The old sons and grandsons of Xu Ge are luxuriant and enviable. For more than 40 years, Changfang Xu has added eleven grandchildren to him, all of whom are married: the second son Xu Kun has seven grandchildren: the third son Xu Yingtian has five grandchildren; Xu Ke, the youngest son, also has two sons. Coupled with the heavy cutting generation, as well as his younger brother's room, the Xu family actually has more than 100 men, and they are already a big family in Songjiang, and the number of their family land is naturally amazing.

It has always been rumored that the Xu family has 200,000 acres of cultivated land. But now it seems that it is obviously underestimated Although in order to avoid a big trick, the Xu family has dispersed the land under its name to the family members, but it still can't hide it from the audit gentlemen of Huilian. They only added up the land under the aliases of the two direct descendants of the Xu brothers, and they got a terrifying figure of 460,000 mu, no wonder even Hai Rui wanted it, oops, a sound.

Mr. Auditor told Hai Rui that this does not include the land in the name of the slaves of the Xu family, and the Xu family relies on the prestige of Xu Ge Lao to run rampant in the township, so how can it not only have an industry in Songjiang? It also occupies a large number of fields in Suzhou, Changzhou, and even Hangzhou, Huzhou and other places in the province. Moreover, his family is an important supplier of raw materials in the silk weaving industry and cotton spinning industry, and he has made all the profits by using the monopoly: "If you want to find out the Xu family's industry, even if we are the people, it will take a month." ", said Mr. Auditor.

Hai Rui was indeed shocked, he really couldn't imagine that what he had to face was such a terrifying beast.

After the audit gentleman left, Wang Xijue said in a low voice: "What should I do, why don't you release Songjiang first?" Although he also knows the truth that the thief captures the king first, and the bow is strong, but the Xu family with such strength is really not something that anyone can deal with, even if Hai Rui, who is the governor of Su Song, can't.

, maybe only if Gao Ge Lao or Shen Ge Lao comes in person, Xu Ge Lao can be cured. , Wang Xijue thought nonsense, but unfortunately he also knew that with the identity of the two of them, as well as the relationship with Xu Jie, he must not directly intervene in this matter.

Wang Xijue, who has always been optimistic and resolute, has become unconfident in the face of an incomparably powerful enemy.

"Yuan Tori", Hai Rui glanced at this, the junior he admired very much, and said lightly: "Your teacher asked you to study with me, but you are a Hanlin official from Sanding Jia, and you have been a Si Zhilang in the cabinet for several years. ”

Wang Xijue was just about to be humble, but Hai Rui waved his hand and said: "After listening to me, the only thing I can teach you after thinking about it is two words." ”

"Please speak." Wang Xijue listened attentively.

"These two words, it sounds good, called, bold, : if it doesn't sound good, that is, look for death!" Hai Rui stood up, moved his sore body, and extinguished the expensive butter headlamps one by one, leaving only a candlestick: "If you want to be a qualified bureaucrat, go back to sleep now and don't listen to my nonsense", paused and said: "But if you have higher pursuits, if you want to become a real virtuous minister, you have to learn to find death." ”

Wang Xijue was silent and listened carefully to Hai Rui's words: "The world says that evil does not suppress good" but in fact, most of the time, "the Tao is one foot high, the devil is one foot high, and the righteous often cannot defeat the evil, and will even be eliminated by the evil devil." Then those shameless Taoists have their own set of theories that reverse black and white, and they say that they are saying that they are saying that you are evil and evil! By then, you may not even have the last bit of good reputation......"

If he hadn't heard it with his own ears, Wang Xijue wouldn't have believed that such negative words actually came out of the mouth of the First God Fighter of the Ming Dynasty............ He also thought that in the eyes of the King of Sea Yama, there was no opponent who could not be handled.

"So how do we choose? Is it to go along with the dirt, to be alone, or to go head-on even if you know that you are invincible? Hai Rui looked directly at this promising young man and said word by word: "How you choose at this three-way intersection is destined for what kind of person you will be in the future."

"The teacher often teaches me" Wang Xijue pondered for a moment and said softly: "If you persist, there will be hope." The impulse to be self-conscious is to give up irresponsibly. ”

"You don't know your teacher yet." Hai Rui shook his head and said: "He actually has a fire in his heart, and he will not hesitate when he has to find death." He sighed lightly and said, "But in this world, there may be nothing worth his death, because there are us who have done it for him." ”

"What's the point of that?" , Wang Xijue asked.

