"Of the 4,000 acres of grain fields, only 7,000 grains of various types have been harvested?" After listening to Shi Chang's report, Shi Hui finally asked.

"Exactly." Shi Chang lowered his eyes and said.

"More than ten years ago, I worked as a casual squire in the court, and my family had not moved to Luoyang, but I only occasionally went home to take care of the business. But at that time, there was a harvest of more than 10,000 husks every year, and the highest harvest could reach 15,000 hu. After I became Zongzheng, I was busy with royal affairs and rarely asked about Ruyin's industry. The first few years were good, but in the following years, the harvest deteriorated and even shrank by half. ”

Facing his brother's questioning, Shi Chang had already dealt with it in his chest, and responded calmly: "The younger brother is in charge of the Shi family's ancestral property, and he knows that he has a heavy responsibility, and he is sincerely afraid, and he does not dare to be a little sloppy. As my brother said, in the first few years, there was not a lot of harvest every year. However, in the past six years, the wind and rain have been unpleasant, first of all, excessive rain for three consecutive years, causing waterlogging in some low-lying fields and destroying crops; The next year after the floods, there was another locust plague, locusts were everywhere, and almost all fields lost more than 30% of their yields. In the last two years, there has been another drought, and the crops have not been nourished and the grains have dried up. This is more serious than the floods and locust plagues, and the general yield has been reduced by more than 40 percent, and some plots that cannot be irrigated have not been harvested directly. ”

In the early years, Shi Chang was still timid and didn't dare to be too greedy, so the annual harvest was not small. As for the so-called disasters later, he used the topic to play and make a big fuss. However, Shi Chang's words are now on the point, I don't know what it was like in previous years, but this year's Ruyin has indeed not rained for a long time. Shi Hui sat in the gazebo, and from time to time he felt a wave of dry and hot wind hitting him, which was very uncomfortable on his body. This year's weather has been exceptional, which seems to confirm Shi Chang's words.

But Shi Hui is not so easy to deceive, of course he doesn't fully believe Shi Chang's words, and says in a questioning tone: "Although I haven't come back from Luoyang for a long time, I still pay special attention to the situation in my hometown. If there was such a serious disaster as you said, Ruyin County should have reported it to the imperial court a long time ago, why haven't I heard of it at all? ”

"My brother has been by the emperor's side for a long time, and he has gradually become disconnected from below. Throughout the ages, even in the Ming Dynasty, it was rare to truly understand the suffering of the people. What's more, what about today's government? ”

Indeed, today's government is even more chaotic, and the ministers only care about protecting themselves, who will really care about national affairs and share worries for the court? What Shi Chang said is also reasonable, not to mention that it is just a little disaster and a little loss of crops, it is a plague, and this small place in Ruyin will attract much attention from the imperial court!

Although Shi Hui is a little suspicious of Shi Chang, the other party, as his half-brother, is no better than those subordinates, and he always has to talk about face until he has to. At the moment, I haven't caught any tricks, so it's not good to attack directly. Thinking of this, he put aside the matter of the field property first, squeezed out a smile and said: "I'm just thinking about my family's industry, just ask, you don't have to take it too seriously." In charge of the family plan, not only to open the intake, but also to tighten the outcome. I see that over the years, my income has been decreasing year by year, but my expenses have been increasing year by year, what is going on? ”

Shi Chang heard his brother ask about the expenditure again, which was more than enough, and directly ordered the account office to take all the account books and offer them to Shi Hui: "This is the general account of expenses in the past year, please take a closer look at my brother." ”

Shi Hui picked up the account book, didn't know if he didn't look at it, and was startled when he saw it. It turned out that the various expenses recorded in this account book were not only numerous, but also much higher. However, it seems to be within the acceptable range, and every stroke is clearly remembered. Of course, Shi Hui understands the implications, but he should not expose it in person.

"Why are the prices in Ruyin so high all these years?" Shi Hui seemed to be nagging to herself.

"Yes, indeed. Nowadays, goods are expensive and light, five-baht dollars are overflowing, and everything is rising in price. ”

"So it's risen to the level of Luoyang City, where every inch of land is valuable?"

