After eating wine at Ji's house and returning to the newly rented courtyard, He Heng's cousin said that Qian Junchen didn't know where to borrow two hundred taels of silver and sent Ren Er away, and after counting in the courtyard for a while, the Ren brothers didn't go out again, they didn't know where to go, and they didn't know what to do.

He is very beautiful now, and someone invites him to eat and drink almost every day, and Han Xiufeng has long been accustomed to it.

What's more, the strange person in the courtyard is not only him, Qian Junchen, but also Zhou Xingyuan, who has been dismissed and will never be used, has been a god dragon for the past few days, and he doesn't know what to do outside.

There are a lot of materials on the construction site, and no one can be left at night. Han Xiufeng drank a little too much at night, took the letter to Pan Er and went back to his room to sleep, and did not go to the vigil with Datou as usual.

Finally received the letter from home, Pan Ershou read it over and over again under the anti-wind foreign lamp, laughing for a while and crying for a while like Han Xiufeng in the afternoon, and the thin few letters were seen until the dawn.

If you go to bed too late, you won't be able to get up in the morning.

Early the next morning, Han Xiufeng saw that he was still asleep after breakfast, so he went to the construction site of the hall alone.

I was going to bring breakfast to Datou, and then go to the temple to make incense and make a wish, but I didn't expect the owner of the courtyard next door to be there, and he was lying on the wall while receiving tiles while boasting to Datou about how beautiful his ancestors were.

The name of the flag man is becoming less and less particular, how to take auspiciousness when it is fashionable, the owner of the house is called Fugui, it is said that there is an elder brother named Ronghua, and the names of the two brothers together are Ronghua Fugui.

There was no contact between them until the day after the house was demolished. At that time, he didn't know that someone was watching here, so he actually climbed over the wall and planned to steal some bricks and tiles to repair his dilapidated houses, but he was caught by Pan Er and Datou.

Pan Er wanted to pull him to see the official, he said that if the hall was renovated into a second floor, it would block the sunlight of his house, Han Xiufeng arrived in time, thinking that distant relatives are not as good as close neighbors, and after the renovation is completed, it will indeed affect the lighting on his side, not only did not let Pan Er pull him to see the official, but also asked the big head to give him bricks and tiles, and even invited him to the street tavern to drink a few bowls of wine that afternoon.

Han Xiufeng saw him, he also saw Han Xiufeng, and shouted from afar: "Fourth Master, why are you so early today?" ”

"If you don't do it early, you have to bring food to the big head. Rich man, have you eaten? ”

"I ate it, the stew I ate this morning, the taste is really good. Fourth master, since you have come to the capital, you must taste it, and I will take you to the east when you have time to do it. ”

"Okay, I'm not going to be polite to you." Han Xiufeng put down the food box, held on to the ladder and said with a smile: "Rich man, look at you, come down and rest for a while, take a sip of tea and then dry." ”

"Tea?"

"It's still hot before I came."

"Okay, Fourth Master Xie."

……

There are high-ranking and powerful flag people, there are rich and oily people, and there are also poor people who can't open the pot.

These children of the Eight Banners "keep records when they are born, and become soldiers when they are strong", they have a salary of silver, a salary of rice, and a stable and reliable income, and they are called "hardcore crops and old rice trees", which seem to be richer than ordinary people's families, but that was many years ago.

In the early years, there were not many Dingkou of the Eight Banners, and the yamen who were in charge of these bannermen were still impartial, and the flag battalion was compiled and reviewed every three years, eliminating the old, weak, sick and disabled, and compiling the young and strong into the Ding book, and it was not difficult to pick up the shortage of soldiers.

Later, the number of soldiers increased, and the number of soldiers was fixed, and the armor was their only livelihood, and only by picking up the shortage of soldiers could they get a fixed salary of silver and rice to support their families, and the officials became more and more greedy, and the disadvantages of picking a shortage became more and more, and a shortage of a certain amount was fought, and hundreds of schools of thought competed for it, and those who did not have the opportunity to serve as soldiers could not receive food and salary.

