In the spring of April, the sun was shining, and Peng Shu, a small official of the Suzhou Treasury, moved the bamboo chair outdoors and lazily leaned on it to take a nap. At this time, the secretary of the government treasurer (the head of the small officials) is not there, and there should be nothing to do.

But it didn't take long for him to wake up. Mr. Peng opened his eyes and saw an old man in a green shirt in front of him, and listened to him: "This gentleman is invited, and the county sent the old man to release the tax silver." ”

It turned out that he was paying summer tax, but he was the first to come this year, but Peng Shu looked at the other party very much.

The officials in the county and the officials in charge of corresponding official affairs are often old acquaintances, so that it is convenient to collude up and down. And the one in front of him, Mr. Peng is sure that he has not seen it, Bacheng is a newcomer, but such an old newcomer is rare.

Since you are a newcomer, you need to set up a rule. Mr. Peng stretched his waist and didn't go to register the account book, but asked directly: "How much tax has your county solved this time?" ”

"Twenty thousand taels."

"How much?"

"Twenty thousand taels."

Sure enough, they don't understand the rules. Mr. Peng sneered, "How can this be enough to burn and be damaged, do you want the government to compensate for it, go back!" Come back when you've got enough! ”

"Please also work hard to check and put it into the warehouse, and tonight the old man will be rewarded with another wine."

According to the practice of today's Suzhou Prefecture, the county collects taxes and levies 20% of the fire consumption, and then divides it in half with the government office, so the 20,000 tax silver should actually be solved to 22,000 taels. Of course, more fire consumption and less fire consumption are not so fixed.

Mr. Peng thought, can the benefits of being unfamiliar and not knowing the details be easy to take, at least there must be an acquaintance to do it? Then he scolded: "I really don't know anything about you when you're old, what are you talking about, retreat quickly!" ”

The old official's humiliated muscles burst out, and he pointed at Mr. Peng and said, "Good, good, very good." ”

At this moment, two Kudin heard the movement, came out and shouted, and came forward to surround him.

"Who dares to touch me!" The old official took a step back.

Do you think this is a county office? Mr. Peng instructed Kuding: "Take it and get out!" ”

But I heard the old official also shout in shock: "My son is Li You!" ”

Li You? Li Tuiguan? Mr. Peng and the Kudins were immediately shocked and looked at each other.

Is it true or false? Supposedly, no one would be bold enough to pretend to be Li Tuiguan's father in the government office? I heard that Li Tuiguan himself is from a generational public family... Mr. Peng came to his senses and hurriedly ordered: "Wait until you take care of the old man, I'll go find Li Tuiguan!" ”

But it was said that Li You was trying the case in the official hall, throwing the lot, and playing the board, and suddenly saw Peng Xiaoguan in the silver treasury running up sweating profusely, and whispered in front of him: "There is an old gentleman who came to pay taxes and silver, claiming to be the father of an adult..."

When Li Tuiguan heard this, the case was no longer tried, and he and Peng Xiaoyan hurriedly went to the treasury. From a distance, I saw the familiar figure in front of the treasury, and several small officials and servants nodded around them. If it's not a father, who is it?

"I don't know that the father has arrived, and the son is guilty!" Li You hurriedly stepped forward to greet Dao.

Father Li didn't speak, stared at Peng Xiaoyan and snorted coldly.

Seeing this, Li You guessed in his heart, he couldn't tell the following officials' style, could he still be unclear? I can't help but smile bitterly, your old man is so old, how can you play with childlike innocence and pretend to be a pig and eat a tiger.

Peng Xiaoyan puffed, knelt on the ground, and kowtowed again and again.

Thinking that this person is usually quite competent, Li You scolded: "Get out of here first!" I'll figure it out with you later! ”

The following tax and silver storage matters, naturally do not need to be done by Li's father himself.

Li You invited his father to take a seat in the official hall, and asked with a smile: "Why did my father work hard in person." ”

"Seeing how majestic you are in the government office, it's no wonder that the county honorifies the name of the father to solve the tax money." Father Li replied.

It turned out that Xinzhi County of Xujiang County passed by Fucheng when he took office and knew about Li You's influence in the government. Knowing that the old official surnamed Li in his county government was Li Tuiguan's father, he entrusted him with the affairs of the torture room, and specially asked him to be responsible for sending taxes and silver to the government office.

Xujiang County has a rated silver tax (grain tax is calculated separately) of 120,000 taels a year. In addition, an additional 24,000 taels of fire consumption will be levied, of which half must be handed over to the government treasury according to industry rules.

Now that Li You has such a big face in the government office, and he is in charge of the treasury, if his father comes to pay taxes and does not pay a penny of silver, what can the government do? It is equivalent to Xujiang County saving more than 10,000 taels of silver every year.

This new county is quite lively... Li You thought about it, and asked straight to the point: "How much does he give you?" ”

"Ishei."

More than 1,000 taels a year... Li You nodded and said, "It's okay." ”

Of course, it is a good thing that the taxes in Xujiang County are less, and Li You, as a native of Xujiang, has no reason to block the welfare of his hometown. However, in order to maintain the total revenue of the government treasury, it is necessary to collect more fire consumption in other counties to make up for it.

Li You arranged accommodation again, "Ask my father to rest in the back office for one night tonight." ”

Father Li shook his head and said, "No need, there is another place for my father." There is also a business to come this time, this month is the Suzhou Prefecture test, send the turn to Xujiang County, the county and send the father to take care of the people's husband to serve, these days to clean the tribute courtyard, I slept there. ”

According to the rules, the expenses of each examination in the prefecture are borne by the counties in turn, such as cleaning the number room, patrolling miscellaneous duties, buying books, paper and candles, and so on. This time it was the turn of Xujiang County.

