Recently, many strange faces have come to Houcheng.
According to the city gate guard's inspection and statistics of people entering the city, there are strangers coming to Hou City recently from all over the world.
Lu Songli knew that the leading troops of this first wave of people were arriving one after another.
Unlike Ji Wuyin, those people had clear goals and came all the way to Houcheng. They arrived at this time, which was already considered fast.
Lu Songli called Xu Zheng over and warned again, "There will be many foreigners coming to Houcheng recently. Please arrange for more people to patrol. If there is a dispute between foreigners and locals, you must handle it with caution. If you encounter a dispute, If it concerns a foreigner and cannot handle it well, you can just go to Mr. Guo, Mr. Xue or me."
Lu Songli was very optimistic about the first group of people who came to Houcheng. They were definitely not those arrogant and unreasonable people. On the contrary, they wanted to restrain the local people. They could not bully others and lose their favor just because they were outsiders.
Xu Zheng solemnly agreed.
Liaoxi County
Shi Tao, the governor of Pingzhou, has been annoyed by Lu Desheng recently.
This guy slapped his forehead and thought about it. He didn't want to wait for the magistrate's mansion in Xiangping, so he insisted on placing it in Houcheng, and even changed the county government office directly into a county governor's mansion.
When he found out about this, he still sneered, "It's up to you!"
Unexpectedly, this guy was so shameless that he actually took the emperor's decree allowing him to place the governor's mansion in Houcheng and went to the Liaoxi County governor's mansion to ask him for money?
Naturally, Shi Tao could not agree.
Lu Desheng directly pressured him with an edict, saying that the emperor agreed with him to place the county governor's mansion in Houcheng, which meant that he agreed to build a new county governor's mansion in Houcheng. As the governor of Pingzhou, he should open the treasury and give it to him. take money.
If he didn't give it, he would complain to the emperor, saying that he was disloyal and refused to share the emperor's worries.
Shi Tao hated the way he looked like he was holding chicken feathers as arrows.
But he had to worry about it. Lu Desheng was a royal censor before, and his ability to advise was well-known throughout the court. If he was included in a book, he would have to shed his skin even if he died.
In addition, this is the second year of the new emperor's accession to the throne. In the heart of the new emperor, he is probably just a mediocre governor. He was not a minister during his Qianlong period, and he did not have the merit of following the dragon. Now he is not in the heart of the emperor, or is powerful enough to become the pillar of the country.
If Lu Desheng were to read this book, the black gauze hat on his head might be crumbling.
After thinking about it, Shi Tao decided not to take risks and decided to give Lu Desheng some points, so he asked the chief steward, "Where is Lu Desheng?"
Chief Butler: ...
"What?" Shi Tao had a bad feeling.
"Lord Lu took a small bench to sit quietly outside the Governor's Mansion."
Shi Tao seemed to have heard some fantasy, "What's wrong with him?" He wanted to act like a scoundrel trying to force him to borrow money?
The chief butler was also speechless. Anyway, Mr. Lu just meant one thing, I want to move the mansion, give me the money!
Shi Tao was so angry that he slammed the table, "Is he a scoundrel? He is a magistrate of Liaodong County, how can he be so shameless?" What do you think of him again?
Lu Desheng: He is shameless and wants money.
"Did he talk nonsense?"
"Not yet, just sit in meditation." But the chief steward felt that it would not be possible if it was later.
Finally, Shi Tao took a deep breath and said, "Go and call him in." Don't be embarrassed outside.
After Shi Tao called the man in, he originally planned to send him away with two or three thousand taels.
Lu Desheng screamed, "Master Governor, these three thousand taels can't cover the county governor's mansion. It can only be built two feet high?" He also stretched out his hand to compare the height.
Lu Desheng said in his heart, if you didn't insist on taking away most of the tax every time, leaving only a little bit for Liaodong County, why would I even ask you for the money to build a new mansion.
Now, if he can legitimately ask for money, why doesn't he come?
Although their Liaodong County has several channels for incoming money, there are many places where construction is started now, and there are a lot of expenditures. In the words of his daughter, no matter how small a fly's legs are, they are still meat. If you have the chance to get your hands on them, don't let them go.
Shi Tao knew that his three thousand taels were indeed a little short, "Five thousand taels, take the silver and give it to me."
Lu Desheng continued to cry, "Sir, five thousand taels is not enough. Five thousand taels can build the building to a high enough height, but it is designated that there is no way to raise the beams to cap the roof. How can we live in this place?"
"Eight thousand taels, if you can't build it anymore, don't stop building it!"
Lu Desheng's face turned dark when he saw Songkou give this number. He knew that if he kept going any further, he might overturn, so he stopped as soon as he saw it and quietly asked the butler to take him to get the money. He wanted to go home.
Chief Butler of the Governor's Mansion: ...Do you want to be able to order people around so easily? I'm not familiar with you.
Shi Tao took a deep breath to prevent himself from being angry to death, "Take him to get it!"
In the end, Lu Desheng got eight thousand taels of silver. He wanted to exchange it for gold, but the accountant of the governor's treasury firmly refused him.
Lu Desheng had no choice but to call his people in.
When he took the lead and left the Governor's Mansion with six people carrying burdens, the door slammed shut behind them.
"grown ups?"
Lu Desheng was very calm, this was normal treatment.
"Nothing, let's go back first!" It doesn't matter whether you have face or not, as long as you get the benefits.
Later, several other county governors, such as the Liaoxi County Sheriff and the Xuantu County Sheriff, learned that he had received money from the governor, and they all wrote to him for advice.
Lu Desheng told them everything he knew and didn't hide anything.
But what a pity, the county guards are a bit shameless and cannot learn this trick from him.
Liaodong County, Houcheng
After Zhan Ruoshui and his party entered the territory of Liaodong, they walked slowly along the spacious official road, admiring the local customs and customs along the way.
They had to admit that the people they met had very good spirits, better than the people they met along the way.
Sometimes Mrs. Zhan would get off the carriage and chat with the farmers working on the roadside for a while, asking them about this year's corvee, whether they had enough food to eat, and so on. Without exception, these farmers all admired their new governor, Mr. Lu.
After arriving in Houcheng, Master Zhan asked his disciples to drive a carriage directly to the governor's house to find Lu Mingzhi, his young disciple, without being polite at all. Even the two people he picked up on the way said they wanted to leave, but they were dragged along by him.
Lu Songli was very happy when she heard that Zhan Ruoshui and his party had arrived. She ordered people to go to the north of the city to call Lu Mingzhi back, and then came to the gate with her mother Jiang to welcome the guests.
Lu Mingzhi has been spending time in the four-entry courtyard in the north of the city recently, while Lu Zhiyuan goes there in the morning and comes back in the evening.
As soon as Mrs. Jiang saw the person, she hurriedly greeted, "Master Zhan, dear nephews, please come in quickly. Master Zhan, my master and Mingzhi are not in the house now, so please don't blame me for not being able to greet you. We have already sent someone to call Mingzhi." , it is estimated that he will be back soon."
Master Zhan had met Mr. Jiang, and he nodded slightly and led his disciple inside.
Mrs. Jiang asked the people below to serve tea and snacks to greet them, while she and Mrs. Zhan kept talking.
Not long after, Lu Mingzhi came back very quickly.
After he came back, Lu Songli and Jiang went out and gave the flower hall to them so that they would not feel uncomfortable.
