The group walked for three days before they arrived at Baiyang County.
Along the way, Zhang Beichen saw that Kingdom Qin was filled with starving people. Refugees could be seen everywhere. There were no natural disasters this year, and these refugees were only caused by man-made disasters.
The double oppression of the war and the lords of the land made them unable to eat or wear. But even so, there were no human corpses on the road. Some were eaten by wild beasts and demons, and some were shared among the starving refugees.
As someone who lived in a peaceful era, this was the first time Zhang Beichen had seen such a scene. He was deeply stirred.
The group arrived at the Baiyang County government office. It looked like a broken house.
"Where are the people from the magistrate court?" Hu Cheng shouted from outside.
After shouting for a while, an old man came out with two short and thin farmers.
"Who are you? I'm telling you, there's nothing in this magistrate court. If you want to rob, go somewhere else!" The old man looked at them in fear.
Hu Cheng pointed at Zhang Beichen and then said, "This is the new Baiyang County Magistrate, Lord Zhang Beichen. Who are you?"
"The county magistrate?" When the old man heard this, he quickly knelt and said, "I am the county's official registrar, Liu Wen, and these two are bailiffs."
Zhang Beichen showed him the appointment document and confirmed that he was the new county magistrate. Liu Wen said, "Your Excellency, you're finally here. If you hadn't come, this magistrate court would have been torn down by those unruly people!"
Zhang Beichen sat in the hall and looked at the dilapidated scene in the magistrate court. He asked, "What happened?"
Liu Wen explained, "Baiyang County has only been established for three years. We don't have the money or the manpower."
"The higher-ups aren't going to allocate any funds?" Zhang Beichen asked.
"Kingdom Qin is at war every year. Every year, they have to ask for money, food, and people from all over the country. Where would they have the money to allocate to us?" Liu Wen complained, "The income of the county government depends on the tax collected by the county and the output of the government-owned fields."
"In Bai Yang County, we only get a few taels of grain every year. The government-owned fields are small and barren. We can't even feed ourselves, let alone pay the taxes."
Zhang Beichen flipped through the documents and asked, "I can see that Baiyang County's population is not low and we have a lot of land. How could that situation happen?"
At the mention of this, Liu Wen's expression became even more bitter. He said, "Yes, there are a lot of fields and people in Bai Yang County, but they all belong to the Bai and Yang families. Most of the fields in the county are their private-owned fields."
"They rely on their power and influence to pay lesser taxes every
time. They usually hand in less than one-tenth of their food! As for the population, most of the people in the county have lost their fields and become slaves of these two families. They are not under our control."
After hearing his description, Zhang Beichen finally understood why the Kingdom Qin had been destroyed in the previous simulations. In such a situation, if the Kingdom Qin wasn't destroyed, who would?
The kingdom had to reform. This slavery system was not suitable for agricultural production, so it had to be abolished! However, the reality wasn't a simulation, and it couldn't be solved with a few words.
Even if he persuaded Ying Yiren to abolish slavery, the law would probably not be carried out, because the old clans were too powerful.
"The first test given to me by Ying Yiren isn't easy." Zhang Beichen also felt that it was going to be tricky. It was hard mode from the start.
As he was thinking, there were shouts from outside. Someone was smashing the door of the magistrate court.
"Who's making noise?" Zhang Beichen shouted.
Two men swaggered in, and the bailiffs didn't dare to stop them.
One of them looked at Zhang Beichen and asked, "You are the new county magistrate?"
"I'm the county magistrate. Who are you? How dare you cause trouble in the magistrate court?" Zhang Beichen asked.
The two of them looked indifferent, and one of them said, "I'm Master Bai's servant. Master asked me to tell you to quickly release the Bai family's people. Moreover, Master invites you to visit our house today."
"I'm a servant of the Yang family," said the other man. He continued, "Our Yang family's master also wishes to invite Your Excellency to his residence as a guest, and it would be best if you could bring back the Yang family's people."
"Today is the Bai family's treat, what is your Yang family doing here?" The two of them even started arguing in front of Zhang Beichen.
"What's so great about the Bai family? Our Yang family is treating, so the Bai family can go to the side!"
The registrar and the two bailiffs pretended not to see anything. They were probably afraid of being bullied by them and didn't dare to speak.
"Shut up," Zhang Beichen said angrily, "What do you two take the county government office for? You're a lawless bunch!"
