"This world is really getting more and more unancient, and I came to Nanjing for four days to receive such a little gold."

On the eleventh night of the first lunar month, with the end of another day of entertainment, Zhou Yanru, who was about to become the first assistant of the cabinet, asked his henchmen to help him calculate the income of the past few days in the mansion provided by Wu Changshi, and couldn't help but sigh that the world was declining.

The Donglin Party raised 200,000 taels of gold for his comeback, and now it has just recovered more than half of it.

And with the crowd in the first three days, today the number of visitors has decreased significantly, and the single amount given by each person is also much less.

The silver Zhou Yanru generally does not collect, mainly because it is too heavy, he is about to go north, and it is difficult to move millions of taels, so he can only be transported back to his hometown in Changzhou.

And to achieve the level of the first assistant of the cabinet, the carry-on expenses in Beijing are also sky-high, and it is more convenient to bring 100,000 taels of gold of the order of magnitude.

So far, the largest amount of income he has received, that is, 50,000 taels of gold given by Ruan Dacheng, actually accounts for half of his total income in Nanjing.

But this money is not easy to earn, that is to resist the pressure of the Donglin Party, at least to restore the imperial history of Ma Shiying. If you want to do it beautifully, you have to give it to a governor.

And Zhou Yanru does have the motivation to do things beautifully - because only in this way can he become an instant hit after his comeback, so that those who hold coins and wait and see his Zhou Shoufu's energy clearly, and the follow-up people who send money will be endless, and they will no longer hesitate.

Selling officials should also be honest and manage goodwill well, so as to sell for a long time.

At present, it seems that Ma Shiying is the best example of "Qianjin City Bone".

And the reason why Zhou Yanru lamented that the world was declining and that he collected too little money was mainly because he found that there were fewer and fewer people who wanted to buy Beijing officials now.

Originally, there were a lot of grudges who failed in the political struggle and wanted to turn the tables on the side of the Nanjing Sixth Ministry, and they could squeeze out a lot of money by catching anyone who wanted to return to Beijing.

But in this year's market, the number of people who are rushing to the north to be officials has decreased sharply, although Zhou Yanru is not easy to ask clearly, after observing in the past few days, he has roughly figured out the mentality of everyone.

This bunch of Nanjing waste! I actually dislike that the north is not peaceful, and I think that the Beijing official is not interesting, and I just want to stay in the rich and peaceful place in the south and be a magistrate who has no pursuit!

Removing the big head of selling Beijing officials, it is no wonder that Zhou Yanru can't collect too much money.

After all, there are only one or two governors in the south who can be sold in the warzone.

Most of the other hinterland provinces, which do not border the areas where the thieves have fallen, are not easily held accountable, and it is difficult for them to be recalled and resold frequently.

If you don't sell Jingguan, it basically means that there are no top-level officials of the second or third grades to sell.

He was sighing with emotion, and a confidant came to report again, saying that it was Qiu Shangshu from the Nanjing Household Department, and he had just sent someone to send a post, inviting him to a banquet tomorrow, and he wanted to report and ask for some official duties.

Three days for please, two days for calling. Everyone is a decent person in the officialdom, and of course the treat will not be put forward on the fly. So Qiu Shangshu actually said this two days ago.

It's just that Zhou Yanru wasn't interested in it at the time, and he pushed it once before.

But this time, his staff reported: "Pavilion Elder, Qiu Shangshu said that Shen Shilang and Shen Daotai also have official business to report to him tomorrow, you see ......."

Zhou Yanru's beard jumped with the nasolabial folds: "Shen Daotai? Do you mean Shen Tingyang and Shen Shuren, father and son? It turned out that Qiu Shangshu was fighting this idea...... That's it, let's go. ”

Zheng Zhilong is far away in Fujian, so the Shen family is the number one rich man in Nanzhili, and Zhou Yanru has long been waiting to slaughter these two fat sheep.

Zhou Yanru had already made up his mind, if the Shen family's father and son wanted to be promoted, they must squeeze out a price that was much more expensive than others!

