Chapter 140

Liang Qu sat in the courtyard, drinking fresh fish porridge, sitting together with a group of masons and carpenters.

Listening to them talk about the land while drinking porridge, Liang Qu learned a lot about the changes outside.

A seventh-rank county magistrate is just a small character in the Viceroy's office, but for the county he serves, and even the surrounding areas, it is a major event.

Once the "Red Edict" of the new official taking office is issued, the post stations along the way will provide services, and the officials of each prefecture and county will send some silver taels according to the unspoken rules of officialdom.

The first thing a county magistrate does after taking office is to receive the seal, and accompanied by his entourage, he tours the government office, which is the so-called "touring the green dragon."

After "touring the green dragon," the county magistrate must kneel facing north in his official uniform to thank the Emperor for his grace.

At this time, the runners must beat the clappers, three times in total, and then beat the hall drum, also three times.

Immediately after, the county magistrate sits facing south to formally hold court and begins to light the "three fires."

This mainly involves burning incense and worshipping gods; the City God Temple and the Temple of Ancient Sages all need to have incense burned, followed by inspections, counting, and the like.

Since Pingyang Town became Pingyang County and Chaojiang County was abolished, the file information and the staff there have all been moving to Pingyang County.

It's just that such a large county government office cannot be moved and built in a month or two; it's very chaotic.

When the new county magistrate first arrived, he did not carry out this series of procedures, postponing them to issue a few notices and political decrees first, and then supplementing the procedures after everything was cleared up.

So the so-called measuring of fields was really very sloppy.

Liang Qu sat here listening to everyone's words and felt as if it was measured casually; the main purpose seemed to be to announce his arrival.

It's also reasonable to think so; not to mention distributing land, even measuring land and setting taxes is not easy.

There are so many masters in the county; who would agree to let you measure just because you say so?

If it were that easy to handle, there wouldn't be the situation of land annexation, and it would be fine to weigh it again after a period of time.

After breakfast, Liang Qu cultivated underwater in the morning, went to the martial arts hall in the afternoon to teach a few students, learned some things himself, and then went to the academy.

"What? There's an exam?"

Liang Qu was very surprised.

He had been here for so long, and he had never heard of any exam?

Si Hengyi smiled: "It has always been required, but you are different from other students; you were arranged to come by Master Yang, and I have seen your academic progress with my own eyes, so I have never tested you. But with the new county magistrate coming, this exam is unavoidable for you.

According to past practice, the new county magistrate must conduct a written exam for the students of the county to understand their academic strengths and weaknesses.

But don't worry, nothing will happen; it's just a process. Whether you do well or poorly won't matter; at most, it's a matter of impression."

Liang Qu felt relieved; it was just a formality, so it wouldn't be a problem.

"By the way, Mr. Si, have you heard about the recent measuring of fields?"

Si Hengyi nodded: "I have heard people talk about road repair, boat racing, and measuring fields."

"What is your opinion?"

Si Hengyi pondered for a while: "Road repair is definitely good; the common people have food to eat, and the roads can be repaired. But I don't quite understand the matters of boat racing and measuring fields."

"You don't understand?"

"The current county magistrate is the Imperial-appointed second-place graduate, and his knowledge is dozens of times higher than mine. Logically, if he really wanted to measure fields, it shouldn't be so sloppy. Doing it while knowing it's useless might have a deeper meaning, but I can't see it."

Si Hengyi spoke relatively tactfully; in fact, he also believed that it was mostly a face-saving project.

Liang Qu nodded and stopped thinking about it.

In the medical clinic, the physician brought a basin of water, broke off a piece of firewood and placed it in it, and pressed his two fingers on the firewood floating on the water surface.

"The floating pulse is like an object floating in water, just like this floating wood in the water; you can press it down lightly, but it runs away when you press it heavily."

The physician pressed the floating wood down; the buoyancy was too great, and the firewood naturally ran away.

Then he threw in two pebbles, and the pebbles sank straight to the bottom of the water.

"The sinking pulse is like a stone thrown into water, sinking to the bottom; if you want to find it, you have to press into the tendons and bones to find it."

The physician reached his fingers into the water and pressed on the two pebbles at the bottom.

