Chapter five hundred and thirteenth deceiving the world
Li Zhi frowned as he listened to the report from Secret Guard Ambassador Han Jinxin.
Wang Siyong, the magistrate of Qidong County, made Li Zhi feel a little troublesome. He was not greedy for money and was not a womanizer, and he abided by Confucian etiquette. Although he was a gentry, he never favored the gentry when there were lawsuits between the common people and the gentry, and enforced the law impartially.
Not only that, this man implemented benevolent policies towards the people. Although he also exempted and exempted land taxes for the distinguished gentry, on the other hand, he never forced small farmers who were unable to pay their land taxes. Many extremely poor people had owed their land taxes for several years.
If you pay, he won't punish you.
Since Wang Siyong was in charge of government in this way, he naturally received less land tax. However, he made a lot of money from the vassal land. The vassal land in Shandong was managed by local officials. Only part of it was handed over to the lord, and most of it was used by the lord.
The local magistrate took it and used it. Wang Siyong firmly guarded the money and would not let his men embezzle it at will. Instead, he turned it over as a land tax.
In this way, Wang Siyong could barely meet the lower limit of land tax collected by the court every year. Although the evaluation by the officials was always low, he would not lose his official position because of it. Wang Siyong was born as a Jinshi and worked for decades, and he has always been a good person.
The temper of Qipin County Magistrate has not changed at all.
Wang Siyong was an official like this, so the local people naturally praised him, and the people in Shandong called him a great upright official. He had been an official in Shandong for more than ten years, and his reputation was well known to everyone.
Such people take the lead in opposing Li Zhi's court and have great influence.
Seeing Li Zhi in trouble, Zhong Feng said loudly: "Commander, who doesn't have a life? I will lead the troops to kill him."
Li Xing spat: "Zhong Feng, use your brain. How rare is it in today's world for an upright official like this? How high is his status in the hearts of the people? If you go and kill him, what will the people think of us? When the gentry incites it, something will happen."
A civil commotion is possible."
Zhong Feng smiled and said: "A civil unrest is a civil unrest, just suppress it."
Li Xing said: "My eldest brother's official position is the Admiral of Tianjin. Our infiltration into Shandong will not be justified in the court. Forget about a smooth handover, if a large-scale civil uprising is provoked, the emperor may send troops to attack us. By then the two of us will
Ten thousand people fighting against hundreds of thousands of border troops may not be possible."
Zhong Feng smiled and said: "Sooner or later, we will have to fight, so let's fight with the imperial court."
Li Xing was stunned for a moment and cursed: "A dog kills a man. If you don't talk nonsense, you are itching all over, right?"
Zhong Feng's eyes widened and he was about to scold Li Xing back, but Li Zhi waved his hand to stop the two of them from arguing. Li Zhi asked Han Jinxin: "General Han, it is impossible for Wang Siyong to conjure money out of thin air from his pocket."
, since he exempted the gentry from land tax, it is impossible not to harm the interests of the people. You haven't found any problems at all?"
Han Jinxin has made great contributions following Li Zhi over the years. Li Zhi always puts Han Jinxin first when he reports his merits. Now he has been promoted to the commander of the capital and serves as the staff general of Li Zhi's family. The official is senior, but Han Jinxin is still there
Li Zhi was more respectful in front of him. He thought for a while and said: "My lord, this is indeed an upright official. My subordinates can find no problems."
Li Zhi thought for a while and said: "If he exempts the gentry from land tax and does not force the poor, he will definitely be short of money in the end. If there is a lack of money, problems will arise everywhere. Let's start investigating from here."
Han Jinxin added: "Qidong County Yamen is indeed poor. A mortgage room collapsed in the county government two years ago, and it has not been built yet. The monthly money of the government officials in the Yamen is barely enough to feed and clothe these people. Even those in the county seat
The city wall was destroyed by heavy rains and there was no money to repair it. Later, Wang Siyong called on the gentry to contribute money and the common people to repair the city wall."
When Zheng Kaicheng and Li Laosi heard Han Jinxin's words, they looked at each other with surprise on their faces. They didn't expect that the Ming Dynasty had such upright officials. They were really unusual.
However, such an alternative person is always a member of the gentry, and he still has to fight with Li Zhi to death.
Li Zhi snorted coldly and said: "Helping the gentry to evade taxes is stealing the country's finances. Pretending to be an upright official everywhere, deceiving the world and stealing reputation, it seems that it is not forcing the common people, but it cannot cover up the financial funds after tax evasion for the gentry.
It’s not enough. If there is no problem here, there will be a problem there.”
Han Jinxin thought for a while and then said: "The road stations and ports in Qidong County have not had the money to repair them in recent years, and they are very dilapidated. The academies in the county are also in dilapidated conditions, but the scholars are afraid of the county magistrate's reputation as an upright official.
No complaints at all.”
Li Zhi nodded and said: "These are not enough to make the people angry. Think about it again, have there been any major problems in Qidong County due to lack of money?"
Han Jinxin cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, please wait a moment. I'll go down and ask those informants from Qidong County."
Li Zhi nodded, and Han Jinxin retreated. An hour later, Han Jinxin ran back with sweat on his head.
"My lord, I have a question, please ask it."
Li Zhi nodded and asked, "How?"
"A government servant who was fired by Wang Siyong because of alcoholism said that the Daqing River embankment in Qidong County was dilapidated, and the local gentry proposed large-scale repairs the year before last. But Wang Siyong had no money, so he only reinforced key parts. As a result, last year
The flood caused a breach in the embankment, and although the people worked hard to repair it, the flood still drowned more than 60 people."
"This flood was considered a natural disaster, and most people didn't pay attention to it. Only the government officials who knew the inside story understood that the breach in the old dike was caused by lack of money and failure to repair it."
Li Zhi laughed loudly and said: "The finances of Qidong County are only so small. Without the gentry's share, there will be no problems. This Wang Siyong deceived the world and stole his reputation. He was just demolishing the east wall to make up for the west wall. He was killed in one go.
We help him publicize more than 60 people, but he cannot be a county magistrate."
"Huan Yihua, the "Shandong Daily" these days has been firing on all cylinders to report on Wang Siyong's affairs. Tell us about how Qidong County is declining day by day because of his cleverness. Tell us about the impact of the disrepair of roads and docks on the economy.
To talk about the impact, let’s talk about the impact on the national finance of paying taxes under the lower limit every year.”
"The most important thing is to let the people of Shandong understand that the more than 60 lives drowned in the flood were all caused by Wang Siyong's reputation!"
Huan Yihua agreed loudly and took Han Jinxin down to write the report.
####
On August 11, in the slightly depressed Qidong County, a newspaper delivery boy ran quickly down the street with his head lowered, delivering newspapers to various teahouses.
A small vendor who knew the newsboy suddenly grabbed the newsboy and asked: "Liu Xiaoer, what is the newspaper about today?"
The newsboy's face turned pale, he didn't answer the vendor, lowered his head and wanted to run away. But the vendor didn't let go of the newsboy, dragged him and asked: "Don't run away! What is being reported today? Is there any big news?"
Liu Xiaoer looked in the direction of the county government office, trembled, and said into the vendor's ear: "Brother Zhang, something big happened today. Today's headline is "Qidong County Magistrate Wang Siyong deceived the world and stole his reputation, causing death."
