There was no one else in the governor's hall, only the country squires.
After waiting for a long time and still not seeing the imperial envoy and Zhongcheng come out, they became anxious again and gathered around their core figure Sun Buguang, anxiously guessing what the imperial envoy wanted to do.
Ma Qinglin asked Sun Buguang with a grimace: "Do you think the imperial envoy has become cruel again? If we offend him, will he punish us to death?"
Thinking of what the imperial envoy did in Zhangjiakou, Ma Qinglin shuddered.
"This doesn't mean that if he wanted us to die, he wouldn't have gone to war so violently, and he wouldn't have allowed us to go to the governor's hall. I think this envoy is also acting in accordance with the law. I understand now,
He wants to settle our debt to the imperial court." Sun Buguang analyzed with a stern face.
Ma Qinglin thought of what he heard when he was the last one to walk out of the governor's hall in the morning. At this time, Sun Buguang reminded him that he suddenly realized that what the imperial envoy said was aimed at them, and it was his fault that he thought he was not doing his own business.
Even though Sun Buguang said this, he was still a little scared. Now the initiative was in the hands of the young envoy. If he insists on going his own way and investigates thoroughly, they will be in bad luck. All of this,
In the end, it all depends on the young envoy's wishes.
They were waiting in panic for Zhong Jinwei to appear. This moment felt very long to them.
Finally, they heard footsteps coming from the back office, and couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief, and stood in line together, facing the main hall.
I saw the Dongchang clerk who was holding a lot of account books and piled them on a table at the side. The clerk who followed the Dongchang clerk was standing there with his hands tied and waiting for orders.
After the Dongchang officers were lined up on both sides, they saw Hong Chengchou and Zhong Jinwei come out and walk slowly to their seats.
After Zhong Jinwei sat down, as if chatting with a friend, he said to the squire in the hall: "Ah, why are you here again? Haven't I already paid you back the loan?"
These squires were speechless. This imperial envoy was trying to persuade them. He clearly knew why they came, but he pretended not to know. This was too false.
All the squires bowed together and did not dare to answer.
"If you have anything to say, just say it. I'm very busy and I'm sorting out the debts. Although the emperor is tolerant, he won't pursue any debts owed by some people. But I recently paid off my debts and am tight on money. I have to collect the debts." Zhong Jinwei still said.
Said harmlessly.
He said that this was well-founded. There were many cases where local governments reported to the court that their harvests were not good and they could not collect taxes. Emperor Chongzhen could not leave the Forbidden City, so it was left to the local and capital civil servants to join forces to fool those people.
Taxation, which came mainly from bureaucratic landlords, eventually fell into disuse.
But things are different now. There was a rectification in the court because the assassination of Zhong Jinwei triggered an anti-corruption storm. On the local level, Zhong Jinwei went on patrol again and personally returned a lot of silver to these "vampires". He wanted to pursue
Who can stop him from collecting tax debt?
Sun Buguang listened to Zhong Jinwei's words, but found it difficult to say what he wanted to say. First, he went to the imperial envoy to collect the debt in a high-sounding manner in the morning and asked for the interest and principal back. Then in the afternoon, he said to the creditor who was in urgent need of money, "You
Stop pursuing historical debts and we will return the morning interest to you?
If I say this out loud, it seems that I will only be ridiculed. I said it so truthfully in the morning, and now I don't let others collect debts. This can't be justified at all.
Sun Buguang's fat face suddenly turned red from suppressing it. In the end, he didn't expect that the upper part of his face did not come out, but the lower part did. He also made a loud "porphyry" sound.
This moment happened to be the time when he and Zhong Jinwei were exchanging words. No one in the hall said anything. While they were waiting for his answer, a fart sounded.
The companion next to him subconsciously pinched his nose to avoid it, but immediately remembered that this was the governor's lobby. He had to hold his breath and stand there, hoping that the gas would dissipate quickly.
"How dare you be rude in front of the imperial envoy." Seeing this, Gu Baichuan shouted loudly.
Sun Bu Guangzheng's face turned red with embarrassment. When Gu Baichuan shouted at him, he was so frightened that he quickly knelt down to apologize.
