Li Yuanyin read the document from beginning to end, handed it back to Ji Qingwen, and said: "The documents under the court are just to scare and scare the people. With the status of Lord Ji, he can naturally ignore them, or pay a few hundred thousand taels of silver to send those debt collectors in the household department. ”

Ji Qingwen glanced at Li Yuanyin, stretched out his hand and pointed to a line of red characters on the document, and said, "You read these words!" ”

Li Yuanyin glanced at these words and read casually: "This matter is very urgent and must be careful." ”

After reading, Li Yuanyin said: "This person's handwriting is good...... It's probably a squire or a principal in the household department.,Written on it casually.,Don't take it seriously.。 Originally, the affairs of the court cannot be ignored or taken to heart......"

Ji Qingwen glanced at Li Yuanyin again and said, ", these words are the emperor's imperial pen, who dares not to take it to heart?" ”

Li Yuanyin was startled, and quickly stared, and suddenly felt that these few fly-headed small letters were written in a rich and round manner, full of royal majesty, so that he did not have the courage to disobey any of these extremely simple words.

Li Yan on the side was originally from Shanxi, and he was already worried when he heard the news that Shanxi had encountered a catastrophe and famine, so he said: "Brother Ji, since the emperor has the imperial pen Zhu Approval, this document of the household department is a holy decree." Since it is a holy decree, it cannot be taken lightly, and Brother Ji still has to prepare early. ”

Emperor Chongzhen's ruthless methods, Ji Qingwen has experienced it.

Not to mention anything else, as far as the punishment and liquidation of the eunuchs at the beginning of this year is concerned, it is obviously impossible to pass the test by punishing only ten people at the beginning; Later, the number increased to more than sixty should be said to be a major blow to the eunuchs; However, Chongzhen was still not satisfied, and increased the number of people to more than 260 before he stopped.

You must know that the total number of high-ranking officials in the central court is only more than 800, and Emperor Chongzhen is equivalent to liquidating one-third of them.

So Ji Qingwen sighed and said: "It seems that it can only be like this, fortunately, there is still a lot of silver in my yamen treasury, and it is not a big problem to even 50,000 taels first." I just don't know how to send it? Like transporting tribute, do you take the Yamen of the governor of the river? ”

Li Yan frowned and said, "It should be good to pass through the river governor." But I'm afraid ......"

"What are you afraid of?" Ji Qingwen asked, "You can't go through the canal and be robbed by river bandits?" ”

Li Yan replied, "That's not what I meant. I'm afraid that local officials will set up cards at various levels and pluck the feathers of geese, and the 50,000 taels of silver will really be used for disaster relief, maybe there won't be much left......"

Ji Qingwen said: "This is also something that there is no way to do. I have also heard such a saying, 'Disaster relief must first help the officials', the officials have not eaten enough, why should they do things for you? It is also appropriate for them to spend a little more, 50,000 taels of silver, and I will be satisfied with 30,000 taels to spend on the victims......"

"Thirty thousand......" Li Yan shook his head helplessly, "If you really have ten thousand on the right path, it's good!" ”

"What! Only 10,000? Ji Qingwen immediately exclaimed, "Lao Tzu gave them a six-fold discount, and they actually dared to give me a two-fold discount, looking for death?" ”

On the side, Li Yuanyin said faintly: "I'm afraid that this ten thousand taels can't be used in practice......"

"What do you mean by that?" Ji Qingwen hurriedly asked.

It turned out that Li Yuanyin, as a senior brocade guard who climbed up from the grassroots level step by step, could not understand the disadvantages here - the disaster relief money issued by the imperial court was deducted from the provincial, government, and county levels, and if half of it could be left, even if the conscience of officials at all levels found out; Half of the remaining silver was used for other purposes, such as making up for the shortfall, repairing the official offices, ushering in and sending them to other purposes; If the hands of the officials on which floor were darker, the 50,000 taels of silver that could be used on the victims would indeed be only about 10,000 taels.

The barely remaining 10,000 taels of silver were supposed to be used to buy grain from the rich and distribute it to the victims, and the magistrates in charge of disaster relief often colluded with the profiteers who were unkind to the rich to buy moldy old grain at the price of good grain.

In this way, it is difficult to get 50,000 taels of snowflakes and silver, and only about 10% can be used on the victims of the disaster.

