Poor Family 1

  Chapter 551 Financial difficulties

  Li Yanqing first asked He Laoliu, "Song Xiaoyi lent you a thousand guan, with a monthly interest of ten guan. Before he passed away, he had already repaid you 150 guan of principal and 50 guan of interest, is that right?"

  He Lao Liu is a black and fat middle-aged man. It can be seen that he is very nervous, unable to say a word, and nods repeatedly.

Li Yanqing said to the young widow again: "Your husband borrowed money from He Laoliu to buy a store. I have confirmed this. Although your husband is dead, the loan is attached to the store, so the money should be repaid logically." To He Lao Liu, but I promise you to only pay back the principal and not the interest, and the 50 guan interest you have paid before will also be converted into the principal. it's over."

  The young widow was anxious, "How can the little girl pay him back? My husband is dead, so I shouldn't pay back the money."

   "Listen to me!"

Li Yanqing said to her again: "I guess you will marry again. If you take the restaurant away as a dowry, your son will not be able to inherit it, so I ask you to sell the restaurant and ask for 5,300 yuan, and then you If you pay back the borrowed money, you will still have 4,500 coins left, which is no loss for you, and you will earn 500 coins more.

If you still refuse to accept this plan, then I will propose another plan for you. From now on, the monthly rent will be owned by He Lao Liu. Until the loan is paid off, the restaurant will still belong to you. You can consider these two plans , if you refuse to accept the two proposals, then the official will forcibly auction the restaurant, and the official has already made a statement. "

  The young widow lowered her head and thought for a while, "My family is willing to accept the first plan, selling the restaurant."

  Li Yanqing said to He Laoliu again: "You should be able to accept it!"

The only loss He Laoliu suffered here was the loss of 50 pennies of interest, but he was already burning incense if he could get back the capital, he quickly said: "The villain is willing to accept it, but I beg the county lord to sell the restaurant to me. Pay all transfer taxes."

The purpose of He Laoliu's lawsuit this time is for this restaurant. The other party's orphans and widows don't know how to run it, so there is only 20 guan rent per month. If he manages it by himself, he can earn at least 50 guan per month. The pure profit of money can recover the capital in less than ten years.

  Li Yanqing asked the young widow again, "Are you willing to accept?"

   The young widow is certainly willing to not have to pay hundreds of dollars in taxes and fees, she nodded, "I am willing!"

   "Okay! He Laolou handed over 4,500 guan to Jiang's, the restaurant is transferred, and the case is closed."

  Li Yanqing smiled at Jiang Wulang, the Yaman of Zhuangzhai again: "If you come to testify, you won't let you go in vain, you can transfer the ownership to them!"

  Jiang Wulang was overjoyed, he could earn dozens of money in one session, where can such a good thing be found.

   "Thank you, Mr. County, for your success!"

  Li Yanqing nodded, and said to Facao: "According to my judgment, let them sign and detain, the case is over, and we will withdraw!"

   "Retire!"

  The police shouted loudly, Li Yanqing got up and went back to the inner hall, and the rest of the signatures and deposits and the delivery of the money house were all under the responsibility of the police officer. Even if the case is understood, because it is a civil case, there will be no further appeals. This is the final trial.

  The onlookers and ordinary people also dispersed. At the gate of the county government, several litigators were discussing, "I really admire that such a long-delayed case was successfully tried with great satisfaction. This new county lord is very talented!"

   "Then you don't know. He was demoted to serve as a censor. In the previous imperial examinations, he specialized in dealing with major court cases. Of course, this kind of small case is not a problem."

   "No wonder! It turned out to be Shi Yushi."

   Soon, the case spread throughout the city. While Li Yanqing won unanimous approval, it also made the people of Jiayu County more enthusiastic about litigation.

  After the trial of the case, it was almost noon, Yang Ju walked into the official room and said with a smile: "Mr. County, let's have a cup of tea together!"

   "Are there any teahouses in the county?" Li Yanqing asked in surprise.

   "How could it not? Jiayu County is also an upper county, with all kinds of businesses, and there is a tile shop at the end of East Street. If I have time, I will take the county gentleman to visit the county."

  Li Yanqing happily said: "Let's drink tea first, I'll treat you!"

   "No! No! No! I should invite you, and the county lord is welcome."

   "Then I will invite you next time!"

The two of them got on an ox cart and headed towards Dongdajie. The central axis road in Jiayu County was called Shayang Dajie, which was the north-south axis. It is called West Street, and the two streets are the commercial centers of Jiayu County.

After passing the Bell and Drum Tower, the ox cart entered the East Street, and the first thing that caught the eye was the Town God’s Temple, which is a huge open space covering an area of ​​nearly 60 mu, and its open area is larger than the square in front of the county government office. wide.

  Li Yanqing frowned, "There is such a big square in front of the county government office, and it is so spacious here, isn't it too extravagant?"

"This is also a gathering place for various folk activities, such as the Shangyuan Lantern Festival, Spring Society, Zhongyuan Festival, Yulan Basin Festival, River God Festival, Saturn God Festival, etc., so this area has been reserved. .”

   "That's not right! Except for the Shangyuan Lantern Festival, other Spring Festivals, River God Festivals, and Agricultural God Festivals should all be in the countryside or by the river. The Zhongyuan Festival is by the river, and the Yulan Basin Festival is in temples. Why are they all concentrated here?"

