However, it was said that Li Xianzhi invited He Tai'an to the county, rested overnight, and the next morning, he entered the government to do things and officially became a master.

This He Tai'an has been trained in military and political affairs in the governor's yamen, and he is naturally handy in handling the affairs of the county. Not only did He Tai'an help handle the criminal name and Qian Gu affairs, but even the frequent officialdom entertainment letters were also written by him, so Li Xianzhi followed him to learn to be an official.

Fortunately, it is also fast to learn to be an official here, and it didn't take long for Li Xianzhi to learn the affairs of officialdom in general. However, his heart is not all about being an official, and all the affairs that should be handled by He Tai'an are handled.

For the rest of the time, he found books such as "Da Ming Law", "Da Huan" and "Da Huan" from the county's library and "The New Book of Discipline and Effectiveness", "Records of Military Training" and "New Book of Military Preparation" written by Qi Jiguang, a famous general of this dynasty, and carefully studied them - these are all extremely useful things for him in the future.

Time flies, Li Xian is an official and studying at the same time, but he doesn't realize that it is already after autumn, and it is time to harvest grain, which is the busiest time of the year.

At the beginning of the founding of the country, the grain chiefs of each township and each district collected all the food from door to door and learned about the county. Since the Wanli year, the imperial court has changed the rules and asked the old men in the county to go down to collect grain in person.

In the past, when Zhou knew that the county was there, this matter was handled by Qian County Cheng and Miao Master Book, and there was always a balance of tens of thousands of silver, and the errands who did the work were slightly rewarded, and the rest were brought back to the county government, and several masters were divided according to their grades. Only Zhao Wenhui didn't accept it, and the others were so happy that they could still divide a few more taels, and when they divided the silver later, they would no longer call him.

This Zhao Wenhui was originally born in a rich and noble family, although his family was down-and-out at this time, but the backbone of the rich and noble people was still there, and he was usually a righteous man and a light on money, so he naturally did not want to do such a thing as a fish and a common man, so he was estranged from several other masters. This is all a digression, so I won't say it for the time being.

Besides, Li Xianzhi knew that the grain was very important, so he naturally didn't dare to take it lightly, so he informed Qian, Miao and others that he would personally handle the grain this year.

But when Li Xianzhi used He Tai'an, he caused Qian and Miao to be full of resentment, and now that this is happening, it has cut off their financial routes, how can they not be angry? The two of them secretly gathered together every day and cursed constantly.

A few days later, Li Xianzhi ordered Qian Xiancheng to stay in the county for the time being, preside over county affairs, and Miao went with him. When Master Miao received the order, he found Qian Xiancheng and told him about it, and said angrily: "What does he want to do?" If we take our messenger under his hands and use a Zhejiang barbarian, our advantage is that we don't get a penny, isn't this like digging our ancestral grave? ”

Qian Ruoju said: "Li is a young jinshi, so he naturally does not want to be at the mercy of others, and it is not surprising that he wants to be independent."

Master Miao sneered contemptuously: "Lord Qian is good-tempered and can think openly. But since he came here for a few months, he used that Zhejiang barbarian, our harvest is much less, and the money of the court can't be touched, so we can only rely on the market to make offerings, how many days can we eat? ”

Qian Ruoju said: "He is the palm seal of the imperial court, we can't offend, but in the end, he is a foreigner, and after serving for three years, he will leave."

Master Miao exclaimed: "According to Lord Qian's meaning, you have to wait for three years?" This is not good, how much silver will you lose in three years? Don't say he is leaving, we are not in office, and we still say two miles! ”

Qian Xiancheng shook the folding fan and said with a smile: "Brother Miao, don't be impatient, although we can't tear our faces with him face to face, we can do things secretly." We have been operating here for many years, and the county officials and the village governors all listen to us. When Zhou Zhixian came, didn't he also want to cover the sky with one hand, and in the end, he was not at our mercy? ”

Master Miao calmed down a little and asked, "The one surnamed Li wants me to go with him......"

Qian Xiancheng hurriedly said: "It's natural to go, and it's good to touch his road and appetite, if it's okay, we will turn a blind eye to him." If he really wants the lion to open his mouth and swallow our benefits, then it will be no wonder that we will beg the Lord of Futai to inform the imperial history masters in the capital to go to the Taoist script, and it is easy to dismiss him. The cost is no more than a thousand taels of silver, and within a month or two, it will be earned. The two agreed, and Master Miao took his leave and went back to prepare.

