When he went out, everyone surrounded Feng Tangzhi: "What do you think of the Feng master?" ”

"Zhou Changshi made a long history at a young age, so he can't be a general. He did this with sincerity, because he believed that we were willing to cooperate with him sincerely in order to protect the country and the people. I inquired about his resume, and when he was a county magistrate in Chunhua, he cut down the scribes and turned over the large and small soap officials in the county. Later, in Xihai County, just by virtue of the name of a cool official, the people of Xihai County took out the Cao and Li families and asked him to cut them down. Now that we're in the county, why is he like this? It's for cooperation. ”

"Director Feng is right. Our Shangjun is located at the border and faces the invasion of Yidi at any time. If we can't unite, we'll soon be swept away by the barbarians. I often think that this long history is reliable, and I dared to fight with the king for taxes as soon as I took office, which shows that I want to do something practical for us to go to the county because of the risk of losing office. Also, he has been in the post of 600 stone for five or six years, he is still coarse cloth clothes, and he does not ride a horse and sit in a sedan chair all the way, but runs all the way to the people's homes to visit, this is a good official. You can't bully people just because they're young. "Shangjun Zhonglang General Changhe has long wanted to speak for Zhou Cong, and he really can't get used to these intriguing civil officials, but it is a rule for soldiers to talk less, and he has to pay attention.

"That's what General Chang said. We were so angry with the gentlemen from Beijing that we couldn't tell the difference between good guys and bad guys. My Lao Zheng also felt that Zhou Changshi was a real person, so he dared to hand him an excerpt to the king, and I obeyed him. Zheng Mao, director of the Department of Industry and Commerce, also thinks Chang He has a point.

"I also admit it. Anyway, I can't do it on the first day of my tenure, and if there are no natural or man-made disasters, I dare to fight with the above with a poor word. He Michang, the director of the county lieutenant department, also agreed.

"Since all four agreed, so did we. We are all from our hometown, and a foreigner is willing to speak for us, and we really ask for the will, we don't fight anymore, are we worthy of the fathers and villagers of Shangjun? ”

"Yes, Zhou Changshi is a real person, reliable."

"Yes, Zhou Changshi has already made a promise to the people, and the manly man says the same. We must give Zhou Changshi this face, whoever dares to overcharge the money is to ruin the credibility of Zhou Changshi, ruin the credibility of Zhou Changshi, who will dare to speak for the people of our county in the future? ”

"That's right! This time, we must maintain the credibility of the history of the perimeter. Whoever dares to take money at this time will not be able to get along with all of us in Shangjun! ”

"Everyone looks at each other, and they usually eat and take some. Zhou Changshi fought for the money for us, and we have to repay others. ”

"That's good. I Feng Tang Zhi put down his words here: Who dares to take money indiscriminately and ruin Zhou Changshi's reputation, the first one with my surname Feng can't spare him. What is the matter, you are in charge of the prison, you say? ”

"Act according to the law of the land! If you dare to mess around, you will kill your head when you should kill your head, you will be in the army when you should be in the army, you will be in jail if you should be in prison, and no one can intercede! ”

"Do things according to the laws of the country!" Everyone spoke in unison, and they all decided to act according to the law.

Only those county magistrates from other towns were left staring wide-eyed, and they had to follow: "Do things according to law, and take no more from them." ”

Of course, whether the officials from the local origin believe it or not is another story.

I only know that all the divisions of the county have sent people to directly pass the county orders and directly transmit the message to the county owners.

In fact, the poor county is this place, and the officials of each county are just well-off families, and they can't make much money - the villagers are already poor, and they are all terrible. So when I heard the above saying that this long history was reliable, and I wanted everyone to help Zhou Changshi do a good job, they all said that they couldn't lose the face of our Shangjun people.

On the day of tax collection, Zhou Cong changed into a coarse cloth robe and said that he would follow the soap officials to the countryside to collect taxes.

"Zhou Changshi can't trust us?" A few soap officials from Hongnongsi originally thought that Zhou Cong was a good person and planned to clean it up, but they didn't expect Zhou Cong to go, and they felt distrusted.

That Feng Tang Zhi looked at it from afar and didn't speak, wanting to see what Zhou Cong would do.

Zhou Cong made a fool of everyone: "Everyone misunderstood, it's not that Zhou Cong can't believe everyone." Just wanted to visit the folks. ”

Seeing that he was sincere, the old soap official led by him read countless people, knowing that he was doing bad things with good intentions. But he still couldn't let go: "Zhou Changshi is sitting in the county." We ......"

"You're the horse." Blocked the horse's head, "According to your age, Zhou Cong should call you uncle." Zhou Cong really doesn't distrust everyone. It's just that Zhou Cong thinks that if an official sits on the top every day and gives orders, but he doesn't know the difficulties below and the situation below, isn't it a blind command? ”

"Do you really just want to learn about the people?"

"The horse stops the head. If I don't trust everyone, who do I trust? Could it be that I, Zhou Cong, went alone to collect taxes from hundreds of thousands of people in our upper county? The matter of managing hundreds of thousands of people in Shangxian County has to be done by officials of all sizes in Shangxian County. I just want to feel for myself, how everyone is on an errand below, so that I can give orders above to make ideas without patting my brain, and in the end, if I can't do it, I can't do it and then pat my head to take it back, right? ”

"Okay, then Zhou Changshi, you want to go to the countryside with us, and we will take you. But if you find someone to lead your horse yourself, we don't have idlers. ”

"That's, I called Xiao Xia to help me."

Along the way, Zhou Cong just let Xiao Xia ride a horse and lead his own horse. He himself followed everyone in the ox cart, like an ordinary tax collector.

Everyone saw that Zhou Cong was eating vegetable dumplings like everyone else, and they were even more cordial - Zhou Cong was a big official with an annual salary of 600 stones, and he had the same living standard as these soap officials who were less than 100 stones.

Along the way, Zhou Cong learned that the salaries of the grassroots soap officials and errand servants were actually discounted, and his face was a little hot - the monthly salary of the soap clerks was less, so how could they live if they were discounted? Naturally, you have to go to the search point.

In addition, the grass-roots level is insufficient, and there are not enough manpower, so it is impossible to do it when we are busy. And when there are too many people, they usually seem redundant.

The way of this world is that the servants take more and receive more. Then send the money to it. Whether it is a county order or a chief official, when they get money, they go to the county to give gifts. What about the county? I went to Beijing to give gifts.

That's why there will be a holy decree to collect food in the pocket, and it will become a stone when it reaches the grassroots level. And all localities asked the Son of Heaven for tax reduction, and did not read it to the people, but how to collect the money. In the end, he took out a part of the money that should have been paid to the capital and sent it to the capital to make some points, and then took a little to deal with the Qincha who came to patrol. The rest goes into their own pockets or fills the deficit in the local treasury.

Zhou Cong knew all this before as a county magistrate, and he had personally experienced it. However, in the past, it was good to be a county magistrate, to be the main officer, and even to be a long history in Xihai County for three months. Everywhere you stay is a rich place. And he hasn't been to a place like Shangjun where he eats bark and grass roots when it's not green.

Today he is going to see how the poor and the poor deal with paying taxes.