Fengxiang Mansion is also called Qizhou, and it is also today's Baoji area, where the climate is warm and humid, the land is fertile, and the population is large, among which Yixian is a relatively wealthy county among the many counties in Fengxiang Prefecture.

Like other Guanzhong counties, Yi County immediately raised its flag in support of the Jin king after receiving the news of the capture of Chang'an, but this quick statement was not due to loyalty to the Tang Dynasty, but out of practical considerations to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages.

The county magistrate of Yixian County is called Jiang Xin, who was originally a clerk in Yixian County, good at drilling camps, he took the path of Uncle Yuanxiu, sent a generous gift, and sought to get the post of the county magistrate of Yixian County, the money was taken out, and he had to take back the book, so in the past two years, he has used means to make money and made a lot of money.

There is a tavern in the alley south of the county seat, called Laoshun Tavern, which is a tavern with only four or five tables, a shopkeeper and a bartender, and the people who come are basically old customers.

At noon that day, there were three tables of people sitting in the tavern, one of which was only three people, and the three of them were chatting vigorously, and the shopkeeper was very familiar with two of them, who had been his old customer for many years, but the other young man seemed to have only come in the last few days, and his accent was not Guanzhong, according to himself he was a businessman.

The three of them drank twice together, and basically didn't say anything.

"What this Jiang County Commander is best at is collecting tea and wine taxes, you see our pot of wine, before he came, it was two hundred yuan, but now? 500 wen a pot, up 300 wen, this 300 wen is what he took away. ”

"How does he collect the liquor tax?" The young man asked, puzzled.

"Shopkeeper, tell this junior, how did our Jiang Qingtian collect the liquor tax?" One of the drinkers shouted, and the whole tavern burst into laughter.

The shopkeeper stepped forward and said: "These wines were originally imported from the Yulong Wine Shop, brewed locally, this pot of wine is priced at one hundred and fifty Wen, and we earn fifty Wen, but now we must enter the wine from the Yixian Wine Shop opened by the county government, in fact, the wine is still the wine of the Yulong Wine Shop, but this Yixian Wine Shop has a pole inserted horizontally, and each pot of wine has added three hundred yuan, and we still earn fifty Wen per pot, but the guests have paid three hundred Wen more, which is the wine tax." ”

"Then can I buy wine from him and buy it from somewhere else?"

"I can't help it!"

The shopkeeper hurriedly waved his hand and said: "Once it is found, not only will you have to pay taxes, but you will also be fined ten times the tax money, anyway, in the end, the wine money is borne by the drinkers, and no tavern is willing to take this risk." ”

"I see, I see!"

Another man next to him said: "Actually, the little brother doesn't really understand, let me tell you this!" In Fengxiang Mansion, Yongxian County does not levy tea and wine tax, and Purun County in the north does not levy it, do you understand what it means? ”

"This.... I don't understand it a little, so please let me know. ”

"Don't you understand? What he meant was that the Chang'an Imperial Court did not levy a tax on tea and wine, but the lower government did it without authorization, and the tax money received was nominally used for the daily expenses of the county government, but in fact most of it was monopolized by the county order. ”

"Is there any evidence?" The young man asked.

"Does this still need proof? Who doesn't know in Yixian County, there are more than 20 people in total, and I have a relative who works as an errand in the county government, and he has not received a penny of tea and wine tax. ”

"I see, thank you both!"

The young man paid for the drink, bowed his hand, and left.......

This polite young man is called Zhou Ya, an inspector under the Suzheng Terrace, who was sent by Cao Wannian to investigate several officials in Yixian County, he has been here for three days, visited a large number of people, and has mastered a lot of first-hand materials.

Many things shocked him, the people pooled money to build bridges and roads, and the money was taken away by the government, and there was no news, and there were 120,000 rich households, and I don't know how many people were extorted, from the county order to the main book, none of them could escape.

Zhou Ya finished writing the report in the inn and set off for Chang'an on the same day.......

Just when the inspectors were in full swing in various places, Chang'an issued the first Jin King Decree to the states and counties in Guanzhong, requiring all officials above the ninth rank in the two prefectures and three prefectures in Guanzhong to come to Chang'an to meet the King of Jin.

This is also what everyone is looking forward to, most of them took office when Zhu Zhu was in power, and now Zhu Zhu has been driven away, and has not been recognized by the new master, and they are not down-to-earth as officials.

In one county, there are four officials, the county commander, the county lieutenant, and the chief secretary, and there are 53 counties in Guanzhong, plus the officials of the state capital, a total of more than 230 officials rushed to Chang'an from all directions.

