After Zhu Renxia finished speaking, the banquet hall fell into a brief silence.
Li Yao coughed lightly, put down his chopsticks and asked, "I wonder what is so attractive about your town of Chang'an that it actually attracts the people around you to flee their homes and seek refuge?"
With a "sip", Liu Gongfu drank up the wine in his glass, "This matter is a long story, so I'd better tell it to your Excellency."
Zhu Renxia said with a smile: "Brother Gongfu is familiar with the Lord. From your point of view, it is the best."
Lou Dongfang picked up the wine pot and filled Liu Gongfu's cup: "Let's drink and chat."
This incident is quite mythical, and it also involves Tian Zongren, so Zhu Renxia and Liu Gongfu conceived a rhetoric on the way to Liping.
The common people can pray to gods and worship Buddha, but dignified court officials certainly cannot worship gods like the common people, so the deeds of Chang'an Tianzun must be concealed.
"In the early summer of this year, Tian Zongren's eldest son Tian Gui appeared in Jiangjia Village for some unknown reason. He saw a beautiful girl in the village and tried to occupy her by force. He was beaten to death by the angry people."
"Jiangjiacun?"
Li Yao suddenly remembered this incident, "Could it be that the giant temple descended from the sky, trapped Tian Zongren's son to death, and alarmed Jiangjiacun, the inspector general Guo Zizhang?"
Zhu Renxia sighed: "To be honest, this Tian Gui was beaten to death by the indignant people. It's just that we were worried about retaliation from Tian Zongren, so we forged a huge temple in an attempt to get away with it."
As the parties involved in this case, Tian Zongren died, Zhang Baichu died, Chen Changsheng was transferred to other places to be the chief accountant, and the fifth person, Liu Gongfu and others joined Chang'an Town. Naturally, they would not talk nonsense, so Zhu Renxia You can make up stories with confidence and boldness.
"I see!"
Li Yao suddenly had an epiphany, stroked his beard and laughed: "I still wonder how such an incredible thing could happen in the world? How could a huge temple appear for no reason? It turns out that this is a trick used by the people of Jiangjia Village to protect themselves."
Lou Dongfang asked keenly: "Then how did your Jiangjia Village become Chang'an Town? If my guess is correct, Jiangjia Village probably only has three or four hundred people at most? Why did it become so big in just seven or eight months? Has it grown to a scale of three to four thousand people?”
Liu Gongfu said with a smile: "Master, don't be impatient. Just listen to me. Speaking of the changes in Jiangjiacun, 90% of the credit goes to Mayor Zhu."
Liu Gongfu raised his glass, took a sip, and talked eloquently: "Mayor Zhu is also a person of high status. He is originally a member of the royal family of Jingjiang Palace and is a sixth-rank Lieutenant Fengguo."
Li Yao and Lou Dongfang looked at each other with complicated expressions after hearing this.
According to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, vassal princes and clans from various places are not allowed to leave their fiefdoms without authorization. If any clan from any place enters the country without authorization, they must find out the reason and report it to the clan government, otherwise they will be guilty of the same crime.
Although the imperial treasury has been empty in recent years and the imperial court has seriously owed salaries to clans in various places, this has caused many lower-level clans to fend for themselves, and it is not uncommon for them to travel to various places to do business.
But it is always something that violates the rules and regulations. This kind of thing can be big or small. If no one cares about it, it will be fine. But if someone with a serious intention seizes the reason and impeaches it, it can range from being fined to a salary to being demoted and dismissed.
"Oh... I forgot to mention that Mayor Zhu has been expelled and is now a white man."
Liu Gongfu put down his wine glass and added, "Don't worry, Sir and Master, Liu will not cause you any trouble."
Li Yao and Lou Dongfang both breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this.
Li Yao smiled calmly and said: "It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. I will definitely ask you questions before making a final decision."
Lou Dongfang said dissatisfied: "Brother Gongfu, can you finish what you said at once? Are you panting so hard that you want to scare my brother to death?"
Liu Gongfu grinned and said: "Now the imperial court doesn't check the lower-level clans very much. What's so scary? Yang Yinglongxiao gathered a hundred thousand troops to rebel. I'm afraid it's enough for the imperial court to drink!"
Li Yao raised his hand to stop Liu Gongfu from continuing: "Be careful, walls have ears. Let's not discuss the affairs of the court anymore. Let's continue telling the story of Jiangjia Village and Chang'an Town."
