July 1st, Not talented but have three strategies

  "How about these fabrics?" Yu Guozhen asked with a smile.

  "Good, good fabric, even the best Songjiang fabric is nothing more than this." The bailiff was a man who had seen some of the world and he vaguely guessed something, his eyes full of greed.

  "You didn't come by paddling a small boat, did you? Just load as much as you can and go..."

  The official's face lit up with a smile, but Yu Guozhen's next sentence froze his smile: "You're a clever person, you should know how to get these fabrics."

  "This... this..."

  "You got a low-ranking official position, what else can you do but bribe your superiors? Did you give them 10 or 20 taels of silver as gifts?" Yu Guozhen continued: "One boat of cloth is worth at least 200-300 taels of silver."

  The official felt a chill, swallowed hard, and as Yu Guo said, this position was obtained by spending 15 taels of silver to grease the wheels. Although he handled a lot of silver every year, there were superiors to be bribed and colleagues to be shared with, so what fell into his hands was only 20 or 30 taels.

  If you pull one boat of cloth back, it's equivalent to doing ten years' worth of work by yourself!

  Yu Guozhen's intention is also very clear. If you want to drag this out, that can be done, but you have to give him a satisfactory explanation.

  "Yu... young master wants to hear what?" After some thought, that bailiff smiled awkwardly.

  "You don't know what I want to hear?" Yu Guozhen smiled: "For example, I heard that I recently got a nickname, 'Tiger cub is young but can bite people'. In fact, I am the most gentle person. If someone wants to be my enemy, why would I take the initiative to hurt them? Of course, if someone wants to make things difficult for me and deceive me into stepping into some trap, then... Why can't these water bandits in Xizhou be eliminated?"

  The smile on the face of the bailiff froze completely, he was just having a cold sweat earlier, now he was trembling with fear.

  "Yu... Yu... Young Master Yu... what does this mean?"

  "I didn't mean anything, just talking casually, you can listen casually too... Ah, it seems that you are indeed honest and upright, I suppose after this trip, the governor will reward you heavily. However, since we can't eliminate all the pirates on Lake Tong, be careful on your way back, don't wait until nightfall to leave, get on the boat now... Old Gao, send him off!"

  "Boom!"

  The yamen kneels down again, knocking his head repeatedly, with tears in his voice: "Master Yu, Young Master Yu, Little Ancestor Yu, it's not that I intentionally came to deceive you, but actually... actually it was because of the pressure from the county magistrate and the police chief that I didn't come... they would have broken my dog legs!"

  "Look, they just broke your leg and you're scared, but I'm a man-eating tiger cub, and you're not afraid of me? Who would believe that?" Yu Guozhen said in a low voice: "Since you don't dare to say it, then forget it. Let Old Gao send you back to Wuwei..."

  "The little man says that the little man says everything, and all things are caused by Chen Dongbo, a friend of Wen Zhou's judge, who accepted bribes from Shanxi merchants..."

  In the yamen, there is a saying that one should not deceive those above but keep nothing from those below. This runner was indeed very clear about the causes and consequences of this matter! He had many connections and acquaintances, and being greedy and meticulous, he used his guesses and conjectures to uncover the truth!

  The attendants of the Wang and Fan families knew that Zhang Huazhu, the governor of Zhezhou, might not dare to make things difficult for Yu Guozhen. They immediately thought of Wen Tiren, who had a powerful background as the judge of Wenzhou. Since they could not directly collude with him, they bribed Chen Dong heavily. Chen Dong then persuaded Judge Wen and colluded with Luo Hui, transferring the case to Judge Wen's hands, and forcing the police chief Ma Ye Shu to offer his plan.

  This plan was to lure Yu Guozhen into Wuwei City by marriage, and in their opinion, as long as they could lure Yu Guozhen away from Xiangyang and separate him from his loyal guards, even a real adult tiger would only have the outcome of surrendering.

  Yu Guozhen smiled after hearing this, his eyes narrowing as he thought about the key figures in this plan - the captain Ma Ye who had come up with it and Chen Dong who was to be bribed. To deal with the greedy Wen Zhou judge, they first needed to eliminate his wings!

  "You can pack as much cloth as you want and take it back. If anyone asks, just say that I was overjoyed when I received the news and rewarded you with these cloths." said Yu Guozhen.

  "Yes, yes, thank you, Young Master Yu!"

  "You seem clever, want to continue making a fortune?" Yu Guozhen asked again.

  Since the yamen runner has already sold out even the governor, what else would he dare not do? Upon hearing this, his spirit was once again stirred: "Think, think, Master Yu, a small man like me dreams of getting rich!"

  "That's good, from now on you'll be careful to gather news for me in the provincial city. All news, from the price of rice in the province to the concubines of the governor, I want to know." After finishing speaking, Yu Guozhen smiled and raised his chin slightly towards the runner: "What's your name?"

  The official's face turned slightly red: "My humble surname is Jia, and my lowly name is Taigi."

  The name is a bit strange, Yu Guozhen was somewhat curious: "This name is not bad, why do you seem to be somewhat dissatisfied?"

  "As a child, I was always called a fake eunuch... Hence this, cough cough."

  Yu Guozhen couldn't help but burst out laughing, but after his smile slowly faded away, he looked at Jia Taigi and watched as this bailiff knelt down again. Only then did he say: "Keep an eye on Ma Ye and Chen Dong for me, I want to know their every move... can you do that?"

