Chapter 1169 The Southern Tour Begins!
Youyan, Ji County

Although it is early spring in March, as a frontier in the north, there is still a cold wind blowing in Ji County at noon, and the weather is still very cold.

But even so, the county magistrate Cheng Hanfei, the county assistant Yang Yuxuan, the chief clerk Meng Lingsheng and dozens of other officials of all ranks in Ji County, accompanied by hundreds of detectives and guards, stood respectfully at the city gate. The one who could make these officials behave like this must be a higher-ranking official than them!

Cheng Hanfei, the magistrate of Ji County, hesitated for a while, but still asked the tall and majestic fifth-rank official in front of him for instructions:
"Sir Song, I think we should go to Changting to welcome the Marshal. Besides, the current reception is really a bit shabby."

Song Haibo, the deputy director of the Attendant Department, who was called "Sir Song", was also a little annoyed when he heard this. He glanced at Cheng Hanfei and immediately ordered:

"Just do what the Marshal tells you to do. Don't act on your own. The Marshal's purpose for this southern tour is to travel light and have a small group of people. He doesn't want to cause too much burden to your place. It's good as it is now. Don't add unnecessary things here!"

"I understand, I understand. Your love for the people is truly touching. The people all say that you are a saint. We in Ji County are all grateful for your kindness!"

Hearing Cheng Hanfei's series of official jargon, Song Haibo also waved his hand and said;
"You can wait until the Marshal arrives before you say anything more! The Marshal's troops will be here soon!"

"Yes!"

As everyone waited anxiously, a stick of incense later, a convoy finally appeared on the road. Seeing this, everyone who was ready to welcome them in front of the city gate was shocked...

Cheng Hanfei, the county magistrate, took several deep breaths to suppress his excitement and nervousness. He knew that the Marshal's visit to Ji County was both an opportunity for him to rise to glory and wealth, but it could also be a crisis of falling into the abyss!

Whether he would be rich and prosperous or fall into the abyss, it all depended on how Cheng Hanfei performed in front of the Marshal. If he performed well and left a deep impression on the Marshal, then he would surely have a prosperous future. But if he left a bad impression on the Marshal, then he would be in big trouble, and being dismissed on the spot might even be considered a good result!
Just as Cheng Hanfei was feeling nervous and excited, the convoy slowly stopped at the city gate. Seeing this, Cheng Hanfei, the county magistrate, immediately led everyone to kneel down and greet them:
"I, the magistrate of Ji County Cheng Hanfei, the county magistrate Yang Yuxuan, the chief clerk Meng Lingsheng and 39 other officials from Ji County are here to see you, Marshal!"

Ye Mingsheng walked out of the carriage as everyone greeted him. Because of the continuous journey, Ye Mingsheng looked a little tired at this time, but he still smiled and said:

"Everyone has worked hard! Everyone, please stand up!"

"Yes!"

After a few simple procedures, Ye Mingsheng led the convoy into Jixian County. Although Cheng Hanfei did not organize the people to welcome Ye Mingsheng at Ye Mingsheng's request, after hearing the news of Ye Mingsheng's arrival, many people still spontaneously came to the roads to see what the rumored Marshal Ye looked like...

Looking at the people lining the roads to welcome him, Ye Mingsheng initially thought that Cheng Hanfei was disobeying his orders and insisted on organizing the people to welcome his arrival!

But after listening to the mixed voices of the people in the crowd, as well as the scattered cheers and shouts, Ye Mingsheng was sure that these people came here spontaneously!

Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng lifted the curtain of the carriage and greeted the people on both sides of the road with a smile. Ye Mingsheng's move immediately pushed the atmosphere to its highest point. The originally scattered cheers on both sides of the road immediately became deafening!
Seeing this, Ye Ming was so excited that he wanted to give a speech. Seeing this, Ye Kui hurriedly tried to dissuade him:

"Marshal, there are many people here, be careful of bad guys with bad intentions!"

Upon hearing the news, Ye Mingsheng hesitated for a moment, but finally nodded slightly and gave up the idea of ​​giving a speech.

Ever since Ye Mingsheng confirmed his plan of touring the south, it immediately caused quite a stir and attention inside and outside the court. Some local officials wanted to take advantage of the opportunity of the Marshal's southern tour to perform well and let the Marshal see their talents and abilities, but some local officials wanted to clean up their messes and not let the Marshal discover their illegal activities.