Li You complained: "This magistrate really doesn't know anything, and he is not afraid of being tired of his father." ”

Li's father said with a thorn in his words: "It's not that I have the light of a good son, and I know that my father has someone to take care of in Fucheng and it is convenient to do things." Besides, if you don't go to Fucheng, how can you know my son's romantic skills. ”

This... It seems that my father heard the recent rumors, where did he know about it? Could it be that it was sent back to Xujiang County in just a few days? "That's just rumors."

"Not necessarily." Father Li said meaningfully.

Li You explained: "According to my guess, it was the imperial merchant Qian family who was looking for his son to marry, and before he succeeded, he spread rumors and slander, and his son couldn't stop it. ”

"It's all your excuse! You may not have any distracting thoughts in your heart, and you may not have a wait-and-see thought. ”

Li You immediately defended: "That's not the case, it's impossible for my son to be with the Zhao family..."

"It is impossible for the Zhao family to have other families, which one is not better than Liu Niangzi? Jiang Taigong's trick of fishing the wisher to take the bait! Or maybe you're testing the limelight to see how everyone reacts! It's all your distraction, and it's not completely unintentional, if not intentional! Knowing the son Mo Ruo's father, you can hide it from others, but you can't hide it from me! Father Li said loudly.

If it were someone else's nonsense, Li You would have had a seizure a long time ago, is he such a tasteless person.

But why do you still feel a little unjustifiably self-conscious? Is it true that there is a consciousness of indulgence and wait-and-see and testing of the wind in my heart, as my father said?

After thinking about it, Li You decided that this was the remnants of his previous life. After all, it was an era when no matter three days, three years, or thirty years, as long as you mentioned a surname that did not match, you could get a rash divorce, and the first thing to talk about was a surname, not etiquette and responsibility.

This is naturally incompatible with the traditional concept of the family and the country in this era, no matter what the wife is like after marriage, you generally have to endure it, speaking of which the Ming Dynasty seems to be one of the dynasties with the lowest divorce rate in history.

"I really want the rumors to stop, you just need to take the lady of the Liu family to Fucheng with great fanfare, and the rumors will be self-defeating, but why don't you do it? Can't you think of it with your cleverness? For my father to know that you are now ambitious, and you have the ability to change to a better family, but I still tell you that you cannot divorce your wife and marry another. ”

"My son doesn't have that intention."

"It doesn't matter if the rich and easy wife is right or wrong, but having a little idea is very dangerous in itself, and you shouldn't think about it, even if you swear at the moment that you don't have any plans. All I can say is that you are carried away, arrogant, and blinded! ”

Father said this seriously, and he didn't dare to talk back, Li You was speechless, he was obviously very cautious and careful about safety.

"Since you are an official, you are often arrogant, you must always be cautious in your words and deeds, and it is good to walk on thin ice as if you are on the edge of the abyss."

"My son was taught." Li You said in his mouth. Everyone can talk about the truth, but your old man's reputation as a head-catcher back then doesn't seem to be the case.

After training his son, Li's father left the government and continued to run errands.

Gray-headed and disgraced by his father's education, Li Tuiguan found an opportunity to secretly ask the official who came with his father: "Why is my father so angry?" ”

The servant flattered and said: "The little one said a few words nonsense, it seems that the old gentleman settled a murder case some time ago, and was dismissed by Master Li. So he was teased in the county office, so his face was a little unbearable. ”

Li You sighed, no wonder his father was not angry today. The following cases were sent to him, all of them were signed by the county magistrate and stamped with the county seal, how could he know who he was handling specifically.

Sending his father away, Li You followed the prefect of Wang to socialize, this time it was the school official who came to the city to preside over the college examination, not to mention being an official in Suzhou Mansion, ushering in a lot of things to be sent.

Speaking of the promotion of scholars, commonly known as learning politics or learning Taoism, he doesn't do anything else, just take the exam.

In this year, he is really a character who is a heaven and a hell, the future and fate of the scholar are in his hands, and the candidates have to pass from the hands of the scholars. There is a saying: if you say you can do it, you can do it, and if you can't do it, you can do it; If you say you can't do it, you can't do it, and you can't do it.

This year is a big year for Suzhou Prefecture, with a college examination for talents in April in the first half of the year, and a township examination for people in August in the second half of the year.

The official title of the probationary officer should be the deputy envoy of the probationary department, which is nominally hung under the probationary department, but in fact, it is to carry out work and itinerant management of provincial examinations and school affairs.

However, the two Zhili places are special, and there is no inspection and envoy department, and the official position of the scholar is called the study of the imperial history, which is the same as the four products, and is sent out from the two capitals. This time I came to Suzhou to learn the imperial history.

When the government held a banquet to entertain the scholars, Li You unexpectedly met Chen Xundao, who he hadn't seen for a long time. Thinking about it, I also understand that the scholar is nominally the deputy envoy of the Inspectorate Department in other provinces, although he is not in Jiangnan, but he has this origin, and Chen Xundao has a reason to come forward according to the Inspectorate Division.

There was also an accident, Li You actually saw the Cui Prison Student who liked to walk on the dry road again. This guy has been hit hard, and his vitality is so tenacious that Li Tuiguan has to admire it.

It seems that this person has some ability, Ma Yushi named him as a subordinate official, and the scholar can actually order him as a subordinate official, Li You thought.

(To be continued)