After taking over, Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan had people set up the tents. They would need to live in the tents for a while. The houses in the manor had to be torn down and rebuilt, so they couldn't live there now. Who knew if someone would get sick and infect them? The two didn't have much hope for this place.
The houses couldn't be torn down yet, and they didn't have the time to rebuild them. They left behind a hundred guards, and the others had to go back and continue moving things.
Zhang Xiaobao changed into a set of loose clothing and took out a list of names. Beside him, there was only one official accompanying him. On the list, there was only one official, six bailiffs, and one official in charge of all sorts of miscellaneous matters. There were only these few people, and if he wanted to have more, there was none.
After looking at the roster, Zhang Xiaobao suddenly asked the official beside him, "Is this a roster that was just written not long ago?"
The official was shocked when he heard this. He stuttered for a long time but didn't say anything. Zhang Xiaobao said, "It's fine, I understand. Is it because you had more before, but you don't want to do it anymore? You took advantage of this opportunity to have a good relationship with the departing Official Li, so you made a new roster? Fine, I'll find someone to do it myself. It's just that the official position can't be casually assigned to someone else. Otherwise, it would probably be gone. "
The official nodded. At the same time, he had a new opinion of this big child in front of him. At least it meant that he wasn't stupid. Otherwise, how could he guess it so easily?
"Then what about you? Is your relationship with the original Official Li not good?" Zhang Xiaobao asked again.
"This … Official, I'm in charge of purchasing in the manor, so I can't leave. I can only stay." The official thought about it and replied.
When he said this, Zhang Xiaobao understood. This person didn't have a bad relationship with the original Official Li. Instead, he was in charge of purchasing. This was a position that could benefit him. No wonder he didn't leave.
Since he was here, he couldn't let someone else do the purchasing.
"How about this, I have other arrangements for purchasing. You'll change your position now and be in charge of receiving the local people. No matter what the people come for, you have to treat them well. How much was your original monthly salary?"
Zhang Xiaobao changed the position of the brush cutter and asked about his salary.
The Brush Cutter's expression changed. He looked at the two bodyguards of Zhang Xiaobao standing in the hall and didn't dare to show it. He could only reply, "Yes, I will do whatever Milord tells me to do. This is the first time I've heard of receiving guests, so I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I get two stones of coarse rice a month, six feet of cloth, and more than thirty pounds of meat, mostly fish."
"Who else is in the family?" Zhang Xiaobao nodded and asked.
"Both of his parents are here. He also has a wife and two children." Brush Blade answered every question that was asked.
"In that case, from now on, your monthly salary will be canceled. You won't need cloth anymore. As for fish …"
"My Lord, what do I eat at home?" The Brush Cutter couldn't take it anymore. He didn't wait for Zhang Xiaobao to finish his sentence and started to protest. Wasn't this forcing him to his death?
Zhang Xiaobao was very unhappy that he was interrupted. He put on a straight face and said, "What you eat is your own business. I don't care what you eat. In the future, you will get a salary of fifty copper coins a month. You can buy whatever you want. You will try it out for two months. If it's good, you will get a raise. If you can satisfy me for three months, you will get a salary of one hundred copper coins."
This time, the Brush Cutter didn't protest anymore. He opened his eyes wide and stared at Zhang Xiaobao's face. He secretly pinched his leg and turned it around. He felt a lot of pain and realized that he wasn't dreaming.
"Also, the fish I mentioned earlier won't be given. Change it to pork or chicken. Add a catty of vegetable oil. You also need to change your patched clothes. In the future, the clothes of the people in the yamen will be controlled by the yamen. You will get two sets of clothes every season, including shoes. Do you have any objections?"
Zhang Xiaobao said that he would give out some benefits. He was trying to rope people in, so naturally, he had to take out something that he could rope in and use.
