Before New Year's Day, one must pay respects to their superiors.

  Fang Xinye naturally had to pay his respects to the provincial governor, but of course, he didn't have the qualifications to meet with the provincial administrative chief, the Governor. The governor's attitude towards him was neither enthusiastic nor suppressive, just so bland, asking a few questions, accepting his gift, and then letting him withdraw.

  It can be said that he had fulfilled his duty as a minister, and Fang Xin naturally returned. At this time, he received another letter from home, saying that He Yao and He Rong were both pregnant and everything was fine. Fang Xin smiled after reading the letter, which was actually left behind by him on the day of the exam, but it was not easy to send a letter over thousands of miles, and now it had finally arrived.

  After the 20th of the twelfth lunar month, the government office was sealed and all matters were suspended. Fang Xin, however, took two horses and two men, only bringing Liu Jue Ming, the squad leader, to inspect the entire county.

  At first, the snow fell slowly and sparsely, but later it became thick and heavy like goose down, covering everything in a vast expanse of white. Suddenly, the mule stopped at a turning point, and at this moment, the entire mountain, forest, and plain were all covered with deep snow.

  "Adult?" As the class leader, the county magistrate had specially sent a thick brocade robe, with a thick hat and wearing thick boots, which was still warm. At this time, he asked in surprise, following his line of sight.

  In the distance, a small village, naturally using thatched cottages, if the thatched cottages were made of wood it would be fine, but if they were made of bamboo, they wouldn't hold up. Overnight, a heavy snowfall, looking at it, several houses had collapsed, carefully watching, several thinly dressed women, holding children, faintly with sounds of sobbing.

  "Sir! Sir!" Liu Jue Ming said timidly by his side.

  Fang Xin simply stood quietly, listening to the sound of snowflakes falling to the ground, the cold wind blowing through the forest, and the sound of crying. His eyes were expressionless, and he was silent for a long time before saying: "Liu Jue Ming!"

  "At your service!"

  "Such a big snowfall is rare in this place, I don't know how many houses have collapsed in our county. Are you officials willing to take action on New Year's Day?"

  "No need to be polite about this matter. Of course, we're willing!" Liu Jue Ming hastily expressed his attitude and said.

  "Prefect Zhang Yang is a good official, the county knows that he's still busy and hasn't returned home yet, but it's not going well." Fang Xin said calmly: "Don't follow me anymore, go back and pass on my orders. Has this county mobilized corvée labor this year? It's already been set in motion!"

  Liu Jue Ming was shocked and didn't speak for a while before saying: "Corvee. At this time, it's not good, the New Year is approaching."

  Corvée, unpaid labor forced on commoners throughout history. By imperial decree, those aged 16 to 50 were required to perform labor and military service for the government.

  Mobilize corvee labor. Very particular, generally during agricultural off-season, mobilization, the government is only responsible for meals, no wages are given.

  "I'm telling you, you don't understand, it's just that you don't understand. You and Zhang Yang, whenever you arrive at a village, if you see a house has collapsed, you conscript the men of that household to work. This corvée labor is for repairing houses, get it?" Fang Xin glanced at him as he spoke.

  "Sir, you mean let them repair the house and also give them food?" Liu Jue Ming asked in surprise again.

  "It's like this, it's settled then. The house is built, and they can just sweep the snow or fix the roads at will, and that's enough of an excuse. This county will also have a good word to say to those above. If we open the granary without imperial orders to rescue the people, even if it benefits the common folk, I'll be dismissed and locked up in Beijing awaiting trial. So of course this county doesn't dare open the granary, but every year, each county has two instances of corvée labor, and the government provides food, with one-tenth of the grain warehouse's output going towards corvée labor. That way, it'll be fine." Fang Xin said dejectedly.

  As a county magistrate with great power in hand, it is actually very easy to accumulate merits. Take the two words "corvée" for example, if done well, it should be beneficial to all parties involved.

  It is said that good fortune comes from accumulating virtue, but among the countless officials, how many truly take this to heart?

  For years, the allowed consumption of one-tenth of grain and one-tenth of loss was just a semi-legal gray income for officials, which has become a prevailing practice.

  "Yes, sir, you truly love your people like your own children, but since there's no one around you now, I'll take my leave..."