Compared with the polarized attitudes of local officials, the public generally welcomed Ye Mingsheng's southern tour. Although Ye Mingsheng cracked down on many illegal vendors who tried to hoard goods and monopolize the market, on the whole, Ye Mingsheng has always strongly supported the development of industry and commerce. His actions to rectify the administration of officials also reduced the hidden costs of many businesses.

Therefore, many business people are positive and optimistic about Ye Mingsheng's southern tour, and are looking forward to Ye Mingsheng releasing more policies that are conducive to the development of industry and commerce.

Judging from the attitudes of officials and the public, most people tend to be positive about Ye Mingsheng's southern tour. However, there are also evil spirits who regard this southern tour as an opportunity to take revenge on Ye Mingsheng and the Fengwu Army, and to overthrow the Yijing court!
These evil spirits are mainly the remnants of the Supervisory Office, the Thousand Tiger Guards, and the local vassal states that were wiped out by Ye Mingsheng. These people had already disappeared under the siege of the Coordination Office, but the news of Ye Mingsheng's southern tour seemed to give them a shot of adrenaline, allowing them to see the hope of revenge!

Previously, the Coordination Office had cracked down on two gangs that attempted to assassinate Ye Mingsheng during his southern tour. One of these gangs was related to the Supervisory Department, and the other was related to Sun Chenggong of Jingchu. Although two gangs have been cracked down, according to information from the Coordination Office, there are still several gangs that want to assassinate Ye Mingsheng and try to use Ye Mingsheng's head to avenge their master!
Because of this incident, Wang Xuecheng from the Coordination Office suggested to Ye Mingsheng to postpone the date of the Southern Tour, and wait until the Coordination Office had caught these people in one fell swoop before starting the Southern Tour!
However, Ye Mingsheng not only did not adopt Wang Xuecheng’s suggestion, but on the contrary he scolded Wang Xuecheng severely...

Ye Mingsheng didn't know how Wang Xuecheng came up with this suggestion. The date of the southern tour had already been announced to the world. If he postponed the date of the southern tour because of those evil spirits, wouldn't it show the world that he, Ye, was afraid of these bugs?
When the master of these bugs was around, he treated them as nothing and led the Fengwu Army to sweep across the eight directions and unify the Great Zhou. Now their master is dead, and these bugs have become stray dogs. Do they still want to scare me? After scolding Wang Xuecheng, Ye Mingsheng also issued a death order to him. The Coordination Office must work with the Internal Security Department and other departments to ensure the safety of this southern tour. If anything goes wrong, he, Wang Xuecheng, will be beheaded!

In response to this, Wang Xuecheng also issued a military order to Ye Mingsheng, guaranteeing that no problems would arise during the southern tour and that all possible threats would be nipped in the bud!

Although all departments are working together to ensure the safety of this southern tour, Ye Kui, the commander of Ye Mingsheng's personal guard battalion, does not dare to relax at all. He has to be the last line of defense for Ye Mingsheng's safety!
Song Haibo, who was in charge of the outpost for Ye Mingsheng, had already arranged accommodation for Ye Mingsheng. The original plan was to let Ye Mingsheng live in the post house in Ji County.

However, after Song Haibo and his men inspected the posthouse on site and found that the conditions there were very simple, they immediately gave up this option.
After all, although the purpose of Ye Mingsheng's southern tour this time was to travel light and try not to add burden to the people, this did not mean that Ye Mingsheng had to sleep on the big bunk bed in the inn.

Later, after some screening, and taking into account living conditions, Ye Mingsheng's personal habits, and safety factors, Song Haibo rented the mansion of a wealthy businessman named Hou in Jixian City, and paid rent to the businessman at the price of thirty taels of silver per day!

When the wealthy businessman surnamed Hou learned that Ye Mingsheng was going to stay in his house, he was very happy and immediately cooperated by moving his family to another house under his name, leaving the house empty for Ye Mingsheng!

However, after learning that he had to pay thirty taels of silver as rent every day, he immediately and firmly refused, saying that it was an honor for their Hou family to have a great hero and hero like Marshal Ye staying in their house. If he collected rent, he would be worse than an animal!
He refused to accept the silver note even when Song Haibo put it in his hand. It was not until later when Song Haibo said that he would not stay in their house if he did not charge rent that the wealthy businessman surnamed Hou reluctantly accepted the rent of ninety taels of silver, and then immediately donated the ninety taels of silver.

