Chapter 267: Not Moving

Houcheng

Lan Bingrong was looking at the shop, but he was lazy and not in a good mood.

He has been in this state since he came back from attending Lord Lu Deshenglu's Hongmen Banquet yesterday.

Lan Bingrong is a small landowner in Houcheng. His family owns dozens of hectares of fertile land and owns many shops and houses. He also has a place in the wealthy circle of Houcheng.

The day before, the new Houcheng County Magistrate Lu Deshenglu hosted a banquet for the wealthy landowners of Houcheng.

When they receive the post, they know it in their mind.

Before going, his wife warned him to follow the crowd.

He himself also made a good idea. He would donate as much as others donated without making any mistakes.

However, Mr. Lu is too eloquent and very good at deceiving people, worthy of his background as a royal censor. Then something went wrong for him.

That day, Mr. Lu's opening remarks were that Houcheng was in a difficult situation and people's livelihood was very difficult.

They, the wealthy landowners, would understand it as soon as they heard it. Mr. Lu wanted to seek help from them.

Mr. Lu did not force them to donate how much. He gave him two options, either they would give him some money, or he would lend the money to the Houcheng County Government.

For the latter, Mr. Lu said that he could establish a written certificate on behalf of Hou Cheng and pay interest, but the interest was a bit small.

As for the use of the borrowed money, Mr. Lu roughly said that it would be used for the construction of Hou City.

Then it was up to them to choose.

The others were very wary and thought that what Mr. Lu told them was just a bastard chanting sutras and would not listen.

When the time came, I was given a small meat bun worth two to three thousand taels and left.

He was the only one who felt that Lord Lu's words were very reasonable and that he had a clear vision of Houcheng's development and planning. He foolishly lent out twenty thousand taels in exchange for an IOU stamped by the Houcheng County Magistrate.

When Lan Bingrong came out of the county government office, his rival Geng Yuan learned that he had paid 20,000 taels and called him a fool.

Lan Bingrong returned home with an IOU of 20,000 taels. Although his wife didn't say anything, she kept sighing at him.

He felt uncomfortable all night, tossing and turning all night, unable to sleep.

His wife was also kept awake by him, and finally she told him, forget it, this money should be used as a token of gratitude for Mr. Lu's contribution to Houcheng.

As one of the few landowners and wealthy households in Houcheng, to be honest, their family is very grateful to Mr. Lu.

If he hadn't turned the tide and negotiated with the Xianbei Royal Court, they would have suffered heavy losses in the war.

It is very likely that Houcheng will not be able to withstand Xianbei's attack. After all, the battle just ended last winter and the loss to Houcheng was very large. Houcheng, a small and broken county, cannot withstand two battles a year.

They had to run away in advance, and they couldn't take the fields, houses, and shops with them. They could only take away some of their loose wealth. Wasn't it a heavy loss?

Although he was comforted, Lan Bingrong was still heartbroken when he thought of the 20,000 taels he had lent, and he became even less motivated.

At this moment, his rival Geng Yuan came in, waving his fan and with a shy round belly, "Lan Bingrong, what do you think? How could you do such a stupid thing as lending 20,000 taels of silver to the government?" "

"If you have too much money to spend, lend it to me. Although I won't pay you interest, I will at least return the principal to you."

Lan Bingrong didn't want to talk to him.

Geng Yuan continued, "After all, you have lived for decades, so you won't end up in a dog's belly, right? Magistrate Lu's banquet this time was clearly for alms. He said it was for borrowing money. In the end, if you don't pay, you still have to pay for it." Can you chase Mr. Lu after the county government? "

In short, it's meat buns fighting dogs. The two choices are actually just the difference in the size of the meat buns. Who is willing to give to the big one if he can give it to the small one?

Geng Yuan didn't understand.

"You are so smart. You knew it was a meat bun beating a dog, but you still donated three thousand taels?" Lan Bingrong asked him.

Choking, he wanted to refuse to give it, but could he really refuse to give it?

In fact, they all knew yesterday that if they go, they can't leave without a cent. They all heard about Lu Desheng's difficulty. I heard that among the nobles in Chang'an City, if the female relatives of the Lu family are left uninvited during a banquet, Mr. Lu will not hesitate to seduce their men.

He is definitely not as easy to deal with as Zheng Qiao.

All the people who were invited to the banquet had already considered how much they should donate before going there. Even he, who was so stingy, became more generous this time and donated three thousand taels. After the donation, he felt that he would not be able to sleep for three or four days.

But when he thought that the fool in front of him had borrowed twenty thousand taels, he felt that he could do it again.

At this moment, the waiter rushed in and said, "Master, good news, good news!"

