County Magistrate

  Wang Dewei brought Luo Yi to the county government, and the guards at the gate didn't ask a single question before letting them in. It seems that Principal Wang is indeed very familiar with the county magistrate, and it's as if they're walking into a forbidden city without any obstacles. When passing by on the street, Luo Yi insisted on buying some pastries from a shop and carrying them along. Wang Dewei repeatedly said it wasn't necessary, but Luo Yi felt that since it was his first time visiting the county magistrate, going empty-handed would be too impolite.

  Unlike the county magistrate Ruo Yi imagined, with a long white beard, County Head Tang Yuanpu was a man in his 40s, of medium build, wearing a Zhongshan suit, with every button fastened tightly, his chin shaved clean, his eyes bright and piercing, exuding an air of efficiency, except that when he walked, there seemed to be a slight limp, which was not easily noticeable.

  "I heard from De Wei that you want to develop rural construction in the Mati Ridge area?" Tang Yuanpu put away the pastry Luo Yi had given him and asked directly without any extra courtesy.

  "Yes, mainly it was what my father told me, that he had received kindness from the mountain people there in his early years and wanted to repay their kindness."

  "Oh, your respected father... cough, let's not drag out the formalities. I'm a martial artist by origin, and I know you weren't raised on traditional education either. Your dad, or rather, your old man, used to live in Tongzhou too?" Tang Yuanpu said.

  Luoyi suddenly felt relieved: "Yes, my grandfather is from Tongzhou, and my father was born in Tongzhou. Later, my grandfather went out to work and took my father with him, and then they went to Nanyang. I was born in Nanyang, and only returned with my father a few times, so I'm not very familiar with the domestic situation."

  "Yes, many Tongzhou people are overseas. No choice, the place is too poor, ordinary folks have only a few options: join the army, become bandits, beg for food, or go to Nanyang."

  "That's right. In the past few days, I've been to Tongzhou County and felt that the local economy is indeed not good. The land itself is scarce, there is no industry, and it would be strange if the common people were not poor." Luo Yi spoke fluently, and from a later generation's perspective, it was easy to pick out flaws in the economy of those days.

  Tang Yuanpu nodded in agreement with Luo Yi's view: "Mr. Luo, what specific ideas do you have? How do you plan to do it and how much money does the government need to spend? I can tell you that Tongzhou County is very poor, not even a single extra dollar can be taken out."

  Luo Yi said: "I don't need the government to spend money. I only need the government to give me a license, allowing me to develop in the Mati Ridge area. I have investigated that there are some timber, stone materials, and medicinal materials that can be transported out for sale, but currently, transportation is inconvenient. I plan to organize villagers to build a highway, and then purchase various products from villagers at a fair price and sell them elsewhere. In this way, the villagers will gradually become rich. In addition, I also plan to set up several schools to eliminate illiteracy among local people."

  "Great! Yuanpu, education is the way to prosper a country. Only education can make a country prosperous!" Wang Dewei chimed in from the side.

  Tang Yuanpu calmed down Wang Dewei with a smile, implying that he should not get excited. Then he turned his head to say to Luo Yi: "Mr. Luo, you have to consider this matter thoroughly. Road repair and transportation are not simple things, the output of that place may not be very profitable, I'm afraid you will lose money."

  "It doesn't matter, I didn't plan to make money anyway, just helping the local people have a livelihood. The initial investment for road construction and other things are all my responsibility, and I don't plan to recover my investment through operations."

  Tang Yuanpu looked at Luo Yi with a slightly suspicious gaze and said, "This matter is of course very good for the government. I can fully authorize you to do this. One thing needs to be clarified, if you develop it on a small scale, that's fine. If the scale becomes large in the future, I hope you will pay taxes according to law. This issue has legal provisions from the state."

  "That's natural, we have the habit of paying taxes in Nanyang and won't make it difficult for the county head." Luo Yi was confident that if his plan could be realized, a small amount of tax wouldn't be a big deal. Paying some taxes to the government can also buy a protective charm.

  "Also, I don't know if De Wei has told you or not, but Ma Tieling has always been a place with relatively poor local security. There is a band of local bandits that have been active there, and the Red Army also often passes through there. As an overseas returnee who is a wealthy merchant like yourself, I estimate that you will attract their attention."

  "County head, this time I returned to the country, my father knew that the domestic situation was chaotic, so he let me recruit a few bodyguards first, and also had weapons. I don't know if this matter violates the law. If the county head allows it, I hope to slightly expand my bodyguard team, not only to protect my own safety but also to protect the local people at the same time. As for the expenses and weapons, I will take care of them all by myself, no need for the government to worry."

  "This is also possible," said Tang Yuanpu. "At present, the security situation in various parts of the country is not very good. The wealthy families generally have armed guards, and whether they are lawful or not, it's hard to say. You can organize dozens of your own guards, but if you recruit soldiers locally, it's best to sign a life-and-death contract with them. In case there are casualties, it's better to make arrangements for compensation in advance, so as to avoid trouble coming to the government, which would be difficult for me to handle."

  "No problem, I'll just do as the county head says," Luo Yi said.

