In the second year of Chongzhen, spring.

Lantian County began spring planting, the whole Lantian was revitalized again, although this spring when it was time to plant, there was no rain, the land was very hard, but last winter to transport all the ice into the field melted, melted ice water, instead of spring rain to water the land, did not affect the sowing of Lantian County.

However, the rest of Shaanxi is not as lucky as Lantian, the local magistrates did not act, and the people did not spontaneously start to build canals, resulting in less than seventy percent of the entire Shaanxi being able to sow seeds as scheduled this year.

This year's grain shortage situation will not change, and the people of Shaanxi are destined to live in dire straits.

Under these circumstances, the tax collector sent by Li Chaosheng to measure the land came back and reported that the cultivated land area in Lantian County this year had reached 180,000 mu, which was 50,000 mu more than the previous 130,000 mu of land.

Some of these 50,000 acres were opened up by the victims last year, some were hidden by the former landlords, and finally some of them were secretly moved by the neighboring counties of Chang'an, Hua, Zhashui and Shangluo.

In the past, the boundary monument of Lantian was not far from the six major valleys, just three miles away from the valleys, but now it has been moved to ten miles away, which was reported by the tax officials in the countryside.

Li Chaosheng was stunned when he heard this report, and the tax official saw Li Chaosheng's momentary distraction and said, "My lord, do you want to send someone to chase the boundary monument back, this is a bad rule." ”

Li Chaosheng waved his hand when he heard this: "What rules are not in order, inform Qingfeng, go to these counties to help them build the reservoir, what is the fault of a group of people who want to live a good life." ”

"Yes."

The tax official notified him and immediately sent people to these counties to repair reservoirs and open ditches.

Soon, these places also brought Li Chaosheng to life.

Soon the summer grain was ripe, and the tax official found Li Chaosheng again: "My lord, it's time for us to collect the summer payment." ”

Hearing this, Li Chaosheng looked at the tax official and said, "How is the tax paid this year?" ”

The tax official took out the account book and said: "The court showdown is similar to last year, and each household needs to pay taxes of about eight cents of silver, of course, you can add as much as you want to apportion, my lord." ”

Li Chaosheng understood the words of the tax officer, and became an official to make a fortune, so since he wanted to make a fortune, where did the wealth come from?

In addition to accepting some bribes, the big head is actually apportioned in this tax burden, and the court apportioned eight dollars of silver, can the magistrate not make some money himself? So some doubled, some doubled, and the tax burden of the people changed from eight cents to one tael of silver, one tael of eight cents, and even more black-hearted, who could get more than two taels of silver.

But no one cares about these, and no one says it, after all, the entire Ming officials are doing this, and they can't ban it, so they can only watch.

Thousands of miles of officials are only for money, this is not an empty word, there is no one in the Ming Dynasty who does not make money, up to the first assistant of the cabinet, down to the Jiupin officials, shot for corruption, all of them were shot, maybe there are unjust, false and wrongful cases, such as meeting people like Hai Rui.

But if you shoot one after another, there must be a fish that slips through the net, the shortcomings of the Ming Dynasty are already terminally ill, it is a change in the overall atmosphere, not the power of one person can change, in the face of such a Ming There is no need to save, if you want to make a difference, the only way to smash this Ming and reshape it is the real trick.

"If you don't apportion, you will collect it according to the eight coins of silver in the imperial court."

Li Chaosheng said to the tax officer, and the tax officer was stunned when he heard this: "No apportionment? ”

The tax officer's eyes widened, he had never encountered such a thing in his life, he had served several magistrates, among which the most incorruptible magistrate had also showdown two dollars in taxes, such magistrates have been called the blue sky lord by the people, and most of the magistrates, that are insatiable, at least double the apportionment, collect one or two silver.

And the previous county lord Zhang Dezheng apportioned twice the tax burden every time, and this time this Li Zhixian didn't pay a penny, which caught the tax official off guard, and his face was full of surprise.

"Great, my lord, you really don't apportion?"

