Early the next morning, outside the yamen of the governor of Shanxi, a group of officials of all sizes and counties gathered in Taiyuan City and the surrounding prefectures and counties, and the officials of the surrounding prefectures and counties who hurried to the city were full of excitement and expectation.

But the officials in Taiyuan City were not happy, all of them had solemn faces, and they were in a worried mood, Zhenwu patrolled Taiyuan for four days, and paid private visits every day, God knows if there is any handle caught by him? Today's face is not a festive thing.

At about four o'clock, a slip and three small sedan chairs came quickly, Xu, Su Keji, Su Zhan saw a few people, and hurriedly greeted them, and a group of officials guessed the identity of the person, and greeted them one after another, the sedan chair landed, Ma Qi, Wang Luo, and Fang Bao walked out in turn, and a group of officials stepped forward to give Ma Qi and Wang Zhan two people a salute, but Fang Bao, who was wearing a six-grade official robe, no one paid attention.

But he knows Fang Bao's identity, although he is only acting as the prefect of Taiyuan, but he is from the fourth grade, but he is the old man of the Wangfu, the holy family is deep, and it can also be seen from the tone of Zhenwu's conversation with him yesterday, and he will have to borrow this new prefect of Taiyuan to try out the new policy everywhere in the future, after meeting with Ma Qi and Wang Luo, he stepped forward to greet Fang Bao very cordially.

Fang Bao didn't dare to be rude, he was busy respectfully saluting him, the identity of the Xu Xu was extremely precious, such a move naturally attracted the attention of everyone, and they inquired about Fang Bao's identity, and when they heard it clearly, they came forward to greet him, they may not know the relationship between Fang Bao and Zhenwu, but the name of Fang Bao is like thunder.

Fang Bao didn't dare to slack off, and returned the salute one by one, these officials are now his superiors and subordinates or colleagues, and they will have to deal with each other often in the future, so naturally they should not be lazy.

At the beginning of the morning, the gate of the governor's yamen was opened. One of the guards walked out. shouted loudly: "The emperor has a decree to announce that all the adults will come to see you." ”

Only then did a group of officials know that Zhenwu had moved to the governor's yamen last night, and they were busy lining up into two teams according to their rank, and some officials did not forget to check their robes and crowns, for fear of losing their dignity in front of Zhenwu, and then entered the gate under the leadership of the guards. All the way through the second gate, the lobby to the second hall outside the door under the steps quietly waiting.

Hearing that the officials were already waiting outside the second hall, Zhenwu was dressed in a dragon robe, and the robe was neatly walked out, and as soon as the officials sat down, they knelt three times and knocked six times under the leadership of Ma Qi and Wang Liang. Shout hooray.

"Ministers, all of you." Zhenwu said lightly, and when everyone got up, he smiled and said: "It's not easy for you to see me once, and it's not easy for me to see you, so let's do it, the state and county officials come up in turn to report their positions and names, so that I can have an impression of you." ”

The officials were stunned when they heard this, but they didn't expect Zhenwu to be so easy-going. Several state and county officials were overjoyed. Taiyuan County ordered Wang Degui to take the lead in the ranks, stepped forward and kowtowed: "Wang Degui, the magistrate of Taiyuan County, Weichen, knocked to see the emperor." ”

Zhenwu looked him up and down. Cai said: "No courtesy, flat body." ”

"Thank you for your grace." After Wang Degui thanked him, he stood up, although it was just a very simple conversation, he was also very nervous in his heart, and his palms were sweaty.

Immediately afterwards, Yangqu, Yuci, Taigu, Qixian, Xugou, Qingyuan, Jiaocheng, Wenshui, Lanxian, Xingxian and the counties adjacent to Pingding, Liaozhou, and Fenzhou came forward to meet one by one.

After all the county officials were knocked one by one, Zhen Wu said slowly: "The state and county officials are close to the people, the parents of the people, and they are also the cornerstone of the rule of the court officials, whether the court can be stable for a long time, the key lies in the state and county officials, the court will gradually increase the importance of the state and county officials in the future, I have been pondering the reform of the government officials, in the future, the court members, must have the experience of serving as a state and county officials, I don't know the people's suffering, how to be called the pillars of the court?" ”

This is good news, a number of state and county officials can't help but be very excited, if this is the case, the state and county officials will become fragrant and sweet, but Ma Qi and Wang Luo frowned when they heard it, and the government was innovative? This master is really endlessly innovating, when will this innovation be the end?

After a slight pause, Zhenwu continued: "In the next few years, the imperial court will have a series of innovative measures introduced, as a state and county official, you must patiently and meticulously publicize the imperial court's innovative measures, and actively cooperate with the imperial court to implement innovations." I often say that everything that is good must have disadvantages, and if there are disadvantages, there must be advantages, and so is innovation.

As a state and county official, you must weigh the pros and cons of various innovations, as the so-called water can carry a boat and can also overturn a boat, what is this water? It's the people, what about the boats? Not only the imperial court, but also the gentry, the Qing Dynasty actually ruled the world with the squire, and the truth that there were no eggs under the nest should be explained clearly to the squire.

