Jia Gong was a little impatient when he heard him praise Shu Yan endlessly. He had a gloomy face, and snorted: "Prime Minister Qiu, we are here on business, you only care about reminiscing about the past, do you treat these people as if they don't exist?" After speaking, without waiting for Qiu Shoutai's courtesy, he walked into the official office. Qiu Shoutai saw that Jia Gong was angry, and hurriedly let everyone in, and before he could sit down, Jia Gong took out the imperial edict and said loudly: "Qiu Shoutai, the prime minister of Ruyin, listens to the edict." ”

Qiu Shoutai has done a lot of bad things in Ruyin over the years, as soon as he heard the word "imperial edict", he was frightened, his legs were weak, he fell to the ground, and he didn't know why in horror. It wasn't until Jia Gong finished reading the imperial edict that he suddenly realized: it turned out that Sima Mo, the little king of Ruyin, was dead! The imperial court intended to remove the Ruyin Kingdom and restore the Ruyin County setting. Jia Gong and the others are here to supervise the execution of this matter. As for himself, not only is he fine, but he also has to be too guarded, which is really a false alarm. He immediately came to his senses, his legs were not weak, he wiped the cold sweat on his forehead and stood up, pretended to mourn a few words of mourning for his own nominal king Sima Mo, and then summoned all the subordinate officials of the former Ruyin country under his direct control, and listened to the instructions of Jia Gong and others to discuss the matter of withdrawing the country and establishing a county.

Although the territory and strength of the princely kingdoms cannot be compared with the imperial court, although the sparrow is small and complete, most of the positions in the central imperial court will also be set in the kingdom, but they are simplified accordingly, and the titles are different. For example, the military manager in the imperial court is the Tai Lieutenant, and he also has a corresponding position in the kingdom, but he cannot be called a Tai Lieutenant, but a lieutenant. There are also those in charge of agriculture and taxation in the imperial court who are called Dasi Nong, and in the kingdom they are renamed Da Nong. The teacher of the crown prince is called Taifu, and the teacher of the princes of the princes is called "Tai" and is simply called "Fu". Others and so on.

The focus of Shu Yan and others on this visit is to re-verify the number of people, acres of land, and the roster of officials at all levels in the jurisdiction of Ruyin, and then carry out institutional reform.

Jia Gong said to the fellow officials: "Since the emperor sent us to supervise this matter, it is a great trust in us, we have nothing to repay as courtiers, only by being conscientious and serving the court, can we be worthy of our emperor's grace." When they heard this, they all nodded yes. Jia Gong said to the officials of Ruyin again: "If there is no accident, what I am talking about is no accident, Brother Qiu will continue to serve as the Taishou of Ruyin, and you and other Ruyin colleagues will also be appropriately arranged for corresponding positions...... Speaking of this, he paused again, "Let's not talk much, please ask Prime Minister Qiu to take out all the household registration books and Tianmu account books for verification." ”

Qiu Shoutai hesitated for a moment, and then said to Jia Gong with a smile: "Why should Jiazhou be so anxious, I look at the appearance of everyone, dusty, the road must be very hard, I must have not had time to rest, now it is almost noon, why don't you first invite you to enter the back office, and then do errands after you are full of wine and food, how about it?" ”

Jia Gong knew that Qiu Guoxiang had something on his mind, but he just lowered his head and drank tea, noncommittal. Shu Yan is a sincere person, and no matter what he does, he has never liked to procrastinate. He stood up and said, "Prime Minister Qiu, it's only the beginning of the hour, it's still early before noon, so there's no need to rush to eat, it's better to get down to business first." ”

Qiu Shoutai patted Shu Yan on the shoulder, pressed him back to the couch and sat down, and said with a smile: "Shu Lang, Shu Lang, you are really a young man, full of energy, you have a rush to do things, and you like to be clean and neat, which is a good thing." However, you can't just care about your style and ignore everyone, all of you here are elderly people, so come all the way, without resting and resting, how can the body stand it? What's more, these tasks can't be done in a day or two. I think that the emperor sent you here to let us work together to complete the matter of withdrawing the country and establishing counties, instead of blindly seeking speed, don't you say? ”

Shu Yan looked at these court officials who came with him from Luoyang, all of them were tired and listless. They obviously agreed with Qiu Guoxiang's opinion. The so-called "one does not reluctantly many, one hundred does not follow one." Shu Yan had no choice but to obey Qiu Guoxiang's arrangement.

