RPAGF Chapter 450 Revitalizing Chuzhou
Chapter 450 Revitalizing Chuzhou
On the day Shi Wanxia stepped into the Chuzhou prefectural government office, it happened to be during a continuous autumn rain.
Muddy puddles filled the bluestone path, reflecting the mottled and peeling vermilion gateposts, while the weeds in the courtyard inside the gate had grown to waist height.
The branches of a few withered trees slanted towards the leaden sky, much like the current predicament of this city.
"Sir, these are the treasury's account books..."
The old official Li Zhong held a stack of yellowed papers, his hands trembling uncontrollably.
"Before Lord Yuan and Lord Wang were arrested, in addition to emptying the last two chests of silver ingots in the treasury, they also burned most of the tax records from previous years. Now, all that can be found are these few pages of fragments."
Shi Wanxia took the ledger, her fingertips touching the mold on the pages. She opened it and saw either blurry handwriting or large, charred holes.
The only thing that is clear is the last page which reads: "Treasury surplus: a few taels of silver and a few shi of grain."
She took a deep breath, suppressing the gloom in her heart—she had expected Yuan Xiaomiao and Wang Qinian to leave behind a mess before she came, but she hadn't expected it to be so rotten to the core.
Suddenly, a suppressed cry came from outside the courtyard. Following the sound, one could see more than a dozen people kneeling in the rain outside the yamen gate.
Some were holding torn-up land deeds, some were carrying sick children, and an old woman was carrying a yellowed portrait in her arms. The young man in the portrait had delicate features, but it was in black and white.
"My lord! Please, do justice for us!"
When Shi Wanxia came out, the people immediately rushed forward, rainwater mixed with tears streaming down their faces.
“Yuan Xiaomiao said that my family’s land was ‘unclaimed land’ and forcibly occupied it to build a villa for Wang Qinian. When my son went to reason with them, they accused him of ‘tax evasion’ and beat him to death in jail!”
The old woman held up the portrait, her voice hoarse and almost broken, "This is my son! He's only fifteen!"
Shi Wanxia knelt down and personally helped the old woman up. The rain soaked her official robe, but she was completely unaware: "Old lady, don't worry, the court will not ignore the crimes of Yuan and Wang."
"From this day forward, I will definitely give you justice."
Her voice wasn't loud, but it carried an undeniable firmness.
Through the rain, a faint glimmer of light finally appeared in the despair in the eyes of the people.
Upon returning to the yamen, Shi Wanxia immediately summoned the remaining officials.
In the main hall, half the people kept their heads down and dared not utter a sound, while a few others had shifty eyes, clearly indicating that they had previously been loyal to Yuan and Wang.
Shi Wanxia's gaze swept over the crowd, finally landing on Li Zhong and two other gray-haired old officials.
She had inquired about these three people beforehand; they came from respectable families and, while they dared not rebel against Yuan and Wang when they were in power, they had never colluded with them.
"Li Zhong, you will take the lead and form an 'Investigation and Appeasement Group' together with Zhang Li and Liu Li. I will personally take charge, and Shi Qing will assist you."
Shi Wanxia placed a seal engraved with "Prefect of Chuzhou" on the table.
"From this day forward, the three of you will be responsible for verifying all cases of persecution by Yuan and Wang: those who have had their land seized, those who have been framed and imprisoned, and those whose innocence has been tarnished. Regardless of their status, register them all and leave no one out."
Shi Qing immediately stepped forward to take the seal and whispered, "Don't worry, sir, I will check it carefully and make sure no victim is missed."
For the next three days, the sign of the investigation team was hung in a side courtyard outside the yamen.
Shi Wanxia had a "grievance drum" set up at the entrance, and every day from Chenshi (7-9 AM) to Shenshi (3-5 PM), she would personally sit in the side courtyard to receive the people.
The first person to beat the drum was Shen Shaoshan, a wealthy merchant from Chuzhou.