Liu Gongfu continued: "The people in Jiangjia Village beat Tian Gui to death and made up a story about a huge temple descending from the sky. In addition, Lord Guo Zizhang came forward, so Tian Zongren did not dare to go into details.
It just so happened that Mr. Zhu was recruited by the village chief of Jiangjiacun as his granddaughter and son-in-law. He discovered a gold mine under the village of Jiangjiacun..."
"Gold mine?"
Li Yao and Lou Dongfang were surprised.
If the gold mine was in the back mountain, it could be said to belong to the government, but if it was discovered in the village, it could only be said to be the collective property of Jiangjia Village.
Liu Gongfu nodded and continued: "Under the leadership of Mr. Zhu, the villagers of Jiangjia Village continued to mine gold mines, accumulated huge wealth, built city walls and houses, and recruited homeless people to settle down.
Mayor Zhu stipulated that all people who come to seek refuge will be given free houses and food, and will be paid according to their workload, so people from dozens of miles around come in droves..."
"What kind of workload?" Lou Dongfang asked, "Do you mean digging gold mines?"
Liu Gongfu said: "Mining gold mines is only one of the incomes of Jiangjia Village. Mayor Zhu is a business genius. He used the gold mines he dug out to purchase a lot of high-quality coal, polished rice, liquor and other materials from various places, and then sold them to Guiyang. Several big businessmen in the city made money from the price difference, so this year Chang'an Town made a lot of money, and the people also followed suit and drank spicy food. "
Li Yao sincerely praised: "In this way, Mayor Zhu is indeed a business genius!"
Zhu Renxia clasped his fists modestly: "The prefect is ridiculous, I am just lucky. Coupled with the fact that the villagers support me, today's Chang'an Town is possible."
Liu Gongfu echoed from the side: "Today's Chang'an Town already has three to four thousand residents, and it is inappropriate to call it Jiangjia Village. Therefore, after a vote by all the villagers, Jiangjia Village was changed to Chang'an Town."
"Chang'an Town Village." Zhu Renxia added, "Although it is called a town, it is still a village in essence. After all, we have not received recognition from the government."
Li Yao said: "Not only is your Jiangjiacun self-reliant, it has also solved the problem of survival for more than 3,000 poor people. In addition, the scale is so large, even if it is upgraded to a town, it is reasonable."
As Li Yao spoke, he ordered Lou Dongfang: "Tomorrow you will write a letter and send it to Jinping County and tell the county magistrate..."
"Jinping County Magistrate is currently vacant. Sir, have you forgotten..."
Lou Dongfang quietly stepped on Li Yao's instep, signaling him not to rush to agree to Zhu Renxia.
Since Chang'an Town is rich in gold mines and is extremely rich, it would be great if the government does not allow him to be nationalized. If he does not take this opportunity to get some gold and silver to solve the current urgent need, there will be no such store after this village.
"Oh...yes, yes, the new magistrate of Jinping County was intercepted and killed by the rebels on his way to take office. There is currently a shortage of officers."
After being reminded by Lou Dongfang, Li Yao no longer rushed to issue official certification to Chang'an Town, and said tactfully: "But don't worry, Mayor Zhu, the scale of Chang'an Town is so large. It can no longer be regarded as emotional or rational. Village, I will definitely promote you to the level of a town."
"Thank you, Lord Prefect!"
Zhu Renxia stood up and saluted: "I heard that Liping Mansion was plundered by Yang Yinglong's rebels a few days ago. Brother Gongfu learned that the magistrate took office and guessed that you lacked funds, so we sent you five thousand taels of silver and two hundred taels. gold."
"Ah...this, this is so good!"
Li Yao was overjoyed when he heard this. He was worried about food and food because of lack of food and salary. He didn't expect that Liu Gongfu would bring such a generous gift today. God help him!
With these gold and silver, he can hire some militiamen to protect Liping City, purchase weapons, and rebuild the military power of Liping Mansion.
In addition, you can also build the burned magistrate's office and repair the damaged city walls.
In short, the gold and silver sent by Liu Gongfu are a help in times of need, and they are enough to get him out of his predicament.
If I had known that the mayor of Chang'an Town had given me such a generous gift, I would have happily agreed to promote Jiangjiacun to Chang'an Town, but now I have been downgraded, giving people the feeling of being a hawk only after seeing a rabbit. .
Thinking of this, Li Yao glared at Lou Dongfang fiercely.
