The Lucky Farmgirl

County Magistrate Tang flipped through the items in his bundle. Instead of looking at the account books and letters, he took out a few official land deeds to inspect.

Manbao and the other two stared at him with intense anticipation, waiting for him to clear up their confusion.

County Magistrate Tang glanced at County Magistrate Yang, who gave a slight nod. Only then did Tang tap the paper in his hand and ask, "This is a mountain deed, do you know what that is?"

Manbao replied, "The name suggests it’s a deed for a mountain."

County Magistrate Tang paused before nodding, "That’s correct, but this is the copy that remains with the government," he pointed to a small symbol at the lower right corner and asked, "Do you know what this means?"

All three shook their heads.

"This means that there is an iron mine in the mountain."

County Magistrate Yang also nodded in agreement, "It must have been discovered later. County Magistrate Bai marked this here probably with the intention to redeem the mountain so that the imperial court could start mining operations."

"According to ’The Great Jin Legal Code,’ apart from the imperial court, no one is allowed to mine privately. If privately-owned property contains a mine, it must be reported to the court, and the office must issue a mining permit. Both parties are to mine together. I just flipped through the documents, and I did not see any record of such permits."

Only then did County Magistrate Tang begin to sort through the other items. As he looked, his heart grew heavier. He passed the ledger to County Magistrate Yang and then opened the letters.

Manbao and Bai Shan immediately crowded closer to look together.