Golden Branch

"Has Lou Rang finally realized the beauty of 'current management'?"

Wang Heng smiled sweetly, but her words were a little harsh.

Lou Rang had been in Yizhou for nearly two months, and the river channel had been repaired for more than a month.

First, he offended Lu Huaijin because of his ignorance of the ways of the world. It was only after Lou Yu apologized in a big way that Lou Rang solved the problem of insufficient laborers.

However, having civilians does not mean that everything will be fine and smooth.

There are thousands of people on every section of the river.

Not to mention the tools and materials needed to build dams and clear rivers, even the problems of food and water for the laborers need to be properly addressed.

Lou Rang had never been on duty, let alone dealt with the common people.

He was born into a noble family and had a strong mindset in his bones.

In his opinion, as the chief manager of the river, he only needed to give an order and those lowly laborers would work hard.

Merchants responsible for providing soil, stones, and sacks should also do their best.

This is not just Lou Rang's job, but also a major matter concerning the national economy and people's livelihood, and he must not be negligent.

However, Lou Rang forgot that no matter how humble the common people were, they were still human beings who needed to eat, drink, defecate and urinate, and could get injured and sick.

Merchants do have a low status, but they are treacherous and greedy at heart.

There is no business without fraud, and this is what we are talking about.

Rivers are related to national economy and people’s livelihood?

so what?

As long as it does not hinder merchants from making money, they don't care whether the dam they build is shoddy or whether the silt in the river blocks the ships.

Imperial order?

what!

How scary!

Unfortunately, they are not officials who have received orders. Even if something happens, there is Lou Rang, the "general manager" who will stand in front of them!

Lou Rang: ...

It can’t be said that it is difficult to move forward, but it is also very troublesome.

At the beginning, there was a shortage of people.

We have people, but lack food and tools.

...In fact, what is really in short supply is money.

The Ministry of Revenue did allocate funds, but as it was passed down layer by layer, even if it was given to him by the boss, he would still take away a portion of it.

Even if he doesn't want it himself, he still has to manage his in-laws and retain staff.

After arriving in Yizhou, in less than two months, Lou Rang, a nobleman who was out of touch with worldly affairs and had no idea what money was, finally realized the importance of money.

You need money everywhere.

But it's never enough.

There was also Lu Huaijin's obstruction, and Lou Yu's overt and covert dragging of his feet. Lou Rang actually felt powerless and resentful as he saw enemies everywhere.

However, Lou Rang is not really a loser, or rather, he has smart people around him.

Realizing the importance of "county officials are not as good as current managers"——

In Yizhou, at least in the government offices in Hedong, there must be our own people.

In this way, the local money and grain in Hedong can be used to support the Hedao Yamen.

At worst, he could use his power to suppress others and kill a few fat sheep, which would not only intimidate the various forces in Hedong and Yizhou, but also ease the pressure on money.

After all, this is what Yang Rui, the Prince of Qi, did back then.

Taking advantage of an incident in the Yi River, they wiped out the river bandits and confiscated the property of the wealthy families.

Killing people, making money, establishing authority... After a series of combined punches, Yang Rui instantly gained a firm foothold in Yihe River and also gained enough merits in a short period of time.

When Lou Rang first came to Yizhou, he instinctively resisted imitating Yang Rui.

However, after running into obstacles everywhere and facing constraints from all sides, he had no choice but to do it.

However, the river manager was no match for the Prince of Qi, and Lou Rang had no troops under his command, so he could not be as vigorous and kill as Yang Rui.

After some thought, the staff came up with an idea for Lou Rang to first seek an official position in the government office in Yizhou or Hedong.

Lou Rang wrote a letter to the Li family, and through their efforts, the strategist who came up with the idea failed to become an official, but instead got the job which fell into Cui Zai's hands.

There's no way, Cui Zai is young and his abilities are mediocre.

But he has a nice surname.

The famous Cui family was the most important foreign relative of the previous dynasty.

After the founding of the new dynasty, the Cui family continued to rely on women.

Just last month, the sage canonized a woman named Cui as Consort Shu.

Concubine Cui Shu was only 28 years old, 40 or 50 years younger than the sage.

She was outstanding in appearance and extremely talented, and was deeply loved by the saint.

Concubine Cui Shufei and Cui Zai were not blood siblings, but relatives from different families.

But, you can’t write two characters “Cui” with one stroke.

The favor of Concubine Cui Shufei made the Cui family, who were used to being relatives by marriage, suddenly proud.

Concubine Cui's father, brother, and others were all recommended to become officials.

Even a cousin who was far away in Yizhou and was several levels of relationship away from me seemed to have benefited.

...It was just a low-ranking county clerk, but Cui Zai took the position without any psychological burden.

Wang Heng listened to the detailed report from the secret guard and thought quickly.

She looked at Lou Yu, "So, brother, is there going to be trouble in Yihe again?"

When Yang Rui left, he left behind a back-up plan that could be called an overt conspiracy—

When Yang Rui was in charge of the river, he was very generous to the people.

Two meals a day became three meals a day, and the lunch meal also included meat.

Although it is not good meat, but pig offal such as pig intestines, pig liver, pig lungs, etc. that are not worthy of being served, it is indeed oily.

In addition, Wang Mian has cultivated the cheating artifact for time travel for several years - chili peppers, which are heavy in oil, spicy and salty. They are simply the favorite of all those who do heavy labor.