"For the sake of morality." Hai Rui said in a deep voice: "When I was young, I felt that morality was very noble and sacred, and it was the words of those saints written in the scriptures. But now I've come to understand that morality is what you think is right...... So everyone's morality is different, but one thing is the same, that is, whether you have the courage to uphold your morality, or even martyrdom. "Since you think it's right, since it's in line with your morality, you have to keep doing it, even if you lose your reputation because of it!" The candlelight pulled Hai Rui's figure very high, and his voice was like Huang Zhongdalu's shocking heart: "I am fifty-five years old this year, and there is a question that has plagued me for forty years, that is, what is wrong with the country?" The Heavenly Empire, the land is vast and the resources are abundant, why is it that the peace has been peaceful for a hundred years, but the small people cannot live and work in peace and contentment, and the state affairs are like a scorpion. The vast building of Daming, when I saw that it was about to fall, why was this? For this reason, I have found many reasons, is it because of the strict party's rebellion? Is it the North and the South? Or is officialdom ** incompetent? even pointed the finger at the emperor, and went to the "Public Security Sparse" that was out of place and killed the first emperor, but what was the result? ”

"Now that the Yan Party has fallen, the Southern Kou has subsided, the Northern Prisoners are not as good as before, and the rule of officials has also been refreshed several times, although not to mention that each is honest, but the phenomenon of corruption and dereliction of duty is no longer common, but why has there been no improvement in state affairs? Are the people still in dire straits? I've searched and searched, and now there's only one last target left, and today's inventory is also verifying my conjecture. I don't know what you think, what I see and know is that the four words are shocking," Hai Rui's anger became more and more vigorous: "Just one Xu family, only in Songjiang Mansion, occupies a huge 460,000 mu!" If you investigate it thoroughly, I don't know what kind of number it will be, and how much more than a Xu family? In the entire Songjiang Mansion, there are more than 400 people, more than 200 Jinshi, more than a dozen people who have done Shangshu Shilang, and there are countless people below the Shilang, they are all the same as Xufu, but they are different from the size of their own."

"And not Matsue? What about the Ten Mansions of Susong? Two capitals and thirteen provinces, "1,160 Wu counties, where is there no such national thief?!" plus those royal relatives and eunuchs in the palace...... These are all parasites that eat the state, and the granges they annex account for half of the world, and the small people can cultivate less than half of the world's fields, but they have to pay the world's taxes to feed these silverfish! Hai Rui clenched his fists tightly, and his eyes breathed fire: "What is shameless is that these so-called official eunuchs and gentry have always dressed themselves up as noble people of Taoism, and always put the responsibility on others, shouting to restrict the clan and reduce the imperial estate, but never look in the mirror to see who is the most ugly person in the food?" It's themselves! "Why are the countries and their people always poor? The royal clan and the consumption of the nine sides are only the part of the iceberg that has surfaced. The real harm is actually hidden under the surface of the water, those shameless gentlemen and doctors. On the one hand, they wantonly annex, extract the people's anointment, and embezzle the state funds, and on the other hand, they regard themselves as saints and disciples, holding the power of the country, controlling the direction of public opinion, and dressing themselves up in a glamorous manner, but they put all the blame on others. These thieves hidden in the shadows will never be able to breathe if they are not removed, and the so-called "to the monarch's father as Yao Shun and avoid the hunger and cold of the people will always be just an empty word." Hai Rui looked at Wang Xijue deeply and said word by word: "They are indeed unprecedentedly powerful, but this is not a reason to give up the struggle............ If everyone is afraid of defeat and does not dare to be their enemy, then the Ming Dynasty "will really be finished." ", "Fortunately, Gao Ge Lao, Shen Ge Lao, Zhang Ge Lao...... These ministers who were worried about the country and the people were not intimidated by the possible defeat and were determined to fight them to the death. This is destined to be a protracted war with a huge disparity in strength, and I, the governor of Su Song, "am just a pawn across the river, and it is impossible to win on my own." ”

"I will always stand by Du Gong's side." Wang Xijue was infected by Hai Rui's heroic spirit.

