Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Suzhou has been treated differently by the imperial court, and a large number of wealthy families in Suzhou have been relocated to Huaibei, Henan, Fengyang and other places, almost hollowing out Suzhou.

This is not enough, the agricultural tax of the next prefecture and county is only 30 or 15 taxes, but Suzhou has to pay 10 taxes or even double, even if Suzhou scholars participate in the scientific examination, they are treated unfairly.

Suzhou, which was prosperous and wealthy in troubled times, became more and more withered in the Taiping years. The reason is self-evident, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty is too resentful, and it is rumored that as long as there are people in Suzhou to worship Zhang Shicheng, it will always be like this.

As for the officials who came to Suzhou to serve, they were also very sympathetic, and none of them said that they would make great efforts to restore the prosperity of Suzhou in the past.

It wasn't until the eighteenth year of Hongwu that a young general judge came to Suzhou, and I heard that it was from the Royal Academy, which was different from those officials who hid in the yamen all day long.

Since this young general judge arrived in Suzhou, he has been under the pressure of Shangguan to run primary schools, build workshops, and help the poor and weak, and after only two years of hard work, Suzhou began to change, and the taxes paid to the imperial court doubled.

Xu is for the sake of money, the emperor Lao'er did not treat this young official as a whole, but went all the way to the top and became the prefect of Suzhou in just a few years.

Greater rights gave him more opportunities to display his talents, with Suzhou's profound textile heritage, the young prefect founded the Suzhou Weaving Bureau, every day to organize tens of thousands of embroidery girls and weavers to produce splendid silk Luo, Suzhou has become the center of the high-end textile industry, more prosperous than in the past.

There are more primary schools in Suzhou, and there are more relief centers to accommodate those who are disabled and helpless, but in the end, I don't know that those missing arms and legs are Zhang Shicheng's old department, which has caused a lot of criticism.

The young prefect still went his own way, and in the first two years, he did a big thing, and Huang Fugui, the prefect of Changzhou, teamed up to build a direct railway to Yingtian, because of the occupation of the people's land, the Changzhou government did not do a good job of follow-up compensation, and many farmers went to Beijing to sue the emperor, and some officials impeached the Suzhou prefect for embezzling the money of the Ink Weaving Bureau.

This promising young prefect was immediately raided, and the wolf-like brocade guard rushed into the back office to prepare for a windfall, who knew that a prefect's house only found less than two coins of silver, and even the rice jar was at the bottom, and the only servant in the family was lame.

He was not wronged for embezzling the funds of the Weaving Bureau, but all the money was used to repair the railway, and the whereabouts of each copper coin in the ledger were clear.

His Majesty the Emperor, who had always been merciless to corrupt officials, actually let him go gently, only punished him with half a year's hard labor, and then let him go back to continue to be the prefect. As for the unfinished railway, the imperial court handed it over to the Ministry of Industry, and now Suzhou has been opened to traffic, and I heard that it will continue to be repaired to connect Songjiang and Hangzhou.

Last year, when his two terms were completed, the Ministry of Officials promoted him to serve as the political envoy of Zhejiang Province to participate in politics, but he insisted on not accepting it, only saying that there was still work in Suzhou that had not been completed, and asked to do another term.

There are still Qing officials, but there are not many Qing officials who are unwilling to be promoted, and some of his colleagues in the yamen say that he was frightened when he was in prison; Some people also say that he tried his best to make Suzhou full of flowers, and he was reluctant to leave before he had time to enjoy it.

No matter what others say, the eyes of the people of Suzhou are the brightest and the most felt, and they know in their hearts that this is a good official for the benefit of the people, and they love him a lot.

I heard that the prefect's wife passed away, countless people came to the palace to mourn, and the paper money and incense candles sent were piled up as high as a hill in the back office.

A gray-haired beggar, dressed in a dirty cotton jacket, begging on the cement road next to the station, with a pair of eyes staring at a pair of feet walking past him.

If you wear straw sandals and cloth shoes, you can just pounce on them with delicate boots, and you will have to ask for a few copper coins if you are beaten.

