After lunch, Li Zicheng temporarily handed over the training of more than 100 soldiers to Liang Wencheng and returned to the official office.

According to the design of the county office, there are three entrances in Xining, and the middle gate is the hall, which is equivalent to a large conference room, where the chief official sits in the hall, or holds a large meeting, or meets important guests, all of which are carried out in the hall.

Passing through the hall and a section of the courtyard, is the central office, in the middle of the middle is a study, is the daily office of the chief officer, on both sides of the study is a number of small halls, the rest of the officials will work here and meet guests, the outermost is a number of public ear rooms, if the officials are sleepy, or overtime at night, they can rest in the ear room.

After Li Zicheng entered Xining, Zhao Feng and his family had moved out of here and returned to his mansion in the city, which became Li Zicheng's inner room, and together with his own soldiers, he lived here on weekdays.

Li Zicheng unfolded his pen and ink in the study, and recorded the focus of his work during this period of time, so as not to ignore some important things because he was busy, and he was only halfway done, He Xiaomi knocked on the door and came in, "My lord, Sun Lin is here!" ”

"Sun Lin?" Li Zicheng was stunned for a while, and then said with a smile: "Now he is the God of Wealth, take him to the small hall next door to sit down, serve tea, and I'll be there in a while!" ”

"Yes, sir."

Li Zicheng sped up, and didn't care about the scribbled handwriting, like a ghost drawing, he had never practiced calligraphy at all in his later life, and even the posture of holding the pen had just been learned, it didn't matter, he wasn't ready to go to the imperial examination, and he wasn't born as a Xiucai Juren Jinshi, and the font was almost, but it was consistent with his identity as a beginner.

Looking at the handwriting on the white paper, he thought for a while, and found that there was no obvious omission, so he got up and slowly came to the small hall next door.

Sun Lin was chatting with He Xiaomi, and when he saw Li Zicheng, he immediately knelt down and saluted: "My subordinates knock to see my lord!" ”

"Get up," Li Zicheng walked into the small hall, sat down on the main seat, and stretched out his finger to the guest seat opposite, "Sit!" ”

Sun Lin was stunned, but still sat down, "Adult......"

Li Zicheng looked at Sun Lin, compared with two months ago, he was much more sophisticated, and the childishness on his face had faded a lot, but in front of him, he was still a little restrained, "What's the matter?" But Zhao Feng, did they look for you? ”

"Yes, my lord," a hint of surprise appeared on Sun Lin's face, and his hands were raised from the table, wanting to send out all the messages in one go, "This morning, Lord Zhao and the others all went to his subordinates and handed over the silver they had withheld. ”

"Oh, how many people went?"

"Eight people," Sun Lin gestured with his hand, "The officers of the original guard are all here." ”

"These people are really trustworthy," Li Zicheng laughed, "How much silver did they pay?" ”

"A total of five thousand three hundred and twenty-six taels, dare to ask your lordship, what to do with this silver?"

"The silver is temporarily sealed in the official office," Li Zicheng silently calculated, multiplying these numbers by ten, it is more than 50,000 taels, is the total property of these officers only 50,000 taels? However, what he wanted was not silver, but people's hearts, so he didn't bother to pay attention to these data, "Among these eight people, how much money is the most?" ”

"The one with the most silver is Lord Zhao, with 1,300 taels." Sun Lin's eyes lit up, and he didn't know whether he was envious or jealous.

Li Zicheng's heart moved, and he asked without a trace: "Sun Lin, now you have a lot of silver in your hands, right?" ”

"Back to my lord, I got 50,000 taels in Gonggong Wu's mansion, and Weili saved more than 4,000 taels, plus this handover, as well as the silver that had not yet been distributed, and now the silver in stock has exceeded 60,000 taels."

Li Zicheng said quietly: "Sun Lin, you are a small flag official, and your monthly salary is less than one or two, right?" ”

"Yes, the monthly salary of the subordinates is eight hundred wen," Sun Lin suddenly found Li Zicheng's somewhat gloomy gaze, and was shocked in his heart, "My lord, my subordinates ...... There is absolutely no ...... under the subordinates There was no thought of using the money. ”

"I know," Li Zicheng's face became warmer, and he smiled lightly, "I know that you can control yourself, so I made you a quartermaster, this is your trust and a test for you," after a pause, he said: "Your monthly salary is only 800 copper coins, but you have to manage 60,000 taels of silver in your hands, and it is impossible not to have an extraordinary heart." ”

Sun Lin was taken aback, how could adults know his thoughts? I've never told anyone, not even my mother and second sister, "My lord, my subordinates ......"

Li Zicheng stretched out his hand to stop him and stop him from continuing, "Sun Lin, everyone has the heart of money, and it is not terrible to have a very heart, but it is terrible to lose yourself in front of the silver, what you see today is only 60,000 taels, and in the future there may be 600,000, 600,000, 6 million taels, or even more, and treat every penny of silver objectively and fairly, you are a qualified quartermaster." ”

"Your Excellency, your subordinates...... Subordinates understood! ”

"There are many cases of quartermasters guarding and stealing from themselves, that is because there is no supervision, and the officials around them are greedy for ink and want to clean themselves, so it is naturally more difficult," Li Zicheng continued: "The current Xiningwei is very different from the original, not only will there be no empty salary, but no one dares to drink the blood of soldiers anymore, you are a quartermaster, whether the soldiers can receive sufficient salaries, you know best." ”

"My lord, my subordinates understand, my subordinates should be damned......"