"Stupid, if we take you too, we will lose even the future." Hai Rui shook his head and said: "You just have to watch quietly from the side this time, you can take a look at this world that turns black and white upside down, and recognize the ugly faces of those people who are virtuous, even if you have completed the task." If, after this, you have not lost your confidence, "then be ready to take on the burden in the future!" As he spoke, he picked up his official hat, patted Wang Xijue's shoulder and said, "Divide the case files tomorrow" Now go back to sleep. After saying that, he walked out slowly.

After standing in the hall for a long time, Wang Xijue turned off the lights and walked out, the courtyard was silent, only he was alone, looking up, but seeing that there was no moon tonight, only the sky full of stars.

The next morning, Wang Xijue classified the 3,000 complaints with the highest efficiency and reported the statistical results to Hai Ruidao: "Of the 3,000 complaints, more than ninety percent of them were those who sued the township officials for seizing property. Thinking of what Hai Rui said yesterday, "This is the right thing", Wang Xijue admired it, but also wondered why Hai Rui knew in advance that this was the result.

"In the past 20 years, every time a common person sued him for seizing property, the county officials listened to the words of the township eunuchs and gentry, and every time they ruled that the small people lost the lawsuit. As a result, the wind of encroachment intensified, so that the people's property gradually disappeared, and the township officials became richer. After that, the government did not even accept such cases, and the people were afraid to file lawsuits. So the accumulation of time has led to today, and it is hateful. Hai Rui said lightly.

"It is said that the former scholars and doctors have been empty for officials for decades, and after the second-grade clamp is a servant, the family property is only well-off, why has it changed so much in a few decades?" Wang Xijue shook his head and sighed.

"It's not that you don't understand, it's that the world is changing too fast, everyone is proud of worshipping money, and scholars are no longer happy to live in poverty, and they have begun to indulge in fancy clothes and beautiful women, and pursue luxury and enjoyment, how can they not take advantage of their privileges and fish the common people?" Hai Rui sneered, put the report compiled by Wang Xijue and yesterday's audit results into an envelope, baked fire paint, used the guard, and instructed the secretary office: "Send it to the cabinet immediately." After finishing this stall, he said to Wang Xijue: "Clean up and go to Songjiang today." "What about the 3,000 copies of the tellings received? Wang Xijue asked.

"Don't solve the problem of Songjiang," Hai Rui said lightly: "The lawsuit in Suzhou cannot be handled...... On the other hand, if the problem of Songjiang is solved, the lawsuit in Suzhou will be easily solved. ”

In the afternoon of the same day, Hai Rui moved to Songjiang, and the next day he posted a notice outside the office, accepting the people's telling, and at the same time cleaning up the old backlog of cases...... although Songjiang and Suzhou are close neighbors, but the people of Songjiang have not understood the great power of Hai Qingtian after all...... In fact, these cases are neither comprehensive nor complicated, and the reason why they have not been concluded for a long time is only because the defendants are powerful and wealthy, and the government cannot handle them at all.

The defendant is there, just see if your lord dares to arrest someone. For the king of Haiyan, it was naturally not a problem, he immediately issued a summons to detain the defendant to come for trial, in order to avoid collusion between the officials of Songjiang and the squire, he released the defendant privately, and the people who went to take it were the personal soldiers of the governor's yamen! As long as you are in the township, you can't run away.

In any case where the facts are clear and the evidence is conclusive, regardless of whether you are accused of the son of Shangshu or the nephew of the governor, Hai Rui will conclude the case and pronounce the verdict on the same day, and the prisoner will be imprisoned.

Seeing that the case was tried quickly, Hai Daren was really not afraid of the rich township officials, and the unjust people were emboldened, and they came to the Fuyuan to file a petition, and within a day, they accepted one or two thousand cases. At night, in the face of the mountain, Wang Xijue was worried again, so many cases could not be calmly investigated and collected evidence. If it is a case by case, it is protracted, and it is obviously not possible. You can't be like Suzhou anymore, right?

What to do? Hai Rui had already paid attention to it, and he wrote down several trial principles and ordered Wang Xijue to implement them accordingly. I saw that Hai Rui wrote: Those who are suspicious of litigation should rather give in to their brothers, rather than their brothers, rather than their uncles, rather than their nephews, rather than the poor, rather than the rich, rather than be stupid, rather than stubborn. Things are fighting for property, rather than bending to the small people, rather bending to the township eunuchs, in order to save the disadvantages: things are fighting for appearance, and instead of succumbing to the township eunuchs, rather bend the small people, in order to survive the body! ”！ ~！