County Magistrate Xiao was more alert. He asked, "Say it again. Where is it on fire?"
"The granary in the yamen. It's the one where the rent is kept. Lord, are we going or not?" The person repeated and asked carefully. He also knew that the two of them had just fallen asleep. There was actually no food in the granary.
"Go, how can we not go? That Zhang Zhong is not asleep now. If he goes, how can we not go? After all, the granary is on fire. How can there be no food? It's clearly written on the account book. Brother Xiangyun, hurry up and get up. "
Deputy County Magistrate Xiao said helplessly and began to put on his clothes. Registrar Zhan also got up and slowly put on his clothes in a daze. The two of them used a full 15 minutes to put on their clothes and ran out of the house to the granary.
When the two of them reached the place, there were already many yamen runners and commoners helping to put out the fire. Zhang Zhong was also dressed neatly and was at the side giving orders. From time to time, he would ask loudly, "Why are the deputy county magistrate and registrar not here yet? Isn't their house nearby? They are receiving a salary from the imperial court. Why can't they find someone at this crucial time? "
The yamen runners knew where the two of them went. They should be thinking of bad ideas again. However, the commoners did not know. When they heard Zhang Zhong's words, they also started to complain. At the same time, they praised the new county magistrate. The hearts of the people were a very mysterious thing. Now, the deputy county magistrate and registrar were gradually losing.
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