Zhu Yuanzhang followed behind the Qi steward, out of the Ma family's partial courtyard, and walked for a while on the edge of a field that was being ploughed in the spring, there were many Ma family's long-term and short-term workers plowing the field, and when they saw Qi Steward, everyone's eyes were filled with a trace of fear and disgust, but when they saw Zhu Yuanzhang behind, everyone waved their hands and showed a sincere smile on their faces. During this period of time, Zhu Yuanzhang has done a very good job of establishing an image among long-term and short-term workers, and he has won the hearts of the people. Of course, his current reputation is still inferior to Baishui Wang Er, speaking of the first good man in Baishui County, everyone is still used to putting Wang Er in the first place.

After walking the field path, I walked on the wide loess official road, which was sparsely populated, which showed the dilapidation of Baishui County. Then I walked for half an hour before I came to the county seat of Baishui, the city is pinned on the uneven mountain of the highlands, the houses are undulating, the roof tiles are connected, looking at it, it seems to be looking at a hill, but there are many houses built on the mountain.

The city looks very dilapidated, with overgrown weeds on the roadside, houses in disrepair, few pedestrians, and flocks of beggars. Zhu Yuanzhang lamented in his heart as he walked: The Ming Dynasty I established single-handedly was actually managed like this by later generations, which is really unreasonable.

After a while, a small square appeared in front of him, this kind of square Zhu Yuanzhang is very familiar with, its name is Yaqian Square, which will be in front of every county yamen. There is a small pavilion on the left side of the square, called "Shenming Pavilion", this pavilion is Zhu Yuanzhang's own original invention, Hongwu five years (AD 1372), he created "Shenming Pavilion", set it as the reading law, clear reason, show good and suppress evil, dissect and dispute trivial matters, auxiliary punishment place, in short, it is the meaning of the bad people who have violated the law here to criticize and fight.

On the right side of the square, facing the "Shenming Pavilion", there is also a "Jeongseon Pavilion", on which good people are written and good deeds are commended, and chastity and good deeds are commended, in short, it means to praise those who have done good deeds.

These two pavilions used to be Zhu Yuanzhang's proud works, their existence has greatly improved people's moral level, played a very good role, but the Shenjing Second Pavilion in Baishui County has fallen into disrepair, the Shenming Pavilion has no cover, and the Jingshan Pavilion has also broken a wooden pillar, which seems to be crumbling. There is a stone tablet in the Shenming Pavilion, which has five big characters on it, but because the stone tablet has been eroded by the years, these five words are not very clear...... The dilapidated Shen Jing Second Pavilion seems to tell the moral ...... of the collapse of the Ming Dynasty

After walking through the empty yaqian square, I finally came to the front of the county yamen. On the left side of the gate, there is a small temple half a person high, this thing is called the Pichang Temple, and a land lord is enshrined in it. It seems to be the meaning of asking for the protection of the land, but in fact, this is the place to peel the skin!

Zhu Yuanzhang personally formulated a rule in his last life, officials who embezzled 60 taels of dirty silver would be escorted to the head of the leather field temple to show the public, and then the punishment of peeling the skin and stuffing the grass would be carried out...... The specific method is: peel off the skin of a corrupt official, and then stuff grass in the human skin, I don't know if this is a scarecrow, anyway, put this thing next to the yamen public court, used to warn the successor officials.

Although the sentence was heavy, the effect was not good, and corrupt officials were still rampant in the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang now looks at the dusty Pichang Temple, only feeling that his heart is sinking, after hundreds of years of being a bystander in the sky, he has learned a new word from later generations, called "high salary and honesty". Although this policy cannot completely eliminate corrupt officials and corrupt officials, it has to be said that it is better than "peeling the skin and stuffing the grass"! Blind violence cannot solve the problem, and the strictness of the system must also take into account the capacity of the human heart.

At this time, the steward of Qi had already informed the messenger in front of the yamen of his intentions, and the two messengers led everyone to the inside of the yamen.

I saw a mirror hanging high in the lobby, a forty-year-old official sitting behind the desk, his name is Chen Guanyu, he is the county lord of Baishui County, with a national character face, three long beards, full of righteousness, and under the hall is kneeling a man dressed as a farmer, who is being pressed to the ground by two officials, and compares his buttocks with a big wooden plank, and will not be beaten, the situation is very ridiculous.

What does this mean when this act is called "sitting in the hall and comparing food"? That is to say, the county magistrate sits in the hall and tortures the "Diao people" who do not pay taxes, forcing the "Diao people" to pay taxes, which is a traditional program that will appear every year in the spring and autumn seasons, and there will always be some "Diao people" who can't pay the taxes, and the county magistrate will arrest them, beat them up, and the beating is over...... You still have to pay the tax, and if you don't pay it, you will be arrested and beaten again every two days until you pay it. So every year in spring and autumn, there are always people in the county yamen who are eating boards.

Steward Qi greeted the person behind him, and as soon as his knees weakened, he knelt down in the hall. Zhu Yuanzhang knelt down silently, only listening to the Qi steward whispering: "Lord County, do you remember the villain?" The villain is the manager of the Baishui Ma family, and this time he brought three villagers to change his household registration, and they have already sold themselves into our Ma family......"

"Oh?" As soon as Chen Xianling heard this, he immediately knew in his heart, and changed his household registration after "tricking", which is also a traditional program, every year in spring and autumn, there are people who can't pay taxes, and "trick" to the Ma family, the Zhang family, the Li family, or some other gentry family. For this kind of thing, Chen County's order is probably a blind eye, because various gentry families often give him filial piety silver, and the relationship is good, of course, he will not prevent others from getting rich, anyway, the loss of "trickery" is the tax of the imperial court, not the tax of his county order.

