"Master Zhou, this matter has gone too far..." the young man said while holding back his anger, but he did not dare to show it too obviously. Although his furs were worth a lot of money, they were worth ten of Zhou Xiu's clothes.
, but here's the identity - Zhou Xiu is an official, a fourth-rank official, a person who reports directly to the left and right prime ministers, and can talk to the emperor; no matter how rich he is, he has to keep his tail between his legs.
Since the demolition work was in progress and officials at all levels who had embezzled public funds were dismissed one by one, Zhou Xun focused on cracking down on the local powerful.
Zhou Xun ordered the tax collector to carefully check the account books for the past ten years, and indeed found many loopholes. The entire county, including more than 200 powerful people in the county, converted all the grain into silver and counted four million taels of silver.
vacancies.
What is this concept? Shengguo's current treasury income for a year. But this money is only on the books - firstly, Qi Changgeng focused on business, and a lot of miscellaneous taxes were eliminated. Secondly, these powerful men squeezed the blood and sweat of the people.
Black income has not yet been included in statistics and cannot be counted.
The accounts presented were like snowflakes on New Year's Eve, and the more Zhou Li looked at them, the more worried he became.
So in the middle of the night, they sent people to knock on the door from door to door. One by one, the powerful people in the county and city who had evaded taxes came to the Yamen to report.
It can be said that the yamen was more lively that night than on the New Year's Day. Most of the civilian staff arrived, and none of the military personnel were absent. Even the soldiers stationed at Shuihan Pass were transferred to a team by Zhou Xun. Originally, this group of powerful people returned to fight.
With faces that were familiar to them or people who were powerful enough to get close to the officials, the squad from the Shuihan Pass garrison walked into the yamen gate with long knives in their arms, but they were all frightened into silence.
That night, Zhou Xun issued an order, ordering these landowners to pay all the taxes they had hidden in the past ten years within three days. One tael of silver or one stone of rice would be a big slab.
There was silence at the time, and wailing afterwards.
Of course the powerful officials were dissatisfied, but they did not dare to touch Zhou Xun's rebellion, so they had no choice but to nominate two representatives, and they went to visit the county governor.
The main purpose is actually negotiation.
The powerful representatives are an old man and a young man, both of whom are from the county. The old man is over sixty years old, and the young man is in his thirties.
The two of them were holding back their anger, but they still had to smile, so they went straight to the point and asked Zhou Xi to give them a little more grace.
Granting a grace day means that these powerful people have more "room for maneuver". Zhou Xun would never agree, so he refused, but his words were quite interesting: "You can grant a grace day if you want."
Just come and get the ten big boards. If you can bear it, I will give you grace, but it can only be ten days at most."
In fact, after hearing this, the old man and the young man really thought about it - as long as they can be extended, there is room for maneuver in everything, so they might as well agree to it like this first.
In the end, He Nan intervened and completely cut off the two people's thoughts: "Every morning, come to the Yamen first to collect the tax, and it will be counted after collecting it. Otherwise, the tax will be collected according to the three days scheduled."
After hearing this, the two of them turned as green as Aomame, and the scene at the beginning happened.
"Are you going too far? I don't think you have gone too far." Zhou Xun sneered twice. "You want me to give you leniency, but how have you ever given me leniency to the people? If you say that I have gone too far, then you
How have you ever restrained your deeds?"
"You can push your limits, but you don't allow me to act in accordance with the law? Or is it that you have been accustomed to this by the past?"
These words were said so loudly that the two people sitting across from him were speechless.
After holding it in for a long time, it was the elder who said: "Master Zhou, we really haven't thought about this matter well... I have a suggestion, maybe we can open a warehouse to release grain and provide relief to the people to make up for our mistakes -
—I wonder what you think, Mr. Zhou?"
The original intention of the old landlord was to use this method to symbolically spend a sum of money to get over it, and just muddle along and turn the page. Although this method would definitely involve a lot of blood, but compared to the high price of taxes...
Choose the lesser of two evils.
"Oh my, my old man, you are sensible!" Before Zhou Yu could react, He Nan had already put on an expression of joy and clapped his hands stiffly. He turned around and said to his senior brother:
"Although I don't know the name of this old man, it is a good thing to return to a good place after getting lost. Since the old man not only wants to make up for the missing taxes, but also offers to donate money and food, you can give it to him.
