Seeing him sitting at the desk with his brow furrowed and sighing repeatedly, Fu Qiulu couldn't help but ask, "What difficulties has Young Master encountered?"
Zhu Ci looked out the window and said, "Qiulu, tell me.. where can I get some money?"
Fu Qiulu froze for a moment after hearing this. "Is the Young Master out of money?"
She hesitated for a moment. "Then.. then I won't take my monthly allowance anymore."
Zhu Ci let out a scoff. "Forget it. What can you do with that little bit of money? In these times, having some money to rely on is better than having none at all. Don't be a fool and refuse it when someone offers you money in the future."
Fu Qiulu had a look of hesitation, as if wanting to say something, but then she thought for a moment and said, "If you want to make big money, Young Master, it depends on which path you intend to take."
Zhu Ci was somewhat surprised. "What do you mean?"
Fu Qiulu said seriously, "The proper way, of course, is to find ways to do business. Right now, grain and medicine are in high demand; if one can find a way, they can make some money. Aside from that, there is going to sea."
Zhu Ci said irritably, "As if I wouldn't know that?"
If he could afford a ship, he would have left long ago instead of hanging around with a bunch of slackers like you.
Fu Qiulu said, "If none of those will work, then.. there's only the less than honorable way."
Zhu Ci looked at her with interest and asked, "An unconventional way? What is it?"
Fu Qiulu leaned down slightly and said in a low voice, "Robbery."
Well, that is not only improper, but it is also illegal and immoral.
He looked at Fu Qiulu with a serious expression and said, "Don't say such things in the future. A gentleman loves wealth, but he must acquire it through proper means."
One should avoid anything that destroys the law or social order whenever possible; once one starts, he could rob others, others could naturally rob him in return.
More importantly, once one's nature turns bad, it is truly difficult to change it back; no matter the time, it is much easier to learn bad habits than good ones.
Fu Qiulu immediately stood up straight and said in a low voice, "Understood."
However, Fu Qiulu did indeed give Zhu Ci a heads-up: robbery.. one has to choose their targets carefully.
Ordinary people, officials, the wealthy—if you start talking about robbing the rich to aid the poor, then breaking the law is simply breaking the law, wrong is wrong. If everyone uses the title of robbing the rich to aid the poor, then everyone could potentially be robbed.
Even if someone only has a single copper coin, they would still be wealthier than those with none, yet they would still be robbed, then society would descend into chaos.
However, there are always exceptions, such as mountain bandits or Sea Bandits.
Their livelihood depended on robbery and plunder; robbing them gave Zhu Ci no psychological burden at all.
Thinking of this, Zhu Ci directly called out to Xi Ya and said, "Come with me to the county town."
Sigh, out of the whole family, Xi Ya is the most idle right now. Before, he was called over to make beehive coal, but now that the factory has been established, considering this fellow seems to be a bit of a double-dealer, he couldn't be sent to the factory side, so now he's just sitting around idle.
Traveling like this, it wouldn't be out of the question to have him run around and serve him for a bit.
Zhu Ci brought Xi Ya on a small donkey all the way to the county magistrate's office.
Upon learning that he had arrived, Magistrate Zhang immediately came out to greet him and said, "I heard magpies chirping in the trees early this morning, but I never expected it would be the arrival of the Young Master."
Zhu Ci said with a smile, "We are all so well acquainted that there is no need for such pleasantries. I wouldn't have come here if I didn't have business to attend to."
Magistrate Zhang asked eagerly, "Young Master, please feel free to give any command. If it is within my power, I will not refuse."
Zhu Ci looked at him and said, "I want the locations of all the hideouts of the mountain bandits within Jiading County."
"This.." Magistrate Zhang hesitated for a moment.
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Author's Note: Zhu Ci: Out of money, give me contribution points. Evil kitty reaches its claws into the bandit's pocket. jpg
Next update tomorrow morning at six o'clock~
Chapter 50
Zhu Ci took a sip of tea and asked leisurely, "What? Are there really no mountain bandits in Jiading County?"
Seeing Zhu Ci's indifferent expression, Magistrate Zhang felt truly uncertain and could only say, "There are indeed some, but I do not know where they are located; otherwise, I would have sent troops to suppress them long ago."
Zhu Ci let out a light chuckle. "Do you think I don't know why you haven't sent troops to suppress the bandits?"
Magistrate Zhang's heart skipped a beat. Before he could speak, Zhu Ci continued, "I have seen everything in the Capital. It's not as if I don't have family members who served as local officials. Do you think I don't understand the ins and outs of these matters? You had better think carefully; when I come here to question you, I am not acting solely on my own behalf."
Magistrate Zhang opened his mouth, but in the end, he could only sigh and say, "This official.. understands."
Zhu Ci raised his hand and patted his shoulder, saying, "That's more like it, Old Zhang. There is money in this world that you can touch, money that you shouldn't. Don't you want to use a little small change to trade for a bright future?"
Magistrate Zhang's eyes instantly brightened upon hearing this, but he soon sighed and said, "You are perceptive, Young Master. It is not that this official does not want to, but these mountain bandits are extremely cunning, the number of runners in the three shifts is not large; we certainly cannot send them all out to suppress the bandits."
Zhu Ci thought to himself that if those bailiffs from the magistrate's office went to suppress the bandits, I'm afraid few would make it back alive.
He asked again, "What about the Garrison?"
“How could we dare command the soldiers of the Garrison?” Magistrate Zhang said, his tone uncharacteristically sarcastic.
Fine, the friction between civil and military officials is a long-standing tradition of the Great Ming; there's no solution.
