After several years of officialdom battles, Lu Zhen has a deeper understanding of the greed and selfishness of people's hearts, and he is not afraid to guess the minds of some people with the greatest malice.

Because Lu Zhen knows very well what is the most important thing for these low-level officials who are not young and have almost no hope of promotion. It is not to be loyal to the monarch and to be patriotic, nor to seek the well-being of the people under his rule, but to seek as much benefit as possible before he comes down from this position.

And if you want to make a profit, you must have power in your hands, and if there is a seal official on their head looking at them, I am afraid that these people will have to try their best to take away their power and put it in the air. This is also the story of the battles that have been staged again and again in the vast majority of state and county yamen, and he himself has encountered it several times.

And this time, the reaction of the officials in the Ulzhou Yamen was so unusual, it can only show one thing, they must have other plans. It's not that Lu Jin's mind is dark, but he really can't believe that so many officials in a yamen will all be so noble that they will serve the government and the people wholeheartedly, and they don't care about their own gains and losses. There may be individual cases, but it is almost impossible for a group.

With this kind of thought, Lu Zhen was extremely careful and careful in the next two days, not only talking to those subordinate officials openly and secretly, trying to get something out of their mouths, but also carefully looking through those pending official documents, in case one accidentally fell into a certain trouble. After all, this is Wang Zhen's hometown, and maybe these officials have already received the instructions of the prince and dug a pit in front of them to bury themselves.

But after several attempts, there was almost no gain. Whether it is Tian Tao or Xu Wentao, or anyone else, when facing Lu Jin, he always looks respectful, and he also tries his best to explain some of his doubts, looking at them all very honestly, as if they really don't want to be his enemy, or harm him.

As for those official documents or something, judging from Lu Jin's experience and vision in handling various affairs in the officialdom in the past few years, there are no traps and problems. The whole of Ulju was as calm and serene as he had seen when he came, and there was no ugliness in it.

But the more this is the case, the more uneasy Lu Jin's heart becomes. Because this is too abnormal, and his predecessor was impeached and removed from office by the court officials, if Ulzhou is really so peaceful and peaceful under his rule, people can't come up with any evidence. It's a pity that he can't get the relevant bullet stamps from the Beijing Metropolitan Procuratorate, otherwise he can find the problem from here.

In this way, after more than ten days of cautious care, just when Lu Jindu was a little helpless about the matter, the problem was finally revealed. And this question was sent by Tian Tao.

In the afternoon of this day, Lu Zhen was looking at the official documents, and Tian Tao had already come to the door of the public house with a tangled face: "Xiaguan has seen adults." ”

"Oh, it's Tian Tongzhi, let's come in and talk." Hearing this, Lu Jin put down what he was doing, raised his head and smiled. This subordinate who has been extremely cooperative and respectful since his arrival, Lu Zhen is also quite trusting and polite on the surface.

After getting Lu Jin's permission, Tian Tao walked into the room, carefully sat on a chair at the bottom of the place, and first exchanged two greetings, and then got to the point: "Actually, there is a difficult thing for the lower officials to come, and I hope the adults can help solve the doubts." ”

"But what?" Lu Zhen asked after glancing at the other party. There was a faint feeling in my heart, obviously the other party was about to start exerting force.

"Actually, my lord, you were an official in Guangling before, so you should also know something about the situation in the states and counties of our Datong Prefecture, right?" Although it was a question, Tian Tao did not wait for Lu Zhen to give an answer, but replied himself: "The land in Shanxi is not very fertile, the roads are rugged, and there are external troubles, so there is always a shortage of tax revenue throughout the year. ”

Lu Zhen frowned slightly when he heard this, but he still nodded in confirmation: "That's true, when this official was in Guanglingzhi County a few years ago, he also had a headache about taxes, especially grain taxes. ”

What he said was not false, Datong at this time was not a big city of resources that thrived on coal hundreds of years later, and with the Mongolian people looking down on it, it could indeed be regarded as a few poor provinces in the Ming Dynasty. Moreover, now in the absence of a whip law, the taxes of the Ming Dynasty are still very complicated, not only to pay silver, cloth or something, but also to pay taxes and food.

Speaking of which, it is not an easy thing to pay taxes and grain, especially for a place like Shanxi, where the land is already barren, in fact, a large part of it is bought from other provinces and handed over to the imperial court. As a result, the price of grain will be high, and even if the price of grain production in places such as Huguang does not sit on the ground, the cost of traveling to and from the land can be added, and it will far exceed the original price of grain. This is even more of a heavy burden for the already poor prefectures and counties of Shanxi.

