The scorching sun is in the sky, the sea breeze is blowing, and in the corner of the salt field on the coast, Wang Yuwenwen of Xiyang is inspecting the village to observe the people's situation, accompanied by Yang Ji and a group of officials, and on both sides of the village road, there are villagers who are at a loss. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

The villagers of this village are all stove households, regardless of men, women and children, all of them have dark complexions, dove-shaped faces, and fluffy hair.

Throughout the ages, whenever local officials went out to inspect the people's situation, some people would arrange in advance to whitewash the peace, especially those poor families who were so poor that their families only had a decent set of clothes, they would give them clothes in a surprise attack, and then organize people to go to the roadside to welcome Shangguan to inspect.

Several families will also be arranged in advance to repair their houses at the government's expense, clean the inside and outside, fill all the empty rice jars with rice, put on semi-new and old clothes, replace them with old furniture, cooking utensils and even window paper, and teach these families in advance what to say and what not to say, or how to answer questions asked by someone.

Then plan the route, when Shangguan happened to walk near these families, he "temporarily" went into the house to have a look, and then looked at the family's abundant food and clothing, only to feel that he was really peaceful under his rule, and he would praise the officials below while being gratified.

What's more, in order to prevent the "Diao Min" from playing well on the spot and causing them to wear gangs, they directly transferred these families away and replaced them with men, women, and children who could speak well, pretending to be a family, and welcoming the presence of their parents.

Shangguan came with great anticipation, left happily, and then the temporarily arranged things were immediately emptied, and the poor household was still the same poor household, or the family only had a set of decent clothes.

This kind of trick has been played out in the Central Plains for thousands of years, and even in the new century, this kind of thing often happens, and Yuwenwen hates it, so after entering the village, he is like a fox, and he feels that there is a problem everywhere he looks.

He has been a parent official in Huangzhou (Bazhou) for nearly eight years, and from time to time he has to observe the people's feelings, which is really "going to the grassroots", in the corners of the fields, in the streets and alleys, in the fields and fishing boats, and he is clear about the ancestral tricks of the officials.

Turning into a courtyard, Yu Wenwen did not rush into the room, but turned around the courtyard and kicked the wall to see if it was strong.

When I entered the kitchen, I didn't go to see the rice jar, but rolled up my sleeves and reached into the stove to touch it, making sure that the stove had been burning for a long time, and then picked up the rice retort for cooking, and rubbed the ash at the bottom of the retort with my fingers to see if it was new or had been used for a long time.

Looking up at the roof, paying special attention to whether there were cobwebs on the beams and corners, then opened the rice tank, washed his hands and fished inside, fished out a few particles, and sniffed that it was indeed mouse droppings, Yuwenwen clapped his hands with satisfaction and turned to the living room.

The poor family is not so particular, the so-called living room is the place to sleep, in front of everyone, he lifted the straw mat on the couch, carefully looked at the sweat stains on the wooden board, and the sweat stains on the straw mat again.

Confirming that the straw mat was not a 'prop' to take out to fill the scene, Yuwenwen and the head of the household talked and asked a very tricky question: What was the last night you did it with your mother-in-law, and how many times did you do it that night.

The official who acted as a messenger was dumbfounded, and the head of the household, who was already nervous, was sweating profusely and incoherently after hearing the official's relay.

"Why, I can't remember the last time I did it with my mother-in-law, could it be that these two are not husband and wife? Is this family improvised? ”

Yuwen Wen asked lightly, so frightened that he couldn't help urging the head of the household, the other party finally came back to his senses and whispered the answer, Yuwen Wen showed an accident while watching a lively lady come in and ask the wife of the head of the household the same question.

After the two of them answered the same way, Yuwen Wen's stiff face softened: "Don't be afraid, if anyone dares to bully you, the widow will be the master for you!" ”

The head of the household shook his head like a rattle, saying that since the new government rectified the salt works, the life of the stove households has been much better, the government has distributed clothes, food, and repaired houses for them for free, and now it is too late to be grateful, where are there any grievances.

Yu Wenwen stared at each other's eyes while listening, nodded after confirming that there was no problem, and after walking out of the courtyard, he didn't go far, and then turned into another house, the same thing happened again, and it was like this for several families in a row, and the accompanying officials couldn't help but be stunned when they saw this, and secretly said that this is really not a master to fool.

