Zhou Ji of Suide Zhixian County sighed with a piece of paper, not for anything else, this official document was issued urgently by the governor, saying that the rice fat thief was called Lu Shizhi, and took 10,000 thieves to go south to Weinan, and asked the counties along the road to resolutely block it, and cooperate with the border army to carry out encirclement and suppression.

In fact, this matter of suppressing thieves is not under the control of his county order, it is under the direct jurisdiction of thousands of households in the guard, Zhou Ji, as a civil official who strictly abides by his duties, still knows this, but the problem is that he has to manage the money and food of thousands of households in the thief guard.

For the sake of the emperor's benevolence, we must exterminate these thieves, and we are determined to make everything easy to do, but it is difficult to do this money and food.

This county is located in the Loess Plateau, the beams are staggered, the ravines are vertical and horizontal, the output is very limited, at the beginning of Hongwu Yansui Town (one of the nine major military towns in the border of the Ming Dynasty), Hongwu set up Suidewei (also a military institution) in four years. At the beginning of Yansui Town, Shenmu Road, Yulin Road, Jingbian Road, Suidewei, Qingyangwei, Yan'anwei, and Dongshengwei had a total of 12 camps and 36 castles. Suidewei has jurisdiction over 50 households. In the ninth year of Chenghua, because the traffic here is really not good, the road is rugged, it is difficult, and the transportation is very inconvenient. The transportation of materials is completely dependent on the shoulders, shoulders, animals, and human backs. So I had to move Yansui Town to Yulin, and you can imagine how Suide was poor.

Moreover, in the past few years, the world has been drought, and it is thousands of miles of red land, the people are not happy, and there is some output in the Wuding River Valley, but these ointment places have become Wangzhuang Wangtian, even if the rest are gathered in the hands of the large gentry, there is nothing to do with the county, they do not pay taxes and money, this year in order to complete the money and grain taxes distributed above, I don't know how many people have been forced to disperse, how many men have been tortured, and the general will be perfunctory, and now, the official warehouse is about to starve to death of rats, Where else is there an army of food supplies?

"Proprietor, what should I do with this official document of the governor?" Master Qian Liang saw that the proprietor was just walking around the lobby, but he couldn't come up with a charter, so he reminded him carefully.

Zhou Ji's footsteps didn't stop, just looked up at the master, and there was a burst of excitement, and he said with a wry smile: "The thieves are coming, it is necessary to block it, and now the thousands of households in my county have been tightly engaged over the years, and we have allocated some grain and rice every year, and will maintain them without starvation, and there are six or seven hundred, the thousand households are also sincere, and the equipment is not bad, and the governor let me exercise the right to sign Ding, which is feasible, anyway, there is nothing else in our county, that is, there are many poor men, as long as there is money and food, don't say that the signing is two thousand, It's 10,000 is not a problem, but if you want to die, you have to live on this money and food, and we don't have it. ”

When Master Qian Liang heard this, he had no choice but to remain silent.

In fact, this Zhou Ji is also a good official in this Ming Dynasty, but, in this Ming Dynasty, the most difficult thing to do is this good official, ten years of cold window, only to get this poor county for the government, but also with some ambitions, conscientiously for the emperor to run a party, but, the whole Ming Dynasty is rotten, let you be Da Luo Jin Xian, it is difficult to spread, when the eunuch party is rampant, the most hated is these good officials, but fortunately, this Suide is indeed a place where rabbits do not want to stay, he Zhou Ji also borrowed this light, no one robbed him, This is only ten years in office, in the past ten years, Zhou Ji conscientiously commanded the people to silt the fields and open the mountains, barely let the people eat one porridge a day, and the eunuch fell, he Zhou Ji did not enjoy the rain and dew of a son of heaven and a courtier, and he still did his county order.

But as soon as the new emperor came, it was even more fatal than when he was eunuch, not only did there be no relief in the world's great drought, but even the original arrears had to be made up, Zhou Ji had to endure it, and started with those people, just dealt with it, but now this time this expense came, and now where do you let him start?

The master also knew Zhou Ji's difficulties, and he couldn't bear to do anything to Xiaomin again, so he carefully suggested again: "If you don't call the gentry in the county to make some donations, maybe you can solve it for a while." ”

Lord Zhou Ji lamented again, the rich gentry in his county are the lords of two meals a day, and there is no oil and water, and those who have oil and water are all in the river valley, but those gentry and landlords are all attached to the names of the princes from all walks of life, and they don't even look at the county that is not landless, so what else is there to donate? I want to go for you.

"I have to think of a way, or not to mention the governor's decree, that is, once the tens of thousands of homeless people and thieves pass, it will immediately spoil our county into a white land, that is, it will hurt the muscles and bones, and it will be difficult to recover, and it will cost the proprietor ten years of hard work."

The master's words are the truth, once the homeless people are eaten up, they will have to coerce the population, in order to protect Suide, they can only block the pole outside Suide, otherwise it will be jade burned.

