Chapter 285 What's Wrong
Recently, many unfamiliar faces have come to Houcheng.
According to the city gate guards' inspection and statistics of the passes of people entering the city, the strangers who have recently come to Houcheng come from all over the world.
Lu Songli knew that the vanguard of the first wave of people had arrived one after another.
Those people were not like Ji Wuyin, who had a clear goal and headed straight for Houcheng. Arriving at this time was considered fast.
Lu Songli called Xu Zheng over and warned him again, "Many outsiders will be coming to Houcheng soon. Arrange more patrols. If you encounter a dispute between an outsider and a local, you must handle it with caution. If you encounter a matter involving outsiders that cannot be handled properly, you can directly contact Lord Guo, Mr. Xue, or me."
Lu Songli was very optimistic about the first group of people who came to Houcheng. They were definitely not the kind of people who were arrogant and unreasonable. Instead, they should restrain the local people. They should not bully outsiders just because they are outsiders and lose their good impression.
Xu Zheng agreed solemnly.
Liaoxi County
Pingzhou Governor Shi Tao has been very annoyed by Lu Desheng recently.
This fellow clapped his hands and thought of something. He was not interested in the grand County Magistrate's Mansion in Xiangping, but insisted on placing it in Houcheng, and even directly converted the county government office into the County Magistrate's Mansion.
When he knew this, he sneered and said, "Let him do whatever he wants!"
I didn't expect this guy to be so shameless. He actually took the emperor's decree allowing him to set up the county magistrate's office in Houcheng, and ran to the Liaoxi County Governor's Office to ask him for money?
Shi Tao naturally could not agree.
Lu Desheng directly used the imperial edict to pressure him, saying that the emperor had agreed to let him place the county magistrate's office in Houcheng, which meant that he agreed to let him build a new county magistrate's office in Houcheng, and he, as the governor of Pingzhou, should open the treasury to give him money.
If he didn't give it to him, he would complain to the emperor, saying that he was disloyal and unwilling to share his worries.
Shi Tao hated the way he treated chicken feathers as a token of authority.
But he had to be cautious. Lu Desheng was a censor before, and his ability to give advice was well-known throughout the court. If he was reported by him, he would be in great trouble, even if he didn't die.
Besides, this was the second year of the new emperor's reign. In the new emperor's mind, he was probably just an ordinary provincial governor, not a minister during his latent period, without the merit of following the emperor, and now he was not favored by the emperor, nor was he capable enough to become a pillar of the country.
If Lu Desheng reported him, his official position would be in jeopardy.
After thinking it through, Shi Tao decided not to take any more risks and decided to send Lu Desheng off. So he asked the housekeeper, "Where is Lu Desheng?"
Chief Steward: ...
"What?" Shi Tao had a bad feeling.
"Lord Lu brought a small stool and sat quietly outside the Governor's Mansion."
Shi Tao seemed to have heard something out of the blue. "What's wrong with him?" Why would he behave like a scoundrel and collect debts?
The chief steward was also speechless. Anyway, Lord Lu meant one thing: I want to move my house, give me money!
Shi Tao was so angry that he slammed the table and said, "Is he a scoundrel? He is the governor of Liaodong County, does he have any shame?" What did he think of him?
Lu Desheng: He has no shame, he just wants money.
"Did he say anything nonsense?"
"Not yet, just sitting quietly." But the butler felt that it might not be the case later.
Finally, Shi Tao took a deep breath and said, "Go, call him in." Don't embarrass yourself outside.
After Shi Tao called the man in, he originally planned to give him two or three thousand taels as a token of his gratitude to send him away.
Lu Desheng cried out, "Sir Governor, these three thousand taels are not enough to build the entire county magistrate's office. It can probably only be built two feet high?" He even stretched out his hand to measure the height.
Lu Desheng thought to himself, if you hadn't insisted on taking away most of the taxes every time and only left a little for Liaodong County, why would I have to ask you for money to build a new government?
Now that he can ask for money with a legitimate reason, why wouldn’t he come?
Although Liaodong County had several sources of income, they were also currently working on many projects, resulting in a lot of expenses. As his daughter put it, even a small fly leg is still meat, so if you have the chance, don't let it go.
Shi Tao knew that three thousand taels was indeed a little too little for him. "Five thousand taels, take the silver and leave."
Lu Desheng continued to cry, "Sir, five thousand taels is not enough. Five thousand taels can build the house high enough, but it will definitely not be enough to put up the beams and seal the roof. How can we live here?"
"Eight thousand taels, if you can't build it well, don't build it!"
When Lu Desheng saw Songkou give this number, his face darkened and he knew that if he continued to try to get more money, he would probably fail. So he decided to quit while he was ahead and quickly asked the butler to take him to get the money. He wanted to go home.
The Chief Steward of the Governor's Mansion: ...Do you think you can order people around so easily? I'm not familiar with you.
Shi Tao took a deep breath to avoid being angry to death, "Take him to get it!"
Finally, Lu Desheng got eight thousand taels of silver. He wanted to exchange it for gold, but the accountant of the governor's treasury refused him flatly.
Lu Desheng had no choice but to call his men in.
When he took the lead and left the governor's mansion with six people carrying loads, the door slammed shut behind them.
"grown ups?"
Lu Desheng was very calm, this was normal treatment.
"It's okay, let's go back first!" It doesn't matter whether it saves face or not, as long as the benefits are obtained.
Later, several other county magistrates, such as the Liaoxi County Magistrate and the Xuantu County Magistrate, learned that he had obtained silver from the governor, and they all wrote to him for advice.
Lu Desheng told them everything he knew without reservation and without hiding anything.
But unfortunately, the county magistrates were too proud to learn his trick.
Liaodong County, Houcheng
After Zhan Ruoshui and his party entered the Liaodong territory, they walked slowly along the spacious official road, appreciating and savoring the local customs and practices along the way.
They had to admit that the people they met were in good spirits, better than anyone they had met along the way.
Sometimes Master Zhan would get off his carriage and chat with the farmers working by the roadside, asking them about their labor service this year, whether they had enough food, etc. Without exception, these farmers all highly praised their new prefect, Lord Lu.
After arriving in Houcheng, Master Zhan had his disciples drive the carriage directly to the prefectural governor's mansion to find his young disciple, Lü Mingzhi, without any courtesy. He even dragged along two people he had picked up along the way who wanted to leave.
When Lu Songli heard that Zhan Ruoshui and his group had arrived, she was very happy. She ordered someone to go to the north of the city to call Lu Mingzhi back, and then she and her mother Jiang went to the gate to welcome the guests.
Lv Mingzhi has been hanging out in the four-courtyard house in the north of the city recently, while Lv Zhiyuan goes there in the morning and comes back in the evening.
As soon as Jiang saw them, she hurriedly greeted them, "Master Zhan, my dear nephews, please come in. Master Zhan, my master and Mingzhi are not at home right now, so please don't blame me for not being able to greet you. We have sent someone to call Mingzhi, and I think he will be back soon."
Master Zhan had met Jiang before, so he nodded slightly and led his disciples inside.
Jiang asked the servants to serve tea and snacks to greet them, while she chatted with Master Zhan.
Not long after, Lu Mingzhi came back quickly.
After he came back, Lu Songli and Jiang went out and gave the flower hall to them so that they would not feel uncomfortable.
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