Rongcheng is a medium-sized county. According to the holy decree of Emperor Hongzhi, 16,000 stone of grain should be accumulated.

The account book says that the grain is exactly 16,000 stones.

There are a total of 200 grain cantons in the official warehouse. Each grain hoarded 80 stones, that is, more than 13,000 catties of grain.

The size of the sacks used in the Ming official warehouse is fixed. Each sack of wheat can hold a hundred pounds.

Each grain tun was lined with more than 130 sacks.

Chang Feng first walked to a grain tun and poked it with half of a bamboo, and what flowed out was high-grade new wheat.

Chang Feng asked Huang Zhixian: "Are they all new wheat?" ”

Beads of sweat the size of beans appeared on Huang Zhixian's head, and he spoke in a slurred manner: "Ah, all, all!" ”

Chang Feng gave an order: "Come on, give me a grain check!" ”

Shi Wenyi led a few wrestlers, carrying a table and a few chairs to Chang Feng: "Chang Ye, Xu Ye, Qian Ye, you sit." ”

Now Shi Wenyi has risen to 100 households. Among the thousands of households inspected, the status is second only to Chang Feng, Xu Fatzi, and Qian Ning.

Chang Feng sat down in a chair. Eating pastries that Shi Wenyi found out of nowhere, drinking tea.

An hour later, the sacks that were placed outside the various grain bars were almost checked.

Chang Feng instructed Huang Zhixian: "Let all the three classes of the county government come over, remove the sacks outside the grain tun, and check the inside." ”

This time, I came down to inspect the official warehouse, and Chang Feng was very careful. Both inside and outside the grain tun must be checked. That's what I've done all the way.

Huang Zhixian was dumbfounded: "Huh? Do you want to check what's inside? There's no need to put it, it's all full of fresh wheat inside and out. ”

Chang Feng sensed the deception in Huang Zhixian's eyes!

Chang Feng sneered: "What's the matter, the sacks in the grain tun have not been checked?" ”

Huang Zhixian hurriedly said: "Ah, Xia Guan didn't mean that." I meant to say. The errands have been checking for more than an hour, and they are very tired. It's better to go to the county government and have a meal first. ”

Chang Feng glared at Huang Zhixian angrily: "What, you want to plug my mouth with wine, rice, women, and even silver?" ”

"Haven't you heard of the name of the butcher of the Jinyi Guard? My mouth can't be blocked by a small magistrate who wants to! ”

It's the end of March, and it's already hot. Huang Zhixian was sweating profusely, and his face was red.

In a hurry, the obese Huang Zhixian fainted directly and fell to the ground like a puddle of mud.

Xu Fatzi smiled: "We haven't checked yet, he was scared!" It seems that there are ghosts! ”

After speaking, Xu Fatzi walked to a grain tun, showed the skills of the number one strong man of Jinyiwei, and moved the sacks that had been inspected outside one by one.

Xu Fatzi took a half-cut bamboo tube and inserted it into the sack inside.

It's not wheat at all! It's sand and gravel!

Xu Fatzi held a slap of sand and came to Chang Feng: "Master Chang, this is what is in the bag inside." ”

Chang Feng said angrily: "Come on! Wake up this corrupt official with cold water! ”

A wrestler carried a basin of cold water and poured it on Huang Zhixian's head.

Huang Zhixian woke up.

Chang Feng pointed to the sand and stone on the table: "Huang Zhixian, Brother Huang Shi, what is this?" Can you eat it? Can we help the victims in a disaster year? Why don't you take a bite and show me? ”

Huang Zhixian kowtowed like pounding garlic: "The lower official is guilty, the lower official is guilty!" ”

Chang Feng said: "Don't be in a hurry to confess your guilt. Let me ask you, what is the actual amount of grain stored in your official warehouse? ”

Huang Zhixian replied tremblingly: "Three, three thousand stones." ”

Chang Feng was furious: "The number set by the holy decree is sixteen thousand stones. And thou hast thirteen thousand stones of sand and gravel here? ”

Huang Zhixian's fat face was already bloodless: "Yes." ”

Chang Feng asked, "Where is the grain?" ”

Huang Zhixian was very timid, and he was frightened by the Chang Butcher of Jinyiwei, and he had already lost six of his seven spirits.

He began to say incoherent nonsense: "Ah, the food has not been confiscated. Ah no, it's because the lower officials are greedy for ink. ”

When Chang Feng interrogated Huang Zhixian, a county officeman secretly left the official warehouse. It seems that I went to report to someone.

Chang Feng said angrily: "You sold the grain that was greedy for ink? Or does it exist somewhere else? ”

Huang Zhixian is overweight and in poor health. Under Chang Feng's questioning, he actually fainted again. This time, I couldn't wake up even if I splashed cold water.