  "It's nothing!" Fang Xin sneered, waving his hand, and a cyan light flashed. At this moment, a tree as thick as a bowl on the side of the road suddenly fell with a loud crash, splashing snowflakes everywhere.

  "This vast land, although broad, but our county is confident, still has some self-preservation power!" He said, his eyes calm, slowly sheathing his sword.

  It's nothing if it were an ordinary person, but Liu Jue Ming, the leader of the county yamen guards, must have some martial arts skills and knowledge to be able to lead a group of soldiers. Suddenly, his mouth was wide open, this kind of martial arts is truly frightening and intimidating.

  No wonder he dared to come alone without bringing any soldiers or attendants.

  That day, following him was indeed good fortune; if not, the granary would have been filled with dozens of corpses by now. Thinking of this, he suddenly broke out in a cold sweat.

  "Hurry up and go, besides, you also know that our destination is in this county, and we're not far from Guantian now." Fang Xin said.

  "Yes, sir. I've conveyed your order and rushed over to listen for further instructions." Liu Jue-ming responded with a "yes" at this point, turned his mule around, and headed back to relay the command.

  Watching him leave from afar, Fang Xin walked slowly and alone, just right for thinking.

  Integrity, with the intention of being a clean official, cannot bear corrupt things. Of course, this will offend superiors, colleagues and subordinates. However, going along with the flow and being corrupt is also not acceptable.

  In fact, this boot-selling business has benefited the minor officials and small-time officers first. A hundred or a thousand wen may be a small amount for officials, but it's not insignificant to them either.

  One hundred and fifty taels is not a small amount for these officials. This county is very poor, their corruption and embezzlement are only up to this number.

  Of course, the county magistrate doing business is definitely not in line with the system, so a businessman must be found to act as an agent. This is still somewhat controversial, but it doesn't need to be considered much because everyone has a share of the profits now. In the county government, no one will take the lead, and even if they do, it's not a big deal.

  Xiang Xin can act in such a way, so naturally, although relying on advanced knowledge, but actually, it is more about understanding human nature - when the water is clear, there are no fish.

  Of course, what's most important is that he came to accumulate merit and attain the subtle grand meaning of Confucianism, rather than to get promoted or become wealthy.

  This starting point determines the difference in boundaries and means.

  When they arrived at the official field, an old man came to greet them. He had met the county magistrate before and was a bit surprised to see him come alone. However, he immediately stepped forward and bowed: "Commoner Zhao Fengming greets Your Honor, it's snowing heavily outside. Please hurry inside."

  Fang Xin stopped talking and stepped into the doorway, which led to a small courtyard. The main building was made of earth bricks, with thatched grass on top. Icicles hung from the eaves.

  Inside were three earthen houses, which was already considered good at that time, but still very small. Fang Xin came in and saw a heated kang in the main room, with a rough table nearby.

  "Please come in, sir. I knew you were coming, so I've got everything ready."

  Fang Xin laughed and didn't decline, taking off his boots. He got into the pit, and indeed, it was warm inside, with hot bedding, showing that care had been taken - Zhao Fengming was in charge of managing the official fields and was considered a minor official, so he naturally did some things. At this time, he smiled and said: "Your Excellency has come at just the right time, I happened to catch a five-pound golden carp last night, which is not often seen. This is Your Excellency's good fortune!"

  Fang Xin looked over and indeed saw two women cleaning a four or five jin heavy golden carp. After taking a glance, he saw that the young woman was moving slowly and smiled as he said: "Ah, Golden Carp, our county magistrate likes you, right? You're pregnant?"

  "It's true! My son has been married for two years now, and this year he finally has a child on the way. I'm overjoyed."

  "Haha, this is good news. Our county has encountered it too. We should also make a gesture. Here, take this money as a reward!" Fang Xin laughed: "The women in our county's household are also pregnant."

  "How can a small person compare with a big shot? A big shot must be very rich and noble, but since the big shot gave it to him, the little guy was happy to accept it." One yuan is equivalent to about 500 RMB now, which is not bad at all. The man happily accepted it.

  A young man in his twenties came in with firewood on his back, knocked his head and paid his respects, then warmed the wine. Suddenly, the fragrance of wine, meat, and fish filled the room and spread out.

  "Zhao Fengming, the thing our county needs you to find, have you found it?" After sitting down, Fang Xin said solemnly, his tone calm, but with a hint of great majesty, like a deep pool, like a high mountain.