However, no one worries about anything, because everyone is really not cheating, because Yang Ji, the assassin of Guangzhou City, has come here many times before to supervise the comprehensive rectification of the salt works, eliminate the accumulated evils, and severely punish corrupt officials and corrupt officials.

I don't know what kind of means this Yang envoy used to make the dirty things of the salt farm clear, and suddenly summoned the stove households, the officials of the salt farm, and the big households of the nearby villages to hold a meeting.

What kind of meeting? At the debt settlement meeting, all the stove households in the salt field owed a lot of debts, and they couldn't pay it back to their grandson's grandson's generation, and Yang Yuanjun wanted everyone to clean up the debts in person at one time.

Who are the creditors? Large households in nearby villages, as well as some officials of the salt works.

It is normal for large households to lend usury, why have even some officials become creditors? Quite simply, because these people are also usury.

Nanhai County, Guangzhou, the coastal area has a salt field from the Qin and Han dynasties to this day, the salt field belongs to the jurisdiction of the government, and the people who cook salt are compiled as stove households, and they have been cooking salt in the salt field for generations.

Stove households have a daily quota of boiling salt, nearly 100 daily wages, or use a number of rice instead of wages, but if they can't pay in full, they will be punished, but even if they pay in full, they may not be able to get wages or rice in time.

There is so much salt from the salt factory, how can it not be paid? But the official word is two mouths, no matter how you say it, the stove households can't get wages or rice, but they still have to live, otherwise the family will starve to death, so what should I do?

Borrow money for emergencies.

In fact, it is to borrow usury, nine out of thirteen, and some officials in the salt field are very 'considerate', saying that they can't pay their wages, but they have money to lend, anyway, the wages that should be given that month will be paid in ten and a half days, so there is nothing wrong with borrowing money to slow down for a while, right?

Wrong, because wages are slowly delayed, and the longer they are delayed, it is common for wages to be in arrears for half a year without payment, and the interest rate of usury makes all the stove households who borrow money unable to pay it back, even if they are paid later, the interest is not enough, where is the money to buy food?

In fact, it is the black-hearted officials who lend the wages that should be paid as usury to the stove households, and use this method to force the stove households to pay debts, and then continue to borrow usury to repay the interest.

In this way, the profits owed by the stove households could not even be repaid by the grandchildren of their grandchildren, and they became the slaves of some officials and large lenders in the surrounding villages.

Their grandchildren have been in debt since birth, and they will never be able to pay it off, and there is no hope but despair, until the new government sends someone to make decisions for them.

After Yang Ji, the assassin of Guangzhou City, found out the true accounts of the salt farm, according to the rules of nine out of thirteen, he calculated the accounts with those officials who were in arrears of wages and loans, and calculated how much these arrears of wages should be repaid with interest, and then these people knelt.

Caught and killed, the rest of the big loan sharks in the surrounding villages trembled, Yang Ji convened a meeting and calculated another account.

Yang Ji took the account and asked the big households, those profits that could not be paid off in several lifetimes, whether the stove households should use human lives to pay back.

How can anyone dare to accept this kind of talk, so the government is in charge, the debts of the stove households will be paid off, the debt deed will be burned on the spot, and no more mention will be allowed from then on.

Looking at the debt deed turned into ashes in the fire, many stove households wept bitterly and knelt down to Yang Ji and kowtowed, and after the salt farm was vigorously renovated by the government, it had a new look from top to bottom.

The government allocated food and clothing to the stove households free of charge, and also mobilized wood to repair the houses, and everyone was grateful, so they heard that Yang Yuanjun's boss "Sunset King" was coming to observe the people's feelings, and they all excitedly went out to welcome them.

Now that I look at it, this "sunset king" does not seem to be here to observe the people's feelings, but rather to investigate the scene because he wants to do a major murder case, and many people are in a trance.

Under the big tree at the head of the village, Yu Wenwen convened a meeting of the villagers (stove households), he looked at the men, women and children in front of him, and asked loudly: "Is the new official mansion good!" ”

The general turned his words into dialect and shouted again, and the stove households shouted without hesitation: "Good! ”

"Very good, the widow is very satisfied with Yang Yuanjun's remediation of the salt farm, and is also satisfied with everyone's current situation, but he is very dissatisfied with the output of the salt farm! Next, by the end of the year, to increase the output of the salt works dozens of times, is there any confidence? ”

"Yes!"