Paid Chapter (12 points)

Sun Yuan got up and went to the governor's mansion, and before he handed over the door bag, the porter greeted him: "Lord Sun, please ask my master to give instructions inside, as long as you come, please meet you in the main hall."

Sun Yuanqi, the head of the Governor's Mansion, didn't know how many times he had come, and he came to the main hall with a familiar car, only to see Chen Kuilong sitting inside frowning and looking at a stack of official documents, when he heard footsteps and looked up, he happened to be facing Sun Yuanqi's eyes.

Following the rules, Sun Yuanqi walked a few steps briskly, and was about to pay a big salute, but he was already supported by Chen Kuilong: "Hehe, Baixi doesn't need to be polite"

At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the governor's authority declined somewhat. Originally, it could govern two or three provinces, but now it can only govern the status of the governor's office. The governor of Huguang is no exception, especially like Chen Kuilong, who has just arrived, nominally "the governor of Hunan, Hubei and other places, the commander of military affairs and the governor", but in fact, his identity is more similar to that of the governor of Hubei. The governor of Hunan ignored him, and he didn't take anyone else.

Of course, even as the governor of Hubei, Chen Kuilong can afford Sun Yuanqi's great gift, after all, the imperial court stipulates that the governor should be in moderation. However, Chen Kuilong has his own considerations: whether there are people in the court who are good officials, or there are specific circumstances, people who are thirty-three years old can become officials from the second grade, who knows how far they will fly in the future A few months ago, he was only the governor of Jiangsu from the second grade. As the saying goes: "It is better to bully a pulsatilla than to bully a young man who is poor." What's more, Sun Yuanqi is not a poor boy, but a rising political star?

After serving as the governor of Huguang, Chen Kuilong has roughly figured out the depth of Hubei officialdom, and knows that Sun Yuanqi not only has the strong support of the scholar Sun Jianai, but also the holy favor of Lafayette. So he didn't dare to hold it up, and with the intention of making friends, he hurriedly supported Sun Yuanqi. Sun Yuanqi was not hypocritical, so he stood up.

The guests of honor were seated separately, and the servants had already served fragrant tea. took a sip of tea, and before he could speak, Chen Kuilong asked first: "Baixi, how many years have you been in Hubei?" ”

Chen Kuilong naturally knew how long Sun Yuan had been in Hubei, and when he asked at this time, he was just looking for a reason to speak.

Sun Yuanqi replied respectfully: "Lord Hui, Xia Guan arrived in June of the 32nd year of Guangxu (1906), and it will be two years soon."

Chen Kuilong nodded: "Forty years ago, Shouzhou Zhongtang was appointed as a scholar in Hubei Province with the talent of the champion, taking charge of Wenheng and selecting talents. Now Baixi has taken up this position as a grandmaster of Western learning, vigorously promoting education in Hubei Province, and students from all over the world have come to study. The two generations of grandparents and grandchildren have benefited Hubei, it is really a good story of my dynasty It is said that the school envoy is appointed for three years, Baixi has made outstanding achievements, and next year will definitely go to the next level."

"Adults falsely praise Hubei education for today's situation, mainly because of Xiang Shuai. The lower officials are just icing on the cake and doing some decoration work, and they really don't dare to be greedy for their own strength. Sun Yuanqi is not ambiguous about this kind of question.

"Baixi doesn't have to be too humble. I looked at the accounts, and in the 31st year of Guangxu (1905), the education fund of Hubei Province was only 2 million taels, but in just three years, it has grown to 4 million taels today. Especially this year, it suddenly soared by nearly one million taels. Isn't that the icing on the cake? Chen Kuilong looked at Sun Yuanqi with a smile.

Sun Yuanqi suddenly felt in his heart, and hurriedly explained: "Back to my lord, there are two main reasons for the rapid growth of education funds in recent years: first, according to the regulations of the school, primary and secondary schools have been generally set up in the province since the year before, and it costs money to hire teachers, build school buildings, and recruit students; The second is to build several colleges and universities. When the lower officials went to resign from his majesty, the queen mother had an edict, hoping that the lower officials could vigorously promote education in Hubei, educate talents for the country, and build several schools like Jingshi University as soon as possible. Since his appointment, the lower officials have been trembling, lest they live up to the high hopes of the queen mother. After coming to Hubei, I first familiarized myself with the situation, found out the family background of the original school, and then went abroad to investigate the university settings of European and American countries. Entering this year, after discussing with the former Cishan System and the School Department, it was decided to officially start, and now the ground has been started in the area of Guanshan and Luojia Mountain outside the city. Large-scale construction projects have always been the most expensive, so this year's funding has skyrocketed. ”

"Ten years of trees, 100 years of people. How can I not understand this truth? However, when I first arrived in Hubei, the treasury was empty, and there were only 100,000 taels in the accounts. Nowadays, the daily expenses of the yamen and the salaries of officials all need silver, which is really a bit of a scarcity. Chen Kuilong sighed and said, "Of course, we are the herdsmen of the sky, and it is natural to live a harder life." It's just that the current state affairs are urgent, and we will wait for the king's fortune, so we naturally have to share the king's worries......"

