Seeing that no one said anything, Guru frowned, took two steps forward, raised his voice and shouted: "This is the new governor of Salt Marsh Town, Wuleglindo. I am here for official business, not for the official residence. Please leave immediately!"

No one moved - the plates in this tavern were small, it was daytime, and Hubble and his gang were drinking and eating meat here, so other people were reluctant to come in, so it was very dramatic that all the people who were supposed to be in the official residence were actually here.

As the chief officer of Salt Marsh Town, Wu Lai did not want to meet his subordinates here for the first time.

Wu Lai waved at Lauren, and Lauren quickly ran to his side.

"Laurent, tell me, among those present here, who is the tribune Henry Warren?" Woolley asked with a frown.

Laurent hesitated for a moment, gritted his teeth, and pointed at Henry: "Lord Woolley, this is the tribune Henry Varen."

Wu Lai nodded and hooked his finger at Henry.

Henry was stunned and was about to ignore it, but after his eyes met Wu Lai's, he suddenly hesitated. Although he didn't know much about the deeds of the young man in front of him, he had heard of Wu Lai's name. Especially from the eye contact just now, he tasted a strong warning, which inevitably made him feel entangled.

In terms of qualifications, Henry is the oldest among the four, but in terms of background and strength, he is definitely the weakest one. Wu Lai made a fierce appearance, while the other three have not made any moves until now. He does not want to be the first to offend Wu Lai.

"I..." Henry stood up hesitantly.

"Tribute Henry, since you guys are so leisurely, I won't bother you any more. I'll just ask you a few questions and then I'll leave." Woolley glanced at Henry, found a chair nearby and sat down, then said, "Are you willing to answer my questions?"

Henry glanced at the other three and saw that they either had wandering eyes or simply pretended to close their eyes to rest. He sighed quietly and nodded, "Of course I am willing."

"That's good." Wu Lai waved his hand, and Guru immediately scolded the tavern owner who was about to come over to try to smooth things over.

The tavern owner was startled and quickly shrank back in shame.

This made Henry even more nervous.

"The first question is, how many militiamen are there in Salt Marsh Town now?" Wu Lai asked.

"Seventy-five," Henry answered without thinking.

"How many weapons? How many sets of armor? How many war horses?" Wu Lai asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, there are twelve war horses..." Henry wanted to answer, but he really couldn't. The militia had an armory, but it was basically empty. Because except for a small part of the weapons and armor allocated every year to replace damaged ones, the rest were resold by him. Part of the money he earned was used for bribes and part was used for squandering. In order to cope with the inspection of the city-state, the account books in the warehouse had long been scribbled over. Anyway, no one cared, so how could Henry know how many weapons and sets of armor there were.

Wu Lai frowned and looked at Lauren: "Tell me, who is the tribune Harbor Ifulin?"

"Commander Wu Lai, I am Hubble. Please forgive me, we are not..." Before Hubble finished speaking, Wu Lai raised his sleeves and said two words arrogantly - "Shut up."

When these two words were spoken, not only Hubble, but everyone present except Guru was stunned.

What a powerful official, and such a cold attitude—everyone thought so at the same time.

"Forget the polite words. I have nothing to forgive or not forgive." Wu Lai glanced at Hubble. "Hubble, as a peace officer, you should know the population situation of Salt Marsh Town. I am new here and I am unfamiliar with the place. So, please tell me briefly, how many people are there in Salt Marsh Town under my jurisdiction?"

Hubble's heart skipped a beat, and he thought, you're not asking about my population at all, you're clearly reminding me that Salt Marsh Town is your territory.

No matter what he thought at first, after seeing Woolley's aggression at the moment, Hubble decided to show weakness first. First, he didn't want to confront Woolley right away, and second, Woolley came too suddenly, leaving everyone unprepared and helpless.

"Reporting to Governor Woolley, there are a total of 305 households in Salt Marsh Town, including 8 citizen households. The population as of the end of last month was 4,122 people, 956 of whom are engaged in salt production and 149 are citizens, excluding slaves." Hubble was somewhat proud when he finished his answer. He would review the civil affairs figures such as the number of households and the number of people at the end of every month, so there was no reason why he could not answer.

"Not bad." Wu Lai clapped slowly, a smile on his face.

"Thank you for the compliment, Governor Woolley." Hubble said with a grin.

Hubble smiled, but Woolley stopped smiling and frowned, asking, "Officer Hubble, did you not hear me clearly, or are you deliberately not taking it seriously? I only asked you about the population, not the number of households. What are you doing? Are you trying to show off your familiarity with Salt Marsh?"

Hubble was stunned. He had seen people who changed their attitude quickly and many people who acted like scoundrels and looked for trouble, but he had never seen anyone as exaggerated as the one in front of him.

"Well, well..." Hubble didn't know what to say next.

"Who is Treasurer Baker?" Wu Lai finally didn't involve Lauren this time, which at least made the old soldier feel relieved.

"Sir, it's me." Baker stood up slowly, his expression calm, neither humble nor arrogant.

Humph, just ask whatever you want to ask. At most I'll just give in to you for now, but sooner or later I'll ask you to pay it back. Baker muttered to himself.

Wu Lai nodded and waved his sleeves. Gulu stepped forward and said loudly, "Treasurer Baker, before Governor Wu Lai took office, he obtained a sum of money from Chief Connor to subsidize Salt Marsh Town. Although the money was obtained by Governor Wu Lai, it will all be spent in Salt Marsh Town. Therefore, it is most appropriate for you to be responsible for this money. Tomorrow morning, please come with me to count the amount and we will go through the handover procedures."