"And that's not unusual. Although Luoyang is an inch of land, it is a place where all directions gather, there is no shortage of goods, and the land is expensive and cheap; On the contrary, Ruyin is a relatively closed small place, with only local small merchants and hawkers, and no big merchants circulating, so it is normal for prices to be comparable to Luoyang......"

"Pen and ink, candles, chariots and horses, etc., are not produced locally in Ruyin, and may be a little more expensive. Firewood alone, in the past, was only 100 yuan a load, even if the price rises, at most 150 yuan will be unbelievable, but now it has reached 200 yuan a load, is it not even a firewood in Ruyin now? Besides, the amount of firewood purchased every year has reached 300 quintals - I remember that most of the firewood in our own house is straw in the countryside, and we only buy more than 100 quintals of firewood every year, so why do we need 300 quintals now? It costs 60,000 yuan to buy firewood alone?! ”

"This ......" Shi Chang is in control of the entire Shi Mansion, and he only cares about big things, and he can't take care of these small aspects himself. Who knew that the man in charge of buying firewood was even more greedy than him, and quoted nearly twice the price. This made Shi Chang very passive, he himself was still a mud bodhisattva crossing the river, of course he would not take the blame for others. "Wait until I call this man and ask what is going on. If there is fraud, see if I don't kill him! ”

As he spoke, he walked out the door. Shi Chang's move was nominally to go to the person who procured firewood to ask for guilt, but in fact it was to win a chance for himself to be flexible.

Shi Hui continued to look at the account books, and after a while, he found several places that were obviously inflated, and wanted to ask Shi Chang to ask, but he didn't come back for a long time. was full of anger, but when he saw Biyu standing aside, he put down the account book and said to him: "I sent you back to your hometown to be the Taishou, although I didn't deliberately let you control the family finances, but you should at least pay more attention to it, the expenses in the house are so large, do you turn a blind eye?" ”

"With Uncle here, how can I go and ask?"

Bi Yuman's disdainful words made Shi Hui even more angry, "As a county guard, you are the young master of this Shi Mansion. The so-called 'self-cultivation and family governance of the country and the world', governing the family and governing the country is the same principle. If you govern your family like this, do you ignore the county governance as well? ”

"There is an uncle in the family, and Shu Yan in the county. Both of them were personally chosen by my father, and of course I was relieved. ”

"You-" Shi Hui was a little speechless by Biyu for a while, "Shu Yanzhi's integrity and virtuousness are rare in ancient and modern times. For the family, the family is governed, the county is governed, and the country is governed. If everyone is like him, then the world will be peaceful and the road will be good. ”

"Father said such a slap in the face. Shu Yan could have had a good future, but isn't it because of the deliberate suppression of his father, who is a Zhongzheng, that he is in the middle of the situation? ”

"Phew!" Shi Hui hit the top beam angrily, "If I don't suppress him like this, not only will he be higher than you in terms of officials, but even the position of Ruyin Zhongzheng will already fall into his hands!" ”

Biyu sneered and said, "What you give is not necessarily what people want. In the same way, what you take from you is not necessarily what you love. My father thought he was very wise, and he praised me and discouraged him. I don't know what I want, my nature is suitable, not my career; Whoever he wants, the people's livelihood is also the people's livelihood, and he is not an official. Although Shu Yan was demoted to a county prince, he was just like a fish in water, and he went directly into the people to observe the people, which was what he enjoyed. ”

Shi Hui listened to Biyu's words and seemed to have an understanding. According to what Biyu said, what he did was a complete failure: he brought his son but disgusted his son, and suppressed Shu Yan but it was exactly what Shu Yan meant. However, Shi Hui pays the most attention to practical interests, he doesn't care what his nature is suitable, as long as his son's career status is higher than Shu Yan's, this is enough to prove that his approach is correct. Just about to scold Biyu again, he saw Shi Chang walking with a person.

"Back to my brother, the matter has been clarified, it is this subordinate who secretly falsely reported the price of firewood and the amount of firewood purchased, is bold and reckless, and the people's hearts are not enough to swallow the elephant, how do you think about it?" Shi Chang grabbed the servant and asked for mercy.

