Chapter 1239 Hello Everyone, I’m Lost

Xijin County contains dozens of villages, and each village must pay township tax and field tax to the court.

However, Xijin County has a special geographical location. It is located at the port of the entire Xianyan Kingdom. The villages are scattered and scattered along the mountains and seas. Therefore, every time when collecting taxes, the government officials have to travel across mountains and rivers, which is very hard.

Magistrate Song served as magistrate of Xijin County for twelve full years. In the first one or two years of his appointment, he had a very difficult time in business. The same reason was the poor geographical location.

But what’s wrong with coastal cities? The air is good and the scenery is good. Even if it is jokingly called a dock, as long as the economy is firmly grasped, it will be gold and platinum that no one else can envy, and there is plenty of money to be made.

Unfortunately, this Linhai capital does not have such a good economy. What is the reason? Because of the sea.

That's not right, the sea is rich in products, so being close to the sea should be very profitable.

Of course, if this sea area is calm, there will be profits, but what if there are tsunamis and tornadoes in this sea area every now and then?

After countless accidents and natural disasters, Baishanzhou’s economy has improved, and it’s good that it didn’t lose its pants.

Anyway, as long as you hear something in the capital, there is a flood in such-and-such a place, another mountain collapse in such-and-such a place, and such-and-such place needs funding from the court for rescue, yes, 99.8% of it will be It's Baishanzhou.

Baishanzhou Futai is also very worried. After so many years, Xijin County is still flooded by flash floods and the ground is cracked by landslides.

As soon as Magistrate Song came to Xijin County, he felt that he was being persecuted.

But he did a good job and worked hard himself. He took Xijin County seriously as his own business. And as he got older, he no longer wanted to make a fuss about returning to the capital. The whole family moved to Xijin County, so He attaches great importance to the economy of Xijin County. He once had a quarrel with the magistrate of Linxian County, Lubai County, which also belongs to Baishanzhou, in order to fight for the ownership of a village.

Things were very simple at the beginning. Didn’t Magistrate Song go to inspect every subordinate village after he took over? As he walked, he came to a small village full of rose flowers. That village was called "Hongjia Village".

But who knows, the village chief of Hongjia Village said that they are not a village in Xijin County, and their geography is not within the scope of Xijin County.

However, the county government documents clearly stated that Hongjia Village was under the jurisdiction of Xijin County.

Magistrate Song quit his job and insisted on paying taxes. However, the head of Hongjia Village said that we have paid taxes to Lubai County every year for decades.

Magistrate Song was shocked and immediately decided to seek compensation from Lubai County.

Lubai County is more economically developed than Xijin County, and the magistrate of Lubai County is a distant cousin of Baishanzhoufutai. How could they compensate you? Moreover, the Hongjia Village is actually built at the middle junction of Lubai County and Xijin County. It can be said who it belongs to.

So, the matter went to the Futai. When the Futai master heard the last thing, his face turned dark, he scolded them and told them to go back!

There are only eight households in Hongjia Village. How dare you blush for such a small amount of tax?

After returning home, the magistrate of Lubai County was worried that his Futai cousin would find him embarrassed. In order to express his gratitude, he immediately wrote a letter to the government office, saying that without worrying about it, we no longer want Hongjia Village and will give it to Xijin County.

And Magistrate Song happened to be an official-minded person. He was also afraid of offending Mr. Futai for such a small village. When he returned, he immediately wrote a letter saying that they no longer wanted Hongjia Village and would give it to Lubai County. .

Mr. Futai received these two letters one after another, and finally made a judgment and decided to give Xijin County some face. After all, it was a difficult county and the economy was a bit too poor. Quan regarded it as pitiful and assigned Hongjia Village to Xijin County.

But before he finished writing his reply letter, Tingjiang Prefecture suddenly paid a visit, so he left it here in order to entertain guests from far away.

Then after a while, he forgot about it.

From then on, in Hongjia Village, no one from Lubai County came to collect taxes, and no one from Xijin County came to collect taxes. Hongjia Village became a special village without anyone under its jurisdiction.

The village chief of Hongjia Village estimated for two months that they knew they had taken advantage. He was afraid that the advantage would grow wings and fly away, so he specially told the villagers that in the future we should go less to the county town and have less contact with other surrounding villages. Don't let people know that we don't pay taxes, otherwise they will be jealous and report us.

Ten years have passed, twelve years have passed, and now Hongjia Village is located in the deepest part of the Huaishan swamp. It is sparsely populated, but there are large fields of farmland and flowers to the east.

This place is like a paradise, a small independent world.

Xiao Li stood at the entrance of the village with the pleasant fragrance of flowers, looking at the houses in the distance with the roosters crowing and the smoke slowly coming out. He was stunned, and then quickly ran forward to the house where the smoke was burning. people.

The person who opened the door was a little girl. She had just woken up and was combing her hair. She held the wooden comb and pricked one side of her hair. The other side had not yet been pricked. When she saw the completely unfamiliar boy of the same age outside, the little girl woke up. He opened his eyes wide and shouted into the room: "Mom!"

The little girl's mother hadn't come out yet, but her sister came out first. She was an older girl of fifteen or sixteen years old. The older girl wanted to scold her younger sister for shouting so early in the morning, but when she saw the stranger outside, she was also surprised. , so he also shouted: "Mom!"