Ji Qingwen knew about the corruption of officials in the late Ming Dynasty before he crossed over, and he also had a good understanding of this after crossing, but he didn't expect these officials to be corrupt to such an extent, and couldn't help but scold: "Isn't it fucking forcing people to die by taking money out of the mouths of the victims?" ”

Li Yan sighed and said: "If half of the officials of my Ming Dynasty can have the heart of Brother Ji, then how can they make a great country so full of holes." ”

Ji Qingwen was still angry, and scolded again: "Lao Tzu has worked hard to make money here, and he still earns as a foreigner." They're good, and they're making money on my head. It's disgusting! ”

Li Yuanyin echoed: "This is also the reason why the last general just suggested that Lord Ji ignore the household documents - the more Lord Ji gives, the more greedy they are, so they simply give less, so that their appetite is a little smaller......

"But...... But after all, there is a royal pen on this document, if the implementation is discounted, maybe it will be reported to the court by someone who is idle and has nothing to do, and I will be guilty of bullying the king, I can't afford it......" Ji Qingwen said this to Li Yuanyin.

Of course, Li Yuanyin knew the meaning, so he didn't dare to answer half a sentence, and turned his head to the side, but he didn't hear it.

Li Yan seemed to be confident, and suddenly asked: "After Brother Ji Chongzhen rushed to take the exam in the first year, he came directly to Jiangnan, remember that he didn't have time to return to his hometown, right?" ”

Ji Qingwen originally traveled from the later generations, and he didn't have too deep feelings for the hometown of the Ming Dynasty, so he didn't take this matter to heart.

Now after Li Yan's reminder, he found that he had really left Xi'an for a long time, so he said: "Yes, it's been almost two years before I know it." I'm okay, I'm here to be an official, but Brother Li accompanied me to Jiangnan together, and I haven't been back to my hometown for two years. Brother Li is the most filial person, he should miss Ling Zun very much, right? ”

Speaking of his father Li Jingbai, Li Yan sighed: "Alas! I haven't thanked you for this, Brother Ji! Thanks to Brother Ji's face in front of the emperor and Inspector Sun, as well as Xu Shilang (Xu Guangqi), the emperor did not list his father as a eunuch to deal with together, Brother Ji is the great benefactor of my Li family. ”

Ji Qingwen was embarrassed by what he said, so he quickly scratched his head and said, "Brother Li's words are serious, I just did a little insignificant work......"

Li Yan changed his words, but said, "That's not what I'm talking about. What I want to say is that in the name of going home to the province, Brother Ji might as well skip the household department and the yamen of Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces, and directly escort Yinliang to the northwest to personally supervise the disaster relief matters, maybe the local officials can restrain some ......."

Li Yuanyin said: "I'm afraid that this is not in line with the style of the imperial court, how can there be a weaving in Suzhou and go to the northwest to interfere in local government affairs?" ”

Li Yan said: "If Brother Ji agrees, I will start to draft a piece of music and send it directly to Beique." I rule the world with 'filial piety', and I am unlikely to refute the minister's request to return to his hometown and province, not to mention that the emperor may not really trust those officials. It is still very possible for the emperor to follow the rules. ”

…………

Sure enough, as Li Yan expected, Emperor Chongzhen received Ji Qingwen's recital, not only immediately allowed to play, but also used the palace to report to the world, and said that Ji Qingwen's move was both loyal and filial, and he was a model for Ming officials, so that the five-grade Suzhou weaving admiral showed his face in the officialdom.

With the emperor's permission, Ji Qingwen let go and prepared.

He asked Li Yan and Duo Jiugong to take out 70,000 taels of silver from the treasury - 50,000 yuan was naturally for disaster relief, and the other 20,000 was for emergency needs - and took dozens of silk horses to give to officials along the way.

Transporting so many silver taels, Ji Qingwen naturally gathered all the newly recruited two hundred regimental exercises, and escorted the silver to the northwest, so that he could support the scene and put on a show.

Li Yan, Duo Jiugong, Huang Degong, and Xing'er around Ji Qingwen are all from the Northwest, so they just took this opportunity to go home to have a look; Chen Wenzhao wanted to lead the troops, so he also went north with him; As for Li Yuanyin, Ji Qingwen was afraid that he would take the opportunity of his absence in Suzhou to secretly engage in his own black accounts, so he specifically named him to go with him.

So Ji Qingwen handed over the matter of the Suzhou weaving yamen to Song Yingxing and Ge Sheng to take care of, just asking all production to be carried out as usual, as for the sale and procurement, he would personally deal with it after he returned to Suzhou.