When Su Hao returned to the Yamen, Xu Guangzu had already woken up from a hangover and was sitting on a stone bench in the courtyard of the Yamen to brag to several soldiers of the Kanyu Battalion who were in charge of guards. Seeing this scene, Su Hao stepped forward with a smile and asked, "Uncle Xu, how is it, have you rested?" ”

"Did you take a break? I'm not drunk at all! Xu Guangzu's eyes widened, and he reprimanded inwardly.

Su Hao is also a person who knows Xu Guangzu's temper, he smiled and said, "That's good, since Uncle Xu didn't get drunk last night and wasn't happy, why don't I invite a few people to come tonight, let's have a good time?" ”

"With a yellow-mouthed kid like you, what is there to drink." Xu Guangzu said that he was also an older person, and he drank hard the first night, and he couldn't slow down for a day or two. At this time, Su Hao said that when he drank alcohol, Xu Guangzu could only refuse.

Everyone laughed, several soldiers dispersed, Su Hao asked someone to bring tea, and sat on the stone bench with Xu Guangzu and chatted.

"Li Shida's life is not easy." Xu Guangzu put away his laughing expression and said softly to Su Hao.

The Li Shida he said was Huai'anwei's guard commander, and Su Hao's survey battalion was nominally subordinate to Huai'anwei, and Li Shida was his top boss in the military. Xu Guangzu has some friendship with Li Shida's father, and he is also an elder in front of Li Shida, he drank with Li Shida and others last night, and he also heard some news.

Su Hao nodded and said, "In Huai'an, there are too many yamen. On the river side, there is the River General Military Office, and in the trough transportation side, there is the Trough Transportation General Military Office, both of which are military institutions, but their forces are greater than Huai'anwei, and it is normal for Li Shida to have a hard time. ”

Xu Guangzu said: "I heard Li Shida say that the soldiers on both sides of the river and the trough are supported by the salary and silver directly allocated by the imperial court. Huai Anwei's food and salary are earned by farming his own fields. In the past two years, there has been a famine in Huai'an, and Juntun has also been washed away by the water in several places. Huai'anwei is a David, and there are not only soldiers and horses of this guard below, but also Yancheng, Donghai, and Haizhou, which are three guards of thousands of households, adding up to seven or eight thousand soldiers. In this famine, seven or eight thousand soldiers, as well as their families and so on, there were more than 30,000 people, all of whom were given rations by Li Shida, and Li Shida's hair turned gray with worry. ”

"It's not surprising, under the nest, there are eggs." Su Hao was not surprised, he now knew something about the affairs of the Ming military, and knew that the lives of the officers and soldiers of some guards below were very poor, and the continuous decline of the combat effectiveness of the Ming army was also related to this. Looking at the hardships of the people of Huai'an, the life of the guards must not be much better.

Xu Guangzu said: "Li Shida has no choice, now he has to organize the guards to work as river workers to earn some food and money to support his family." I went to see him last night, guess what......"

"I can't guess." Su Hao shook his head and said, Xu Guangzu's words were clueless, let Su Hao guess where to start.

Xu Guangzu said: "Li Shida heard that I came with the head of the Ministry of Works, so he called me a few times Uncle Xu and asked me to come back and plead with you, and take care of Huai Anwei in terms of river engineering." ”

"He's the one who asked me to hire more Huai'anwei?" Su Hao asked.

Xu Guangzu shook his head and said, "No, he is the central government to intercede, and he will deduct a little less fire consumption for the work and food of the guards." ”

"Fire consumption?" Su Hao's eyes widened, how could it still come out of the food and silver?

During the Ming Dynasty, the local government levied taxes on the people, and what they collected was some scattered silver taels. These silver taels had to be escorted to the capital for storage, and they had to be smelted locally into silver ingots of the prescribed standard. When the metal is smelted and processed, there is often some loss, and one or two broken silver is melted into a silver ingot, and a few points may be lost, which is an objective phenomenon. Of course, these losses cannot be borne by the magistrates, so the central government stipulates that when the local government collects tax silver, it can withdraw a certain percentage as compensation for the losses, and these compensation are called fire consumption.

The official fire consumption of the Ming Dynasty is generally 3, and the actual loss of the local government when smelting silver ingots may be less than 3, and the difference between this can become the additional income of the local government. After a long time, all departments have learned this method, and when doing things, they will set up a name to ask for a little discount, which is also named in the name of fire consumption, in the words of later generations, it is the so-called cost and handling fee.

Su Hao had heard of the rules in this regard, but when it came to the fact that the river workers had to extract fire consumption from their food and silver, he had never heard of it before. Thinking of Zhang Xiang, Li Shibai and others, Su Hao had some eyebrows in his heart.

Xu Guangzu said: "Li Shida told me that the hired servants on the river are given 4 cents of silver a day, and the warden of the Ministry of Industry will collect 10% of the fire consumption. Huai'anwei sent 1,000 soldiers to work as river workers, and he had to hand over 4 taels of silver to the warden as a fire consumption in a day, which was more than 100 taels in a month. ”

"There are more than 10,000 river workers on the river, if they are all calculated according to this standard, the handler will earn thousands of taels a month just by collecting the silver consumed by the fire. Uncle Xu, I came here to be the head of the Ministry of Works, but I am afraid that I will move the meat in some people's bowls. Su Hao sneered.