It must not be ambiguous to entertain the errands sent by the imperial court, Qiu Guoxiang was busy with everything and purchased sumptuous wine and food. Qiu Guoxiang asked Jia Gong to sit in a high position, and the rest of the people sat in turn according to their identities.

These court officials are accustomed to delicacies on weekdays, and they have been adrift on the ship for the past few days, and they have been working hard. Although it is an official ship and has a few basic ingredients, it is not as convenient as being on the shore after all, and it is far from being at home. Qiu Guoxiang also saw this way, and diligently persuaded him to drink and drink, and even drunk these people. Only Shu Yan was worried about business after dinner, so he didn't dare to drink more. He can only manage himself, but he can't stop others.

The meal lasted for an hour, and by the time the banquet was over, the officials were drunk. Qiu Shoutai looked at the ugliness of these people, and expected that he couldn't do anything official today, and a stone in his heart fell to the ground.

Although Shu Yan didn't drink much, he saw the corrupt state of these people, and his passion had subsided by half, plus he looked at this familiar environment, and recalled the past when he was a literary scholar here, and thought of Zhixin and Tang Gonggong, he couldn't help but feel sad and depressed.

Seeing this, Qiu Shoutai knew that Shu Yan didn't know much about drinking before, thinking that he was also drunk, and he felt more down-to-earth in his heart. He had already arranged for someone to clean up a few upper rooms in the county mansion in advance, and at this moment, he only needed to send someone to help these drunks in according to the situation. But he wanted to find his own hardships, and he didn't immediately send everyone to rest, but said to everyone without knowing the depths: "Since the rank is already full of wine and food, and the energy must have almost recovered, how about we start doing business now?" ”

Everyone is drunk and confused, who can take care of any business and private affairs? Qiu Shoutai snickered in his heart, and said with a sneer: "Since all the officials have no intention of doing business at the moment, then I will invite you to the upper room to rest and rest, and then do the work tomorrow, the check books should be checked, and the ...... of the verifier should be checked."

Before the words fell, Shu Yan stood up and said, "Why wait until tomorrow? Since Prime Minister Qiu Guoxiang said it, we should check the books now. ”

Qiu Shoutai has done too many corrupt things in the years he has been the prime minister of Ruyin. And the king of Ruyin is too young to take care of him. Therefore, he dared to act boldly with confidence, without scruples, and he didn't even bother to do the accounts round, which was full of loopholes. But when the king of Ruyin died, Jia Gong, Shu Yan and others suddenly came today, this matter happened too urgently, and he was caught off guard, so he had to find a way to delay time, as long as he could give him a day to do his tricks, and wait until tomorrow, he could make general arrangements. Originally, things had progressed according to his wishes, but he was clever and self-defeating.

"Y-aren't you drunk?"

"I haven't dealt with business yet, how can I get drunk?"

Qiu Shoutai wanted to slap himself a few times at this time, but the words had already come out, and they couldn't be reversed. However, to his delight, those court officials, who were drunk and dizzy, obviously couldn't do anything. When they heard Shu Yan's words in a daze, they all complained to Shu Yan one by one, and I complained to Shu Yan one by one:

"Shu Lang, we have come all the way, shouldn't we rest for a day?"

"Yes, this is not a major border military situation, what are you anxious about?"

"You want to check, you check, I'm going to sleep anyway."

