Chapter One Hundred and Twenty Seventh Drought People Seek Opportunities in Chaos
There is a Wanshan County under the jurisdiction of Lingzhou. This county has mountains, peaks and forests, but there is not much arable land. When a disaster strikes, the people of Wanshan County will suffer a lot.
Originally, the annual grain harvest for the people in this county was only enough to make ends meet, except for taxes. Now that there was a severe drought, there was naturally not much leftover grain. Seeing that the rice jars at home were getting empty, they gradually began to panic.
I used to be able to eat a dry meal every day, but now I can only drink porridge every day. If it lasts for a while, let alone porridge, I'm afraid I won't even be able to drink water!
However, the people in the county are not too panicked now, mainly because they heard that the year-old tax grain that was supposed to be taken to the state city a few days ago has now been brought back, and they also said that the one who sits in the sky and watches the world
The emperor issued a decree:
Because disasters are approaching this year, local taxes will be stored in local granaries in each county. In times of crisis, you can act cheaply!
It is precisely because of this imperial edict that the victims whose food is about to run out have peace of mind. They do not know how much food a person needs in a day, nor do they know that the tax food they pay is enough to feed many people for how long, let alone those who
How much of the food ends up in their mouths!
They only know that when the county government collects taxes, the entire yamen back hall is filled with grain. They only know that there is so much grain that they would not be able to finish it even if they were allowed to eat it. In their understanding, at most,
I just think that there are just a little too many people, and at most we can’t get enough to eat, so we can just drink porridge!
In the mansion of the county governor Liu Shenzhen in Wanshan County, his master Chang Huan was also standing beside him.
"Sir, I heard that last year's taxed grain was brought back from the state and city! Do you think we should put 30% of it into our private treasury as before? Or..."
Master Chang Huan, who had a mustache, touched his mustache and looked as cunning as possible.
He has been a master in this Wanshan County for seventeen years. The people around this county know that he has a nickname that he is often picky about. Everything that passes through his hands, no matter how dull it is.
He can even scrape off three ounces of oil!
There is also Liu Shenqi, the governor of Wanshan County. He has only been in the position of county governor for three years. Before that, he was only the magistrate of a large county. He is also the third county governor that Chang Huan has taken over.
.
After the former county governor became official, Liu Shenzhen relied on the personal connections he had accumulated over the years and one hundred thousand taels of silver to climb into the position of county governor.
In the past three years, in addition to spending a large sum of money to honor the officials at the higher level, he had only embezzled enough money to make up one hundred thousand taels.
But this is closely related to his lack of appetite.
"This... Master Chang, after all, these grains are put down by the imperial court for disaster relief. If we take them, let's not say whether the imperial court will investigate them one by one. Even if they don't investigate, we can't cut off the livelihood of the people below.
ah!"
Liu Shenzhen has only been in office for less than three years, so although he is the county guard, he is still relatively reserved in his speech, and is often reluctant to refute the master's face.
"Harm! What did I think it was!"
Master Chang waved and smiled, looking at Liu Shenchen as if he had never seen the world.
"Sir, the people below don't know exactly how much taxed grain there is. What impact will the little we take have? Besides, it doesn't matter if we just take it. Your Excellency has never heard of this when he was an official below.
What’s that? It’s said that officials are like knives and people are like grass, so this grass can’t be cut by a knife?”
After thinking about it again and again, Liu Shenxun still shook his head. He himself grew up in a hard life when he was a child. He knows how uncomfortable the feeling of being hungry is!
But Master Chang Huan was still a little reluctant. He walked around to the other side of Liu Shenzhen and said.
"Sir, if you feel that you really feel sorry for yourself! I have also come up with a way. After we take out the 30% of the grain, we will take part of the remaining grain and replace it with noodles, and finally replace it with noodles.
In this way, the amount of grain distributed will not be less, but will be much more. What do you think, sir?"
After Liu Shenxun listened to Chang Huan's suggestion, not only did he not agree immediately, but he looked at him with wide eyes.
"Cran! Master! That's something for animals to eat!"
Chang Huan narrowed his eyes and asked.
"Are those hungry people still human? People cease to be human when they are about to starve to death. They are no different from animals! It's good to have chaff to eat in times like this! What's more, in the past, when there was peace, there were still people.
Eat chaff!"
