Chapter 88: The wind is small and the water is also cold
Wang Wei was the county magistrate of Shuihan County eight years ago. His term was six years, but he retired due to old age. Now he is idle at home to take care of his old age. The magistrate is the assistant envoy of the county governor, responsible for assisting the county governor in the management of administration and punishment.
Prison affairs correspond to the county lieutenant responsible for military security, and the power can be said to be the second person in a county.
It was such a character who was chosen by He Nan as a typical example. In other words, he was the "chicken" in killing the chicken to scare the monkey.
Why use him as an example? This was also carefully selected by He Nan - in the process of looking through this person's resume, He Nan found that the lazy and lax style of Shuihan County officials all started from him, although he also had similar problems before him.
The officials scrawled their blame, but after all, they were only a few, but after him, the whole Shuihan County changed.
In the past, Wang Wei had no choice but to go to Shuihan County to serve as the county magistrate. He was walking on thin ice with fear. Emperor Qi Changgeng had just issued an edict to execute a group of officials. God knows whether he would kill another group. With such a mood,
Wang Wei deceived his subordinates in Shuihan County and kept his corpse in plain sight. He resolutely refused to do anything he could not do, and resolutely shied away from the responsibilities he could get away with, just so that one day something would really happen and he would not be blamed on himself. And now.
Under his influence, Shuihan County was gradually corroded by this phenomenon - the affairs of the common people were kicked around by these officials like a ball, and in the end they had to be trivialized.
Although Wang Wei did not violate the law and take bribes, the harm caused by his lazy government is by no means less than the harm caused by corruption.
Firstly, his official position is high enough, and secondly, his influence is deep enough - these two points alone are the reasons for He Nan to target him, not to mention that Wang Wei is now in Yiman County, which is two counties away from Shuihan County -
—Searching for him even though they are thousands of miles away only demonstrates He Nan’s determination to clear away the bad atmosphere in Shuihan County.
Of course, in addition to the lazy donkey far away, there is also the huge greed right in front of us - another typical figure, Hou Ruming, is currently dominating a county under Shuihan County - although it is only a small one.
He is a county clerk, but the money he collected during his five years as an official was more than 30,000 taels of silver. You must know that last year, Shengguo's annual fiscal revenue was 50 million taels, which averaged to more than 1,500 counties.
In other words, each county has an income of about 30,000 taels. However, the income of border areas like Shuihan County is not as rich as that of the Central Plains, and is only about 20,000 taels. In five years, the official has collected nearly a quarter of the county's income.
Even giving Hou Ruming the title of "giant corruption" is somewhat unqualified.
Could it be that no one has discovered that Hou Ruming acted like this in the past five years? He Nan wouldn't believe it, even if it were any ordinary person who didn't understand finance - it's just that no one dared to say it, or that no one was willing to say it.
If Hou Ruming can embezzle such a huge amount of money, the losses for the people will inevitably be much greater.
Although Hou Ruming's surname is Hou, he has no chance to be one of those scared monkeys - there is only one path in front of him.
"Hou Ruming, Hou Ruming... you are so bold. Do you know that many of the third and fourth grade officials in the capital are not as wealthy as you?" He Nan looked at Hou Ruming sitting inside the prison and mocked, and he led people to copy it.
When Hou Ruming visited his mansion, he was secretly shocked by the things in his house. In addition to his real gold and silver, some other jewelry collections were even more valuable. A set of jewelry worn by his wife cost fifty
Two silver coins or so.
Although He Nan did not come from a poor background, he had indeed never lived a few days of prosperity. Naturally, he had no good feelings towards such bullies in the countryside where common people roamed the streets - even Li Zhanchun, who was always kind-hearted and famous for his kindness, treated corrupt officials.
Their attitude was to punish harshly, let alone the judge He Nan.
"Haha...you, the boy who used chicken feathers as an arrow, can you reach your prime today? Instead, you have educated me?" I have to say that this greedy man dares to amass wealth in such a big way, how serious is it?
He was extremely courageous and brave enough to challenge He Nan's method of "boiling the eagle" for three full days. "From the time I collected my first stolen money, I thought that sooner or later such a day would come - just
But I really didn’t expect that I would fall into the hands of a young child like you."
"Can I understand that these are your last words?" Although he was asking a question, He Nan's tone was obviously full of threats.
