Chapter 272 Deliberately making things difficult
What does Jia Tong mean by punishing that old guy?
In the past few times we had dealt with him, this old guy's attitude towards me was not like this.
Although he is only the housekeeper in his master's house, no one in the capital knows that he has taken care of his master since he was a child, and he has more than just a master-servant relationship with him.
In the past, the old guy Jia Tongpan always treated me with respect when he saw me. When had he ever been rejected like this?
Jia Tongpan's attitude has changed so much. It seems that today's affairs may be a bit troublesome.
Although he was holding back anger in his heart, now that his master was not in the capital, he really couldn't do anything about the old guy Jia Tongpan. He could only hold back his anger until his master came back and then deal with him!
He looked at the little girl next to him apologetically and said helplessly: "Miss Qiao, let's just wait here!"
Qiao Ran nodded. From the yamen servant's attitude and the change in housekeeper Zhou's expression, she also guessed what must have happened during this period.
The two of them waited for a cup of tea at the door before a man hurriedly walked out of the yamen with a very enthusiastic attitude.
From afar, he began to apologize: "Oh, Butler Zhou, I've been waiting for so long! I'm really sorry. There are a lot of things today, which has delayed some time and made you wait for a long time. Please come in, please come in!"
Although Butler Zhou was full of dissatisfaction, he also knew that it was not appropriate to pester him at this time, so he twitched the corner of his lower lip and said politely:
"It's okay. Your Majesty is busy with things, so ordinary people should wait at the door for a while."
"Where is it? I've been negligent. Please come over here!"
While Jia Tongpan was apologizing and leading people inside, he was secretly cursing in his heart:
"Why is this old guy so arrogant? He is just a pariah, and he is a sixth-grade official after all. Even if this person named Zhou is that person's subordinate, so what? Not to mention that that person is not in the capital now, even if he is, I Too……"
dare not.
After welcoming him into a wing in the backyard of the government office, Jia Tongpan enthusiastically gave up his seat.
Butler Zhou gave in and sat down. He raised his hand to signal Qiao Ran to sit on the chair next to him, and Qiao Ran sat down unceremoniously.
Jia Tongpan looked at Butler Zhou with doubtful eyes, wondering why he brought this ugly girl with dark spots on her face to see him.
"Steward Zhou, this is..."
Jia Tongpan glanced at the ugly girl. He originally thought that Butler Zhou was out shopping with a maid and came to talk to him. However, he didn't expect that Butler Zhou didn't let the maid stand behind him, but let her sit down. Come down.
Looking carefully at the attire, this ugly and dark girl is clearly a village girl from the countryside. Where is the maid from the house?
Could it be that the little maid was just bought and hasn't started to learn the rules yet?
Speaking of which, that person's taste is really unique. I heard that most of the people around him are servants and a few elderly women. The few young maids are also ugly, and none of them are good-looking.
Jia Tongpan secretly guessed whether that person had any special hobbies, so he heard Butler Zhou say:
"Master Jia, this is Miss Qiao. She is a refugee who fled from Qingzhou Prefecture. There are more than 500 people traveling with them. I would like to ask you to arrange a suitable place for them to live and farm."
When Jia Tongpan heard this, his eyes flashed.
Refugees from Qingzhou Prefecture? More than five hundred people? Such a coincidence?
"Steward Zhou, I'm so sorry! I have just made arrangements for this first batch of refugees and placed them in Huangshan County. I think County Magistrate Lai Qian must have told them, why do you still come to me?" official?"
As he said that, he glared at Qiao Ran and blamed these mud-legged people for not knowing what was good and what was good. They had already been settled, so why did they come to cause trouble?
When Butler Zhou heard this, he looked at Jia Tongpan with some dissatisfaction.
"Sir, as we all know, Huangshan County is the farthest from the capital and is mostly covered with loess slopes and mountains and forests. I'm afraid there is no spare farmland to accommodate these hundreds of people, right?"
When Qiao Ran heard this, she realized that her hunch was correct. Magistrate Qian had evil intentions because Huangshan County was not a good place at all.
When I went to Huangshan County, I didn’t know what kind of harsh environment I would be placed in!
Butler Zhou was dissatisfied, but Jia Tongpan smiled indifferently:
"That's County Magistrate Qian's business. In such a large county, it's not difficult to arrange hundreds of people, right? Just put a few people into each village. You can also reclaim wasteland to grow food in the mountains. As long as you work hard, I won’t starve to death.”
When Butler Zhou heard this, he was even more displeased:
"The mountains in Huangshan County are full of yellow soil and large rocks that cannot be broken open. How can they be used to grow food? Moreover, when heavy rains wash away, all the yellow soil on the mountains is washed away, and the food that farmers have worked so hard to grow is How do you let them survive when everything goes up in smoke overnight?”
Seeing that Butler Zhou was really angry, Jia Tongpan calmed down his indifferent expression and defended with a smile:
"Then they can plant trees first! Plant more trees on the mountain to prevent wind and stabilize the soil. When the trees take root, they can grow food under them."
Butler Zhou became even more angry: "What did Mr. Tongpan say? It will take at least three to five years for trees to grow into a forest. How will hundreds of them survive in three to five years? The government or county government will provide them with Food for three to five years?”
"How can that be done?"
Master Tongpan almost immediately retorted: "If we need to provide food for so many people for three to five years, how much food will be wasted? Butler Zhou, are you kidding me?"
Butler Zhou also immediately turned cold:
"So you want them to resign themselves to their fate and starve to death? There are so many suitable places for resettlement in Zhongzhou, why do you want to resettle them in Huangshan County, the most difficult place? As an official, you should make decisions for the people, why does Lord Tongxuan want to Are you trying to embarrass these poor refugees who have worked so hard to cross several prefectures and cities from the distant Qingzhou Prefecture, and barely escaped death to get here?"
After his purpose was revealed, Jia Tongpian couldn't help but feel embarrassed.
"Zhou Butong! Did I give you face? How dare you, a commoner, talk to me like this? How can I arrange it, and it's your turn to point fingers?"
Seeing Jia Tongpan's angry look, Butler Zhou immediately understood.
It seems that Jia Tongpan did intend to make things difficult for this group of refugees, but he didn't know why.
As far as he knew, these refugees had just arrived in the capital, and there was no way they could offend Lord Tongpan in any case!
Why did Judge Jia Tong target these refugees so relentlessly? Could it be that someone gave instructions? Who could it be?
Butler Zhou's mind turned over and over again, and finally he took a deep breath to calm down his pent-up anger.