As he spoke, Chen Kuilong handed Sun Yuanqi a telegram. When Sun Yuanqi took it, he saw that the telegram was written on the letterhead: "Secret telegram from the Military Aircraft Department, sent to Governor Chen of Huguang", and immediately covered up the telegram and handed it back: "My lord, this is a secret telegram from the Military Aircraft Department"

Chen Kuilong waved his hand: "It's okay, but it's okay for you to see it." ”

Sun Yuanqi then opened the telegram and read it carefully:

"Send Chen Kuilong a telegram to learn: Recently, Yunnan Huangxing, Huang Mingtang, Wang Heshun and other rebels have made trouble, the estuary has fallen, and the place has been eroded. Today, the bandit stocks are on the rise, and the defense camp is losing one after another. After a long drive, how can the Yunnan realm be conceivable? The commanders of Yun, Gui, Sichuan, and Gui have selected the elite and personally commanded them, galloping to the border in the starry night, inspecting the bandits, and attacking with cameras. The use of ordnance and food and wages by the various armies to prevent and suppress them should be advanced by the Huguang Domain, and they must be provided at any time so as not to delay military supplies. ”

The history of middle school is too brief, and Sun Yuanqi did not learn it well, only knowing that the late Qing Dynasty League had caused trouble in Hubei and Guangdong, and as for the border of Yunnan, he had never heard of it at all. However, the telegram had the name of Huang Xing, the "great man of the Republic of China", which was supposed to be a good thing done by the Alliance. There was some hesitation at the moment: "My lord, what is this?" ”

Chen Kuilong sighed again: "When I was in Guizhou at the end of February, I heard that the traitor Huang Xing and others led hundreds of bandits from Vietnam into our Qing Dynasty, calling themselves the 'Southern Army of the Chinese National Army', and wanted to follow the example of the bandits to start an incident in Guangxi, and rampant in the Qinzhou, Lianzhou, and Shangsi areas, and the officers and men were defeated repeatedly. The imperial court mobilized officers and soldiers from Hunan, Guangdong, Yunnan, Guizhou and other places to encircle and suppress, and fought fiercely for more than 40 days.

"I thought that the traitor was scattered after this battle and did not dare to re-enter the country. Who knew that they took advantage of the fact that the Yunnan garrison had not returned from Gui and the soldiers left behind were old and weak, and invaded from the mouth of the Yunnan River in a big way, and within a few days, Mengzi, Wenshan, Kaiyuan, Shiping and other places all fell. The number of rebels was far greater than the rebellion in Guangxi a month ago, and they were menacing, and the whole division went up, claiming the Northern Expedition. Now the whole province of Yunnan is shaking, and if it is not eradicated as soon as possible, it will certainly cause a lot of disaster."

I don't know whether Sun Yat-sen listened to Sun Yuanqi's advice and firmly grasped the construction of the army, or because of the appearance of Sun Yuanqi's butterfly, which led to a change in the situation.

Sun Yuanqi pondered for a moment: "Now that the national crisis is at hand, although we scholars cannot go into battle to kill the enemy, we should also do our best to share the worries of the country." The lower officials are willing to allocate part of the funds from the Yamen of the Ministry of Education to help Yunnan. ”

"Oh, I don't know how much Baixi can repay?" Chen Kuilong's face was full of hope.

Sun Yuanqi gritted his teeth and stretched out five fingers towards Chen Kuilong: "Five thousand taels"

Hearing this, Chen Kuilong almost didn't spurt out a mouthful of blood: "It's only five thousand taels? ”

What do you mean by "only five thousand taels"? I think that at the beginning, in order to transform the Hubei Arts and Crafts School, Lao Tzu pulled down his son and shouted "help" in front of Zhang Zhidong, but he only gave 10,000 taels. Now that you have a mouth, Lao Tzu will fund 5,000 taels of white silver, which is not enough for you to stinky fart?

Sun Yuanqi had a difficult face: "Adults may not know, since the New Year, the funds for running schools in Hubei have all been allocated as planned, plus the purchase of land outside the city and the construction of school buildings, now there are less than 100,000 taels of silver in the account, and the daily expenses of the yamen are still retained, and the lower officials are really powerless."