Early the next morning, the servants had prepared two sedan chairs and two horses and waited in front of the door. As mentioned earlier, Li Xianzhi is accustomed to riding horses, and Qian Xiancheng knows it, so he specially arranged it. Li Xian got on the horse, and an errand took the reins and walked slowly. In the back, Miao Zhushu and He Tai'an each got into a sedan chair, Zhao Dianshi rode a horse, and then there were thirty platoons and thirty errand soldiers, escorting more than a dozen mule carts and ox carts that were hired.

Qian Xiancheng sent Li Xian and his party away, returned to the yali, took the case file and official documents, and thought about finding loopholes, whether he could grab the tails of a few people involved so that he could make up for the recent deficit. I didn't think about it, and after two days, I couldn't find one, not only that, but the people in the county didn't even have a single person who complained, and they were very distressed for a few days.

One day, Qian Xiancheng sat in the court as usual, and no one came to shout the complaint for half a day, and there was nothing to do, so he lay down on the desk and took a nap. At this time, Master Miao suddenly burst in angrily and woke him up.

Qian Xiancheng sat up and asked, "Why is Lord Miao not by the side of Lord Zhixian, but he is back?" ”

Master Miao shouted: "I, Miao, have been in officialdom for half my life, and I have never seen such an official. If you have a sedan chair, you don't sit, but you have to ride a horse; I didn't catch the silver, but I gave it to the gang of mud legs. As he spoke, he slapped the table.

Qian Xiancheng was so excited when he saw him, and he was afraid that he would be seen by the people below and spread ugly, so he hurriedly dragged him into the second hall.

It turned out that at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the tax administration was corrupted, and the "one whip" law implemented in Wanli had been completely destroyed. The imperial court collected taxes the same as before, collecting both cashiers, copper coins and grain items. As a result, there were many ills, and officials at all levels had the opportunity to make money, and they rose up and down, and the people were miserable. And Qian County Cheng and Miao Master Book, naturally, are no exception, and they have teamed up with their predecessors Zhou Zhixian to reap a lot of benefits.

However, Li Xianzhi is different from Zhou Zhixian, he does not want to be a corrupt official like Zhou Zhixian. Therefore, as soon as he arrived at the place, he dispensed with the names of "fire consumption" and "drenching and kicking" that officials used to make money on weekdays, and only collected a small amount of wear and tear as the remuneration of hired car owners and errand workers, and he did not take a penny. Therefore, seeing that he had no hope of sharing the spoils, Master Miao was angry and fell ill, and came back with the messenger who transported the grain.

Master Miao told Qian County Cheng about these one by one. Qian Xiancheng twisted his goatee, pondered for a moment and said: "It seems that we are wrong, Li is here to be a Qing official." But he didn't know that in this world, Qing officials can't do it. He cut off our wealth, and we cut off his official way! He laughed grimly.

Master Miao asked, "It seems that Lord Qian has an idea?" ”

Qian Xiancheng said: "There are ready-made ideas, but they ask us to break the bank." ”

Master Miao immediately understood, and said, "Lord Qian said that he was going to the door of Lord Futai?" ”

Qian Xiancheng said: "Lord Futai loves silver the most, and we feed him with thousands of silver every year." Now that we have been troubled by someone, ours is gone, and the people of Futai are naturally gone. He can control us, but he can't control Lord Futai. Lord Futai is short of silver, so he is naturally angry, let's send some benefits to push him, he has Wei Jiuqiansui behind, just find a reason for 'the party attached to Donglin', and this stumbling block will be removed. ”

Master Miao said: "Futai's appetite is amazing, how much do we have to send to make it?" ”

Qian Xiancheng disagreed: "You are so angry, he is not only the financial road of you and me, but also the masters in the county, the errand and porters who do things below, they should also give a share." Besides, the wool grows on the sheep, and it does not spoil the flesh and skin of you and me. ”

Master Miao listened to it and immediately agreed. So the two gathered together the heads of the teachings and the three classes of officials and stewards, and told them what they had agreed upon, and asked everyone to pledge money and go to the door.

The crowd shouted for a long time, and filled out the donation slip according to the original amount of silver, some of which were three taels or five taels, some of which were ten taels or eight taels, and some of which were twenty or thirty taels. Some of those who were not there with Li Xianzhi were filled in by Qian County's discretion, but Zhao Wenhui had not received any benefits, so he did not fill in. Soon, the donation form was filled out, and Qian County counted it, and there were as many as seven hundred and thirty taels in total.