Chang'an is also ready to receive it, Chang'an's three official posts can live two or three thousand people, the post house of Taiji Palace Honglu Temple is larger, can live thousands of people, and there is an area of nearly 100 acres of Hui Pavilion, as well as various places in the concert hall, which are currently empty, or Taixue, Guozixue, etc., there is no problem in easily arranging accommodation for more than 100,000 people.

Although there were only more than 230 officials, Cao Wannian, who was in charge of the reception, still divided them into three official post houses to live, and they were of different natures, some were officials retained by the previous imperial court, some were officials selected by Zhu Zhu's imperial court, and some were Zhu Zhu's own soldiers who took office directly, divided into these three natures, and lived in different official posts.

In Guo Song's official room, Du You asked with a smile, "What does Your Highness plan to do with them?" ”

Guo Song smiled and said: "To deal with them, you have to be famous, I have thought about it for a long time, and the best way is to take the exam." ”

Du You stroked his palms and laughed, "This is a good way, I don't know what His Highness is going to test?" ”

"I'm going to think about it, such as how to govern a county, which is completely in line with their own official position, and if they can't even answer this question, then I will dismiss them, and they will have nothing to say."

"But what if the answer is good, excellent?"

Du You said again: "I know that there are many officials in Guanzhong, and some of them still have real skills, how does Your Highness plan to deal with them?" ”

"Just looking at the answer sheet is just talking on paper, but also looking at his folk comments, the people's eyes are bright, whether a county official is good or not, or the ordinary people have the final say, if the people have a high evaluation, the answer sheet is good, such an official should be retained, maybe he will be transferred to Hedong, but at least I will continue to use him."

Du You suddenly understood that King Jin had decided to completely replace him, even if he was a qualified official, he was ready to replace all of them with his henchmen.

At this time, Cao Wannian hurriedly walked in and handed a thick booklet to Guo Song, "This is a summary of the reports of twenty inspectors, all the counties in Chang'an are involved, although there are some good, but most of them are disappointing, please take a closer look." ”

Guo Song took the report and flipped through it, and asked again, "Have all the officials arrived?" ”

Cao Wannian bowed and said: "There are still several officials from Shangzhou who have not arrived, it is estimated that they can arrive today, I don't know what His Highness's arrangements are?" ”

Guo Song took a piece of paper and handed it to him, "This is my initial idea, you can enrich it according to my ideas." ”

"Exams?" Cao Wannian took the paper and was stunned.

Guo Song nodded, "I don't dare to say that I want to be a county official at all levels, but at least I can be good at writing and ink, if I can't even reach the minimum level of liberal arts, then there is no need for him to occupy this position." ”

"I understand the lowly position, and the lowly position will arrange it, and the exam will start early tomorrow morning."

Du You next to him smiled and said: "Let me remind Cao Lingjun, there are many people in this batch of county orders who can't even read words, they will definitely run away overnight when they hear that they are going to take the exam, Cao Lingjun must be on guard." ”

Cao Wannian said gratefully: "Thanks to Du Yuanjun's reminder, I know what to do!" ”

Among the three official posts, there are more than 60 people living in the pavilion in Chongwenguan, they are all county officials appointed by Zhu Jun himself, most of them are his personal soldiers or fellow villagers, this group of people is the second largest group, the largest group is the officials appointed by Zhu Zhu's court, there are more than 130 people, but they are also appointed through various relationships, such as Jiang Xin, the county commander of Yixian County, is a typical such official.

The third category is the officials appointed by the imperial court in the past and retained by Zhu Zhu, there are about 40 people, such as Yin Li Shuguang of Fengxiang Mansion and Liu Yiming of Xinfeng County, who expressed their allegiance to Zhu Zhu and were able to stay in office.

In the evening of the same day, the notice was transmitted to the various post houses, and the exam was to be held tomorrow morning, and the content was to test a policy thesis, and this news immediately caused an uproar.

In the official post of Chongwen Pavilion, a group of burly officials gathered in the lobby and were furious, and Zhou Wei of Xinfeng County scolded angrily: "What a bullshit exam!" This is clearly aimed at us, knowing that we are the big boss, we would have stopped doing it if we knew it, packed up our things and went back to Luoyang, and went to the goddamn shit Jin King. ”

Ma Hongbiao, the county commander of Fengxian County, was also annoyed: "We don't participate in this kind of exam, everyone will boycott it collectively tomorrow, and if we want to do it, we will work hard, cut off the big scar on the head, I'm afraid that he will be a ball!" ”

Some of them have a little reminiscence, the government actually lived with their group of people, obviously deliberately arranged, I am afraid that it really wants to wipe them out?

Some people have a germination in their hearts.