The Brush Cutter shook his head vigorously and said gratefully, "No, no objections. My Lord, I will take good care of the people. My Lord, let me tell you, after the new year, the previous Lord Li took 60 strings of money from the treasury and cleared the debt."
The Brush Cutter immediately began to sell people out. This made Zhang Xiaobao feel very helpless. If you sold out the previous Lord Li at this time, wouldn't that mean that if someone treated you better, you would also sell me out?
"It's only 60 strings of money. What's the fuss about? How about this, since you are familiar with this place, I will let you do something first. I want to rebuild the yamen here. Go and help me buy stones and wood. I will give you 1,000 strings of money. When the time comes, I will tell you what to buy. What do you think?"
Zhang Xiaobao was going to test this Brush Cutter to see if he was greedy. If he really was greedy, not only would he not get any benefits, he would not need him in the future.
"One, one thousand strings of money? My Lord wants to buy 1,000 strings of stones and wood? Good, that's great. No, my Lord, I am saying that wood and stones are not valuable and don't need 1,000 strings of money. Just find someone to pick them from the mountains and give them a wage. "
The Brush Cutter was indeed tempted. When he heard 1,000 strings of money, his first thought was how much he could keep. Just as this thought appeared, it was extinguished by him. He was not stupid.
He had just received a salary increase and was not familiar with it. In the blink of an eye, the Governor gave him 1,000 strings of money. It would be strange if he was not testing him. He suppressed his desire for 1,000 strings of money and endured the dryness of his mouth. With difficulty, he told the Governor how to obtain stones and wood cheaply.
Zhang Xiaobao felt that this person was not stupid. That was good. He said, "Then I will let you handle this matter. I will give you 100 strings of money first. After you spend it, you can ask for more from me. Remember, you cannot be underpaid. No matter if it is wood cutting or stone quarrying, as long as you work hard, you must give five copper coins a day. Three meals a day will also be taken care of.
The Brush Cutter suddenly felt that this new Governor was different from the previous officials. Not to mention his youth, he seemed to be very rich. Looking at the things moved in when they moved and the clothes the servants wore, although he had not seen good cloth before, he knew that it was definitely not cheap.
"Why was such a rich person sent to Jili Province? Just spend some money and you can find a good place. "
When the Brush Cutter thought about it, he unconsciously said it out loud.
Zhang Xiaobao smiled and said, "I am only 12 years old this year, but I have reached Level Four. Where can I find a good place for me? I can only go to the worst place. Otherwise, how can I seal the public's mouth? More importantly, the current Emperor always wants to find trouble for me. I invited him to a meal and wanted to go to Deng Province. In the end, after the meal, I was kicked to Jili Province. It is very tragic. "
"Ah? Sir, you can invite the Emperor to a meal? You are only 12 years old. You don't look like it. You are at least 15 or 16 years old. " The Brush Cutter was surprised by Zhang Xiaobao's age. He was even more surprised by Zhang Xiaobao's indifferent tone when talking about the Emperor.
What did this mean? It could only mean that the new Governor Zhang was very familiar with the Emperor, so familiar that he dared to complain to others and was not afraid that the Emperor would punish him.
As for the Emperor, forget it, let's not talk about him anymore. He took a lot of benefits from this official and even brought this official here. This official has decided that this year, if I find good seafood here, I won't send it to him. Instead, I'll send the second-rate seafood. "
Zhang Xiaobao deliberately said this because he wanted to use benefits to "seduce" the Brush Cutter.
The Brush Cutter was very smart. As soon as he was seduced, he followed him and said, "Sir, don't we need to send things to the court here? No one has sent things before. "
"It is fine if others don't send things, but not me. I don't send things to the court. I send things directly to the Emperor and my adoptive father, General Gao."
Zhang Xiaobao continued to use his identity to get the Brush Cutter to surrender.
"Which General Gao? Is it Gao Lishi, Sir Gao? "The Brush Cutter asked with wide eyes.
