Lin, this young master is generous. I won't hold past grudges against you. Quickly get rid of these peasants. As for your tofu-making skills, this young master will take them over!"Liu Liang patted hi..."Master! I don't know my name, what do you command me to do"

It was already evening when Zhao Fugui and Zhong Tao were called to the county office by Wu Yong. Both of them were very strange.

"Come, come, please sit down."

Wu Yong laughed and pulled up two chairs for them personally.

Although I hate Yang Lin with all my heart, I still have to put on a good show.

"Thank you, Sir!"

The two sat down, becoming more and more bewildered.

"Today, I called you here because of yesterday's matter concerning the requisition of grain and conscripts. Currently, our county office is lacking capable individuals, and both of you are precisely what we need! Therefore, I have decided to entrust the matters of requisitioning grain and conscripts to you two!"

Zhong Tao and Zhao Fugui were both stunned. Just as they were about to speak, Wu Yong smiled and said, "This matter has already been documented by this official and reported to the county magistrate. If this matter is handled well, both of you will surely have a bright future!"

Saying that, Wu Yong handed the two prepared documents to the two men.

"Hurry and get this done, you two! There are eight days left of the ten-day deadline. This is a major matter for the front lines, so we can't afford to be careless!"

Wu Yong's face was beaming with a smile, as if he had finished speaking something profound. He then directly instructed Zheng Shìyé to see the guest off.

Until Zhao Fugui and Zhong Tao took the documents out of the county office, they still looked bewildered.

"Uncle Zhao, what should we do now"

Zhong Tao had no idea what to do.

Zhao Fugui sighed: "Alas, what can we do Let's go back and find Yang Lin! Don't say that we haven't yet established ourselves in the county town. Even if we entrusted this matter to Zhao Deyi, he might not be able to handle it well! The magistrate is not deliberately making trouble for us, but clearly wants to make things difficult for Yang Lin!"

Whether it be collecting grain or conscripts, it has always been a major difficulty.

The common people are not stupid. They will die if they run out of food, and they will also die if they are sent to the front lines!

Even knowing it could be fatal, who would willingly cooperate

This time, the entire Jianghe County is required to recruit 500 laborers within ten days. This is nearly an impossible task!

"Xiao Zhong, you don't know yet, this delay in front-line military affairs, we can't afford to take on! Besides, we certainly can't do it ourselves. Yang Lin has many ideas, so the only thing we can do is go back quickly and discuss solutions with him!"

Although Zhao Fugui had only served as village head, he was old and experienced. Naturally, he guessed Wu Yong's intentions.

Originally, Wu Yong was responsible for this, but now he has passed the buck to them. Although they will receive rewards if things go well, the problem is that this is a difficult task!

Just now, Wu Yong only picked out the pleasant-sounding things to say, but he didn't mention at all what would happen if they couldn't be done.

"Then let's go back quickly!"

John Tao was also anxious.

While the sky was still bright, the two rode their horses straight to Mount Shadow Village!

Meanwhile.

At Yang's Trading Company in Hujang Town, Liu Xi was sighing and preparing to close up shop after only two days of business.

Yang's Trading Company has been open for two days, but business hasn't been satisfactory.

In two days, he sold only twelve sheets of paper with the help of two companions, earning a mere twelve cash!

Although each buyer who sees this new paper can't help but marvel and praise it as truly excellent paper.

But those who bought paper were poor students. Even if the paper was good, they couldn't afford to buy more.

You know, two or three copper coins could buy a jin of coarse grain, while this piece of paper costs one coin, it's extravagant!

Liu Xi intends to make time to go back and discuss with the boss about opening a shop in the county town.

Just then, an old man with white hair who happened to be passing by saw the signboard "One Wen for a Sheet of Paper" standing in front of the shop. He was surprised and said to Liu Xi who was closing up, “Are you still selling paper”

"Sell, sell, sell!"

Liu Xi saw that a customer was inquiring and hurriedly opened the shop door, smiling and greeting: "Customer, please come inside. The paper from our Yang's Trading Company is the best in the world!"

The old man was somewhat dismissive, but he still went into the shop.

As for him, a renowned scholar famous throughout the land, he always used the finest paper available. Unfortunately, having traveled this far, he had run out of his supply. He passed through several towns but found no one selling paper.

He originally planned to go to the nearby county town, but unexpectedly, he encountered a paper seller in this small town! Let's just take a look.

He didn't have high hopes for the paper sold in this town, but recently his thoughts had been flowing freely, and he had composed a few poems that he thought were quite good. Since he hadn't recorded them yet, this slightly inferior paper would do just fine. As long as it could be used to write and record his work, that was all that mattered.

"Here you go, sir."

Liú xǐ enthusiastically showed a stack of white paper on the counter.

Although he looked at the old man's attire and didn't think he was a wealthy person, he didn't expect the other party to buy more.

But now business is so bad, even selling one more would be good.

"Hee hee."

The old man glanced at the paper in front of him nonchalantly. As soon as he did, his eyes were immediately captivated by this stack of light, thin, white, and large papers.

“This, this is paper”

The old man's eyes widened, and he couldn't help reaching out to touch it.

Smooth, soft, it feels like touching skin, not at all the rough feeling of ordinary paper.

He hurriedly picked one up and looked out the door at the setting sun that hadn't yet fallen.

As the sun sets, like a yolk of a duck egg, through the paper, it casts a beautiful orange-red glow.

The old man swallowed hard.

"Clerk, how much is this paper"

He, Kong Qiu, travelled all over the world. He dared to say that having used paper from all over the world, he had never seen such light and smooth paper!

"Mister, our paper is good quality, but the price is the same as ordinary paper, only one penny."

Liu Xi raised a finger.

"What"

Kong Qiu was shocked again.

As for ordinary paper, costing just a penny, he naturally understood.

But he's used better.

He used all kinds: two-wen, five-wen, even ten-wen notes!

But nothing has ever been as good as this paper.

But such good paper, it's only selling for one penny

"Shopkeeper, how many of these papers do you have I want them all!"

He's not short on money, but such good paper, once you leave here, you won't be able to buy it!

So he's going to wrap up all the paper here!

"Huh"

This time it was Liu Xi's turn to be scared.

Coming to his senses, Liu Xi was overjoyed. However, he asked with some concern, "Sir, I have a thousand sheets now. Did you really buy them all"

Kong Qiu listened, but his brow furrowed slightly.

"Only one thousand"

One sheet costs just one penny, and a thousand sheets wouldn't even cost two ounces of silver. Besides, at his rate of spending paper, it probably wouldn't even last him a year.

"Liu Xi's eyes lit up again, and he quickly said: 'We only have a thousand sheets in the shop for now. If sir wants to buy more, someone will deliver them tomorrow. How many does sir want' "

Kong Qiu asked, "Is there a thousand"

"Yes! Yes! Yes!"

Liu Xi swallowed hard, his heart filled with overwhelming joy.

I didn't expect this unassuming old man to be such a big client.

At that moment, someone suddenly burst in from outside the door……the brick kiln makes a net profit of ten thousand taels of silver, then you'll get one hundred taels of silver each year.”After listening to Yang Lin's explanation, Song Qian was dumbfounded, while Hu...