Chapter 43: Turbulent Times in Politics

  Chen Gui is a stumbling block on the road to success, Chen Zi is a beautiful landscape in life, and Jiangyou County is a new starting point in life. After setting his goals, Lu Haoshan devoted himself wholeheartedly to building Jiangyou, implementing new policies of honesty and loving the people, which was actually an action to win over the hearts of the people, so much so that Chen Gui's family had to sell their land, but Lu Haoshan didn't even bother to pay attention.

  He who gains the hearts of the people will gain the world. Lu Haoshan understood this principle, and since he chose to start his career here, where heaven has arranged for him to take his first step, even though it doesn't belong to a military stronghold or occupy a strategic location, he still decided to manage it well. As the saying goes, "When poor, one is content with being virtuous; when successful, one helps all under heaven." Now that the world is in chaos, especially as the New Year approaches, hearing about the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's attack on the capital, the Ming dynasty is in danger. Although Jiangyin is far away, it still sounded an alarm for Lu Haoshan.

  Time is running out, and not a single soldier can be taken out of hand, let alone compared with the great powers like Huang Taiji and the Ming Dynasty. Even if there were a group of rioters, they would not be able to cope. Lu Haoshan was anxious and worried, although he couldn't swallow an elephant in one mouthful, he had to quicken his pace and start managing his own territory carefully. Due to the urgency of time, even Chen Gui's case has not been thoroughly settled, and Lu Haoshan is eager to implement new policies.

  The people's hearts project was delayed, and Lu Haoshan couldn't bear to spend a large sum of silver on those projects, so he could only focus on some small favors. Lu Haoshan first implemented frugal governance, issuing a strict order that the yamen officials were no longer allowed to solicit benefits from the common people, the gatehouse was not allowed to collect red envelopes, and they couldn't harbor their relatives and friends. They also had to smile at the common people and establish a good new image. As soon as this new policy came out, the people of Jiangyou applauded and cheered, showing even more respect for the new county magistrate, and the name "Lu Qingtian" spread throughout every inch of Jiangyou's land.

  If you want the horse to run, it must eat a lot of grass. Lu Haoshan understands this truth deeply. For people like Yayi, their quality is generally not high, and it's useless to talk about big principles with them. To make them work hard, they need real gold and silver. Although Lu Haoshan does not allow them to receive "good things", he also does not cut off their financial resources and livelihoods. He uses the more than ten shops in the county town as a source of welfare money. In short, adding up the cooks and miscellaneous workers, there are only about 70 or 80 people in the entire county government. However, those shops have more than ten rooms, all of which are profitable shops like rice shops, pawnshops, and grain and oil shops. It's equivalent to one shop supporting only a few people, making it easy to get rich quickly.

  Although they didn't collect those fees, the rewards from the government were not small. On the contrary, Lu Haoshan adopted advanced management methods from later generations, implementing a system of division and distribution based on labor, with a monthly evaluation system. Those who worked more received more silver, and the yamen officials gradually discovered that although they no longer had those gray income, their actual income did not decrease but increased. The common people have a scale in their hearts, seeing that the yamen officials were no longer taking bribes, one by one becoming polite and efficient. In the past, seeing them was like seeing tigers and wolves, now they welcomed each other with smiles. Those yamen officials saw the enthusiasm of the common people towards themselves, especially the genuine smiles and respect from the bottom of their hearts, which greatly satisfied their inner selves, making them work even harder.

  At birth, human nature is good; no one starts out as a bad person. Who doesn't want to have dignity and respect?

  In this way, the shops that supported the yamen became particularly important. As soon as Lu Haoshan had some free time, he liked to go and inspect those shops that had been confiscated from Chen Gui.

  That day, Lu Haoshan went to the Reception Building for inspection accompanied by Zhou Dayuan.

  The Welcome Pavilion is the largest and most luxurious restaurant in Jiangyou County, with a thriving business. All the dignitaries of Jiangyou like to come here for tea, meals, and banquets. Originally, it was Chen Gui's property, but now it has become the property of the county government, and the silver earned from it is used to support the officials of the government office. Of course, according to imperial decree, officials are not allowed to engage in business, but there are ways to get around this policy - just register these businesses under the name of a relative of Zhou Dàyuan.