The eldest lady, who was being called upon endlessly by the two sisters, finally came out with a pot and ladle in hand. Before she could speak, she was stunned for a moment, and then asked confusedly: "Who are you?"

Xiao Li is a polite child. He immediately introduced himself respectfully: "Hello, I'm lost. I'm from Heishui Village. I want to ask, how can I walk back to Heishui Village? Can you tell me? ?”

The little girl looked up at the eldest girl, and the eldest girl looked up at her mother. The family of three thought deeply for a moment, and the eldest lady finally shouted into the room: "The child's father, the child's father!"

After a while, a hunter came out. After being educated by the female family members, he looked at the little boy without being too surprised: "It's difficult to get out of here. Are you from Heishui Village? There is a village near us called Heishui Village." Water village?"

The little girl, who had never seen a stranger since she was a child, shook her head in confusion.

The older girl, who had met strangers when she was very young but had long since forgotten them when she grew up, also shook her head.

The child's mother thought about it for a while, and finally asked: "Is it the village of Pink Girl? Is that village called Blackwater Village?"

When Xiao Li heard that they actually mentioned Hongfen, he was stunned. He frowned and asked, "Do you recognize Miss Hongfen?"

The child's mother said naa: "I don't know her. Before her father died and her family fell into decline, I went to her house to deliver ducks. But later I heard that the Su Mansion was closed by the Yamen. , her mother also took her sister away, and she was still living in a brothel. It was really pitiful, but didn't it say that an old friend of her father redeemed her later? She also moved to a village on the other side of the mountain, Is this your Blackwater Village?"

Xiao Li stared at the aunt carefully for a while, making sure that she was not lying, and then said: "She passed away ten years ago."

The aunt was stunned and turned to look at her man: "Really?"

The child's father was also confused: "How did I know? I can't go to the other side of the mountain to hunt animals."

The aunt thought so, but she still couldn't accept it: "It's really a crime."

Then when she looked at Xiao Li, the aunt said with a little softness: "You are lost, aren't you? Although we don't know how to get to Heishui Village, my man will go into the mountains soon. Let him take you through the swamp forest and get there. , you won’t have to go far to get out of the mountain, then you can ask other people.”

Xiao Li thought for a while and finally shook his head: "Thank you, aunt, but I'd better ask other people. You don't need to send me off, just give me directions..." Then he looked around, thinking about who he would knock next. Home door.

But the aunt said: "Don't look, we don't know, and no one else will know, but the village chief may know. The village chief goes out of the village to sell goods in the county every month. I will take you to ask the village chief."

The aunt is a passionate person, so she took Xiao Li and led him to the largest farmhouse in front.

But halfway through, she saw that the door of a certain courtyard was open. She was stunned for a moment, and suddenly she was pleasantly surprised: "Grandpa Bai is back?"

The people in the farmhouse obviously heard the sound outside the door. After a while, a stooped old man came out.

Aunt Xu smiled: "Grandpa Bai came back last night? Oh, you haven't been back for a long time. I thought I wouldn't see you again this year."

"Something happened, and I just happened to be back." Grandpa Bai said, his eyes looking at the little boy held by Aunt Xu. The old and the young looked at each other from a distance, and then Grandpa Bai bent down and looked at the little boy Waved: "Come here."

Xiao Li was stunned. He didn't know this old grandfather, but he was an elder and called him again, so after hesitating, he walked over slowly.

The farmer's yard was all covered with low walls and fences. Xiao Li pushed open the ajar gate and walked in. Grandpa Bai took out the hawthorn candy from his pocket, handed it to him, and said, "It looks good." Come on, it’s so high in the blink of an eye.”

Xiao Li blinked: "Huh?"

But Aunt Xu outside the door understood and laughed: "Grandpa Bai, this is not my baby. My baby is a girl. Why did you forget?"

Grandpa Bai's smiling face suddenly froze, then he slapped his forehead and said, "Look at my memory."

After Aunt Xu smiled, she explained: "This is a child from Heishui Village on the other side of the mountain. He is lost. I am taking him to find the village chief. For such a small child, if he is lost all night, his parents will die of panic."

Grandpa Bai nodded with a smile, as if to cover up that he just recognized the wrong person, he hurriedly pushed the child out: "Then go quickly, don't make the family anxious."

Aunt Xu pulled Xiao Li out again and said to Grandpa Bai before leaving: "I'll ask my guy to bring you some bacon later. You haven't been back to the village in the past few years. Everyone in the village misses you."

Grandpa Bai smiled and nodded, standing there with his hands behind his back.

Xiao Li still held the hawthorn candy in his hand, and thought about it. Although the grandfather had recognized the wrong person, the elder gave the gift, and as a junior, he still had to express his gratitude.

He was about to turn around and say thank you, but he saw that the old man had already walked back to the house, and with a "click", the door was closed.

Xiao Li had no choice but to put the hawthorn candy in his pocket and decided to eat it later.

On the other side, after Grandpa Bai returned to the house, he first looked at the injured female leopard that occupied his entire Tukang, and then at the two unusually lively little leopards, biting his quilt and dragging it all over the floor.

Finally, he turned his attention to the little baby girl crawling around on the kang but with her butt naked, and muttered worriedly: "Do I have to borrow two pieces of clothes first?"

No one answered his question, only the white wolf sitting next to the bed raised his head and whimpered.