Qian Xiancheng announced the numbers, and said: "Lord Futai, send a whole number, it's always more decent, I and the Miao master book have made up the rest, and we have made up enough for a thousand taels, I just hope that you will send the donated silver as soon as possible, and we will do things easily." ”

Everyone responded in unison and took their leave. Within three days, the silver was sent, and the errand who did not come back, Qian Xiancheng himself helped to cushion it first. Qian Xiancheng has the means, and he is not afraid that they will repay the account. After scraping together enough 1,000 taels of silver, Qian Xiancheng and Master Miao left the affairs of the county alone, and ran to Fucheng to see Lord Futai. The two were frequent visitors to the door of Hao Zhifu, and everyone knew them, so they didn't hand over the film. The subordinates did not stop them, but only carried the silver box inside, told them that the prefect Hao was in the study, and told them to go and see them.

Qian and Miao people entered the second hall and went to the study of Hao Zhifu to meet and salute. Governor Hao ordered to sit down to watch the tea, and after a cup of tea, he asked him what he meant. The two didn't answer first, but Qian Xiancheng took out a gift slip from his sleeve, gave it with both hands, and said, "My county colleagues don't mean anything, and I also ask Lord Futai to accept it with a face." ”

Hao Zhifu saw that it was a gift, and his heart was naturally happy, and he took the gift sheet and looked at it, and saw that it was written on it, "Respect the tattoo of a thousand taels of silver." Immediately, he smiled from ear to ear and said, "How can you let the two of you spend so much?" As he spoke, he put the gift slip away.

Qian and Miao saw that Hao Zhifu did not shirk it, so they took the opportunity to say: "The Lord of Futai guards the pastoral side, and he has a lot of kindness to us, but it is just a little courtesy, just to express his heart, and he has been sent inside." ”

Although Governor Hao never remembered when he had protected them, these thousand taels of silver and these words made him very useful, and he smiled and said, "Where, where." ”

Qian County suddenly changed his face, and said with a sad brow: "Lord Futai doesn't know, this thousand taels of silver is the last belongings of the county officials such as me." He sighed as he spoke. Master Miao also shook his head at the right time.

Governor Hao hurriedly asked what was going on. Qian Xiancheng then added fuel and vinegar to Li Xianzhi's monopoly on power and trouble. It is only because this Hao Governor is naturally interested in wealth that the two of them can be so unabashed. Seeing that it was a matter of silver, Governor Hao couldn't help but prick up his ears and listen carefully. After listening, he twisted his beard and pondered. It turns out that this Hao Governor's Mansion is not very bad in other places except for loving money like life, although it is attached to the eunuch party, it is just to make money, and the life and future of bad people have never been done. In addition, at the beginning of Li Xian's tenure, he gave him a generous gift, which made him feel good, and he groaned for a while, and he couldn't make up his mind.

Qian and Miao saw that Governor Hao didn't speak, and they immediately became anxious. Qian County Cheng said: "If Li's wish is fulfilled, the officials of Pinghu County will not be able to do it in the future, and we will suffer from poverty, but the share of the people of Futai will not be able to be found." If the people of Futai contribute and get rid of Li, we will double the number of filial piety to you in the future! ”

As soon as these words came out, they were poking in the heart of Hao Zhifu. Although Li Xianzhi gave silver, it was only a meeting gift at the beginning of his tenure, and if he continued like this, he would definitely have no money to pay filial piety after a long time. However, Qian and Miao have benefited here every year, and now they have increased the size, so how can he not be tempted? So he said slowly: "According to the two of you, this Li really can't be an official." It's just that although he is under the jurisdiction of this mansion, he is in the domain, and the lord of the domain is not on the same road as me, so this road must be impassable. ”

Qian and Miao hurriedly said: "Please ask Lord Futai to think of a way." ”

Hao Zhifu thought about it again and said: "In this way, I have to ask the imperial master in the capital to move the book." It's just that these Beijing gentlemen are in Sijiu City all the year round, and they don't have any extra income, and they live one by one guarding that little money, and their eyes are hungry and green, if they don't have a few pennies to pay respect, I'm afraid they won't help. ”

Hearing that he was going to make money again, Master Miao hurriedly asked, "How much does Master Yushi want?" ”

Hao Zhifu said: "They are poor and crazy, and they have never seen a few times of silver ingots, and two or three hundred of them have been sent away." ”

Qian Xiancheng and Master Miao listened to it, and for the sake of long-term planning, they gritted their teeth and recognized, and said: "The two of us will go back, and then we will gather enough three hundred taels to send it, and ask Lord Futai to hand it over to the capital and handle this matter." ”

Hao Zhifu replied: "I have a year that is the imperial history, and I wrote a good stamp, and he has participated in it, and there is no one who does not dismiss the official, so you can rest assured." Then, after some gossip, he dispersed.