"Junior Brother Zhang, Brother Zhang Nian, please forgive me for disturbing you for a moment." Magistrate Xu stared at this official who was famous for his integrity and smiled slightly: "You are acting according to the order. I shouldn't visit you, but I am the magistrate of this county.
, the matter of the granary and grain road is also involved.”
"Can you tell me your strategy for checking grain?" Magistrate Xu looked at it with a smile and said, "In this way, I can actively cooperate with you."
"That's it!" Zhang Dai's expression softened, but he was no longer the fledgling boy he was back then. No matter how good his words were in this scene, he still had to take practical actions.
After pondering for a while, he said: "Actually, there is nothing surprising about my strategy for checking the grain. It is just a serious check and a careful verification."
"Even a pound of grain must be investigated to the end, so that those corrupt officials can be brought to justice."
"You are right. You cannot be tolerant towards corrupt officials. You are an imperial envoy. I will obey any orders given. Otherwise, I will be ashamed of the imperial court."
After hearing this, Magistrate Xu stood up, calmed down, and said, "Junior brother, I have come all the way here this time, staying at inns along the way, and only bringing one close family member with me. It's particularly hard."
"I know that my junior brother is upright, but the work is heavy, so I have to take care of myself. I have sent you one hundred taels of silver, and I also ask my junior brother to accept it for food and clothing, or as a reward for those who follow you on weekdays."
"Don't worry, it's all clean. There won't be a single penny of dirty money from my official salary - it's time for me to resign. I'll have to meet again after the investigation, so we won't miss the time we have today."
Upon hearing these words, Zhang Dai was slightly angry. He sat here and listened to Xu Zhifu of Jielu Mansion talking nonsense. This was not the reason for this!
He was also wondering whether Magistrate Xu planned to come over in advance to talk to him about the situation in Jielu Mansion because he was from the same sect as him, or whether there was any difficulty that he wanted to solve for him.
If this is the case, help will naturally not be given, but you can also get some clues through the flaws in your words.
So what is this for now?
You came to him just to give him money? Who do you think you are?
A burst of anger arose. Giving money so straightforwardly was simply an insult to Zhang Dai!
But he still endured his anger and did not get angry. Instead, he stood up, raised his hands, and said seriously: "I have also been a prefect, and I know that everything is busy. But Brother Nian, Jielu Mansion transfers 100,000 dan of grain to the granary every year.
, I wonder if there is a record?”
"If there is, please hand over the paperwork to me."
Magistrate Xu originally wanted to ask his family to bring the wooden box over, but when he heard Zhang Dai asking this question so straightforwardly, he couldn't help laughing: "Junior brother, of course there are these official documents, but you also know that there are only original account books, not
Summary."
"Moreover, even if you are ordered to investigate, you cannot take it away directly. If such a file is damaged or lost, it will be suspected of burning the file. Brother Yu cannot afford it."
"It will take time to copy them one by one."
"Besides, let's talk about this in private, right? This is a business matter, and it won't be too late to discuss this issue in the future."
Zhang Dai didn't take this trick, and didn't seem to notice that Magistrate Xu was a little displeased. Or even if he did, he didn't care and asked directly: "It's not business, so why are you here?"
Magistrate Xu sighed: "Junior brother, the water here is quite deep. Because we are from the same sect, I want to advise you not to take everything too seriously."
"You want to investigate the granary? That's right. But there are investigation methods. Your method of just investigating in silence will offend people... Okay, I know you are not afraid of offending people, but you also have to do it when you check the grain.
Think about the overall situation!”
At the end of the sentence, the prefect's expression became serious.
Seeing Zhang Dai's increasingly livid face, he sighed again, as if seeing an ignorant child, and his tone was a little heavy: "Do you know what the overall situation is? For example, for the emperor, for the great grandson's reputation..."
"Shut up!" After barely hearing this, Zhang Dai's patience was finally exhausted by his rambling words.
The veins on Zhang Dai's forehead twitched, and he said directly and coldly: "I am the deputy imperial envoy! I know how to handle things! I'm tired, Master Xu, please come back!"
"Also, I don't dare to accept your gift, so take the money back with you!" After saying that, he directly served tea and saw off the guests.
After Xu Zhifu was stunned for a moment, he also stood up: "Come on, come on, come on! It's me who has been a bad person too many times!"
After saying that, he left angrily.
When he walked out of the house and walked into the yard, he stopped and sighed on the ground. Judging from his expression, it was obvious that he was so angry that he felt choked by this piece of Dai.
The family followed with the wooden box, and the master and servant just waved their sleeves and left.
Seeing this scene, the people in the inn also glanced at each other, knowing that the prefect might have disagreed with the people inside, and there was a direct quarrel.
The magistrate of Jielu Prefecture left angrily. He quickly walked out of the inn and got into his oxcart. His stern face suddenly seemed like snow melting and flowers bloomed, and he suddenly laughed.
The family members who followed asked the coachman to drive back and asked, "Sir, is this all right?"
"That's enough. It's not about how clever the plan is, but whether it's suitable or not." Xu Zhifu said with a smile.
Such a simple strategy may not work for others, but it is very useful for people like Zhang Dai.
Magistrate Xu leaned back slightly and smiled indifferently. How could he look angry?
But the family is still a little uneasy. Zhang Dai is no longer what he used to be. Now he is the deputy imperial envoy. He is the Haohu Nong. Where are the others?
There was more than one imperial envoy. If this matter spread to other people's ears, would it cause any trouble? They did this without hiding it from others. Someone at the inn must have known about it.
"Then, let people know..."
Magistrate Xu shook his head and smiled. He didn't know whether he was laughing at the stupidity of this family member or laughing at something else: "Did I say something wrong?"
"It is okay to investigate. For the sake of the overall situation, for the emperor, and for the sake of the grandson, we must pay attention to methods. What is wrong with these words? No matter who comes to listen to these words, they will not dare to say anything wrong."
If you think what he said is wrong, doesn't it mean that you shouldn't take the overall situation into consideration and think about the emperor and grandson?
If you don't even care about the emperor and the prince, and don't care about the overall situation, then you are rebellious officials and traitors.
No one who listens to these words can say that they are wrong.
"As for the one hundred taels of silver given, it's not much. I also made it clear that this is my official salary. For the sake of the same year, I gave it to him..."
As a fellow disciple, I gave one hundred taels of silver as a gift to my junior fellow apprentice, feeling sorry for my junior fellow apprentice's hard work along the way. Is this wrong?
Does this figure count as a bribe?
The family members listened and nodded silently. Indeed, it was one hundred taels, not one thousand taels, not ten thousand taels. Even if this matter was brought out, it was reasonable and could withstand scrutiny.
If such things are all wrong, then becoming an official will only destroy people's desires.
While he was talking, the bullock cart had already left the street where the inn was located.
Magistrate Xu stroked his short beard and ordered: "Not only will I not hide this matter, I will also tell others. When you go back, spread this matter!"
At this point, his voice was already filled with chills: "This kind of honest official is the most stubborn. I talked about the overall situation first, and he was suspicious of me, and he will even be stubborn about the overall situation."
"But after all, he has been an official for a long time. If I leave, he may wake up. But if he listens to the public opinion, he may become angry and will fight against it. He will not give up until he is killed."
"Prescribing the right medicine is nothing more than that."
"Even if it doesn't work out, it's just one more sentence, what do you think?"