Qian Ning unceremoniously pulled out the embroidered spring knife, and the tip of the knife stabbed Huang Zhixian's fat buttocks.

Huang Zhixian didn't react at all.

Qian Ning said: "Master Chang, this guy is not pretending to be dizzy. ”

Chang Feng walked over and probed Huang Zhixian's snort: "The breath is dying." Go, find a gentleman, and give him a good look. I had to think about getting him back. ”

Xu Fatzi said: "What are you doing with that matter?" Rectify him on the spot, and then copy the family wealth, won't it be enough to do the work? ”

Chang Feng shook his head slightly: "No." We can't correct him on the spot. We have to bring him back to Beijing and behead him publicly!" ”

"I ask again for the officials to watch. Let the civil and military capitals of the Manchu Dynasty see what the fate of disobeying the emperor's holy decree is! ”

Sometimes the dead are more useful than the living, and Chang Feng wants to take the head of Huangzhi County as Emperor Hongzhi.

Emperor Hongzhi is good anywhere, but he is too merciful. For a boss, being too kind will not deter the employees below.

Several wrestlers carried Huang Zhi County away.

Chang Feng ordered a group of wrestlers to continue the inventory. As Huang Zhixian said, out of the 16,000 stone grain hoard, only 3,000 stone is genuine wheat. The rest is all sand and gravel.

Chang Feng asked Qian Ning: "Who is from Charongcheng County?" ”

Qian Ning took out a list booklet and flipped through it: "It's Wang Defa, the little flag of our Beisi." Now he should be in Tang County. ”

Chang Feng said: "Send a few people and ride fast horses to call him to Rongcheng County." ”

"This guy either took Huang Boren's silver to cover him. Either they are not cautious in handling errands, and only check the outside of the grain tun, but not the inside of the grain tun. ”

Qian Ning nodded: "Okay, I'll send someone." ”

At night, the county government is back.

Huang Zhixian lay unconscious on the couch. Chang Feng stood in front of the couch and asked Lang Zhong: "What's wrong with this guy?" ”

Lang Zhong replied: "He is weak; Lack of righteousness; Deficiency of qi, blood, and fluids. Qi stagnation, congestion and blockage of the veins. It seems to be old chest paralysis. ”

"The small one can only open melon soup and give him a wide chest to loosen the knots. Whether his life can be saved depends on creation. ”

The chest paralysis mentioned by Lang Zhong is, in the words of Western medicine in later generations, coronary heart disease.

Huang Zhixian was fat and had suffered from chest paralysis for many years, and today he was frightened by Chang Feng, and he fell ill directly, and his life and death were unpredictable.

Chang Feng said to Xu Fatzi: "Yes, let's rest." If he dies, we will raid his house. ”

Fat Xu smiled slightly: "Hey, I'm not resting in the back office." I've got to go out and check the customs! Otherwise, wouldn't it be over Baoshan and return empty-handed? ”

Chang Feng waved his hand: "Get out!" Take it easy, and be careful and get windy immediately. ”

Xu Fatzi ran away with a smoke. Chang Feng returned to the bedroom.

A total of five counties were investigated, and one county was found to have problems with grain hoarding. Finally, I didn't go out of Beijing in vain.

After a tired day, he lay down and fell asleep.

In the second half of the night, the county government suddenly sounded the drum of "dong, dong, dong"!

The sound of drums shook the sky, waking up Chang Feng.

Chang Feng shouted outside the bedroom: "Come on, go see what's going on!" ”

A wrestler took the order. After the tea, he returned: "Master Chang, thousands of people have gathered outside the county office. Said it was to avenge the grievances! ”

Chang Feng walked out of the door and said to himself: "That bastard surnamed Huang doesn't know how many wrongs the people of Rongcheng County have swallowed!" ”

Chang Feng came to the yamen.

Thousands of people outside the yamen pushed the gold mountain and poured the jade pillar, and knelt down in a large area.

"Wronged!" They chanted in unison.

Chang Feng pressed his hands and motioned for them to be silenced. Then Chang Feng said: "Fellow villagers. I am Jinyi Wei Qianhu Changfeng. This time I was ordered to inspect Rongcheng County, and I came to avenge you! ”

"The corrupt official Huang Boren has been taken care of by me! You can say that you have been wronged! I have recorded and verified the facts one by one, and severely punished Huang Boren for being angry with you! ”

When the people heard this, they cried one after another. The cries of thousands of people shook the earth.

An old man in his seventies stood up and opened a Wanmin umbrella with a few young men.

Chang Feng was a little strange: I haven't avenged them yet, so I sent the Wanmin umbrella so soon?

The old man shouted hoarsely, "Don't wronged a good person! We are not here to avenge ourselves, we are here to avenge Huangzhi County! ”

"Huang Zhixian is a good official who is hard to find with a lantern! This Wanmin umbrella was made and given to him this winter. He was humble and did not receive! ”

Thousands of people shouted: "Huangzhi County is wronged!" ”

"Huang Qingtian is a first-class good official!"

