Xin'an, Guangdong, County Government.

Lin He sat on the chair, tapping his fingers on the table, and the tea bowl beside him was still full of colorless herbal tea. He waited quietly, closing his eyes to rest. I don’t know how long it took, a middle-aged official walked in and saw Lin He immediately clasped his fists and greeted him: “Oh, Manager Lin, I’m really sorry, I’m leaving the city and neglected you. Come on, please change the new tea for Manager Lin.”

This person is Fan Shichong, the county magistrate of Xin'an County. He is now over 40 years old. He is a juren. He is only a county magistrate. Of course, he is not only unlucky, but also lacks a strong teacher and the same year. Fan Shichong originally wanted to retire in a few years, but he never came to the opening of a port in Hong Kong. In the past two months, he has gained a lot of benefits from Lin He, so he is also quite enthusiastic about Lin He.

The servant exchanged for new tea under Fan Shichong's scolding, but Lin He did not move. Fan Shichong asked with a smile: "Shopkeeper Lin is here to pay homage to Mr. Iono?"

Lin He nodded: "Old parents know clearly that the villain came for this, but only came here three times and disappeared three times."

Fan Shichong blinked into the back hall and said, "Mr. Iono is not in the yamen, maybe he went to pay homage to the gentry."

Lin He smiled slightly, understood it, and knew that Mr. Iono was avoiding him, but Lin He did not retreat as before, saying, "This time, Mr. Iono will meet him even if he doesn't see him!"

"Shopkeeper Lin said this..." Fan Shichong looked embarrassed.

Lin He laughed and kicked down the wooden box he brought. With a bang, a round thing rolled in front of Fan Shichong, covered with lime, emitting a rotten odor, and was glaring at himself with a wide eyebrow, and it was a person's head.

Although Fan Shichong was close to Lin He in his heart, he suddenly fell and was unhappy. He slapped the table and stood up: "Lin He, what do you mean?"

Lin He smiled and said, "This is a gift that Mr. Iwano likes."

"This is a personal head!" Fan Shichong shouted loudly, covering his nose.

Lin He smiled: "This is the head of the Donglu, and it is fresh, it is cut down for less than two months!"

Fan Shichong was speechless for a moment and was not sure what to do, Chen Bangyan walked in from the back yamen, looked at the heads on the ground, and said to Fan Shichong: "Sir Fan, let's go and do it first, I'm here."

Fan Shichong quickly got up and left. Chen Bangyan waved his hand and the guard beside him cleaned up the heads. Chen Bangyan asked coldly: "You Shopkeeper Li is back?"

Lin He smiled: "Of course not. There are hundreds of tribes in the East China Sea and the Donglu Power Corps. How can I solve it easily? But my boss is thinking about Hong Kong and knows that it will not go so smoothly, so he sent back this victory first, with 640 true Yiwang, including Meile Zhangjing and Jiala Zhangjing."

"All of them are real people?" Chen Bangyan asked in surprise.

Lin He smiled and said, "How can you think the Donglu are melons and vegetables? You can cut them casually? More than 200 are the Eight Banners True Wilds, and the rest of the heads are vassals of the Donglu in the local area. They look similar and the court cannot tell them. They also captured hundreds of prisoners, but we need labor in the East China Sea, so we did not bring them back."

Seeing that Lin He was so honest, Chen Bangyan nodded slightly. Seeing that he was not rushing, Lin He knocked on the table and said, "Mr. Chen, Lord Shen left you here to deal with the opening of a port, but you have always avoided it. Even if you want to see it, you have shirked it a lot. It has violated the agreement between the Governor and my boss. My boss has no past grudges and has fought for the imperial court in the East China Sea. You are treating this way. Is this to disappoint the righteous men in my club?"

Chen Bangyan coughed lightly, his face a little embarrassed. He is a great scholar in Guangdong. He teaches others on weekdays, but he has never been taught such a lesson. Moreover, the other party is just a merchant. He doesn't care whether Li Mingxun is disheartened. What really makes him embarrassed is the urging question from Chen Youlong.

Chen Youlong, who had been in Guangzhou for a month, had rushed to Zhaoqing, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, and said he was meeting with military and political officials. In fact, he wanted to see how much money he could squeeze out from Guangdong and Guangxi to support the war in Liaodong. However, the ending was not satisfactory. Chen Youlong had mediated for many years, but only squeezed out more than 30,000 taels. The officials below also complained. Chen Youlong hoped that Chen Bangyan would quickly open up the situation in Hong Kong and collect rent.

"Now the war in Songjin is in full swing, and the Eastern Barbarians are in great power. Hong Chengchou's army goes out of Shanhaiguan. There are many soldiers and wages. We have no soldiers from Guangdong and Guangxi, so we can only help with wages...."

