Chapter Thirty Trouble

  Yan Haibo was the most improved among these people, perhaps because of his youth, and also because after noticing him, he quietly inquired from the side that he was only sixteen years old, two years younger than himself. After Gao Yuan took office, the team's food underwent a revolutionary change, and Yan Haibo, who was in the midst of growing up, received good nutritional supplements, and compared to others, he benefited more, and it could be clearly seen that his body was undergoing a revolutionary change.

  Yan Haibo was currently competing with someone in a game of "duel on parallel bars". The so-called "duel on parallel bars" refers to two people standing at each end of the parallel bars, grabbing the bar with both hands and flipping their legs over the bars to chase after the other person until one of them catches up to the other person's end. Yan Haibo had already won against a dozen or more people in a row, although he was getting slightly out of breath from continuous fighting, but looking at the challenger at the other end of the bar, his eyes were filled with fierce fighting spirit.

  Sun Xiao was practicing arm strength on the single bar at the other end, and now he was no longer limited to ordinary movements. At this time, his two legs were stretched straight, forming a right angle with his upper body, then his arms used force to pull himself up, making it difficult to do pull-ups, the difficulty increased several times. As Sun Xiao pulled his body up each time, the muscles on his arms bulged, and under the sunlight, beads of sweat fell from his dark bronze skin, dropping to the ground with a pattering sound.

  Gao Yuan hugged his arms, leaning against the door frame of the room, contentedly looking at everything in front of him. Although it had only been more than ten days, the change in the spiritual appearance of these people was still evident. They were no longer like before, eating and sleeping, sleeping and getting up to find food. Now they put more energy into these tools.

  It's almost time to put the next plan into action, he thought to himself.

  It had been several days since Zhang Yi came over, and he hastily rushed all the way to the front of Gao Yuan, first bowing his head.

  "How did you end up here? Is something going on at home?" Gaoyuan asked.

  "No, young master, it's County Magistrate Lu who wants you to go to his mansion tonight. This afternoon, Manager Lu Bin came to find me and said that County Magistrate Lu instructed him to tell you that you must go to the Lu Mansion tonight." Zhang said.

  "Didn't Lu Bin say anything?" Gao Yuan asked somewhat strangely.

  Zhang shook his head, "However, Lu Bin said, County Magistrate Lu was somewhat displeased, Young Master should still be careful."

  Why was Lu Hong unhappy? What had happened? Gao Yuan thought for a moment, but couldn't think of anything, and didn't feel like thinking about it anymore. He looked up at the sky, and saw that the sun was already setting. Today, there wasn't much else to do anyway, so he might as well go back early. He called over Cao Wencheng and Sun Xiao, and whispered a few words to them. It had been over ten days since he arrived at the military camp, and it was about time for him to go back and take a look. Speaking of which, he did miss Ye Jing'er a bit, so this was a good opportunity to go visit her.

  "Can you ride a horse?" he asked, looking at Zhang Yi. The other day, he had bought five horses from He Lanxiong, plus one that had been brought over, so now he had six horses here. This time when he went back, he would give one to Lu Hong, which was also his filial piety. Lu Hong did have a horse for everyday riding, but judging by its teeth, it was already quite old, and compared to He Lanxiong's fine warhorses, the difference was just too great.

  "He can ride a horse, but he's not very good at it!" Zhang Yi smiled awkwardly.

  "Just ride it!" Gaoyuan turned his head to look at Cao Tianding, "Tianding, go and bring over two horses, remember, the best one should be brought over, that's what I'm giving to County Master."

  "I understand!"

  From the military camp to Lu Hong's home, it takes more than an hour on foot, but riding a horse, it's just the time it takes to drink a cup of tea. This is also because in the city, you can't gallop freely, if you do, the time will be even shorter. When I arrived at his house, the sun had not yet completely set behind the mountain.

  "Uncle, I'm back!" Gaoyuan shouted loudly as he walked into Lu Hong's home, still holding onto He Lanxiong's warhorse.

  Lu Hong stood at the gate of the main hall with his hands behind his back and saw Gao Yuan holding a war horse. "Is this the horse you bought from that Xiongnu man in the western market that day?"

  Gao Yuan smiled and handed the reins to Zhang Yi, "Yes, uncle, this horse is really good. I bought six horses from him in total, and this is the best one. From now on, it will be used by you as a substitute for walking. Your original horse is indeed not worthy of your status as County Magistrate!"

  Lu Hong laughed and said, "Not bad, you still have a filial heart, with good horses, you still remember your uncle. Come in!" He walked back into the room with his hands behind his back. "Lu Bin, make tea for the young master." Then he turned to look at Gao Yuan standing in front of him and said, "Sit down, this is your own home, no need to be polite."

  "Yes, uncle!" Gao Yuan sat in front of Lu Hong, his upper body straight as a pen, with both hands placed on his knees. These days, he had been requiring soldiers to sit or stand in a disciplined manner in the military camp, and he himself was doing the same without fail, it had become second nature to him.

  He took a glance at the distant figure, and a hint of surprise flashed across Lu Hong's eyes.