This is also robbing the rich and helping the poor, and doing the right thing for heaven!

……

I made up my mind to slaughter the fat sheep, and the time soon came to the next afternoon.

Zhou Yanru sat in a sedan chair, and Shi Shiran came to the mansion of Qiu Weizhen, the head of the household department in Nanjing.

Qiu Weizhen also ignored his age and insisted on going out to greet him in person.

Zhou Yanru didn't support him either, he still had basic officialdom etiquette, and after getting off the sedan chair, he pretended to hurry a few steps, and helped Qiu Weizhen falsely: "Why should Qiu Lao be like this, he shouldn't be right." ”

Qiu Weizhen didn't have any expression, but replied officially: "The elder is the predecessor of the officialdom, how dare the subordinate rely on the old and sell the old." ”

It turned out that although this Qiu Weizhen was old, he was sixty-six this year, more than ten years older than Zhou Yanru, and he should tell the old man immediately. But in terms of officialdom qualifications, he is really not as good as the young Zhou Yanru.

Zhou Yanru was a jinshi in the forty-first year of Wanli, and he was the champion of the year. Qiu Weizhen was in the forty-seventh year of Wanli, two terms later than Zhou Yanru.

From this point of view, Qiu Weizhen is the same year as Ruan Dacheng and Ma Shiying, and these two people are also in the forty-seventh year of Wanli.

Ruan Ma is the same age as Zhou Yanru, and he is more than ten years younger than Qiu Weizhen, and he has to shout "Brother Qiu Nian" when he sees him.

Historically, Qiu Weizhen served as the secretary of the household department in Nanjing, and only served until Chongzhen for thirteen years.

In the fourteenth year of Chongzhen, because the cause of suppressing thieves in the southern provinces was frustrated again and again, and many officials of the Nanjing Military Department were reshuffled, Qiu Weizhen was transferred from the household department to the position of the military department secretary for two years, and then retired.

After he retired, the Nanjing Military Department was replaced by Shi Kefa.

But now in this life, Shen Shuren Chongzhen has passed through the twelfth year, because of his butterfly effect, the cause of suppressing thieves in the southern provinces has gone a lot smoother.

Four of the five battalions of Gezuo entrenched in the vicinity of Nanjing were wiped out, so the people of the Nanjing Military Department were able to continue to eat in the corpse position, and there was no need to transfer Qiu Weizhen over, Qiu Weizhen has been in the position of the household department.

It is estimated that in the future, after the current Nanjing Military Department Shangshu leaves office, he will be directly replaced by Shi Kefa. And Qiu Weizhen on the household side is old, and he can retire directly.

An old man who is already sixty-six years old can't do it for long, Qiu Weizhen himself knows that he is messing around every day.

Last year, after his squire was changed from Zhang Guowei to Shen Tingyang, Qiu Weizhen found that Shen Tingyang was a good hand at calculating accounts and managing money, so he handed over the daily official affairs of the Nanjing household department to Shen Tingyang in advance.

Zhou Yanru followed Qiu Weizhen to talk and laugh, but he couldn't help but glance at both sides, and never saw Shen Tingyang and Shen Shuren's father and son come out to greet him, which made him secretly unhappy in his heart.

It's not that he is in a hurry to ask for money, it's just that the rules of officialdom are there, and when banquets are held, the lower the official position, the earlier the person comes, and the higher the official position, the bigger the shelf, otherwise wouldn't it be very faceless?

Zhou Yanru stopped with a very restrained attitude and hinted at this question to Qiu Weizhen slightly.

Qiu Weizhen is also an old fritter in the officialdom, and said in a muddy manner at the moment: "Isn't the old man in the pavilion bad?" Today's official is to ask the old man to talk about it alone, and Shen Shilang just has official business to report to the old man today. ”

Zhou Yanru was slightly stunned, and quickly reacted, this is the Shen family giving each other a step, which shows that they are not here to slap themselves on purpose, but to do business.