"Men, drag each of them down and hit them 10 times!"
He shouted, but the bailiffs didn't dare to make a move.
The two men laughed, "You dare to hit us? I wonder how the previous county magistrate disappeared?"
"What a young brat. He doesn't know how powerful our two families are!"
"Ah Da, you guys go!" Zhang Beichen saw that he couldn't move the bailiffs, so he called out to the refugees he was taking care of.
"You dare to disobey my lord's words, you're looking for a beating!" These people all listened to Zhang Beichen and immediately swarmed forward, capturing the two and beating them with their boards.
"Ah, you dare to attack!"
"You dare to offend our families, our masters will not let you off!" The two of them shouted.
"Beat them up!" Zhang Beichen ordered, "Beat them up another 30 times. Make sure they can't get off the ground!"
"Pa pa pa!" The two of them were beaten until their skin and flesh split open.
"You, just you wait!" The two of them ran out of the county government office.
"My Lord," Liu Wen said worriedly, "I'm afraid that the two families won't let this matter rest if you deal with them like this!"
"This is the effect I want!" Zhang Beichen said coldly, "As soon as I take office, I must rectify this Baiyang County!"
At the same time, he chided Liu Wen and the two bailiffs, "In the future, if you pretend not to hear my orders again, you'll end up like those two just now!"
"Yes, My Lord!" While they replied, they were thinking, 'This new county magistrate has never seen the methods of the Bai and Yang families, so he was acting like this. He will understand in a few days' time.'
Zhang Beichen continued to understand the situation and asked, "Just now, those two said they wanted their people released. What's going on?"
Liu Wen explained, "The previous county magistrate went to mediate the fight between Bai and Yang families. In the end, he was beaten to death, and the imperial clan's official was alarmed. That official led his troops to capture a few people. They were the ones who had killed the county magistrate together, and the official had them locked up in the magistrate court."
"We're not really locking them up but we can't let them go as well."
"They must be punished according to the law for killing someone!" Zhang Beichen said coldly.
Liu Wen said awkwardly, "Those few are the direct descendants of the Bai and Yang family. If we really kill them, things will get even more troublesome!"
"Registrar Liu," Zhang Beichen emphasized again, "When I take office, everything will follow the law, and you all have to listen to me. In the future, if there are any more crimes, no matter who it is, arrest them first!"
"Yes!" Although Liu Wen agreed, he didn't take Zhang Beichen's words seriously.
Zhang Beichen was also very clear that the local forces were too strong. If he couldn't establish his authority, he probably wouldn't be able to do anything.
"Bring me the county records and documents," he said.
Liu Wen handed everything to him. At this period, the recording of events was simple, and Zhang Beichen could quickly read it. With the addition of the inquiries, he more or less understood the situation.
"The fundamental problem of Kingdom Qin still needs to be resolved by reforming. The old legal system is no longer suitable for the current Kingdom Qin, but I don't have the ability and prestige to do so. Why don't we reform this Baiyang County first and set up a new constitution?" Zhang Beichen started to plan.
...
On the other side, two injured servants returned to the Bai and Yang families.
At the Yang family's residence, a strong man with a full beard was looking at the servant who was kneeling on the ground and crying. He frowned and said, "That Zhang Beichen really didn't show us any respect?"
He was the head of the Yang family, Yang Shan.
"Master, not only did he not show you respect, but he also beat me up," the servant shouted, adding oil to the fire. He added, "He said that he'll be in charge of Baiyang County in the future and that our Yang family is nothing!"
Anger appeared on Yang Shan's face as he cursed, "This kid really doesn't know the immensity of the heavens and earth. In terms of rank, I'm two ranks higher than him! Did he think I can't even take care of him?!"
The local tyrants were basically all nobles with titles, so they were not afraid of the magistrate.
On the Bai family's side, the Bai family's head, Bai Liangpu, also knew about this.
"My Lord, it is said that the monarch personally appointed the new county magistrate. Should we inform the Grand Master?" one of the clansmen asked.
The Bai family of Baiyang County was a branch of the Bai family, one of the three ancient families in Kingdom Qin.
Their Grand Master was the Kingdom Qin's senior public official.
"No need. He's just a nobody. Why would I need to trouble Grand Master?" Bai Liangpu snorted coldly. He said, "Putting on airs here? He's in the wrong place! Dealing with him is as easy as flipping my hand!"