……

was in a mess, and suddenly heard a person slap a few cases, and said: "Qiu Guoxiang set up wine for us to wash the dust, it was a good intention, you could have drunk in moderation, but you can't delay your business, who allowed you to drink like this?" Don't say anything about losing the face of the court, who will be responsible for delaying the business assigned by the court? ”

Everyone heard that it was Jia Gong who spoke, and no one dared to squeak, and the wine also woke up, and they all said: "Jia Taichang is the main thing in charge of the emperor's order, and everything is willing to obey Jia Taichang's orders." ”

Qiu Shoutai originally thought that Jia Gong was also drunk like everyone else, but he didn't expect that he looked even more sober than Shu Yan. He originally thought that he would meet Jia Gong and wait for the opportunity to do more on him, and everything would pass, but what should he do now?

He looked at Jia Gong with begging eyes, Jia Gong only glanced at him, then stopped looking at him, and said to those people: "Thinking of you and other first-time offenders, I won't pursue you today, and I won't make an example." Shu Shanglang and I are here to check the books, so you can retire first. ”

When those people saw Jia Gong speak, they couldn't wait for a sound, and they were all supported by others.

Qiu Shoutai invited Jia Gong and Shu Yan to the tent, offered fragrant tea, and then asked, "Which book does Dazhongzheng want to read first?" ”

Jia Gong looked at Shu Yan and said, "How old am I now, and I'm actually drunk today." Just in front of everyone, it's just a prestige. What Shu Lang wants to check, you just ask Shu Lang. ”

Shu Yan laughed unconsciously and angrily: These old guys, are they all picking and playing me alone? Even if I'm alone, I have to do business. "Qiu Guoxiang, I want to know about the household survey situation in Ruyin first."

Household surveys are the most important source of money for local government offices, and they are also the most problematic areas. When Qiu Shoutai heard this, he couldn't help but shudder, and said secretly: "Good boy, just pick up the important ones!" He stubbornly opened the cabinet, flipped through it for a long time, took out a few booklets and handed them to Shu Yan.

Shu Yan took it and saw that it was the household survey fascicle of Ruyin counties, and he checked out the one in his hometown first and opened it. I saw a page in Shujiazhuang, which said that there were 360 households in Shujiazhuang, including: 200 households in full payment; 110 semi-adult households exempted from contributions; Fifty households are exempt from taxation. It is also written that Shujiazhuang has a total of cultivated fields and a number of class fields.

As soon as he saw this, Jia Gong came over, took the booklet in his hand, and said drunkly: "What are you seeing, the old man will also look at ......" Before he finished speaking, he spit out a mouthful of vomit on the booklet. Seeing this, Shu Yan flashed backwards, but fortunately it didn't touch himself. Jia Gong pretended to be surprised and said: "Oh, I'm really drunk, the old man is really ashamed, this booklet is filthy, quickly clean it up." ”

Qiu Shoutai saw that the wind was making the rudder, and he hurriedly ordered someone to take out the booklet, and he personally supported Jia Gong on the couch and drank hangover soup for him. Shu Yan regretted it, and wanted to read other brochures, but Jia Gong waved his hand and said, "Shu Lang, I think today is indeed not suitable for business." What's more, now there are only you and me left here, and I am drunk, what about you, you are from Ruyin Village, and you are familiar with Qiu Guoxiang, we take advantage of the absence of others to work with Qiu Guoxiang on our own, I am afraid it will arouse the suspicion of others. Moreover, you haven't been back to your hometown for a long time, in my opinion, it's better to let Qiu Guoxiang send a car to send you home first, and when everyone wakes up tomorrow, it's better to work together. ”

Shu Yan listened to Jia Gong's words and had to agree. Because of this kind of business, it is necessary for more than two people to ensure basic non-favoritism. If Jia Gong quits and does it alone, he will indeed have to bear some suspicions.

In fact, Shu Yan had already returned to his heart like an arrow, and wanted to see Xia Tingchang, Ruoxin and others earlier. He refused the carriage arranged for him by Qiu Guoxiang and went to the stable to lead his horse. When he came back, he saw Qiu Guoxiang personally supporting Jia Gong and sending him to an upper room, and the two of them were still whispering something. Shu Yan ignored them, rode on his horse, and galloped towards Shujiazhuang.