"Yes, how can we not give it to him? Otherwise, they would write a letter asking why we didn't send some seafood over to eat when we came to the sea here. Don't you think it's difficult? "
"Yes, yes, it's difficult. It's too difficult. I actually want to make it difficult for you once. Sir, I will go find someone."
The Brush Cutter didn't know what to say. He finally knew how a twelve-year-old man could become a fourth-ranked official. He also figured out why he was so rich. He said hello and prepared to make the arrangements.
Zhang Xiaobao shouted from behind, "You also need to pay the person who cooks. Three copper coins a day. Remember to find someone who cooks well. If it can't be your relative, find an old lady who can't move."
Zhang Xiaobao let out a sigh of relief when the official nodded and ran out of sight. He muttered to himself, "I hope there are more relatives in his family so that they can reveal my identity. The more people who know, the better."
Wang Juan walked out of the room next door and said to Zhang Xiaobao, "If you reveal your identity now, aren't you afraid that the people here will act against us in advance?"
"They don't dare to act so quickly. If they want to make a move against us, they have to wait for us to make a lot of money. Otherwise, why would they make a move against us? They won't get any benefits. Since I've revealed my identity, I have to be more high-profile in the future and let people see how important I am. "
Zhang Xiaobao had a plan. He was going to be more flamboyant here. Otherwise, who would mention his adoptive father for no reason and bring Li Longji into the picture?
*****
Half a month later, all the things on the ship were finally transported back. All the houses here were also demolished. A jar of wine was also found under one of the houses here. There was no tool to measure how long the wine had been buried. In any case, only one-fifth of the jar was left. It was estimated that it had been there for a long time.
Zhang Xiaobao knew that this kind of wine might not have tasted good in the beginning. However, after so many years of fermentation, there were more fungi in it, making it suitable for making wine. He directly marked out a piece of land here and built a small winery. He was going to advertise it well in the future and create a legend to sell it at a high price.
The Brush Cutter was quite efficient. When he ran out that day, he quickly gathered a team of more than a hundred people in the city. They went to the surrounding mountains to chop trees according to the requirements, and a portion of them went to dig stones.
In fact, Zhang Xiaobao originally wanted to build cement. Later, he remembered that this was a seaside, and cement was easy to absorb moisture, so he changed to stone and wood.
The Brush Cutter's surname was Xue. If he really counted, he could be considered to be related to a big family. However, he was a small branch that couldn't be any smaller. In addition, he didn't have any development. The main family didn't recognize him, so he was even more embarrassed to look for him.
His relatives here weren't few. In total, there were more than fifty people. Those who could work were arranged to work by him. With so much money in a day, it would be a waste if he didn't earn it.
In half a month, the registrar also showed up a few times. Each time, he didn't show up for long. He showed up to ask for leave. His family had a piece of land here. It was spring plowing, so he was busy with that matter.
Zhang Xiaobao didn't say anything. He even allowed the two bailiffs to ask for leave. In any case, he didn't need them. His guards were temporarily acting as bailiffs, and the registrar's position was replaced by someone else. Even the other positions were filled. This time, it wasn't a temporary position.
After Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan arranged the positions of their family members, they wrote a letter to Li Longji. They went through the normal channels and asked Li Longji to arrange officials. At the same time, they changed the death contract and changed it to a free person with an official position. Otherwise, he couldn't be an official.
On this matter, Li Longji compromised. He knew that if Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan's positions were changed in the future, he would need to bring along these people with official positions.
Seeing that his mansion was being built, Zhang Xiaobao felt very satisfied. He said to Wang Juan, "Let's go. Take Xiaobei and the others to see how Brush Cutter Xue is doing."
Under the protection of the guards, the group of people walked towards a hillside outside the city.
On a hillside outside the city, there were more than two hundred people cutting trees and digging stones. The work was in full swing. The men had already taken off their shirts and were topless. From time to time, someone would shout that a tree had fallen. Then, there would be a loud crash. A tree fell on the hillside, and the people would clear the branches and carry it down.
