When Fu Yuanming led a squad of soldiers to the entrance of Nanke Village, it immediately caused a commotion in the village.
The current world was not peaceful. Coupled with the frequent looting by bandits, the villagers of Nanke Village had already formed a conditioned reflex towards anyone who carried a gun.
Fortunately, Fu Yuanming was there. After some explanation, the soldiers finally entered the village smoothly.
As soon as he returned to the village, Fu Yuanming immediately rushed home and told his wife about his encounter at Goose Feather Ridge.
"You said that the boss really plans to open a factory and deal with those bandits?”
Fu Yuanming's wife asked suspiciously.
"That's right. That boss looks like a young master from a rich family. Those big houses in Goose Feather Ridge are really magnificent. You saw those soldiers who came back with me just now. Look at how mighty they are. I just asked around. The guns they are holding are all imported from the Hans Empire. I heard that only the troops of the Chief of the Standing Committee of Ying Tian City are equipped with this kind of rifle. Oh right, here's five yuan. The boss gave it to me.”
After Fu Yuanming finished bragging about what he had seen and heard, he remembered that he had a few dollars on him. He quickly took them out and handed them to his wife.
Fu Yuanming's wife didn't care about her man's bragging when she saw him take out a few dollars. She grabbed the money and stroked them gently in her hands.
Five yuan was definitely a huge sum of money for a family like Fu Yuanming's. It was enough to support an ordinary family of three for one to two months.
Ignoring the conversation between Fu Yuanming and his wife, the squad of soldiers who followed Fu Yuanming back also scattered and began to gather information.
Meanwhile, Zhong Yu was preparing to visit the county magistrate, planning to get a formal identity to facilitate his future activities.
Zhong Yu took the 2000 yuan that he had exchanged with the base's funds and changed into casual clothes. He led the four soldiers and set off.
The group did not bring any guns. It was not that he did not want to bring them, but the base did not produce handguns until now. Although the government did not explicitly ban guns among the people, and many landowners and rich people had their own private guards, they could not carry guns and run around the streets with great fanfare.
Without any means of transportation, the four soldiers each carried a 20-pound ocean and followed Zhong Yu for more than two hours before arriving at the county town.
Looking at the somewhat dilapidated county town in front of him, Zhong Yu sighed. The county town did not have a city wall as a defensive barrier. It was just a residential area. There were only two barricades at the main intersection. Two police officers in black uniforms were interrogating passers-by.
Soon, it was Zhong Yu's turn.
"This young master looks unfamiliar. What are you planning to do in the city?”
There were five people. Although they were all dressed in suits, the other four were all carrying boxes. Only Zhong Yu walked in front empty-handed. With his unique temperament, even a fool could tell that Zhong Yu was the leader. Therefore, one of the police officers came forward and asked tentatively.
Seeing that a policeman was asking questions, Zhong Yu saved a lot of trouble. He directly took out a few pieces of money and stuffed them into the policeman's hand.
"Brother, I just came back from abroad. I want to build some factories in this county and specially came to visit the magistrate. I'll buy some wine for my brothers with these few dollars.”
After saying that, the police officer was overjoyed. He had only received a few dollars for a routine inquiry. His monthly salary was only three dollars.
He quietly put away the money and gave another policeman on duty a look before leading Zhong Yu and the others into the city.
It was Zhong Yu's first time visiting the county town during this period. He was very curious about everything around him. He kept sizing up the things around him.
The street was only four to five meters wide and was paved with bluestone slabs. Due to the abundant rain in Qiongya District, many places were already covered with a layer of moss. On both sides of the street were mostly low-rise houses, with few two-story buildings. There were peddlers and villagers from the surrounding villages who came to the market everywhere. Although it could not compare to the majestic atmosphere of cities like Yingtian City and Shanghai, it still had a different flavor.
Under the lead of the police, the group quickly arrived at the county government building. Unlike other buildings in the county, the county government building was a four-story building that was designed to stand alone. Compared to the other low buildings around it, it seemed a little out of place.
"Please wait for a moment. I'll go in and report.”
Two police officers stopped a group of people at the entrance of the county government building. The police officer who led the way went forward to inform them twice before entering alone to inform them. Not long after, someone led Zhong Yu and the others into the county government building.
Under the lead of the police, Zhong Yu quickly met the magistrate of Sha County, Wang Fugui.
"County Magistrate Wang, let me introduce myself. My name is Zhong Yu. I just returned from the Lighthouse Nation and plan to build some factories in this county, so I'm here to pay a visit.”
Looking at the plump middle-aged man in front of him, Zhong Yu asked the guards to put down the box containing the silver coins and then introduced himself.