  "The other day you just went to take office, Zhang Han came back and told me about it, you did very well, better than I imagined, I was worried that you would have a hard time standing firm at first, and couldn't control those soldiers, but unexpectedly you easily subdued them, using both kindness and authority, great, great! You don't know, do you? Here I was ready to go and support you at any moment! Originally I thought you wouldn't be able to last a few days before coming back to complain to me!" He said with a smile while drinking tea, speaking to Gao Yuan.

  Gao Yuan smiled and said, "Actually, these soldiers are not bad, it's just that they didn't get paid before and their lives were a bit too hard. That's why they're like this. Now that I've given them their pay and let them eat their fill, of course they'll obey."

  "That's exactly what I'm talking about!" Lu Hong put the teacup on the table and looked at Gao Yuan. "Gao Yuan, it wasn't until Zhang Han came back that I found out you'd actually taken a large sum of money to the team. Later, I heard that you'd given them their entire year's salary. Is that right? These past few days, you've been renovating the barracks and making clothes for the soldiers. This is all extravagant spending. Where did your money come from?"

  "My nephew borrowed a thousand strings of cash from Magistrate Wu." said Gao Yuan.

  "One thousand yuan!" Lu Hong hissed softly, as if he had a toothache.

  "Gaoyuan, you're new to the team, so it's necessary to win people over and give some allowance money to the soldiers. Actually, I've already prepared some here, originally intended to be sent over after you arrived."

  "Thank you, Uncle," Gao Yuan hastily said.

  "You don't have to thank me. You said you'd give them a raise, one yuan per person, and they'd be overjoyed. How could you suddenly give out the whole year's worth at once? You, you, really don't think things through!" Lu Hong shook his head repeatedly. "I've only prepared one month's salary for you here, one yuan, tell me, how are you going to make up for this huge hole you've dug?"

  "Uncle, I've been thinking about this. We invested in Wu County Magistrate's wine business, didn't we? I reckon that by the end of the year, our dividend will at least be this much. By then, I'll be able to fill up this hole!"

  Lu Hong was taken aback, "How is it that your wine recipe can bring him so much profit?"

  "If the county magistrate Wu has good means, there may be even more." Gaoyuan said with confidence: "Uncle, you'll see when the time comes, this year you will definitely have a great year."

  Lu Hong listened to Gao Yuan's affirmative words and couldn't help but reveal a smile on his face. A thousand taels? In the past, he himself could hardly make that much money in a year. Yet, in just three months' time, there was already such a substantial gain. Didn't this mean that by the end of the year, he would have an income of four thousand taels? As he was calculating this in his mind, he suddenly saw Gao Yuan staring intently at him and couldn't help but blush.

  "Even if I had the money to fill this hole, it's not supposed to be used like that!" Lu Hong brought the topic back, "This is your personal money, but these troops are from the county, they should be paid by the county and the prefecture. The county and prefecture haven't paid enough, what can I do? And you're doing this, it's putting me in a difficult position."

  "Uncle, these soldiers are suffering too much, and it's only right that they get their due food and pay!" Gao Yuan said calmly, without explicitly stating that Lu Hong had always been good to him, like a close nephew, the fact that he had embezzled the soldiers' wages was something that couldn't be mentioned in public, and saying it out loud would be too embarrassing for Lu Hong, so it was better left unspoken.

  Lu Hong didn't seem to understand Gao Yuan's words and his face suddenly fell. "Gao Yuan, you're too young, some things I had no choice but to do! Except for the Curie Pass team that received full pay, the other two teams have always only received half pay, this is a well-established rule, these soldiers also know, so they didn't make trouble, but now you've made a scene, it's hard for me to wrap things up. Now Zheng Xiaoyang has come to find me and cause trouble."

  "Who is Zheng Xiaoyang?"

  "Zheng Xiaoyang is the quartermaster of the third battalion. They have only received their April salary this year, but you suddenly paid out the full salary. This matter can't be hidden from people, and he thought I took the money, so he came to make a scene, wanting me to also pay the full salary for his battalion. What should I do now?" Lu Hong said discontentedly, "When Zheng Xiaoyang came to make trouble, it just so happened that Huo Zhu and Wu Kai were both there, letting them see me being laughed at."

  Gaoyuan thought for a moment, "Uncle, I think you should give them the full amount of silver, not just this year, but also in the future!"

  With a loud slap, he heavily slapped the table with his palm. "You little brat, what do you know?! Do you have any idea how much effort I need to put in every year to deal with all those things while sitting in this position? Not to mention anything else, just being able to sit stably in this county magistrate's seat requires spending a lot of money, do you know that? Alright, I'm indeed the personal guard of the prefectural governor, but what does that count for? There are still many people eyeing this position. From top to bottom, it takes several hundred to thousands of taels every year just to grease palms. You see me living a luxurious life, but in reality, it's all about robbing Peter to pay Paul. You don't know the difficulties I face in between. If I were to give them all their full salaries, what would I do? Would I go drink the northwest wind? Moreover, among the dozen or so counties in Liaoxi Prefecture, everyone is doing things this way. If I were to give out full salaries here, wouldn't that make me a target for everyone's criticism? Are you trying to get me attacked by all sides? Haoran, being an official requires first being a human being. If you offend the masses, you won't be able to stay in this position for long."