August and September are the hottest times of the year, and Guangxi is even hotter because it is located in the south.

It was in this maddeningly hot weather that Yang Cong summoned the governors and prefects of the Guangxi state capitals to rush to Longji to discuss important matters.

This guy, Yang Cong did this, but these big officials and old men were so hot, at this time, the solar energy in broad daylight dried off people's skins, and how hot it was when he was in a hurry, you can imagine it.

However, when they arrived at Longji Mountain, they realized that the scorching heat of the road was nothing.

On this morning, all the prefects and prefects who had arrived were summoned to the makeshift court to prepare for the beginning of the proceedings.

Yang Cong was dressed in a neat official robe, sitting in front of the temporary public case, majestically scanning the neat officials in the row below, and did not speak for a long time.

This is the largest stilted building in Longji Ancient Village, because of the arrival of his governor, the head of the village naturally vacated the best place for him to live, but even if it is a good stilted building, it is still too hot in the daytime.

The sweltering weather reminded him of the scene of lying in the dormitory during the imperial examination, the low dormitory was much hotter than this stilted building, but at that time, he did not have the feeling of being so hot and unbearable as it is now.

Perhaps, it is because he has been an official for a long time and is used to living a comfortable life.

He sighed slightly in his heart, but on the surface, he was still staring at the officials below with an expressionless face.

These are all governors and prefects of various state capitals, and they have been mixed in the officialdom for more than ten years, and they are all much older than him, and they are still a bunch of people standing together, so it is naturally more difficult than him to withstand the heat.

It stands to reason that he should explain the things to be explained as soon as possible, and then let these people find a cooler place to fan the wind and rest and cool off, but he just sat there silently, constantly glancing majestically, as if he was going to punish these officials for standing for a day.

This guy, in such a sultry weather, he was dressed in neat official robes and stood with a bunch of people, it was called a hot, and after standing for less than a quarter of an hour, most of the governors and prefects were already sweating, and their faces were covered with beads of sweat.

But none of them dared to wipe their sweat, nor did they dare to move, for the Governor was staring at them.

In these days, the dignity of the upper and lower levels is very strict, and the Governor sits on it, which means that this is a public court, and if they dare to disturb, it is disrespectful, and according to the law, they will be punished.

Why did Yang Cong do this, did he have a special habit of torturing people?

Of course not, he did this because what he was going to say next involved a large amount of grain and even silver, and if these grains and silver were corrupted by corrupt officials, then his hard work would be in vain.

He did this to test these new governors and prefects, to see if they were corrupt officials, generally corrupt officials and corrupt officials are greedy for money for enjoyment, and people who are used to enjoying it in this hot weather may faint from heat stroke if they stand for a long time.

At the same time, he also wanted to make these governors and prefects understand his authority as a governor in this way, and his authority was not to be offended, let them stand, they had to stand, let them sit, they had to sit, if they dared to do anything in the next thing, they would have to shed their skin if they didn't die.

Fortunately, the Zhizhou and the prefect who were transferred this time are almost not corrupt officials, because the affairs of Guangxi have spread throughout the government and the opposition, and everyone knows that Yang Cong, the "iron-faced governor", is sitting in Guangxi.

These officials suffered for nearly two quarters of an hour in the sweltering weather, and Yang Cong finally said slowly: "This time, this official recruited everyone to come, just for the sake of the terraces, I believe you have also seen that a large new terraced field has opened next to Longji Mountain, and the seedlings in the field have grown at this time." ”

When these officials heard this, most of them showed respectful expressions on their faces, regardless of whether their expressions were pretended or not, Yang Cong's courage was indeed admirable, and he organized people to dig a barren mountain into terraced fields, and also dug a water canal more than ten miles long, this kind of big project, they basically have never done it.

Yang Cong paused for a moment, and then said: "You should all know that the land in Guangxi is less than 400,000 hectares, and less than half of it is distributed to the people. Therefore, the official asked everyone to start organizing all the laborers to dig the terraces immediately after they returned, and the requirements of the official were not high, and you would be qualified if the land in the hands of the common people doubled. “

That's not too much!

When the prefects and prefects present heard this, they all showed shocked expressions.

I'm afraid that this governor will not have a backache when he stands and talks, and he will double the land in the hands of the common people, what kind of joke, how many terraces will have to be dug up, and how much time will it take!

Yang Cong looked at everyone's expressions and asked lightly, "What, is it difficult?" Haven't you all seen that the official has been here for less than three months, and each of the four villages here has almost increased more than one acre of land, and as long as this continues, the land in their hands will be doubled in almost a year. ”

When the officials heard this, their faces were even more bitter.

You are the governor, you want money and money, you want people, what is it to dig up hundreds of acres of terraces in three months, even if you dig out tens of thousands of acres of terraces in three months, it is not unusual, the problem is that we have no money and no one in our hands!

Yang Cong couldn't help but snort coldly when he saw the appearance of these people as if they were mourning, and then said with a slight displeasure: "What kind of expression do you have, just say what the difficulty is." ”

When the officials heard this, they glanced left and right for a long time, and finally a prefect mustered up the courage to give up his hand and said: "Your Excellency the Governor, this common man is not idle to do all day long, and the labor set by the imperial court is only so many days, which exceeds the time of servitude, and it is impossible to make them work in vain." ”

When Yang Cong heard this, he couldn't help but nod slightly: "Well, this question is a good question, and the official also knows that the people can't always be let work in vain, they also have to farm and eat. Therefore, the official organized wealthy businessmen in Nanzhili and Zhejiang and Fujian to donate a batch of grain, and the right to organize the wages of the common people to dig terraced fields. Everyone go back and calculate how much stone grain will be needed to double the cultivated land, and then the official will order someone to send it to you. ”

Really?

Most of these governors and prefects were transferred from other places to fill the shortage of corrupt officials and corrupt officials, where did they know that Yang Cong copied more than two million taels of dirty silver, this guy, to pay all the people in the state capital, that is not a little wage.

Another prefect plucked up the courage to bow his hand and said, "My lord, dare to ask, how much grain we estimated, will you give it?" ”

Yang Cong nodded without hesitation and said: "Of course I will give it, as long as your estimate is reasonable, the official will give it!" ”

, how much grain did the rich businessmen in Nanzhili, Zhejiang and Fujian donate!

When the prefects and prefects heard this, they were shocked again, if what the governor said was true, then it would be at least two or three million stone grain!

Yang Cong glanced around majestically again, and finally warned: "However, the ugly words are ahead, if you dare to fill your pockets and swallow these grains, this official will not spare them." I believe you also know that most of the main officials of the state capitals in Guangxi have been dismissed by this official, and this official does not mind removing some more, you must remember that whether it is you or your subordinates swallowing these grains, this official will not spare you! ”