Early in the morning, Hua Jing, Jiang Jing, Zhang Zhishi and Yang Zhaomo appeared on a certain street in the third street and six alleys, and spread the word to ten or ten, and soon the merchants on the whole street knew about it. , Everyone gathered around them as if they had found the backbone, and reported to him a series of inconveniences caused by clearing blood stasis.
They came at the right time. In this most prosperous market, some shops were opened by some powerful families in the city. If the time is too long, the behind-the-scenes owners of these shops will come forward to impose It's stressful.
And when they come forward at this time, most of the shops with a big background have no time to respond. You must know that as long as the problem can be solved by themselves, those shopkeepers will not ask the backstage for help at will, otherwise the matter is solved, and they are also in the business of the proprietor. An impression of incompetence was left in my heart, and if I dissatisfied the proprietor a little bit in the future, I'm afraid he would have to pack up and leave.
As for those businessmen whose backgrounds are not enough to suppress Ye Tui officials, or who have no background at all, they can only turn to officials such as Hua Jing and Jiang Jing for help. In their view, these officials are after all local officials. It's the beginning of the year, and compared to the newly appointed Ye Tuiguan, he is considered to be his own person, and he is closer psychologically.
These officials of the Tuiguan Yamen were indeed closer to them. They followed the merchants and complained to Ye Tuiguan, expressing deep sympathy and understanding for their experience, and then said: "However, as far as I know You know, the new official who promoted the official to the new office is really trying to start work in the three streets and six alleys, for the well-being of the people, and earn a good reputation as an official. But the west city...you understand!"
Even people who don't understand at first understand after two days of whispering and connecting with each other. Most of the residents in the west city are relatives of Zhang Zhifu's family. Therefore, the prefect ordered Ye Tui to start dredging from the west city, so this place became A half-baked project.
The Zhang family is the local emperor who has been in Tongren Mansion for hundreds of years. Although the foundation of authority is gradually loosening, it is only the feeling and reaction of the chieftains in various places. In the eyes of these ordinary people, the Zhang family is still the supreme ruler of Tongren Mansion.
The same thing has to be done anyway, so it is understandable to take care of your relatives first, even if they think it is unreasonable, who will go to stretch the magistrate's tiger's whiskers? However, the laborers have all gone to the West City, what about the mess of Three Streets and Six Alleys
On Qinglang Street, after all the merchants begged in every possible way, Hua Ji said with embarrassment on his face: "Well, I will speak to Lord Tuiguan for you, explain your difficulties, and then recruit some labor from the local government. Where work is suspended, clean up if it can be cleaned up, and if it can’t be restored to the original state, in short, it doesn’t affect everyone’s business.”
All the merchants were overjoyed, and Hua Ji said: "It's just that the extra labor conscripted, it's impossible for the yamen to pay for all the expenses. Do all the shopkeepers have any ideas?"
Master Shu of Shu's Noodle Shop led the merchants aside to discuss. Now the streets and alleys are full of mud. Even if it doesn't stink, the streets are filthy, and even pedestrians disappear. Every day's delay is not small. If the loss can be solved by spending a little money, it is worth it.
But why do people spend their experience to help? The benefit fee still has to be given. The plan has been decided, and the rest is the question of how much each merchant on this street will donate. This can be discussed later. Didn’t they see that they were already impatient to wait for their experience, so shopkeeper Shu and a few The more popular merchants walked over together, laughed and told Hua Jing their solutions.
Hua experienced everything and said: "Then let's do it this way, I still have official business to do, let's talk about it when you are ready."
In the afternoon of that day, the merchants raised a sum of money. The amount of this sum is within the acceptable range for each shop, but it is very considerable when collected together. The money is handed over to the flower experience On the way, Hua experienced a promise, and arranged for people to remove the mud as soon as possible the next morning to restore the original appearance of the street.
Jiang Jing, Governor Zhang and others also looked roughly the same. Several officials returned with a full load. In addition to the crowdfunding funds handed over to Li Dazhuang, he also left some benefits, especially the favors owed to them by the merchants. , which cannot be bought with money.
※※※
Legend has it that there was a landowner couple who were very stingy. One day, when the landlord went to the city to do business, he suddenly wanted to make a contribution, but he was unwilling to make the fertilizer cheaper for others, so he had to hold back. Later, I couldn't bear it anymore, so I found a latrine, but I didn't want to have nothing but a few farts.
The landlord was very proud. After returning home, he told his mother-in-law about today's experience, but the landlord's wife was furious: "You prodigal son, how can you live like this, it would be great to save these farts to blow the lamp!"
In this joke, what is really used to ridicule the stinginess of the landlord is the use of those farts. As for "the fat and water don't flow into the fields of outsiders", it is a reflection of the objective facts at that time. In fact, at that time, many landlords and even long-term workers had special requirements for convenience. To eat my family's food, they had to use my family's latrine for convenience. This is also a joke in the eyes of later generations, but at the time, it was not outrageous.