  This was just lunchtime, and the reception hall was packed with people. The waiters were running around like they had wings on their feet, busier than ever before. Lu Haishan nodded in satisfaction and said to Zhou Dayuan, "Not bad, the business of the reception hall seems to be even better than before, Zhou Sir, you're doing a great job."

  "Thank you for your praise," Zhou Dàyuan said with some excitement: "All of this is thanks to your good fortune."

  "Oh, it seems like I haven't done anything, so why am I being thanked?" Lu Haoshan said in surprise.

  Zhou Dàyuan said seriously, "This Welcome Pavilion is also an old brand. The ancestor of the chef who holds the spoon was a royal chef, and the dishes are made with high standards. Business has always been good. After the county government rectified its style, the common people were grateful in their hearts. They knew that the county government relied on these revenues to make up for the deficiencies, so they consciously patronized this place. Those rural squire's social interactions and official receptions have also moved here, so business has been booming. According to the accounts in the hands of the shopkeeper, just this Welcome Pavilion can almost support more than a third of the people. This is simply too good."

  "Hmm, not bad, not bad, Zhou Siyi is indeed capable, managing it so well in such a short time, not bad, not bad, truly a personal talent." Lu Haoshan suddenly noticed that on the left side of the Welcome Pavilion, a small shed had been set up, and inside, some elderly people were drinking tea and chatting, looking very leisurely. He turned his head to ask Zhou Dàyuan: "How do these elderly people have so much free time to drink tea over there?"

  Zhou Dàyuan smiled and said: "Sir, you once said to treat the people of Jiangyou with kindness, respect the elderly and love the young. I thought, why not set up a small shed here, for the elderly to chat and rest, occasionally providing some tea and snacks? It doesn't cost much money anyway. Unexpectedly, the effect is quite good. The Welcome Pavilion is an experiment, and I plan to use it as a model to open this kind of convenient teahouse in other rooms."

  This is good, beneficial for himself to gain reputation, Lu Haoshan nodded secretly.

  "It's almost noon, sir. Why don't we just have something simple to eat here?" Zhou Dàyuan said with a smile: "You are an honest and upright official, and I wouldn't dare be presumptuous. Let's just have some ordinary food."

  It's imperative to get on good terms with County Magistrate, and that's the top priority. Zhou Dàyuan is a "gatekeeper" who won't miss any opportunity to curry favor, especially when he sees that Lu Haoshan has benefits to offer but doesn't take them, instead trying to win people over everywhere. It's clear that his ambitions are not small. Moreover, everyone knows that he has backing from above, so Zhou Dàyuan naturally won't let go of this chance to fawn on him. He's eager to ingratiate himself, thinking that if this County Magistrate rises through the ranks, as long as he gets a slight boost, he'll be set for life.

  Besides, after Chen Gui's death, the position of county lieutenant is still vacant, can't you make an extra effort?

  Lu Haoshan hesitated, thinking whether to accept the invitation or not. Just then, a loud and urgent horseshoe sound came from the street. He looked up and frowned, saying: "This Cao Hu is really inconsiderate, riding a fast horse on the main street. What if he hurts some civilians?"

  "This might be an urgent matter for Captain Cao," Zhou Dàyuan explained from the side;

  As soon as the words fell, Cao Hu rode over on horseback and skillfully reined in his fine horse a zhang away from Lu Haishan. With an anxious face, he said to Lu Haishan: "Sir, I have something important to report."

  "Go on, there's no one else here."

  "Yes." Cao Hu responded, taking out a copy of the Imperial Gazette from his bosom and anxiously saying: "Your Excellency, something big has happened. General Yuan has been captured and thrown into prison. Also, there are some wanted notices here, all of them are for subordinates of Yuan Chonghuan. It's said that before he was captured, Yuan Chonghuan arranged for them to escape. The Ministry of Punishment has ordered a strict search in all areas, with heavy rewards for those who are caught."

  Lu Haoshan's heart skipped a beat: Yuan Chonghuan was knocked down to the big prison? Not good, the trajectory of history is still following the original track, with this Yuan Chonghuan dead, there will be no one who can match the Later Jin, and the Ming dynasty will accelerate its demise, time is not enough...