Ah! Another pair came, and the old beggar immediately rushed over and hugged the feet tightly, and said in a sad voice: "Uncle, reward a few copper coins, I haven't eaten for three days......

His voice stopped abruptly because he saw a knife hanging from the man's waist, embroidered with a spring knife! He hurriedly withdrew his hand as if he had been electrocuted, and fell to the ground trembling, "Master Jun spares his life!" The military master spares his life! ”

But it was too late, and his fists and feet had already rained down on his back, only to hear a loud voice say: "That's it, stop!" Jinyiwei's reputation is ruined by you like this, the emperor asked us to punish corrupt officials and thieves, but he didn't let us bully the people. ”

The old beggar felt a pair of warm hands help him up, and he slowly raised his head to see a middle-aged man in front of him wearing a black power suit with a beard, and behind him were two young men with grinning teeth and embroidered spring knives on their waists.

The middle-aged man laughed harmoniously: "Where has the old man been hurt, is there any discomfort?" ”

The old beggar's head shook like a rattle, "It's okay for the old man to take a few hits with rough skin and thick meat, just now I accidentally collided with the military master, begging the military master to spare the old man's life, spare the old man's life......"

Seeing the old beggar's body sifting chaff as if kowtowing, An Huzi knew that it was useless to say anything, he sighed, took out a piece of broken silver from his purse and stuffed it into the old beggar's dirty hand, "Old man take it and buy some food!" Then he got up and left.

The old beggar looked at the silver in his hand in disbelief, and suddenly shouted, "Master Jun, stay here!" ”

An Huzi stopped and turned back and said, "What else is the matter, uncle?" ”

The old beggar smiled and said, "The military master is a good person, and the old man has a great gift to the military master." ”

The two young Jinyi guards laughed when they heard this, and even An Huzi couldn't help but laugh out loud, but the old beggar was in a hurry, "The old man didn't laugh, the old man really didn't say a joke, the old man knew that the military master's job was to catch the traitor and corrupt officials, and the old man knew that there was a big traitor in Suzhou." ”

An Huzi turned around and walked in front of the old beggar and laughed softly: "That official wants to hear who the traitor is, if he is right, he will have your reward." ”

The old beggar looked mysteriously left and right, stretched out his hand to cover his mouth and leaned into An Huzi's ear, "The traitor that the old man said is the prefect of Suzhou!" ”

It was nearly dusk, outside the side gate of the Suzhou Mansion, a young man in plain clothes beside him waved at the people who had not dispersed outside, "Thank you for coming to condole, the Mansion asked me to thank you for your kindness, the time is not early, let's go back early." There is no need to come again tomorrow, tomorrow morning Fuzun will take his wife's coffin back to his hometown for burial. ”

A strong man with a shiny face said: "If that's the case, then we won't come to disturb tomorrow, I heard that the old man of Fuzun is very emaciated, I have a pig's front leg here, please accept it to make up for Fuzun." ”

"Butcher Zhang, your pork will only produce phlegm if you eat it, if you want to replenish your body, you have to count my old ginseng, please accept it with a little heart, if you finish eating, there are still a lot of my crude medicine shop, it is not any money."

"The lord of the mansion is honest and does not accept goods, but I can collect this incense candle paper money,"

The young man waved his hand again and again, "Thank you, the government has told you not to accept gifts, and you can't accept incense, candles, paper money, and the family is already piled up, so you better go home early." ”

Seeing the surging crowd in front of the door, the young man hurriedly closed the door and tied the latch, leaning on the door panel and waiting for a cup of tea, there was no movement outside the door, and he said in one breath: "It's gone!" ”

He limped and was about to leave the door when there was a sudden ring, and he shouted impatiently, "It's too late, please leave quickly, don't disturb the innocence of the dead." ”

I heard someone shouting outside the door: "Ah Yin, it's me, open the door quickly!" ”

Ah Yin was stunned and said, "It's An Tongzhi, why are you here!" ”