Faced with He Nan's condescension, Hou Ruming was not at all inferior to others. Instead, he stared at He Nan and said with a evil smile: "It doesn't matter, you can interpret it however you want. Anyway, I have spent enough money in my life.
What little stuff is left - I can’t take it to the underworld.”
From the time someone knocked on the door of his house, Hou Ruming never thought about paying for his life - he was a sober person and knew that if the other party wanted money, they would have come to him privately, and he couldn't afford to bring so many people through the door.
——The scale of dozens of government soldiers clearly means they want to uproot themselves.
Some people may ask - since you, Hou Ruming, are so sober and tough, why didn't you resist the money offensive in the first place?
The answer is actually very simple - the first word is "poor" and the second word is "greed".
Once upon a time, Hou Ruming was not an incorruptible official. Although he could not be said to be upright, he was able to have a clean breeze on his sleeves. Although his reputation was good, he did not have much money. After he succeeded to the throne, Qi Changgeng, the Sheng Emperor, tried to silence the public, even more
In order to express his gratitude to the chaebol who put him in power, he suddenly relaxed the tax from 15 taxes to 30 taxes. This time, the merchants were happy and the officials were miserable. It is true that he has the unique kick of "drenching tip kicking".
However, with the reduction in taxes, the salaries of officials have also shrunk significantly, and that little expenditure of energy is just a drop in the bucket. Although Emperor Sheng later adjusted the tax rate many times, it even reached 1 out of 10 taxes.
However, this was all due to the intense border wars, and the money flowed to various fronts and became bright armor and weapons, which basically had no contact with the civil servants of the Central Plains.
Even if this gold and silver was put into the pockets of merchants, the most incredible thing is that even prostitutes are richer than officials - the salary of a fourth-rank official in the imperial court is about 400 taels per year, and in previous years
The legacy of a late and well-respected official only amounted to less than two hundred taels and two hectares of land, which together amounted to less than a thousand taels. And according to rumors, the leading figure in a brothel in the south of the Yangtze River had eloped with someone when he eloped.
The private money must be at least two thousand taels. This case deeply touched Hou Ruming. Comparing the two, he felt extremely sad.
This is true for fourth-rank officials, let alone seventh- and eighth-rank officials or even low-ranking minor characters?
In this world, people who laugh at the poor do not laugh at prostitutes. After serving as an official for more than ten years, Hou Ruming finally understood this truth - those prostitutes who sell jokes in brothels and red squares can wear gold, silver, beads and jade, but those who are honest and honest as an official
Apart from his official robe, he didn't even have any other clothes that he could use. Then look at Jing Chai's wife in a cloth dress with a naked face...
Hou Ruming finally took that step. When he accepted the bribe for the first time, he felt shameless and guilty, and vowed that he would only take the stolen money this time.
It's a pity that people's desires are endless. After one indulgence, there will naturally be a second one. After swearing "this is the last time" countless times, money that once felt hot has finally become a common occurrence, and the wild goose is too far away.
Mao has also become an unspoken rule - in the end it has even evolved into a habit - Hou Ru is not short of money to spend tomorrow morning, and any collection in his house is valuable. Now his wife and two
This daughter is also radiant and charming...
The desire is so overwhelming that he no longer knows what else to do with the money. He only knows that there is no way back for him.
"Ha... you're quite calm." Since He Nan didn't want him to be a specimen, he naturally conducted an extremely detailed investigation on him, and he felt a little regretful in his heart - this man was also very tough once upon a time.
To be honest, he really didn't want to see the iron bones of the world being used in this situation.
"The house has been ransacked, the money has been taken away, you can kill or chop it up as you like." Hou Ruming's hands and feet were shackled, and he could only sit up against the wall: "I feel that I am worthy of the country and worthy of my country all my life."
Jun, I just feel ashamed of my wife and two daughters for not reaching out earlier to let them live a better life for a few more days."
"You are indeed ashamed of them... because their upcoming hard days are also caused by you." He Nan said lightly, without even looking at the prisoner.
"What do you mean?" Hou Ruming asked in surprise, he had an ominous premonition.
"According to the laws of the country, all corrupt officials, evil officials, criminals, and criminals will have their families confiscated and their homes will be confiscated. The principal offender will be exiled in the lightest case, and executed in the most serious case. The male members of his family will be slaves and the female prostitutes. You are not of a high level.
