Li Zhi frowned as he listened to the report of the secret guard ambassador Han Jinxin. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

This Wang Siyong, the magistrate of Qidong County, made Li Zhi feel a little tricky. This person is not greedy for money and is not good for women, and abides by Confucian etiquette. Although he was born as a gentry, he never favored the gentry and enforced the law impartially when the people and the gentry had lawsuits. Not only that, but this man practiced benevolent government to the people, and although he also exempted the gentry from land taxes with preferential treatment, on the other hand, he never persecuted the small peasants who could not afford to pay the land taxes. Many destitute people have not paid their land arrears for several years, and he will not punish them.

Wang Siyong is in this way, and the land tax collected is naturally less. However, he made a lot of silver from the vassal king's farmland. The feudal kings of Shandong, Zhuangtian, were managed by local officials, and only some of them were given to the feudal kings, and most of them were used by the local officials. Wang Siyong held on to this amount of silver, not allowing his subordinates to embezzle it at will, but handed it over as a field endowment.

In this way, Wang Siyong can barely complete the lower limit of the imperial court's collection of land taxes every year, although the officials are always evaluated lowly, but they will not lose their official positions. Wang Siyong was born and worked for decades, and he has always been a seven-grade county magistrate, but his temper has not changed at all.

Wang Siyong became an official, and the local people naturally praised him, and the people of Shandong called him a Qing official. He has been an official in Shandong for more than ten years, and his reputation is well known to women and children.

Such a person took the lead in opposing Li Zhi's court, and his influence was very great.

Zhong Feng saw that Li Zhi was embarrassed, and said loudly: "Commander, who is not a life?" I led my soldiers to cut him down. ”

Li Xing chirped: "Zhong Feng, use your brains, how rare is such a clean official in the world today?" How high is the status in the hearts of the people? If you go and cut him down, what will the people think of us? When the time comes, as soon as the gentry instigate, there is a possibility of a popular uprising. ”

Zhong Feng said with a smile: "The people's rebellion is the people's rebellion, and the suppression is enough." ”

Li Xing said: "The official position of the eldest brother is the governor of Tianjin, and we infiltrate Shandong, which is unjustifiable in the court." Forget about a smooth handover, if a large-scale popular uprising is provoked, the Son of Heaven may send troops to crusade against us. When the time comes, our 20,000 people will fight more than 100,000 border troops, and we may not be able to beat them. ”

Zhong Feng said with a smile: "Sooner or later, we will fight, so let's fight with the imperial court." ”

Li Xing was stunned and scolded: "Dog kills, if you don't talk nonsense, you're itchy all over, aren't you?" ”

Zhong Feng's eyes widened, and he was about to scold Li Xing back, but Li Zhi waved his hand to tell the two not to quarrel. Li Zhichao Han Jinxin asked: "General Han, it is impossible for this Wang Siyong to conjure up silver from his pocket out of nothing, and since he exempted the gentry from the field tax, it is impossible not to hurt the interests of the people." You didn't find out any problems? ”

Han Jinxin has made a lot of contributions to Li Zhi over the years, and Li Zhi has put Han Jinxin in front every time he reports his merits, and now he has been promoted to the commander of the Tongzhi and served as the general of Li Zhi's Ding team. The official is big, but Han Jinxin is more respectful in front of Li Zhi. He thought for a while and said, "Guogong, this is indeed a clean official, and his subordinates can't find out the problem." ”

Li Zhi thought for a while and said, "If he exempts the gentry from the land and does not persecute the poor, he will definitely lack silver in the end." If there is a shortage of silver, there will be problems everywhere, so start from here to check. ”

Han Jinxin said again: "The yamen of Qidong County is indeed poor, and a signing room collapsed in the county yamen the year before last, and it has not been built until now. The monthly money of the officials in the yamen is enough to feed and clothe these people. Even the city wall of the county town was washed down by heavy rain and there was no money to repair it, and later Wang Siyong called on the gentry to contribute money and the people to contribute to make up the city wall. ”

When Zheng Kaicheng and Li Laosi heard Han Jinxin's words, they glanced at each other, their faces full of surprise. I didn't expect Daming to have such a clean official, it was really an alternative.

However, such an alternative is always a gentry person, and he still has to fight to the death with Li Zhi.

Li Zhileng snorted and said, "Helping the gentry evade taxes, this is stealing the country's finances." Putting on the posture of a clean official everywhere, deceiving the world and stealing fame, it seems that he does not persecute the small people, but in any case, he cannot cover up the lack of financial funds after tax evasion for the gentry. If there is no problem here, there will be a problem. ”

Han Jinxin thought for a while, and then said: "The road post station and port terminal in Qidong County have not had money to repair them over the years, and they are very dilapidated. The academy in the county is also in tatters, but the scholars have not complained because of the reputation of the county order. ”

Li Zhi nodded and said: "These are not enough to make the people angry, think about it, has there ever been a major incident in Qidong County because of lack of money." ”

Han Jinxin arched his hand and said, "Guogong wait, I'll go down and ask those informants from Qidong County." ”

Li Zhi nodded, and Han Jinxin retreated. After an hour, Han Jinxin ran back sweating.

"Guogong, there is a question, I asked it."

Li Zhi nodded and asked, "How?" ”

A servant who was dismissed by Wang Siyong because of alcoholism said that the embankment of the Daqing River in Qidong County was broken, and a local gentry proposed to repair it on a large scale the year before last. But Wang Siyong had no money, so he only strengthened it in key parts. As a result, last year, a river embankment burst in the Great Flood, and although the people made concerted efforts to rescue and make up for it, the flood gushing out still drowned more than 60 people. ”

"This flood is considered a natural and man-made disaster, and most people don't pay attention to it. Only the officials who knew the inside story knew that the old embankment breach was caused by lack of money and not repairing. ”

Li Zhi laughed and said: "The finances of Qidong County are like this, and it is impossible for the gentry to be without problems." This Wang Siyong deceived the world and stole his name, and he just demolished the east wall to make up the west wall. More than 60 people were killed at once, and we helped him publicize and publicize it, but he couldn't do it as a county order. ”

"Huan Yihua, in the past few days, "Shandong Daily" has been full of firepower to report on Wang Siyong's affairs. Talk about how Qidong County is in dilapidation day by day because of his self-righteousness, talk about the impact of the disrepair of roads and wharves on the economy, and talk about the impact of paying taxes on the national finances every year with the lower limit. ”

"The most important thing is to let the people of Shandong understand that the more than 60 lives drowned in the flood were all caused by this Wang Siyong's fame!"

Huan Yihua agreed loudly, and then pulled Han Jinxin down to write a report.

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On August 11, in the slightly depressed county seat of Qidong County, a newspaper boy ran down the street with his head down, trying to deliver newspapers to various teahouses.

A small trader who knew the newsboy suddenly grabbed the newsboy and asked, "Liu Xiaoer, what is the newspaper talking about today?" ”

The newsboy's face turned white, and he didn't answer the vendor, but lowered his head and wanted to run. But the little trader would not let the newsboy go, and dragged him and asked, "Don't run!" What's being reported today? Is there any big news? ”

Liu Xiaoer looked in the direction of the county office, his body trembled, and he leaned into the ears of the small trader and said: "Brother Zhang, something big happened today, and today's headline is "Qidong County Ordered Wang Siyong to Deceive the World and Steal His Name, Killing Sixty-two Innocent People." ”