In order to solve the livelihood of the people in recent years, the imperial court has invested a huge amount of money, immigrating to Australia, disaster relief, interest-free lending, low-interest lending, promoting high-yield drought-resistant crops, etc., a total of hundreds of millions of taels of silver, what is the picture? It is to alleviate contradictions and stabilize the people's hearts, if the Qing Dynasty wants to prosper, it must be the court and the gentry who are united in one heart, one heart and one mind, so that the people can have enough food and clothing, not only see the immediate interests, but also look at the long-term and consider more for future generations. ”

Although Zhenwu did not say anything, everyone knew that it must be an innovation that harms the interests of the gentry such as spreading the money into the mu, which is the most headache for them, and the state and county officials did not dare to think about it, and hurriedly said in unison: "The emperor's teachings, the ministers and others must be kept in mind, and they will be diligent and prudent." ”

Zhenwu glanced at everyone, changed his tone, and said in a deep voice: "Shanxi is barren and densely populated, and there is a spring drought, I have issued an order to exempt taxes for one year. ”

As he spoke, he stared at Su Keji, the governor of Shanxi, and said: "Su Keji embezzled disaster relief money and grain, and privately levied labor. ”

No one expected that Zhenwu, who was still gentle and kind, would attack Shanxi Governor Su Keji in a blink of an eye, everyone was stunned, and he didn't come back to his senses for a while, Su Keji was like ashes, but Su Zhan's heart sank, Su Keji's resignation was waiting to be investigated, and for Shanxi officials, I am afraid that it will be a big disaster.

Zhao Fengzhao, the prefect of Taiyuan, was smart, and when he saw this situation, he immediately realized that this was a wonderful opportunity, and when he came out, he bowed down and said: "Your Majesty, Su Keji has repeatedly extorted money and grain from the prefecture and county since he took office, and the Taiyuan Mansion alone has accumulated as much as 400,000 taels over the years. ”

The grievances between Su Keji and Zhao Fengzhao, few Shanxi officials do not know, Zhao Fengzhao fell into the ground, and everyone was not surprised, beating the water dog, it has always been a habitual method in the officialdom to deal with the enemy, nothing unusual.

Ma Changcai, the governor of Fenzhou Prefecture, was also extremely smart, and he immediately realized that Ma Qi and Wang Luo's review of Su Keji's case would definitely involve Shanxi's deficit case, which was an excellent opportunity to blame, besides, Su Keji has collected money a little more ruthlessly over the years, which is a case handpicked by Zhenwu, and Su Keji is not only short but also indeed corrupt, it can be said that there is no chance of recovery, just take this opportunity to transfer the deficit in office to Su Keji's head.

He immediately bowed down and said: "Su Keji is arrogant, and he strictly ordered the servants and others not to levy more, but on the other hand, he was greedy and excessive, and he cleverly set up a name to blackmail the officials of the prefecture and county, and the accumulation of Fenzhou Mansion was as high as 200,000 taels year after year. ”

Ma Changcai's cannon reminded a group of state and county officials, who has no deficit in their hands? And over the years, Su Keji has indeed been insatiable and excessive, and all the officials have given him a lot of silver, and at the moment, some officials have come out one after another to testify, listing how much silver has been extorted in various states and counties.

Ma Qi and Wang Luo didn't expect this kind of situation, and couldn't help frowning secretly, it seems that Su Keji is very unpopular on weekdays, and his hand is too long, which will cause public indignation. Zhao Fengzhao was secretly happy, this time, Su Keji would never have a chance to turn over, and if it was not good, it would be the end of exile.

Seeing everyone coming forward to expose and accuse him of bribery, Su Keji couldn't help but be discouraged, and he didn't even have the mind to defend himself, how could he defend in the face of this group of passionate people? Having no excuse! There must be bribery, and which governor of any province does not have bribery today? He really didn't expect these officials to be so shameless, celebrating the New Year's holidays on weekdays, celebrating birthdays when they are sick, and having their wives and concubines.

Zhenwu also never expected this kind of situation, he immediately felt that there was something greasy in this, just the number reported by these officials was as high as two million taels, there must be moisture in it, why did these officials push the wall down? Aren't you worried about the resurgence of Sukeji?

It seems that this Su Keji's bribery is indispensable, but the size of the amount, the reason why these state and county officials make false reports, it is very likely that it is because of the deficit, if this is the case, Shanxi's deficit situation is quite scary, thinking of this, his face is a little difficult to look at, at present, Jiangnan is implementing the apportionment into the mu, Taiyuan will also try to implement the new policy of apportioning the mu into the mu and the official gentry as an errand to pay grain, if Shanxi's deficit is quite serious, it is not suitable to strictly investigate at this time, I can't say, I can only let Su Keji carry it all up, in order to stabilize people's hearts.

With a slight groan, Zhen Wucai laughed and said: "Shanxi is really a good place, after a Kali, there is a Sukeji." As he spoke, he coldly glanced at Su Keji, who had a blank look in his eyes, and said, "Su Keji, are you guilty?" ”

Su Keji was a spirit, knowing that now was not the time to justify, and he couldn't argue clearly, so he hurriedly stepped forward and knelt down and said: "Your Majesty, the slave deserves to die for his crimes, and he has to bear the emperor's grace, so I pray that the emperor will issue a decree to punish him severely, and I implore the emperor to confiscate the slave's property to correct the court discipline." (To be continued.) )