Strange Tales from the Northern Qi Dynasty

Chapter 108 Fame and fortune
Lou Rui is quite enthusiastic.

He was not afraid of Liu Taozi, who was covered in blood, at all. He walked quickly to Taozi's side. Everyone dismounted, and Lou Rui gestured Taozi's size with his hand.

"What a strong man!"

"My dear nephew, this warhorse is pretty good."

"I pay my respects to the governor."

"Hey, my dear nephew, why do you have to be so formal? Just call me Sir!"

"My dear nephew, you have been in Liyang for a while now. How is it? Are you used to it? Is the food delicious?"

The two men began to exchange pleasantries as if no one was around. They were all normal conversations, but not far away there were four piles of graves, blood was still flowing in the drainage canal, rows of corpses were placed in front of the red doors, black smoke was billowing in the distance, emitting a burnt smell of destruction, evil birds gathered in the sky, looking down at the magnificent scene below, crying loudly.

In such an environment, the normal greetings between the two people became abnormal.

Everyone looked at the two of them in astonishment. Shi Yao was very surprised to hear that Lou Rui and Liu Taozi were so close. He wanted to ask Tian Zili and others, but he found that these people were also confused. Only Tian Zili seemed to be thinking about something. Seeing Shi Yao's gaze, he shook his head gently, signaling the other party not to speak yet.

Lou Rui looked around, as if he had just discovered the situation here.

He shook his head. "This place doesn't seem to be suitable for chatting. The smell is too strong! Come on, follow me back home. We can talk again when we get home!"

He held Taozi's hand, and Taozi looked back at everyone, motioning them to continue carrying.

Lou Rui pulled Taozi into the carriage, and the carriage began to leave.

Yao Xiong was a little nervous, and he quickly asked, "Brother, you're going alone, is everything okay?"

Tian Zili shook his head, "No. If he wanted to harm my brother, he wouldn't have to resort to such means. Let's continue moving!"

Everyone dispersed and continued to work.

The Dugu County Magistrate on the opposite side was extremely embarrassed at this moment. He stood there in a daze, at a loss as to what to do.

Shi Yao also caught up with Tian Zili at this moment, "What is going on? Why is Lou Rui so enthusiastic? Who is Liu Jun?"

Tian Zili did not explain, "Don't worry, Mr. Shi. Wait until your brother comes back, and then you can ask him in person."

At this moment, Liu Taozi and Lou Rui were sitting in the carriage. Lou Rui said confidently, "My cousin said you are one of our family members. I was a little puzzled, but now I believe it. You are definitely one of our family members!"

He then became confused again: "But why don't you come to see me?"

Liu Taozi said calmly: "I am only a lowly official of the ninth rank, how dare I bother the governor."

"Don't say any bullshit!"

Lou Rui waved his hand unhappily, his face very serious: "Just tell me the truth. My sixth cousin and I have always been good friends. You don't have to worry about anything."

He lowered his voice and said, "I support him to take the position!"

Liu Taozi's expression remained calm. "I was planning to visit you later."

The two chatted all the way to the county government office. The gate was open and Lou Rui's carriage drove in unimpeded. They went all the way to the door of the backyard, and Lou Rui and Taozi got off the carriage.

The backyard was also quite large. Lou Rui, with a bulging belly, walked in front proudly, pointing around and showing off his luxurious decorations. According to him, the wood used to build his pavilion was bought from the south at a high price.

"Look at the material of this wood and the pattern. You won't find it in Liyang or even in the whole Sizhou!"

Liu Taozi looked at the wood in the direction he pointed. The wood was deep red like blood, and the patterns on it looked like wronged souls with twisted faces, struggling and screaming.

Lou Rui kept talking like this and finally brought him into the inner room.

As soon as he walked in, Lou Rui took a deep breath and said, "I have been a vegetarian and chanting Buddhist scriptures for many years. I have never smelled the smell of blood for many years. My own home still smells good."

He sat in the upper seat and asked Liu Taozi to sit beside him.

