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Chapter 178 178 [Squire]

The imperial power does not go to the countryside, and if the county magistrates want to manage the people in the villages under their control, they have to go through the unique class of squires.

The country gentry is mainly composed of a group of influential figures in rural society, such as those who have not passed the imperial examination or have failed to become official, local educated small and medium-sized landowners, retired small and medium-sized officials who have returned to their hometowns or have stayed in the countryside to recuperate for a long time, and clan elders.

Their status is not low, and they are also the bridge between the country and the rural people. Naturally, the county magistrate does not dare to offend too much.

Facing the twenty-odd squires gathered together, Liu Xian Cheng coughed slightly and told the whole story, emphasizing two points.

All of this was persecuted by the Japanese, and the five thousand oceans was a request from the county magistrate. He, the county magistrate, was just passing on errands, and asked them to follow suit.

As soon as his voice fell, the pot exploded below.

"Five thousand oceans, are the Japanese crazy about gains and losses?"

"Five thousand oceans, our ancestors have been saving for generations, but we can't save such a fortune. Are these Japanese made of gold? They are so valuable!"

"If you want me to say, this has nothing to do with us at all. It's not that the bandits came to our Yuanbao Town to do it. The Japanese have already left the town. Who knows where they went to rely on us. Who knows if he is cheating or not?"

"Yeah, the Japanese have too many bad intentions. I strongly suspect that this is their conspiracy. They made up such an excuse to extort money."

Similar doubts kept ringing out, and none of the people present wanted to admit such a thing.Five thousand oceans, half of the squires present, the family property is not enough for this amount!
Besides, why should they pay this money for such a non-existent thing?

Is it just something the Japanese made up out of nonsense?
Just kidding!
Liu Xiancheng drank tea, smiled and waited for them to finish their complaints, and then said slowly: "Everyone, you must understand that the Japanese will not give up without a satisfactory answer.

Now Magistrate Chang is in charge, Wuqian Dayang has solved the matter, and everything is happy.But if the Japanese are serious about it, it won't be something that can be settled by another person. The sooner the matter is resolved, the better. "

The squires present were silent, so why didn't they know the dominance of the Japanese.The failure of the Sino-Japanese War of 2-[-], the land was ceded and the compensation was more than [-] million taels of silver. Didn't the imperial court admit it?
It is even said that the "grain silver" with a content of 93.5% was used at that time, and the Qing court thought it could be paid according to this when signing the agreement.

However, in order to pay more compensation, Japan insisted on the settlement of 99% "pure silver" on the pretext of insufficient silver content. Didn't the Qing court pay more than 1000 million taels for this?
Japan can blackmail more than 1000 million taels, and a few small Japanese can blackmail five thousand oceans. Isn't this normal?
Seeing that their attitudes had softened, Liu Xiancheng continued to persuade them: "Everyone, you are not allowed to pay the five thousand oceans. Everyone in Yuanbao Town is responsible for this. If it is shared equally, each person is just one ocean."

A piece of ocean, for those present, is a matter of getting a few taels of good tea and setting a table with delicious dishes. They even said that when they were listening to an opera, they would throw a few pieces of ocean on the stage as a reward.

To them, a piece of ocean is just a daily expense, not a big deal at all.

But for the tenant farmers at the bottom, the coolies carrying bags, and the guys standing at the counter, a piece of ocean may be their income for ten days and a half a month.It is difficult for them to earn a little money to support their families, and if they take out this ocean, it should be used as pants.

What's more, some people are old and young, and they all rely on the labor of one or two strong people to make money.This amount of money is equivalent to several oceans when shared on the body. Could it be that the whole family does not eat or drink for a month?
The expressions of the squires were a little dignified, but anyone with a bit of conscience would definitely not want to do this.

But if they were really asked to make a choice, they would definitely choose to protect their own interests at the expense of others.

At this moment, Zhu Kaishan stood up: "Everyone, let me be fair. This incident is an unwarranted disaster. We have nothing to do with what happened to the Japanese. We can only blame their lives.

But the Japanese are now placing this responsibility on us young and old men, which is something wrong.

If you want money, yes.Out of humanitarianism, we can give their families a little pension, but it must not be so much. Does this make us gentlemen the main ones? "

"Brother Zhu is right. This is a pension, not compensation. The Japanese can't take us for granted. The amount is too big. I don't recognize it."

"Brother Zhu is right, and I agree."

The others agreed one after another, almost choking Liu Xiancheng who was sitting in the first place. He didn't expect this strange man to be so charismatic, and he took the initiative in one go.

He whispered to the familiar squire next to him, "Old Zhang, who is this?"

No matter how lively the talk was just now, the old man kept silent all the time, only now he opened his eyes to look at the people present, and said calmly: "This is Zhu Kaishan from Fangniugou, a foreigner who has just taken root for a few years It's normal if Mr. Liu doesn't know him."

