In years of famine and drought, their village even rejected fatty meat.

Chapter 104 Public Meals

The chaos caused by the refugees continued in Taiping County, but the government constables quickly reacted and arrested and imprisoned the troublemakers.

However, the number of refugees was too large, and the small number of constables in the county town were clearly insufficient to quell the chaos.

Fortunately, Zhang He appeared with his men at that moment.

Zhang He was very clever. He and his men specifically sought out places that the constables couldn't reach, and drove the unruly refugees out of the county town.

Of course, necessary massacres are unavoidable in this process.

These refugees may have once been honest and simple farmers, but once their inner beasts were unleashed, they were no longer honest farmers, but ferocious thugs like wild beasts.

There was no point in reasoning with these people, so Zhang He had no choice but to use his knife to talk to them and forcibly drive them out of the city.

The chaos continued until nearly dawn.

Zhang He, having driven all the refugees out of the city and closed the city gates, led the remaining brothers to the entrance of the Fuhu Boxing Hall.

After instructing his men to wait for him separately outside the gate, Zhang He, accompanied only by Skinny Monkey, passed through the gate of the boxing gym and met Xu Zhiwen and Li Hu, who were drinking tea in the backyard.

Xu Zhiwen had already taken off his night clothes. When he saw Zhang He come in, he pointed to the seat opposite him and said, "You're here? Have a seat."

Zhang He did not refuse and sat down opposite Xu Zhiwen, waiting for Xu Zhiwen to speak.

"Have all the displaced people causing trouble in the city been dealt with?"

"It's dealt with."

"very good!"

Xu Zhiwen nodded in satisfaction, took a sip of tea, and said, "After today, I will give you new identities. You and your closest subordinates can come to the county government to serve as constables and police officers. As for the rest, they can fill the positions of city guards. What do you think?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang He's eyes lit up, and he quickly said gratefully, "Thank you, Magistrate!"

The positions of head constable and constable are equivalent to the head of a police station and a police officer in China. For a vagrant like Zhang He, the appeal of such a position is self-evident.

Although the position of the city-guarding soldiers was that of a lowly common soldier, they were still government employees. They would not refuse to be transformed from a vagrant into a soldier with a formal position and a secure job.

"As for the martial arts medicines I promised you, I will not go back on my word."

Xu Zhiwen then said, "After today, I will bestow upon you 10 portions of medicinal herbs and a cultivation technique. As for whether you can become a martial artist, that depends on your own destiny!"

"Thank you for the county!"

Zhang He kept thanking him.

To be honest, he was mentally prepared that Xu Zhiwen might not fulfill all his promises, but he did not expect that Xu Zhiwen would keep his promise and not withhold a single penny.

"Ok!"

Xu Zhiwen stroked his beard, accepted Zhang He's gratitude, and then said, "Tell your men well that once they become constables and city guards, they must never kill people indiscriminately like they did today!"

"I know."

"Alright! Then you can leave now and come find me again tomorrow!"

Soon, Zhang He, with Skinny Monkey on his face, walked out of the Fuhu Boxing Gym.

After the two left, Li Hu, who had been silent until now, finally spoke up: "I wonder how the county magistrate plans to take over the Zhu family's business? The Yuan and Fang families will not sit idly by."

"I have my own methods."

Xu Zhiwen stroked his beard.

At this moment, his advisor He Jian also came over and said with a happy face, "Your Excellency, the Zhu family's grain has been fully counted and is sufficient to pay the increased taxes imposed by the court this time."

"That's too little?"

Xu Zhiwen subconsciously said that, in his view, the Zhu family should have a surplus of grain after paying the increased taxes to the imperial court, but...

The result He Jian gave was very different from what he had expected.

Seeing that Xu Zhiwen seemed somewhat dissatisfied, He Jian hurriedly said, "Your Excellency, the people who were responsible for counting the grain this time were all absolutely reliable. There was absolutely no possibility of embezzlement. The Zhu family's grain is indeed only this much!"

"How could there be so little?"

Xu Zhiwen muttered to himself.

Li Hu gave Xu Zhiwen a deep look, realizing that he knew too little about this county magistrate. The Zhu family had only been wiped out a few hours ago, and the magistrate's men had already collected and inspected all their grain...

The county magistrate is probably not as he imagined; he has no manpower available in Taiping County.

"Are you sure you've found all of the Zhu family's grain?" Xu Zhiwen asked, staring intently into He Jian's eyes.

"Sure!"

He Jian replied without the slightest hint of guilt, "All of the Zhu family's stored grain and medicinal herbs have been moved into the pre-prepared warehouse, without missing a single one."

"That's a bit strange!"

Xu Zhiwen frowned. The Zhu family's grain should not be so little. According to his judgment, the Zhu family, which controls one-tenth of the land in Taiping County, should have far more grain reserves than He Jian had given.

"Your Excellency is unaware of this!"

At this moment, He Jian explained, "The entire Qingzhou is currently experiencing a food shortage, and the people's demand for food is extremely high. Therefore, the Zhu family has taken out more grain to sell and make money, resulting in the Zhu family's grain reserves being much less than before."

"I see!"

Xu Zhiwen suddenly realized, but then felt a little worried. He had originally planned to eliminate the Zhu family, use their grain to pay the increased taxes, and at the same time, resettle the refugees outside the city.

But now it seems that won't work. The Zhu family's grain can only cover the increased taxes. As for the grain to settle the refugees, we'll probably have to find another way.

"The county magistrate."

At this moment, Li Hu spoke up: "Don't forget my share."

Upon hearing this, Xu Zhiwen laughed and said, "Don't worry, Master Li, I will definitely not forget your share!"

Xu Zhiwen only wanted the Zhu family's grain and land. As for medicinal herbs... they were useless to him, so he didn't mind using them to win over Li Hu. To be honest, if it weren't for Li Hu's help tonight, dealing with the Zhu family would probably not have been so easy.

After all, it would be quite difficult for Xu Zhiwen, a mere seventh-rank warrior, to deal with so many martial artists from the Zhu family, even though most of them were ninth-rank or eighth-rank.

"That's good."

Li Hu said no more and continued drinking his tea.

Xu Zhiwen and He Jian went to the county government office to handle the aftermath of last night.

…………

…………

At noon.

After spending the night in Chenjia Village, Wu Han led Zhang Ming and other able-bodied men to the outskirts of Taiping County.

"Why do we seem to have far fewer refugees?"

Looking at the sparse number of refugees outside the city, Wu Han was slightly surprised. The number of refugees outside the city was at least half less than when he left the city yesterday!