"Stop making trouble, it's time to have dinner soon."
Ying Bao slapped Wei Zhan's hand away, turned around, and gently poked his head away: "Sit aside for a while, I'll look at the account book."
Wei Zhan then squeezed in next to the young lady again, stretched his head and said, "I'll watch it with you."
Yingbao had no choice but to let him go.
There are many errors and omissions in this account book, and there are signs that it has been altered.
Yingbao became angrier and angrier the more she watched.
No, this county needs to be cleaned up. Otherwise, we will be left with nothing next year.
But before she had the chance to govern Zhouhe County, many brightly dressed people gathered at the gate of Princess Jun's mansion, asking the princess to give them food.
Some people also shouted loudly, saying that their ancestors had lived in Zhouhe County for generations and life was already difficult, but now that the princess had arrived, she had started building large-scale projects, making them miserable.
Yingbao called Song Changshi and asked, "Is this mansion newly built by the court, or is it a remodeled version of someone else's old house?"
Song Changshi clasped his fists and said, "This is an old house that was purchased by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and rebuilt. The surrounding terrain was also purchased by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, so there is no question of disturbing the residents."
Yingbao understood.
It seems that someone doesn't take her, a princess from another family, seriously and wants to use this method to force her to submit.
That's very good.
"Take a few people to quietly investigate who those people outside are and who is the leader of the trouble. Once you find out, don't alert them. Collect as many charges against them as possible, from petty theft to major crimes like bullying men and women. Investigate them all and have the victims sign and seal their names."
"This is not good..." Song Changshi hesitated and said, "Princess, these people are local tyrants. We are new here, so it is better not to provoke them."
Ying Bao glanced at Song Changshi and said, "According to you, I, a princess of the imperial family, have to be manipulated by these unruly people when I come to my fiefdom? I can't even say a word when they slander me?"
Song Changshi clasped his fists and said, "That's not what I meant, it's just..."
Ying Bao waved her hand and said, "Don't say anything more. You don't have to worry about this matter. I'll let others go. You can go now."
Song Changshi seemed to want to say something but hesitated. In the end, he said nothing, bent down and walked out.
Yingbao called Chu Shun again, told him her request, and asked him to investigate secretly.
Chu Shun agreed without hesitation and left the house.
In the evening, Wei Zhan brought his men back from outside the city. When he heard that someone dared to cause trouble at the gate of the Princess's Mansion, he became furious.
"I think they are desperate!"
Wei Zhan said: "I have visited several villages in the past few days. Many people there do not have land and rely on renting farmland for a living. The gentry colluded with officials to falsely report the number of farmland in order to pay less taxes. Then the officials imposed the unpaid taxes on the people."
"I heard in the countryside that officials made up all kinds of strange taxes and imposed them on the people. One old man said that they were charged sunlight tax for sunbathing under the city wall. If they didn't pay, they would be arrested and thrown into the county jail. In the end, their families had to pay to redeem them..."
Ying Bao listened with a sullen face, and immediately pulled out a dagger and handed it to Wei Zhan: "This is what my master gave me. Take it. If you encounter such a thing, just arrest those petty officials, interrogate them, and then parade them around the local area, and let the people give evidence. If the crime is extremely serious, execute them directly!"
This was her own fiefdom, so the criminals did not need to be sent to the government office for trial. As long as there was conclusive evidence, she could ask the county magistrate to execute the criminals or sentence them to prison or exile.
Of course, officials of high rank still had to be sent to the capital to be tried and sentenced by the Dali Temple. Only after the emperor's approval could the criminals be brought to justice.
Wei Zhan took the dagger, pulled it out of the sheath, looked at it, and then put it back in.
Speaking of which, although his second-rank general Fengguo was a nominal position, he was also equipped with dozens of followers.
As long as he wanted, it would be no problem for him to deal with a few blind guys.
But Song Changshi's duty was to supervise his and Yingbao's behavior. Once they did anything out of line, he would come to persuade them, or directly write a memorial to the capital to complain.
Therefore, Wei Zhan was relatively patient outside, for fear of causing trouble to Yingbao.
The next day, the troublemakers outside came again.
This time they not only shouted and cursed outside, asking the princess to get out of Zhouhe County, but also attacked the three or four guards standing at the door with carrying poles, iron forks, wooden sticks, etc.
Ying Bao and Wei Zhan came out upon hearing the news and stood on the steps sneering.
These people may think that she is a woman who is easy to bully, but they don’t know that even a grassroots princess can kill them on the spot.
"Come here! Arrest these rebellious rioters!" Wei Zhan shouted, "If they dare to resist, kill them without mercy!"
Suddenly, a hundred guards appeared from behind the troublemakers and surrounded the forty or fifty people.
Seeing this, these people panicked immediately. Some of them dropped their weapons and knelt down to beg for mercy.
But there were still a dozen or so fearless street thugs who shouted that they wanted to fight the guards to the death, but were eventually hacked by the guards.
This time, the thugs became obedient and all lay on the ground begging for mercy.
"Send them to the county government office!" Wei Zhan waved his hand, and hundreds of guards dragged these people to the county government office.
Soon, the entrance to the Princess's Mansion became quiet, and all those who came to watch the fun had left.
Yingbao and Wei Zhan boarded the carriage and arrived at the county government office.
The magistrate of Mei County had already received the report and knew that the princess and her husband had arrived, so he immediately ran out to greet them.
Wei Zhan and the young lady sat in the carriage and did not get out. He said, "From yesterday to today, dozens of thugs attacked the Princess's Mansion. Mei County Magistrate, you are the head of a county, in charge of the public security of the entire county, but you turned a deaf ear and did nothing. Why? Do you think that the emperor is far away and you have already taken Zhouhe County into your pocket?"
Mei County Magistrate was so frightened that his face turned pale. He fell to his knees and trembled as he said, "I really don't know, and I haven't received any report from the Princess's Mansion."
The implication is, if the situation is really that serious, why don't you, the Princess' Mansion, come to the county government to report to the authorities
Yingbao smiled and looked at the Mei County Magistrate. She found that this old fellow in his fifties was the same county magistrate who tried the case between the Jiang and Chen families more than ten years ago.
What a coincidence.
"Mei County Magistrate, I will hand these thugs over to you today. I will come to see the results tomorrow. If you deceive your superiors and subordinates and shield criminals, you don't have to stay in Zhouhe County anymore. Just find another job."
After Yingbao finished speaking, she turned to the captain of the guards and said, "Write down the names, hometowns and household registrations of these people. Then you can investigate them one by one. You must find out the family situation of each person within five generations."
The captain of the guards clasped his fists and said, "Yes!"
When the Mei County magistrate heard this, his face turned green.
Among these people, many were relatives of his petty officials, as well as local thugs hired by the chief clerk and county lieutenant.
They originally wanted to give this grassroots princess a warning, so that she would stay in the mansion honestly and not cause trouble everywhere, but she ended up injuring so many people and dragging them all the way to the county government office.
Once she found out that he was involved, he would probably lose his job.
What should I do