Crowds gathered in front of Zhou's paper shop on Dongzuomen Nei Street. The crowd was noisy, and Zhou Yueru's sharp voice faded in and out of the noisy background.
Pang Yu had just arrived with five quickies. The street was not only crowded with citizens, but also some people from outside the city walking on the street carrying luggage.
This was something neither Pang Yu nor Yang Erming expected. News of the approaching bandits inevitably leaked out of the government office. The news soon spread among the people, and some people from outside the city entered the city.
This time when there was a riot with the people, it was the other way around. At that time, we went out of the city to avoid trouble, but this time we went into the city to avoid trouble.
Nowadays, the people entering the city are mainly the people living in the city. There are not many farmers entering the city. But Pang Yu estimates that if the rogue bandits really approach the county town, a large number of people will enter the city. After all, the county town has a city wall, which feels safer than the towns. Of course,
This may not be the case in reality.
The residents in the city don't have to run around, but they still have to face the threat of rogue bandits breaking into the city. Everyone is famous for rogue bandits, and they can imagine all kinds of terrifying scenarios. When there is no way to relieve the pressure, the Westerners around them are the first.
A target.
The noise in the crowd became louder and louder. Pang Yu had already heard Zhou Yongtian's uncontrollable scream. He turned around and nodded to the fast hand behind him. The fast hand was holding a gong and banging it hard.
Pang Yu bared her teeth until the harsh sound of the gong stopped.
When the onlookers saw that they were people on the fast shift, they quickly made way for them. Pang Yu walked into the crowd in full view of everyone and took a look around. Most of them were ordinary people, but there were actually two people wearing government uniforms. After a closer look,
It turned out to be Wang Dazhuang's brother-in-law Zhang Daiwen again. He was dragging a door panel to prevent Zhou Yueru from closing the store.
Zhou Yueru was a little haggard. She looked terrified when facing the crowd, with beads of sweat on her forehead. When she saw Pang Yu, she immediately showed a look of surprise.
When Zhang Daiwen saw Pang Yu, he quickly dropped the door panel and limped a few steps back outside.
Pang Yu glared at him a few times. This person was so annoying, but he was not that heinous.
Pang Yu only regarded him as a villain and felt that he was not worthy of being treated like Secretary Zhao.
This time, Zhang Daiwen was beaten twenty times by Yang Erming, but he was released again within seven or eight days. Pang Yu suspected that the fast hand who executed him at that time had some experience with this prison, otherwise how could he have recovered so quickly.
Yang Erming did not go into details, because Zhang Daiwen was sleeping on duty, and it was not that he disrespected the county magistrate. The crime in Yang Erming's heart was smaller. After Zhang Daiwen recovered, Wang Dazhuang personally took him to kowtow to Yang Erming to admit his mistake, and he is still in the South Prison.
Be a prisoner.
Pang Yu stared at him and said, "Zhang Daiwen, why are you here?"
"I... I live in this section. The bandits are coming soon. This Zhou Yongtian is from the West and will probably be the vanguard of the bandits. I heard the notice from the magistrate and led the neighbors to drive him out of the city."
"The magistrate just wants to avoid suspicion between host and guest, and asks Westerners who have somewhere to go to leave on their own. Do you see the word 'please' clearly?"
Who asked you to cause such an alarming situation and lead people to be expelled?"
Zhang Daiwen quickly defended, "Zhou Yongtian has lived in Tongcheng for more than two years and has often been at odds with our neighbors. Even if he was not a rogue spy before, there is no telling when the rogues will come. It would be better to expel him."
The surrounding neighbors all agreed and denounced Zhou Yongtian. Zhou Yongtian hugged a stick and huddled in the paper shop, pointing the head of the stick outside in fear.
Pang Yu recalled that Zhou Yongtian picked up a stick and beat people that day. He probably didn't have a good temper, and it was probably true that he was at odds with his neighbors.
He couldn't help but glance at Zhou Yueru. The female helper was still looking at her expectantly.