"If Huang Zhi County has three long and two short, what will we do with the people of Rongcheng?"

Chang Feng frowned.

Chang Feng's first reaction was: These people should be hired by Huang Boren's subordinates.

The so-called virtual stove, in the words of later generations, is childcare.

No matter ancient or modern, there are always some officials who want to put gold on their faces, and when they leave office, they hire a bunch of nurseries to kowtow and cry and retain.

Sometimes you don't have to spend money to hire them, and you directly let the officials in the yamen find their relatives and friends, and play the drama of the people staying in the sky.

The seventy-year-old man had been in the world for a long time and seemed to have seen through Chang Feng's thoughts.

The old man said loudly: "The people who came to avenge Huangzhi County tonight are only the people in the county and the six townships on the outskirts of the county. ”

"Tens of thousands of people in the remaining 21 townships in this county will arrive tomorrow!"

"If the adults insist on going their own way and wronging us Huang Qingtian, the people of the entire Rongcheng County will enter the city and the chief will not be able to kneel!"

When Chang Feng heard this, he beat a drum in his heart: Did I really wronged Huang Boren? Even if his subordinates look for a false stove, they can't find the people of the county to do a show.

But the hoarding of grain was obviously shorted by 13,000 stones. He himself admits that he is greedy for ink.

Chang Feng arched his hand towards the old man: "Old man, let's talk about it in the ya, how about it?" ”

The old man followed Chang Feng into the county office.

Chang Feng asked people to serve tea to the old man, and then asked, "The old man has a big name?" ”

The old man replied: "Student Huang Weigong is the township covenant of Zhuqiao Township in this county. ”

Chang Feng asked: "The old man calls himself a 'student', is he famous?" ”

The old man replied: "The student is a talent in the Baoding Mansion Examination in Xuande for eight years. ”

Chang Feng said: "Since you are a talent in the academy, you should read poetry and books." Why does the old man want to protect a corrupt official? ”

The old man's face changed: "Corrupt official? Who are corrupt officials? You say Huang Qingtian? If he is a corrupt official, I am afraid that there will be no clean officials in the whole world! ”

Chang Feng smiled bitterly: "I haven't seen a Qing official with five rings on ten fingers." ”

The old man suddenly realized: "You said those five rings! Our Huang Qingtian family is very good, and there are thousands of acres of fertile land handed down by our ancestors in the suburbs of Beijing. ”

"Those five rings are also ancestral. Three gold rings, the inside of which are engraved with the words "Lian", "Qing" and "Ming". ”

"Two jade rings, engraved with the words 'loyalty' and 'filial piety' respectively."

"Huang Zhixian carries these five rings every day to remind himself of the ancestral teachings of 'honesty, purity, brightness, loyalty, and filial piety'."

Chang Feng was surprised: "There is such a thing? The old man didn't lie to me, did he? ”

The old man said: "The people of the entire Rongcheng County know about this. If you don't believe me, just ask a few people. ”

"We, Huang Qingtian, have served two terms in Rongcheng County, and none of the people in this county have mentioned him without giving him a thumbs up."

"He is not corrupt or bribe-taking. He loves the people like a son, and judges cases like a god. It's simply Bao Qingtian's reincarnation! ”

Chang Feng said: "However, the emperor ordered the prefectures and counties of the world to stock up on grain. Your county should hoard 16,000 stone of grain. He only hoarded three thousand stones. All that's left is to fill up with stones and sand! ”

The old man said astonishingly: "The student dares to say something disrespectful. The original intention of the emperor's decree may be good. But in the land, the decree became a knife to rip out the flesh of the people! ”

Chang Feng asked, "How do you say this?" ”

The old man talked eloquently and told Chang Feng a secret that everyone knew to the officials but everyone did not say.

The imperial court relied on the grain chiefs and servants under the government of each county to collect the land endowment.

The grain chiefs and messengers will use the methods of "reducing the volume of officials" and "drenching and kicking" to squeeze the people.

The so-called Guanhu volume reduction is to do tricks and feet on the measurement and balance of the land collection - Guanhu.

It was supposed to hold one hundred and sixty-six pounds of dendrobium, and some could only hold one hundred and fifty pounds. In black-hearted places, a dendrobium can only hold one hundred and twenty catties.

When the official Hu is smaller, the people will naturally pay more grain. The extra part was divided up layer by layer by the grain chief, the errand servant, and even the county and the magistrate.

As the name suggests, after the official Hu is full, the grain chief will kick the official Hu hard. The spilled grain becomes "wastage". Naturally, the loss will also be divided.

Ma Ang, the secretary of the household department of the Chenghua Dynasty, once said that for every 10 million stones collected by the imperial court, the people paid at least 15 million stones.

