In the imperial garden, pavilions, curved ponds, and green bamboos are surrounded by greenery.

Zhu Youzhen sat on top of the gazebo, watching his white seeds being eaten by Shi Kefa one by one, and couldn't help but shake his head: "You won't let me either!" ”

"Your Majesty, what you said yourself can't let you, Weichen is just obeying the order", Shi Kefa said with a smile, while Zhu Youzhen stood up boredly: "Shi Kefa, do you think I can succeed in this tax collection?" ”

"Your Majesty, you now have the Guards, Dongchang, and the entire Jiangnan is under your control, how can you not succeed", Shi Kefa smiled.

"You used to be a civil official of the foreign dynasty, or an official to the Nanjing Military Department, you should know better than me about the rule of the Ming Dynasty, and know the essence of these officials and gentry, although I have a good hand, but who can be sure that they will not take advantage of the loophole."

Zhu Youzhen said and asked Shi Kefa again: "Shi Aiqing, do you hate me, hate me for making you an internal servant in the first place?" Answer truthfully, I forgive you for your innocence! ”

"Back to Your Majesty, the king wants the minister to die, the minister has to die, Weichen did have hatred for His Majesty at the beginning, thinking that His Majesty is so tyrannical, sooner or later the half of the Jiangnan will also be cut off, but Weichen later gradually understood that His Majesty actually wanted to kill Weichen, but he was reluctant to kill Weichen, so he had to make this move, when Taishi Gong was willing to be punished by the palace for the "Historical Records", today His Majesty cherishes the life of Weichen and punishes Weichen's palace, Weichen is willing to use this body for His Majesty to drive, and do his best for the Ming Dynasty. Fortunately, Weichen is no longer confused, he has long had no thoughts about men and women, and his wife died early, he has never taken a concubine, and he has no heirs, so he has no regrets. “

Shi Kefa replied truthfully.

"You dare to tell the truth, and you still dare not let me, but because of this, you have ended up at this end, when I first arrived in Jiangnan, I was thinking about finding someone to stand up, but you, the secretary of the Nanjing Military Department, bumped into it, if it was someone else, I would even delay him!"

Zhu Youzhen grinned after speaking, and he didn't know why, he was more ruthless than before.

……

The first day of taxation is over.

It seems that the whole city of Nanjing is still very calm, and there is not much color because of the tax, and Zhu Youzhen did not wait for the news of Fan Jingwen's entry into the palace, so he had to sleep with the beauty in his arms early.

And Fan Jingwen seems to be still very calm, and has been drinking tea and chatting with the people below in the household office.

"Hongwu Gate is also about to close, today's tax collection work is coming to an end, Ge Lao, you are old, just go back to the house and rest early, there are officials here to guard", Dang Chongya, the left attendant of the household department, said with a smile.

"It's okay, fortunately, today's things are going well, there is no chaos, you just stay here first, and wait tomorrow to give the results of today's tax collection to the official, and the official will present it to His Majesty", Fan Jingwen was helped out of the household department by Dang Chongya with a good debt.

As soon as Dang Chongya sent Fan Jingwen away, he couldn't help but scold: "Old thing! ”

Then, Dang Chongya sat in the position where Fan Jingwen was sitting just now: "Remember, when the Governor of Heaven comes to pay the tax and silver, let him come directly to see the official, understand?" ”

"Understood!"

The two people at the bottom replied.

……

Here, Ying Tian's governor Qu Shiyun has gone to Ying Tianfu, and Ying Tianfu Yin Chengde found Ying Tianfu's fellow governor Chen Yi: "There are many merchants who come to the government to pay taxes today, but are there any mistakes, but are there any troubles?" ”

"No, there is no mistake", Ying Tianfu stammered back with Chen Yi.

"What's wrong with you?" Ying Tianfu Yin Chengde saw Chen Yi's forehead sweating, so he asked.

"It's nothing, it's hot", Chen Yi didn't dare to tell Chengde what he knew, after all, Chengde was a close confidant of His Majesty, and he was an official who could directly communicate with His Majesty, he was afraid that if he told Chengde, he would mess up the plan above, because he didn't know how many officials were involved in this matter.

