023 Down Horse Power

  On the first night in the county town, Su Hao and Lu Xiuer both slept very soundly, mainly because they were too tired from the day. Although there were only two people living in a large house, Su Hao didn't think of doing anything that wasn't suitable for children, after all, they were indeed still children.

  The next morning, Lu Xiuer got up early and made breakfast. After waking up Su Hang, she had him wash up and eat. After eating breakfast, Su Hang went to the county government office for roll call, while Lu Xiuer stayed at home cleaning. With such a big house, just cleaning was no small task.

  Su Hao arrived at the county yamen gate, and the gatekeepers had already heard about his situation. After asking for his name, they hurriedly paid their respects and asked after his well-being: "Master Su, good morning."

  "Good morning, brothers!" Su Hao waved his hand, with a somewhat leader-like demeanor.

  "Master, if there's anything that needs help with later on, just send for us little ones." The leader of the yamen runners seemed to say casually.

  "What's up?" Su Hao looked at Ban Tou in surprise, but Ban Tou just smiled mysteriously and didn't say a word.

  Su Hao couldn't figure out what was going on in the county government office, but he had a mind that could adapt to any situation, so he walked in. He first went to the main hall and took a look, seeing that the county magistrate hadn't ascended to his throne yet, only a few bailiffs were wiping down the tables and chairs. Su Hao asked where the workshop was located, then headed straight there. As the scribe in charge of the workshop, that was his actual place of work.

  "Who are you looking for?"

  Su Hao walked into the workshop and saw seven or eight clerks sitting inside, chatting about something. When they saw Su Hao come in, the leading clerk asked him gruffly.

  "I'm not looking for anyone." Su Hao replied with a faint smile.

  "What are you doing here in the workshop if you're not looking for someone?" the officer continued to ask.

  Su Hao said: "I am Su Hao, I was appointed by the county magistrate to be the workshop master, in charge of workshop affairs. May I ask which one is the workshop clerk Dai Qi?"

  Su Hao didn't need to ask, he already knew that the officer who interrogated him earlier was Dai Qi. Because there is only one clerk in the workshop, and the others are all miscellaneous officials. Su Hao had already made an appointment with Fang Mengjin yesterday to discuss the well-digging project at the workshop this morning. Even if Dai Qi hadn't seen Su Hao yesterday, he should have been able to guess something today. He pretended to be ignorant, interrogating Su Hao with a hint of hostility, which Su Hao couldn't help but feel.

  "I am Dai Qi." The officer replied, but he didn't get up to salute Su Hang and instead furrowed his brow saying: "You're Su Hang, the Master? I don't think you look like it. Does Master have a son who looks like you?"

  Seeing Dai Qi starting to have trouble, the other yamen runners also joined in the commotion:

  "Right, young scholar, you're not trying to impersonate someone just because you heard that a new teacher named Su has arrived?"

  "Xiucai, your beard isn't even fully grown yet, and you dare to impersonate a master?"

  "Right, this matter of the workshop, how can it be up to a child like you to decide?"

  “……”

  Everyone spoke in unison, raising their eyebrows and making eyes at each other, while also making various noises with the tables and chairs. This was clearly meant to mock Su Hao.

  Dai Qi was informed by Fang Mengjin yesterday that a new foreman had arrived to take charge of the workshop, and he immediately became furious. Of course, he didn't dare to vent his anger in front of Fang Mengjin, so he repeatedly expressed his willingness to obey the leadership of the new foreman and do a good job with the current well-drilling task. However, after returning to the workshop, he became more and more indignant, scolding Su Huan, whom he had never met before, until he was exhausted.

  Just as Fang Mengzhi had told Su Hang before, the Gongfang was in charge of all large and small projects in the county, with a lot of money passing through their hands. It would be easy to make a few dozen taels of silver by manipulating things at any point, which could even be considered very clean. As the Gongfang's clerk, Dai Qi could get over 100 taels of silver from the projects every year and lived a very comfortable life.

  The affairs of the workshop have some professional characteristics, and neither Hanwen nor Fang Mengjin are too familiar with them, so they don't dare to interfere too much with the affairs of the workshop. They also turn a blind eye to Dai Qi's behavior. As a result, the workshop has become Dai Qi's personal kingdom. Such an independent kingdom that can make money and no one manages it, suddenly a teacher appears, this kind of thing is as annoying as possible, how can Dai Qi tolerate it?