   "Isn't it because of the rampant river thieves? Everyone is afraid outside the city, so we can only come to the city to hold various activities."

   "It seems that the Jiang thief still has a great influence!"

   "Of course there will be an impact, after all, he is a Jiang thief!"

Li Yanqing was silent. At this time, the bullock cart passed the Town God's Temple. In front of it was a restaurant, covering an area of ​​two acres, with a two-storey building. On the flags and banners were written the four characters of "Sanyuan Restaurant", and it didn't stop even though it was noon. Some customers went in to drink tea, and it seemed that the business was good.

Yang Ju pointed to this restaurant and said in a low voice: "This is the restaurant involved in today's lawsuit. Song Xiaoyi bought it for 4,000 yuan. It seemed that he took advantage of it, but he died of sudden illness a few months later. Now, this is called being blessed but not blessed!"

  Li Yanqing nodded, this restaurant looks good, no wonder He Lao Liu is determined to take it down.

Going forward, you will find a dense shop area. You can see the flow of people, the sound of hawking one after another, and various shops. There are restaurants, teahouses, silver shops, inns, gambling halls, music halls, brothels, etc., and at the very end is the tile shop on East Street, where there is a world of various small shops.

  Although it is only a county seat, the business is so prosperous, Li Yanqing really did not expect it.

   "Master, we are here!"

  The bullock cart stopped in front of a teahouse, Li Yanqing stepped out of the bullock cart, and saw the signboard saying 'Sanjiang Teahouse', Yang Ju said a little embarrassedly: "To tell you the truth, this is the teahouse run by my wife's natal family."

  Li Yanqing said with a smile: "I thought Yang Xiancheng was also arrested!"

"That's right! When I passed the Ezhou Jieyuan Examination, the Zhang family, the largest grain merchant in Ezhou, married their daughter to me. They not only do grain business, but also open restaurants and teahouses. This Sanjiang teahouse is their property. "

  Li Yanqing's heart moved, and he seemed to think of something, but he couldn't understand it clearly, so he nodded and smiled: "No wonder Yang Xiancheng wants to invite me to drink tea, so it's a business along the way!"

   "The county gentleman is joking, please!"

  They walked into the teahouse, and the teahouse shopkeeper came out to greet them with a smile on his face: "It turns out that my uncle is here, please go upstairs!"

  Yang Ju introduced Li Yanqing to him, "This is our new county magistrate Li. Shopkeeper Ma will remember it in the future."

  The shopkeeper was in awe, "It turned out to be Mr. Li County, the villain is disrespectful."

  Li Yanqing smiled lightly, "You're welcome, I'm also a guest now, let's greet the guests!"

   "Two distinguished guests upstairs!"

Yang Ju took Li Yanqing up to the second floor, walked into an elegant room by the window, and sat down opposite each other. The view here was very good, and the bustling streets were unobstructed. Shui Tongzi was going to serve them to drink tea, the tea prostitute was very heavily made up, and her true face could no longer be seen, as soon as she entered, the whole room was filled with fragrance.

  The tea prostitute lightly stroked Yang Ju's thigh and said with a charming smile: "The officials haven't come to see the servant's house for several days."

  A trace of embarrassment flashed in Yang Ju's eyes, her face darkened and she said coldly: "This official is discussing official business with the county lord, so just order some tea!"

The tea prostitute was taken aback. This young man was actually the county magistrate. She didn't dare to be presumptuous anymore, so she honestly ordered tea for them. Li Yanqing smiled slightly, pretending that he didn't see anything. He smiled when they returned to normal. Asked: "What government affairs does Yang Xiancheng want to discuss with me?"

  Yang Ju pondered for a while and said: "The main reason is to talk to the county magistrate about the current difficulties of the county government."

   "I think the county government is not bad! Everything is running normally."

   "That's just on the surface. In fact, everyone is looking forward to the county monarch's appointment. I don't know what to say?"

   "Just say it!"

  Yang Ju sighed, "It's mainly due to the financial difficulties in the county!"

  Li Yanqing quickly glanced at the tea prostitute beside him, Yang Ju said: "This is an open secret in the county, everyone knows it, so there is no need to avoid it."

  Li Yanqing smiled, "Actually, it's nothing. Aren't the county governments all over the Song Dynasty poor? Find a way to open source."

   "We are not as simple as being poor."

Yang Ju said worriedly: "Dissatisfied with the county lord, the county government has owed the salaries of the officials below for three months, and also owed at least 3,000 guan to several silver shops, and there are other debts. It can be said that the county is behind A pile of debt."

   "Why are you in debt?" Li Yanqing asked puzzled.

"The main reason is that the former county magistrate Wang also wanted to make money, so he borrowed 6,000 yuan to form an official fleet for transportation. It was good at first, but last year the fleet was robbed by the black-hearted Dragon King in Dongting Lake. The headhunter was killed, the boats were gone, and the compensation was lost, and everyone dared not report to the higher authorities, so they had to tear down the east wall to pay the west wall and pay back the money. This year has been really tight. The county magistrate was about to be transferred away, and he was anxious to resolve the matter, so he paid back all the money from the county government. As a result, he owed his subordinates three months of salary without payment. Everyone had to support their families, so they could only count on the county magistrate to help solve the problem. Urgent."

  (end of this chapter)