Chapter 126

At the City Lord's Mansion, Li Yanbing was reviewing official documents.

Now that she had become the Inspector of Jiangzhou, she had gained control over the affairs of the entire province.

After dealing with the officials sent from the capital and the family disciples who had come to seek refuge, she could now be considered to be on the right track.

"Crackle, pop."

"Over the past few years, more than ten thousand acres of fertile land in Jiangzhou have been abandoned. The vast majority of the remaining fertile land is located around the various cities, with the powerful clans and wealthy families of each city controlling most of it."

"The total number of garrison troops in the cities of Jiangzhou exceeds fourteen thousand. Some of the military land has also been encroached upon, making it difficult for the garrison troops to support their families through farming, forcing them to rely on tax revenue to make up the difference..."

Beside her, several accountants sent from the family were auditing the ledgers to find the deficits.

In the hands of these accountants, the abacuses clicked and clattered; they used various methods to unearth the long-standing, accumulated bad debts of the cities in Jiangzhou.

Every item involving money—from farmland, tax silver, and residential properties to merchants, as well as the runners and garrison troops in every city and region—was thoroughly investigated.

It wouldn't have mattered if they hadn't checked, but upon this investigation, Li Yanbing's face turned livid with rage!

In her view, Jiangzhou was already rotten to the core. Corruption and bribery were not the main point; the point was that, to satisfy their own greed, most of the wealthy and powerful families were even finding ways to encroach upon the land of the garrison troops!

No wonder the garrison troops were rotten to the bone; in fact, it would be strange if they weren't rotten under these circumstances!

"Hoo~ Call Li He here!"

"Yes!"

After taking a deep breath, Li Yanbing ordered her attendant with a cold, stern expression.

Soon, Li He, having changed into his official uniform, quickly arrived before Li Yanbing, cupped his hands, and saluted: "My Lady, for what reason have you summoned your subordinate?"

"Make these wealthy and powerful families spit out all the official land they have encroached upon. Furthermore, have them hand over half of their family assets to fill the deficit. If they refuse, give them a taste of hardship!"

Li Yanbing placed a list directly in front of him and spoke with a cold face.

"Yes!"

"However, My Lady, these families likely have people in the imperial court. If we do this, will it...?"

Li He immediately agreed, but still cautiously reminded Li Yanbing.

"Just do as you are told. Heh, do you really think they can topple me now just by flapping their empty mouths?"

Li Yanbing's gaze was calm. She knew what her advantages were and was even clearer about how the high-ranking officials in the court would react, but these things were simply unimportant!

"This subordinate understands!"

Li He nodded immediately. He certainly knew that Li Yanbing's true backing was neither the family nor that Emperor, but the more than four thousand heavy-armored Zhiren in her hands and the semi-saint behind her!

After Li He left, Li Yanbing couldn't help but shake her head. This subordinate was clever, but far too cautious and careful.

"My Lady, the refugee camp outside the city has already accepted over two thousand refugees from various places. If we continue to accept them, the numbers will likely grow even higher."

Not long after, an official came before Li Yanbing to report this situation.

"Several villages and towns in the surrounding area have already been abandoned. How about relocating them there?"

Hearing this, Li Yanbing couldn't help but frown. Settling refugees was a troublesome matter in itself; it was definitely not as simple as just giving them some food.

"I'm afraid we will have to provide some rations, farming tools, and seeds to help them settle down."

The official thought for a moment and replied to Li Yanbing.

"Very well, allocate some money and grain from the treasury. I leave this matter to you!"

Li Yanbing nodded in agreement, which brought a flash of joy to the official's heart, though he did not show it on his face and instead bowed to Li Yanbing: "My Lady is benevolent beyond compare!"

"Additionally, I will arrange for a few heavy-armored soldiers to be at your disposal. After all, you are an official, and the refugee camp is full of all sorts of people; it is bound to be somewhat dangerous."

Unfortunately, he hadn't been happy for long before Li Yanbing's next words reached his ears.

"Yes, this official thanks you, My Lady."

But such a matter could not be declined, so the official could only squeeze out a smile and thank Li Yanbing once more.

Just as Li Yanbing was handling official business, Lin Feng was clearing a vegetable garden behind the graveyard.

There were no grave mounds near the back mountain; in fact, this place was originally just a piece of wasteland, merely overgrown with weeds and shrubs.

Hearing the work chants of the runners in the morning, Lin Feng also wanted to clear a plot of land to grow some vegetables, green onions, ginger, garlic, and the like.

He didn't expect to sell these things for money; it was enough just to have them handy for eating.

Outside, Old Quezi was tying thin wooden sticks to the posts he had set up, preparing to use them to make a fence to enclose the entire vegetable plot, so as to avoid damage from birds and beasts.

"It's a pity that winter has already arrived; we can only grow some radishes, cabbage, green onions, and such."

Old Quezi pondered what to plant while he worked. Luohe City in Jiangzhou was located in the south, so the winter wouldn't be too cold, and some things could still be grown.

Lin Feng swung his hoe, "clunk, clunk," turning over the entire piece of land.

Afterward, he set a fire to burn all the shrubs, weeds, and such into ashes. Doing this not only increased the soil's fertility but also killed off some pests.

This was what was known as slash-and-burn agriculture; in an era without chemical fertilizers, one could only rely on burning grass and leaves to provide fertility to the soil.

"Another day, I'll turn the soil again and then sow some seeds. But since the Heavens aren't being generous, we'll have to fetch water to irrigate the land ourselves."

Once the smoke had dissipated and a layer of wood ash had accumulated on the ground, Old Quezi seemed quite pleased and kept telling Lin Feng what should be done next.

"Alright, I'll go into the city tomorrow to buy some seeds."

Lin Feng nodded in agreement, then took his tools and walked toward the small courtyard.

Returning to the courtyard, he sat on his reclining chair to bask in the sun as usual, while simultaneously placing his focus elsewhere.

Following his orders, the Corpse-Collecting Zhiren had already begun taking on disciples.

In Liuzhou, the Corpse-Collecting Zhiren, dressed in hempen clothes and carrying a shroud, walked slowly in front, while a half-grown child followed silently behind it.

Such things had happened before; after all, sometimes the corpses taken away were the close relatives of others, and some people would even follow behind, walking far out of the village before turning back.

However, the situation was different this time. This child had been saved by the Corpse-Collecting Zhiren and was an orphan to begin with, one who had originally relied on the charity of the village to survive.

But because of the war, there were few living people left in the village, and the village's food had long since been looted by those rampaging soldiers who were no better than bandits.

By the time the Corpse-Collecting Zhiren arrived there, the few survivors had nothing to eat themselves and could only find wild vegetables or catch small fish and shrimp in the mountains to survive; naturally, they couldn't take care of such an orphan.

Seeing such a person, the Corpse-Collecting Zhiren followed Lin Feng's orders and took the child under its wing, giving the orphan some food before letting him follow along to work.

This orphan was quite bold and didn't seem very afraid of corpses.

After the Corpse-Collecting Zhiren had finished processing the corpses in the village, it took him along as well. The boy seemed somewhat reluctant to leave his hometown and didn't speak the whole way.