After Taozi sat down, he began to look at Liu Taozi again.

"My dear nephew, why do you look more and more familiar to me? Have we met before?"

"Never met."

"That's weird"

Lou Rui frowned and stroked his beard. He quickly raised his head and scolded the servant beside him: "You haven't welcomed guests for a long time. Have you even forgotten the etiquette?! What are you standing there for?!"

The servant quickly apologized and then started to get busy.

At this moment, Lou Rui seemed to be hesitant to speak.

He hesitated for a moment before speaking: "My dear nephew, we are all family, so I won't hide anything from you. I have always been straightforward, unlike those Han officials who are so hypocritical and have to hide everything they do!"

"The family you just killed gave me a lot of benefits and paid tribute every month without fail. How can I explain this to them if you just slaughtered them like that?"

"Who will dare to come and present gifts to me in the future? Wouldn't this ruin my reputation?"

"You are one of our own family, why do you have to follow the example of Crazy Yang and Crazy Shi and do such hypocritical things?"

At this moment, Lou Rui transformed himself into an elder of the 'Gao family' and began to instruct Liu Taozi, a younger member of the 'Gao family'.

"Look, why did we fight and kill people in the past? Wasn't it just to live a good life? What's the use of fame? If you don't enjoy yourself when you are alive, everyone will remember your good deeds after you die. Can you come back to life again?"

"My dear nephew, as a person, first, you must know how to enjoy life and not do meaningless things. Second, you must have principles and fulfill your duties."

"Don't believe the words of those Han officials. They keep saying that they are governing the country and maintaining peace, but their relatives occupy a large amount of arable land and their slaves are tyrannical. Do you think Crazy Yang is devoted to the country? He has many relatives, so what is the Li family in front of him? They are not even one tenth as evil as them!"

"As for me, although I collect money from the rich, I don't occupy the farmland of the common people. I don't have any tenants. There are not many kind people like me."

"My dear nephew, you are still young and ignorant. Listen to me and don't make such a mistake again!"

Lou Rui's tone was very sincere.

He seemed to really believe it, and didn't think there was anything wrong with what he said.

Liu Taozi looked at him, raised her eyebrows, and her eyes were deep.

"Sir, there are many inappropriate things you said."

Liu Taozi interrupted Lou Rui, but Lou Rui did not feel angry. He was very surprised.

"What's wrong with that?"

"Sir, you have seen today how wealthy the Li family is. Even for a servant of theirs, the food in their storehouse is piled up like a mountain, and the cloth can fill two large rooms. It can be seen that what they give to you every month is less than 10% of what they earn."

"This is our kingdom. How can we let these people take the lion's share while we eat what they leave behind?"

Lou Rui's eyes lit up and he nodded with satisfaction, "This kid is teachable!!"

In his eyes, as long as they are not people like Shi Yao and Yang Yin, they are all "teachable children".

He smiled and said, "You have a point, but you are still young and don't understand the principle of slow and steady. You beat the Li family half to death with a stick and robbed their property. What is this? This is called draining the pond to catch fish."

"Think about it. We used to get gifts every month, but now we can only get one or two. We got a lot in these one or two times, but what about the future? Who will give us money?"

"My dear nephew, as a person, you still have to have a long-term vision and not be short-sighted!"

"wrong."

Liu Taozi interrupted him again and said, "Asking for gifts like in the past is just exhausting the resources."

"what?"

Lou Rui stared at him.

Liu Taozi said: "People like the Li family are extremely greedy and have no restraint in doing things. They have eaten up the farmland, eaten up the taxes, and then distributed the tribute grain to the people. By October, the people of Liyang County had no grain left. This is driving them to death!"

"If the people have no way to survive, who else can the Li family exploit? If they don't exploit the people, who can we ask for benefits?"

"Besides, these traitors are cruel and ruthless, and they are scattered all over Da Qi. If they commit such atrocities, I'm afraid the people will be in turmoil, and Da Qi will not last long. If we lose our kingdom, what glory and wealth can we talk about?"

