After chatting about some data on the collection of summer grain, Yan Zhengqian said: "After the tax and grain collection is completed, it will be transported to Chengdu Mansion and reported to the Political Secretary." This time, I am going to go with Lord Chen, and Lord Gu will stay in the mansion, and the affairs in the state capital will be taken care of by Lord Gu for the time being. ”

Within a state capital, the prefect is the highest chief executive, and the co-governor is the prefect's deputy, assisting the prefect in managing the administrative affairs of a prefecture.

Generally speaking, when going to the political secretary to pay grain tax, either the first prefect goes, or the second-in-command goes with the governor, or the prefect and the general judge go together, and there are very few cases where the first two people go and leave a third-in-command to be sentenced to the government.

Gu Yunji guessed that Yan Zhengqian and Chen Xunzhou were going to go to the political secretary together this time, maybe they were going to make small moves, such as suing him or something.

However, he was too lazy to care, and he didn't want to care, and his communication with the political envoy was very small, and it was basically limited to writing. If the other party is a sensible person, he will naturally not listen to Yan Chen and the others' slander against him, if the other party is the same as them, then it will be useless for him to take care of it.

It is a waste of time and energy to put his mind on people like Yan Zhengqian and Chen Xunzhou, Gu Yunji still wants to do practical things well, such as continuing to promote artichokes, such as handling daily criminal and official duties...... Wait a minute.

So Gu Yunji did not raise any objections to this, and after a few perfunctory sentences, the matter of taxes and grain was discussed.

Next, the three of them went to do what they had to do, Gu Yunji continued to handle daily official business, while Yan Zhengqian and Chen Xunzhou went to Chengdu Mansion, the residence of the Chengxuan Political Envoy in Sichuan, to report the results of the summer grain collection to the political envoy.

In the Sichuan Political Division, I heard that the summer grain tax of Xuzhou Mansion was collected by more than 90,000 stones, and the political envoy Pu Tingnan said unexpectedly: "So much? You must know that other state capitals are generally only 60,000 or 70,000 stones, and the highest one is only 80,000 stones. ”

Yan Zhengqian looked like a dog in front of Shangguan, and smiled flatteringly: "Master Pu has an overreputation, I heard Master Pu say that he tried his best to collect grain, and the lower officials didn't dare to slack off, and all the grain that could be collected was collected, and we didn't expect that there would be so much." This is all because you have been taught well and managed well. ”

Pu Tingnan was slapped by his sycophant, but he still didn't forget to say with a straight face: "It is very important to collect the summer grain tax and complete the tasks assigned by the imperial court, but in addition, the livelihood of the people is more important." Don't do anything of persecution to the people for the sake of collecting taxes and grain, for if there is a riot, it will be a terrible thing. ”

Yan Zhengqian hurriedly said: "Please rest assured, Master Pu, we all know this." The lower officials can pat their chests and guarantee that the officials of Xuzhou Mansion have not violently demanded taxes in this summer grain collection, and all the tax grains have been collected in accordance with the law. ”

"Oh? Is it? ”

Pu Tingnan knew too much about the virtues of these officials, and he doubted the authenticity of these words, and raised his eyebrows and asked: "Most areas in central Shu have suffered from drought this year, and other state capitals are crying to me, saying that the grain production has been seriously reduced and the tax revenue cannot be raised. ”

"Xuzhou Mansion is so remarkable, it can have a bumper harvest under the great drought, so that Lord Yan can collect all the taxes and grain without much effort?"

"Of course, it's not as easy as you said, Master Pu, we still have a lot of effort."

As he spoke, Yan Zhengqian pulled out Chen Xunzhou, who was following him, and brought him to Pu Tingnan and said: "Especially our representative of Xuzhou Mansion, Master Chen, his family has a lot of fields in Xuzhou Mansion, and he has contributed a lot to this grain collection. ”

Chen Xunzhou is not from the imperial examination in the end, his knowledge is limited, and he is fine in the Xuzhou Mansion, as soon as he arrived at the Political Department and saw the political envoy of Sichuan, he couldn't help but feel weak in his heart, his movements shrank and shrank, and he didn't even dare to take the initiative to say a word.

