Chapter 009: Everyone Must Eat
Ever since the county magistrate asked Lei Man to arrest people in court, Zhang Bapi has been nervous. After the meeting, he went back and arranged for his confidant to report the news to the dock. Lei Man and his men arrived almost at the same time, but in the end, no one escaped.
Zhang Bapi knew very well that these three people helped him exploit people and evade taxes to make money at the dock, and they knew too much. If he opened his mouth, the consequences would be disastrous.
However, these were not a problem for Zhang Baopi at all .
Magistrate Zhang had been managing officials for a long time and had many lackeys. As soon as Lei Man finished his interrogation, he immediately created an illusion of suicide and killed the three men. Because the incident happened suddenly, he had the legitimate reason to lead people to investigate and easily concluded that the case was suicide out of fear of punishment.
Now, he was worried about being held accountable by the county magistrate.
Things happened one after another, they were so strange that everyone would be suspicious. If the county magistrate continued to hold on to them, there would be trouble.
Zhang Paopi reviewed the situation at home. What other loopholes must be plugged?
At this time, he thought of the insider in the prison. The warden brought back the news that Li Tixia had said before he hanged himself that there was a treasure hidden that was very important to him, so he threatened him to release the prisoner.
The county lieutenant's task to the prison warden was to kill the person immediately. He certainly couldn't wait for Li Tixia to negotiate terms, because the prison warden was under a lot of time and was in a hurry. He didn't give him any time to waste, so he immediately pulled out the bench and sent Li Tixia to death.
Zhang Bapi was still sitting on the armchair, thinking, what was the treasure that Li Tixia was talking about? Was there anything else in the office on the dock?
He had looked at everything that Captain Lei had found. It was just stolen money and stolen goods, nothing else.
The silver seized was only a few thousand taels, which was definitely not right. County Lieutenant Zhang had to send 100,000 taels of silver to Lin'an every six months, but he hasn't sent it this year yet. He only has 50,000 taels in his hand, and the rest should still be in the office.
This might be the treasure that Li Tijie mentioned. Judging from the time, there was indeed about 20,000 to 30,000 taels of silver.
Among the other treasures, would there be a record book of embezzlement or something else?
Thinking of this, he suddenly broke out in a cold sweat and felt overwhelmed. He had to find someone to go to the office.
He immediately asked his confidant to invite Mr. Wang to come over.
Because his men are all in the military camp, how can they run to the city gate in this situation? If something happens, they will find him immediately by following the clues.
Mr. Wang was also anxious in his study, like an ant on hot pan. He heard in the afternoon that people were being arrested at the dock and something happened in the prison, and he knew that there was going to be big trouble.
Over the years, he relied on County Magistrate Zhang to evade liquor taxes, and the accumulated amount was not a small amount. Otherwise, how could his palace be built so magnificently.
Mr. Wang hurried into Zhang's house through the back door. Zhang Bapi had already made tea for him.
After he sat down, Zhang Bapi said that he was worried that there might be evidence left in the office, so he asked Mr. Wang to ask Shen Tuozi to go and take a look. Mr. Wang immediately sent Liu San to ask Shen Tuozi to come over first.
Shen Tuozi had just returned from Chongqing today. After understanding Zhang Baopi's meaning, he said that it would be fine to ask Liu San to go there for such a small matter. Firstly, he was familiar with the place, and secondly, if there were defenses at the dock, he could say that he was going to his own warehouse to arrange business matters.
Shen Tuozi had been busy in Chongqing for the Wang family for nearly half a year before returning. He didn't want to get involved in this mess, so he casually proposed this solution.
The two old foxes thought what Shen Tuozi said made sense and immediately asked Liu San to set off.
As soon as Liu San left Zhang's house, he started cursing: "Damn it, how could I encounter such bad luck." He walked all the way south to the city gate, cleared the door as usual, opened the door and went out directly. Not far away, he saw a figure swaying on the official road. He immediately became cautious and moved closer to investigate.
At this time, it had just gotten dark and the moon was hanging overhead, so the crowd could see it from a distance without any cover.
Liu San quickly retreated and walked eastward along the city wall for a distance, trying to enter the dock from the small path.
Unexpectedly, after entering, he found that there were also human figures swaying on the path, and there were quite a few of them. He observed carefully and found that the people guarding the road were on duty in teams of ten. He also vaguely heard the sounds of fighting and martial arts practice on the dock.
Liu San knew that this trip was a failure, so he decisively returned to the city to report the news.
Zhang Paopi was a little surprised at Liu San's speed when he saw him coming back, and asked him, "How's it going? Did you find it?"
Liu San shook his head and narrated what he had seen with some exaggeration.
Zhang Bapi started to curse: "That damn Lei Manzi is so quick. I didn't give him any soldiers, but he actually used beggars."
Lei Man is from a minority ethnic group in the south of the Yangtze River. He is not the same kind of person as Zhang Bapi, so he keeps calling him a barbarian.
Shen Tuozi said disdainfully: "It's just bluffing, but it shows that Lei Man, the thief, didn't find what he was satisfied with."
"It seems that we have no choice but to ask Master Shen for help." Zhang Bapi looked at Shen Tuozi for help. He knew that Shen Tuozi's kung fu was very powerful.
Shen Tuozi said that it was not impossible for him to go, but the dock was heavily guarded and he might not be able to hide in the current situation. It would be easy to kill a few people, but being exposed would be inevitable.
After hearing this, Mr. Wang hurriedly said that this was absolutely impossible and that they needed to think about it carefully.