"So it's Young Master Zhong. Please take a seat. But Young Master Zhong isn't a local, right? Why do you plan to build a factory here? You have to know that the conditions in this county are far inferior to those in the mainland.”
Zhong Yu sat down. Wang Fugui picked up the teacup in front of him and sipped the fragrant tea.
"The mainland isn't peaceful right now. The Shengyang people are causing a huge commotion in Shanghai, and the north has already been occupied. In addition, my future products will mainly be sold overseas. It's convenient to travel by sea here, so I think it's more suitable to build a factory in Qiongya.”
"Then why didn't you choose the cliff entrance? The infrastructure there is incomparable to ours.”
"The mouth of the cliff is the base of the 152nd Division. If we build a factory there, I'm afraid that we'll be eaten up. Most importantly, there are abundant resources here. We can find many raw materials for the factory. This way, we can save a lot of money for purchasing and transporting raw materials.”
Wang Fugui rubbed his chin and pondered for a moment before asking,"
"I wonder what factory Young Master Zhong plans to open?”
"Yes, we plan to build a cement factory and a soap factory first. There should be other factories in the future. Of course, the taxes will not be small.”
He didn't know if it was Zhong Yu's illusion.
He seemed to see Magistrate Wang's eyes brighten up when he heard about the factory he planned to build.
"Young Master Zhong is really young and promising. The construction of a few factories will provide a large number of jobs and also drive the county's economy. I will not stop such a good thing. I will inform the relevant procedures.”
Wang Fugui agreed immediately when he heard that Zhong Yu wasn't planning to open just one factory, but two factories at the same time. Moreover, from his tone, it seemed that he would continue to build new factories in the future.
Wang Fugui's opinion made Zhong Yu think highly of him. He originally thought that a county magistrate like Wang Fugui only knew how to make money, but he did not expect that he really cared about local construction.
Since Wang Fugui had already agreed, Zhong Yu smiled and thanked him.
"Then I'll have to trouble you, County Magistrate Wang. However, I heard that there are bandits in the county who rob the nearby people from time to time. I wonder why County Magistrate Wang didn't report it and send troops to eliminate them?”
Zhong Yu changed the topic to the bandits.
Wang Fugui glanced at Zhong Yu and said,"
"Young Master Zhong, you might not know this, but this county used to have a security regiment of more than 400 people. Due to bandits attacking the county several times, the former leader of the security regiment led his troops to suppress the bandits. In the end, they were ambushed by the bandits and were completely wiped out. Although we sent a message to the higher-ups several times to request to suppress the bandits, we always refused on the grounds of insufficient military funds.”
"Oh? How could such a thing happen? A 400-man army was actually wiped out by bandits?”
Zhong Yu was surprised to hear that the 400-man security team had been wiped out by the bandits. Was the bandits too strong or was the security team too weak?
"I'm not too sure about the specifics. I only know that the security team was wiped out, and even the leader was beheaded.”
"Then I wonder what I need to do if I want to take down the security team? Or rather, how much money did he need? You know, opening a factory, it's inevitable that bandits will be jealous, so there have to be some protective measures.”
Zhong Yu narrowed his eyes as he looked at Wang Zhixian.
"Since Young Master Zhong is a straightforward person, I won't beat around the bush. I only need 1000 dollars, and the security team is yours.”
After hearing the old fox's words, Zhong Yu snapped his fingers. The four soldiers behind him walked forward and placed the box containing the ocean on the coffee table. They opened the suitcase and removed the red silk covering it. The bright ocean was so dazzling that it blinded Wang Zhixian's eyes.
Zhong Yu had long noticed that when Magistrate Wang was talking to him, his eyes would occasionally glance at the boxes under the soldiers 'feet. In addition, he had observed on the way here. The decoration of this Magistrate Wang's office was far more luxurious than other offices. It was easy to deal with greed, but he was afraid that you were not greedy.
"Wang Zhixian, here is 2000 yuan. The extra 1000 yuan will be your hard work fee. Please take care of me in the future!”
"Brother Zhong, I'm older than you by a few years. You don't mind me calling you that, do you? The matter of the security corps will be settled in a few days, so you don't have to worry. However, regarding the military supplies, I can't help the poor people in Baisha County. I can only transfer 10 Hanyang manufactured weapons from the police station to you.”
2000 yuan was only for the name of a security regiment. As for the 10 Hanyang made? It was probably some ragged goods with smoothened rifling. Not only was there no accuracy, Zhong Yu was afraid that the barrel would explode.
Although he was cursing the old fox's greed in his heart, he still smiled and said,
"Thank you for your kindness, Brother Wang. My family still has some assets overseas, so you don't have to worry about the military supplies.”
"This elder brother is worrying too much. Then I will congratulate Brother Zhong in advance for having a lot of money and a prosperous official career!”
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