Shi Hui didn't pick his eyelids, and said with a gloomy face: "What to do, you don't know yourself?" Still ask me? ”

Shi Chang's elder brother said this, pretending to be indignant: "Such evil slaves will be given eighty lashes first, and then expelled from the house. What does my brother think? ”

Shi Hui is trying to make an example of chickens and monkeys, of course he will not show mercy. He also knew that this was a farce that his brother deliberately played for himself, but he didn't want to expose it.

Shi Chang dragged the man out of the door, and then there was the rhythmic "pop" whipping sound of the cane and the miserable shout of "ahhhh

Although Biyu didn't pity that subordinate, this kind of voice made him very uncomfortable, so he said to his father: "Father is so confused! ”

Shi Hui thought that his son softened his heart when he saw this house slave being beaten, and sneered: "The evil slave is so greedy, it is already merciful not to want his life, shouldn't he be beaten?" ”

"It's time to fight. But I'm afraid my father is sacrificing his roots and chasing the end. ”

"Oh?" Although he was said to be confused by his son, Shi Hui was full of joy, "Tell me who is the main and who is the end?" ”

"All the big and small affairs in my house are in charge of my uncle, who do you say is Ben and who is Mo?"

Shi Hui was a little relieved to see that although his son didn't ask about everything, he was not confused. sighed with a hint of helplessness: "I didn't know that all this was connived at by your uncle, but he is my younger brother after all." As the eldest son of the Shi family, I inherited your grandfather's official title and most of the family property. Your uncle is also your grandfather's biological son, but he gets very little, which is very unfair to him. That's why I turned a blind eye to him. Although he was eroding my family property, he did not flow out after all, but still went to the Shi family's own hands. As long as he doesn't go too far, I won't poke him. ”

"I didn't ask my father to punish my uncle, but if I continue to fight like this, I'm afraid that the Shi Mansion will be full of mourning."

"What you say is true, I'm afraid all those in charge will have to be beaten. But what if I don't do it? If we easily bypass them this time, won't we be even more rampant in the future? Shi Hui said, then picked up the account book and threw it to Biyu Dao, "Look at it yourself, what extent has it been now, if it goes on like this, will it be possible in the future?" But if you can pick up a little bit of household money, I can feel a little at ease after I return to Luoyang! ”

Biyu casually glanced at the account book, but he didn't know how to manage a livelihood at all, and he didn't know whether the price and quantity of each expense were reasonable or not. Hearing that his father was urging himself again, he threw the account book away and said, "I have not taken the leisure to go through these trivial matters one by one. However, I had the idea that the problem could be solved without much effort. ”

Shi Hui snorted contemptuously: "You are a rotten wood that cannot be carved, you don't do anything, what good ideas can you have?" ”

Biyu snorted angrily and said, "Father Hugh wants to look down on people." You only know how to make amends, but you don't know how to control them at the source. ”

"At the source, how to control it?"

"Give a certain amount of money every year, and all expenses are included. No matter how they spend it, they can't exceed this limit. ”

Shi Hui paused first, and then his eyes lit up: "That's right." Sure enough, it's a good idea. Then he asked, "Yes, yes, but how much is the appropriate amount?" ”

"Father is the most shrewd in this, why do you ask me?"

"I'm good at it, but it's a headache to have to scrutinize each of these hundreds of expenses."

"Why bother with audits? I think it's going to cut it by a third, and it should be about the same. ”

Shi Hui struggled to catch the evidence of these people, and there was nothing he could do with them, but now that he had a good idea, of course he would not be soft. "What a third, cut it in half!"

As he was talking, Shi Chang came back from outside to practice the family law on the servant, and said to Shi Hui in a relieved tone: "Brother, just carefully review and find that something is wrong, I will directly find the person responsible." ”

"I already have another idea, how can I have time to go to the review with you!"

Shi Chang was stunned, "What do you say about this, brother?" ”

Shi Hui sneered twice and said, "There are hundreds of expenses in this account book, and you can know the clues of other items from the firewood alone. I still have a lot of important things to do, and I don't have time to check them with you, and I don't want to review them one by one. But I have made a rule today that starting this year, this government is only allowed to spend 450,000 yuan a year, and you are responsible for the excess! ”