"Yes, it's Chen Huatao's fault, and it has nothing to do with us." The crowd shouted in unison.

Jia Daoming, who was next to him, whispered to Li Rujun: "My lord, this incident was made by Chen Huatao, he should be dismissed and investigated, and then explained to the prefect." ”

Li Rujun is also a smart person, how can he not understand what the master said. He stepped forward and said to Ye Wenyang: "Lord Tongju, it is very difficult for us in Suixi County to complete the tax and grain of 90,000 stone this year, where can we still complete the 180,000 stone?" This is Chen Huatao's mistake, and it is up to him to bear it, please decide. ”

Ye Wenyang has a good relationship with Chen Huatao, so let Ye Wenyang decide Chen Huatao's fate.

Ye Wenyang frowned slightly, now it is difficult for him to ride a tiger, and if he does not deal with Chen Huatao, it is difficult to convince the public.

He picked up the startling wood and knocked it hard, and shouted, "Someone." ”

"Lord Ye, please give me a month, I will solve it." Chen Huatao hurriedly knelt down and begged for mercy.

"Chen Huatao, can you really raise another 90,000 stone of food in a month?" Ye Wenyang looked at Chen Huatao in surprise in the audience.

That's 90,000 stone grain, and then he and the prefect can fill their pockets again.

Chen Huatao said: "My lord, I will try my best, if I can't solve it in a month, you will convict me again." ”

The cunning Chen Huatao buffered time for himself, if he didn't agree to be dismissed and investigated now, there would be nothing.

Chen Huatao thought about 90,000 stone grain, according to this year's grain price market, the compromise is 600 wen for one stone, and 90,000 stone is 54,000 taels of silver, Chen Huatao feels that his heart is desperately dripping blood, how can their Chen family have so much money?

What to do, what to do? Chen Huatao even had the heart to die.

"Well, Li Rujun, this matter is settled. You are responsible for 90,000 stone tax grain, and Chen Huatao is responsible for the other 90,000 stone. Ye Wenyang originally wanted to go to Hengshan Township to stand for Chen Huatao, but something like this happened, and he still didn't go.

Li Rujun secretly wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and hurriedly beckoned Ye Wenyang to sit in the back hall, and an hour later, they went to Yunke Restaurant to eat.

In Chen Huatao's public house, Ye Wenyang looked at Chen Huatao with hatred. "Why are you so confused?"

"My lord, I don't know how to write 100,000 until now." Chen Huatao's face was depressed.

He waved his hand to let Gao Shen out, took out two hundred taels of silver tickets from his arms and stuffed them into Ye Wenyang's hand. "My lord, this is my confession."

Originally, he prepared a hundred taels, but now that such a thing happened, he had to grit his teeth and endure the pain and double it.

"Oh? Not bad. Ye Wenyang saw that it was two hundred taels, his eyes lit up, and he smiled and put the silver ticket into his arms. Hua Tao, in fact, the prefect has already drafted the appointment letter, and will announce that you will be the county governor next month. If you can't get past this time, there may be nothing. ”

"The villain knows, I will definitely find a way." Chen Huatao hurriedly responded.

At this time, he must not admit it, and he doesn't know how much food his family has and whether he can afford to pay the tax and grain this time.

However, according to his means, he can definitely squeeze out some more money and grain from Hengshan Township. There is still a month to go, and he will use some more means to squeeze some money, hoping to avoid this difficulty.

"My lord, I don't think Song Hua can do anything, or you can leave his task of supervising Yangqing Township to me." Chen Huatao said sinisterly.

Supervising the collection of taxes and grains will certainly have oil and water. Chen Huatao can't wait for him to do the county's supervision and collection of taxes and grain, so that he can get more oil and water.

"The drought in Yangqing Township doesn't mean that you can't pay the 10,000 stone tax grain?" Ye Wenyang was strange.

Chen Huatao said: "I have a way to do it. ”

Chen Huatao's method was nothing more than to prepare to bring some government officials down to scare those peasants with both grace and power, and then let them use the land to mortgage the money and grain of the gentry. In this way, he can make some money from it.

As long as he is ruthless, he can get an additional three or four percent from 10,000 tax grains, and 3,000 stones can get 1,800 taels of silver, which can be regarded as alleviating his losses.

"I'm afraid Song Hua won't." Ye Wenyang touched his beard. "Don't think I don't know, everyone wants to borrow tax grain to make a small fortune."

Chen Huatao hesitated for a moment, and then took out one hundred taels of silver tickets from his arms. "My lord, Song Hua can't collect the taxes and grain from Yangqing Township until now, you can't watch our county can't complete the task, right? It's not good for you either. ”

"Okay, I'll tell Song Hua when we eat, I'll go sit with Li Rujun now." Ye Wenyang accepted the silver ticket and walked outside satisfied. He is a sixth-grade official, can't he order an eighth-grade official like Song Hua?

Chen Huatao hurriedly asked the housekeeper Chen Chang to come to the public room.

