Yan Zhengqian originally wanted to provoke the relationship between these officials and Gu Yunji, and hook out the resentment in their hearts, so that Gu Yunji could not come to the stage. But he didn't expect that the officials were willing to listen to his orders, and the appearance of the whole and the whole working together seemed to be solemn and humble and maliciously speculating on others, and spending the belly of a gentleman with the heart of a villain.

Yan Zhengqian couldn't hold his face when he saw this, and said sarcastically in a weird way: "'The extra allowance comes out of your private property'? Master Gu is really a big breath. It's just that I remember that there wasn't much money for a month's sentence, right? Master Gu is so wealthy, I don't know where the money came from? ”

Hearing this, Gu Yunji's face turned cold, and he said unceremoniously: "Where did my money come from, what do you have to do with it?" Lord Yan doesn't have to be sarcastic in a roundabout way, just say it if you suspect me of corruption and bribery! As long as Lord Yan can come up with evidence, it will be a beheading, and I, Gu Yunji, will never say anything. ”

"But if you can't produce evidence...... If the Governor Yan is so innocent, I will go to the Chief Secretary and sue you for framing the court officials! ”

On other topics, Gu Yunji is also willing to play Tai Chi with Yan Zhengqian, but when it comes to things like corruption and bribery, the integrity of officials needs to be cautious, and not a joke can be made.

Gu Yunji has confiscated any filial piety since he came to Xuzhou Mansion, nor has he offered filial piety to Shangguan and officials in the capital, in the final analysis, because this is his bottom line, he is unwilling to go along with those people. If you don't ask for help, you naturally don't need to spend money to make connections and curry favor with Shangguan.

Of course, Gu Yunji has the capital and confidence to maintain his integrity - there are too many of his relatives and friends in the capital, and with a cousin who is the secretary of the Criminal Department, even if he does not offer filial piety, others will not dare to make him stumbling.

He has this confidence, but others don't necessarily have, and it doesn't matter that "the whole world is muddy and I am the only one", but don't try to change the rules of operation of the entire bureaucracy. So as long as he doesn't go too far, as long as he doesn't make trouble in front of Gu Yunji, he will turn a blind eye to some tacit "unspoken rules" of officialdom.

In Yan Zhengqian's view, these things are commonplace in officialdom, who dares to say that they are completely clean? He was just casually stabbed, but he didn't expect Gu Yunji's attitude to be so tough, and he was so angry that his face turned blue.

After a long time, Yan Zhengqian slowly calmed down and changed the topic stiffly: "...... Far from it. What allowances, government servants, those are all trivial matters, the top priority is to ensure irrigation, resist drought, Lord Gu still put aside the matter at hand, think about how to disaster relief first. ”

Gu Yunji really found it difficult to understand his logic: "Ensuring irrigation is to protect the crops in the field from drought and death, so that the people can have food to eat, and planting artichoke is also to reduce hunger. ”

"What's more, the artichoke has a high yield, and the current rice yield in the field is decreasing, which is a good time to promote the artichoke. Lord Yan went to ensure irrigation, and I went to persuade the people to plant artichokes, anyway, it was all to let the people have enough to eat, and the two methods did not conflict, they could be carried out at the same time, why did Lord Yan have to be entangled in this? ”

"How can there be no conflict? It's a conflict! ”

I don't know which Gu Yunji said wrong, Yan Zhengqian suddenly became angry, puffed out his eyes and said, "Gu Yunji, are you really stupid or pretending to be stupid?!" In more than two months, the imperial court will collect the summer tax, and we will pay the grain tax in the Xuzhou government, one is rice, and the other is wheat. I ask you, is the artichoke one of them? ”

"Originally, the yield of rice and wheat was reduced, and now you are still promoting artichoke, if the farmers listen to it, as you said, the artichoke is so high-yielding, who is willing to brave the drought to rescue the crops in the field? Won't the yield of rice and wheat be even lower then?! ”

"If the rice and wheat production is reduced, under normal circumstances, the grain tax will definitely not be paid, and if we can't pay it, we will be reprimanded and punished. If taxes are forcibly urged, it is easy to provoke civil unrest, no matter which one it is, we will not have good fruit to eat! ”

Speaking of this, Yan Zhengqian tore off his usual disguise, his eyes were red, and he shouted at Gu Yunji emotionally: "You are the nephew of Shangshu of the Criminal Department, with him covered, you are not afraid, but I can't!" I'm leaving office next year, and I still want to get a middle and high level in the final year of the assessment, and I don't want my good resume and political achievements to be ruined by your broken artichoke! ”

Gu Yunji was stunned by the yelling, and reacted in hindsight: "So you are worried about this?" That's why you won't let me grow artichokes? ”

No wonder Yan Zhengqian waited in the government for a long time today, and he had to wait for him to come back, feeling that any canal irrigation was a pretense, Yan Zhengqian just didn't want him to promote artichoke planting. Because of the drought, the increase in the production of artichoke represents a decrease in grain production, which also leads to the fact that the tax amount stipulated by the imperial court is likely to be not paid.

Yan Zhengqian will be transferred in a year, and all his thoughts are devoted to currying favor with Shangguan and dredging up relationships, and dreaming of getting a good official position. The premise of promotion is to do a good job in his official duties, and when there was a drought in the Xuzhou government, he was more anxious than anyone else, and naturally he would not allow any variables that might affect his political performance.

Thinking through this layer, a nameless fire rose in Gu Yunji's heart, and he said in a deep voice: "Okay, if you want to protect your political achievements, then I will talk to you about your political achievements." You are the prefect of Xuzhou Mansion, I am the general judge of Xuzhou Mansion, and the affairs of the mansion are large and small, but if you want to be held accountable, the first thing will fall on you, me, and Chen Xunzhou. ”

"It is our fault that we did not pay the grain tax, but it is also our fault that the people did not have food to eat and starved to death. Since ancient times, all disaster relief has been carried out at the same time as saving food and saving people, even before saving people, after all, the purpose of saving food is to have food, and in the final analysis, it is to save people. ”

"Now that the drought has appeared, even if the water is diverted for irrigation, the dry crops will not survive, and it will be light if you can't pay taxes when the time comes, if a large number of people starve to death, and the people sell their fields and houses, and starve all over the land, will your political record book be good?!"

Facing Gu Yunji's questioning, Yan Zhengqian swallowed a depressed breath with a tense face: "...... What you say is true, but it is difficult to balance the two, and there is always a trade-off. Grain tax is a real thing, the imperial court has to pay as much as it stipulates, even if this year's situation is special, the imperial court may not look at the drought to reduce or reduce taxes. ”

"As for not having enough food to eat and starving to death, this is really a very common thing, when did no one starve to death? Where is there no starving people? Let's just say that in the locust plague in the north a few years ago, hundreds of thousands of people starved to death? ”

Speaking of this, Yan Zhengqian's eyes flashed, and he finally said: "In the final analysis, they are just untouchables who live worse than livestock. ”

Gu Yunji's face changed instantly, he was completely enraged by him, and he slammed the table and shouted, "Yan Zhengqian, do you still have a conscience!" ”

(End of chapter)