Chapter 61: Finally Arrived at Houcheng
After Liu Hu and others came to Houcheng, there was no substantial progress. It can be said that no action was taken. After all, they came here just to take a vacation. Liu Hu did not take those who bullied Lan Xin seriously.
If he really wanted to punish those people, he could just send the Qingyi Guards to assassinate them. However, Liu Hu didn't want to do it before he found out the truth of the matter.
Xuemei, on the other hand, was still brooding over the bullying of Lanxin and her daughter, and had been clamoring to go out and avenge Xiao Baozi. If Liu Hu hadn't given the order, Xuemei would have rushed out long ago.
"Boss, all the shopkeepers are here, look?" Asi saw Liu Hu learning martial arts in a serious manner, lowered his head and did not dare to look directly at Liu Hu, and said in a low voice.
After all, Liu Hu's talent is there, and maybe Liu Hu will even fight with him for a few more moves.
If I lose, Liu Hu will scold me and say that I let the opponent win. If I win, Liu Hu will beat me and say that I am disrespectful and dare to fight with him.
Every time they fought, Asi felt miserable. Later he just pretended to be dead and stopped discussing martial arts with Liu Hu.
Liu Hu wiped the sweat from his forehead and said excitedly: "A Si, I seem to be able to feel the inner strength, and my Dantian is full of power."
"Sure enough, it's different with inner strength. My appetite has increased a lot. I can eat two chicken legs just like you did."
Ah Si lowered his head even lower, muttering in his heart: "Where is your Dantian? It's clearly your stomach. You don't feel the power, but you eat too much and have nothing to do."
"Boss, you've made rapid progress. It's not an exaggeration to call you a genius." Ah Si flattered him.
Liu Hu laughed, put away all the weapons, and walked to Ah Si's side. He patted him on the shoulder and said, "I didn't expect you to learn to lie. It's rare, rare."
"Am I really that bad?" Liu Hu looked at his hands and muttered.
Rolling up his sleeves, Liu Hu no longer dwelled on the nonsense that Ah Si had just said, and brought Ah Si to the front hall. At this time, the front hall was full of people, and the shopkeepers from all over the place were called here. They didn't know why, but they didn't dare to ask.
Liu Hu's industries are distributed in every corner of Daqian. It is not possible to call all of them over, so he can only call over those that have reached a certain scale.
Even so, the house was already full of people, chattering and very lively.
"Lao Zhang, why did Brother Si call us over? It's not time to check the accounts yet."
"How would I know? Since you're here, you must have some considerations from Brother Si."
"It should be Brother Si who wants to develop Lingnan. After all, Lingnan's recent performance is not very good."
The word "performance" was also taught to Asi by Liu Hu, and Asi taught it to the shopkeepers in front of him.
When Sun Xinyuan, the person in charge of Lingnan, heard what was said next to him, his face turned purple. He was the person in charge of Lingnan, and Lingnan's performance had been declining seriously recently. He was in deep pain but couldn't express it.
Lingnan was Liu Hu's base, and many of its people were meritorious officials. If he wanted to continue developing it, he would definitely affect the interests of some people, which would not be worth the loss.
After a while, Liu Hu brought A Si to the front hall. Looking at these shopkeepers, Liu Hu did not say anything, but walked quietly to his seat, leaning his head and looking at everyone.
Those who could become the shopkeeper had good eyesight first and were not simple people. Naturally, they saw that Liu Hu was the boss. They all sat upright and did not dare to make any move.
They were afraid that Liu Hu would have some questions and they would not be able to answer them in time.
When everyone was silent, Liu Hu coughed and said, "You may not know me. My name is Liu Hu."
A man's reputation is like the shadow of a tree.
Everyone knew that Liu Hu was the Grand Tutor of the dynasty, with great power in the court. Someone who was brave enough asked first, "Excuse me, sir, are you Grand Tutor Liu Hu?"
Liu Hu nodded and glanced at the man who was speaking in front of him. If he remembered correctly, the man was called Xu Peng, who was in charge of the escort business under Liu Hu. He was a generous man with great martial arts skills.
When these shopkeepers heard Liu Hu's admission, they were greatly surprised , and then they were filled with joy in an instant.
It turns out that the master behind the scenes is the Grand Tutor. No wonder he rose so quickly, and no force dared to compete with him. Even those royal merchants did not take the initiative to cause trouble. They avoided it whenever possible and did not engage in head-on confrontation.