It also seems that he Zhou Yanru is not very greedy, and he came to Qiu Weizhen today just to catch up with an old man who is about to retire, and has no other intentions.

Thinking about it like this, Zhou Yanru's heart also felt a little smoother.

He chatted with Qiu Weizhen for a while, and after getting nostalgic, Qiu Weizhen ordered a banquet first, without the slightest intention of waiting for Shen Tingyang and the others.

Zhou Yanru also pretended not to know anything, chatting and laughing casually, eating and drinking.

After three rounds of drinking, the housekeeper of the Qiu Mansion came in to report the crime: it was said that Shen Shilang and Shen Daotai had official business to ask to see. In order to determine the final recovery of the stolen goods in the Jiangxi Haogin gangster case, it is necessary to ask Shangshu to finalize it.

Qiu Weizhen also pretended to accuse Zhou Yanru: "It's rare to ask the old man to come to the house, but I never thought that I would be burdened by general affairs......"

Zhou Yanru looked upright, stroked his hair and ordered: "Don't do it, state affairs come first, and the official should listen to it." ”

Qiu Weizhen waved his hand to the housekeeper: "Then please come in!" ”

A few minutes later, Shen Tingyang brought Shen Shuren in and greeted Qiu Weizhen and Zhou Yanru respectively.

Zhou Yanru touched his beard and said coldly: "Shen Shilang, the recovery and seizure of the stolen goods of the Jiangxi gentry and bandits are under the jurisdiction of your Nanjing household department, right?" Ling Lang seems to be preparing for Huguang's military affairs, since he is here for official business, why does he have to hear about it?

Is it because those gangsters and gentry were captured by him? But that's another matter, there's no need to report to the household department. ”

Shen Shuren had captured a group of gangsters and gentry through Zheng Chenggong before, which was indeed related to the financial problems reported today, but those things themselves should be reported to the Ministry of War, one yard to another.

Zhou Yanru broke this sentence, but he didn't deliberately make things difficult, but just knocked casually, asking the Shen family father and son not to play tricks in front of him. What trick of "pretending to report on official business and saving some face for both sides" is really a clumsy acting.

Zhou Yanru said as he observed Shen Tingyang and Shen Shuren with his eyes.

Shen Tingyang he had seen it, a few years ago, before he was attacked and overthrown by Wen Tiren, Shen Tingyang was already a Beijing official, but at that time he was only a small head of the six products of the household department.

Zhou Yanru can only be said to have a slight impression of him, and he would not have looked at such a small person at all.

Seeing that he had been in the field for several years and then returned to the political arena, Shen Tingyang had climbed from the head of the six products to the household servant in Nanjing, Zhou Yanru was also quite ironic, and he was a little unwilling in his heart: these people are really prosperous!

As for Shen Shuren, Zhou Yanru had never seen it before. When he went into the wilderness, Shen Shuren wasn't even a showman, he was just a teenager! Now, it is also the imperial history of the capital.

He looks tall and tall, not like a civil official, but has the spirit of a martial artist, and there seems to be some fierce and fierce color between his eyebrows, which is quite inconsistent with his age.

However, what Zhou Yanru didn't expect was that the words he had just beaten were quickly dissolved by Shen Shuren.

I only heard Shen Shuren say neither humbly nor arrogantly: "The elder of the Good Sect Pavilion learned that the lower official came with his father today to report the case of the Jiangxi bandits, and he really has other important circumstances, and he wants to implore Qiu Shangshu to work hard and deal with it urgently, otherwise, I am afraid that it will change later." ”

Zhou Yanru flashed a trace of unhappiness: "What has changed?" ”

Shen Shuren: "Xiaguan received a report from the Anqing Mansion last night that the Lin Yangsheng Department, which is entrenched in the Yinghuo Mountains, has officially accepted the forced landing of Fang Yizhi, the Tongzhi of Anqing, and its main force has also been disarmed and taken over by Zhang Huangyan, the Tongzhi of Huangzhou, to the west.