  "If you can guarantee that nothing will happen, I can give you a number, your family soldiers, let's call it the Ma Tieling Security Team. The responsibility is to maintain local security. Salary must be solved by yourself. With this number, your bodyguards holding weapons are legal and no one will bother you. How about this?"

  "Thank you, County Magistrate. Having a number is the best, otherwise if the National Government investigates, our private possession of troops will not be good. " Luo Yi was secretly delighted. With this number, the bandits became official soldiers and could legally bring guns down the mountain.

  The matter of contracting the barren mountain and organizing a private armed force was settled. The area in Ma Tieling was indeed a masterless mountain, originally with several landlords, who were said to have run away due to unbearable harassment by bandits. The place was remote and poor, with ordinary people unable to afford clothes, and it was impossible for the landlords to make a living. Tang Yuanpu had someone take Luo Yi to handle some formalities and finally gave him an appointment letter as "Ma Tieling Security Team Leader". In this process, of course, Wang Dewei's face was at work, and the insight revealed in Luo Yi's words also strengthened Tang Yuanpu's trust in his identity.

  After leaving the county government, Luo Yi and Wang De-wei chatted for a while. From Wang De-wei, Luo Yi learned that Tang Yuanpu was indeed from a military background, a high-ranking student of Huangpu's first term, who was injured and disabled during the Northern Expedition, and was then arranged to be the county magistrate of Tongzhou. He believed in the Three Principles of the People and had a dream of enriching the country and strengthening the army, so he had a good rapport with Wang De-wei. Luo Yi mentioned his rural construction plan, which moved both Wang De-wei and Tang Yuanpu, so things went very smoothly. Like later governments, they were all supportive of foreign investors with open arms.

  Luo Yi told Wang De Wei that this time he returned to China, due to fear of the road being unsafe, so he only brought a small amount of cash. Once the rural construction plan is launched, more funds will flow in in the future. He also asked Wang De Wei to find talent for him in the county seat and Nanchang, and in the future, at the right time, he would set up several factories in Tongzhou, revitalizing the local economy through modern industry. Wang De Wei did not expect Luo Yi to have such a big plan, and repeatedly said that one day he was willing to join Luo Yi's team, as long as he was given an opportunity to teach.

  Before parting ways, Wang Dewei left his home address with Luo Yi and told him that if he needed to take care of anything in the county town, he could contact him at any time. Luo Yi wanted to give Wang Dewei a few dollars as a thank you for introducing him, but was flatly refused by Wang Dewei. According to him, the idea Luo Yi gave him was worth more than 1,000 dollars.

  Luo Yi felt relieved after accomplishing this major task. In the following days, he took the 200 silver dollars given by Bai Yunfei and began large-scale procurement in Tongzhou City to prepare for the use of the Justice League. He didn't know if his idea would be recognized by Lu Shuangyong and others, but first buying some things would make it easier for everyone to talk. He had saved the lives of more than 40 people in the Justice League, so he estimated that Lu Shuangyong and others wouldn't be too ungrateful.

  The clothes were the uniforms he had prepared for the security team, specially tailored by a tailor. The style of these uniforms was completely based on the design of the military training uniform in later generations. Luo Yi only drew a rough sketch for the tailor, and the tailor played it out with his own cleverness, and surprisingly brought the effect of the training uniform to 80 or 90%.

  The uniform fabric was made of dark green thick cloth. Luo Yi found a dyer and asked him to select the most incompetent apprentices in his workshop, and then dye the cloth into yellowish brown color. After the dyeing was completed, the dyer cried and told Luo Yi that he appreciated his good intention to cultivate his apprentices, but did not expect these apprentices to be so incompetent. The yellowish brown color could not be fully applied, and all the cloths were turned into a mess of green and yellow patches, now it's impossible to compensate for the loss.

  Luo Yi looked at these fabrics and burst out laughing, took out a large sum of money to pay for the dyeing fee, and even gave several apprentice workers extra bonuses. The camouflage effect that could be dyed so realistically was indeed beyond his expectations.

  Luoyi couldn't figure out the sizes of the mountain village helpers, so he had the tailor roughly divide them into several sizes: large, medium and small. Each size was made in a few more sets. Anyway, the extra clothes wouldn't go to waste, they could be used for washing and changing.

  After finishing the clothing, Luo Yi found a blacksmith's shop and customized a batch of specially added shovels, hoes and other tools. The steel used was much better than that of ordinary farmers' tools, which would be very useful in the future. In addition, Luo Yi also purchased a batch of rice, bacon, sausage and other food. He remembered that Le Jialin had said that the food of the Justice League was almost finished. These days, he didn't know if they had collected new food.

  After doing all this, Luo Yi stayed in the inn every day, just waiting for Lu Shuangyong to send someone to pick him up. He was not a diligent person and was one of the few "sleeping dragons" in his class at university. However, he had not been sleeping on the bed every day these days, but was busy recalling the military information he had read before, writing down some knowledge from his brain. He also repeatedly thought about one thing, that is, how to persuade the masters of the house to accept his opinion and implement an ambitious plan to strengthen the army.