That night, Zhang Zhong and his family took a good look around their future home. Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan took out all the plans they could think of and planned to get someone to start work tomorrow. The two of them planned to turn their new home into a garden. However, when the time came, others would benefit from it.
This place was not like Hua Yuan County where the next county magistrate could be appointed. The position of the provincial governor was too high. Even the minister of the Ministry of Personnel could not decide who would be the next county magistrate, let alone them.
However, they could not go out and find a new place to build a new house just to prevent others from owning it. This place was spacious and better than other places. It would be a pity if they could not build a perfect home.
"If there's no other way, we'll let the new provincial governor take a look at this place when your father leaves in the future. We'll ask him to pay for it. If he pays, we'll let him do it. If he doesn't, we'll tear down the house and block the artesian well."
Wang Juan clenched her fists and gestured. Zhang Xiaobao chuckled. "Our family doesn't lack money. Even if the new provincial governor doesn't have that much money, we can't tear down the house and sell it to him. However, I reckon that even if the new provincial governor takes the initiative to give us money, we can't accept it."
"Why?" Wang Juan asked, puzzled.
"Because he's afraid of offending people. Do you think the new provincial governor will be as poor as the previous provincial governor? By the time my father leaves, this place will definitely be prosperous. It's just like the Jia County Magistrates in San Shui County. When other officials were willing to go to a place where no one was willing to go, they would break their heads to go there when other officials were done building it.
Although Lu Zhou is far away from the capital, when it's truly prosperous, who would care about that? Stay here for a while and leave after reaping the benefits. It's not like you won't be able to go back for the rest of your life. "
Zhang Xiaobao felt a little helpless when he said this. There were always people who liked to pick peaches, but he couldn't refuse to give them. This peach was good, but it was not as good as continuing to be promoted.
When Wang Juan heard Zhang Xiaobao mention it, she also understood. "The person who came must be very capable. Even if we do him a favor, he wouldn't care about this little bit of money. I'm puzzled. Why are there so many different kinds of abilities? Some people are really capable and specifically look for bad places to build. Some people can't be said to have fake abilities. In any case, they have the ability to get what others have built. Which one do you think is useful?"
"Of course, it's the first type. The first type doesn't need to be afraid of being sent away, and the second type has to pray that his or her family's power will never change, but they also have to constantly worry about the emperor's attitude towards their family. We are the first type. We don't need to be afraid of the emperor, as long as we don't annoy the emperor.
I don't think we'll be able to go to the capital even after we've built Lu Zhou. I hope we can go back to Yaozhou and be the Provincial Governor there again. My father is still young, and it's better for him to be a high-ranking official. I wonder what Li Longji will do in the future. I don't think it's anything good. "
Zhang Xiaobao was trying to figure out Li Longji's personality, but he found that there were many times when some people's personalities were constantly changing. Of course, this change was also a kind of personality, but it was too difficult to control.
Wang Juan did not care where the Zhang family went. In any case, wherever the Zhang family went, the Wang family would follow. As long as she was around, she would never abandon her family. Her parents were different from Zhang Xiaobao's parents. Even if the final dividends of every business deal went to the Wang family, her parents did not care about the money.
It was said that when the Zhang Family and the Wang Family were doing business, all the money would belong to her and Zhang Xiaobao. Her parents only wanted to show off in front of others. Zhang Xiaobao's parents, on the other hand, had more ambitions.
After hearing Zhang Xiaobao's words, Wang Juan came up with two scenarios. "I think it can only be from two aspects. The first is a very poor place. Let your father continue to go there and build a prosperous place. The second is a place that is difficult to solve. For example, Zhejiang and Hangzhou. That place has always been a troublesome place. She's too charming."
"No matter where he goes, it won't be easy. This is also what I want. Only by making more achievements will my father's future be smoother. Let's go to an inn to rest for the night. We'll start work tomorrow."
Zhang Xiaobao held Wang Juan's hand and caught up with his father. The group looked for an inn to stay in, preferably one that had a spare courtyard.
*****
The next morning, without waiting for others to come to Zhang Zhong, 150 of Li Xun's 200 bodyguards were sent out to patrol the streets of the prefectural city with weapons. The yamen also put up a recruitment notice for the local people to come and work. The Zhang family would pay for it themselves.
Even if those four people didn't cause trouble, Zhang Zhong wouldn't take money from the prefectural city's account to build his own house.
The news of the recruitment notice quickly spread to the yamen of Ulei County. County Magistrate Zhang was preparing to find Zhang Zhong and find an opportunity to bribe him. If he succeeded, he would have something to use against Zhang Zhong. If he didn't, he would understand Zhang Zhong's attitude.