, his wife and daughter are not even qualified to be official prostitutes in the Jiaofang Division. Most of them are sent to the army to work as camp prostitutes. When they are exhausted, they are sold into a brothel and rely on selling themselves for the rest of their lives." He Nan's expression was calm, but the meaning of his words
But it was horrifying: "I see that you are a calculation official who is responsible for calculating financial income and expenditure, so you must be good at calculations, right? Why don't you calculate how much you have embezzled and spent over the years, and then calculate your
When will your wife and daughter be able to make up for this financial shortfall for you? Even if they all enter a brothel - your wife is old and beautiful, and she must not be worth a high price. Don't forget that the brothel also takes a commission from it.
, can you get a hundred cents from your daily escort? Although your eldest daughter is married, she is fair-skinned and beautiful and is not over thirty-eight years old. She should be able to sell it for a good price, but it is only five cents a day.
Two should be the limit. After all, your little daughter should be the best one to pay off your father's debts. She has not left the court yet. If she meets a rich villain, he might be able to pay a big price to redeem her.
If not, how about calculating it as ten taels? If your wife and daughter make a total of sixteen taels in one day, and then take out 70 to 80%, you will get between 3 taels and 4 to 4 taels..."
"Calculating that you owe ten thousand taels, the actual figure should be much more. But even if it is a deficit of ten thousand taels, based on the daily income of 4 taels and 80, it will take more than 2,000 days, which is nearly six years."
He Nan knew that the other party was definitely not slower than him in calculating, but did he really dare to calculate in his heart the value of his wife and daughter becoming a prostitute? "I still calculate it based on maximizing your interests in everything. If the distribution is done in a camp,
That's all prostitutes can do in this life, right?"
He was so heart-wrenching that every word seemed to be pierced into Hou Ruming's bones. He didn't really want to beat Hou Ruming's wife and daughter into prostitutes, but he must use Hou Ruming's biggest weakness to break his heart.
Defend.
"You threaten me!" Hou Ruming roared loudly like a lion's roar. He hit the iron railing and met He Nan's eyes. His eyes were split and his pupils were filled with blood.
"Threat...hahahahaha...threat, threat!" He Nan laughed ferociously, grabbing the iron railing with both hands and tapping his forehead on the railing. After a while, he raised his head and shouted sternly: "Hou Ruming, you
You have embezzled huge amounts of money, promoted unhealthy trends, preyed on the common people, and committed extremely heinous crimes. How dare you speak nonsense here?"
"Hou Ruming! Why didn't you shout out 'you threaten me' like you did now when you were accepting bribes?" He Nan looked violent and his eyes were bright, as if there was a fire igniting in him: "Yes, you were supposed to be in front of others."
I refused righteously when I bribed you, but you chose to go along with it. So whether it is today or in the future, all the suffering and torture your wife and children have suffered are because of what you have brought to them, and what you have oppressed and abused.
What the people have experienced is exactly the same! It is the way of heaven and the law of the country that seeks justice from you on behalf of the people!"
The fierce fire spread from He Nan's eyes to Hou Ruming's heart. His body instantly collapsed to the ground, and his original calm expression disappeared in an instant, as if he had aged twenty years at that moment: "How can I let go?"
They? They are innocent. I am the sinner. No matter the heaven or the people, all revenge will be on me..."
He Nan threw the paper and pen in his hand into the cell along the gap: "Now write down in detail all the bribes you have taken since you became an official in Shuihan County, including who bribed you, who you bribed, and every bribe.
The amount of the sum must be clearly stated. If your charges satisfy me, I will let your wife and daughter go and let them find a place to live anonymously."
"Otherwise, just wait and pray for them day and night under the Nine Springs to accompany a few more guests."
"Thank you, thank you..." Hou Ruming knelt down and picked up the pen and paper with trembling hands. Tears fell like rain and he kowtowed.
He Nan walked out of the prison without looking back. He didn't even have time to look at Hou Ruming. He still had more things to do.
Even though he left Shanhe Mansion, Madman He was still Madman He. He himself did not realize that he was about to become a wind that would slowly turn the windmill of history. Even Hou Ruming, who had already committed suicide, had not yet met him.
Both Wang Wei and Wang Wei are the epitome of this distorted world. He Nan wants to use them as a guide to clean up this dirty and dirty era, and Shuihan County is just the beginning.
The wind is blowing and the water is cold, and the strong man will not return.
