When Guo Zhiyuan heard this, he patted his forehead with a headache. Before the many problems were solved, two more "local emperors" emerged. The Ming Dynasty had always said that "the imperial power was not left to the county". The gentry forces were very troublesome to local officials. There were often conflicts caused by local officials and gentry in order to compete for local dominance. The result of the conflict was that local officials had to bow to the gentry forces, otherwise they would be afraid that the black hat would be difficult to protect.

This situation is mainly caused by the difference between the ancient bureaucracy and the modern era. There are also township governments and town governments in modern times. The end of ancient bureaucracy is at the county government and the grassroots level below the county. For example, the pavilion chiefs in the countryside, the inside is mostly elected from the gentry. They have local authority and dominate the operation of the local area. Moreover, this gentry power is far more stable than the local officials. It has been passed down for many years and has long formed a deep-rooted network of relationships in the local area. As long as the term of office of local officials arrives, local officials may be transferred at any time, so they naturally cannot compete with the gentry power.

Especially in the Ming Dynasty, officials in the officialdom adopted a system of avoidance, that is, locals cannot serve in other provinces, and officials work in a place where they are unfamiliar with the local gentry. If they do not establish good relations with local gentry forces, it will definitely be difficult to move forward. Especially in this era, people have a strong sense of rural concepts and are very dismissive to outsiders. Even if local people have disputes and struggles, they do not like to seek mediation from local governments, but will seek judgment from the patriarch. This is equivalent to undermining the power of local officials!

According to Zhang Cheng, the clan leader of the Sun and Chen family is very wealthy and powerful. If the county wants to do anything, they have to ask them to raise funds. Can Guo Zhiyuan, the county magistrate, still stand up straight in front of them?

Thinking of this, Guo Zhiyuan became more and more troubled. When he was worried, he suddenly saw a fire in the distance soaring into the sky. There was also a noise outside. Guo Zhiyuan quickly stepped to the window, opened the window and looked into the distance. His heart suddenly skipped a beat: How do you think the direction of the fire is like the direction of the county government?!

"Follow me to the county government!" Guo Zhiyuan didn't have to think too much, shouted at Zhang Cheng, and quickly walked out of the door. It happened that Fa Zheng and Chu Wan'er and the others came out to see the movement. Guo Zhiyuan called them together and ran to the fire!

When I arrived at the county yamen, the scene was in chaos. Many people watching the fun were surrounded by people standing there blankly and sighing: "What a big fire!", but no one helped put out the fire. The yamen run around like headless flies, and no one stood up to direct and dispatch the fire to put out.

Guo Zhiyuan saw Wuming getting angry, grabbed a running yamen runner and shouted loudly, "Where is the fire?!" The yamen runner looked at him in panic and ran away without saying a word!

Guo Zhiyuan became more and more angry, but at this time he didn't care about trouble for the uninvited yamen runners, so he rushed directly to the county yamen with Zhang Cheng and the others! He rushed to the inner hall and finally saw several yamen runners holding wooden barrels in panic and took water from the well on the yard on the flank of the county yamen and poured water into a room with thick smoke to put out the fire. However, because the fire was too big, it was just a drop in the bucket and it didn't work. Instead, the fire was getting stronger and stronger!

This will not work! If this continues, once the fire spreads, the entire county government will be burned! Guo Zhiyuan made a quick decision and pointed to the wooden pillars in front of the house and asked Fa Zheng who was following him: "Fa Zheng, can you break these wooden pillars so that the fire source can be blocked and not spread to other houses..."

"No problem! Please step back!" Fa Zheng patted his chest, then slapped his abdomen and inhaled, shouted, swung the convenient shovel in his hand, and slashed horizontally at the wooden pillar in front of the fire room! "Boom!", with a loud bang, the wooden pillar as thick as a sea bowl broke down in response, and the eaves that had lost their support also collapsed!

Then Fa Zheng made a plan according to the law, cutting off all the other wooden pillars, and the eaves completely collapsed, which also blocked the spreading fire and controlled the fire. The fire was shocked by Fa Zheng's power, and forgot to continue splashing water, holding the wooden barrel and staring at Fa Zheng in a daze!

"Why don't you continue to pour water to put out the fire?" Guo Zhiyuan shouted angrily without any anger. The yamen runners woke up and rushed to splash the water from the wooden barrel. Zhang Cheng and the others also quickly found water intake equipment to help put out the fire. Finally, under Guo Zhiyuan's command, the open fire was finally put out. However, the fire room was completely destroyed, and half of the items in the room were burned to ashes!

Seeing the fire being put out, Guo Zhiyuan didn't feel relieved, but immediately grabbed the firefighting yamen runners and shouted: "What is the purpose of this room? Are there important items inside?"

The yamen runners looked at each other and hesitated for a moment. Finally, they were afraid of Guo Zhiyuan's pressure and hesitated: "This... this is the account,... what is stored in... is the money and grain account book..."

As expected! Guo Zhiyuan had a bad guess when he saw the county government fire, but he never expected that Wang Demin was so bold that in order not to let himself check the accounts, he took the risk of setting fire to burn all the accounts!

A cold light flashed in Guo Zhiyuan's eyes, and he continued to ask: "Why does the main site of the account office catch fire?!"

Those yamen runners looked at me, I looked at you, shook their heads and said, "This...the young guys don't know..."

Guo Zhiyuan also knew that he couldn't ask anything when he found these yamen runners, and said angrily: "Why didn't you see the county magistrate Bai and the chief clerk of Wang when you find fire in the account? You can't tell me quickly!"

As he was speaking, a burst of rapid footsteps came from outside. Wang Demin and Bai Du came hurriedly. Seeing the scene that had turned into ashes and were still smoking, the two exchanged a look of understanding. Wang Demin's mouth showed a smile of conspiracy, but it disappeared soon. He pretended to be very anxious and sighed: "Oh, what's going on? How come this account is so good? Why did the county's money and grain books suddenly catch their heads? What should I do if I do this!"

Guo Zhiyuan saw that Wang Demin was still pretending here, and his anger became even stronger. The anger rushed to his head and could no longer suppress it. He looked at him coldly and said, "Master Wang, don't you think this fire is a bit strange? It won't catch fire early or late. But when I just took office and was about to check the money and grain accounts, do you think I am a fool, so easy to deceive?!..."
Chapter completed!