Fang Fengnian spoke at length here, and spent half an hour explaining in detail to Ma Shaoguang the tax system of the Ming Dynasty.

Ma Shaoguang used to be a magistrate, and he still has some understanding of the tax system, but what he knows is only the surface, when to collect the regular tax, how to collect the retention and fire consumption reasonably and legally, etc., he really doesn't understand the core things that Fang Fengnian said.

Although Ma Shaoguang didn't understand, Fang Fengnian was his senior official or his elder, and it was really bad not to pretend to understand. There was no choice but to nod his head again and again, think a little, ask questions from time to time, etc., pretending to listen carefully.

Fang Fengnian has been an official for many years, so he naturally knows that Ma Shaoguang is just perfunctory, Fang Fengnian smiled after the tirade: "Ziheng, the old man knows that you didn't listen, but the salt department you want to serve is not trivial, the salt tax collected by your salt department every year is more than three million silver dollars, and next year it is expected to reach four million silver dollars, and it is easy to be deceived if you don't understand the tax law in this important position!" ”

Fang Fengnian said the truth, the Salt Affairs Department has a heavy responsibility, and naturally those salt merchants and officials in the local area have to deceive the superiors and subordinates, and Ma Shaoguang, as the chief official of the Salt Affairs Department, is easy to fall into the trap if he does not understand the tax law. The current emperor is not a good person, if Ma Shaoguang is found to be derelict in his duties, it will not be far from bad luck.

Ma Shaoguang heard Fang Fengnian say this, and quickly stood up and bowed down and thanked: "The little nephew Meng Lang just now, thank you uncle for teaching, the little nephew must learn more about the tax law, so that the country will not lose a penny of tax silver!" ”

Hearing Ma Shaoguang say this, Fang Fengnian nodded: "Ziheng, it is ideal not to lose a penny of tax silver, but you know what virtues the officials below have, as long as you try to recover your losses!" There are also several subordinate members of the Salt Affairs Department who are all old people, and they have no credit and hard work in the past few years, and they are a little slack at work when they are old, and they still need to be treated by Zihengxian's nephew! ”

Ma Shaoguang understood as soon as he heard it, those old guys must have gone the way of Fang Fengnian, but what can Ma Shaoguang say?

"Please rest assured, my little nephew knows it!"

Fang Fengnian nodded with satisfaction when he heard Ma Shaoguang say this, and then said, "Okay, the virtuous nephew will report tomorrow!" There is still something going on at my uncle's house today, so I won't leave you to eat! ”

Ma Shaoguang heard Fang Fengnian say this, and hurriedly got up to say goodbye, out of the gate of Fang's mansion Ma Shaoguang was confused, today he came to visit Fang Fengnian, originally thought that this old guy could preach to himself, but how did he think that the old guy was just babbling and saying that he would take care of his people. Ma Shaoguang thought about it and couldn't figure out why Fang Fengnian said this, so Ma Shaoguang had no choice but to go home and prepare to go to work tomorrow.

Early the next morning, Ma Shaoguang got up early to prepare his official uniform, and today was his day at work. Ma Shaoguang found out his five-grade official uniform and put it on, and the salt affairs secretary was also a five-grade official, and he was at the same level as Zhizhou, so there was no need to make a new official uniform.

Fu Shi helped Ma Shaoguang put on his official uniform on the side, and Ma Shaoguang asked, "Father-in-law left first?" ”

"Yes, my father is going to the court, and he left before dawn!"

Ma Shaoguang nodded, his status as a fifth-grade is not qualified to go to the court, not that the grade is not enough, but as a direct official of the ministry and commission, he has lost the qualification to go to the court, but the two attached Guo counties of Shuntian Mansion Yin and Daxing and Wanping are qualified to go to the court.

After Ma Shaoguang finished breakfast, accompanied by his wife and sons, he went to the second gate, where a two-person sedan chair was waiting.

Ma Shaoguang said to Fu Shi: "I won't come back for dinner at noon, I may come back in the evening, if I don't come back, I will let people come back to inform!" After speaking, he said to his two sons and a nephew: "The three of you should study hard at home, and in March next year, Shuntianfu Township will test Yanzhi and Yanyuan will take the next exam, don't go out to hang out in the past few months, study hard at home!" ”

Ma Shaoguang was very dignified at home, and his two sons and a nephew hurriedly bowed down and promised that they would study hard and not disappoint their father.

Seeing that his sons agreed, Ma Shaoguang turned his head to Fu Shi and said, "How much silver is left in the family?" ”

Fu Shi thought for a while and said, "There are more than 1,260 silver dollars left, and there are more than 300 taels of silver?" Is Fujun useful? ”

Ma Shaoguang is a five-grade governor, and his annual income is 2,100 silver dollars, plus gray income, etc., nearly 3,000 silver dollars a year.

Ma Shaoguang sighed and said: "It's not a way for our family to live in my father-in-law's house permanently, I will go to the city to have a look if I have the opportunity, find a good house and let's move out!" ”

The Ma family does not have a house in Beijing, Ma Jiyuan's Guogong Mansion is now idle, but the area of the Guogong Mansion is too large, and Ma Shaoguang's family is only a dozen people counting slaves, not to mention that Ma Shaoguang's status does not dare to live in Ma Jiyuan's Guogong Mansion. If Ma Jiyuan hangs up, Ma Shaoguang, as his son-in-law, inherits Ma Jiyuan's title of Duke of Qin, then he can naturally move in. But now that Ma Jiyuan is still alive, it is impossible for Ma Shaoguang to live in the Guogong Mansion.