"What good news?"

"Our county magistrate has been promoted to county governor!"

Hearing this, Lan Bingrong and Geng Yuan said in unison, "What?"

The waiter repeated it again.

Lan Bingrong stumbled into the backyard to find his wife, "Madam, madam!"

When he saw his wife, he immediately shared the good news, "Madam, the imperial envoy has come to announce that Mr. Lu has been promoted to the governor of our Liaodong County for his merit!"

It’s worth spending this money to establish a relationship with the Sheriff! It’s worth it!

Now the bitter enemy Geng Yuan must be beating his chest and repenting so much that his intestines are blue, hahaha——

The wife listened with surprise, not expecting that fools can be blessed.

Then she thought of something and said, "You said that Mr. Lu has been promoted. Will he leave Houcheng and move to the governor's mansion?"

It’s true that the old worries have just gone away, and new worries have arisen.

Lan Bingrong went to the back, leaving Geng Yuan outside. He confirmed with the waiter again, "Is it true?"

"Mr. Geng, it's true. The county government is setting off firecrackers and giving out wedding money."

Geng Yuan glanced at the backyard, muttered, "Fools have good fortune," and left.

After the news of Lv Desheng's promotion to the position of county governor spread, the people of Houcheng were both happy and worried. They were happy that such a good official was promoted, but they were worried that he would go to the county governor's mansion.

If he went to the county governor's mansion, would Houcheng be the same as before?

For a while, the people were panicked and felt very insecure.

Lv Songli and her people had been paying attention to the public opinion in Houcheng. After hearing the people's concerns, she and her father discussed this issue and decided not to move the mansion for the stability of Liaodong County.

After deciding, they took action in the afternoon and arranged for people to replace the plaque of Houcheng County Government.

Their people made a lot of movements, cleaning, moving ladders, and lifting plaques, which attracted the attention of the surrounding people.

"What are you doing?"

"Change the plaque?"

"Why change it?"

As the people were talking, the workers took down the plaque of Houcheng County Government Office and replaced it with a new one. The new plaque was covered with red silk cloth, so the words on it could not be seen clearly.

Just as the crowd was noisy, Lv Desheng came out.

"Is it Lord Lv?"

"Yes, Lord Lv came out."

After Lv Desheng came out, he opened his hand to the people and pressed it down, "Fellow villagers, please be quiet for a while."

As his voice rang out, everyone stopped talking spontaneously, and their eyes were focused on him.

He was wearing casual clothes today, and with a smile on his face, the people who saw him for the first time felt that he was very kind.

"I think everyone knows that I am Lv Desheng. I also know that everyone is worried about whether I will leave Houcheng and go to Xiangping County Governor's Mansion after I am promoted from county magistrate to county governor."

Hearing this, almost all the people present said silently in their hearts, yes, this is what they are most worried about now.

"I will tell you now that I have decided not to move the government office. From now on, this will be the prefectural governor's office!" When Lv Desheng finished speaking, he held the hanging in his hand.

The three words "Prefectural Governor's Office" suddenly appeared on the new plaque.

The people realized that what Lord Lu said was true. Now even the plaque of Houcheng County Office has been changed to the prefectural governor's office!

After Lv Desheng finished speaking, he nodded to everyone and went back.

Some people realized that Lord Lu just came out and said a few words and then went back, but what he said was what they were most concerned about.

"Lord Lu is really concise." If there is something to say, just say it, without so many official words.

"Lord Lu is very busy."

Not far away from the crowd, Geng Yuan muttered that Lan Bingrong was really lucky.

The rich families and landlords who gave the little buns to the banquet that day were really envious and jealous of Lan Bingrong.

As the saying goes, the one who is close to the water gets the moon first. Lan Bingrong must have left a very good impression on Lord Lu. If there is anything good in the government in the future, he must be remembered.

Under the new plaque, the common people stopped for a long time. They felt very relieved, but they also felt that Houcheng County Office was not grand enough as the prefectural governor's office.

There were people in the crowd who had been to Xiangping and had seen the prefectural governor's office. They talked to everyone about the grandeur of the prefectural governor's office. Looking at their small broken county office, they felt that Lord Lu was too wronged.

After the common people left, the people below reported to Lu Songli the general direction of public opinion, and this direction was exactly what she arranged people to guide.

Lu Songli knew very well that if they did not occupy the high ground of public opinion, others would occupy it.

Next, with her father's decision not to move the government office, and it fermented and radiated, the people's hearts in Houcheng and even the entire Liaodong County stabilized again.

All of this was within her expectations.

This decision of her and her father had the flavor of "the king dies for the country, and the emperor guards the country's gate".