  Zhao Fengming immediately kowtowed: "Your Honor, I've been running for three months and have finally found it."

  As he spoke, he took out a box with dozens of compartments, each containing a single blade of grass: "This is Black Atractylodes, this is Costus root, this is Winter Summergrass, this is Cinnabar Gentian, this is Dark Bamboo, this is Old Hook, this is Fragrant Angelica, this is Bean Cassia, this is Dark Grass, this is Sweet Leaf..."

  In this remote county, it is actually unnecessary to have advanced technology. It would be enough to introduce the technology of developed areas at that time.

  The county magistrate's work, persuading farmers to cultivate mulberry and hemp, opening up wasteland, and promoting production. Fang Xing also traveled throughout the entire county and discovered that although the county covers an area of 5,000 square kilometers, most of it is mountainous terrain with only two small patches of flat land and some very small riverbanks and plateaus that can be cultivated.

  The road is difficult to travel, farming is even more difficult, and even if the slope land is developed, it is hard to achieve anything. Especially with backward water conservancy facilities, the irrigated area of the whole county only reaches 300,000 mu, and grain production can barely maintain self-sufficiency, which is the root cause of poverty.

  The water conservancy project should be done, but after estimation, the land that can be developed is also limited. It will reach its limit when it increases to 1.5 million mu, which is not even one-third of the inland area.

  As for the mountains and forests, trees are also resources, among which some are precious timber. On the one hand, wood takes a long time to grow, and logging destroys the natural environment, leading to soil erosion. On the other hand, this can easily lead to conflicts with indigenous peoples.

  For officials of this era, economic development is not the main performance indicator, but governance, stability and education. If something goes wrong, it's not only a failure, but also a crime.

  With these considerations in mind, Fang Xin naturally had his eyes on medicinal materials, and he already had several prescriptions.

  Actually, these prescriptions were not created by Fang Xin alone, but were recorded in the Provincial Academy, only no one asked about them, and Fang Xin happened to take them out and use them. The most hopeful among them is the Epidemic Prevention Pill. After all, this province is very similar to Yunnan on Earth, with the biggest difficulty being frequent epidemics that make people fear at the mere mention of it. Coincidentally, medicinal herbs, spices, and timber are abundant - only then comes a prescription similar to Yunnan Baiyao.

  Fang Xin had already instructed the relevant people to search for these dozens of medicinal herbs, and also found an old doctor from the county government office, who was familiar with the situation. These people did a good job.

  Listening to the introduction, Fang Xin had a number in his heart and asked: "Are these several places many or few?"

  Zhao Fengming took over the few things Fang Xin specified, looked at them carefully, and after finishing, said: "Sir, these few things, I have seen this group in the wilderness before. Although I didn't search carefully, there must be others elsewhere!"

  Fang Xing nodded and said: "Call your son over."

  "Yes!"

  Before long, a young man in his early twenties arrived: "Your humble servant Zhao Dongmu pays respects to the Honorable Magistrate."

  "I heard you've read a few years of books, there's a job in the county that suits you, can you do it?" Fang Xin said calmly.

  Listening to this tone, Father Zhao Fengming suddenly felt a bit drummed up and made eye contact. But Zhao Dongmu was stunned and said: "If the adult wants me to do it, I'll do it!"

  "Alright, you go back and open a store in the county, let's call it Baicao Hall. You'll be the boss, I'll give you some silver, and you can tell people to collect these tens of medicinal herbs from the wild. The price will be based on the market price of medicinal herbs in the county." Fang Xin added: "Just open up and start collecting, no matter how much there is. After the New Year, you can start purchasing them."

  He paused, and Fang Xin said with a cold smile: "This county has never been short of soldiers, now I'll give you ten taels of silver to celebrate the new year. From now on, your monthly salary will be fixed at five taels, which is comparable to an eighth-rank official. As for the money from selling herbs, the county will provide it and also assign an accountant to you. You'd better do a good job, this shop doesn't belong to just me, but to all the big shots in the county. Don't let me or other big shots down, otherwise... Heh heh, understand?"

  "Understood!" Zhao Dongmu had read a few years of books, although he hadn't passed the imperial examination to become a scholar, but he understood what was being said, broke out in cold sweat and knocked his head.