  So, he gathered his subordinates and prepared to give Su Hao a warning. In Dai Qi's mind, the best outcome would be to make Su Hao cry or scare him into resigning as the county magistrate, so that Dai Qi's benefits in the workshop wouldn't be affected. Even if this couldn't be achieved, at least he wanted to make Su Hao understand that the workshop wasn't a place to be trifled with and not to interfere too much in its affairs.

  One of the reasons why Dai Qi dared to do this was that Fang Meng had told him that Su Huan was only 17 years old and a young scholar from the countryside, with an ordinary family background. In Dai Qi's view, such a young scholar without any background would absolutely not be able to compare with his own rich experience as an official, and facing the united resistance of everyone, Su Huan had no choice but to surrender.

  Unfortunately, Dai Qi's calculations were disrupted by the local situation. The Su Hang in front of him was no longer the original poor scholar, but a traveler who had experienced countless storms. Watching Dai Qi and others perform, Su Hang crossed his hands over his chest and smiled slightly.

  "Scholar, what are you smiling at?"

  A bailiff named Wu Da finally couldn't bear it and asked Su Hang. Dai Qi and the other bailiffs were also confused by Su Hang's calm expression, and the teasing voices gradually subsided. Everyone looked at Su Hang together, wanting to know how he would respond.

  "Aren't you tired?" Su Hao said in a tone of disdain, "Seven or eight big men, daring to do but not dare to admit, pretending to be stupid and foolish, just to deal with me, a scholar with no power to bind a chicken. Don't you feel ashamed?"

  "Xiucai, what are you talking about? What's this 'acting dumb' nonsense? Who's acting dumb?" Dai Qi retorted. This kind of provocation was most afraid of the opponent not caring, they made such a ruckus, but in Su Hao's eyes, it was just like watching a monkey show, and everyone's face couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed.

  "Cut it out!" Su Hao interrupted Dai Qi's words in a crisp and decisive tone. He walked up to Dai Qi, pointed to the seat under his butt, and said: "Get up, this is my seat."

  Although Dai Qi had a contemptuous attitude towards Su Huan, he still had some reservations about the position of Shifu, otherwise he wouldn't have gone to find his own subordinates to join forces. Now seeing Su Huan's calm and composed expression, Dai Qi inexplicably felt a kind of pressure, and he involuntarily stood up, but by the time he realized his mistake, it was too late to sit back down.

  Su Hao sat down on the main seat in the workshop, looking at Dai Qi and the various officials, and said lightly: "A group of fools, you're still playing these tricks when you're about to die. I'm here to save you, don't you know that?"

  "... Su Shiye, what do you mean by that?" The Wu Da who had spoken earlier asked timidly, he was the most impatient one among all the yamen runners. Su Hao's tone was precisely to undermine the morale of timid yamen runners like Wu Da.

  Su Hao asked: "As a clerk and a runner in the workshop, what is the most important thing you know about the current situation in the whole province?"

  "Dig the well!" Several bailiffs answered in unison, Dai Qi tried to stop them but it was too late, and could only watch as Su Huan led the whole scene away.

  "That's right, it's drilling wells." Su Huaode said with praise, "Drilling wells to resist drought is not only the intention of the county magistrate, but also the intention of the prefecture, the governor, and the provincial governor. This is the fundamental plan for the entire province. Throughout the province, everyone takes pride in being able to drill out water wells and regards drilling out abandoned wells as a shame; they take pride in doing things that benefit well-drilling and regard hindering the well-drilling industry as a shame; they compete to be the vanguard of well-drilling and regard becoming a failure in well-drilling as a shame. Have you all heard these before?"

  As soon as this theory of three glories and three shames was thrown out, everyone shook their heads desperately. Even if they hadn't heard of it before, even the county magistrate Han Wen had never heard of such a statement.

  Su Hao wanted to achieve this effect, telling others about some policy-level things that they had never heard of before, making them think he was a big shot, and thus producing a kind of inexplicable awe. The situation in the workshop is just like this now, a group of officials have been completely stunned by Su Hao's boasting, and still think that Su Hao was calling the governor "brother" last night.

  "So far, the drilling results in our county are that on average, one out of every four wells drilled will produce water, with a success rate of 25%. This achievement is at a mid-to-lower level compared to the whole province. Perhaps everyone thinks that being mid-to-lower stream is not the worst...” Just as he said this, Su Hao slammed his hand on the table and exclaimed loudly: “However!”

  Everyone's eyes were wide with anticipation, waiting for Su Hao's next words.