Looking at the relaxed expressions of the people below, Liu Hu knew what they were thinking. Did they think that they were living a smooth life because of their reputation?
Didn't he make his name on the battlefield? Liu Hu shook his head and said, "It is thanks to your help that we are now where we are today. I would like to thank you all here first."
After Liu Hu finished speaking, the shopkeepers dared not take credit for themselves. They stood up one after another and said that they did not have such great credit and it was all due to Ah Si's good management.
The original uneasy mood disappeared because of Liu Hu's few words. It seemed that he came here not to ask for punishment.
Seeing that everyone was no longer nervous, Liu Hu gave Luo Fanchen beside him a look, and Luo Fanchen immediately understood.
"Where is Feng Jin?" As soon as Luo Fanchen finished speaking, a short man stepped forward from the farthest distance and shouted at Liu Hu.
"I'm here." Feng Jin heard Liu Hu calling him and hurriedly stood up and answered.
"In July of the 25th year of Jianyuan, the silk and satin shop handed over 30,000 taels of silver. After deducting daily expenses, there should be 17,620 taels left. However, you only handed over 7,600 taels. Where is the money in it?" Luo Fanchen ignored Feng Jin and read from the account book in his hand.
Feng Jin had been prepared for this matter, and he said word by word to the person in front of him: "Last July, it rained heavily for days and days, and the local county magistrate called for donations. I donated thousands of pieces of silk on behalf of the silk shop. Brother Si knows about this."
How could Asi remember something that happened so long ago? He turned to look at Luo Fanchen.
"You did donate thousands of pieces of silk, but these silks were not delivered to the victims. Instead, they were secretly sold by the county magistrate, who then split the money with you. Am I right?" Luo Fanchen sneered and continued.
When Feng Jin heard Luo Fanchen's question, he immediately broke out in sweat. This matter was known to everyone except himself and the county magistrate. No one knew about it. He didn't know where Luo Fanchen had found out from.
Moreover, he knew Ah Si's character very well. It would be useless even if he tried to quibble. As long as Ah Si found out something, he would not care whether it was true or not. He would just hit him with a hammer. He knelt on the ground and begged for mercy: "Brother Si, you know me. I have parents and children to take care of. I am really short of money. That's why I did this. Please give me a chance. I will never do this again."
"I only did it once, and I won't do it again."
If he really did it once, Liu Hu would never let Luo Fanchen be the first to call his name as an example. Feng Jin is much greedier than this.
Liu Hu didn't want Feng Jin to continue talking. After all, the more he talked, the more unkind he would appear. Asi didn't understand the changeable expression on Liu Hu's face and looked at him puzzledly.
With a "bang", the silver needle in Luo Fanchen's hand instantly pierced Feng Jin's forehead, and continued: "For such people, death is not a pity."
Ever since Liu Hu handed the gloves to Luo Fanchen, he began to practice the hidden weapons that he was good at before. After practicing for a few days, he could easily kill someone at such a close distance.
The shopkeepers didn't expect that the living person who was talking and laughing just now would die in the blink of an eye. Everyone's heart was in their throat again.
Looking at Feng Jin's wide-open eyes, he felt even more frightened, fearing that he would be the next one.
"Hey, why did you kill him? He just embezzled some money. Money is not more important than talent." Liu Hu said in a pretentious manner, and he emphasized the word "embezzlement" on purpose.
After all, the purpose of this time is to let everyone know that it is absolutely impossible to engage in corruption under their noses.
Moreover, Liu Hu now wants to hand over all his assets to Hua Ying. Although Hua Ying is good at calculating, she is a woman after all and cannot be as ruthless as Luo Fanchen.
He was afraid that Hua Ying couldn't handle the shopkeepers below who were cunning and treacherous.
"Oh my, why do you still have such a long list of names in your hand? It seems that many shopkeepers here have embezzled money." Liu Hu stretched out his hand to look at the information in Luo Fanchen's hand, and said with a sigh.
The people in the audience had different expressions after hearing Liu Hu's words. Those who were usually dedicated and responsible looked as if they had a clear conscience, while some who usually cheated didn't dare to look up. Their eyes rolled around, wondering whether they should admit it, and perhaps they could be treated leniently.
