At the shooting range outside Jinan Prefecture, Li Zhi loaded the ammunition for his rifle in one go, turned off the rifle's scythe, and pointed the rifle at a target 200 meters away. He carefully aimed at the center of the target, and pressed hard
The trigger was pulled.
With a bang, the bullet hit the wooden board in the distance, shattering the board and sending sawdust flying.
Zhong Feng cupped his hands and said: "Sir, you are good at marksmanship. There are many mountains and forests in Tai'an Prefecture, Jinan Prefecture. When are you free, sir, let's go hunt some game together for a good meal?"
Li Zhi smiled and said: "I have been very busy recently. I will go back to Tianjin after finishing the things in Shandong. Let's go back next year."
Zhong Feng handed over his hand and said no more.
After Li Zhi fired a few shots, he stopped shooting and rode towards the "Tin State Duke's Mansion" in Jinan City.
After beheading Wang Yongji, Li Zhi's power in Shandong reached its peak. Whether it was Shandong's military, judicial or public opinion, Li Zhi controlled it. Li Zhi became the uncrowned king of Shandong, and of course he needed a yamen for management. So Li Zhi was in
In the city, a magnificent five-entry courtyard was bought and renovated, and the "Tin State Duke's Mansion" was built, in which various affairs in Shandong were managed.
Li Zhi's honor guard arrived at the south gate of Jinan City. The soldiers on the city gate stood erect with their chests held high. Now that Li Zhi was in power in Shandong, the local soldiers guarding the city not only did not dare to resist Li Zhi anymore, but also
He regarded Li Zhi as a superior officer.
Three personal guards rode horses from the front, walked up to Li Zhi and said, "The Duke, six prefects and more than a hundred prefects and counties are already waiting in the lobby of the mansion. They have been waiting for an hour."
Li Zhi nodded and said, "Okay, let's go meet these civil servants."
Li Zhi did not change his clothes and took Zhong Feng into the lobby of the Duke's Mansion. More than a hundred local officials saw Li Zhi's guard of honor and knew that this was the official arrival. They all knelt on the ground and shouted. Li Zhi shook his head.
Cloak walked from among the prostrate magistrates to the main seat, turned around and sat down.
When he saw Li Zhi sitting down, Zhong Feng shouted: "Get up! Everyone, get up!"
Only then did all the officials dare to get up and secretly look at Li Zhi with their eyes.
There are only a limited number of chairs in the main hall, and six prefects still have room to sit, but more than a hundred prefects and county magistrates can only stand. In front of Li Zhi's title of Duke of the country, these prefects and county magistrates are just sesame officials. They don't dare to sit if they don't have a place.
complain.
Li Zhi glanced at the civil servants in the hall and said calmly: "I have summoned you all to Jinan today to discuss how to help local government offices save money and support the courts."
Hearing Li Zhi's words, the local officials looked at each other and knew that nothing good would happen today. Li Zhi, the uncrowned king of Shandong, began to ask the local officials for money.
After Li Zhi defeated Wang Yongji, the emperor withdrew his troops from Xianghe and gave Li Zhi an imperial edict. The imperial edict did not mention the court affairs, but strictly prohibited Li Zhi from establishing business taxes and land taxes in Shandong. Obviously, the emperor was
A red line was drawn for Li Zhi: Li Zhi could control Shandong's judicial system, but he could not further control Shandong's taxation.
Li Zhi knew that he could not cross this red line for the time being. The emperor had already stationed troops in Xianghe. If he continued to collect taxes, I was afraid that the emperor would really attack.
However, there are policies and countermeasures. After Li Zhi killed two governors and became powerful in Shandong, he naturally wanted to use this power to make some money. Since the emperor acquiesced in the existence of the court, Li Zhi was not prepared to support the court with his own money. The court
It is a public utility in Shandong and benefits the entire society in Shandong. Of course it should be supported by local finance.
Shandong's court system has nearly 10,000 people and consumes between 40,000 and 500,000 taels of silver a year. Li Zhi plans to apportion this cost to various yamen.
The prefect of Jinan Prefecture stood up with his hands raised and said slowly: "The Duke of Jin has learned that the current situation is bad and famines are everywhere, and the finances in various places are very tight. Not only do they have to support the camps and guards, but they also need to be handed over to the country.
To pay the monthly salary of government officials, there is really no money to provide for the Tianjin Public Court!"
The civil servants below heard this and agreed, saying:
"Yeah, we really don't have any money."
"Poor, really poor yamen!"
"The Duke of Tianjin is clear-minded, we can scrape the ground and make no money."
Seeing the noisy discussion among the civil servants, Zhong Feng, who was sitting next to Li Zhi, slapped the table and said loudly: "Did I ask you to speak?"
The civil servants had all heard of Zhong Feng's reputation as the murderous devil, and they guessed that this military commander was probably Zhong Feng. They were so frightened by Zhong Feng's question that they shrank their heads, and they all fell silent.
Li Zhi smiled and said: "I also know that all yamen are short of money. You don't need to worry. I have already thought of ways to save money for you!"
Li Zhi nodded and said: "Now that the court has been opened, the torture chamber personnel in each yamen are useless and have all been abolished. The funds saved can support my court."
The local government offices in the Ming Dynasty generally had six rooms, corresponding to the six departments of the imperial court, namely officials, households, rituals, soldiers, punishments, and workers. Among them, the execution room staff were responsible for civil and criminal cases, and they overlapped with Li Zhi's court functions.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, local government offices were inefficient and overstaffed. There were often hundreds of torture chamber officers in a county, and the team was very large. If all these people were abolished, the money saved would be enough to support Li Zhi's court.
When everyone heard Li Zhi's naked money-grabbing remarks, everyone looked sad, but they did not dare to speak out to object.
The magistrate of Linqing Prefecture was more courageous. He stepped out of the queue with his hands and said slowly: "Dong Mingjian of the State of Jin, the officials in the yamen are all old officials with decades of experience and nothing to gain. If they are all dismissed at once, what will happen to these people?"
I’m afraid I’ll lose my chance of survival.”
Li Zhi nodded and said: "That's not bad. I suggest you give each of them ten taels of silver when you dismiss the officials. With the silver, these people can learn some skills, whether they change their careers to be accountants or do other things to make a living. Ten taels of silver
If you support it for five or six months, you can still find a way to survive."
The governor of Linqing Prefecture hesitated for a while and said: "Although what the Duke of Jin said is benevolent and righteous, it is still a sum of money. How can the Yamen get it?"
When Li Zhi heard this, his face sank.
Seeing Li Zhi's face, Zhong Feng slammed the table angrily and shouted loudly: "President of Linqing, don't pretend to be poor in front of me. You embezzled thousands of taels of money through lawsuits in the torture chamber every year. If it weren't for Jin
The Duke didn't want to go on a killing spree, so he would have killed you with a single blow. If you keep pretending to be poor, you won't need this one!"
Hearing the murderous roar of Zhong Feng, Linqing Zhizhou was so frightened that his legs trembled, and he knelt on the ground with a thud. He crawled in the tunnel and said: "Don't worry, Mr. Jin, even if you don't eat or drink, I will save the money."
, support the court cause of the Duke of Tianjin."
Li Zhi nodded and said, "The governor of Linqing is right. Does anyone else have any opinions?"
The local officials looked at Li Zhi and then at Zhong Feng, but no one dared to stand up and object.
Zhong Feng shouted loudly: "That's good. The yamen in each prefecture and county will pay the court expenses once a month. If you don't pay when it's due, don't blame Master Huben for demolishing your yamen."