This time, though, things have changed a bit. A few days ago, his colleague, Zhang Douyao, the county magistrate of Chengcheng County in the west, sent a letter over, saying that Baishui Ma had swept his face and wanted to clean up the Ma family, hoping that he could help.

In this officialdom, we should pay attention to helping each other, or protecting each other, if you have something today, I will help you, and tomorrow if I have something, you will help me. Of course, Chen Xianling wanted to help Zhang Xianling, but he didn't find a reason to deal with the Ma family for a while. was on the cusp of this storm, and suddenly the Ma family sent the opportunity to the door by themselves.

Chen Xianling coughed lightly, sat up straight behind the desk, and snorted coldly: "The surname is Qi, you said that these three people joined the Ma family?" ”

Steward Qi said in a low voice: "Yes!" ”

"You're going to help them change their household registration?" Chen Xianling began to sneer.

Steward Qi didn't know what was wrong, but still said respectfully: "Yes!" ”

"Bold!" Chen Xian Ling slapped the startling wood in his hand on the table, and there was a loud "pop", it was really shocking, such a loud sound, and the whole body trembled with fright.

"At this time, it is the spring season, you bring three people to change the household registration, hum! In this way, it is clear that he wants to 'send'. Chen Xianling said loudly: "You are simply ignoring the law of the country, how can you be justified!" ”

"Huh?" Chen County's words shook his whole body, and his face was full of disbelief, this Chen County's order did not receive less filial piety silver from the Ma family, how could such a trivial matter of "trickery" be taken into account?

Although Steward Liu was shouting at the long-term and short-term workers at home, with a great look, facing a seven-rank official of the imperial court, his whole body trembled like chaff, and he said in a trembling voice: "Lord County...... This is the ...... We ...... last year, the year before that. Isn't it all done well? How did you ...... this year?"

"Humph!" Chen Xianling snorted coldly and said: "This year, a colleague gave me a book, the name of the book is "Xing Ge Regulations and Workers' Family", which records the instructions of Lord Hai Rui: This county sends female households and other items, and it is forbidden to be exempted. ”

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard the words "there is a colleague", his heart lit up like lightning, and he was secretly funny in his heart: Qi Guan, you are going to be bad now, if I am not bad as expected, it must be Zhang Douyao, the county commander of Chengcheng County, who made a move. Who told you not to use your brains to fight, and even the face of the magistrate of the neighboring county dared to sweep it, now it depends on how you end up. If you're smart enough, don't say anything now, quickly accuse the Shin people, and retreat with the three villagers. If you're stupid enough, go for it again!

Steward Qi chuckled in his heart, secretly screaming strange, but unfortunately, with his IQ, he really couldn't figure out which play Lord Xianzun was singing. If you are a person with great wisdom and can't figure out what you can't figure out, you can't do it in a hurry, you should go home and think it out quickly. But the cleverness of Steward Qi is just a little clever, and he actually belongs to the category of stupid enough, so he decided to fight again: "Lord County Commander, isn't your friendship with the eldest young master of our family very good?" Why bother our Ma family in this matter? ”

Chen Xianling sneered in his heart: No matter how good your young master is with me, he is just an ordinary gentry, Zhang Xianling and I, that are officials in the same dynasty, if I don't help him, will I help you? Thinking about it further, the matter of offending the Zhang county order will not be instigated by the Ma family, because Ma Dashao is a calm and spicy person, how can he offend the county order of the neighboring county, it must be Ma Ershao who is messing around, how can I sell the Ma family's second young man that waste face.

He slapped the shocked wood again and shouted: "Come on, drag out the three Diao people surnamed Qi, they are trying to escape the tax with 'weird' and give me a heavy beating of thirty boards." ”

"Yes!" Several wolf-like servants jumped out and pushed the three honest villagers to the ground, and the wooden planks fell and crackled their buttocks.

Steward Qi's head was blocked, and before he understood what was happening, Chen Xianling's hand waved again, and ordered: "This surnamed Qi clearly said that he wanted to send it, but he couldn't hide it, give me ten slaps in the mouth, and fork it out!" ”

The two officials rushed up, lifted the Qi steward, opened the bow left and right, and crackled and crackled ten big mouths, which made the Qi steward dizzy, and he couldn't figure out the south, south, south, and north, until he was forked out of the hall with a stick, and he was still at a loss to figure out what was going on.

Zhu Yuanzhang and Yang Chao knelt beside them, but they were not dealt with, because this matter was not directly related to the two of them, so no one paid attention to them. Yang Chao was so frightened that his urine almost flowed out, he rolled a few times, and was about to retreat with the help of Qi Guanshi.

Zhu Yuanzhang quietly moved to the door of the lobby, looked at Steward Qi's blank face, and decided to wake up this idiot, so as not to bring himself to be humiliated again. He suddenly raised his voice to Chen County Ling and asked: "Lord County, the villain wants to ask you about something, who is the colleague who gave you the book "Xing Ge Regulations and Workers' Family"?" ”

Chen Xianling's square face suddenly turned full, and a pair of eyes stared at Zhu Yuanzhang's body.

Hey? The surname Qi is not very smart, but he brought this guy to have a level! Chen Xianling's spirit was lifted, since the other party has someone who understands, then make it clear, I just want to help the Chengcheng Zhang family rectify you, if you have the ability, hurry up and move the rescuers. Chen County Ling turned his head to stare at Qi Guan Shi, and said with a smile: "The colleague who sent me the "Xing Ge Regulations Workers" is Zhang Douyao, the commander of Chengcheng County, surnamed Qi, do you understand?" ”

Steward Qi suddenly realized, and then he understood why he was being hit by ten big mouths today, he glanced at Zhu Yuanzhang gratefully, and then turned to Chen Xianling and knelt to the ground: "Lord Xie Xianzun mentions." ”