A bowl of stewed pork offal, plus a few whole grain steamed buns, can make the laborers who do heavy labor every day feel full and well-fed, and even make them sweat from the spiciness.

The cold and dampness caused by soaking in the river water all day seemed to have been dispelled.

These are not actually considered as throwing away fees.

The farms under the names of Lou Yu, Wang Heng and even Wang Mian all have large-scale breeding farms.

It is still enough to go into the water every day.

The food in Hedao was even better than what the civilians had at home during the New Year. They were very satisfied and grateful to Yang Rui.

This is not the end yet.

Yang Rui also adopted a reward and punishment system, where those who performed well and worked longer hours would receive monetary rewards.

This is corvée labor assigned by the government. Instead of being beaten or scolded, or suffering hardships, I can eat my fill and get paid. This is something that only happens in dreams.

Unfortunately, such a good thing can only happen under Yang Rui's leadership.

Now that the rent has been changed, even if he does not deduct money and does things according to the rules and old regulations, it will still cause dissatisfaction among the people.

The common people at the bottom of society didn't care that Yang Rui paid for their past enjoyment. They would only compare and then draw conclusions.

Lou Rang was a corrupt official who embezzled the money for river repairs and withheld their rations and rewards!

Once this emotion grows and spreads, conflicts will become imminent and eventually lead to "civil unrest."

But such a thing cannot be blamed on Yang Rui.

Why blame others?

Do you blame him for paying out of his own pocket for a public job and showing sympathy to the low-level river workers?

It seems that Lou Rang cannot be blamed, after all, he is doing things according to the rules.

At most, he was not generous enough or "dedicated" enough, which led to his failure in his mission, disaster, and even his own implicate.

Although Wang Heng did not see Yang Rui arrange these things with her own eyes, she was able to reconstruct Yang Rui's "conspiracy" this time from the bits and pieces that Lou Yu told her.

An open conspiracy means that you know it is a trap but you cannot avoid it and have to jump into it.

Just like Lou Rang at this moment, he already knew about Yang Rui’s past “generosity”, but he couldn’t completely replicate it.

1. No money!

Second, there is not enough food supply.

Of course, it was still "no money." If they had money, the managers of the farms owned by Wang Heng and Wang Mian would naturally be willing to sell pig offal, chili peppers, etc. to Lou Rang.

Lou Rang: ...Damn it!

They are just a group of untouchables. It’s good enough that we don’t let them starve.

They still——

In order to gain a reputation for benevolence, Yang Rui did not hesitate to use his own money to subsidize the river workers.

But Lou Rang would not be so stupid.

Even if he didn't value money, he knew that adding meat and fish to the food for thousands of people every day would cost at least tens of thousands of copper coins.

The river project will take several years, and the cost of this "meal subsidy" alone is huge.

What kind of bullshit bonus is this... Isn't it the duty of these laborers to work hard?

What award is it?

Yang Rui raised the salaries of the river workers, making them unaware of their own worth and actually making them greedy.

Lou Rang refused to submit. He wanted to make these untouchables aware of their identities and situations!

They are here to perform labor service, not to enjoy themselves.

It's a pity that it's easy to say harsh words, but when it comes to doing things, Lou Rang feels helpless.

The laborers began to slack off and even deliberately go on strike.

Lou Rang was so angry that he ordered his officers and guards to take action, either scolding or whipping... It seemed that no one dared to delay openly, but the atmosphere on the river became a little gloomy and depressing.

Even Lou Rang, a nobleman who was ignorant of the sufferings of the world, felt a sense of oppression as if a storm was about to come.

He even developed a sense of crisis, as if something was about to happen.

He hasn't taken revenge on Lou Yu yet, so nothing can go wrong.

Just at this time, the staff suggested placing their own people in the local government office, which was also a way for Lou Rang to step out. Lou Rang agreed "reluctantly".

Wang Heng: ...What a pity! It's too late!

Oh no, to be more precise, Lou Rang died faster.

Before, he had only caused complaints from the common people, but now he promoted Cui Zai to be the chief clerk of the county government, hoping to make a killing in Hedong, and offended the wealthy businessmen, powerful families and other local tyrants.

Although the local forces in Hedong have been harvested in turn by Lou Jin, Yang Rui and others, they have changed several times.

However, those who can emerge, even if they are emerging forces, are not easy to bully.

Lou Rang wasn't Lou Jin, much less Yang Rui. With only a few dozen personal guards and the soldiers borrowed from the government, at most more than two hundred people died...

Not to mention other local tyrants, even Wang Heng can be easily fought against.

and many more!

Wang Heng suddenly realized——

Damn it, I was just laughing at Lou Rang’s joke, but I forgot that my own family has already “collapsed”.

The Wang family’s property in Yizhou will be confiscated.

What Wang Heng had transferred out might also be taken away by force.

The county magistrate who destroyed the family and the provincial governor who wiped out the entire clan!

Cui Zai became the second-in-command of the county government, and he would definitely abuse his power for personal gain and use his authority to oppress others.

She, Wang Heng, whose mother is not around and whose father is a fat girl who has been convicted of corruption, is simply the perfect fat sheep!

Really fat!

Wang Heng: ...Uh, is this considered excessive joy leading to sorrow?

Lou Yu watched the fat girl's expression change, and her thoughts were all written on her face.

He couldn't help laughing out loud, quack, quack, just like a duck!

PS: It’s the end of the month, the end of the year, and I’m begging for monthly votes! Thank you so much! (^.^)