The Garrison won't work, the runners won't work.. then I'll have to find another way.
Zhu Ci's eyes gleamed as he said, "How about this: I'll go recruit some retainers, when the time comes, I'll take them along to suppress the Sea Bandits."
Magistrate Zhang understood immediately and said, "Rest assured, Young Master, I will arrange for my family members to go recruit people right away."
Mm, that's more like it.
In the late Ming Dynasty, retainers were considered a private armed force. Previously, Zhu Ci had no intention of recruiting retainers because of the lack of funds, he also did not want to support so many people. But now.. he actually needed them. The villagers needed to farm and work, they might not be willing to engage in such life-threatening business.
Moreover, he is currently short on funds; doesn't he have Magistrate Zhang for that?
Of course, Magistrate Zhang would be the one to pay for the people summoned by him; otherwise, what would the matter of suppressing bandits have to do with him?
After Magistrate Zhang made the arrangements, he felt a bit of heartache, knowing that this sum of money had to be spent; however, on second thought, he had also collected quite a bit of "protection money" from the beehive coal business.
Moreover, the other party said it was using money to exchange for merit.
Does he lack money right now? Not that much; what he lacks are opportunities for promotion!
As for why the Young Master didn't transfer people from his family, it was better for him to pretend he didn't know.
The recruitment of retainers went very smoothly. There were many local refugees, with the Qing Army ravaging the north, many people had fled to the south and had no means of livelihood, leaving them with no choice but to beg.
These people would accept almost anything as long as they were given food; the only thing that made them hesitate was likely that suppressing bandits was also very dangerous.
So, those who came were all people who had reached a dead end, or were outlaws by nature.
Zhu Ci looked at these various kinds of retainers and rubbed his chin. He couldn't take these people to suppress the bandits immediately; he had to train them first, for who knew if there were any troublemakers among them.
So, he took these people directly to the Xinghuo Factory.
Closed military training, no worries about food or clothing, no way out once you're in.
On Zhu Ci's first day at the Xinghuo Factory, he took them to watch a single-shot Rocket test.
Although it was successful before, that was a single-shot test; now, it was a simulation of a battlefield.
The retainers had originally thought that since Zhu Ci was young, fair-skinned, seemed to have no adults around him, they could take the opportunity to "bully" him a little.
Incidents of servants bullying their masters were, in fact, an endless occurrence.
However, after this earth-shaking experiment, every single retainer became as well-behaved as a little chick.
In this era, media is not as developed as in later generations; most commoners at the bottom of society are unaware of even the existence of firearms.
They stared dumbfoundedly at the large crater blasted out by the explosion. They couldn't afford to be careless; if that had exploded on them.. Hiss..
Zhu Ci always used a carrot-and-stick approach; after taking them to witness the explosion of a Single-shot Rocket, he led them on a tour of the factory's canteen and dormitories.
When they smelled the aroma of the food, these retainers could barely even walk.
Someone shouted boldly, "Young Master, why not let us have a full meal first?"
Zhu Ci glanced at him. "You won't be eating here."
The man sat directly on the ground and said, "Then I'm not leaving!"
The factory patrol immediately stepped forward to stop him, saying, "This is a factory, not your place. If you continue to cause trouble, you will be dealt with according to the factory rules!"
The man glanced sideways at the patrol. Upon seeing their neat clothing, a flash of greed flickered in his eyes. He looked up at Zhu Ci and said, "You promised us we would be well-fed and warmly clothed. Are you going to break your word now?"
Zhu Ci walked over with his hands behind his back, looking down at him, said, "The moment I first met you, I said that from this day forward, all you have to do is follow my orders. I will not mistreat you in any other regard. Now, I am going to take you somewhere else. Are you coming or not?"
Although the man feared firearms, he felt that with so many people gathered here, this Young Master wouldn't be so insane as to throw those rockets into a crowd.
He sat down cross-legged directly. "I'm not leaving! Not unless you give me food right now, clothes, preferably a woman too.."
Zhu Ci let out a cold laugh and turned to the patrol, saying, "Throw him out. If he dares to force his way back in, break his legs."
Hey, what right do you have? I.. I'm going to report this to the officials! I..
Zhu Ci clicked his tongue and said, "Report it to the officials? Go ahead, report it however you like. I forgot to tell you, my grandfather is the State Preceptor and my aunt is the Empress. Even if you report it to the ends of the earth, it won't matter."
The person who was still making a scene suddenly trembled and fell silent.
The State Preceptor, the Empress.. to them, those were figures from the heavens, not people that someone of their status could ever hope to encounter.
Zhu Ci glanced at those retainers and said, "You are quite lucky to have met me. If you are obedient and sensible in your work, you might even achieve great success in the future. Never mind just being a squad leader or a company commander; I can even arrange for you to become a hundred-man commander or a thousand-man commander."
As soon as he said this, the eyes of those Retainers instantly lit up.
Zhu Ci knew that this empty promise had been successful, so he led them directly toward the "military camp."
The so-called military camp was actually just an open space plus a few earthen houses. Although the houses were very simple, they had everything they were supposed to have.
Zhu Ci told Xi Ya to have these people get organized before saying, "Serve the food."
As soon as he finished speaking, several teenagers immediately came in, carrying wooden buckets and grunting as they walked.
The large wooden buckets were still steaming; a gust of wind blew through, scattering the steam and carrying away the scent of the food within the buckets.
The retainers tilted their heads back, inhaling deeply to catch the scent of food in the air.
Meat! I smell meat!
I think I smell chicken.
Duck. There must be duck meat.
This.. this is rice?