Save face!"
There isn't a fool here, and it's not like Zhou Xi couldn't see the motive behind the old landlord's words, but it was different when He Nan shouted out like this - there were others in the yamen, and He Nan made it clear that he wanted to
This high hat was placed on the head of the old landlord, making him feel disgusted.
"This..." The old landowner was dumbfounded at the time. He wanted to explain his original intention, but after He Nan's nonsense, he didn't know where to start.
Zhou Yan also took over He Nan's words without giving the other party any room. Anyway, the words came from the other party's mouth. Although it was not illegal to ignore the matter, he wanted to lose face: "Since Cao Nan
The member said this... Then please prepare some silver and food within three days. When the food is released, you can just go to the Caishikou on Dongliutiao Street. I will also send someone there to record your achievements."
"Congratulations, Cao Cao, see the guests off for me. I have some important matters to attend to, so I won't be with you any longer." After saying that, Zhou Xi left the living room.
"Hmph!" When the young hero saw Zhou Xi leaving like that, he slapped the table angrily, snorted two cold air from his nose, and then walked away with a puff of his sleeves.
I don’t know whether he was angry at Zhou Li’s stern refusal or angry at his companion’s sudden loss of words.
"Hey... some people... really feel that they have lived too long." He Nan crossed his legs, watching this person gradually leave his sight, and then slowly twisted his neck in the direction of Mr. Cao: "
Mr. Cao, you won’t be like him, right?”
Cao Yuanwai knew that what He Nan said was for him, and he nodded like a chicken pecking at rice. Although He Nan was just a child with no hair in his eyes, he had also heard about He Nan's methods.
.
"And you... you are old." He Nan moved over. When he was in front of Yuan Cao, he stretched his hands to the other party's lap: "Since you are old, don't think about wading in muddy waters with young people.
...You said that you have lived a good life and have no regrets. When you get old, if your whole family suffers because of something like this...it's not worth it."
"To put it bluntly... you are worried about death. If you put such a huge family property into it, your children and grandchildren won't be able to stab your spine when they go to hell?" He Nan smiled as he helped Cao Yuanwai finish tidying up his clothes.
Two times. "Isn't it good to use ten cents to make seven cents and leave three cents to your children and grandchildren? It's better than not having a penny left."
Although Yuan Cao was already an old man in his sixties, his reactions were a bit slow and his mouth could not keep up with his brain. However, He Nan deliberately slowed down his speaking speed and lowered his voice when he spoke to him alone.
"What... do you mean?" Mr. Cao asked in a deep voice.
"There's nothing else, I just want to let you know - it's too troublesome for us to deal with more than 200 people at once, so we have to kill the two most disobedient chickens first." He Nan's voice was charming and confusing.
"You said today that you want to open a warehouse to stock up on grain. No matter what you thought at the time, Mr. Zhou has already given you a step down. Are you going to help me kill two chickens?"
Or do you want to be those two chickens?"
"If you have any requirements... just tell me." After thinking for a long time, Cao Yuanwai said tremblingly.
After returning that day, Cao Yuanwai summoned those powerful people who "shared the same hatred and hatred" and came up with a solution to their current situation - since they would not be able to live in peace on this day, they might as well send this giant Buddha away.
——The whole family has spent a huge sum of money, let’s buy Mr. Zhou a high-ranking official and let him be promoted to another place.
This sounded like a fantasy, and some people were scolding it at that time - Zhou Xi was already the head of a county, with an official position of fourth rank, and the next step up would be to go to the capital - how much would it cost?
money?
Of course, they only questioned the amount of money spent, but they did not question the matter of "spending money to buy an official" itself - because they all knew that "spending money to buy an official" was a common practice after Qi Changgeng came to power.
A kind of unspoken rule. Because merchants also wanted fame, Qi Changgeng would provide them with a channel.
In the end, they roughly calculated a figure - eight hundred thousand taels of silver, which was almost the price of raising a local fourth-level official to a third-level official in the capital.
Eight hundred thousand or four million, this is not a very difficult choice. Although it still makes these old bastards feel painful, the former is like cutting off the fingers, and the latter is like digging out the waist. But this group of people are stuck.