Regardless of how the wealthy businessman surnamed Hou handled the rent issue, Ye Mingsheng was quite satisfied with the situation of the Hou family’s house after arriving at it. He felt that the house chosen by Song Haibo was good...
Because the plan was to only stay in Ji County for a short time, Ye Mingsheng originally planned to seize the time. After arriving in Ji County, he would immediately listen to Cheng Hanfei's work report, inspect the spring farming situation and the development of the textile industry in Ji County, and listen to the ideas of Ji County farmers and textile workers.

Unfortunately, although Ye Mingsheng had a good plan, after having lunch and taking a hot bath at Hou's house, Ye Mingsheng felt a little lazy. Since the beginning of the southern tour, Ye Mingsheng had suffered a lot in the past few days without a good rest, so he slept on the big bed in Hou's house until night!

After waking up and having a midnight snack, Ye Mingsheng called Cheng Hanfei over and asked him to report on his work.

Although he was a little surprised that Ye Mingsheng called him over so late, Cheng Hanfei had already prepared for Ye Mingsheng's test.

"General, Ji County now has 139,000 households and about 5,000 mu of arable land, including 500 mu of paddy fields and 4,500 mu of dry land. The spring ploughing work is now coming to an end and there are no problems. As long as there are no natural disasters, the autumn will definitely be a bumper year!"

Upon hearing this, Ye Mingsheng nodded slightly. Although he had not yet formally inspected the spring ploughing situation in Ji County, when he came to Ji County today, he passed by some farmlands outside the city. Judging from the performance of the crops in the farmlands, the spring ploughing situation in Ji County was indeed quite good...
Seeing that Ye Mingsheng didn't say anything, Cheng Hanfei continued to introduce him to Ye Mingsheng.

"Marshal, under the leadership of our Ji County government, two and a half years ago, our Ji County Zhangji Company reached a cooperation with the Second Manufacturing Bureau, introducing textile technology from the Second Manufacturing Bureau to build a textile factory!"

Currently, Zhangji's textile factory employs more than 300 workers and can produce tens of thousands of pieces of cloth every year. These cloths are sold to Liaoyang, Guanzhong and other places, and can pay thousands of taels of tax to the government every year! "

"In addition, the Zhangji Textile Factory has also boosted some related industries in Ji County, improving the living standards of many people in Ji County."

When talking about this, Cheng Hanfei's eyes revealed a hint of pride, as if the Zhang's business name was not Zhang but Cheng!
Although Zhangji Business is named after Zhang and not Cheng, and it is not Cheng Hanfei's business, Cheng Hanfei has his reasons to be proud of Zhangji Business. After all, this is a local industry in Ji County that he supported as the county magistrate!

Because of this incident, some people questioned whether Cheng Hanfei had accepted money from Zhangji Company and colluded with officials and businessmen of Zhangji Company. However, Cheng Hanfei was finally cleared of all charges after an investigation by the Censorate.
Against the backdrop of Ye Mingsheng's encouragement of the development of industry and commerce, Cheng Hanfei's deeds of supporting the development of Zhang's business, driving local economic development and improving people's living standards were also commended by the Youyan Provincial Government!

In fact, one of the reasons why Ye Mingsheng came to Jixian County for inspection this time was that he wanted to visit the Zhangji Textile Factory, which is quite famous in Youyan area.

"Cheng Hanfei, you have done a good job in helping the Zhangji Textile Factory develop. The Zhangji Textile Factory has indeed increased the income of the people. But I heard that the workers of the Zhangji Textile Factory have to work at Mao time every morning and can only get off work at You time at night. They work for six hours a day and are not allowed to take a day off in thirty days a month!"

"And even so, these textile workers work so hard every month, but their income is only three taels of silver, right?"

Facing Ye Mingsheng's question, Cheng Hanfei was a little speechless for a moment, not knowing how to answer Ye Mingsheng's question. Seeing that he was speechless, Ye Mingsheng also ordered in a deep voice:
"Think about this question carefully tonight, and come with me to visit Zhangji Textile Factory tomorrow. Then give me the answer!"

Hearing this, Cheng Hanfei's heart sank, but facing Ye Mingsheng's gaze, he still nodded and said;
"Yes! I humbly obey my orders!"

"Okay! It's late at night. County Magistrate Cheng, you should go back and rest early..."

(End of this chapter)