The extra land endowments were naturally divided among the layers of officials.

But there is always a balance.

These two tricks have been played for more than 120 years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty. A delicate balance has been struck.

The government can do as much as it can for the people to be sustainable. The people are also barely able to accept the exploitation of the government, and they are used to it.

However, last year, Emperor Hongzhi issued a holy decree that broke this balance.

The hoarding of grain requested by Emperor Hongzhi was not included in the field endowment.

His original intention was to let the magistrates buy the grain of the people with official money. Concentrate on hoarding to prevent disaster years.

However, the purpose was local. The magistrates were all like treasures, and their eyes were red, as if they had been beaten with chicken blood.

It's a copy! In addition to Tian Fu, there is another big amount of fat!

The "grain hoarding" in Emperor Hongzhi's decree was not Natianfu, similar to official grain purchases.

The pricing power is in the hands of the government.

In addition to the two methods of "Guanhu Reducing Volume" and "Drenching and Kicking", they can also exploit the people from the pricing.

For example, an old farmer sent a stone of high-quality rice according to the government's notice. Originally, the government should pay for the purchase of eight coins of silver.

The official looked at the rice and said that it was inferior rice, and he could only pay five cents of silver.

You say not to sell? Don't you dare! The government buys your grain and hoards it in the official warehouse, that is the emperor's will! Do you dare to resist the decree?

The people of Tianxia prefectures and counties were exploited twice by the government last year. The first exploitation is to hand over the fields, and the second exploitation is to hoard grain.

Let's talk about the original intention of Emperor Hongzhi: to hoard grain and prepare for famine.

Only in the hands of the common people can grain be truly prepared.

The grain received from the government, and in a disaster year, it was impossible to say who would eat it.

For example, Rongcheng County. If it is according to the holy decree, he should store up 16,000 stones.

Today's magistrate is a good official Huang Boren. If there is a famine, he will certainly hoard grain to help the people.

However, Huang Boren has been in charge of Rongcheng for six years. This year, I will definitely be promoted or transferred elsewhere.

What if the successor is a black-hearted corrupt official? In a disaster year, he stuffed the food he used for relief into his pockets and gave the people a thin wheat porridge mixed with sand

Although Huang Boren is timid and has chest paralysis, he is not stupid! Be able to see through the stakes.

He simply only accepted 3,000 stone grains to fill the façade, and first fooled the Qin Cha who came down to accept it.

The old man finished telling everything. Chang Feng was dumbfounded.

It is obviously a holy decree for the benefit of the country and the people, but when it is conveyed to the bottom, it has become harmful to the country and the people.

What's even more infuriating is that none of the civil officials who know the truth reminded Emperor Hongzhi!

Even Wang Shu and Ma Wensheng did not say anything to Emperor Hongzhi.

Speaking of which, aren't you afraid of offending the magistrates of the whole world?

Could it be that there is no real loyal minister in the entire Ming Dynasty?

Chang Feng said: "Old man, I've been out of Beijing for a month. No one has told me about these things. ”

The old man said: "Dare to ask about the errand." After you leave Beijing, can you have a private visit to Weifu and have a deep conversation with the poor people everywhere?"

Chang Feng is stopped.

He just focused on the inspector's warehouse. Every time I go to a place, I go straight to the official warehouse. Where have you heard the voices of the poor?

The old man said, "I have already made things clear. Please be aware of everything and don't wronged us Huang Qingtian. ”

Chang Feng asked: "Why does Huang Zhixian admit that he is greedy for 13,000 stones of grain?" ”

The old man said: "Confiscating all the grain is tantamount to resisting the decree." Perhaps Huang Qingtian was afraid that the people of Rongcheng County would be accused of resisting the decree. Only then did he lie that he was greedy for ink. He is carrying the black pot for the people of the county! ”

At this moment, a wrestler walked in: "Master Chang, the guy surnamed Huang has woken up." ”

Chang Feng hurriedly corrected him: "What 'the guy surnamed Huang', called Huang Zhixian!" ”

Then Chang Feng said to the old man: "I'm ashamed, I almost wronged a good official. ”

The two came to Huang Zhixian's bedside.

Huang Zhixian said weakly: "Up, up." ”

Chang Feng said: "You don't have to say it. I know what happened. You're a good officer, and I blame you. ”

Chang Feng was a little amused in his heart: he had only heard of bold Qing officials before. This time I saw a timid Qing official like a mouse.

Huang Zhixian looked at the old man standing beside Chang Feng and knew that the old man had explained everything to Chang Feng.

He said, "On the errand." Although I am not greedy for ink, I am also suspected of resisting the decree. ”

Chang Feng comforted him: "You can recuperate with peace of mind." When the condition improves, we will talk in detail. ”

(End of chapter)