I remembered that I didn't receive a penny of the mortgage from this woman, and even overpaid more than ten taels of silver. This business was already showing signs of becoming a non-performing asset.
But many people know that Zhou Yueru is their female helper, and it would be inappropriate to ignore her. At this time, the crowd is gathering, and he cannot be an enemy of everyone. It is best to only deal with the person who is leading the trouble.
Then he rubbed his nose and said to Zhang Daiwen, "You are not on duty in the South Prison, so what are you doing here again? Last time you slept on duty, and this time you left without permission. Do you think the fast-moving bat was not strong enough?"
"The villain has just been on guard for a day. The cell leader said that my injury is just fine. Today, I will let the villain rest at home. Isn't this villain..." Pang Yu leaned over and interrupted in a low voice, "You also know that my injury is just fine. If you don't let me go right now."
Now that the neighbors have dispersed, next time you fight, I'll ask Lengzi Xu to fight for you, what do you think?"
Zhang Daiwen made a growl in his throat, cringed and took a step back.
Pang Yu turned to the crowd and said loudly, "I am Mr. Pang from Kuaiban. The county government did have a notice asking the Westerners to leave on their own. It also specifically said that we must not wrongly accuse good people. We have no evidence and we cannot just because
Since the Zhou family is a Westerner, we can conclude that they are not good people. Please rest assured, neighbors, that the Tongcheng Express will track down the bandits carefully and will definitely keep Tongcheng safe."
After Pang Yu finished speaking, he glared at Zhang Daiwen. Zhang Daiwen hesitated for a moment. He knew that Pang Yu was a famous person in the county government. He already had more than 100 quick and strong squads under his command. He could recruit more than 200 strong squads. The gentry in Tongcheng were now busy.
After moving to Nanjing, Pang Yu can be said to be the largest force in the county. If he offends him again, it will be worse than before.
Zhang Daiwen stood up reluctantly and said to the surrounding neighbors, "Pang Bantou said that it can keep Tongcheng safe, so it must be possible. We all listen to the county government. Everyone should stop surrounding Zhou's paper shop. Let's go to Li's hometown.
Go and tell us that our factory will send out more than a hundred soldiers, and each family should go and discuss it."
Many of the onlookers already recognized Pang Yu. That day he dragged a cart of heads and swaggered through the market, and now he brought several government servants with swords and sticks. Since he had spoken, no one dared to disobey him. Seeing Zhang Daiwen taking the lead to leave, the others
Everyone dispersed.
After Zhou Yueru waited for the crowd to disperse, she approached Pang Yu and whispered, "Thank you."
"Why don't you come and help me lately?"
Zhou Yueru buried her head and said, "My father was frightened that night when the Wu family's house was burned down, and he has never left anyone. I will repay the money I owe you..." Pang Yu waved his hand and said, "Let's not talk about the money now, and neither will the young master."
I need your little money.
It’s just that under the current circumstances, it’s best not to open your paper shop recently, and keep the door panel closed during the day, so as not to scare your father again.”
“Then what will you eat if you don’t do business?
Not to mention paying you back your money."
Pang Yu turned around and looked at Zhou Yongtian, who was still on guard with a stick inside the paper shop, and said calmly, "You go to Wansheng Dian Shop to help me, take care of the accounts and property, and I will give you three taels of work and food money every month."
Zhou Yueru was happy at first, but then her face turned gloomy. Pang Yu smiled and said, "If I don't deduct it from your debt, I'll give it to you in cash every month."
Zhou Yueru then smiled happily and said, "Then I will go tomorrow."
"Remember, you are only responsible for the accounts and property, other things such as pawning, lending, and loan collection. You cannot interfere with Shopkeeper Liu. No matter how dissatisfied you are, you can only tell me that you must not interfere with Shopkeeper Liu's management."
Seeing Zhou Yueru nodding, Pang Yu felt a little relieved. Pang Yu had never found a suitable person to take care of the pawn shop's accounts. Now Liu Ruogu was helping him run two pawn shops, a gambling stall and a grain store. Pang Yu temporarily planned to
The operation of the model at this time is just to expand the scale and overwhelm other peers through its size advantage.
