Chapter 267: Not Moving
Houcheng
Lan Bingrong was watching the shop, but he looked lazy and not in a good mood.
He has been in this state since he returned from the Hongmen Banquet hosted by Lord Lu Desheng yesterday.
Lan Bingrong was a small landowner in Houcheng, with dozens of acres of fertile land and a number of shops and houses. He also had a place among the wealthy circle of Houcheng.
The day before, the newly appointed Houcheng County Magistrate, Lord Lu Desheng, hosted a banquet for the wealthy landlords of Houcheng.
When they received the post, they knew what was going on.
Before he left, his wife told him to follow the crowd.
He also made up his mind that he would donate the same amount as others did, and there would be no mistakes.
But Lord Lu was so eloquent and good at deceiving people, just like his background as an imperial censor. Then he made a mistake.
That day, Lord Lu's opening remarks were that life in Houcheng was difficult and people's lives were suffering.
These wealthy landlords understood immediately that Lord Lu wanted to beg for alms from them.
Lord Lu did not force them to donate a certain amount. He gave them two options: either give as much as they thought fit, or lend the money to the Houcheng County Government.
Regarding the latter, Lord Lu said that he could sign a document on behalf of Hou Cheng and would pay interest, but the interest was a bit low.
As for the purpose of the borrowed money, Lord Lu briefly explained that it would be used to build Houcheng.
After that, it’s up to them to choose.
The others were very wary and thought that what Lord Lu said to them was just a bunch of nonsense and refused to listen.
When the time came, he gave me a small meat bun worth two or three thousand taels and left.
Only he thought that what Lord Lu said was very reasonable and that he had a clear idea of the development and planning of Houcheng. He foolishly lent out 20,000 taels in exchange for a promissory note with the seal of the Houcheng County Magistrate.
When Lan Bingrong came out of the county government office, his arch-enemy Geng Yuan learned that he had paid 20,000 taels and called him a fool.
Lan Bingrong returned home with the IOU for 20,000 taels. Although his wife didn't say anything, she kept sighing at him.
He felt uncomfortable the whole night, tossing and turning, unable to sleep.
His wife was also unable to sleep because of him. Finally, she said to him, forget it, this money will be considered as a token of gratitude for Lord Lu’s contribution to Houcheng.
As one of the few landlords and wealthy families in Houcheng, to be honest, their family is very grateful to Lord Lu.
If he had not turned the tide and negotiated with the Xianbei royal court, they would have suffered heavy losses if the war had broken out.
Houcheng was likely unable to withstand this wave of Xianbei attacks. After all, the battle of the previous winter had just ended, and the damage to Houcheng was very heavy. Houcheng, a small and broken county, could not withstand two battles in one year.
If they want to run away early, they can't take the fields, houses and shops with them. They can only take away some of their belongings. Isn't that a huge loss?
Although he was comforted, Lan Bingrong still felt heartbroken when he thought of the 20,000 taels he had lent out, and he became even less motivated.
Just then, his sworn enemy, Geng Yuan, walked in, fanning himself and showing off his round belly. "Lan Bingrong, what were you thinking? How could you do something as foolish as lending 20,000 taels of silver to the government?"
"If you have too much money to spend, lend it to me. I won't pay you interest, but I will at least return the principal."
Lan Bingrong didn't want to pay attention to him.
Geng Yuan continued, "You've lived for decades, haven't you? County Magistrate Lu's banquet this time is clearly a begging for alms. He said it was a loan, but in the end he couldn't pay it back. Do you still want to chase Lord Lu and the county government to ask for it?"
In short, it's like throwing meat buns at a dog. The two choices are actually just the difference in the size of the meat buns. Who would want to give a big one when they can give a small one?
Geng Yuan didn't understand.
"You are so smart and you know that it is like throwing meat buns at a dog, but you still donated three thousand taels?" Lan Bingrong asked him back.
He choked and wanted to refuse, but could he really refuse?
In fact, they all knew yesterday that if they went there, they couldn't be stingy. They had all heard about Lu Desheng's difficulty. It was said that when the nobles of Chang'an City were feasting, if they left out the women of the Lu family, Lord Lu would not give up and gossip about their men.
He is definitely not as easy to deal with as Zheng Qiao.
All the guests had already weighed their donations before going. Even someone as stingy as him was generous this time and donated three thousand taels. After donating, he felt he would not be able to sleep for three or four days.
But when he thought about the fool in front of him who had borrowed 20,000 taels, he felt that he was fine.
At this moment, the waiter rushed in, "Boss, good news, good news!"
"What good news?"
"Our county magistrate has been promoted to county governor!"
Hearing this, Lan Bingrong and Geng Yuan asked in unison, "What?"