After hearing the news, he immediately gathered his 150 bailiffs. A small portion of the bailiffs were recruited locally, but the majority were brought here from other places.
He didn't use the local bailiffs this time. Zhang Zhong had already bought a lot of people's hearts yesterday. He was afraid that these bailiffs wouldn't do their job seriously, so he only sent his 110 bailiffs out to see which commoner would dare to build a house for him. And personally delivered the warning to each house.
Unfortunately, he underestimated Zhang Xiaobao's ruthlessness. As soon as the 110 bailiffs went out, they were discovered by the patrolling guards of the Prince's Mansion. Sabers were unsheathed, crossbows were loaded, and all of them were captured at a place a little distance away from the county yamen. Precisely speaking, they captured the other three bailiffs, while the other seven were shot dead on the spot.
These seven people had drawn their swords, but they were shot to death as soon as they moved. The other bailiffs didn't dare to move and were tied up one by one.
The nearby commoners were all peeking through the cracks of the door. When they saw that the bailiffs who always bullied them were arrested, they suppressed the excitement in their hearts and went out to spread the good news in all directions.
Zhang Xiaobao didn't plan to start the construction today. He just wanted to deal with County Magistrate Zhang and at the same time make the lives of the local commoners better.
A good life naturally required supplies. This time, the ship brought a lot of goods. At first, he wanted to sell them at a high price, but now it seemed impossible. The commoners didn't have money, so no matter how good the goods were, they couldn't be sold.
Zhang Xiaobao could only use another method, which was to give the goods first and collect the money later. This money could be paid in installments, and there was no need to pay interest. He would distribute the goods and buy the things needed for the tribute. These were all good things. For example, shell incense, which was a kind of shellfish in the sea. It could be used as a medicinal ingredient, and it could also be used for beautifying.
Another idea was to let the commoners help spread the news and tell other commoners that the new provincial governor would firmly suppress the local county magistrate.
*****
This method was very effective. When they saw that the bailiffs were arrested, they ran to the houses of the people they knew or ran directly to the place where the fishing boats were anchored.
"Fifth Lord, good news, great news." A person who ran to the market said to the old man who was selling fish there.
"What? What did you say? Do you think your family can eat that much fish? Buy less. "The old man's ears were not very good.
The person had no choice but to put his mouth close to the old man's ear and shouted, "Fifth Master, it's good news. The bailiffs have been caught. They were caught by the subordinates of the new official. They even killed seven people."
This time, the old man heard it clearly. He asked in disbelief, "Really? The bailiffs in the county were arrested by the new provincial governor's soldiers? And they even killed people? "
The two people's voices were not low. The people who were selling nearby heard them and gathered around the two people.
The person did not care that others were listening. He continued to shout to the old man, "It's true. They were really arrested and killed. Those soldiers were very powerful. They were equipped with crossbows. The seven bailiffs were just about to draw their swords when they were shot to the ground. With only one arrow each, none of them survived. The seven soldiers who killed them did not even blink. It was as if they were not killing people, but chickens."
"Good. Someone should have dealt with them long ago. No wonder no bailiffs came to take my fish for free. The new provincial governor is indeed a good official who protects poor people like us. I won't sell my fish anymore. I'll go home and chase the two boys out so they can build a house for the governor."
The old man started to pack up his stall while trembling. It was not that he was not feeling well, but that he was excited.
When the commoners heard this, they could not suppress the joy in their hearts. Some cried, some laughed to the sky, and some immediately ran home to tell the good news to their families and neighbors.
Before they could finish rejoicing, another notice was posted. The notice asked the local people to tell the story of how they had been bullied by the bailiffs. Everything would be decided by the provincial governor.
In order to increase the people's confidence, the Zhang family sent out guards. These guards were promoted later. Their fighting power was not as good as the 56 people, but they were armed with weapons and had bows on their backs. This made the commoners feel more relieved. With so many people, would the new provincial governor be afraid of a county magistrate?
There were many ethnic minorities here. To be precise, this was where the ethnic minorities lived. The customs here were completely different from other places. If it were in other places, the commoners might be afraid to say anything. But here, such things would definitely not happen.
As long as someone was willing to make a decision, they would tell all the bad things that the bailiffs had done. One by one, the people who had been bullied by the bailiffs gathered at the magistrate's office.
Because he had sent out his closest subordinates and left 40 local bailiffs behind, Zhang Yi did not receive the news until an hour after it happened.
Hearing that seven of his subordinates had been killed on the spot and the rest had been captured, as well as the matter mentioned in the second notice, Zhang Yi felt his vision go dark and his whole body go numb. It took him quite a while to recover from it.
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