At this time, the trees were much bigger, denser, and sturdier. Usually, eight people would carry them. If eight people couldn't carry them, two people would carry them. Six people would carry them. If six people couldn't carry them, four people would carry them. If that still couldn't work, they could only let people drag them in front and not carry them.
Brush Cutter Xue didn't know that Zhang Xiaobao had come. He was watching the people work. This time, he didn't take a single copper coin. Instead, he received a lot of benefits. At the very least, the people he hired to work would come to his house after calculating their wages. After receiving a few days' worth of wages, they would buy some things and send them to his house.
His prestige among his relatives had also improved. In the past, he was just an ordinary person among them. His words didn't count because there were also older people. As a junior, how could he speak?
Now, they would come to him to discuss things. Who asked him to be different from before? He cherished this opportunity very much.
"Father, father, Xiaofan is hungry."
Just as Brush Cutter Xue was instructing people to cook, his two children ran over. The older one was a boy, five years old this year. The younger one was a girl, two years old this year. She could only speak a few words, but she couldn't speak clearly. Compared to Xiaobei and the others, she was far behind.
They ate steamed buns for lunch today. There was only one kind of filling, which was the oil and pickled cabbage filling. The oil was leftover after Zhang Xiaobao finished refining the oil. There were many people, so there was a lot of oil. Naturally, there was a lot of oil, so it was enough for a meal.
The steamed buns couldn't be eaten, but the oil was edible. So, Brush Cutter Xue's two children came for this.
When Brush Cutter Xue heard his son say that his daughter was hungry, he directly slapped his son's head. "Xiaofan knows about this? You can eat whatever you want, but you have to drag your sister into it. Go over there and pick some for Xiaofan. Chew the ones to feed Xiaofan. If Xiaofan chokes, I'll beat you to death. "
The boy was about to cry after being slapped, but when he heard his father say that it was edible, he immediately closed his mouth and pulled his sister over. He stretched out his small hands to pick the stuffing that had just been cooked. The people who made the steamed buns didn't care. Perhaps they didn't wash their hands when they made the steamed buns. Everyone was the same.
Brush Cutter Xue watched his son eat and felt very proud. At least he had some power. For example, he allowed his family to eat with him. It was three meals a day, not two. It was also not just one meal for some people. Moreover, they ate well. Every day, Governor Zhang of the yamen would send people to deliver the food for that day.
There were three meals a day. At least one meal had meat, and at least one meal had white flour or rice. Otherwise, how could people work so hard? They just wanted to work harder and eat more. Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to eat.
Xue Daobi felt that his idea was correct. The more he worked, the more energy he had.
At this time, Zhang Xiaobao and the others also came to the bottom of the hill and saw the scene of work.
"Xiao Bao, it seems that the locals are quite obedient. They didn't oppose us?" Wang Juan felt that the people here could also be used.
Zhang Xiaobao shook his head. "They work for the wages. If it was Baoxin County, the people would be willing to work for us even if they don't get paid. If you don't believe me, tell them that the yamen will give them 20 days of work. See if they will do it or not. No one will pay attention to us. They are far worse than the people in other places. "
"That's not bad. I'm just afraid that they won't do it even if we give them money. We have to do it bit by bit. Xiaobei, it's up to you. Go and buy people's hearts."
As Wang Juan spoke, she suddenly saw a few children at the construction site. The slightly older ones were helping to transport the stones, while the younger ones were running around. From time to time, they would run to the cooking area to grab something to eat. Pickled vegetables could also be eaten raw.
This was Xiaobei's strength. If it were other people, they might be pretending. Xiaobei was good to others from the bottom of his heart.
Xiaobei didn't care about what his sister said. When he saw the children playing, he really ran over. The other children and their bodyguards followed behind.