Chen Bangyan remembered the letter he received this morning, sighed and said, "Shopkeeper Lin, it's not that I'm making things difficult for you, I really have no choice. When you came just now, did you see the sedan chairs in front of the yamen?"

Lin He nodded. He had seen these days. Judging from the shape, it was used by the gentry. Not only were there local people, but they were also from Guangzhou, South China Sea, Shunde, and other figures, who usually traveled sideways in small counties like Xin'an.

"The Governor urged the salary many times, but these gentry did not understand the difficulties of state affairs at all. When they heard that the port was opened, they had to join forces and put pressure on me, asking the county government to reduce the rent and exempt the rent in the first year. It was originally expected that the rent in the first year would be 30,000 taels, but now they are making trouble, they may not even be able to collect 30,000 taels." Chen Bangyan said with a bitter face.

After hearing this, Lin He frowned and thought, and suddenly burst into laughter. Seeing him like this, Chen Bangyan asked happily: "Shopkeeper Lin seems to have a good idea?"

Lin He nodded at Chen Bangyan, and Chen Bangyan quickly ordered all the servants of the yamen runners to go out. Lin He said: "The villain taught you a way. The land rent this year will definitely be charged 50,000 taels!"

"Speak quickly." Chen Bangyan said.

Lin He smiled: "This method is to shirk responsibility and procrastinate!"

Chen Bangyan remembered how he treated Lin He during this period, and his face changed drastically: "Are you ridiculing me?"

Lin He shook his head repeatedly: "Don't get me wrong. The villain doesn't have this courage, and there is no need for this."

Chen Bangyan said: "What is it? Tell me quickly. If you can't say anything, don't blame me for being ruthless."

Lin Hedao: "Actually, the method is very simple. You simply rent the entire Hong Kong Island to us. The lease period is about 30 years. The first year is 50,000 taels, and the rent will be set every three days. If the gentry shops want to rent land, they have to rent it to us, which has nothing to do with the yamen."

"Then they are going to put pressure on you together?" Chen Bangyan asked.

Lin He smiled: "Let's sign the contract first. The governor of Guangdong and Guangxi must not refuse to admit it. If we put pressure on us, we will show them the contract. 50,000 taels a year. We can't lose money, let them go to the yamen. The yamen can say that all the money has been spent, so we can't give up. Take this responsibility as a pig's urine bubble, just kick me, and I'll kick you."

Chen Bangyan felt it was very reasonable, but soon frowned: "You can't always shirk each other's blame. If the trade is not prosperous, are you not afraid that your shopkeeper will blame you?"

Lin He clasped his fists and said, "You don't have to worry about this. This is the most profitable deal. Last month, when they went ashore to open a store, the money they earned was not counted in thousands. Soon they found that compared to the money they earn, the rent is really not worth mentioning. When everyone gets used to paying rent, there will be no problem raising the rent."

Lin He discussed with Chen Bangyan late at night in the county government office, and there was a dispute over many details, but Lin He had no intention of giving in at all, because he understood very well that this matter involved the interests of many gentry in Guangdong and Guangxi. Not to mention Chen Bangyan, even the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi Chen Youlong dared not make a decision easily. However, Lin He also understood that Chen Youlong and Chen Bangyan were just due to the face of the literati and the majesty of the court officials. It was not easy to be fond of rent. Since he was willing to share the pressure of the gentry for him and increased his rental income this year, this matter was almost the same.

After leaving the county government office, Lin He went straight to Wangjiang Tower, the best restaurant in the county. Xin'an County Magistrate Fan Shichong and a government office had been waiting for a long time. After Lin He arrived, he drank and spoke happily and took action very generously. Officials of all sizes were happy. These kinds of banquets and bribes Lin He have been doing several times in the past few months. Because of this, Xin'an County Government just maintained its existence on the island, and the real administrative power gradually fell into the hands of the trading company.

When I came to Xin'an, things went very smoothly, which made the stone in Lin He's heart fall to the ground and felt more and more comfortable. When I was thinking about how to think about the words and sentences when I returned to the boat, I would report to Li Mingxun, who was thousands of miles away, I suddenly felt that the sedan chair was not moving. He lifted the curtain and looked out. On the hazy street in the morning, more than a dozen people trapped their sedan chairs.

"Where did the dogs come from? Even the sedan chair in the county government dare to stop them, so I won't die!" the servant shouted loudly.

However, a samurai dressed in Japanese emerged from the crowd, and the Japanese sword in his hand pressed against the servant's belly. The servant was so scared that the servant peed his pants on the spot. Lin He looked at the dress and frowned slightly: "Who are you?"
Chapter completed!