My father ordered me to kill the emperor, but His Majesty bestowed a princess upon me instead.

The process of reinstating one's registration lasted from morning until evening.

Seventy-two people.

One table per person.

Of course, Yong'an County does not have seventy-two tables.

Finally, they even used old granary door panels, grain cart planks, and offering tables borrowed from the temple.

There is an altar with the words "merit" engraved on it.

Nowadays, it is used to write names for living people.

It's more appropriate than placing memorial tablets for the dead before.

Bai Zhi divides the process of restoring one's status into four steps.

Old books.

Living evidence.

Witness testimony.

Accounts and vouchers.

The old register is the original household register of the county government.

The living evidence includes the person's scars, age, accent, and family history.

Witnesses can be provided by relatives, neighbors, or former employers.

The accounting documents included old tax registers, corvée labor registers, medical records, grain coupons, and IOUs.

If three out of the four conditions can be met, a temporary reinstatement certificate will be issued first.

Once all four requirements are met, and the new county seal is completed, a formal household registration will be issued.

If there are no relatives, do not refuse directly.

First, remember the people.

Let's investigate the old accounts again.

This step is very important.

The accounting committee prefers people who have no relatives, no household registration, and no one to speak on their behalf.

If we reject their claims simply because they lack witnesses, we will be no different from the Clearing House, differing only by a single seal.

Ah Liu is in charge of calling out names.

His voice wasn't loud to begin with.

By the time they called out to the thirtieth person, they had lost their voice.

"Zhou Daniu!"

No one answered.

He shouted it again.

Still no one.

Ah Liu looked down at the book.

"Is it death...?"

He stopped talking halfway through his sentence.

In Yong'an today, you can't just ask anyone if they're dead.

It's easy to get complicated answers from questions.

An old man slowly walked out from behind the shed.

"My name used to be Zhou Daniu."

"Later, the county said that there were duplicate names and asked me to change my name to Zhou Fu."

Bai Zhi asked, "When was it changed?"

"After being locked up."

"Who authorized the changes?"

"The clerk who delivers meals."

Why?

He said Zhou Daniu was dead.

The old man spoke calmly.

People who have been imprisoned for a long time are quick to accept the fact that they are going to die.

Bai Zhi found Zhou Daniu in the list of deaths from the plague.

Zhou Fu was also found in the grain register in the underground warehouse.

One person has two names.

Zhou Daniu was in charge of collecting the burial provisions.

Zhou Fu was responsible for eating thin porridge underground.

The dead receive silver.

Living people consume food.

If each of the two ledgers uses a different name, there will be no conflict.

After listening, Ah Liu whispered, "They even use names in separate parts."

I said, "There is only one person."

"There can be many accounts."

Bai Zhi put both names on the same reinstatement certificate.

His original name was Zhou Daniu.

He was renamed Zhou Fu.

Two people died at the hands of one person.

Which one should we use from now on?

The old man thought about it for a long time.

"Zhou Daniu".

Why?

"It was my mother who named it."

Bai Zhi nodded.

I didn't advise him to use a better-sounding one.

The name isn't for the accountant to see.

It's about letting people know who they are.

When the process of restoring the household registration reached the forty-sixth person, several local gentry from Yong'an arrived.

The leader was Master Cheng.

One of the largest grain merchants in the county.

He first delivered five cartloads of porridge and grain.

Another petition was handed over.

The words were spoken very politely.

"Lord Shen's act of saving lives is truly a benevolent act."

"But the matter of reinstatement involves land ownership, marriage, and clan."

"Don't go too fast."

I asked, "What is Master Cheng worried about?"

"Someone is impersonating the deceased to claim ancestral property."

"Some people have been unregistered for many years and may have been vagrants to begin with."

"If all those registered are reinstated, chaos may ensue in the county."

The local gentry behind him nodded in agreement.

As soon as the people emerged from underground, they began to worry about their land.

When they were locked up, no one was worried.

I asked, "Of the seventy-two people, how many have already had their land transferred to your names?"

Master Cheng's expression changed slightly.

"this……"

Bai Zhi has already produced the land transfer deed.

Nineteen households died of the plague, leaving no descendants in the fields.

Twelve of these households were merged into Cheng Family Estate.

The other seven households were distributed among several local gentry present.

The transfer of ownership is complete.

The county seal looks real.

Muramasa guaranteed.

Relatives abandoned it.

Only the "deceased" are now sitting in the shed drinking porridge.

I pointed at Zhou Guiniang.

"Who owns her two mu of paddy fields?"

Master Cheng said, "The Cheng family will take over the plowing."

"Is it available for rent?"

"The households affected by the epidemic have been wiped out, and no one is collecting rent."

"Now there are people."

"The identity has not yet been officially verified."

I nodded.

"Then let's talk about grain."

Master Cheng was taken aback.

"What kind of grain?"

"Last year, you distributed the epidemic-affected grain to Liuxi Village on behalf of the county government."

"Five hundred bushels of grain."

"You left your mark."

"When you received your grain rations, Zhou Guiniang was a dead person you knew."