  "Yes, Master Yu's orders are commands to me. I will definitely do it, even if it means finding out what they say in private on their beds in the powder room!" Jia Taigi responded without hesitation.

  "In that case, you go back and tell them that I need some time to prepare gifts, and seven days later, I will head to the prefecture to pay respects to Judge Wen."

  Jia Taiji's face fell as soon as he heard this: "Yu Xiaye, no, no, that guy is harboring evil intentions, those petty people have already confessed, they don't have good intentions, Yu Xiaye must not enter the tiger's lair lightly!"

  "A few mutts would be perfect for a dog meat hot pot." Yu Guozhen smiled and said, "You just take care of yourself, if anything happens, I won't blame you."

  Jia Taiji's advice was just a perfunctory response, and since Yu Guozhen didn't listen, he naturally wouldn't insist on persuading him. His mind had already turned to how to select the fabric, thinking that the small boat he had rowed over could at least carry back ten or twenty bolts of cloth.

  It's just a pity that I didn't come by a bigger boat.

  "What's that, the little brat with the surname Yu said he wants to prepare a gift?" Jia Taigi returned to the city, of course, he didn't directly meet with the county magistrate, but first went to respond to Ma Ye. After listening, Ma Ye felt it was going smoothly to the point of being unbelievable: "Does that little brat have any suspicions?"

  "How can there be no suspicion, yet the petty man's tongue is like a drumstick, exaggerating the appearance of Lord Wen's niece as if she were a heavenly immortal, and secretly hinting to him that behind Lord Wen's back, he has the support of the current Prime Minister, only then will that scoundrel be tempted!"

  "That's natural, the gatekeepers of the prime minister are all seventh-grade officials, let alone the relatives of the prime minister! If you can get involved with Prime Minister Wen, who wouldn't look up to you!" Ma Ye Shu sneered: "People die for wealth and birds die for food. Yu Xiaozi has talent, no doubt about it, but the more talented people are, the bigger their wild ambitions are. He will die because of this!"

  Jia Taigi lowered his head: "It won't get to this point, will it? If so, Ma Ye, you'll have to take charge and let me hide outside for a while..."

  "I also wish someone would take charge for me!" Ma Ye Shu said impatiently: "The benefits you got from that little brat, I haven't seen you contribute them. I've heard it's a whole boat of plain cloth... If I had known earlier, I would have gone to run this errand myself, where did you come in?"

  "That was something I risked my life for, at first Master Ma asked five people and no one dared to take the risk, only I, a humble person, was loyal and went all out for you!"

  Jia Taigi was a sly official, and as such, he naturally had to put on a smiling face when negotiating with his superior. However, Ma Shuoye felt uneasy in his heart, thinking that plotting against Yu Guozhen was not without risk. He also wanted to keep himself at a distance from this matter, so he didn't entangle himself too much with Jia Taigi, only scolding him a few times to prevent him from becoming too arrogant, before sending him away and heading to deliver the report to Xunzhou himself.

  A small boat of cloth, even if it's worth several dozen taels of silver, he is the chief catcher of a prefecture, where would he put it in his heart!

  Wen Zhou learned that Yu Guozhen would come to see him in seven days and was immediately stunned.

  "What does he mean?"

  "It's probably him who took his own words as true." Ma Ye Shu sneered: "A toad wanting to eat swan meat, a foolish fantasy."

  "Pah!" Magistrate Wen was suddenly enraged: "He didn't even splash some water on his face to take a look in the mirror, and yet he dares to set his sights on my niece from the Wen family! Hmph, the Wens are marrying off their daughter, if not to a top scholar, then at least to a talented student, what is he?"

  "Think about it, this idea was yours, Ma Ye Shu," Wen Zhou Jun said angrily. "You said something about 'luring the tiger away from its mountain', but now it's turned into... wait a minute, isn't this just like Dong Wu giving away his daughter?"

  At this time, "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" had been widely spread, and some artists compiled it into a pingtan song. Wen Zhoupan also liked to listen to it. Now, after careful consideration, he really thought about it and found that something was not right. If Yu Guozhen really made a big fanfare and proclaimed everywhere that Wen Zhoupan would marry his niece to him, what should be done?

  Ma Ye also looked pale, if such a thing really happened, Wen Zhou would have to compensate his wife and lose soldiers. He couldn't think of any good ideas to deal with it, so he could only cry and kneel down: "Sir, it's my fault... Otherwise, sir can just settle this marriage, Yu Guozhen may not be as great a hero as Liu Xiang, but he is also a brave general, and isn't he the one who has the magic pearl method? Let him use the magic pearl method as a betrothal gift, what do you think, sir?"

  "Nonsense! I heard that someone would not sell their own niece for a small amount of money!" The county magistrate shouted sternly, "Besides, would he be willing to hand over the method of cultivating pearls as a betrothal gift? Didn't Liu Xuande fail to take out Jingzhou?"

  The two men looked at each other in dismay, feeling that their play was becoming more and more like "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". Just then, Chen Dong, who was standing beside them, chuckled and said: "Your Excellency, although I am not talented, I also have three strategies - top, middle and bottom..."

  That's more like it.

  Thank you

  Thanks for the reward from Leibensheng!