Fu Shi heard Ma Shaoguang say that he wanted to move out, he couldn't help but feel a little melancholy, she just saw her own mother, and now she is going to move out, she is really a little reluctant, but Fu knows that Ma Shaoguang cares about face very much, and it is really a bit embarrassing for a dignified five-class man to stay at his father-in-law's house.

Ma Shaoguang said to the housekeeper beside him: "You don't have anything to do in the morning, go to the tooth people in the city, and ask what good houses are in the east city!" The butler quickly nodded in agreement.

After all the arrangements were made, Ma Shaoguang went out and got into a small sedan chair, got up and rushed to the organization department of the Qianbu Corridor to report.

Zhu Hongsan reorganized the Ministry of Officials, separated the appointment and dismissal of officials from the evaluation, and set up an organization department and a personnel department respectively, with the organization department responsible for the selection, appointment, and dismissal of officials, and the personnel department responsible for the merits and appraisal of officials. Although the authority has been somewhat weakened, the Second Organization and Personnel Department is also a big yamen, and the officials who come to the door every day to seek official positions are also far away.

The organization department is located in the first house of Qinglong Street in the Qianbu Corridor, and it is also the location of the yamen of the former Ming Officials' Department. A pair of stone lions are placed at the entrance of the organization department, and a tall archway in front of the door is written with four big characters, "honest and honest"! These four words are written by Emperor Shenwu himself, in order to warn officials all over the world that they must be honest and honest, and do not forget their original intentions. Of course, the officials know the reason, but there are not many who really take what the emperor said.

It was already past nine o'clock before Ma Shaoguang came to the organization department, and he originally thought that he was only coming to report today, and it should be soon. But when he came here, Ma Shaoguang knew that he was wrong, and there were hundreds of officials queuing up in front of the organization department.

This is also no way, hundreds of thousands of officials across the country in the Ming Dynasty, and the imperial court stipulates that the transfer of officials above the seventh grade must come to Beijing to report. For example, if you are a magistrate in Guangdong and you are doing a good job, the personnel department will give you a rating in the five-year plan assessment, and the organization department will select you to go to Sichuan as a magistrate, and you will have to come to Beijing to report. Senior officials above the fourth grade are even more troublesome, in addition to reporting in the organization department, they also have to wait to see the emperor, which is called palace speech.

There are more than 100,000 officials of the seventh rank or higher in the country, and tens of thousands of people are promoted, transferred, or demoted every year and convicted, so hundreds of people report to the Organization Department every day. This is just to do serious business, and those who come to Beijing to run officials and give gifts are not counted among them.

Ma Shaoguang looked at the long queue at the door, and when he walked to the door, he was about to report his name, but the clerk who knew the door didn't listen, and directly took out a wooden sign and stuffed it into Ma Shaoguang's hand: "Queue up, don't you see so many people?" ”

Ma Shaoguang looked at the number plate in his hand, which said "Officials Section of the Anthology Division of the Organization Department, 231!

Good guy, there are more than 230 people in front of me, so don't you wait in line until the evening? Thinking of this, Ma Shaoguang asked: "This secretary, this official is from Guangxi, and there is an appointment document from the Organization Department... ”

Before Ma Shaoguang finished speaking, the clerk said impatiently: "Who do you think you are!" Regardless of the grade, all queue up! ”

At this time, several officials in front of the queue also shouted: "You guy, go to the back and line up, we have been queuing for an hour, who do you think you are?" Do you want to be ahead of us? Do you think Fu Ge is your father? ”

Ma Shaoguang looked at the anger of the crowd, and had no choice but to take the number plate to the back of the line to line up.

In front of Ma Shaoguang was a middle-aged official in his thirties, dressed in a six-grade uniform, and when he saw Ma Shaoguang lined up behind him, he asked in a low voice, "Where is this Shangguan from?" ”

Ma Shaoguang arched his hand and said: "This official is from Yong'an Prefecture, Guangxi, I don't know where the brother comes from?" ”

"Guangxi? Far enough! The younger brother is from Shandong, and this time he came to Beijing to report to the Organization Department! ”

Ma Shaoguang looked at the long flow of people and asked, "Brother, you and I are more than 200 people, I don't know if we can finish today?" ”

The official sneered: "Hmph, these officials just want to take this opportunity to make a fortune!" Dude, do you see, you can go to the front row with the silver dollar, or just wait! Little brother, I've been waiting in Beijing for half a month, and I come to line up every day, and now I haven't seen Lang Zhong from the Wenxuan Division! ”

Ma Shaoguang also knew that when he was the governor of the state, he turned a blind eye to the bribes he received from his subordinates, after all, he didn't see anyone who looked down, as long as his guys were not too excessive, Ma Shaoguang didn't want to care. It's just that I didn't expect to be embarrassed by these porters today!

Ma Shaoguang looked at the crowd of officials below the fifth grade, among which there were a few fourth-grade officials, and one above the third grade did not.

"Dude, why aren't there any officials above the third grade lined up?"

"This is too simple, the third grade and above are all high-ranking officials such as political envoys and envoys in various provinces, and needless to say, the second grade is either a governor or a governor. These officials also know that big people are not easy to mess with, so they came to the organization department to be a waiter that day, which is eyelids. Therefore, as long as these talented officials see that there are high-ranking officials of the third grade, they will be released immediately, and they will not dare to accept the gift money at all, but they will suffer from petty officials like you and me, and they will have to suffer from the eyes of these officials! ”