After saying goodbye to the Jingfu Zen Master, the monk accompanied the Taigong and Guozhi down the mountain, and when they returned to the inn, they happened to meet Gou Cai, the housekeeper of He Yuan. At this time, after Gou Cai saw Taigong, he hurriedly said: "Master." ”

Seeing Gou Caixing's flustered appearance, Taigong guessed that something must have happened at home, so he asked, "Gou Cai, what happened at home?" ”

"Master, this is a letter from Mrs. Tai to you," After speaking, he took out a letter from his bosom. Taigong took the letter in Gou Cai's hand, stepped forward and opened the door into the room to open the letter and watch, the news of the death of the second lady Wang Yao was uncomfortable for anyone, but it looked very calm, turned to Gou Cai and said: "Gou Cai, go to the store downstairs to borrow some pen and ink." ”

"Yes, the minion will go," Gou Cai exited the room and went to the store to get pen and ink. Taigong sat in front of the desk, constantly pondering, maybe Taigong was thinking about how to arrange his daughter-in-law's funeral and how to write this letter at this time, Taigong's face was unusually heavy at this time. Gou Cai spread the rice paper on the desk, and the Taigong thought about it, and began to write this letter. At this time, Taigong's pen thought was like a spring, and when he was young, he wrote this letter, put it in an envelope, pasted it and stood up.

"Gou Cai."

"Master, the minion is here."

The prince handed the letter to Gou Caidao: "You go to Zhejiang, hand over this letter to my son, and then return quickly." ”

"Yes, the slave will go," Gou Cai exited the prince's room and rode out of Dengfeng City.

After Taigong packed his luggage, he could leave for Chengdu.

In the past few days, the sky has been raining heavily, black clouds have pressed down, and the river has risen sharply. The embankment of the Yangtze River cannot stop the surging torrent and is about to burst, and this year's floods are inevitable. At this time, He Jiehao stayed alone in the official residence to write a chapter, explaining the situation here and asking the imperial court to allocate some money and grain to repair the embankment. In addition, the imperial court was used to quell the rebellion, and now the treasury is empty, and the written recitals are thrown to the ground. The lobby of the official mansion was full of officials who wanted to meet the prefect. At this time, He Jiehao didn't know what to do, so he had to walk out of the backyard. All the magistrates rushed up, and you couldn't hear what they were saying clearly.

"Okay, you will report the affairs of the state government one by one."

There are many drought and locust plagues in the northwest, and refugees are pouring in, and they don't know how to deal with it, so their solution is to drive these refugees out of the city. Why did they pour into this area of Zhejiang, because the land of Jiangsu and Zhejiang is really a rich land in the south of the Yangtze River, and there is still a possibility of survival for them to flood into the area of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Because of this, the more they drove away, the more many of them were driven, and these officials did not have much to do about it, so they came to the prefect for advice, coupled with the continuous torrential rain, the river swelled, the embankment fell into disrepair, and many other things came flooding.

He Jiehao walked up and sat down and said, "Everyone, after you go back, write it in writing and jointly submit it to the imperial court, I don't know what you think." For the current situation, the way to deal with the situation is to increase taxes, and the tax increase is divided into three classes, the first class is the high-ranking officials and nobles, and the tax revenue is increased by three layers; the second class is the middle peasantry, with two layers of tax revenue; The third is the poor tenant farmers or hired farmers, and the tax is increased by one layer or the labor service is drawn from one. ”

When these officials heard that they had to pay taxes, they all retreated and shirked it, and they all said their reasons to pass the buck; Other officials sat still, closing their eyes in silence as if they hadn't heard.

"You mediocre officials, who usually say that you share worries for the court and worry about the court, where have you go? The country is in a difficult period and is in need of your help, you are afraid to retreat, you say that the imperial court takes so much silver every month to support you, what's the use? He Jiehao looked at the officials around him, was furious, and took the case.

One of the officials whispered: "We are all mediocre officials, you are the pillar of the Qing Dynasty, you can do it." ”

He Jiehao glared at these officials angrily, making them a little frightened. This official retreated into the crowd of officials, and it was very obscene. He Jiehao stepped down and stood among the officials, and said: "Of course, before we face the disaster, we need you to work together to tide over the difficulties, donate money and materials, and sign your names and officials to ask the emperor for your credit," Then many officers and soldiers stood out from outside the gate, and these officials were afraid when they saw this momentum, and no one moved.

"How about this official taking the lead in donating 80 taels of silver for the year plus 460,000 taels of incorruptible silver?" After finishing speaking, he stepped forward to sign his name, and then called his entourage He Erbao to go to the money bank to withdraw money and write this note, which had 460,000 taels written in large characters to face the officials. When these officials saw this, they were all thinking that the prefect actually called out his annual salary and incorruptible silver, but don't let this prefect take the lead and rush to donate money and materials, which add up to millions of taels, not to mention those scholars, farmers, industrialists, and merchants? Far beyond his budget. After these officials finished donating money, they swaggered out as if they were a great hero, and some of them exchanged ears and asked around about the amount of money they had donated.