How much influence can a foreigner who has just taken root for a few years have.Liu Xiancheng had the bottom line in his mind, so naturally he didn't panic.

He didn't want to let go of this foreigner who refuted his face, so he took this opportunity to let people see the official authority of Mr. Liu.

He stood up, pointed at Zhu Kaishan and yelled: "Who are you? Who didn't fasten his belt and exposed you? How dare you point fingers here? Get out of here."

The soldiers he brought understood his mysterious voice, and rushed up one by one with malicious intentions, ready to show the country bumpkin some color and let him know the majesty of the county magistrate.

But how could Zhu Kaishan be the kind of person he is? The number of lives of the Qing soldiers in his hands had already been in double digits, how could he be captured by these show-offs?

After a burst of fists and kicks, five or six soldiers all lay down on the ground, and each of them was seriously injured.The rest of the soldiers quickly drew out their waist knives and surrounded Zhu Kaishan, but no one dared to act rashly.

"Liu Xiancheng, don't make your mouth dirty like a latrine, or I won't be able to help but want to beat you up." Zhu Kaishan stared at him coldly, and said without fear.

Liu Xiancheng's face was so gloomy that he almost dripped water, no one dared to talk to him like that!

The crime came casually, "Resisting the law and attacking the court officials, the crime is punishable, let me take it down!"

But at this moment, Yuan Pengfei, who had watched the play outside for a long time, didn't dare to continue watching, and shouted: "Yuan Pengfei is here, who dares to be presumptuous!"

The four people who followed him were not polite either, they rushed in straight away, pointed the pistols at the soldiers, and could kill them at any time.

Also let them know that Yuan Pengfei's three words are not just words, they are fatal.

Yuan Pengfei scanned the crowd, turned his attention to Liu Xiancheng again, and said playfully: "Liu Xiancheng, what were you talking about just now? I didn't hear you clearly, repeat it to me again."

At this time, Mr. Zhang coughed in a fake way, and said in a voice that only the two of them could hear: "Liu Xiancheng is too anxious, Zhu Kaishan is Yuan Pengfei's godfather, so he represents the cattle herding Those dozens of families in the ditch."

The cold sweat on Liu Xiancheng's forehead instantly flowed down, how did he offend this King of Hades, this is a devil who can kill without count!

Yuan Pengfei's name is known to everyone in Yuanbao Town. Even newborn children know that he is their patron saint and the man of god who can drive away bandits within a radius of thirty miles.

Why doesn't Liu County Cheng know his name?

For a period of time, the heads of the bandits were carried to the county government by cart after cart, and the heads on the gates and buildings were almost full, and all of them were bandits with names on the green forest road.

Later, they did not continue to send them. That was because all the unlucky bandits in Yuan Pengfei's territory were almost killed.Those who are smart feel that they can't survive, and would rather compete with bandits in other places for food than dare to face Yuan Pengfei, the Prince of Hell, here.

Even though Magistrate Chang didn't take Yuan Pengfei seriously when he gave him orders, he spoke very loudly.In fact, Magistrate Chang would not really dare to say that in front of Yuan Pengfei.

Yuan Pengfei is no longer a newcomer with no background. Someone from Fengtian has already greeted them, and there is someone covering them.

Only Magistrate Chang is qualified to fight with gongs and drums in front of each other, and he is not enough as a county magistrate!

Putting on a smile, Liu Xiancheng waved away his men, took small steps to come to Yuan Pengfei, bowed his hands respectfully and said: "Captain Yuan Haihan, it's not like a flood has washed away the Dragon King Temple, and one family doesn't know the other." !
If I had known that he was the elder of Captain Yuan, I wouldn't have said that if I was killed!Please forgive me, forgive me! "

Zhu Kaishan glared at him but said nothing.He knew that there was no point in breaking up with the government. He didn't care if his stable life was disrupted, but it didn't matter to the couple at home.

Yuan Pengfei looked at Zhu Kaishan's appearance and asked what to do.I made a note of this guy in my mind, but did not continue to pursue his dirty talk.

"Liu County Cheng, how much do the Japanese want?"

"Five Thousand Oceans."

"My face should be worth two thousand oceans!"

Liu Xiancheng felt bitter in his heart, but he couldn't help admitting it. He nodded quickly and said, "It's worth it, it's definitely worth it, not to mention two thousand oceans, even three thousand oceans is worth it."

"No need, I still know how much I weigh, so let's count it as two thousand oceans! I'll come to suppress the bandits and find six Japanese, and I'll get two thousand oceans of hard-earned money, right?"

"It should be, it should be, how can suppressing bandits not spend money! It is only right and proper to suppress bandits to spend money." Liu Xiancheng cooperated with a smile.