For this reason, the local government relied heavily on the large households who held a large amount of land that did not pay taxes, and this was the key to the fact that the so-called gentry were able to sit on an equal footing with the government in many cases.

And when Lu Zhen brought the topic to this, Tian Tao's brows locked: "This is the key to Xiaguan's coming to see your lord today." What is the current situation in Ulzhou, I think the adults have already grasped it. There may be some other big families who have surplus grain, but if you really want to talk about it, the Wang family has mastered most of the grain...... "In fact, there is a sentence he hasn't elaborated on, that is, other so-called big families also have to rely on the Wang family's snort, and if they don't have their permission, they don't dare to sell grain to the government to pay taxes."

"In fact, in the past few years, our state government has indeed relied on buying grain from the Wang family to make a difference to the imperial court. This year, however, things are a little different. Tian Tao continued.

"But what's the difference?"

"This year's rain is insufficient, and the crops in the ordinary fields are not harvested, even those large families who have extensive fields will not be able to prepare much food for the government for their own livelihood and next year's spring planting. Therefore, our state government can only put everything on the Wang family. ”

"Is that so?" Lu Zhen groaned slightly, and he already understood the meaning of his words.

In the past, although the state government also had to rely on the Wang family's grain payment, because there were other large households that provided grain, they could still say something about the price, and they would not even be able to afford it. But this year, because only the Wang family can come up with food, the situation is completely different. Not to mention the fact that there is a poor grain harvest this year, so the price is even more terrible.

And Tian Tao's words are not finished: "In addition, in the past few years, there is not much public money available in the yamen, so this year's grain has not been sent to Datong until this time, and people have been sent over to urge it yesterday." "It's winter, and the grain tax that should have been paid a month ago hasn't been delivered, so it's really a bit unreasonable.

Lu Zhen sighed unconsciously, only in Ulzhou, because of the relationship between the Wang family, the yamen will be so embarrassed. If they change to other places, if there are really those big families who take the opportunity to sit on the ground and raise prices, I am afraid that a hat with bad intentions will have to be buckled on their heads. The government's method of destroying homes is no joke.

"Although this matter is really discussed, the responsibility does not lie with you, the adult. After all, you also arrived in Ulzhou a few days ago, but now that the lower officials really have no idea, they have to ask for help from adults. With that, Tian Tao took out the document from Datong Mansion and pushed it in front of Lu Jin.

Lu Zhen didn't look at it, because he believed that the other party would not lie about it. But there is one thing, he knows that the other party is playing tricks-

In fact, even if there is no document, as a fellow acquaintance for many years, Tian Tao should know that there will be such a result. And in the previous days, he had not said anything, apparently just waiting for the arrival of this instrument. In addition, although what he said in his mouth was good, saying that this matter had nothing to do with him, but if he was really bad and was held accountable, his responsibility as the governor of Ulzhou was still the first.

Although he can explain that he was not in office before, the officials in the DPRK and China will not pay attention to such reasons, they will only stare at your mistakes, and then criticize you completely. Especially now that Wang Zhen has countless henchmen in the court, this matter is even more logical.

Therefore, in this matter, whether it is public or private, I must bear it.

After thinking about this, Lu Zhen spoke: "So according to Tian Tongzhi's opinion, how should we solve the current problem?" Is it to forcibly levy grain taxes to the people, or to ask the Wang family to raise money? ”

"I'm afraid the former won't work. The people here are fierce, and they are close to the territory of the Mongolian people, one is not good, and if there is any trouble, the responsibility will be great. Tian Tao hurriedly persuaded. In the past few years, the state government has paid its own money to make up for the shortage of food, and the fundamental reason is still here, not that the officials here love the people more than elsewhere.

Lu Zhen nodded in agreement: "So it seems that we only have one way to go?" ”

"So this time it's the lower officials who came to ask for help. After all, the adult is not a small reputation, presumably it is the Wang family, and he should give some face, so ......" Tian Tao said in the end, and his eyes didn't dare to make contact with Lu Jin.

Lu Zhen was silent, he even felt a little funny, with his relationship with Wang Zhen, he would actually ask to go to the door of Wang's house? It's good that they don't beat themselves out. But with things in front of us, it seems that there is only one thing left to go on this trip.

After a while, Lu Zhen finally nodded: "Okay, tomorrow, this official will go to Wang's house and meet the person in charge of their place." Let's see if we can get some food out of their hands first......"