Cheng De didn't say anything when he saw this, so he just waited for Wu Jiayin, a member of the household department, and Huang Jiayin, the imperial history of the city patrol, to hand over to him the tax silver and tax stamps collected today.

The first to come was Huang Jiamo, the imperial history of the city patrol, Huang Jiamo first handed over the tax silver and tax stamps to Chengde: "Chengfu Yin, these are the taxes collected by the lower officials today, you can see, if the tax stamps and tax silver are fine, the lower officials will go back and tell Futai." ”

Cheng De checked it, and quickly asked: "Xicheng only has 100,000 silver dollars today?" ”

"Whether this 100,000 silver dollars is more or less, the lower officials are not clear, the original tax stamps were set by the Fu Yin and Futai, and the lower officials are from the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and today they are just collected on behalf of the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Cabinet."

As soon as Huang Jiamo said this, Yin Chengde of Ying Tianfu couldn't say anything, and he really didn't want to question Yushi, so he nodded.

Huang Jiamo knew that Chengde was an official appointed by His Majesty the Emperor, and he was His Majesty's absolute confidant, and he couldn't reveal anything to him, and the matter of the tax stamps was indeed not related to him, so naturally he couldn't find out if he was cheating.

Wu Jiayin, a member of the household department, also came to Ying Tianfu half an hour after Huang Jiamo's death: "A total of 503,200 silver dollars, the elder of the pavilion will check it, and less than half of Dongcheng has been collected today, and there should be more tax silver behind." ”

Ying Tianfu Yin glanced at Wu Jiayin and saw that there were purple marks on his eyes, so he asked, "Who was this beaten?" ”

"Anyuan Marquis Liu Shaozong", Wu Jiayin replied with a smile, Cheng De only patted him on the shoulder, then asked him to retreat, and then glanced at Ying Tianfu Tongzhi Chen Yi.

Coincidentally, at this time, Ying Tian Governor Qu Shiyun walked in: "Chengfu Yin, how is today's tax, how much tax is collected?" ”

"Qu Futai, please borrow a step to speak", Cheng De said and introduced Qu Shiyun into an inner hall, and retreated: "Qu Futai, the lower officials know that you have just been appointed as the governor of Yingtian for less than three months, and you should not be blamed for this matter, but today's tax patrol is your person, the tax silver in Xicheng District is only 100,000 silver dollars, and the tax silver in Dongcheng District is 500,000 silver dollars, but the lower officials were responsible for Xicheng District when they set tax bills in the past, according to my budget, Xicheng should be higher than Dongcheng District, and Xicheng has Qinhuai River and other places, How could it be that only 100,000 silver dollars were collected! ”

Qu Shiyun was a little blindsided, he took the tax stamp from Chengde's hand, and after a while, he finally understood, and slapped the table angrily: "Huang Jiamo is so bold!" ”

"Now is not the time to blame him, now we have to let Your Majesty know about this immediately, and we have to inform Your Majesty before the people from Dongchang tell Your Majesty, otherwise you and I will die," Chengde said.

"No, Huang Jiamo alone will not have such courage, how much is the tax and silver that you should pay on the initiative of Tianfu today?" Qu Shiyun asked.

"This is the responsibility of Chen Yi, the same acquaintance of Tianfu, but the lower officials have already seen it, a total of 350,000 silver dollars, of which the Yang family alone occupies 200,000 silver dollars", Cheng De replied.

"I don't see any clues, Chengfu Yin, if it's just Huang Yushi who is greedy for ink and conceals taxes and silver, there is no need to rush to report this matter, but since this happened today, this official is thinking about this matter, I am afraid that it is not so simple."

As Qu Shiyun was talking, Chengde's confidant official came to the door, and Chengde beckoned to him: "Come in." ”

"Master, I have something to tell you, today I know that he went to the Yamen of the Ministry of Households, and took the housekeeper of Zhang Zuochen's mansion, the secretary of the Nanjing Ministry of Rites, and finally let him go", this person returned, and before Chengde could react, Qu Shiyun immediately shouted: "Call Chen Yi, the same knowledge of Yingtianfu, to this official!" ”

(End of chapter)