Chapter 3147 Debt Collection
Such a large amount of salt naturally could not be supplied by Beihai County alone. After the first quarter of the salt was delivered, the people who went out to deliver the salt brought back a large amount of copper coins.
Because gold and silver take up little space and are of high value, local government offices would not use them for settlements if possible. Good things should naturally be kept on the cutting edge.
Especially for precious commodities like salt, when they went to the dock to transport salt, they directly brought cartloads of copper coins.
So the official ship brought back two ships of copper coins, but one official ship did not return. They were going to Chaozhou area, which was even farther away, and it was uncertain when they would return.
As soon as the ship entered the harbor, County Magistrate Fang immediately went to find Bai Shan and said, "Sir, the ship is back."
Bai Shan, who was being surrounded and asked for money, hurriedly bowed and said to everyone, "Don't worry, everyone. I know you are anxious. I originally wanted to send someone back to the county government office to get the money, but the county government office is not close to Longchi. It would take two days to go there and back. Fortunately, the official ship has returned now, and there is money on it."
He said, "If you trust me, just wait here. I'll settle your wages and material costs after I've calculated everything. If you don't trust me..."
He paused and said, "Why don't you trust this county? The monk can run away, but the temple cannot. It's the Beihai County Government that owes you money. I can run away, but can the Beihai County Government also run away?"
The foremen and merchants were upset when they heard this, and couldn't help but mutter, "Then we can't occupy the Beihai County Government Office, right? Wouldn't that be rebellion?"
Bai Shan, who had keen ears, heard this and said silently, "There are still so many shops on the dock. The Beihai County Government really doesn't have the money to give you. Why don't you just take one or two of the shops they've built recently? Wouldn't that be enough to pay off your debts?"
The foreman and the merchants were delighted and asked hurriedly, "Master Bai, can you use your shop to pay off your debt?"
"No," Bai Shan said unhappily, "It's not like I can't come up with the money. We agreed that after the shop is built and I inspect it, all wages will be settled within half a month."
He said, "I just inspected the property yesterday, and today you're surrounding me like you're afraid I'll run away. The county hasn't breached any contract, so how can you talk about paying off a debt?"
Everyone immediately stopped talking.
Bai Shan turned around expressionlessly and went to the dock with County Magistrate Fang.
As soon as the two left, the debt collectors gathered together and said, "I told you that Lord Bai doesn't look like someone without money. You are too impatient. Now you have offended him, haven't you?"
"Don't be so wise after the event. You're the one who caused the most trouble today. Didn't you say that County Magistrate Bai's wealth doesn't mean Beihai County is wealthy? And you still say that public is public and private is private. County Magistrate Bai can't use his own money to pay off the county government's debts."
"That's right, it's still what you said about Beihai County being poor."
"Bah, who was it that said Beihai County had spent all its money and there wasn't a penny left in the accounts?"
While they were blaming each other, Bai Shan and County Magistrate Fang walked quickly to the dock. They walked directly to the front and waited for the ship to slowly enter the berth and dock at the shore.
Bai Shan looked at the large ship that slowly came to a stop and said expressionlessly, "Let's check where they get their information from."
In fact, their information was correct. The Beihai County Government was indeed out of money, and there was not a penny left in the accounts.
If the wages and food for the docks, salt fields and official farms had not been allocated in advance, the county government would have to pay them on credit next month.
Bai Shandu has found a partner.
He and Zhou Man first tried to borrow some money from their own homes for the county government, and if it wasn't enough, they would borrow from Yin Huo and Bai Erlang...
However, the cost of building shops and roads at Longchi Wharf was too high. Even if they used all the money they brought, it might not be enough.
Don't be fooled by his confident appearance, he is actually very insecure.
County Magistrate Fang naturally knew the situation in the county government office. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "I'll check it out when I get back."
He paused and said, "There's been no movement from the county government yet. The news must have spread here in Longchi. There aren't many people here, so it shouldn't be difficult to investigate."
Bai Shan then nodded.
County Magistrate Fang actually already had a suspect. He lowered his voice and asked, "Do you think it could be the Song family?"
Bai Shan: "I don't make guesses. I speak based on the evidence. If it's true, it's true. If it's not true, it's not true."
He paused and said, "If it really is the Song family, this county will not tolerate it this time."
When County Magistrate Fang heard this, he understood what was going on.
Bai Shan did not want to take things too far. Although the Song family was domineering, they had been operating in Beihai County for many years and had made contributions and worked hard. He had already torn a piece of flesh from the other party and gained enough benefits, so he did not continue to take action. The two sides have maintained superficial peace since last summer.
Even when there were activities in the county government and Qingzhou City, Bai Shan liked to bring the Song family along. If there were any benefits, such as the construction of a pavement at Longchi Wharf, he would still call them along.
He felt that they had gotten along pretty well this year, and if they were still trying to trip him up behind his back, it meant that there was no reconciliation between them.
Since reconciliation is impossible... Bai Shan pinched his fingers, then some old accounts have to be brought up and settled together with the new ones.
The two men exchanged a few confidential words before the coolies came up. When the boat approached, the people on the boat put up the planks and the coolies came up noisily to take the orders.
However, they did not dare to get too close and only dared to stand ten steps behind him.
When Liu Canjun got off the boat, his eyes lit up when he saw Bai Shanshi, and he immediately stepped forward and said, "Master Bai..."
He laughed heartily and said, "Fortunately, I have fulfilled my mission. All the things have been delivered to the destination, and the things you wanted have also been shipped back."
He handed a stack of accounts to Bai Shan and said with a smile, "Here, this is the account I wrote down according to your instructions."
Bai Shan flipped through it and saw that there were only numbers written on it, without even a total at the end. He could only flip through the pages one by one, quickly doing mental calculations, and breathed a sigh of relief after figuring out the total. It was about the same as the money he had estimated.
This money is enough for Beihai County's expenses for a period of time.
Bai Shan smiled, closed the account book and said, "Thank you for your hard work, General Liu. I'll send someone up to unload the goods right away."
He turned sideways to look at the coolie behind him.
County Magistrate Fang then went up to call out the names of the people. The people who were called out lined up one by one and followed by County Magistrate Fang's clerks who also came up to organize the group.
These people were not long-term workers at the dock, but coolies who had gathered from various villages after the dock was built. They carried things at the dock, moved things to the shops in Longchi, cleaned, etc.
Many shops in Longchi are newly opened, and there is a lot to do. There are many tasks such as moving tables and chairs and building stoves, so they can make a lot of money.
Although these jobs are all physically demanding, they earn more than farming or doing odd jobs in the village.
With so many coolies working here, all their food, drink, shelter, and other necessities cost money, which makes Longchi even more popular.
(End of this chapter)
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