What's more, in order to prevent Chen Kuilong from pumping water and letting blood, Sun Yuanqi overpaid all the funds of various schools in the first month, and the teachers even had holiday subsidies for the Qixi Festival and the Double Ninth Festival

The flesh on Chen Kuilong's face was twitching: In less than three months, four million taels of silver were spent by you for less than 100,000 taels, do you think you are a good wealth boy? I've seen a loser, but I've never seen a loser like you

After calming down, Chen Kuilong continued to cry poorly: "As soon as the cannon goes off, there are ten thousand taels of gold." Fighting a war has always been the most expensive and the most indispensable for money. Now that the rebels are in turmoil and the war has suddenly arisen, it is natural that our courtiers must be loyal to the country. Since the Military Aircraft Department ordered the Huguang Domain Treasury to advance the payment of food and wages for the prevention and suppression of various armies, Huguang should be blamed for the whole country, regardless of the officials and the people, and should work together to make every effort to report the results, hoping to put an end to this chaos as soon as possible. What is the matter of reading and being taught? It's just loyalty to the king and serving the country, if the country is not a country, what is the use of education? I think Master Sun also understands this truth, and there is no need for Chen to be tongue-in-cheek. ”

Sun Yuan said in his heart: Your bullshit truth, if I understand it, there will be a ghost, but there is a teachable look on his face: "I don't know how much the adults think I should repay for raising the school?" ”

"One hundred thousand taels," Chen Kuilong said confidently.

"One hundred thousand taels?" This time, Sun Yuanqi complained, "My lord, we only have 90,374 taels of silver on the account of the Envoy Division, don't you believe that the lower official will send the account book for you to check later?" The more than 90,000 taels of silver were still saved by hard work to provide for the daily expenses of the yamen. There are 100 people in the yamen, and it costs money to eat, drink, laze and sleep, even if we save a little ourselves, we can usher in the ice and charcoal that will be sent to the adults in Beijing, but they can't lose a single point, so I beg you to raise your noble hand."

Chen Kuilong nodded: "In that case, then 80,000 taels As for your daily expenses, as long as you are flexible, you will never go hungry."

The so-called "be flexible" is actually to use unspoken rules to make some gray income. In the Qing Dynasty, there was a set of unwritten rules for officialdom corruption, commonly known as "bad rules". The bad rules are called different in various fields: in the field of salt affairs, in the field of transportation, in the field of transportation, in the field of tax or customs, in the field of post stations, in the field of education, it is called "shed rules". Why is it called "Shed Rules"?

In the Qing Dynasty, Xuezheng was now called the Scholar Envoy, "in charge of the provincial school, scholarly practice, and literary style of the government", and was responsible for supervising officials in the field of education in various parts of the province. The general term of office of the school administration is three years, and within three years, they must take turns to take the examination in the provinces and prefectures. The inspector examination has to enter the examination shed, and every time he enters the examination booth, he will give a benefit fee of several hundred to thousands of taels of silver, which is called "shed rules" or "shed fees". In Guizhou, it is also called "red case silver", and in Sichuan, it is called "mountain ceremony".

In the late Qing Dynasty, Sichuan Xuezheng went to a prefecture or Zhili Prefecture to get a "mountain gift" of 400-600 taels of silver. Because Xuezheng has to supervise the examination in several prefectures and Zhili prefectures in the province every year, there are more than ten or eight or even more, such as Hubei, where there are ten prefectures, one state and one hall, so that the "shed rules" obtained in a year are several thousand taels of silver.

In addition to the "shed rules", Xuezheng also made a fortune by writing and selling teaching reference books. In the fifty-third year of Kangxi (1714), Li Zhouwang, a scholar in Hubei Province, carved books and sold them to children who had just entered school, and a book was sold for two or three taels of silver, and he earned almost 6,000 taels of silver in a year. Sichuan, Yunnan and other provinces will charge three times as much money as Hubei for selling a book that is about the same, so they will earn more. In addition to compiling and selling teaching reference books, some school officials also engraved their own poems and songs and asked students to buy them, similar to the current education officials who publish books at their own expense, but distribute them to schools and ask students to pay for them.

In the Qing Dynasty, scholars and politicians were appointed by the central government, and those who were generally qualified to be appointed were scholars from the Hanlin Academy and middle-level officials who were born as scholars in the Beijing Yamen. To be appointed as a scholar is to get a "poor student", which is called "Hanlin looking up to the poor...... If you have to learn poorly, those who are thrifty will be inexhaustible for life." Due to the large income of gray, sometimes even the Shangshu and the squire of the six departments are very jealous.

It is a common practice in officialdom for the academic administration to obtain the "shed rules", and the emperor knows that he does not ask for a ban, but only "decrees are clearly announced, and the academic administration and other regulations must not be extorted from the rules". Therefore, it is not illegal to collect "shed rules" and there is no penalty. What should be punished is only the unfair evaluation of academic and political papers, bribery and selling of student quotas, and other behaviors.

Chen Kuilong means that you can make the Yamen take a bigger step and engage in income generation, as long as it is not excessive, I will turn a blind eye.

Before Sun Yuanqi could continue to cry poorly, Chen Kuilong had already raised the tea bowl in his hand, and the guard standing next to him suddenly shouted: "Drink tea"

The etiquette of serving tea to guests, Sun Yuanqi still understands. In desperation, I had no choice but to retire.

After leaving the governor's mansion, Sun Yuanqi patted his chest and secretly screamed in his heart that he was lucky. Fortunately, he was quick and sent the four million taels of silver and did not stay in the yamen. According to Chen Kuilong's method of scraping the ground, even if there is one million taels in the account, he will take two of the thirds

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