It's better to be an empress than a county magistrate

Lu Xingchen looked at Mr. Liao, a middle-aged man in his forties who looked mature and steady.

Mr. Liao naturally looked at her with a smile on his face.

Mr. Liao was also surprised. He had never seen Lu Xingchen before and didn't expect Lu Xingchen to be so young.

"I didn't expect the county magistrate to be so young." Mr. Liao spoke first.

Lu Xingchen also said politely, "I can tell at first glance that Mr. Liao is the prefect's right-hand man... He is deeply trusted by the prefect."

The two sides exchanged politeness and sat down as host and guest.

The bailiff brought two cups of hot tea.

Master Guo knew that Lu Xingchen was fully capable of handling such a situation, so he said he had something to do and left early.

"I wonder what brings Mr. Liao all the way here?" Lu Xingchen gestured for Mr. Liao to drink some tea, and then spoke frankly.

"I'm here to deliver the appointment letter to the county magistrate on the orders of the prefect." Mr. Liao said as he placed a letter of appointment in front of Lu Xingchen.

"The prefect knows that the county lord has been busy suppressing bandits and has no time to go to Jizhou City to get the appointment letter, so he sent me to personally deliver the appointment letter to the county lord."

Lu Xingchen didn't expect that there was such a thing as a letter of appointment.

But she acted like she cherished it very much.

She held up the letter of appointment with both hands and looked at it carefully.

Then hand it over to Feixue.

"Find someone to frame this letter of appointment and hang it in my office." Lu Xingchen instructed.

Feixue nodded in agreement.

"I didn't expect that the prefect would think of me even though he was so busy. I am really flattered." Lu Xingchen said in a low-key and restrained manner.

"Your Excellency the County Lord is very polite. Our prefect heard that you wiped out the bandits on Niutou Mountain and praised your deeds highly, asking us to learn from you," said Mr. Liao.

"Isn't it the responsibility of an official in Jizhou to wipe out the bandits?" Lu Xingchen said with some enthusiasm.

"The people of Jizhou have been deeply harmed by the bandits of Niutou Mountain, so I mobilized the whole county to wipe out the bandits..."

Lu Xingchen showed an unyielding spirit, so Mr. Liao naturally praised her again.

Mr. Liao stayed in Xing County for one night and set out back to Jizhou City the next day.

Lu Xingchen naturally would not let Mr. Liao make a wasted trip, and he would still give him the due respect.

Money can make the world go round.

Of course, in addition to Mr. Liao’s, the prefect also has benefits.

Ling Xiao was very unhappy when he saw Lu Xingchen giving all that gold and silver to the prefect.

It was not until Lu Xingchen sent Mr. Liao five miles away from Xing County and returned that Ling Xiao pouted and said, "It's just an isolated city. No one takes it seriously. Why should the young master care about him?"

Lu Xingchen smiled and said, "No matter what, he is an official appointed by the court."

"Legal and legitimate, with a legitimate identity."

"He took the initiative to send me the appointment letter. That was a gesture of goodwill to me. Of course I couldn't refuse to give him face."

"As for the future, when we are stable, whether we should take him seriously or not is up to us."

"What's more..."

"You are a child, I can't tell you too much." Lu Xingchen said as he rode his horse forward.

Ling Xiao's curiosity was piqued.

"Master, how can you say half a sentence and leave the other half? Are you going to drive me crazy?"

"Hurry up, hurry up, what else?"

"Think about it yourself." Lu Xingchen said, "When you have figured it out, tell me."

Ling Xiao stomped his feet in anger.

He reached out and scratched the back of his head. He had no idea what the young master was going to say next.

"Feixue, what does the young master want to say?" Ling Xiao was so anxious that he caught up with Feixue and asked.

"How should I know? I'm just a maid. I only know how to serve the young master. How can I know what the young master is thinking?" Feixue rolled her eyes at him unhappily.

Lu Xingchen returned to the yamen, took out the map of Jizhou, and studied it carefully again.

Jizhou includes a total of four counties. In addition to the villages under the jurisdiction of these four counties, Jizhou City itself also has some villages under its jurisdiction.

However, the prefect of Jizhou was still an official appointed by the imperial court. In name, the prefect of Jizhou was still Lu Xingchen's superior.

Judging from the nature of the system, she should have to wait until she becomes the prefect of Jizhou before she can be considered to own the entire territory of Jizhou.

But it is not easy to be the prefect of Jizhou. After all, the current prefect of Jizhou was officially appointed by Daliang State. If she led troops to attack Jizhou City, it would be equivalent to rebellion.

At this time, her strength was not enough to raise the banner of rebellion.

So now no matter what she does, she has to do it under the banner of acting in the name of justice.

That is the so-called army of justice.

According to the plan she had discussed with Master Guo before.

Now all three strongholds on Niutou Mountain have been taken over by them.

They acquired two iron mines and one coal mine in the mountains.

And these three mines are not far from each other.

This is not an industrialized period, so the consumption of coal and iron is not actually that high.

Lu Xingchen also made a special trip to the coal mine.

The coal mine is very shallow, but it produces very good clean coal with a high combustion rate and very little smoke.

The period of industrialization required large-scale coal mining and the digging of deep pits.

They use coal now, but only to smelt iron and make weapons. The amount used cannot be compared with that in later generations.

It is a time of chaos, and neither iron coins nor copper coins are worth much.

People still prefer to trade in silver or gold.

So this open-pit mine will be enough for them to use for many years.

In addition, they obtained a lot of silver from plundering two mountain strongholds, which was enough for them to develop stably.

Autumn is approaching, and if the high-yield wheat can have a good harvest, they will have a large surplus of food.

These are her capital to grow bigger and stronger.

The least popular of the four counties is Teng County.

The next step is to take over Teng County.

Lu Xingchen was thinking about his next move when Lu Feng walked in.

"The county lord..."

At this time, Lu Xingchen was in the office of the county government, so Lu Feng still called her by her official name.

"Brother Lu..." Lu Xingchen raised his head and greeted Lu Feng.

"Master Liu from Wanxian County brought Miss Zhou Er to stay at the inn..."

"You came so quickly, it seems that Zhou Shu really wants to make this marriage happen." Lu Xingchen smiled and packed up the things in front of him.

"Brother Lu, since you know Master Liu, then you can go with me."

"By the way, we will treat Miss Tuesday to a meal."

Lu Feng nodded slightly, "Then I'll arrange it right away."

Lu Xingchen hummed softly.

Lu Feng turned around and left to make arrangements. Lu Xingchen also prepared to change clothes and meet this Miss Zhou Er.

"Master, you really want to go on a blind date." Feixue showed an indescribable expression while finding clothes for her.

"I am already sixteen years old this year, but I am still not able to go on a blind date or marry a young wife." Lu Xingchen said with a smile.

"But what will you do if you marry her?" Feixue looked at her and said.

"Then what do you think I will do if I marry her? Of course I will live with her. What do you want to do?" Lu Xingchen asked Feixue.