He was dressed in faded silk, holding a torn land deed in his hands. As soon as he entered the door, he knelt on the ground: "Lord Shi, Yuan Xiaomiao forcibly seized two hundred acres of my family's fertile land under the pretext of 'repairing the river embankment,' and also stole three thousand taels of silver from my warehouse, claiming it was 'tax donation,' but the river embankment has not been repaired to this day!"
Shi Wanxia helped him up, and had Shi Qing take the land deed and register it carefully. She then asked, "Did Yuan Xiaomiao write you a certificate? Or is there anyone else who can testify?"
"Yes! Yes!"
Shen Shaoshan quickly pulled a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket.
“This is a ‘receipt’ written by his men, and there are also old man Wang and shopkeeper Li from the next village who can prove that he has taken my family’s land!”
Shi Wanxia asked Shi Qing to write down the witness's name, and then said to Shen Wanshan, "Don't worry, I will send someone to verify the situation within three days."
"If any of your land was confiscated by Yuan Xiaomiao, I will definitely return it to you."
"If the land has already been sold, I will allocate a special fund from the treasury to compensate you."
Upon hearing this, Shen Shaoshan burst into tears: "Thank you, sir! Thank you, sir! I thought there was no hope left..."
Aside from wealthy businessmen like Shen Shaoshan, there were many more ordinary people like the old woman.
There was a woman named Lin Acui who was forcibly abducted and defiled by Wang Qinian.
She arrived wrapped in a thick headscarf, revealing only her swollen, red eyes. Her voice was barely audible: "Sir, I... I dare not let anyone know about this. If word gets out, my parents will be unable to live in the village..."
Shi Wanxia dismissed everyone except Shi Qing.
She handed Lin Acui a cup of hot tea and said softly, "Don't be afraid, we won't make a fuss about this."
"Besides financial compensation, I can also help you—if you'd like, I can arrange for you to work in a textile factory in a neighboring state, where no one knows you, and you can start over."
"If you don't want to leave, I can also find someone to teach you embroidery so you can have a livelihood."
Lin Acui raised her head, her eyes filled with disbelief: "My lord... is there any way for someone like me to survive?"
"Of course."
Shi Wanxia held her hand, "You did nothing wrong, the wrongdoers are the ones who did evil."
"From now on, you must live for yourself."
On the day Lin Acui left, a long-lost smile finally appeared on her face beneath her headscarf.
Shi Wanxia had someone compile a list of the confiscated properties of the Yuan and Wang families—including dozens of acres of fertile land, more than a dozen shops, and a batch of gold and silver jewelry—and post it on the wall outside the yamen.
Next to the list was a notice stating that anyone whose property has been seized could come and claim it with proof of ownership; any property left unclaimed would be used to compensate victims who could not return it.
The day the notice was posted, the area outside the government office was packed with people.
When Shen Shaoshan retrieved his land deed, the old woman received her son's funeral expenses, and Lin Acui took the travel permit to the neighboring prefecture, more and more people began to believe that this female official, Lady Shi, truly wanted to do things for them.
The people of Chuzhou, whose hearts had long since grown cold towards the imperial court, gradually began to warm up.
After handling the compensation matters for the victims, Shi Wanxia immediately devoted her energy to post-disaster reconstruction.
Chuzhou had just been hit by a major flood half a month ago. Most of the villages outside the city were destroyed, and tens of thousands of disaster victims were crammed into makeshift shacks, living a miserable life.
When Shi Wanxia visited the resettlement site, it was early morning.
The shack was filled with a damp, musty smell, and several children were running barefoot in the mud, their clothes covered in patches.
A woman holding a baby sat at the door of a shed. The baby in her arms was crying loudly from hunger, but she could only keep wiping away her tears.
The family's food reserves had long been exhausted, and when we went to collect relief grain yesterday, the clerk in charge of distribution deliberately withheld half of it.