Lou Rui looked at him in astonishment, and actually lowered his head in deep thought. "So what do you mean?"

"Just now, the master advised me to value profit over fame."

"But I think we should gain both fame and fortune."

"What does it mean to gain both fame and fortune?"

"These wealthy families have a lot of property. The property in Liyang has not been counted yet, but I know that the money and food of Cheng'an and Murong's family is enough to feed tens of thousands of people for several years. Even if they take out part of it to lend to neighboring counties, it will not affect them at all."

"How much wealth should this wealthy family in Liyang have?"

"Of course, we have to take this profit from the wealthy. How much money do the poor people have? If we want to get money, we have to find the rich! Raid their homes and steal their food! This one time, we can get more than what they got in the past ten years of tribute!"

"As for this one, after robbing the wealthy, he took some of their grain to subsidize taxes and appease the people."

"In this way, the people can continue to work, the Great Qi will be more stable, and your reputation will rise greatly. Everyone will think that you are a wise man who can govern the world. If you raid the Li family today, you will raid other families tomorrow. If there is no family left to raid, you can just raid another county magistrate. You will get more than before, and your reputation will be even greater in the court and in the opposition. Even people like Crazy Yang can't say anything bad about you. This is the so-called fame and fortune!"

Lou Rui was stunned.

Lou Rui lost his father at a young age and was raised by his uncle. During this period, he did not receive much education. He hung out with Xianbei military households since he was young. He could ride horses, kill people, and fight. He only learned the general principles of reading and had no interest in the so-called principles of governing a country.

After the Gao family gained control of the world, he, who only knew how to ride a horse and kill people, was still in a high position. Then, he began his crazy plan to make money.

Gao Cheng couldn't stand his many absurd behaviors and almost wanted to punish him. In the end, he forgave him slightly for the sake of Empress Dowager Lou and demoted him to a local position. However, he still did not know how to restrain himself.

Liu Taozi's words instantly opened the door to a whole new world for Lou Rui.

Lou Rui looked at Liu Taozi blankly, and murmured, "I know. This is why King Changshan asked you to go there!"

"Did he send a lot of people to punish the local powerful families?"

"First it was the Murong family, now it's the Li family"

Liu Taozi nodded gently, "Yes, the king attaches great importance to people's livelihood. The current Da Qi treasury is seriously short of food, and even the military expenses are difficult to support. Therefore, the king has sent a lot of people to severely punish local tyrants and solve the food problem."

Lou Rui stood up suddenly and began to walk back and forth around Liu Taozi, his pace getting faster and faster.

He walked like this for a long time, and suddenly stopped in front of Liu Taozi and grabbed his hand, "Why didn't I meet you earlier!"

"You're right! I've long felt that their gift was too little. That crazy Yang can pretend to be a good person, so why can't I do the same?!"

"Good nephew!"

Liu Taozi stood up and said, "Sir."

"I'll leave the affairs of Liyang County to you. Well, you can keep the things of the Li family for yourself, don't give them to me!"

Lou Rui said it twice, still secretly looking at Taozi, Liu Taozi said: "How can I consume so much money and food by myself? I will send people to transport the things from the county government to the county government later. Please allow me to take out part of it and use your name to appease the people in the city."

"Oh my! My dear nephew! Why are you doing this?!"

Lou Rui shouted in surprise. He stood on tiptoe happily and patted Liu Taozi on the shoulder, "My good nephew! My good nephew!"

He fumbled around, then gritted his teeth and untied the sword from his waist.

The sword was very slender, with a black scabbard with golden decorations in the middle and on the top, and two golden protrusions on the hilt. He slowly pulled out the sword. The sword body was plain and had no decorations, but it was flashing with a sharp cold light.

"This is what my uncle gave me when I won my first big victory. He said it's called the Huating Sword."

Lou Rui's face showed some hesitation. He held the sword tightly, feeling very conflicted.

Liu Taozi said, "Since it was given by the Emperor Shenwu, please keep it well, sir."