In the entire Daxia officialdom, there are many chains of contempt, the most typical is that the Beijing officials look down on the local officials, and the court officials look down on the unqualified officials at the bottom of the yamen. In the imperial examination system, the Shu Jishi looked down on the ordinary jinshi who had not entered the Hanlin Academy, the ordinary jinshi looked down on the candidates for the official lifters, and the people looked down on the nominal supervisors who were not born in the imperial examination, the officials of the related households, and so on.

Chen Xunzhou was not born in the imperial examination, he was originally only a showman and famous, and later spent a lot of money to donate a nominal prison student, and he could only serve as a "representative of the same knowledge" in an inferior state capital like Xuzhou Mansion.

If you ignore the official rank, Chen Xunzhou is simply at the bottom of the chain of contempt in the entire officialdom, and he occupies all the elements that are despised. When he was in Xuzhou Mansion, Chen Xunzhou was a fellow of the same government, except for Yan Zhengqian's occasional contempt for him, no one dared to look down on him.

But once he came out of Xuzhou Mansion to Chengdu Mansion, any official was from a higher background than him, and even a nine-grade official in the Political Department was a serious person, and the political envoy in front of him was a dignified second-class jinshi, Chen Xunzhou felt a head shorter than others when he walked on the road, and he couldn't help but show his inferiority complex in his bones.

Pulled in front of the political envoy by Yan Zhengqian, Chen Xunzhou was so nervous that his palms were sweaty, and he said crampedly: "...... Below, the next official Xuzhou Mansion is the same as Chen Xunzhou, and he has seen the political envoy. ”

"Chen Xunzhou ......" Pu Tingnan looked at him carefully, his face was kind, "I have an impression of you, although you are not a court official, but you have also been a fellow governor in Xuzhou Mansion for many years, and your qualifications are older than Yan Governor's Mansion, and Xuzhou Mansion is thriving in governance, and it is inseparable from your efforts." ”

Chen Xunzhou was even more at a loss, and hurriedly said: "I just do my best, I don't dare to be praised by adults." ”

Pu Tingnan is an old fritter in officialdom, and he has dealt with Yan Zhengqian many times, and he knows best what kind of virtue the other party is. In the past, he came alone to report on grain taxes and other affairs, but this time he brought Chen Xunzhou for another purpose.

Thinking of this, Pu Tingnan sat back on the chair and took a slow sip of tea, and quietly tentatively said:

"Although I asked the state governments to do their best to collect taxes, I didn't expect that the Xuzhou government would actually collect 90,000 stone of grain, which is about to catch up with the good weather in previous years. The drought is so severe this year, although the imperial court has not yet issued an order, but it is a sure thing to reduce taxes, it is just a difference in how much. ”

"As for the extra grain paid by the Xuzhou government, in my opinion, it will be troublesome to let the two of them transport it back at that time, so it is better to keep an account with this official first, and take a part of it out and calculate it on the autumn tax. When the autumn tax is levied, the Xuzhou government will pay less, what do you think? ”

Yan Zhengqian immediately understood what he meant, and immediately said: "Look at what Master Pu said, the summer tax is the summer tax, and the autumn tax is the autumn tax, how can there be a reason to mix the two together and use the summer tax to pay the autumn tax?" ”

"Of course, this time there is a great drought in Shuzhong, and the rest of the state capitals have been affected to varying degrees, and it is very difficult to collect taxes and grains.

"But the grain has been shipped, and there is no talk of transporting it back......

Yan Zhengqian paused, subconsciously glanced around, got up and approached Pu Tingnan, and smiled flatteringly: "It's better - this extra food, the right is my and Chen Tongzhi to give your filial piety to your lordship, in order to repay your kindness to us over the years." ”