"Sun Lin, there is nothing wrong with you, you are used to living a hard life and a poor life, and when you see a large amount of silver at first glance, it is difficult for anyone's heart to be calm," Li Zicheng said with a straight face: "However, these silver do not belong to a certain person, including me, but belong to public assets, although we are not short of food and salary now, but if the imperial court does not continue to pay in the future, these silver will come in handy." ”

"Also, in order to maintain and improve the combat effectiveness of the Xining Army, it is necessary to expand the army and repair equipment, all of which require silver," Li Zicheng continued, "Not all silver is used for silver, and there are many invisible places that need silver." ”

"Subordinates understand, subordinates understand!" Sun Lin was already sweating on his forehead, and his waist was almost lying on the table in front of him.

"You are in charge of the munitions, and every income and expenditure must be clear and clear, and soon I will personally check the accounts."

"Yes, sir." Hearing that Li Zicheng was going to check the accounts, Sun Lin became relaxed.

"Go ahead, do a good job."

After sending Sun Lin away, Li Zicheng returned to the study, and suddenly fell into deep thought, with the expansion of the size of the army, the resources controlled by the Xining army will gradually increase, and it is impossible for him to do everything himself, so not only will he be tired to death, but he will not have so much time, and his personal energy is limited after all.

In particular, food, silver and other materials, the quantity is huge, anyone who sees it will be red-eyed, can not wait for the facts of the crime to be completed, and then to punish, although the punishment can play a warning role, but the punishment itself is also a huge destruction of harmony, moreover, the role of vigilance is also very limited, "ten times the benefit, to die to tend to it", people's hearts have always been like this.

It is necessary to establish a new corresponding regulatory system to prevent problems before they occur, just as the army has military discipline, so that soldiers know at a glance what they need to do and what they cannot do, of course, in addition to financial aspects, such as farmland, etc., we must also establish corresponding systems to avoid disputes.

Although the Ming Dynasty has long had the "Da Ming Law", but hundreds of years have passed, and it is difficult for the "Da Ming Law" to adapt to the current era, especially for the current Xining, and the content of the "Da Ming Law" is relatively broad, and the entries are obscure, and it is really difficult to popularize the literacy rate of Xining, a place with a literacy rate of less than half of it.

To formulate a complete set of systems and laws, the project is too huge, and there are neither talents nor sufficient financial resources, but the food can be eaten one bite at a time, and the laws can be formulated by classification, and the provisions do not need to be numerous.

Thinking of this, Li Zicheng picked up the brush, dipped it in some ink, added a few strokes to his "memo", then picked up the tea and took a few sips gently.

Li Zicheng stretched his waist, sat for so long, and was about to go to the training ground to have a look, and by the way, he moved his muscles and bones, so he called softly: "He Xiaomi!" ”

"Your Excellency?" He Xiaomi pushed the door in like a gust of wind, as if he had been prepared for a long time.

"Let's go to the drill ground to see the training of the soldiers."

He Xiaomi blinked, "My lord, Shen Dao is here, and I have been waiting for a while!" ”

"Shen Dao? Why didn't you say it earlier? Li Zicheng was happy in his heart, Shen Dao must have come with a message from the craftsmen.

"I saw that the adults were thinking just now, and my subordinates didn't dare to disturb, so I ......"

"Don't bother, quickly bring Shen Dao into the small hall, I'll be there soon!"

"Yes, sir!" When He Xiaomi saw Li Zicheng's appearance, he floated away like another gust of wind.

When Li Zicheng came to the small hall, He Xiaomi had just made tea for Shen Dao, Shen Dao wanted to bow down, but Li Zicheng grabbed him, "Lord Shen is exempt from courtesy, they are all his own family, so don't use these false courtesies." ”

Shen Dao had no choice but to bow his hand, "My lord, the craftsmen in Xining City, their subordinates have brought them. ”

Li Zicheng sat on the main seat, and when Shen Dao sat opposite, he asked, "Where are they now?" ”

"It's just outside the official office, do you want to meet them?"

"Okay, let them in," Li Zicheng motioned to He Xiaomi, "bring them in?" ”

"Your Excellency?" He Xiaoxiao stood in place, his footsteps did not move for half a minute, but only showed an anxious gaze.

Shen Dao comprehended and arched his hand: "My lord, these craftsmen, Wei Li has not paid attention to them for a long time, and his subordinates do not know their roots, do you want to ...... Do you want to come in one by one? ”

"One by one? It's a waste of time," Li Zicheng knew that they were worried about their own safety, and there were no personal soldiers in the small hall, in case there was a killer hidden among the craftsmen or something, although he knew that this possibility was extremely small, but "a gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall", and this kind of adventure is really meaningless, so he laughed, "In this way, I will go out to meet them, and it can be regarded as welcoming them to the official office." ”