They can neither do business, nor farm, or even travel 40 miles from home, and the poorest help carry water or do other odd jobs, and some of the lazy and lazy people spend their days idle, and are abducted and cheated.

The one in front of him is relatively diligent, and he is willing to repair it himself if the house used for rent leaks, Han Xiufeng helped him down, poured him a bowl of tea, sat down and asked: "Rich man, didn't you say last time that you planned to get a bad job, or the fat shortage of the Internal Affairs Bureau, if you have an errand, you will have silver, just find a few people to do this work, why do you suffer this crime." ”

"I haven't made it up yet."

"Why haven't you made up for it yet?"

"You Han officials have to spend money to fill the vacancies, and we have to spend money to fill the vacancies of the Internal Affairs Office. If you don't have any money, how can you make it up? ”

"How much silver do you need?"

Fugui put down the tea bowl and stretched out his hand. Han Xiufeng asked, "Fifty taels?" ”

"Fifty taels is enough, at least five hundred taels!" Fugui patted his thigh and said helplessly: "What I want to make up for is the lack of Chongwenmen, although this lack can only be done for a year, but as long as it can be made up, it is worth spending five hundred taels." ”

Chongwenmen tax customs is the first of the top ten fat shortages in the capital, there is a saying that "I don't want to seal the marquis of ten thousand households, but I want to manage Chongwenmen".

It is said that the chief superintendent can earn at least 10,000 taels of silver a year, the deputy superintendent also earns 7,000 or 8,000 taels a year, and the members of the general office and the assistant office can earn 3,000 or 4,000 taels a year. In order to prevent others from becoming jealous, the tax officials would send yellow croaker to the emperor and princes and ministers in March every year, and winter bamboo shoots and whitebait in October......

Han Xiufeng didn't expect him to want to go to Chongwenmen on an errand, so he couldn't help asking: "Chongwenmen is a fat shortage, rich man, since you have this opportunity, what kind of house are you going to repair here, hurry up and take care of it!" ”

"Fourth master, you think I don't want to do it, it costs money."

"I want to raise it, I really can't borrow it, even if I go to the money bank to borrow it, it's cost-effective."

"This is five hundred taels, not fifty taels, and the money bank will only lend to those who are powerful, so it will not lend it to me." Fugui pointed to the courtyard wall, and said hatefully: "I went to the pawnshop and asked, how much can this yard be, do you know how those grandsons will return to me?" ”

"What do they say?"

"One hundred and fifty taels, I can only pawn one hundred and fifty taels, saying that my nine rooms are in tatters and are not worth a few dollars, saying that my yard is not good in the market, and the feng shui is not good. Fourth master, others don't know that you know, how can our yard not be worth only one hundred and fifty taels! ”

"One hundred and fifty taels is a little little."

"Three hundred taels is about the same, after all, it's such a big land."

"Yes, it's worth three hundred taels." Han Xiufeng raised his hand to greet a few carpenter masters who had just started work, and muttered: "The beauty of a gentleman's adulthood, I don't have any money, if I have money, I will buy it, how can I not let those grandsons take advantage of you." ”

Fugui didn't recognize Han Xiufeng on the first day, and even looked at the sketch of the renovated guild hall, thinking that Han Xiufeng was saying beautiful things, put down the tea bowl and said: "Fourth master, don't make fun of me, you are the head of the Chongqing guild hall, who believes if you say you don't have money!" ”

"There is money, but it is the official fund of the guild hall, and it is not something I can spend if I want to."

"As long as you want to spend, there must be a way," Fugui said that the more active his mind became, and he actually leaned into Han Xiufeng's ear and said: "Fourth master, I don't pay attention to things in Fugui, you can go to Sijiu City to inquire." If you do me a favor, I won't let you do it in vain. ”

"What do you mean by that?"

"Isn't the public expense just used for flowers, think of ideas, buy my yard. When those officials in Chongqing give me four hundred taels in person, I will give you one hundred taels when those officials leave! ”