"If there is blood loss, there will be a hollow appearance, which is the Kou pulse. The left inch shows Kou, the heart master loses blood. The right inch shows Kou, the Xiang Fu yin is injured. Kou enters the left bar, the liver blood is not hidden.

Each type has a different treatment method. You are a martial artist; you should pay more attention when you are injured in fighting in the future. Even for a martial artist, the whole body's blood is the foundation. Losing too much blood can certainly keep you alive for a while, but it won't be for too long."

Liang Qu nodded.

He had learned almost enough about herbal identification, bone setting, and bone joining. He had handled more than a dozen patients and had already started learning pulse patterns.

Spending one hour a day is not much, but the things learned are very valuable.

Night.

Liang Qu went to patrol the river as usual. He packed his things and took a few meat pies from the kitchen on the way.

After killing spirit monsters, there is fish belly meat to eat. Liang Qu doesn't need this, but he often encounters two beggars on the road, so he can give them some.

If it weren't for Uncle Chen back then, let alone getting ahead, he might have starved to death that night.

That feeling of starving to death was truly unbearable.

Liang Qu has no grand wishes and cannot go to cut his own flesh to help others, but he also doesn't want to see people waiting to die slowly in front of him like he once did.

Now he can be considered a member of the privileged class; a few pies are just a drop in the bucket.

With everything brought, Liang Qu closed the door and set sail.

By midnight, Liang Qu had earned four more small merits, totaling seven small merits. He exchanged them for nine cockscomb fruits and also picked up a booklet introducing rivers.

The booklet didn't cost any small merits and was free to take; for this, Liang Qu still had one small merit left.

Lighting a candle at the bow of the boat, the candlelight was dim, and Liang Qu read while gnawing on the fruit.

The entire Great Shun has three great rivers, among which the Jianghuai River is the largest, and its downstream tributaries are as dense as feathers, with rivers everywhere.

Interspersed between the rivers is extremely fertile soil, which is why the entire Jianghuai region can be said to be the place with the most concentrated population in Great Shun.

The Jianghuai Marsh is a large marsh near the sea of the Jianghuai River, and even the narrowest part of the marsh center is ten thousand miles away.

Liang Qu heard such a precise description for the first time, and his heart couldn't help but feel shocked.

This map is too damn big; let alone flood dragons, he wouldn't be surprised if there were true dragons.

The length of the entire Jianghuai River is even unknown to anyone. The River Patrol Office only knows that its source and the sources of the other two rivers are in the Great Snow Mountain region.

There are the highest mountains in the world, and all the snow is produced there; the millions-of-years-old snow mountains never change.

The wind and snow go south and become water, entering the rivers; it is a place filled with mystery and terror.

Few people go in, and few people come out.

(Note: This statement is a folk legend and has no factual basis. According to research by the Ministry of Works, snow is formed when invisible water in the air encounters cold, not from the Great Snow Mountains.)

Liang Qu: "..."

This Ministry of Works is quite impressive.

Liang Qu looked through it roughly, and seeing that it was late, he put the booklet into his bosom, drove the boat to his exclusive berth, and prepared to go back to sleep.

"Benefactor, stay your steps!"

The voice was low and hoarse, extremely penetrating.

Liang Qu turned his head to look, and an old monk appeared from nowhere behind him.

The old monk was extremely thin, so thin that only his bone structure remained. The old skin covered in wrinkles was pasted on his frontal bone, almost outlining the contour of the bone, but he was extremely tall, half a head taller than Liang Qu.

He was wearing a patchwork robe and holding an old alms bowl; he looked more like a beggar than a monk.

Such a weird image walking on the night road would definitely scare children playing around to tears.

Liang Qu felt around on his body; he didn't bring any money, and the meat pies were all distributed on the way.

"Sorry, Master, I don't have any food on me and didn't bring any money. If you are willing, you can wait until tomorrow; I will pass by this road again, and I will bring you two vegetable buns."

The old monk shook his head: "Benefactor, this poor monk does not beg for alms."

Not begging for alms?

Liang Qu raised his eyebrows and secretly became vigilant.

The old monk bowed: "Benefactor, do you have a master? If you don't have a master, would you be willing to be this poor monk's disciple?"