When he meets someone who can control him, he is just a yes man, and he doesn't dare to disagree at all.

Yuan Pengfei knew that was the case, so he chuckled, "Okay, then there will be a thousand oceans left. Come back in fifteen days and get the money, the heads of the territorial bandits, and those six little Japanese. Of course, I hope they are still alive." Come on, otherwise I will find their remains for you at most."

How could Liu Xiancheng dare to say no, and continued to lick his face and flatter, "I don't feel at ease if I entrust this matter to anyone, but if I entrust Captain Yuan to do it, it will definitely be easy to do, so I can rest assured. "

Yuan Pengfei didn't respond to his flattery, and the others ignored him, and the scene fell into embarrassment for a while.

Liu Xiancheng was unhappy but didn't dare to show it. He squeezed a smile and said to himself, "Captain Yuan, if there's nothing else, then I'll take my leave first. See you later, everyone."

After speaking, he waved to his men and left dejectedly.

Those who know the current affairs are heroes, and when they meet those who cannot be offended, they are honest and admit defeat. This is the only rule in the officialdom.

And after this irrelevant person was driven away, Yuan Pengfei began to give orders.

"Five thousand oceans have become three thousand oceans. Everyone, I have tried my best. Do you have any objections?"

"Captain Yuan has benefited our Yuanbao Town. It's too late to thank him. How can he have any objections?"

The old man who had tricked Liu Xian Cheng just now became very energetic and took the lead in expressing his agreement.

Yuan Pengfei didn't know that this guy was sowing discord just now, but he saw it for real.

But the gentry group is really intricate. Let’s just talk about this old man, he is just a small official who has retired and returned to his hometown, so it doesn’t seem worth mentioning.

But in fact, three of the squires present through marriage were his children and in-laws.The combined influence of four people can affect the livelihoods of more than a hundred households, and they have even greater say.

If Yuan Pengfei takes care of him, the entire Yuanbao Town will be shaken, which will easily cause instability.

So as long as this guy doesn't confront him face to face, he is not willing to pay such a high price, and it will be over if he turns a blind eye.

With a slight nod, Yuan Pengfei talked about the plan formed in his mind just now: "As for the raising of the [-] oceans, considering that some people can't afford the money, I also give two options. contribute.

It will be divided equally according to the head, and those who are willing to pay, you will organize to collect the money.Those who are willing to contribute, you can count them and report them to me.The insurance team also needs to build a large barracks, and the labor will definitely be available.

Control food and housing, wages are based on market prices, and after deducting this shared share, you can still get wages if you continue to work.What do you guys think? "

This incident happened because of him, and he still felt a little guilty in his heart.He is also very willing to help out in any way he can.

But when giving favors, you also need to pay attention to strategies and methods.If he shouldered all the burdens, of course someone would remember him well.But if something happens in the future, people will still place their hopes on him.

At that point, it won't be his turn to refuse anymore.Because once he dares to refuse, not only will the good thing be gone, but people will also have to curse him.

People's hearts are like this, promote Mi En, fight Mi Qiu.

If someone is in trouble, you give him a small help, he will appreciate you.But if you help people too much and make them dependent, once you stop helping people, it will make people hate you.

In this way, others can remember his kindness without forming too much dependence.

The squires present did not know the reason, but this did not prevent them from boasting.In any case, this is a big trouble solved, and everyone is happy.

The old man was the first to stand up again. He leaned on a cane and said tremblingly, "Captain Yuan, I want to thank you on behalf of the 83 households in Zhaojia Village. You are the patron saint of our Yuanbao Town!"

Seeing that the scene was robbed, several other people also stood up and expressed their gratitude on behalf of the villagers in their respective villages.What he said was more explicit than the other, and Yuan Pengfei was short of saying that Yuan Pengfei was the reincarnation of the Buddha and the reincarnation of the Bodhisattva.

Yuan Pengfei can be considered to have seen the world, but he got goosebumps from what they said. This shows how explicit these people's words are.

But he can't be too big, making people feel that he doesn't respect the old.You have to step forward to support each other, say some modest words, and put on a happy look.

And it has to be said that people become better with age. The old man made such a thank you, and they took away [-]% of the effect of Yuan Pengfei's kindness.

When people who don't know the truth talk about gratitude, they have to mention these country squires who argue hard for benefits.

At the same time, these squires also hold their greatest advantage, the right to speak in public opinion.

Many peasants who could not read a word could hear things that they, the country gentry, were willing to spread.

And these squires are unwilling to spread it, and it is impossible for the vast majority of people to know.

They could not and did not dare to be ambiguous about Yuan Pengfei's credit, but it was easy to boast about themselves and share some of the credit.

(End of this chapter)