Therefore, he will continue to expand the scale in the future. Pang Yu is not short of money now, but what he lacks most is people. Originally, he planned to let his father take care of the accounts, which would be the most reassuring, but his father gave him a lesson before he finished listening, and then he
Discarded this idea.
Pian shops, gambling stalls, and grain stores are not places where warmth is felt. Pang Yu is worried that Zhou Yueru will interfere with Liu Ruogu's management. Now it seems that Zhou Yueru's life has not been going well recently and he has no time to pity others.
"Then I will ask Ponting to take you tomorrow and go to a few places to familiarize yourself with the ground."
After Pang Yu finished speaking, he was about to leave. Zhou Yueru pulled his sleeve with a sigh, and Pang Yu stopped and looked at her.
"They all say the bandits are coming, but are they really?"
Pang Yu let out a breath and said, "I'm not sure that there is an official document coming from Qianshan, but the information is not accurate.
There was also a rogue bandit incident in the first half of the year, but it didn't come in the end. We should go on as we should, but if there is any news about rogue bandits, everyone will not even care about their livelihood."
"The county government also assigned more than a hundred battlements to our village, with one commissary on each. After my father heard about it, he was ready to defend the city, but the neighbors and others..." Zhou Yueru buried her head and choked with tears, her eyes dripping with tears.
Pang Yu shook his head and smiled helplessly. Tongcheng had already cleared out more than 30 households of Westerners in every neighborhood, including some Qin people who had settled there for many years.
Most of these Qin people are merchants, and their economic strength is much stronger than that of ordinary locals. A large part of them have settled here, their wives, concubines, and children are all in Tongcheng, and they have real estate in the local area.
From a profit perspective, these people were actually more afraid of bandits than the local poor, and Pang Yu could not see any reason for them to cater to bandits.
The so-called hometown friendship with the bandits is not worth mentioning in the face of actual interests, but most people do not think so. The idea of expelling the Westerners is based on broad public opinion.
According to Pang Yu's thinking, if the Westerners living in Tongcheng are forced too much, it will artificially create a sense of closeness between them and the bandits, and their resentment towards the locals will become the real bond of their emotions, pushing these people to the side of the bandits.
.
"Don't worry about the neighbors, they are just nervous and want to find a channel to vent their worries. Master, I believe you.
The Di newspaper also said that many of the officers and soldiers who pursued and suppressed the bandits were Shaanxi frontier troops, and they were also Westerners, which further shows that there are many good people among Westerners."
Zhou Yueru's face improved a lot after hearing this. Pang Yu looked around and said, "It's normal for the people to overreact after hearing the news about the bandits these days. You can close the paper shop for a few days and let your old helper stay at home to guard it."
Your father, you can also make money by working in a pawn shop."
After Pang Yu finished speaking, he continued to Dongzuomen. There has been some chaos in the market recently, and there are many people entering the city. Pang Yu asked the express team to strengthen the six-door inspection, and everyone must patrol the streets.
At this time, he heard someone calling the leader from behind. Pang Yu turned around and saw that it was He Xianya who was chasing after him, panting.
When he caught up with him, Pang Yu asked, "Why is the third brother running like this?"
"Run, run..." "I know you are running."
He Xianya said anxiously before he could calm down his breathing, "It's the Zhuang...Zhuang class. Three strong men ran away and took away all their clothes..." Pang Yu was stunned, "When did it happen?
Who is looking after the others now?"
"Zhuang Chaozheng said that Zhuangban learned that the bandits were coming, and there had been noise since last night. They came from the countryside, and their families were not in the city. Many people said they wanted to go home, and people's hearts have been unstable.
Three people disappeared early this morning. Several captains called the others to guard the east garden, and Yao Dongshan sealed the garden gate with a knife."
Pang Yu was stunned for a while and then murmured, "Your grandma's strong class!"