Poverty Alleviation in Qin: A Sky-High Review of "I Am the Female Prime Minister of All Time&qu

Time flies, and half a month has passed.

Half a month is neither a long nor a short time.

Song gradually adapted to life here, getting up at five o'clock every day before dawn and resting at six or seven o'clock in the evening. He ate simple meals, wore plain clothes, and slept on a hard bed, living in conditions far inferior to those of modern times.

But she was never one to be pampered. In her previous life, when she went to the countryside to help alleviate poverty, she had endured even more difficult conditions than this, so she was quite content with it.

During this period, Song also took the lead in checking the corvée labor, going through the list sent by Xiao He and clarifying the whereabouts of the personnel one by one. Who should have served but did not go, who had been on duty for many years and had not returned, and many others had spent money to bribe their way out of their posts.

The relevant departments acted in accordance with regulations, recalling those who needed to be recalled and reassigning those who needed to be reassigned, thus blocking the loopholes for some people to take advantage of the situation.

Next, she began to crack down on the shady practices in taxation. The imperial court set standard taxes, but officials always managed to collect extra amounts.

Song also posted a notice directly at the entrance of the county government, making it clear that from now on, all tax collection would be in accordance with the rules of the imperial court, and anyone who dared to collect even a single extra coin would be personally investigated.

The notice attracted a large crowd, and some people, after reading it aloud, stood frozen in disbelief: "Is...is this really true?"

Song offered no further explanation.

Talk is cheap; actions speak louder than words.

Next, she sent Cao Shen to lead a team to inspect the countryside. Wherever they found illegal additional taxes, they returned the extra money to the people.

After half a month, the amount of taxes paid by the people remained unchanged, but everyone felt at ease knowing that the county magistrate was keeping an eye on things.

Then came road and bridge repairs.

The dirt roads east of Peixian County are dusty on sunny days and muddy and difficult to travel on rainy days, often causing oxcarts to get stuck.

The wooden bridge in the west of the city has been broken for almost a year, and villagers from three villages on the other side of the river have to take an extra hour to get into the city.

Song also asked Xiao He to estimate the materials needed. Repairing roads and bridges was not difficult; a few cartloads of earth and stones and a few pieces of timber would be enough. The manpower could be drawn from the county government's miscellaneous servants and some temporary laborers could be recruited.

Just do it!

Song also went to the construction site in person, rolled up his sleeves to move stones and fill mud pits, looking no different from an ordinary laborer.

Xiao He was quite surprised to see this, as he had never seen such a down-to-earth county magistrate before.

In just ten days, the roads were paved and the bridges were repaired.

As the people walked on the smooth road and trod on the sturdy bridge, they exclaimed, "Lord Song has accomplished a lot in his short time in office."

After that, Song also reorganized the city's markets.

The market used to be very chaotic, with vendors setting up stalls arbitrarily on the road, thugs demanding protection money everywhere, and shortchanging customers being a common occurrence.

Local residents are always on edge when buying vegetables, and vendors from other places are unwilling to come and do business.

Song also arranged for Cao Can to lead prison guards to patrol the streets.

On the first day, they caught a thug who was collecting protection money and publicly flogged him twenty times.

The next day, a butcher was caught using a fake scale. The scale rod was broken on the spot, and he was ordered to compensate the buyer double.

After a series of rectification efforts, the market order has improved considerably.

Vendors all set up their stalls in accordance with the rules, making buying and selling fairer, and giving everyone more confidence in doing business.

In just half a month, Peicheng has undergone a complete transformation.

The local area was poor and impoverished, and it was impossible for it to become prosperous in a short period of time. However, the roads were clear, the bridges were intact, the markets were orderly, and people no longer had to go out covered in mud. Everything was neat and tidy.

Aunt Wang, who sells pancakes at the city gate, praises Lord Song to everyone she meets: "Lord Song is such a good man! I've been doing business for half my life, and this is the first time I've ever met an official who truly cares about us common people."

These words reached Liu Ji's ears.

He was squatting at the entrance of Sishui Pavilion eating dry rations when he heard this and almost choked.

Support? What support? He just felt controlled and uncomfortable all over.

Previously, Song had specifically instructed Xiao He to "take good care" of this Sishui Pavilion Chief.

Xiao He took it very seriously. Every morning someone would come to check on him, and in the evening someone would inquire about his duties for the day.

In the past, Liu Ji would sneak off to the widow's house next door for drinks and stay for most of the day. Now, he often just picks up his glass when someone comes to tell him that they want to see him.

After this happened several times, the widow teased him, "Liu Ji, do you owe someone money?"

Liu Ji had no way to express his bitterness. In the past, when he was on duty, he could take a nap or wander around in his spare time. Now, he even had to time his trip to the outhouse carefully, for fear of being caught and being labeled as derelict in his post.

What made him even more nervous was that Song would often personally go to the countryside to inspect.

Once, Liu Ji was squatting by the roadside playing chess with someone when he looked up and saw Song Ye standing three steps away, looking at him expressionlessly.

That look was no different from looking at a piece of trash, a parasite, a good-for-nothing, or a lump of mud.

Liu Ji hurriedly stood up, not bothering to tidy up the chess pieces, and said with an awkward smile, "Lord Song, what brings you here? I was just about to go on my patrol of the area."

Song stared at him quietly for three seconds, then turned and left.

Behind him, Xiao He glared at him, then quickly followed.

Liu Ji stood there, feeling a chill run down his spine, and uttered a soul-searching question:

"What did I do to deserve this?"

Lu Wan shrank to the side, not daring to even breathe, and only approached after the person had walked away: "Brother Ji, you're probably in trouble this time."

"I know what I'm doing." Liu Ji squatted down to pick up the chess pieces, his hands trembling uncontrollably.

"The look in Lord Song's eyes just now was truly frightening."

"You should say less."

Upon hearing this, Lu Wan immediately shut her mouth, her eyes filled with helplessness, clearly saying, "You'd better watch yourself."

...

On the other side, Song was also walking hurriedly.

Xiao He barely managed to keep up by jogging, and asked breathlessly, "My lord, where are we going?"

"Where does Liu Ji live?" Song asked without turning his head.

Xiao He was taken aback: "Huh?"

"I'm asking you about Liu Ji's residence. You're in charge of household registration, surely you know where he lives."

"It's in Zhongyang Village, Fengyi. It's about a half-hour walk east from here." Xiao He cautiously pressed, "My lord, what are you planning to do...?"

"Go find his parents."

Xiao He paused, nearly falling to the ground.

Go find his parents? What are they going to do?

He was filled with doubts, but dared not ask any more questions, and could only obediently follow behind.

When the people on the road saw the county magistrate walking down to the countryside, they all gave way and whispered among themselves, guessing that something urgent had happened in the village.

Half an hour later, the two arrived at Zhongyangli.

The large locust tree at the village entrance was particularly eye-catching. Several elderly people were playing chess under the tree. When they saw the figure in official robes, they quickly stood up and bowed.

Song raised his hand to signal everyone not to be reserved, and walked straight to Liu Ji's door.

Liu Taigong was squatting in the yard repairing his hoe when he heard the noise and looked up. He saw that the person who came was dressed in official robes and Xiao He was following behind him. Liu Taigong almost dropped his farming tools.

"Who...who is this?"

"Grandpa, this is our new magistrate, Lord Song." Xiao He quickly stepped forward to introduce him.

Liu Taigong panicked and was about to kneel down to pay his respects.

Song quickly stepped forward to help him up: "No need for formalities, I just came to sit down and say a few words."