This is a hurdle in my mind - if someone named Zhou is so cruel to me, I still have to spend money for him?
Finally, it was Cao Yuanwai, the young and virtuous young man, who spoke: "As long as Zhou is here, we won't be left behind. After he leaves, we can make up for it no matter how much money we spend. If we can bear it now, we will be able to make up for it."
Bear with it!"
This matter was decided quickly, because this group of people had been feeling miserable for more than a day or two. They had hardly had a good day since Zhou Xi took office. After deciding how much money each person would spend, they went home to prepare money.
Already.
Even if all of these people are rich, it is still difficult to get 800,000 taels of silver. Those who should sell land sell land, and those who should sell jewelry sell jewelry. It is like vomiting out most of what they have swallowed before, and at this juncture
, but no one wants the land deed in their hands.
As a last resort, they could only lower the price lower and lower, until it was lower than the price they paid for the farmland in the hands of the people at that time, and then it was considered sold.
This series of things would definitely not be completed in three days, so starting from the fourth day, this group of people had to go to the Yamen early in the morning to get their boards. The people lining up to be beaten were lined up from the Yamen to the street, which was breathtaking.
Of course, there are also people who can't fish in troubled waters - they were thrown into jail that night.
It was not until the night of the eighth day that the money was finally collected. In the end, the leader, Cao Yuanwai, said that it would not be too late to send the money to Zhou Xi, and then volunteered to nominate himself as the boy who gave the money.
It's okay that Yuan Cao didn't mention this, but it was a big deal when he mentioned it - whoever didn't want to show off in front of Zhou Xi started to fight for the quota of giving money. This time it really involved personal interests, even if Yuan Cao didn't
Big Brother can’t do it anymore - the last time I asked you to represent me, I was asking you to take the blame. Anyway, in the end, everyone is guilty together. Now you are just a good job giving money to others, can you still get your turn?
Cao Yuanwai was rejected among the first few, and this group of people fought from the beginning of Xushi to the end of Haishi before they were selected by the same two people. And these two people happened to be not enemies of Cao Yuanwai in the first place.
of.
The two men immediately prepared their entourage of carriages and horses, and took advantage of the darkness to visit Zhou Xun's mansion without anyone noticing. It was impossible to bring all the money there at once with such hasty preparations, so they only brought a batch of down payment.
Let Mr. Zhou have a look.
At this time, everyone in the Zhou Mansion extinguished the candles. When the two men knocked on the door, it was Zhou Xi who personally received them.
"What are you doing?" Zhou Xun asked with a puzzled look on his face, looking around, he saw several carriages in front of him.
"Master Zhou... why don't we go in and talk?" the two said with smiles on their faces.
When they arrived at Zhou Xi's study, the two talked for a while about their family issues and then got down to business: "Master Zhou, the two of us are here to send you a congratulatory gift."
"I'm not celebrating my birthday, what kind of gift do you want to give me?" Zhou Xi smiled softly.
"You are Master Qingtian, and you will celebrate your birthday any day." One of them said glibly: "Please accept our little thoughts."
Look, before the front foot went out, everyone collected the money together, but now the back foot has become "the two of them".
"You two? Or are you the hundreds of tycoons from Shuihan County?" There was only one candle lit in the study, so they couldn't see Zhou Xi's face clearly, but he still had a smile on his face.
"They all dig like iron roosters. Only the two of us have this heart!" Another person also followed his companion's words, shamelessly.
Zhou Xun's voice lowered and sounded cautious: "Do you know that bribing an official of the imperial court is a serious crime that will kill your head? Not only you, but also me will be implicated by you!"
"Hey, that's not right..." One person laughed and said, "If you don't tell me about this, and if we don't tell you, who else will tell the outside world? Only God knows and earth knows, you know and I know!"
A strange laugh rang out from the screen behind Zhou Yu, which seemed extremely strange in this empty room with only a trace of candlelight: "Now I know it too!"
"And me!" This is a loud voice.
"Then don't we all know?" There was another person who spoke in tongues.
Hearing these sounds, the expressions of the two people who were bringing gifts suddenly changed. One of them fell limply on the ground, and the other almost wanted to run away through the door.
Zhou Li smiled helplessly at first, and then said sternly: "These two people want to bribe me, so let me take them down quickly!"
This chapter has been completed!