At this time, He Jiehao's burden in his heart was finally let go, and he walked out of the mansion and looked up at the sky, the dark clouds did not disperse, and the rain continued. At this time, a house slave hurriedly stepped forward and said, "Master." ”

He Jiehao looked at the face of this house slave and said, "Is something wrong?" ”

"The housekeeper Gou Cai said that there is an urgent matter to find the master," At this time, He Jiehao didn't know what was going on at home, it was so urgent, and then stepped out of the gate of the mansion in a few steps, and the house slave next to him held up an umbrella and then followed, and after getting into the carriage, he rushed to his house. He Jiehao got out of the carriage and walked into the mansion, and the house slave next to him put away his umbrella. Gou Cai jumped forward and knelt down, and said, "Master." ”

"What's going on at home? Say it. ”

"Mrs. Wang, she, she...," the housekeeper Gou Cai said that it was difficult to say this, for fear that the master would not be able to accept it.

"What's wrong with ma'am?" He Jiehao was a little anxious when he heard this.

"In the early hours of the morning five days ago, Mrs. Wang passed away," he said, and then took out the letter written to him by the prince from his bosom. He Jiehao took the letter written by the prince, and after seeing this, it was like a thunderbolt in the sky, he was shocked, took a few steps back, his hands hung down, the paper fell from his hands, he sat on the chair, and said, "Madam! I didn't expect you and I to be separated by yin and yang from now on, and yin and yang will be separated! Tears rolled down her eyes. When you are young, use the corners of your sleeves to wipe away the tears that have slipped from the corners of your eyes.

"Master, mourning," Gou Cai looked at He Jiehao and said.

"Okay, this official knows," He Jiehao wanted to stop the pain in his heart, and said: "Quickly recruit Lord Yuan of Zhizhou, and Lord Feng of Zhixian County to enter the mansion to discuss matters." ”

"Yes," a house slave withdrew. At night, He Jiehao gathered in the lobby of Zhizhou and Zhixian. He Jiehao stood up and saluted, "Lord Yuan, Lord Feng." ”

Zhizhou and Zhixian got up and returned the salute, and said, "Lord He is so polite, the lower officials can't afford it." ”

He Jiehao sat down at this time, and looked at the two adults of Zhizhou and Zhixian: "Lord Yuan, Lord Feng," Zhizhou and Zhixian thanked before they could sit down. Then He Jiehao faced the people standing next to him and said, "Serve tea." ”

A servant served tea and placed it on the table next to them. He Jiehao looked at the teacup next to him, and faced the two adults: "There is some urgent matter at home, this official, this official has already written a resignation letter to the saint, and it will be issued in a few days." ”

Lord Feng asked with some curiosity: "I don't know what happened in my family?" ”

Lord Zhizhou Yuan tugged at Lord Feng's sleeve and shook his head, facing He Jiehao and said, "Lord He, don't worry, we will take care of the work before and after the disaster." ”

He Jiehao nodded and said, "There are many floods in the south of the Yangtze River, and this official has written a plan for the two adults to refer to and implement. ”

After Lord Yuan and Lord Feng took this plan, they looked at He Jiehao and said, "Dredging method." ”

"Yes, dredging is to dredge wide or deep rivers to flow into the sea, repair sluice gates, release water during flood seasons, and store water during dry times to irrigate farmland, killing two birds with one stone. Now it is the problem of the relocation of the residents in the lower reaches of the river and the tax problem of some merchants and gate lords, this matter is to be completed by Lord Feng and all the lords, and the dredging of the river is completed by Lord Yuan and his various river workers, and the river must be dredged before the flood comes, so as to reduce the property losses and casualties of the people. ”

"My lord, you can go with confidence, and at this time, you will hand it over to the lower officials and others."

He Jiehao pondered for a long time, but he was still a little uneasy, so he called his entourage He Erbao and said, "Erbao has followed this official for many years, so Lord Yuan and Lord Feng will let Erbao assist you." ”

"Yes, the subordinate obeys."

"Okay," He Jiehao picked up the teacup and was about to drink tea. Lord Yuan and Lord Feng stood up and said, "The lower official resigns." ”

"Okay, Lord Yuan, Lord Feng, take care."

"Okay, Lord He, take care," Lord Yuan and Lord Feng exited the mansion and held up their umbrellas and left. He Jiehao left Erbao alone and said: "Erbao, this official will entrust such a heavy task to you, remember to give me information at any time, and this official must know everything about the situation here." ”

"Master, the little one has been written down."

"Okay, you can step down."

"Little retire," After Erbao withdrew, He Jiehao entered the bedroom to pack up his salute and set off overnight. It was raining heavily, and the lightning was continuous, and the thunder was roaring, and the sky at this time seemed to have leaked a hole, and the rain was pouring down, flooding the road ahead, and it was so difficult to walk. He Jiahao leaned out of the car window, stepped down and pushed the carriage forward with the coachman in the rain. At dawn the next day, the carriage made its way around these difficult mountain roads into town. He Jiehao slept all the way, and only arrived in Chengdu three days later, went straight to his home, and Taigong and others went out to greet him.