Chapter 007 Take the Pier First
Zhao Yulin smiled secretly. At this time in the Southern Song Dynasty, a county magistrate could arbitrarily appoint a deputy official. It was really a downward spiral.
However, what he wanted was what the county magistrate said.
Zhao Yulin immediately replied: "Thank you for your trust, teacher. I will accept it without paying a penny."
Zhang County Magistrate immediately said, "Wait a minute, sir. The wharf is the face of Yibin. It is well managed by Li Tixia. How can we let a kid do it?"
Chen Yun's face looked very bad. He said angrily, "Gan Luo was the prime minister for 12 years, so why can't Yu Lin be the deputy commander? Mr. Zhang should spend more time to take care of his own affairs and show him."
The county magistrate was very rude and slapped Zhang in the face in public, saying that Zhang Xianwei's son climbed over the wall into the yard and ruined the girl's reputation. He was so shameless that he had to open the door of the county government office.
He then said that the Li Tixia he recommended condoned the merchants in arbitrarily lowering wages, and that coolies fought at will to compete for business. He was also disloyal and embezzled taxes together with the merchants, and someone had already reported it.
The county magistrate angrily asked the chief clerk to hand a pile of petitions to the county lieutenant and warned him to be careful with his eating manners and not to make things too ugly.
County Captain Zhang's face turned red and white, and he sat there looking very ugly as he flipped through the materials given to him by Chief Clerk Yang.
Zhao Yulin muttered in his heart, haha, the county magistrate is smart. In this way, he can put all the blame for offending County Magistrate Zhang on Zhao Yulin. He thought that being an official is really an unchanging art from ancient times to the present.
Zhao Yulin had experienced something like this in later life. He was a straightforward person and didn't do things in a roundabout way. But it seems he still has to be careful today, lest he become a victim wherever he goes.
Zhao Yulin was reflecting on this when the county magistrate said to him, "But I still have some sense. Yulin will take over as the wharf supervisor for now, and I will appoint someone else after the wharf management is effective. How do you think?"
The chief clerk certainly has no objection. He just beat the county lieutenant severely and now he has retreated a step. What other objection does the county lieutenant have?
The matter is settled.
The county magistrate then said in a friendly manner that he would not let Zhao Yulin do it alone, and he sent Lei Man over to help improve the security of the dock, which was considered as the county government's contribution of manpower and effort.
Zhao Yulin thanked him on the spot and asked the county magistrate for his calligraphy, asking him to write a few words for him.
The county magistrate readily agreed and ordered Lei Man to take people to the dock immediately to arrest Li Tixia, and then go to the back hall to write to him.
Then, everyone dispersed, and Zhao Yulin followed the county magistrate to the back hall. In front of the chief clerk, the county magistrate kept praising Zhao Yulin and encouraged him to study more and go to Lin'an to take the imperial examinations in the future and serve the government.
Zhao Yulin always maintained a humble and cautious attitude, repeatedly said that the students still needed to work hard, and grabbed the ink stick to grind ink for the county magistrate.
The county magistrate spread out the rice paper and asked what to write.
He said he would just write the five words "Dock Laborers' Society". He wanted to set up a labor cooperative at the dock and organize and manage all the workers at the dock.
The county magistrate was delighted and exclaimed "great kindness" and wrote down five large characters in the Slender Gold script.
Haha, what about the Slender Gold style of the previous emperor Zhao Ji? These literati followed suit and also wrote neatly in the Slender Gold style.
As Zhao Yulin waited for the ink to dry, he praised his teacher's calligraphy as being as good as that of the late emperor. The county magistrate was very pleased and encouraged him to work hard before sending him out of the hall.
Watching Zhao Yulin leave, Yang Zhubo raised his thumb and praised the county magistrate, saying, "Mr. Chen is really smart. He slapped Zhang Papi so hard that he couldn't speak. He also took the opportunity to arrest the guy surnamed Li and let Zhang Papi put the blame on the kid from the Zhao family. He is really smart."
They privately called County Lieutenant Zhang "Zhang Bapi" because County Lieutenant Zhang was too greedy. He would demand kickbacks for anything that passed through his hands, and gradually he got the nickname Zhang Bapi.
The county magistrate sat down on the armchair, took a sip of tea from the tea bowl, and said that he had wanted to punish Zhang Baopi for a long time. That guy thought he had connections and was on good terms with the Wang family, so he didn't take me seriously at all.
The chief clerk smiled and said that Mr. Chen wanted to sleep today and someone just sent him a pillow. He wanted to use the young calf of the Zhao family to carry him? I heard that this kid left the Wang family and went directly to the White Pagoda outside the South Gate. He seemed to be heartbroken and wanted to break off relations with the Zhao family .
The county magistrate put down the tea bowl and said quietly: "Even if he is broken, he is still a member of the Zhao family, at least that's how it looks to outsiders."
The chief clerk immediately smiled knowingly.
The county magistrate was using Zhao Yulin, how could he not know that throughout history, officials had always used Zhao Yulin less? He left the county government office and got on a bullock cart, telling the driver to find a good shop so that he could carve the words written by the county magistrate into a plaque.
The driver took him to Rongbaozhai at the south gate. Zhao Yulin went in and the shopkeeper immediately greeted the third young master. After he explained his purpose, the shopkeeper immediately stated that since it was the calligraphy of the county magistrate, he would do it himself and ensure that it would add luster to the humble home after being hung up.
Zhao Yulin didn't waste any words, left two taels of silver and left.
When he returned to the White Pagoda, he saw Lu Youpeng and two beggars drinking tea at the door. As soon as he got off the ox cart, three people came up to him and invited him to come in and sit down with smiles on their faces.