The appearance of the group finally attracted the attention of the workers. They all stopped what they were doing and looked over. Brush Cutter Xue also saw Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan. He was very happy. As he strode over, he shouted, "Lord Zhang, Lord Wang, why did the two of you come personally? No wonder I feel that the weather is good."
Xiaobei, who was running, stopped. He looked up at the cloudy sky. After thinking carefully, he said, "It's going to rain soon. It's good to rain. It's a good day." He then continued running.
Zhang Xiaobao understood when he heard Brush Cutter Xue call him that. Usually, he would call him 'little' or 'little', but today, he insisted on calling him 'little'. He wanted to give him some face. So he said, "I was just walking around and happened to hear someone say that the work here is good. As expected of Brush Cutter Xue, you're much better than others."
Brush Cutter Xue felt proud and stopped walking. He ran closer and bowed to Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan. He said, "Lord Zhang, Lord Wang, I don't dare to be negligent. This is a big matter for your families. I wonder if you two have eaten. If you haven't, how about … how about I invite you two to the city to eat?"
"If you haven't eaten, there's no need to enter the city. There's no good place in the city. Later, I'll build a restaurant here. Let's eat here. I've already prepared a lot of salted vegetables and eggs. I'll have someone make soup in a while."
Zhang Xiaobao was indeed preparing to eat here. He gestured, and someone came over to show Brush Cutter Xue a basket of eggs.
"Lord, you can't do this. How can you two eat with them?" Brush Cutter Xue remembered that his son used his hands to grab things. He was afraid that Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan would blame him if they found out.
Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan also knew what was going on. Wasn't it just a little dirty when cooking? They just had to steam it. Without any explanation, they decided to eat here and have fun with the people. Even if they had to pretend, they had to pretend.
At this time, Xiao Bei's restaurant had already opened. She took out food from her bag and gave it to others to eat. While others ate, she told them stories. She had gathered a group of local children together. In particular, Xiao Bei's story was about eating. They ate and listened at the same time. Sure enough, it was very addictive.
While chatting, Zhang Xiaobao was still looking around the construction site. The people working were also sizing up this new provincial governor. However, their expressions were cold. They didn't have the slightest trace of a smile when meeting a high-ranking official.
Zhang Xiaobao didn't care. He knew that his identity wouldn't be easily accepted by the locals. Adults had more thoughts than children. On Xiao Bei's side, there weren't any children who were cold to her. There was good food to eat and stories to listen to. This was a kind of happiness.
After waiting for a while, it was finally time to eat. Bowls of egg soup were brought out. Drawers of big steamed buns were also delivered to everyone's hands. The people working didn't wash their hands. They rubbed their hands on their pants and grabbed the steamed buns to eat.
Zhang Xiaobao thought for a while and also rubbed his hands on his pants symbolically. He also held a bowl in one hand and grabbed a steamed bun in the other. He squatted next to others and ate. After eating two mouthfuls, he said to the person who ignored him,
"Hey! I just remembered that I brought salted vegetables. Quick, bring the salted vegetables over. Put … put them on my steamed bun. Big brother, after all the trees on the mountain are cut down, can the land be cultivated? "
Perhaps it was because the people around Zhang Xiaobao approved of his "bold" appearance, or perhaps it was because they knew who provided him with the food. In the end, this person didn't ignore Zhang Xiaobao. Instead, he waited for someone to put a cucumber and salted vegetables on his steamed bun. Then, he said to Zhang Xiaobao, "It depends on what kind of mountain it is.
It's the same as not planting anything in this stone mountain. At most, you can dig out a seed. The mountain in the distance is not bad, but it takes a lot of effort to chop wood. It takes a lot of effort to clear out a piece of land. It's not worth it. "
"Oh! So that's the case. Then how about cutting down the wood on the mountain and burning it into charcoal? I can spend a lot of money to buy it. I'll buy as much as you can. When the time comes, the rest of the land will be yours. "
Zhang Xiaobao acted like he suddenly understood. Then, he talked about collecting charcoal.
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