Hearing this, Li Chaosheng said: "Don't apportion, the people's lives are hard enough, let's not burden the people." ”

The tax official was stunned for a long time when he heard this, and then bowed to the end: "My lord really loves the people like a son, and I thank you on behalf of the people of Lantian County." ”

Li Chaosheng glanced at the tax official when he heard this, and waved his hand: "Okay, don't be a sycophant, by the way, this time Lao Tzu will not engage in apportionment, you guys don't do anything to Lao Tzu, I will send someone to randomly check it, if you move your mind, the public trial table outside the city is still there." ”

Hearing this, the tax official said: "Don't worry, your lordship will set an example, whoever dares to do anything, I will peel his skin without your adult." ”

Li Chaosheng nodded when he heard this: "That's fine." ”

Li Chaosheng said that the tax collector went to collect the tax, and soon the people were shocked to find that the tax in Lantian County was terrifyingly small, and it was only eight dollars of silver, which was half less than before.

At the time of last year's disaster, the landlords and rich peasants in the townships and villages of Lantian County went out of their homes to store grain, and now after the big guy has a bumper harvest, the surplus grain must be handed over to pay off the debt.

The people did not have any opinions, because the autumn grain had already been planted in the ground, and there was still water in the reservoirs of all towns and villages, so at least the growth needs of the autumn grain were ensured, and the output would not be reduced on a large scale.

The grain donated by the landlords last year has been returned exponentially this year, and smiles have appeared on everyone's faces, and their trust in the county government and Li Chaosheng has also greatly increased.

The grain was returned, and Li Chaosheng's grain was also doubled, all of which were put into the warehouse by Li Chaosheng, and at the same time, Li Chaosheng began to call on the landlords of the county to sell the rest of the grain to the county yamen in addition to the necessary grain to deal with the disaster.

And Li Chaosheng began to call on the landlords not to stick to the land, but to learn to do business, and not to be the landlord forever.

After experiencing this incident, the landlords began to set up their own caravans one after another to learn to do business.

Moreover, this year, the county has uniformly measured the land of the landlords in the county and made a new account, of course, this new account is known to Li Chaosheng himself, and the imperial court continues to use the old account, which is only less than 150,000 mu of cultivated land, and the main book, at the request of Li Chaosheng, began to pay taxes every year in accordance with the practice of the counties.

The tax revenue of the extra 50,000 mu of cultivated land was taken out by Li Chaosheng to maintain the army, and the surplus was even used.

Li Chaosheng can still collect a little himself.

The tax burden of Lantian County is handed over in the amount, but the people of Lantian are happy, this may be a rare happy tax payment, eight dollars of silver, it is really only eight dollars of silver, converted, each household can not pay half a load of grain, such a good thing, not to mention this year, that is, when Zhang Juzheng was in power, there was no such small tax.

Li Chaosheng specially pasted the above reminder document on the city wall, and it was clear how much tax Lantian County wanted to collect, and it was clear at a glance that Li Chaosheng also photographed two officers and soldiers, repeating the above content every day.

Li Chaosheng said that we should let everyone know that we didn't take an extra grain of grain from the people of Lantian.

When someone asked who invented this act of sticking documents on the wall, the original words of the officials were: "This is our Lord Li's invention, what is it called, the government document display board!" ”

Moreover, this display board should not only be displayed in the county seat, but also send a copy to the village committee of each village, and the chief of the village should read it to the people word by word, so that the people can supervise whether there are officials who dare to bend the law for bribes.

After seeing it, some people will think of Emperor Hongwu's system of suing officials with the people, but this system is more moderate, and Li Chaosheng set out to improve the income of the county public servants, at least to ensure that they can live a life without worrying about food and drink.

After this series was done, the entire political atmosphere and rural atmosphere of Lantian suddenly reached its peak, and Lantian even had the meaning of paradise.

When they learned that the tax of Lantian County was only eight yuan, the eyes of the people of other counties were green, and it was said that that night, the boundary monument of Lantian County was passed down ten miles by the people of the surrounding counties.

When the tax officials and officials of the surrounding counties came down to collect taxes, these people stared at them and said that they were from Lantian County and were not in their charge, which made the tax officials angry.

The tax official hurriedly told the county officials in his county about the incident, and these county officials were also angry and reported the matter to Zhang Jinru, the prefect of Xi'an.

After Zhang Jinru heard the news, he didn't get angry immediately, but asked his master bookkeeper, how is the tax revenue of each county this year?

The master bookkeeper flipped through the account book and said: "My lord, the taxes of all counties have been discounted this year, only Lantian County has paid the taxes in full, and has paid some more. ”

"Is there ever a shortage?"

Zhang Jinru frowned and asked, and after hearing this, the master said: "There has been no shortage, pay in full." ”

Hearing this, Zhang Jinru touched his chin, then turned around and walked towards his mansion, and when he arrived at the mansion, as soon as Zhang Jinru entered the door, he saw his wife wearing a precious fox fur dress, beautiful in the courtyard.