The waiter repeated it again.
Lan Bingrong stumbled into the backyard to look for his wife, "Madam, Madam!"
When he saw his wife, he immediately shared the good news, "Madam, the imperial envoy has come to announce that Lord Lu has been promoted to the position of prefect of Liaodong County for his meritorious service!"
It’s worth it, absolutely worth it, to spend this money to establish a relationship with the county magistrate!
Now his mortal enemy Geng Yuan must be beating his chest and stamping his feet, regretting it so much that his intestines are turning green, hahahaha——
The wife listened in surprise, never expecting that fools can have such good fortune.
Then she thought of something and said, "You said that Lord Lu has been promoted. Is he going to leave Marquis City and move to the County Magistrate's Mansion?"
Just when the old worries were gone, new worries came up.
Lan Bingrong went to the back, leaving Geng Yuan outside. He checked with the waiter again, "Is it true?"
"Boss Geng, it's true. The county government is setting off firecrackers and distributing wedding money."
Geng Yuan glanced towards the backyard, muttered, "Fools have good fortune," and left.
After the news of Lu Desheng's promotion to county magistrate spread, the people of Houcheng were both happy and worried. They were happy that such a good official was promoted, but they were worried that he would have to go to the county magistrate's office.
He went to the county magistrate's mansion. Will Houcheng become the same as before?
For a time, the people were panicked and felt very insecure.
Lu Songli and her colleagues had been paying close attention to public opinion in Houcheng. After hearing the concerns of the common people, she and her father discussed the issue and decided not to move the capital for the sake of stability in Liaodong County.
After making the decision, they took action in the afternoon and arranged for people to replace the plaque at the Houcheng County Government Office.
Their people were making a lot of movements, cleaning, moving ladders, and carrying plaques, which attracted the attention of the surrounding people.
"What are you doing?"
"Change the plaque?"
"Why do you want to change?"
As the people talked, the workers took down the plaque of Houcheng County Government Office and replaced it with a new one. The new plaque was covered with red silk cloth, so the words on it could not be seen clearly.
Just when the crowd was at its most noisy, Lu Desheng came out.
"Is it Master Lu?"
"Yes, it's Master Lu who has come out."
After Lu Desheng came out, he opened his hands to the people and pressed them down, "Fellow villagers, please be quiet for a moment."
As his voice rang out, everyone fell silent and their eyes were focused on him.
He was wearing casual clothes today and had a smile on his face. The people who met him for the first time felt that he was very friendly.
"I'm sure everyone knows that I'm Lü Desheng. I'm also aware that everyone has been worried recently about whether I'll leave Houcheng and head to the Xiangping County Governor's Mansion after my promotion from County Magistrate to County Governor."
After hearing this, almost all the people present said silently in their hearts, yes, this is what they are most worried about now.
"I will tell you all now that I have decided not to move my government office. This will be the prefectural governor's office from now on!" Lu Desheng said as he grabbed the hanging scroll.
The three words "County Magistrate's Mansion" suddenly appeared on the new plaque.
The common people then realized that what Lord Lu said was actually true. Now even the plaque of Houcheng County Government Office has been changed to "County Magistrate's Mansion"!
After Lu Desheng finished speaking, he nodded to everyone and went back.
Some of the common people realized that Lord Lu only came out and said a few words before going back, but what he said were what they cared about most.
"Lord Lu really speaks succinctly." If you have something to say, just get to the point and don't use so much official language.
"Lord Lu is very busy."
Not far away from the crowd, Geng Yuan muttered, "Lan Bingrong is really lucky."
They went to the banquet that day and the rich families and landlords who gave the little buns were really envious and jealous of Lan Bingrong.
As the saying goes, those who are close to the water get the moon first. This Lan Bingrong must have left a very good impression on Lord Lu. If there are any good things for the government in the future, won't they think of him?
The people stopped under the new plaque for a long time. While they felt at ease, they also felt that the Houcheng County Government Office was not grand enough as a county governor's office.
Just now, there were people in the crowd who had been to Xiangping and seen the County Magistrate's Mansion. They talked to everyone about the grandeur of the County Magistrate's Mansion. Then they looked at their small and shabby county government office and felt that it was too unfair to their Lord Lu.
After the common people left, the people below reported to Lu Songli the general direction of public opinion, and this was the direction she arranged people to guide.
Lu Songli is very clear that if they do not occupy the high ground of public opinion themselves, it will be occupied by others.
Next, as her father's decision not to move the palace spread, the people's hearts in Houcheng and even the entire Liaodong County stabilized again.
These were all within her expectations.
The decision made by her and her father has a flavor of "the king dies for the country, and the emperor guards the national border."
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