While pouring him some water, Lu Youpeng happily told him that Captain Lei had brought people to the dock and arrested Li Tixia and two deacons, and seized a large amount of gold, silver and other valuables from their rooms, all of which were looted.
Normally these guys acted arrogantly and domineeringly at the dock, and everyone dared to be angry but not to say anything. But now that they were liberated, the dock immediately became jubilant.
He introduced two beggars to Zhao Yulin: one was called Ding Er, the other was called Ma Jin, both were coolies, each leading a group of people to seek food at the dock. They all heard Captain Lei say that the dock would be supervised and managed by the Third Young Master in the future, and they all looked very happy.
Lu Youpeng said that the three of them came here specifically to listen to the young master's orders. What should they do? It all depends on the third young master.
Zhao Yulin reiterated the rectification measures he had talked about today in the county government office, focusing on his idea of establishing a dock labor cooperative, which was to organize all the beggars on the dock, to make them work with their backs straight, to divide the work and cooperate, to share the benefits, and to ensure that everyone had food to eat.
The three of them were delighted at first, but soon their expressions dimmed.
They thought what the young master said was nice, but there were only a few things to do at the dock. How could they guarantee that everyone would have enough food to eat in this world where there are too many people and too little porridge?
Zhao Yulin looked at the complicated expressions on their faces and asked with a smile if they were worried about not having enough work.
I don't make much money.
Can’t you feed so many people?
The three nodded and continued to look at him.
He said he was not afraid, he had more than 1,000 taels of silver, which he would use first. He also guaranteed that everyone who joined the labor society would have food to eat.
However, there are still some minimum standards for joining the society, that is, being fair and honest, hardworking and willing to work. Beggars should also abide by the rules and have dignity, and those hooligans and scoundrels should stay away.
Zhao Yulin is going to set rules for them.
The three of them all smiled and said, "That's right, that's right." They were happy in their hearts, especially when Zhao Yulin said that beggars should also have dignity. It was very encouraging to hear that.
A few people were still communicating when he heard Li Chuan shouting, "Master is here." Knowing that it was someone from the Zhao family, he asked them to go back and talk to his brothers first, and then stood up to greet him.
Under the bamboo forest, Li Chuan was guarding a middle-aged man dressed in gray cloth, with a square face and a restrained look. Li Chuan knew that Zhao Yulin had lost his memory, so he told Zhao Yulin from a distance that Master Jueming was here.
Zhao Yulin admired Li Chuan's wit very much. He bowed respectfully to Jueming and called him "Master." Jueming nodded and walked in with a dark face.
For some reason, Zhao Yulin led him to the third floor of the White Tower and sat down.
Jueming looked at a bed and a box on a wooden table and couldn't help laughing. He said he never thought that the third young master of the Zhao family in Yibin lived in such a simple room, which really opened his eyes.
Zhao Yulin smiled and said: "This is a humble room, but my virtue is fragrant..."
Jueming immediately told him to stop, saying that he was most afraid of these nonsense, and that hearing them gave him a headache. Zhao Yulin also laughed when he heard this, as he was also afraid of these things.
Jueming asked him why he didn't go home?
In fact, Jueming knew that this was bullshit. The door of the Zhao family was closed at that time, not to mention there was no one to greet him. How could he go back?
Zhao Yulin smiled and said that he thought it was a great place with fresh air and the ability to see far from a high place.
Jueming looked at Zhao Yulin and said worriedly, "After all, he is still a member of the Zhao family. Now that the Wang family has lost both his wife and his army, I'm afraid it will be difficult for them to live in peace. I heard that Shen Tuozi is back."
"Who is Shen Tuozi?"
Jueming shook his head at him, thinking that this kid had indeed lost his memory.
Then he introduced Shen Tuozi, a master hired by the Wang family. He had trained himself to have a pair of iron legs, was highly skilled in martial arts and was ruthless. Many people in the martial arts world were afraid of him.
Zhao Yulin said with a smile that this was the Song Dynasty, and he didn't believe that anyone in this world would dare to kill people in broad daylight, so he was not afraid.
Jueming sighed and said that he had only taught Zhao Yulin some methods of practicing Qi. Now that Zhao Yulin had mastered the skills, he would definitely be helped by a master. Of course, he would not take Shen Tuozi seriously.
Zhao Yulin then came to his senses, realizing that Jueming suspected that he had secretly sought out another master to learn martial arts, which was a big taboo in learning martial arts.
He quickly said that he was able to beat Yao the ruffian to death thanks to his master's guidance, and there was absolutely no other expert backing him up.
Then, he stood up and slowly performed the 48 Tai Chi moves one by one, shocking Jueming so much that he was stunned. Zhao Yulin said that he didn't know what was going on, but when he woke up, this set of boxing techniques was in his mind, and he performed each move easily.
Of course, Zhao Yulin would not say that he learned this from Chen Erniang in the community in later life. At that time, he thought it was just a performance boxing by old people doing fitness in the square.
After a short rest, Jueming said that this set of boxing combines both internal and external skills, combining hardness and softness, is very exquisite and very suitable for you, which is really amazing.
Then, Jueming took out a black round ball from his arms, handed it to Zhao Yulin and said, "I, your teacher, can't help you much. This is the Qingcheng School's thunder bomb. If it hits a hard object when thrown, it will explode, killing or injuring anyone within two meters."
Zhao Yulin was grateful to Master Jueming and took it with both hands and sent Jueming downstairs.
He sent Master Jueming away, took out the Thunderbolt from his arms and played with it. It was a ceramic jar slightly larger than a ping-pong ball, with a small mouth sealed with clay. He recalled Jueming's description and thought it was similar to the firecrackers that children in later generations played with during the Chinese New Year. At most, it was an enlarged version of the Super Firecracker.
However, this also reminded Zhao Yulin that if one is not good at martial arts these days, having two such firearms might be able to save his life.