Baker was a man who felt happy when he heard the sound of money. Before Guru finished speaking, he had already started to think about it. He smiled and asked tentatively, "Can you tell me how much it is? I can make preparations for this."

"Not much, just 8,500 gold coins." Wu Lai said lightly. He was not making this up, he really got this money from Chief Connor, and he planned to spend it on the infrastructure of Salt Marsh Town. But this money was not taken for free, at most it was a loan without interest, and he had to pay it back to the Supreme Council in three years.

Baker couldn't help but take a deep breath. Eight thousand five hundred gold coins was not a small amount. Even during the heyday of salt production in Salt Marsh Town a few years ago, as a financial officer, he could not handle so many in a year.

"This Salt Marsh Town is in such a mess that it looks like it's been burned down. I just can't stand it." Wu Lai smiled again. "Baker, you are in charge of the finances. You must keep and use them properly. Keep a close eye on it for me and for Salt Marsh Town. In the future, any large sum of money can only be spent with my wax and signature. Do you understand?"

"Okay, Lord Woolley." Baker was secretly happy. On the one hand, he felt that his new superior, Woolley Greendo, not only had no ill will towards him, but also seemed to be trying to win him over. Otherwise, why would he let him keep such a large sum of money right away, and it was a sum of money that no one knew about before. On the other hand, it would make sense for the treasurer to not cut off the top when handling money. No matter whether it was a large sum of miscellaneous expenses or a small expenditure, he could not be short of money if he just put some thought into it.

When Hubble and Henry saw the smile on Baker's face, they couldn't help cursing in their hearts. With their understanding of Baker, they could guess what was going on in this guy's mind at the moment.

They were cursing, but Tours didn't have time for that. Woolley's appearance was too stunning - he was obviously a well-known aristocrat, but he acted like a martial artist who kicked the door panel away, and then he started shouting to scare people as soon as he came in. That was not all, after he scolded Henry and Hubble, just when everyone thought Baker was about to "die", there was a sudden turn of events.

So, what will happen when it's my turn? Tulsi couldn't help but feel a little uneasy. Of course, he wasn't really afraid of Woolley. He just didn't want to be humiliated by Woolley, just like Hubble and Henry.

"So, you are the salt official Tours, Tours Adams?" Woolley's eyes shifted to Adams.

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"I am." Turles sat still.

Wu Lai nodded: "Before coming here, I met with Lord Job, and he gave me some friendly advice. Moreover, the salt industry is the foundation of the existence of Salt Marsh Town, so both of us should work together, both publicly and privately. What do you think?"

"It should be so." Although Tours answered like this, he was wondering in his heart, are you showing weakness or goodwill?

Not only Tours, but the other three also breathed a sigh of relief when they heard Wu Lai say this, thinking that the atmosphere had finally eased, and that Tours' background was indeed effective.

"Let's do this for now. I'm tired today too. Everyone should come to the official residence early tomorrow morning. No one should be left behind and no one should be late, otherwise I will be very angry." Wu Lai said as he slowly stood up.

Hubble saw the opportunity quickly and waved his hand, scolding the attendants and servants, "Why don't you pay your respects to Governor Wu Lei?"

The attendants and servants finally reacted and greeted them all at once. For a while, the only sound was a buzzing noise.

Wu Lai waved his sleeves impatiently and turned to go out. Gulu glanced at the tavern owner and threw a silver coin...

Hubble chased to the door to see them off. When he saw Wu Lai and Guru walking away, he quietly wiped his forehead and turned back to the table.

"Turles, what do you think we should do now? Judging from the situation, this Wu Lai might have bad intentions towards me." Henry was asking Turles.

"What are you afraid of?" Turles glared at Henry and patted his chest, "I'm still here."

…

Wu Lai and Guru walked slowly, the air was still filled with the faint salty smell of brine, but Guru didn't have time to frown at the moment.

"Wu Lai, these guys must have gotten the news a long time ago," Guru said.

"That's for sure." Wu Lai nodded, "But it doesn't matter. I don't think highly of any of these people anyway."

"But the problem is that there are not many citizens in Saltmarsh Town. If we want to find someone to replace them, let alone whether Lunvington will approve it, we may not even be able to find the people to replace them."

"Huh, so I said that some old customs and habits have to be changed." Wu Lai frowned and said. In the Assyrian territory, the system of giving priority to officials from the place of origin of the governing place has always been followed. According to this practice, in addition to the title of consul, the Salt Marsh Town can only employ one person who is not from the Salt Marsh Town to take on the duties of maintaining public order, protecting the people, and finance.

“What should we do next?” asked Guru.

"It's basically what we discussed on the way. There are some minor changes. We'll think about it tonight." Wu Lai patted Guru's shoulder. "I'm sorry to have wronged you. I didn't expect the conditions here to be so difficult."

“Now that you are here, should I abandon you?” Guru asked with a smile.

"Well, you are indeed my good brother. Let's go and take a look at the extent of poverty and backwardness in my jurisdiction." Wu Lai laughed and quickened his pace.

"Hey, you kicked the door just now, didn't you say you were going to take care of them?" Guru quickly quickened his pace. Although he was more mature than his age, his youthful nature had not been erased. He had seen Wu Lai 'take care of' people several times, so he naturally always wanted to know what the next time would be like.

Wu Lai shrugged: "That's tomorrow's business."