Chapter 14

The sun gradually rose, dispelling the chill of the early morning. The hawking sounds along the street gradually died down. The small vendors around seemed to be doing their work, but in fact everyone was listening with their ears perked up, and some even stole glances out of the corner of their eyes.

"My dear, what if I don't obey?"

The bully put away his folding fan, his face changed, and he said viciously: "Don't obey? If you obey, there are ways to play, if you don't obey, there are ways to play." He looked at Lin Shuge's slender waist that was bound by the waist belt, and his greedy eyes almost flowed out. "If you make a big fuss, I will just treat it as fun."

This bully was used to bullying men and women, being tyrannical and lawless. He also saw that Lin Shuge was dressed simply and thought he was just a stranger passing by. He himself, as the son of a Gongcao in the county magistrate's office, was just a commoner, so he could just have some fun and it wouldn't cause any trouble.

Lin Shuge felt sick in his heart, "In broad daylight, I wonder where the law of the Dingyuan County King is?"

The evil tyrant said what the villain in the novel always said, "The law is the law. You say the law. I am the law for the entire Dingyuan County."

Lin Shuge smiled and said, "I heard that the Wei envoy's rule is fair and just, and there is no one in Dingyuan County who bullies others by taking advantage of his power. I wonder if you are relying on the power of Gongcao Lord, or if Gongcao Lord is relying on the power of Wei envoy."

Lin Shuge has been out for some time. If County Magistrate Li doesn't see him, he will definitely send someone to look for him. Then he will be out of trouble. Now is a good time to play with him.

When the evil bully heard Lin Shuge mention Wei Shijun, he was afraid, but with so many people around him, he still said in a timid manner: Don't think that I will be afraid just because you mentioned Wei Shijun. Do you think that Wei Shijun will stand up for you, a little-known person, and punish me, the son of a Gongcao?

Lin Shuge sneered and said, "It seems that you are relying on the power of the Gongcao Lord. As for the Wei Envoy, I hope you can be a beast who bullies others by taking advantage of your power."

This is an open call for him to take advantage of the power of others.

When the bully heard this, he was immediately furious. His face was ferocious and he rushed forward to teach Lin Shuge a lesson. He raised his hand to hit him, but Lin Shuge grabbed his arm and twisted it hard. He immediately wailed in pain. Lin Shuge took advantage of his unpreparedness and twisted his arm behind his back. "Do you still want to play with me now?"

The onlookers cheered.

Lin Shuge had learned some simple self-defense skills in modern times, so he was certainly not as good as Xie Chen, who had practiced martial arts since childhood. However, it was still easy for him to deal with this kind of dandy boy whose body had been hollowed out.

The bully grimaced in pain and yelled, "Are you dead? Why don't you come and help?" The servant behind him saw this and immediately ran over to help with a stick. Lin Shuge nimbly pulled his arm and kept dodging the attack of the stick.

"If you come over again, your young master's hand will be in danger."

The servants looked at each other and did not dare to take any action. Unexpectedly, a servant rushed up behind him and was about to attack him from behind. In a flash, someone shouted, "Stop." Lin Shuge reacted and took the opportunity to kick the servant behind him down.

I saw County Magistrate Li striding towards this side, followed by a clerk from the post station. Next to him was a stranger, who was well-dressed and looked noble. He looked young but very imposing.

When the bully saw him, he immediately cried and begged, "Master, please save me."

The young man looked at him crying with tears and snot running down his face, and his eyes flashed with disdain, "Sun Xian, you are so bold, I won't let you off this time."

It turns out that the bully's name is Sun Xian.

"Lin County Magistrate, I'm sorry to have frightened you."

County Magistrate Li winked at Lin Shuge, who thought to himself, this evil bully called him Young Master, and his words and actions were very respectful, and his speech revealed the deity of the master of Dingyuan City, could he be someone related to the county governor?

Thinking of this, Lin Shuge let go of Sun Xian's hand, but Sun Xian didn't know what was good for him and tried to fight back, but was stopped by someone who shouted, "Sun Xian, this is Lin Xiancheng of Ganzhou County, how dare you be so rude."

Sun Xian just felt pain in his hands and eyes and was angry. He didn't hear the young man call Lin Shuge by his name. He flirted with a beautiful woman in the street and he turned out to be the county magistrate.

He was immediately frightened. Normally, he would tease and bully ordinary people, and his father, a Gongcao, would help him deal with it. But today, he had encountered a tough guy, and it might be difficult to resolve.

Just as he was about to make amends, he heard Lin Shuge say, "This young master knows this evil bully. I heard that he bullied men and women in Dingyuan County and even claimed that he was the king of Dingyuan County. People who don't know him would think that he was just taking advantage of the power of the envoy Wei. Such behavior may damage the clean reputation of the envoy Wei."

The young man's face really changed, and he glanced at his attendants. They understood and stepped forward to grab Sun Xian. Sun Xian shouted, "My lord, my lord, I didn't do anything. You traitor, you are full of nonsense, and you dare to implicate Envoy Wei."

The sound was piercing, so he reached out and grabbed a rag from the nearby soup and noodle shop, covered his mouth with it, and then pulled him away.

"Lin County Magistrate, I will give you an explanation on this matter."

County Magistrate Li took the opportunity to introduce, "Lin County Magistrate, this is the son of Envoy Wei. He is here to take us to the County Magistrate's Mansion today."

It turned out to be the biological son of Envoy Wei. Lin Shuge raised his hand and saluted, "Greetings, Master Wei."

Wei Huan smiled cheerfully: "No need to be polite, let's go to the county governor's mansion."