Xu Guangzu said: "At that time, after Li Shida finished saying this, there were still a few thousands of households below, and some were added. I heard them say that this fire consumption is collected by the warden, and those soap subordinates under the warden must also receive filial piety and respect silver according to the rules, this two taels, that eight dollars, everyone has a share. Huai'anwei, an ordinary hundred households, nods when they see the soap on the river, and they have to set up a banquet every three or five days. If you don't wait well, people find a reason to quit you, a soldier in a hundred households, and hundreds of people can only go to drink the wind. ”

"Is there a royal law here!" Su Hao was really angry. Such a scene came to his mind: a second-rate soap li, sitting on the Taishi chair with Erlang's legs crossed, and below him was a hundred households of the Ming army with armor in his hands, holding silver in both hands, and smiling with a flattering face. What hope can a country have if it destroys the Great Wall to this point?

"In this case, Li Shida has not reported it to Governor Pan?" Su Hao asked. Commander Wei is a third-grade military attaché, and he should be able to speak in front of Pan Jitao, his subordinates are so humiliated by a few evil officials, he can actually swallow this breath?

Xu Guangzu said: "Governor Pan knows about this fire consumption. The river works are huge, and they need to be looked after everywhere, and the money for their work and food has to be paid out of this fire. Governor Pan wanted to complete the river work, and some people below were up and down, as long as it was not particularly serious, Governor Pan would turn a blind eye.

Besides, the guards went to work as river workers to make money, which was not in accordance with the rules, if it was more serious, the Ministry of Industry could resign all the guards and use the people recruited from various prefectures and counties instead, wouldn't Li Shida be even more blind? Li Shida is a rat bogeyman in this matter. ”

"So he thought about letting me take care of them through your connections?" Su Hao asked.

Xu Guangzu said: "That's right. His requirements were not high, and he was content if he could reduce the fire consumption by half. In addition, it is best to say hello to the soap li, so that they don't embarrass the officers and soldiers below and charge less regular money. ”

Su Hao suddenly laughed, and he asked, "Uncle Xu, Li Shida begged me to do something, but I can't just say a word and finish it, right?" I have done something for him, what good can he give me? ”

Xu Guangzu knew that Su Hao was not the kind of person who would trade principles, and Su Hao asked just to probe Li Shida's bottom and see what weight he could use for trading. These weights may be useful in the future.

Regarding this, he also said that he had some connections in the military department, and he also had a few years in the official department. He said that as long as you do something for him, he can say a few kind words for you in the military department and the official department, which will be extremely useful for your future career development. Xu Guangzu said.

"I see." Su Hao understood.

What Li Shida used to trade with Su Hao was his connections, which were very useful for low-level young officials like Su Hao, and it could help these officials move forward smoothly in their careers, so it was generally difficult for officials to refuse such transactions. But Li Shida's relationships cannot be used to trade with Zhang Xiang and others, because Zhang Xiang and others are officials, and no matter how good their reputation is, they cannot be officials, and this kind of commitment is not attractive to them.

The segregation system of officials in the Ming Dynasty was an important source of officials. Although there is no shortage of ** people in officials, they tend to be more hidden, and even temporarily give up ** in order to be promoted. But the officials are different, they have no possibility of promotion, so their minds are all focused on making money, which makes the officials more unscrupulous than the officials. Due to the small number of officials and many officials, the officials undertook most of the administrative affairs, which made the politics of the Ming Dynasty more and more dark.

"Okay, if Li Shida asked me to tell me, I brought it all. You kid dragged me to Huai'an, the purpose is to let me have a good relationship with Huai'anwei for you, right? Now that people have drawn the line, you can do things well, and Li Shida will treat you as his own. If you can't do it well, Lao Er, I will break the sky, and Li Shida will not give you a good face, so you can watch it. Xu Guangzu said.

Su Hao said: "Thank you Uncle Xu for your words." Li Shida's matter, I will definitely do it for him, but not now. Zhang Xiang and these people, who have been operating in Huai'an for many years, can be regarded as a local snake, I get off Yin Shi, if I fall out with them, it will cause trouble or a trivial matter, and it will affect the river workers, but I am afraid that Governor Pan will not be able to spare me. Uncle Xu also brought a message to Li Shida for me, and I will definitely help him solve the livelihood problem of the guards, but let him wait patiently for me for a few months. In addition, if there are some things that require his cooperation, please do not refuse. ”

Xu Guangzu yawned and said, "Alas, let me, a veteran, talk back and forth to you, what is the matter?" There is nothing delicious and fun in this Huai'an city, but it suffocates me. ”

"Uncle Xu, don't be impatient, wait for Hao to straighten things out, and take you to Hongze Lake to eat fresh fish." Su Hao smiled and made a promise.