The group had just sat down in the government office, exhausted from their long journey, and hadn't even had a sip of tea when they received this news.
Tang Huan's expression immediately turned sour.
Du Ruhai, who was standing opposite him reporting the news, scratched his head from time to time, not knowing what to say next, and only felt that something bad was about to happen.
The people around Tang Huan looked at him with different expressions.
Qin Yuyang and Gongyang Tingbai were unsure how Tang Huan would handle the situation, so they remained silent, simply waiting to see what Tang Huan would do next.
Li Daikui said with a dark face, "Sir, these guys are too arrogant. Why don't I take the mercenaries over there and teach them a lesson so they won't cause trouble again in the future?"
The solution lies in addressing the root cause of the problem, making an example of someone to deter others; only in this way can we eliminate everything to the greatest extent possible.
Xue'e frowned and said, "It's not a good idea to do this. Even if we really want to teach them a lesson, it shouldn't be us who do it. Times have changed. Now, everyone in the capital is watching your every move. I'm afraid someone might take the opportunity to cause trouble."
Tang Huan ignored what the two were saying and asked Du Ruhai, "Tell me the specifics now."
Du Ruhai, who was not yet thirty, looked troubled before slowly recounting what had happened in the past few days.
It turns out that Qihuai County has developed rapidly in recent years, shaking off its poverty and backwardness and enabling everyone to live a prosperous life.
This situation even attracted many people from the surrounding areas, who disregarded everything and left their original counties to join Qihuai County. The same was true for the merchants from the surrounding areas; if they wanted to do business, Qihuai County was the first place they would consider.
This is why Qihuai County is now prosperous and fertile.
But precisely because of this, people in some surrounding counties began to feel jealous and resentful, wanting to get a share of the profits.
With Xie Wu watching from above for the past few years, no one dared to bring up this idea.
However, when Xie Wu went to Kuizhou for disaster relief some time ago, the position of prefect of Yingzhou remained vacant, and the official who temporarily held this position did not have much of a relationship with Qihuai County.
Several counties that had planned this for a long time joined forces. They found a large number of idle and aimless street urchins, and some merchants blocked the roads connecting Qihuai County to the outside world to demand benefits.
In addition, they expressed their desire to participate in the trade of Qihuai County, and said they would not give way if this was not agreed to.
"With the master away, and Sister Xue'e taken to the capital by you, no one in Qihuai County dares to make a decision on what to do, so the stalemate has continued for five days now."
Five days?
Tang Huan's eyes widened. "It's been five days already, why haven't they sent anyone to the capital to inform me?"
Du Ruhai said somewhat awkwardly, "At first we thought those people were just making a small fuss and that we could handle it, so we didn't inform you."
Tang Huan looked at Du Ruhai with dissatisfaction and said earnestly, "Little Du, you did a great job in the disaster relief in Kuizhou before, which made me very satisfied, but your performance this time has disappointed me greatly."
With no one like me or Xue'e who could make decisions around, how could some insignificant little people have managed to get things to this point?
This is Qihuai County, not a place where they can run wild.
"I'll give you one last chance. If you can resolve this by dawn tomorrow, I'll pretend nothing happened. If those people are still so brazen tomorrow, I'll handle it personally. But then you'll have to go to Qihuai County to guard my gate."
Seeing that Du Ruhai's expression was neither happy nor angry, Tang Huan reminded him, "All the city entry taxes you collect must be handed over; you cannot keep a single penny for yourself."
Upon hearing this, Du Ruhai's face paled as if facing a formidable enemy. He immediately made a promise to Tang Huan and then walked out of the mansion.
It was already night, but Du Ruhai knew that someone from the other side had been staying at Zuixianju for the past few days, waiting for Qihuai County to give a reply.
Du Ruhai did not linger and immediately headed towards Zuixianju.
"Tang Huan, did we overestimate you? Or did these country bumpkins underestimate you, daring to cause you trouble like this?"
Gongyang Tingbai witnessed the whole thing, plopped down next to Tang Huan, and asked with great interest.
"It's nothing."
“Is it a small matter? I don’t think so. If trade between the Northern Region and Qihuai County is hindered in the future as it is today, the losses for both sides will be huge. I don’t want this kind of problem to happen again.”
Li Daikui angrily said, "Sir, let me step in. Du Ruhai has never played the bad cop before. Those people won't be afraid. These shameless bastards deserve to be taught a lesson by me."
"No, you stay in the manor. I specifically asked Du Ruhai to handle this. Since he couldn't resolve this matter in a few days, it will be the same this time."
"Then you..." Qin Yuyang didn't understand.
Tang Huan said in a deep voice: "These people are not only shameless, they are also vulgar and hateful. Qihuai County has never mistreated them over the years. Every winter, we send them grain, but as soon as we turn around, someone jumps out to cause trouble."
"That's precisely why we need to teach them a lesson. Otherwise, if others follow suit, we won't have the energy to fight them like this," Li Daikui said, somewhat frustrated.
"Who says I don't have the energy? I have plenty of energy to have some fun with them all winter long. Whoever deliberately cut off my source of income, I'll make them pay for it all sooner or later."
When Tang Huan said these words, he gritted his teeth and looked fierce.
Gongyang Tingbai turned to the side and said, "You mean, someone deliberately orchestrated this?"
“Although I was just a minor county magistrate before, a county magistrate is still an official, not someone these common people can mess with. Yet they still acted recklessly. Don’t you find that suspicious?”
"It's been brewing for days, who could be targeting you?" Gongyang Tingbai asked.
"Think carefully about when it was a few days ago."
A few days ago, the Northern Region delegation arrived in the capital.
This made Gongyang Tingbai's expression change. She explained, "This matter has nothing to do with the Northern Region delegation. At the time, we didn't even know where Qihuai County was."
"I didn't say it was done by people from the Northern Region, why are you so nervous?" Tang Huan glanced at Gongyang Tingbai, crossed her legs, and said, "I already have someone in mind, I just don't know whether it's the person who attacked me the first time or the person who attacked me the second time..."
Or is it a third group of people planning to attack them?
Tang Huan shook his head. After a long carriage ride, his whole body ached, and all he wanted to do was rest.
It was getting late, and he was already quite tired.
"Everyone, take a rest. This is a minor issue and we don't need to worry about it too much."
While Tang Huan and the others were speculating and talking inside the government office, Du Ruhai had already arrived at Zuixianju.
As soon as he entered, the night watchman on the first floor noticed him immediately, "Brother Du!"
Zuixianju is Tang Huan's property, so the staff there naturally know the people who work at the government office.
"How are those people?"
The waiter sighed helplessly, "It's still the same. They're arrogant and domineering all day long, and they haven't left us a single penny."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
