Chapter 78

County Magistrate Song listened with a bewildered look on his face.

Infrastructure construction... This was something he had never heard of before!

Adopting an attitude of being willing to learn, County Magistrate Song cupped his hands and asked, "Miss Li, what is infrastructure construction?"

"Infrastructure construction refers to building the most fundamental structures," Li Yao explained, "such as bridges, roads, irrigation projects, etc."

Now County Magistrate Song understood.

The method Li Yao proposed was still using labor in lieu of relief grains.

Moreover, since Baichuan County was located in a remote area, right next to the mountains, the roads were winding and bumpy. For example, even carriages could not get into He Wan Village. There was indeed a need to rebuild and improve the roads.

The water conservancy facilities were also severely lacking. The commoners practically relied entirely on the heavens to eat.

But the problem was, there was no money!

Even if materials could be obtained locally, the wages for the laborers still had to be paid!

Not paying wages was also fine, but at least a meal had to be provided for the people to eat!

Therefore, without sufficient food supplies and silver, substituting labor for relief grains was just empty talk.

"Does Baichuan County really have no money?" Li Yao asked in response, "Just at the Baichuan Market, there are at least dozens of young ladies and madams who can casually buy a few bars of soap without any hesitation. In their families, they must have at least several thousand or even tens of thousands of taels of silver. And there is so much land, the stockpiled grains are certainly not lacking either."

"I know about this," the County Magistrate said, "But those are private assets, they cannot be forcibly appropriated."

Li Yao smiled and said, "There are many ways to make the rich pay up, it just depends on whether the County Magistrate is willing to do it or not."

County Magistrate Song was slightly stunned and asked, "May I ask what methods they are?"

"For example, organizing charity wine parties, auctions, etc."

After a brief explanation, County Magistrate Song's frowning brows relaxed slightly. He felt that the methods Li Yao proposed were quite viable.

"Relying solely on these is still not enough, right?"

"It's fine as long as there's money to buy grains."

There were a total of 30,000 people in the entire county. Based on 3 taels of staple food per person per day, 9,000 catties were consumed every day, totaling 1.08 million catties over 4 months.

Now the price of unhusked rice had already soared to 20 wen per catty.

Therefore, if all unhusked rice was purchased, the total silver required would be 21,600 taels.

"So, we only need to raise enough money to buy one month's worth of grains, which is 5,400 taels, then we can start work," Li Yao said. County Magistrate Song felt relieved in his heart.

If he adopted the few methods Li Yao had just mentioned, raising these 5,400 taels would not be too difficult, 10,000 taels could even be raised.

But it still fell short by quite a bit.

"What about the remaining 3 months?"

"There will always be ways," Li Yao said. "If it really comes down to it, we can borrow the money. I believe more than 10,000 taels can be easily borrowed."

One or two months later, Li Yao believed she would also have the ability to lend some money to the county magistrate.

Naturally, County Magistrate Song also understood the implications of her words, marveling that Li Yao's business was actually so profitable.

But in any case, this was a good thing. At least he could feel more relaxed now.

There was still one last issue left.

The food problem was solved, but what about the wages?

It was impossible to get the commoners to work just for a few meals. They had to be paid daily wages, which were much higher than the cost of meals.

"It can be deducted from next year's grain taxes," Li Yao said. "The wages earned by the workers will be calculated at the normal double rate and deducted from the grain taxes they should pay next year."

That's right!

Now that wells had been dug in every village across the county, the early summer harvest next year would basically not be affected by drought anymore. And with the large-scale water conservancy projects this winter, there would naturally be rice harvests next year as well.

If the planting of sweet potatoes could also be promoted... Then the slight reduction in grain taxes would be negligible.

The collected taxes might not even be less than previous years. On the contrary, they could potentially increase!

Thinking thus far, County Magistrate Song suddenly felt enlightened.

The difficult problem that had been plaguing him for so long was actually solved so easily!

Was this Li Yao really just an ordinary commoner woman?

If it were up to him, even if Li Yao was appointed to govern a prefecture, she would definitely be more than capable!

"Hahaha..." Finally seeing a ray of light, County Magistrate Song was in an exceptionally elated mood. "Li Yao, you've rendered an immense service this time!"

Li Yao did not want any credit.

Everyone being well off was the real good.

If she was living a comfortable life while everyone around her was suffering, such days would be meaningless.

The county magistrate's wife was also beaming with joy.

Although the ideas were all Li Yao's, County Magistrate Song was the one taking the lead in carrying them out. Naturally, he would also get his share of credit and rewards in the future.

With such outstanding political achievements, they would be able to leave this remote place. It was possible they could return to the capital city very soon.

Just as the three were discussing the details of organizing a charity wine party, He Xiaoya rushed in panic. "Mother, this is bad!"

"What happened that you're in such a panic?"

"A lot of people from grandmother's family have come. They said Wang Er stole something from their home. The young master county magistrate has already apprehended Wang Er to interrogate him..."

What?

County Magistrate Song jumped up, his face ashen.

That unfilial thing had just left his side less than half an hour ago and was already causing trouble!

He would definitely have to teach him a good lesson today!

...

While Li Yao and County Magistrate Song were brewing tea and chatting on the hilltop, Song Zhe was wandering around alone outside the village, bored to death.

He was extremely annoyed today, but his parents were still reluctant to leave.

Just then a large group of people walked over from afar. When Song Zhe saw one of them, his eyes lit up.

Among the people was Li Xian.

The two of them studied together at the academy. Song Zhe had no interest in studying, while Li Xian was the most outstanding. So he often got Li Xian to write some essays for him to fool the teacher.

Moreover, Li Xian was sensible and eloquent, so the two were on very good terms, addressing each other as brothers every day.

"Brother Li!"

"Song Zhe?" Li Xian was also very surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"I was brought here by my father."

"What is the County Magistrate doing in He Wan Village?"

"Just some trivial matters, not worth mentioning. What about you, Brother Li, what are you doing here?" Song Zhe asked.

Li Xian said resentfully, "We've come to seek justice!"

"Seek justice? From whom?"

It turned out that ever since Li Yao stopped funding his education, money at home gradually became scarce. So Granny decided to take out the biyu hairpin passed down in the family for decades to sell.

But unexpectedly, the hairpin that was still around two months ago could no longer be found!

Therefore, Granny concluded that Wang Er must have secretly stolen the hairpin while tutoring him.

"Think about it, how poor their family used to be?" Li Xian said. "But now, they've built such a big new house, costing at least 300-400 taels! What business could earn so much money in just two months? It must be that they stole our family's hairpin and sold it!"

After listening, Song Zhe's eyes lit up.

Hadn't his father said that he was useless, only capable of causing trouble?

Today he would show the old man that he, Song Zhe, was capable after all.

"Let's go!" He thumped his chest and said, "This young master will uphold justice for you today!"