Chen Laocai is such a landlord. Chen Laocai has a paranoid love for land. His name is Chen Miao. It is said that the five elements lack water, so his parents gave him such a name. But judging from his performance all the time, he should be short of soil in the five elements.
When he was young, Chen Miao only had six acres of land passed down from his ancestors. He tended the fields and crops meticulously. He was a great farmer, and his annual harvest was always 20% better than that of other families. Some people buy wine and meat as soon as they have money, and some people like to play with money, but Chen Miao has only one hobby: buying land.
He saves his mouth and saves his money to the point of outrageous frugality. He buys an acre of land when he saves enough money for one acre of land. In this way, by the middle of his age, he already owned 30 mu of land. At that time, his family could not grow enough, so he needed to hire part-time workers. Chen Laocai's own family ate pickles and porridge, and it was necessary to provide hired workers. Eat food, just to give them strength to work.
Although it is said that landlords and hired workers seldom treat you harshly on purpose, because once the hired workers hold a grudge against you, it is still easy to sneak away and miss work. It is hard to see if you deliberately tamper with your crops. When the harvest is not good, you know it is Resentment or resentment? However, it is rare for a master like Chen Miao to be treated worse than a hired worker.
Over the past few decades, the young and strong young man has bent his waist and bent his back, but he has owned more than 100 mu of land and has become one of the best landlords in his village. ", it's not easy.
Xiao Miaozi has become Chen Laocai, but he is still as frugal as ever. He always takes a basket with him when he goes out. If he sees any cow or horse dung, he will copy it and send it to his field. Of course, most of the mules and horses of other people’s houses have a pocket on their buttocks. No one wants to make the fertilizer cheaper for others, but there are always some who will not live.
Chen Laocai is old, and his once tall waist has become bent. The family's fields are mainly handed over to his sons to take care of them, but he still habitually goes to the fields every day to inspect his kingdom. As long as the crops grow thickly, I feel extremely satisfied, and I look forward to continuing to save money and continue to buy land.
After breakfast today, Chen Laocai went out again with a small basket. When he was about to reach his own field, Chen Laocai suddenly found a large piece of mud piled up on the road right Qin Laocai's field. The shoveled cut surface even emits a gleaming black light.
What a fat soil! Chen Laocai's eyes lit up immediately, and he hurried over, grabbed a piece of mud, the mud was already dry, and it was turned into fine dust when he squeezed it hard. "Good soil! Good soil! Full of fertility!" Chen Laocai seemed to have seen the crops grow wildly in such fertile soil, and when he woke up, the crops would be raised by a section.
"Where did Qin Laocai get such fertile soil?" Chen Laocai's heart was scratching like a cat's paw, and seeing a long-term laborer of the Qin family weeding on the ground, Chen Laocai hurriedly greeted him and put him on the ground. Called to himself.
Hearing Chen Laocai's question, the old farmer smiled honestly, shook his head and said, "I don't know..."
The old farmer had an honest and simple smile on his face, but he couldn't hide the slyness in his eyes. Chen Laocai was very familiar with that farmer's cunning, he didn't say much, but endured the pain, and took out two big yellow coins from his bosom.
When the big money was in the hands of the old farmer, Chen Laocai inquired about the news: Tongren City was dredging the silt, and the silt was fertile soil that had been retting for hundreds of years, but the dredging of the three streets and six alleys had just started. , The servants were transferred to the west city, so that the construction of the three streets and six alleys was suspended, and the dam was filled with silt.
Mr. Qin has a relative who works in the government office. It was he who told Mr. Qin the news that Mr. Qin thought of transporting the sludge. If the mud is transported to his own field and spread evenly, it will be excellent. Fertilizer.
When Chen Laocai got the news, he turned around and left. He didn't go to the field anymore, but hurried home with a basket, afraid that if he was too late, the fertilizer would be shipped off by Qin Laocai's family. Soon, there were a few more cars at the intersection outside the Third Street and Six Alleys, and Chen Laocai took his sons and long-term workers to join the team fighting for river mud.
The river mud was half-dried after drying on the embankment for several days, so it was not difficult to transport it. Li Qiuchi stood at the intersection, shaking his small fan lightly: "Look at this situation, the mud will be cleared away tomorrow, and it will only take half a day for the servants to come back and pave the road again."
Su Xuntian shook his head and said with a smile: "Li Dazhuang, you are really good at tricks! This action not only helped you conquer the hearts of the officials in the criminal office, but also helped you earn a fortune. Now there are still so many free laborers who volunteered to help you. Dredging, admire! Admire!"
Li Qiuchi said with a smile: "This is an idea that Li and Dong Weng discussed together. Li doesn't dare to take credit for it alone!"
Su Xuntian said: "By the way, speaking of your lord, I haven't seen him so early in the morning. Where did your lord go?"
Li Qiuchi said: "Your Excellency went to Yuji Brick and Tile Factory."
Su Xuntian was stunned: "Brick and tile factory? Do you want to build another big house in Tongren?"