"I'm giving it to you!!"

Lou Rui tilted his head, closed his eyes, and forced the sword to Liu Taozi in front of him.

"I'm too fat now to ride a warhorse or swing a sword, so you take it!!"

Liu Taozi took the sword. The sword was quite heavy and the touch was very special when held in his hand.

"Thank you, sir."

Liu Taozi, holding the Huating sword, strode out of the inner room, and led by a servant, walked quickly towards the outside of the yard. His steps were so fast that the servant had to run to keep up with him. The servant was filled with hatred, as this was the first person who dared to let him run to lead the way. However, thinking of the master's address and attitude towards him just now, he did not dare to reveal any of this hatred.

When they walked out of the county government gate, there were two people standing at the door.

The Prime Minister of Zhao County and the Lieutenant of Gudu County.

The moment Zhao Kai saw Liu Taozi, he stepped back in horror, trembling all over.

Just because Liu Taozi still hadn't washed up, he still looked like a ghost with blood all over his body.

Dugu Wei was fine, he was not afraid. He frowned and looked at the young county magistrate in front of him.

"Mr. Liu."

When Dugu Wei saw the sword in Liu Taozi's hand, his pupils shrank. He immediately changed his words and lowered his head. When he raised his head again, a flattering smile was on his face.

"My name is Dugu Jie. I have never had the opportunity to pay a visit to Mr. Liu. I will definitely pay a visit in a few days."

Liu Taozi nodded and walked between the two people. A servant was already standing beside them with a green lion. He took the horse and strode towards the county government office.

Dugu Jie watched him walk straight to the county government office and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Who is this guy? Lord Lou gave him the Huating sword?"

Others may not know, but Dugu Jie knows clearly that Lou Jun likes that sword the most. He would take it out to show off to everyone whenever he has nothing to do. He would even hold it in his arms when he sleeps at night and would mention it to everyone he meets. But such a precious treasure has now fallen into this guy's hands.

Dugujie let out a long sigh.

It is really becoming increasingly difficult to survive in Liyang.

The servant who had sent Liu Taozi away raised his head with a look of arrogance on his face, "The master wants you two to come in and pay your respects!!"

"only"

The treatment these two people received was far worse than that of Liu Taozi. They lowered their heads and followed the servants, not daring to look at the situation in the county government office. After all, there were many female relatives in the county government office.

When they walked into the inner room, Lou Rui was patting his legs gently, with a look of reluctance on his face. Seeing the two people coming in, he waved his hand roughly and asked them to come closer.

The two stood in front of him. Lou Rui frowned and pondered for a moment, "Dugu Jie, transfer a group of people to Zhao Kai."

"only!!"

Lou Rui then looked at Zhao Kai and said, "Take your people with you and go to Dongqiu County and Dongli Township to share the tribute equally."

Zhao Kai was a little confused, "What does Lord Lou mean?"

"Is this clan only found in Liyang? Don't Dunqiu and Dongli have any? County Magistrate Liu has done a great job. How come you, the county magistrate, don't know anything?"

Zhao Kai still didn't quite understand. "Does the governor want me to rob the other two clans like Liu Zhizhi and I did?"

"What do you mean by plunder? It sounds so ugly! Split it! It's split!"

"The tribute is insufficient. Do you want to make up for it?"

Zhao Kai was stunned. He didn't understand why his governor suddenly made such a decision. He pursed his lips and said, "Governor, it's never reasonable to let the big families share the cost."

"Okay, okay, if the big clans don't share equally, then you should share it!"

"Lou Gong! We can split the bill! We can split the bill! I'll go now!"

Zhao Kai stood up trembling, Lou Rui hurried forward and grabbed his sleeve. Lou Rui's eyes were extremely fierce, and he stared straight at Zhao Kai.

"You should do what Liu Taozi did. Don't try to fool me or your friend. You are an official, I can't draw my sword and kill you, but I have countless ways to make you live a life worse than death. Do you understand?"

Zhao Kai nodded dully, "I understand."

(End of this chapter)