Chang Huan gently held Liu Shenzhen's hand and patted the back of his hand a few times.
"I know what you are worried about, my lord, but why didn't the former county governor retire and return to his hometown properly? The bold will be exhausted and the timid will be starved to death. In a small place like ours, the official career is over when you reach the position of county governor.
If you don’t seize the opportunity now and take advantage of it, you will regret it when you get old!”
Liu Shenzhen was stunned. He didn't know how he should respond to Chang Huan's words, and he didn't know how he nodded in agreement.
Anyway, 20% of the grain used for disaster relief went into his own pocket, and the other 10% was pocketed by the master and the petty officials under him.
…
There is also Huishan County under the jurisdiction of Wanshan County. The magistrate of Huishan County has just taken office recently. His name is Shu Beili, and he happens to be among the recent batch of students who graduated from Jinghua Academy.
His grades in the imperial examination were pretty good, so he was able to become a county magistrate as soon as he took office. However, after living a comfortable life in the capital for three years, he was really not used to it when he first arrived in Huishan County.
Not to mention that the simple food is hard to eat, even the women in the brothel are boring.
But when he received a huge sum of three hundred taels when he first received his salary, he no longer thought so. He was born in a poor family and had only seen so much money in his life, but he had never owned it himself.
!
"It was that idiot who told me that these places are poor, but now it seems there is a lot to do!"
After going back and forth, he hit it off with the master who had a treacherous look on his face, and in just six months, he had fifteen hundred taels of silver in his pocket! The more remote and poor the place, the more difficult it is to plunder the wealth of the people.
Will be soft-hearted!
In half a year, in addition to welcoming his wife, who was thousands of miles away, he also got himself a concubine, a well-known Shui Ling girl in the county!
"Mr. Shu, the tax grain that our county paid before has been transported back. It seems that the quantity is several more carts than when we handed it in! It's just that 30% of the grain has been exchanged for chaff. You see, we are
Don’t we need to do some more tricks?”
In the yamen of Huishan County, Shu Beili was holding a glass of fine wine consigned from the capital, slowly shaking in his hand. His master was running in from outside the yamen with a list of grains.
"bran!"
Shu Beili took a sip of the wine in the glass and said a little drunkenly.
"I really didn't know this was the idea that the expert came up with. If we don't imitate such a good idea, how can we be worthy of his good intentions?"
The master stepped forward cautiously.
"Sir, actually I think so too. What do you think, how about we also replace 30% of the grain into chaff?"
"Thirty percent?"
"Um...if you think it's too much, sir, we can..."
"No! I want 50%!"
"Fifty percent!"
The master was shocked. He originally thought he was greedy enough, but he didn't expect that the newly appointed county magistrate was nothing compared to him! He was about to exchange the remaining 70% and 50% of the grain into chaff.
!
Shu Beili regained his previous expression, with a relaxed expression on his face. The wine in the wine glass in his hand had bottomed out, but he still kept shaking the glass.
"One meal of bran is enough to eat, but two meals of bran are still to be eaten. So what if those grassroots people eat more? For them, not dying of hunger is already a great merit that will make them thank you a lot."
"But... Sir, if we replace it by another 50%, the food will be almost gone. Even when we cook porridge, we can only make water porridge. Should we think about it again..."
The master's tone became weaker and weaker, and later on he could barely be heard.
Shu Beili slowly stopped shaking the wine glass in his hand, looked into his master's eyes and asked.
"Have you ever seen how much a million taels of silver are? I have! In terms of banknotes, it is ten banknotes with an amount of one hundred thousand taels, but if it is converted into real silver, it would take the entire county government to pile it up.
If we can’t let it go, why should we become officials? To leave a name in history? But that’s something only the big shots above can do. What else can we do if we’re not greedy for money?”
The master himself was stunned. After being a master for many years, this was the first time he had seen a person who could talk about corruption so openly. This man was indeed a big shot from the capital, but he was angry with those small families from small families.
Officials are different!
…
In the capital, above the court hall of the Jinluan Palace, Chu Zheng threw a memorial on the table in front of him in great anger.
"Damn it, but
Damn! Didn’t I just return last year’s taxed grain to them? Why are there still so many people asking me for grain? Zhao Yunqing, get out of here!”
