In years of famine and drought, their village even rejected fatty meat.

Chapter 437 I already had the answer in my heart

When Li Qingyun went to the capital to take the imperial examination with Xu Zhiwen, he was like a country bumpkin who had come to the city. He saw a prosperous but polarized world.

The capital city seemed to be divided into two worlds: the upper world was indulging in extravagance and debauchery among the powerful and wealthy, while the lower world consisted of millions of toiling masses.

It is said that the capital is wealthy, but the lives of ordinary people living in the capital are not much better than those of people in the other eight prefectures. On the contrary, because there are many powerful people in the capital, ordinary people need to be very careful in their every move, because you never know if your behavior will offend some important person and bring about your demise.

Li Qingyun once witnessed a family in the capital accidentally splash some water on a passing nobleman's son while they were throwing dirty water out of their door.

After that... that family never had a peaceful day again. At the suggestion of that powerful young man, thugs would come to harass them every day, and would even beat the men in the family.

The family did report the incident to the authorities, but the government did nothing. In the end, the men in the family were beaten even more severely because of their report.

The man in the family was beaten and lay in bed every day. Over time, the family lost all income and soon disappeared from the capital.

As for whether they left the capital or died in some deserted corner, Li Qingyun had no idea.

In short, what Li Qingyun saw in the capital was a severely divided world: the upper class consisted of wealthy and powerful families living in luxury, while the lower class consisted of countless impoverished people suffering from oppression and emaciated beggars.

Perhaps it was by nature, but Li Qingyun did not envy the lives of the powerful and wealthy; on the contrary, he felt great sympathy for the poor.

After experiencing these events in the capital, Li Qingyun's desire to become an official grew stronger. In his view, to change this messed-up world, he had to become an official, and only by becoming an official and having power in his hands could he have the power to change the world.

This was Li Qingyun's initial thought, but he soon realized he was wrong.

He did indeed become an official, even a county magistrate, but even an official can't do whatever he wants, because he was just a small county magistrate. Above him were officials of the prefecture, officials of the state, and the imperial court!

Even within the small county of Ding'an, Li Qingyun was powerless to do anything. His decrees were ignored and no one would carry them out, because the power of the entire county had long been controlled by the Sun family. Li Qingyun was nominally the county magistrate, but the real magistrate was never him, but the Sun family who held the power!

It wasn't until Xu Zhiwen and Chen Dao arrived in Ding'an County and eliminated the Sun family that Li Qingyun truly gained power and was able to do something for the people of Ding'an County.

"The people are more important than the ruler."

Li Qingyun uttered this phrase he had once read in a book. Just as Xu Zhiwen had said, he already knew in his heart which was more important: loyalty to the emperor and love for the country, or love for the people.

He may choose not to be an official, but he absolutely cannot betray his conscience, and he is even less willing to harm or exploit the people.

"Brother Xu, I understand!"

Li Qingyun suddenly understood: "We scholars should speak up for the people, as for the imperial court..."

A mocking smile appeared on Li Qingyun's lips: "This corrupt court and incompetent emperor are no longer worthy of my loyalty."

"As long as you can figure it out."

Xu Zhiwen nodded with a smile: "In that case, I will take you to see young friend Chen tomorrow. For now, let's go to my house and rest for the night."

…………

…………

the next day.

As dawn broke, Xu Zhiwen led Li Qingyun and Liu Yi out of the city and headed straight for Chenjia Village.

"Brother Xu, the commerce in Taiping County is truly booming!"

Walking on the official road outside the city, Li Qingyun looked at the caravans and small vendors coming and going, a hint of envy in his eyes.

As the magistrate of a county, Li Qingyun certainly knew the importance of commerce. Without commerce, there would be no circulation of goods, and therefore no prosperity for a city. But the reality was...

As the cold disaster swept through, the number of bandits outside the city increased, leading to a decline in commerce in Ding'an County. Only a few large merchants with sufficient military strength could transport goods outside the city. The rising transportation costs also caused prices in Ding'an County to remain high, causing the people to complain bitterly, yet they were helpless.

Therefore, Li Qingyun couldn't help but feel envious when he saw such a large number of merchants and travelers outside Taiping County.

Just by looking at the merchants coming and going on this official road, one can tell that the security outside Taiping County must be excellent. Otherwise, those small merchants and vendors would not be able to travel so easily on the official road.

"This is all thanks to Chenjia Village!"

Xu Zhiwen stroked his beard and smiled, "The road from the county town to Chenjia Village is frequently patrolled by Chenjia Army members to ensure the safety of these merchants, so they don't need to worry about safety when traveling on this road."

After saying that, Xu Zhiwen added, "In addition, the villagers of Chenjia Village are extremely wealthy, and merchants in the city have also noticed the business opportunities in Chenjia Village. Therefore, they are very willing to transport some goods to Chenjia Village to sell and earn some profits."

Hearing this, Li Qingyun became even more curious about Chenjia Village. His knowledge of Chenjia Village was limited to the power of Chen Dao and Chen Cheng, as well as the chicken breeds that Zhang He transported to Ding'an County. But now it seemed that the wonders of Chenjia Village were far more than that!

About half an hour later, the three arrived at the entrance of Chenjia Village.

Looking at the increasingly dense crowd of vendors at the village entrance, Li Qingyun felt even more envious, and couldn't help but think: How wonderful it would be if Ding'an County could be like this.

Today, Ding'an County is in a state of commercial decline due to the chaos caused by the defeated troops outside the city. Not to mention small vendors, even big merchants dare not leave the city at will, otherwise they may lose both their money and their lives in a matter of minutes.

"Your Excellency, what brings you here?"

Chen Si, who was on duty at the village entrance, saw Xu Zhiwen arrive and quickly stepped forward to greet him.

"Fourth Brother!"

Xu Zhiwen smiled and nodded, then said, "I came here to look for Daoge'er. I wonder if Daoge'er is in the village?"

"Here I am."

Chen Si replied, "Your Excellency, should I go and inform Dao Ge'er?"

"No need, I can go in myself."

Xu Zhiwen waved his hand, then led Li Qingyun through the village entrance and into Chenjia Village.

Li Qingyun turned to look at Chen Si and Chen Jiang, who were on duty, and said, "Brother Xu, were those two men from the Chen family army? They were two very strong men!"

Chen Si and Chen Jiang had been practicing martial arts for several months, and were no longer as thin as they used to be. Instead, they were extremely strong, and it was obvious to anyone that they were extraordinary.

"good."

Xu Zhiwen nodded and said, "Those two are named Chen Si and Chen Jiang. They are soldiers of the Chen family army and their current cultivation level should be at the peak of the ninth rank."