Zhong Jinwei saw the whole situation in his eyes and almost laughed out loud. He finally held it back, but he pinched his nose and said: "It stinks, it stinks, forget it, I don't blame you, after all, I'm so angry.
It's human nature. You go first, I have to settle the accounts first and need money urgently."
Sun Buguang was far away from Zhong Jinwei. His fart could reach Zhong Jinwei. He knew that Zhong Jinwei was still angry.
Sun Buguang knew that procrastination was not an option, so he kowtowed and said, "Imperial envoy, Zhongcheng, the student has realized his mistake. The student is willing to return the military salary for this morning, and the previous principal will be donated to the court."
When the other squires heard this, they didn't care whether there was gas produced by Sun Buguang in the air, and they all opened their mouths to agree.
"Do you think I'm blackmailing you? I'm forcing you to pay back your military pay, and I'm just taking your money?" Zhong Jinwei suddenly asked with a frown on his face.
Seeing the imperial envoy's sudden anger, the other squires didn't care. They all knelt behind Sun Buguang and explained together that this was not what he meant.
Ma Qinglin suddenly had an idea flash in his mind and said loudly: "What the students mean is that these silver taels are arrears from various places in the past and are now returned to the court."
Zhong Jinwei saw that someone finally understood and figured out what he meant. He leaned forward and confirmed, "Really?"
After Ma Qinglin shouted, Sun Buguang also woke up and nodded quickly and said yes.
Zhong Jinwei saw the squires below nodded together, but turned to the clerk on the side and said, "Check carefully how much silver they owe and see if they have paid back more."
Sun Buguang was being played by Zhong Jinwei like this, and his forehead was already sweating. He thought that the imperial envoy still didn't want to let them go. Because it was impossible to settle the matter now, and the investigation outside was still in progress, but here he asked
The clerk went to do the math, but he was obviously still angry. He kowtowed quickly and prepared to apologize again.
At this moment, Hong Chengchou stood up, turned around, bowed to Zhong Jinwei, and said: "Master Marquis, these squires have already paid part of their debts. With so many account books, it will take a lot of time to verify them. Do you think this will work?
, let the lower officials and them settle the account slowly, and when the calculation is clear, I can ask them for it again. They will probably not refuse to give it."
When Hong Chengchou said this, he turned around and said to the people in the hall: "Do you think so?"
Sun Buguang was stunned for a moment, and then he immediately realized that Hong Zhongcheng was interceding for them and using a slow-down strategy. So, he nodded quickly and said: "Yes, yes, yes."
The other squires were naturally led by him and nodded their heads.
Zhong Jinwei pretended to think deeply for a moment. In fact, these were the plots he had discussed with Hong Chengchou on the way here. Hong Chengchou had to stay here after all, and disaster relief also required the energy and connections of these squires. Therefore, it was Zhong Jinwei who
Come be the bad guy, and Hong Chengchou will be the good guy.
"Since Hengjiu said so, I think it's okay. But you must do your best to collect debts. Suppressing bandits and providing disaster relief are inseparable from silver coins. I still have a lot of things to deal with, so I'll leave this to you." Zhong Jinwei said seriously.
After telling Hong Chengchou what had happened, he stood up and turned around to enter the back office.
The Dongchang superintendent immediately followed Zhong Jinwei into the back office, but Zhong Jinwei's words, which had already passed the screen, still floated into the lobby: "A bunch of pigs."
The sound was a bit loud, and everyone in the hall could hear it clearly. They couldn't help but look at each other in shock. They didn't expect that the dignified envoy would say such foul words.
Hong Chengchou pretended to smile in embarrassment, and then said to them: "Don't keep it to yourself. Mr. Hou is a man of temperament. It's no wonder that you are so disappointing."
When he said this, he saw that the group of people were a little confused, so he explained: "What do you think the military pay issued by the court is for? It is to suppress bandits. You even want to reach out and make a profit if the military pay is gone.
, the army cannot suppress the bandits, then it will not be you who will be harmed by those bandits in the end!"
The squire below was speechless after hearing this. When there are huge benefits in front of them, few people can take a long-term view.
Hong Chengchou shook his head slightly, as if sighing that they were really pigs, and then said to them: "Come on, let's discuss the next thing together."