It's just that Nanjing's side caught up with the Chinese New Year, and the household department and the military department were a little slower, and the previous gangster matter had not been completely concluded, and the bandits had already surrendered. The lower officials were afraid that it would delay for a long time, but it made Lin feel uneasy. ”

Shen Shuren's information was sent to him by Fang Yizhi urgently, of course, it was nominally passed by Shi Kefa, and co-signed with Huang Degong, and he only arrived last night.

Although Zhou Yanru claimed to be the first assistant, after all, he had not yet taken office, and the military intelligence information was naturally not as well-informed as Shen Shuren. He had only heard this for the first time at this moment, and he was also surprised.

"How can the blockade of Lin Yangcheng be so effective? Cutting off his bandit trade, can he even make him run out of ammunition and food and surrender directly? If this is the case, why did the Fifth Battalion of the Revolutionary Left Entrench in Dabie Mountain for four or five years before and after? It's long overdue for the imperial court to cut off its trade routes! ”

Shen Shuren replied in an orderly manner: "This is not difficult to explain, the original five camps of the left are intertwined, the jurisdiction is rich, and it is also close to the Huai River, which can facilitate the smuggling of Huai salt.

Now that the fifth battalion has gone to the third, Ma Shouying should go away, Lin Chengcheng retreated into the mountains, and the troops did not support him to plunder everywhere, so he was trapped here.

In addition, this also shows that the southern provinces of the Ming Dynasty originally implemented the strategy of blockading the thieves, and the implementation was very unfavorable! Regardless of Huguang, Jiangxi, or Nanzhili, there are countless wealthy gentry and profiteers, who collude with thieves who need to sell dirty purchases after robbing gold and silver in order to make huge profits! It was not until the lower officials sat in Huguang that the troops were garrisoned, and the levy of centigold was strictly regulated, that this matter could be put an end to! ”

Shen Shuren didn't brag, so he said very truthfully.

He also did not attribute the reason why the last part of the thieves had to surrender to the economic blockade. Rather, it is said that the military crackdown made it impossible for the thieves to rob, and combined with the economic blockade, the two-pronged approach to achieve this result.

The tone is pertinent and irreproachable.

Zhou Yanru's beard was about to be scratched off, and he couldn't grasp the handle, and he secretly screamed in his heart: If Shen Shuren really made so many contributions in a row, the position of Anhui Fu, I am afraid that the court can only give it to him.

Even if Shen Shuren slammed the door and didn't want to give him gold and silver, he didn't have enough reason to stop the progress of people who had made such great achievements.

However, Ruan Dacheng's 50,000 taels of gold have been collected, is it really only for Ma Shiying to restore a virtual imperial history of the capital, but there is no real power to patrol the territory?

If a person who really makes meritorious service is promoted, but the person who gives money gets the benefits that are not as good as those who make meritorious service.

After that, didn't the officials of the Ming Dynasty think about making meritorious contributions? The enthusiasm to buy officials for money has been hit!

Everyone wants to do practical things, but they don't want to bribe and give money, and the social atmosphere of the Ming Dynasty has been corrupted.

Zhou Yanru was still hesitating and groaning, but Qiu Weizhen on the other side was very cooperative.

Hearing that Lin Chengcheng had been returned to Shun and was still completely disarmed and absorbed, he hurriedly said that he would immediately settle the accounts of the Jiangxi bandit case, which should be all seized and put into storage, and should be all identified as being copied.

also hinted at Zhou Yanru: If you want to reach out in this case, this is the last chance, and when the case is completely closed and registered, these properties will be owned by the state.

Zhou Yanru was embarrassed, where could he speak directly, it was always up to the Shen family father and son to express themselves.

Fortunately, Shen Shuren didn't let him wait longer, the muscles at the beginning showed enough, and he still had to talk about the conditions when it was time to talk about them.

He picked up his wine glass, toasted Zhou Yanru three times first, and then sat down with his father around the next first minute, and vaguely offered his own conditions.