The County Magistrate's Mansion is located in the north of Dingyuan City. It is magnificent, with majestic auspicious beasts on the roof. Lin Shuge followed County Magistrate Li through the corridor and came to the reception hall of the County Magistrate's Mansion.

A man stood with his hands behind his back, dressed in black, wearing a Jinxian crown and a green ribbon on his head. At that time, officials were not clearly divided into civil and military officials like in later generations. Although the county magistrate was a civil official, he was tall and had a powerful demeanor.

"Greetings, Envoy Wei." Magistrate Li and Shu Ge Lin bowed.

Wei Xuan turned around and said, "Get up." He was over forty years old, with a strong face and clear features.

"Are you Lin Shuge?" Wei Xuan stared at Lin Shuge with his eagle eyes, his gaze as fast as lightning.

Lin Shuge's hair stood on end. "My Lord, I am Lin Shuge."

"I heard that you beat up Sun Xian in the street today, saying that Sun Xian was bullying others by taking advantage of his power. You asked him if he took advantage of my power, and said that if I didn't punish Sun Xian, it would damage my reputation." Wei Xuan asked sternly.

Lin Shuge was sweating profusely. He had never met someone with such a strong aura in his entire journey. He was indeed a frontier official and the head of a county.

But he still said loudly: "My Lord, since Sun Xian dared to humiliate me in the street, it shows that he is extremely arrogant. He relies on the power of Sun Gongcao, and behind Sun Gongcao is you, my Lord. When others talk about Sun Xian, the first person they think of is Sun Gongcao, and the second is..."

"The second what?" Wei Xuan snorted coldly.

Lin Shuge said boldly: "The second one is you. In this case, he bullies men and women, and it is your reputation that is tarnished."

"How dare you! Do you know what you are saying?" Wei Xuan slammed the table and stood up.

Lin Shuge knelt down and said, "What I said is true, Your Excellency, please understand."

"Look up and say it again."

Lin Shuge raised his head and looked directly into Wei Xuan's eyes. His gaze was sharp and unyielding, and he looked at Lin Shuge as if he had a thorn in his back.

He withstood the pressure, straightened his back, gritted his teeth and said, "Please understand, my lord."

The air seemed to be frozen and for a moment one could hear one's breathing.

"Hahaha, good boy, you are really good. Get up." Envoy Wei suddenly laughed, and Magistrate Li and Wei Huan beside him also laughed.

Only then did Lin Shuge notice that Magistrate Li was right next to him but he didn't say a word, and didn't even glance at him. Sure enough, everything is a test.

"Shu Ge, get up quickly." County Magistrate Li came over and helped Lin Shu Ge up. Seeing Lin Shuge's stunned expression, he said, "You haven't recovered yet. The envoy was just joking with you."

"Li Yi, you said in your letter that he is bold and careful, and has extraordinary talent. Now it turns out to be true. You don't have to worry about the papermaking matter, just leave it to him." Wei Xuan said with a smile.

Magistrate Li replied, "This kid was a nobody, yet he dared to break into the county government office alone, and even boasted that his proposal was related to performance evaluation. He is truly a young bull who is not afraid of tigers."

Lin Shuge recalled that he was also afraid at that time, but if he had not risked everything to find a way out, he and his two siblings would have turned into bones long ago.

Hearing about papermaking again, he asked seriously, "Your Excellency, have you learned that improved paper has been made?"

"I know. County Magistrate Li sent the finished paper to the county magistrate's office. We have all seen it." Wei Huan walked over and said slowly.

Are these people playing tricks on others?

You can't mess with your boss and his boss's boss, but you, Lin Shuge smiled faintly and said, "I wonder if you have any good ideas. Although paper has been invented, how can we make it widely spread and benefit the people?"

"This..." Wei Huan had no idea what to do and was speechless for a moment.

"Then I wonder what good plan County Magistrate Lin has?" Wei Huan understood what he meant. He didn't dare to vent his anger on his father, but came to him instead.

Envoy Wei and Magistrate Lin also looked at him with burning eyes.

"Your humble servant wants to release the recipe for making paper?"

"What? Let him go?" County Magistrate Li spoke first. Although Envoy Wei and Wei Huan did not say anything, there was confusion in their eyes.

"If conditions permit, we can find merchants with good reputations in the entire Dingyuan County and have them join us as shareholders. We also need to set three rules: the recipes can be given to them, but they cannot sell them privately, nor can they arbitrarily raise the prices, and they cannot enslave or oppress the craftsmen."

"Business stocks?" asked Envoy Wei.

"Yes, business shares. If you want to produce a large amount of paper, you will need a lot of money in the early stage. It is definitely not enough to rely on the county government and the prefectural government. If you allow businessmen to participate in the shares, there will be no worries."

"But merchants are profit-oriented. In order to avoid private individuals hoarding goods and selling them at high prices, the government must come forward and make them sign and seal the deal."

Envoy Wei clapped his hands and laughed, "That's feasible. This way, the problem of raising money that has been troubling me today can be easily solved. What else? Go on."

"If merchants build their own paper workshops, they will definitely need manpower in addition to local people. Dingyuan County has many refugees, so they can be taken in and carefully screened, so that they can work and settle down in Dingyuan County."

In this way, the problem of refugees' disturbances can also be solved. On the way to Dingyuan City, Lin Shuge saw many refugees. These people have no fixed place to live, and in the long run, they will cause considerable trouble to local security.

"Okay, let's do as you say, Ah Huan. You heard everything, right? You are fully responsible for Dingyuan City." Envoy Wei said to Wei Huan.

"Yes, Father, I will do it right away."

"Wait, no hurry. County Magistrate Li and County Magistrate Lin have come from afar, so we have to welcome them first. Go and make arrangements first."