This was the first time that Fatty Zhao saw Chu Zheng getting so angry. He did not dare to delay or laugh. He walked out of the crowd tremblingly and knelt on the ground.
"I'm here!"
Chu Zheng picked up a memorial and threw it to Zhao Yunqing.
"See for yourself! Didn't you say that based on the amount of food taxed by various places in previous years, that food can last at least one and a half months? But now, only half a month has passed and they are asking me for food again!"
Zhao Yunqing, who was kneeling respectfully on the ground, did not dare to move. He did not pay attention to the memorial beside him, and just buried his head a little lower again.
"Your Majesty, the old minister's estimate is absolutely correct. The food can definitely last for a month and a half, but..."
At this point, Zhao Yunqing's voice weakened, but it still fell into the ears of everyone in this temple that was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.
"But Your Majesty, you also have to see if all the food has been eaten by the people? I can guarantee that the taxed food will not fall into the hands of the people, not more than 30% of the total. As long as Da Chu's corruption is
If the sun is not removed, the food needed for disaster relief will be a bottomless pit that cannot be filled no matter how hard it is!"
"Come here! Go and call Xie Tianya!"
Chu Zheng saw that Zhao Yunqing was so angry that he couldn't speak. What the fat man said was really reasonable, so he had no choice but to call Xie Tianya, who had eyes all over the world, to come to the Jinluan Palace.
As soon as Chu Zheng's imperial edict arrived at the Liumen Yamen, Xie Tianya had already guessed the content. He picked up a memorial that had been prepared and entered the palace together with the eunuch who delivered the edict.
"Your Majesty, this is the list and number of officials who embezzled money and provided food for disaster relief from six secret wires in various places. If Your Majesty wants to issue an order to arrest them, they can all be brought to justice tomorrow!"
Looking at the folder handed over by Xie Tianya, Chu Zheng became more and more frightened. He had never thought that Da Chu's corruption had reached this stage.
Especially since there are many names he is familiar with on this list. They are all scholars who have just walked out of the academy for whom he has high hopes!
"Academy!"
Chu Zheng's voice began to tremble.
"Lu Xiangrui, Master Lu! This is the academy you want to build? Take a look at how many people on this list have left the academy!"
Unlike Zhao Yunqing, Lu Xiangrui picked up the memorial and read it carefully. On the list, half of the officials who had left the academy accounted for it.
"Your Majesty, the academy advocates education without distinction, so it is true that some people neglect to examine the students' character and character. The uneven quality among the scholars is indeed the fault of the academy, but I believe that as long as those who have carefully read the teachings of the sages and sages,
A scholar would never do such a thing."
"How long has it been, and you're still giving me what's in the book? Can the book make me food?"
Ignoring Lu Xiangrui, who was already very old-fashioned in his eyes, Chu Zheng turned to Xie Tianya and said.
"In my opinion, you Six Sects have been gentle for too long, which has allowed these people to become rampant again. I will arrest all the people on the list as you said."
Then, Chu Zheng became heartbroken and said viciously.
“Those who embezzle less than one hundred dans shall be punished with a penalty of 100,000 dans and be dismissed from their posts and investigated; those who have embezzled not more than 100 dans but less than 1,000 dans shall be imprisoned for ten to twenty years depending on the circumstances; those who have embezzled not more than 1,000 dans but less than 10,000 dans shall be executed by execution
"Those who embezzle more than 10,000 dans but less than 100,000 dans will be executed by the whole family; those who embezzle 100,000 dans or more will be punished by the Nine Clans!"
Just when Chu Zheng wanted to kill someone to relieve his anger, someone jumped out to object. At this time, the only one who dared to stand up and speak was Su Wang as the Prime Minister.
"Your Majesty, now is not the time to punish them. If we kill them all overnight, we will not care about those victims!"
"Then what do you think we should do?"
Chu Zheng knew that Su Wang would not speak easily, but as long as he did, it meant that he had a good idea in his mind.
"Your Majesty, why don't we fulfill their wish? They want food! Let's put down all the eight million yuan of disaster relief food we have prepared at once."
Su Wang turned his head and looked in the direction outside the capital.
"Let's just take a look and see how big those people's appetites are! Let's see if these eight million burdens of disaster relief grains can feed them! Let's see whose pockets these eight million burdens of disaster relief grains go into!"