After Zhou Ji walked a few laps, Fang made up his mind and said: "You clean up, follow me to the river fortress for a walk, I can't persuade those rich men to take some money and grain out, for the emperor, for themselves They should also contribute some strength." ”

As soon as he heard this method, the master frowned and smiled bitterly, this is really forcing the adults to be anxious, and raising money and food with those rich men who are not pulling out a dime is a tiger's mouth.

Master Qian Liang thought about it, and couldn't help but take a step forward and said: "Proprietor, if you and I leave empty-handed, we will definitely make a mess, and we still have to take something to get something from them." ”

"I want to, but what can I come up with? Look at my county government, it is really like washing, in addition to the big seal of the emperor's gift, there are only a few servants left of you and me, and they usually rely on the guards to send them. ”

In fact, it is true that there are only a few of them left in Suide, and those who want to be promoted and make a fortune are not willing to starve with this good official boss, that is to die and flee to their own future.

"That's exactly what we can come up with." The money and grain master reminded with a smile.

"What?" Zhou Ji couldn't help but look at the master in confusion, not knowing what he was referring to and what else he could take.

"The official body and the official are sued."

Zhou Ji was stunned.

The master hurriedly explained: "Since last year, our county died of illness, transferred the main book, no one wants to come here to receive it for a while, and now they are all vacant, and at the same time, there are still miscellaneous positions in medicine, yin and yang, monks, Taoist divisions, teachings, these are officials but no one, and no one is willing to do it, there are still some shortages, it is better to promote those rich children this time, anyway, don't let them do things, just some false names, those rich businessmen are thinking about how to get a background to change the court, why don't we calculate the price, Exchange some money and food for emergencies. ”

As soon as the master's method came out, Zhou Ji categorically vetoed it at that time: "This is an official body, and the emperor must approve it, where can we decide?" This is a public traitor, how can you and I do this thing that violates the king's law, this matter must not be done. ”

"Your Excellency must not be pedantic, this matter is just our guarantee, whether the above approves it or the above thing, besides, I heard that a few months ago, the governor fought in the first battle, and the governor participated in the war to recruit the villagers, which was a letter of official status, so I think that the governor should also support us in doing so."

"This-" As soon as Zhou Ji was said by the master, he really started to think, no one here in Zhou Ji wanted to come, and he couldn't say that he couldn't protect himself, and the governor was eager to approve it, and those rich masters just wanted to decorate the façade with an official body, and they wouldn't really care about asking for money and food, and they wouldn't really come to be on duty, this may be a way.

"Proprietor, do I know that at the beginning, Mi Zhi sold a small end of a Xu official for a thousand stone of grain and a thousand taels of silver."

"So many?"

"What's more, I also heard from my colleague who is also a master that Mizhi sold a short county to a businessman Zhang Yuan, and it turned out to be 30,000 taels of snowflake silver."

When Zhou Ji heard this, he took a breath of cool air at that time, these businessmen and rich people are too rich, so how much grain do they have to exchange for these vacancies in their hands? As long as there is a county, then the money and food of the Ding military household will be solved.

"Or—" Zhou Ji was still a little hesitant.

"My lord, expediency, expediency." The master urged nervously.

"Okay, and expedient." Zhou Ji stomped his feet, decided, and then muttered to himself in order to relieve his conscience: "Anyway, I just have the right to recommend, and I can't be regarded as a traitor." ”

"That's exactly what happened." Seeing that the proprietor wanted to open, the master clapped his hands and agreed, so that he could also get some benefits in the meantime.

Thinking about it that week, he suddenly said, "How many years has Mr. been with me?" ”

The master didn't know why the proprietor suddenly asked about this, so he replied honestly: "Calculate carefully, when the proprietor arrives in this county, I will follow the proprietor." ”

"Thank you, sir." Zhou Ji couldn't help but sigh, now he has only this loyal master to follow, and it is a miracle for Daming to do this as an official.

"In this way, we won't be able to protect others for the position of county leader."

"However, this is the most valuable official body you can take, the proprietor."

"Since this is already the case, let's discuss it with the Lord of the Thousand Households, and ask him to ask the Du Si to also take out some of the General Flags of the Hundred Households, and how much can be exchanged for some money and food, and I will protect Mr. Cheng in this county."

The master was stunned, he didn't react at the time, and when he reacted, he was stunned by this huge pie at that time. Although it is a poor and remote country, he is an official after all, so he can glorify his ancestors.

Thinking of this, he was trembling and couldn't speak anymore, looking at the smiling proprietor, he fell to his knees, and said that the proprietor was whimpering and couldn't speak.

That Zhou Ji smiled, stretched out his hand to help him up, and said angrily: "Why are you still called the proprietor?" It's time to call an adult. ”

Picking up the new county Cheng who was in tears, Zhou Ji couldn't help but smile bitterly: "Don't say anything about gratitude, I'm going to do this unwanted county order, and you, the county magistrate, can only suffer with me." ”

"I want to follow the proprietor, no, it's an adult for the rest of my life."

"Alright, we'll sell the official right away." After that, the two of them went out hand in hand, stepped on the thin donkey, and went to do the business.