As soon as Mrs. saw Zhang Jinru coming back, she immediately said happily: "Lantian County ordered Li Chaosheng to send someone to give us gifts." ”

Hearing this, he looked at the white fox fur on his wife and said, "This white fox fur is a good skin, I'm afraid it is worth a thousand taels." ”

When Madame heard this, she smiled and said, "Really? Then tomorrow I will wear it out and have a good look with the wives of the provinces, and envy them to death. ”

Zhang Jinru glanced at his wife and said, "Just wear it at home, don't take it out." ”

"Huh?"

Madame frowned, Zhang Jinru's face was ugly, and said: "Wealth does not show wealth, you want your husband to die early." ”

After saying this, Zhang Jinru looked at his wife and said, "By the way, then Li Zhixian sent you this white fox fur?" ”

Hearing this, the lady said: "There are still some gifts, but I am not allowed to see them because of the mystery, and the person who gave the gift is still waiting in the side hall." ”

"Oh?"

Zhang Jinru was stunned for a moment, then turned around and said, "You go to the dining room and wait for me first, and I'll take a look." ”

Zhang Jinru rushed to the side hall, and saw a person who looked like an old housekeeper waiting there, Zhang Jinru smiled, this person he knew, it was the old man of the shopkeeper of Yuxian Building.

Seeing that Zhang Jinru was coming, Lao Tu immediately got up and said, "Master Zhang." ”

"Oh, old-fashioned, you still need to come to your host to send something."

Zhang Jinru said with a smile, and then Lao Tu hurriedly said: "Lord Zhang, this thing, my owner won't let me see it, it's sealed, and it is said that you like it, my lord." ”

"Oh?"

Zhang Jinru was stunned for a moment, and then he saw a scroll sent by the old man with both hands, and there was a seal on the scroll, and it seemed that no one had opened it.

Zhang Jinru's heart moved when he saw this, and then said to Lao Tu: "Say to your owner, he has a heart." ”

Lao Tu said at this time: "Lord Xie, by the way, my owner also said, recently he found that the boundary monument in Lantian County is always running out, this is obviously not in accordance with the rules, he is terrified, but the people have hidden the boundary monument, we have not been able to find it for a long time, this matter also ask the adults to give instructions, otherwise other county commanders will definitely come to sue my lord for the trouble." ”

When Zhang Jinru heard this, he glanced at Lao Tu and said, "It's already been sued." ”

"Huh?"

Lao Tu looked shocked, and then Zhang Jinru said: "Zhashui, Shangluo, and the excerpt jointly filed by the magistrate of Chang'an County are on my desk." ”

"My lord, this, how is this good, our family has been wronged."

Lao Tu suddenly looked aggrieved and frightened, Zhang Jinru saw this, the corners of his mouth curled, but he quickly straightened his face and said: "Originally, this matter is definitely not in accordance with the rules, and I can't even say that I have to hold your family accountable." ”

"My lord, my family is really wronged."

Lao Tu showed a panicked expression very timely, Zhang Jinru was very satisfied, and then the painting style changed and said: "But this matter is not a big deal for me, rest assured that I can help suppress it here, but I am afraid that they will make trouble with the political envoy Lord Hong, Lord Hong is the most important rule, I am afraid that something will happen." ”

Hearing this, he said: "My lord, with your support, our family will not be afraid, as for Lord Hong, we will also send someone to explain clearly, if there is nothing else, I will retire." ”

Zhang Jinru nodded and said, "Well, you can step aside." ”

As soon as the old man retreated, Zhang Jinru couldn't wait to open the picture scroll, and inside was a poster disguised as a painting, and the poster was a plaster country teacher wearing a sailor suit with a seductive expression.

Zhang Jinru's eyes lit up when he looked at it, this dress is very curious, I have never seen it in my life, and this painter, beautiful, beautiful!

Zhang Jinru, the prefect of Xi'an, is elegant and elegant, and has a good spring palace, which can be used as a breakthrough.

This is Li Chaosheng's intelligence to Lao Tu, and the reason why he bought Zhang Jinru is that Li Chaosheng is now in the development stage and does not want to cause trouble, and this kind of official who can be handled with bribes is Li Chaosheng's favorite.

On the contrary, Li Chaosheng is now more worried about Hong Chengchou, and I don't know what the attitude of this political envoy, who is known as the defender of the Ming order, on this matter.