They all knew that the situation was already complicated enough. If Shen Tuozi went on a killing spree at the dock and made some noise, everyone in Yibin County would focus their attention on them, which would directly tell everyone that they were the main culprits.
Zhang Baopi was a county magistrate after all, so he slowly calmed down after hearing what Master Wang said. He took two sips of tea, put down the tea bowl heavily and said, "Let's wait and see. Everyone should be careful and wait and see what happens."
Master Wang nodded and quietly left with his men.
The next morning, Zhao Yulin and Lei Man packed up and went to the dock. Lu Youpeng had already gathered the beggars together and gathered on the dam in front of the Labor Society.
Zhao Yulin took a look and saw that although the beggars' clothes were tattered, their hands and feet were clean and they looked in good spirits. They were calling out "Third Young Master, Third Young Master" from a distance to greet him.
He asked Lu Youpeng to take people to the office to move a table and three chairs over, and asked Lei Man to organize the people and line them up in the same way as training soldiers.
At this time, the county magistrate came with the chief clerk and the county lieutenant.
Zhao Yulin invited several officials to unveil the plaque of the dock labor union.
The county magistrate happily delivered a congratulatory speech and personally pulled down the red cloth covering the plaque. Immediately, festive firecrackers were heard in front of the labor agency.
Chen Yun was very happy to see the big words he wrote, and encouraged Zhao Yulin to run the labor cooperative well.
Zhao Yulin readily agreed and asked the county magistrate to go to the meeting place to give a speech to the workers and the managers of the docks. This was something new.
When everyone arrived at the venue, Lei Man had already organized the team, and all the people were standing there in an orderly arrangement with the shortest people in front and the tallest people in the back.
After Zhao Yulin invited the county magistrate and others to take a seat, he stood in front of the team and said that he was grateful for the county magistrate's kindness in letting him, a junior student, manage the wharf. Now he would start from the beginning, eat and live with everyone, and work together to manage the wharf well.
After saying this, he personally called for the organization of the troops, took the lead in sitting on the ground, and asked the county magistrate to give him a lecture .
The beggars were used to sitting anywhere, and when they saw Zhao Yulin, they sat down, one after another, on the ground. The managers of the businesses saw that such a large group of people had sat down, so they sat down as well helplessly.
When had Chen Yun ever seen such a dense and neat team and such a quiet venue? Even the provincial examination did not have such a good atmosphere.
He was in a good mood. After pointing out the shortcomings of the wharf in the past, he changed the subject and spoke eloquently about Zhao Yulin's plan for the wharf in his own tone, requiring everyone to obey Zhao Tixia's dispatch and manage the wharf well.
At the end, Zhao Yulin took the lead in applauding the county magistrate's speech, thanking him for his concern for the workers. When the beggars saw Zhao Yulin clapping, they also followed suit and clapped vigorously.
The county magistrate, who was sitting on the grand master's seat in the middle, was in such a good mood that he narrowed his eyes with joy.
After the meeting, the county magistrate asked him how the office was arranged.
He said he would listen to his teacher. The county magistrate said he would send two deacons to him. Zhao Yulin immediately thanked the county magistrate and said he would handle matters impartially according to the law. The daily affairs would still be handled by Captain Lei. He would listen to his teacher and make the best use of his time to study and prepare for the future imperial examinations.
The county magistrate was even more delighted after hearing this, and happily got on the carriage back to the city.
Looking back, Zhao Yulin couldn't bear to see the skinny and pale beggars, so he immediately made arrangements for Lu Youpeng. First, the food problem was solved. The labor society immediately arranged unified meals, providing three meals a day so that everyone could have enough to eat.
Then, he asked Lu Youpeng to arrange a team of craftsmen to first repair the workers' housing to ensure that everyone had a place to live, was not exposed to the rain, and had beds to sleep in.
You can't sleep on the floor for a long time because it's too humid.
He believed that once the problems of food and accommodation were solved, the Hanako would burst out with amazing power.
Lei Man came over and told him that there were three small boats and ten constables in the water fort, who were specifically responsible for patrolling on the water and arresting smugglers.
Zhao Yulin said that this must be managed well and that people he trusted must be hired to take charge. Lei Man divided the laborers into three teams, who took turns training and working at the dock. Zhao Yulin thought this was a good idea.
At this time, the manager of the Zhao family came and asked people to move the goods onto the ship.
Zhao Yulin told Lu Youpeng that he would charge him three times the wages from now on.
Lu Youpeng was immediately shocked. He looked at the dazed Lu Youpeng and asked if he still thought the pay was too low?
Or it could increase by another 10%.
Lu Youpeng said that the price couldn’t be lower, and if it increased suddenly, he was afraid that merchants would not accept it.
He said that it was OK if it was not too low, and he also felt it was appropriate. In the past, merchants oppressed the beggars, and the wages were decided by the rich masters. Now that Zhao Yulin is here, the wages are decided by Zhao Yulin himself, and he must make fair trades.
He learned about the wages of working in the city and at the docks. In comparison, even if the wages tripled, he was still doing odd jobs for merchants, which was not high at all.
However, after hearing the wages, the manager of the Zhao family was shocked. Oh my God, the wages increased three times out of the blue. What should he do?
He knew that his third young master was in charge now, and he refused to leave and wanted to see Zhao Yulin.
Lu Youpeng brought the person in. The person first bowed respectfully to Zhao Yulin, introduced himself as Sun, and hurriedly asked the young master to do him a favor.