"Master, what's wrong?" Chen Chang has followed Chen Huatao for many years, and when he saw Chen Huatao's face now like a dead father, he couldn't help but cry out worriedly.

"Chen Chang, you calculate, how much food our family still has now." Chen Huatao asked.

If you don't have money, you can use grain to top, and the price is according to the current price.

Chen Chang pondered for a while, and said in a low voice: "Master, all the money and grain in our family are converted into more than 20,000 taels of silver. ”

"What? Only more than 20,000 taels? Chen Huatao's feet were weak and he was so frightened that he sat down on the chair.

"Well, this year, the rent of our fields in the countryside has not been recovered, and in two months, it should be a few thousand taels more." Chen Changdao.

Chen Huatao's face turned pale, "Chen Chang, if I can't scrape together 54,000 taels of silver in a month, I will be dismissed and investigated." ”

Chen Chang was also shocked when he heard Chen Huatao say what happened just now. "Master, even if our Chen family sells all the houses in the county seat and the countryside, Lao Yu and the countryside fields and other property, we can only get more than 40,000 taels of silver."

Chen Huatao said weakly: "It seems that even if I go bankrupt, I can't get so much money, so I can only look at Hengshan Township and Yangqing Township." ”

Chen Huatao knew that the most profitable thing was not to make money from the grain tax, but to take back the fields sold by the farmers, which was a big deal.

However, Chen Huatao thought that even if he supervised Yangqing Township again, he could only barely scrape together more than 50,000 taels of silver.

The money he had gotten back over the years, including all the houses, fields, and belongings, was gone, and his heart ached like a knife, and this painful blow suddenly made Chen Huatao ten years old.

"Master, stay in the green mountains, don't be afraid of no firewood. As long as you oust Song Hua from power, can't you make a lot of money after you become the county minister? Chen Chang had never seen Chen Huatao so depressed, so he had to persuade him.

"Yes, as long as I'm okay and kill Song Hua, I can make a lot of money next year." Chen Huatao's eyes showed a little hope. "Even if I die, I have to drag Song Hua's family to die together."

"Hurry up and call someone to do something for me." Chen Huatao whispered in Chen Chang's ear.

When it was time for lunch, those officials of the Yamen took a car or a sedan chair to the Yunke Restaurant, and they would definitely not be left behind for this kind of public money to eat.

When Song Hua was about to go out, Song Wenjian stopped him. "Dad, this is a hangover pill, you feel a little outdated, just take one."

"Hangover pills?" Song Hua took the little black pill suspiciously. "Where did you get that?"

"I bought it at the pharmacy and it worked very well." Song Wenjian said.

"Yes, sir, I've eaten it before, it's good." Zheng Sike in the back also came over and said.

Seeing this, Song Hua put away the hangover pills.

In order to make Ye Wenyang happy, Li Rujun invited two beautiful Qingqi from Yixiangyuan.

When the pipa song "Sichun" sounded, the haze on Ye Wenyang's face dissipated a lot. "Good playing." Ye Wenyang clapped his hands and shouted.

These two Qingqi have a beautiful and refined appearance and a slender figure, which makes everyone's hearts itch. In particular, the folk songs sung in a thunderous tone are pleasing to the eye.

Chen Huatao saw that Ye Wenyang only looked at the two Qingqing, and forgot to talk about Yangqing Township, so he coughed busily: "Lord Tongju, let's have some drinks." ”

"Drink, yes, Song Hua, let's have a drink." Ye Wenyang then remembered what Chen Huatao asked him to do.

The boss ordered that Song Hua had to drink three cups of one cup to honor Ye Wenyang.

Chen Huatao also followed and coaxed, suggesting that other officials were drinking with Song Hua.

How dare those officials offend Chen Huatao, they had to pay tribute to Song Hua's wine.

After this round, Song Hua felt that his head was dizzy.

He remembered the hangover pill given by his son and secretly ate it, and then he felt clearer.

Ye Wenyang thought that Song Hua was drunk, and said with a smile: "Song Hua, I heard that your situation in Yangqing Township is not good, if you can't complete it, let Hua Tao do it." ”

"That's right, Song Hua, if you don't have that ability, don't be reckless." Chen Huatao smiled wickedly. "My lord has a lot of help you wipe your ass."

Song Hua put the wine glass in his hand on the table, "Lord Tongju, I will work hard to complete the task of collecting taxes and grain." Song Hua thought of Song Wenjian's confession, and he couldn't tell Chen Huatao and others about the collection of taxes and grain in Yangqing Township too early until he had to.

Seeing that Song Hua didn't give him face, Ye Wenyang slapped the table angrily and shouted: "Li County Order, look at the subordinates you lead, you don't have the ability to complete the task, and you have to drag the whole county back." I think so, Song Hua doesn't care about the collection of taxes and grains in Yangqing Township in the future, let Hua Tao take care of it. ”

Li Rujun thought about it, anyway, Yangqing Township is the worst in the county in terms of tax and grain collection, Chen Huatao has a wide network and means, so it is good to let him be responsible.