"When she returned the land to the fields, she became a stranger to us?"

People around were laughing.

Master Cheng's face turned red.

"I was just following the county government's roster."

"it is good."

I handed him the county government's death toll list.

"You are the witness for every dead man's food you have received according to the register."

Master Cheng dared not accept it.

I said, "You don't want to?"

"Then investigate every bushel of grain you distributed."

"If one stone is missing, one stone will be added."

"If you receive an extra tael, you will receive an extra tael."

Bai Zhi has already started working on her abacus.

When Master Cheng saw her, his expression worsened.

Wang Song, the emperor of the capital, was imprisoned for this scheme.

As a local grain merchant, he clearly didn't think he was any more fortunate than Wang Song.

"I am willing to bear witness."

"very good."

I said, "Let's start with the sixteen people on your estate."

Master Cheng was taken aback.

Bai Zhi took out the Cheng family's employment register.

All sixteen employees are on the list of those who died from the epidemic.

The land belonged to the Cheng family.

People also work for the Cheng family.

However, the wages are not paid to the workers themselves.

It was sent to an intermediary account called "Epidemic Household Management".

The silver was eventually deposited into Yongfeng's vault B.

Master Cheng's legs began to tremble.

"I do not know who they are..."

The sixteen rescued people around him were already looking at him.

One of the men said, "Master Cheng."

"I carried grain for your farm for half a year."

"You see me every month."

Master Cheng fell silent.

I didn't dare use the words "oversight" today.

They probably felt tired too.

I ordered the Imperial Guards to seal off the Cheng family's farmhouse.

The person will not be taken for now.

First, make him pay back the wages, land rent, and epidemic-related grain for the sixteen men, one by one.

Local investigations should not only target officials.

Even after taking Sun Jing, the Cheng family could still continue to use dead people for work.

Everyone who profited from the dead must be forced to return the money.

By evening, the first batch of seventy-two temporary reinstatement certificates had finally been completed.

Angelica dahurica was not administered in one dose.

Instead, they read them out one by one.

"Zhou Guiniang".

"live."

"Zhou Daniu".

"live."

"Willow and Lotus".

"live."

With each name read aloud, the crowd quieted down a little.

There were no gongs or drums.

There was no shouting.

There is only one word: "alive".

Standing in front of the old warehouse, I suddenly felt that this was even more important than taking Wang Song from the Golden Palace.

Removing even one Grand Secretary would shake the court.

If you bring seventy-two people to life, all seventy-two households will reopen their doors.

The tent won't cry.

But when the name is called back, the living person will...

By the end, Ah Liu's voice was completely hoarse.

Bai Zhi handed him a bowl of water.

After finishing his drink, he asked, "Miss Bai, would you say I've accomplished something significant today?"

"Calculate."

Ah Liu's eyes lit up.

"Could we get monthly allowance...?"

"cannot."

Why?

You owe me two abacus beads.

Ah Liu looked down at his cuffs.

I'm probably trying to remember when I lost it.

The relaxation only lasted a moment.

An old soldier who had been rescued suddenly walked up to me.

His name is Feng Laoqi.

I worked at the Yong'an Old Warehouse for twenty years.

Later, he was written as having died of an epidemic and imprisoned underground.

He was holding a new certificate of reinstatement.

But they didn't leave.

"Lord Shen."

"I know where the others went."

I looked at him.

"The other 339 people?"

"I don't know everything."

"All I know is that people have been imprisoned in the warehouse before."

"A batch is transported away every three months."

"Where are they being shipped to?"

"Qingfeng River Works."

"Qingzhou Saltworks".

"Qingxia Grain Road"

"Who transported it?"

"Luo's Grain Cart"

He paused for a moment.

"They call those places 'living warehouses'."

Ah Liu's voice was hoarse, so he could only ask in a low voice, "People can be put into the warehouse?"

Feng Laoqi nodded.

"The county wrote it to death."

There aren't enough temporary tables.

In the end, they even used grain sacks, door panels, and an overturned medicine box.

When an old man named Sun He sat down, he first touched the edge of the table.

"Does writing something equate to living?"

"It's just that some people can no longer pretend they didn't see it," I said.

"What if someone says I'm dead again tomorrow?"

Bai Zhi pushed the two supplementary pages to him.

"Take one, post the other. If anyone says you're dead, make them explain why they haven't come to ask you."

The old man cannot write.

He pressed his handprint and then had his granddaughter write next to him: Today he can speak, he can swear, and he ate two bowls of rice for lunch.

After reading it, Ah Liu said, "This one is very difficult to forge."

I asked, "Why?"

"Dead people usually can't eat two bowls of rice."

The old man looked up: "I can still eat tonight."

This is good.

When a living person is willing to fight for a third bowl of rice, it is usually more reliable than any identity document.

"I'm looking for work outside."

"Yong'an Warehouse is not only located in Yong'an."

He took out a bamboo stick that he had kept hidden for a long time from his pocket.

There are no names on the bamboo sticks.

There is only one line of numbering.

Qingfeng Live Granary, number 36 (甲字三十十六).

Shipping date——

tonight.