Ji Bochang, the magistrate of Pingjiang County, was a middle-aged man who had just reached forty. When he first met Zhou Yi, he was wearing a white-washed, faded and mottled long coat.
This man, who has just reached his forties, has a dark face, gray hair, and wrinkles on his face that make him look like a farmer in his sixties or seventies.
When handing over the work in Pingjiang County to Zhou Yi, Ji Bochang was very patient and meticulous, explaining everything he thought of.
Zhou Yi could tell that the magistrate of Pingjiang County was a practical person.
But there was nothing a small seventh-grade magistrate in Pingjiang County could do to cause trouble in front of the deeply entrenched landlords and wealthy people.
Ji Bochang, who was short of food, money and manpower, could only rely on others and watch the faces of those families.
"Brother Xingjian, I would like to advise you. Since you have just arrived in Pingjiang County, you should visit the major families and get to know the masters!"
"It was because I didn't contact these families at the beginning that everything went wrong in the end. Now I can't even control the price of food in the city!" Ji Bochang advised kindly.
Unlike Ji Bochang, Zhou Yi had money, food, and men, so he didn't need to rely on others at all.
What's more, if Zhou Yi comes to visit in person, those families who have been robbed by Zhou Yi don't know how scared they will be.
Although he didn't have that idea in his heart, Zhou Yi still accepted Ji Bochang's kindness.
"Thank you, Brother Bochang, for reminding me, I will keep this in mind when I go to build my business!"
"I haven't asked Brother Bochang where he is from. Where do you want to go now that you have resigned?"
Ji Bochang glanced at the direction of Pingliang County from a distance and said with a gloomy face: "To be honest, I am from Pingliang County. Last time the Huns invaded the city, my parents and brothers were either killed or robbed as slaves by the Huns. Went to the grassland."
"Originally, I wanted to raise food from Pingjiang County to help the people in Pingliang County, but unfortunately..."
Having reached this point, Ji Bochang did not continue, but Zhou Yi already understood what was going on.
"I heard that Pingliang County has recovered in an orderly manner under your governance, Xingjian. Bo Chang is here to thank you, Xingjian, for the people of Pingliang County!"
After saying that, Ji Bochang bowed deeply to Zhou Yi.
"Get up quickly, get up quickly." Zhou Yi quickly pulled Ji Bochang up.
"Brother Bochang, if you lose your official position this time and return to Pingliang County, you will be like a fish in the sea and a bird in the sky. You will definitely have great achievements and ambitions to display."
Ji Bochang also heard that Pingliang County is now governed by a bandit leader named Li Feiyu.
In Ji Bochang's view, allowing a bandit to manage the county town was tantamount to throwing a mouse into a rice vat. What Zhou Yi was probably talking about was great deeds and great ambitions, and he was probably admonishing Li Feiyu to treat the people well.
Thinking of this, Ji Bochang also believed that there was indeed something to be done about this matter.
In the end, the big deal is that it is the result of killing a benevolent person. When the time comes, maybe he will be famous and famous throughout the ages.
After Zhou Yi sent the "old county magistrate" away, instead of following Ji Bochang's instructions, the major landowners in Pingjiang County came to pay homage to the dock. Instead, people put up signs recruiting soldiers.
Conflicts vary from region to region, and naturally the methods of handling them must be different.
When Zhou Yi was in Pingliang County, there were less than 2,000 people in the county. They were either injured or disabled, old or young. There was not a single big family in the entire county, and most of the original big families were killed by the invading Huns.
At that time, Pingliang County was at the end of its rope. If not for the arrival of Zhou Yi, the entire Pingliang County would have become an empty city in a few days.
But this is not the case in Pingjiang County now. Although the people in Pingjiang County are just as poor and miserable, they have not reached that point of despair.
If Zhou Yi opens the warehouse to stockpile grain at this moment, the effect may be there, but it will definitely not be much better.
And just like what He Shen said, those wealthy families and landlords who are not short of food will definitely come to Zhou Yixin to drink rice porridge and take advantage of it.
Zhou Yi didn't want his advantage to be taken advantage of by this group of people, so Zhou Yi decided to change his strategy and directly issued a recruitment strategy.
The recruitment notice in Pingjiang County did not disclose to the public the information of 100 kilograms of rice and 30 bags of pickled mustard per month like in Pingliang County.
Instead, he wrote sixteen simple words - enlist in the army, regardless of gender, and have three meals a day.
When he was in Pingliang County, Zhouyi only recruited male soldiers.
But it's different now. Basically all the land in Pingjiang County is in the hands of those powerful people.
The remaining more than 10,000 people in the city, both men and women, are a labor force. How could Zhou Yi allow these laborers to work for those damn landlords and veterans?
This is also the reason why Zhou Yi recruited female soldiers for the first time. Regardless of whether they are men or women, Zhou Yi does not want to let them go.
The families in Pingjiang County, headed by the Ye family, began to discuss countermeasures.
Ye Jianrong, the big shopkeeper of Yejia Grain Store, said on the spot: "Didn't he, the county magistrate, recruit soldiers and ensure that they can eat three meals a day? As far as I know, there was not much rice left in the government granary before Ji Bochang left. Now! Now we have to raise the price of food. When the time comes, Zhou Yi, the county magistrate, will beg us if he is short of food!"
The shopkeeper of a grain store in the Li family said: "Now the price of grain in Pingjiang County has reached three taels of silver and one tael. We have taken over all the fields and houses of the people in the city! If the price increases again, what else can we do to those people? Mudleg wants it?"
Shopkeeper Ye Jianrong smiled sinisterly and said, "Without money, houses, or land, don't those people still have wives and children? Let them pawn this!"
It is obviously not the first time that Ye Jianlong has done this with such familiarity.
"Besides, our target is the new county magistrate. When the time comes, we will raise the price, and we can give the county magistrate a big blow."
After hearing this, the heads and shopkeepers of other families agreed with Ye Jianrong's proposal.
But what they didn't know was that Zhou Yi wanted them to do this.
In this way, Zhou Yi's progress in recruiting soldiers will be significantly improved.
By then, when Zhou Yi has recruited soldiers and completed preliminary training, it will be time for Zhou Yi to deal with the major families.
At this moment, we decided to start an economic war with them to aggravate the demise of the major families.
On that day, a state-owned food store opened in one of the most popular streets in Pingjiang County.
Other grain stores in Pingjiang County sell coarse grains for four taels of silver per catty, but this state-owned grain store only sells fine grains for a low price of 10 cents per catty.
Of course, this ten cents is only for people whose families have joined the army under Zhou Yi.
As there was no one in the family who was in the army, the grain sold to them by the state-owned grain stores cost one tael of silver per catty. Even this price was far lower than the grain prices of Ye, Wang, Li and other families.
