Section 72 Official Affairs of Four Provinces (2)

Chongshi returned to Beijing to report his work and was covered in dust. He originally wanted to resign in front of the emperor before leaving, but unexpectedly, the emperor was angry for his unclear work in office and did not give him a chance to beg for gratitude. He directly sent him away.

When the grace was declining, the officials from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Revenue, and the Ministry of Works looked at him differently. He could not get what he deserved, but he could not get what he could get. He had a sum of money now, so he had to pay it.

This is a quota. During the last year's birthday, Chongshi knew that there was a batch of ginseng in the Internal Affairs Treasury to be processed. If it were in previous years, the weaving was carried out by Jiangning, Suzhou and Hangzhou, and the three weaving stations in Jiangsu and Hangzhou. However, since Wen Duan dealt with the emperor and ordered people to travel to the province to investigate the accounts of the three weaving stations over the years, they found that there were many loopholes. The emperor was furious. In addition to Wen Duan, the weaving stations in the other two provinces had all seized his official positions and dismissed him.

Seeing that there was a taboo, Chongshi sent someone to Beijing to do activities. Through Sushun's help, he took the errands sold by the Ministry of Internal Affairs to his hands. There were six types of ginseng, more than two thousand kilograms, and the General Administration of Silver and Money was around 54,500 taels. He paid half of the money first, and then he would make up for it after the sale was completed.

If you follow the practice of previous years and his emperor's family, it would be better to wait for a few years. You can use this ginseng money and make a profit. However, this time when you go to Beijing, the fate of the Interior Ministry sent people to visit the mansion many times. On the surface, it was a question of the matter, but in fact, the words were always the same as tens of thousands of taels of ginseng money.

Chongshi knew it well and responded randomly. After talking about the province, he immediately sent someone to Beijing to pay off the funds one by one. He must not let his good friends be dragged down, so that the person who came was perfunctory.

He did not dare to stay in Beijing for too long. After receiving the order, he immediately packed his luggage and took his family to the road south. This year's early spring came earlier than in previous years. Just after mid-March, the canal had ice and opened, and the scenery was not bad. When he arrived in Dezhou, Shandong, Chongshi got ashore and ordered the official boat to wait at the dock, and went straight to Jinan. First, he asked Ahma for advice, and second, he was preparing to pick up Honglian and the children and return to the province to take office.

When they met Ahma, they said the words of the court, and the father and son were speechless, "Then, what do you want to do?"

"The emperor is responsible for righteousness, and his son can only repay sincerity. After returning to office, he will punish his subordinates and make some achievements. At that time, I hope the emperor will still remember the old love and see happiness again."

"Sichuan is thousands of miles away from the capital. The emperor sent you there, which means to observe the officials. How can you not only fail to relieve your worries for the king and father, but also be with these people and be in love with them? From my perspective, you have been so proud that you have forgotten to do it over the past few years."

"Yes, what Ama taught me is that, but this time my son came, there was something to help Ama."

“What is it?”

Chongshi told the matter of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to recover the funds, and finally said, "After the funds received last year, my son discussed with the staff of the Daotai Yamen. The left and right silver was also placed here, so why not take it out and benefit the court?"

"Bastard? Why do you benefit the court? Do you think I don't know? Isn't it just you who are trying to use the court's regular payments to make personal profits?" Chunshou saw the traitor and stared at him viciously, "I know why the emperor is not even willing to see you, so he sent you out of the capital. If you answered the preface, and heard this section, I'm afraid that the emperor would hand you over to the Ministry of Justice for punishment in anger! You bastard slave!"

Chongshi was ashamed and regretful. The father scolded him and dared not tell the difference. He started crying with sobs, "What Ama taught him is that his son knew he was wrong and he would never dare to do it again in the future."

The father and son were having a mess in the study, and even the old lady was shocked. She ordered people to hold their grandson and lead a pair of granddaughters to the study by the maid. "What's wrong with this? What can't you say? Why... Oh! Master, he is not a three-year-old child anymore. He always has to leave him a bit of decent before and after others!"

"You said it simply. Do you know how many things that are unfaithful and contrary to the laws of the country do? You tell your mother yourself."

The old lady felt sorry for her son. Without waiting for Chongshi to speak, she asked her granddaughter to go over and helped Ama up, "Son, why is this?"

Chongshi knew that his mother was not familiar with external affairs, and she might not understand it even after she told her. She could only increase the concern in the old man. She casually said a few words and deceived her. "The son always did not practice official ethics, took a concubine privately while he was in office, and gave birth to two siblings. Afterwards, he complained to his colleagues, so Ama was angry."

The old lady knew about this, not only did she know it, but she was very happy. Her wife came in for several years and gave birth to a son, but the child was very stupid and she didn't like it. The old lady didn't like it very much. Later, Chongshi took a Han concubine while serving in Sichuan, and gave birth to a daughter the year before. Two years later, she gave birth to another son. After hearing this, the old lady asked her husband to write a letter to the child, asking him to come to Shandong with a pair of children. The old lady could also take a look at her newly born grandson.

So, before Chongshi went to Beijing to report his work at the beginning of the year, he took Honglian and his two children to go on the road together, put down the three of them in Shandong, reunited with his parents, and continued north alone.

Hearing that this is the reason, the old lady breathed a sigh of relief, "It's for this? Master, did you hear it? The current officials are really confused. They just want to submit a memorial to take a concubine?"

Of course, Tsubasa could guess why his son was lying, and he couldn't tell it. "Anyway, it was because of his indecent behavior that he caught the wrong points."

"You are him, just teach him a few words." The old lady gently shook the doll in her arms, and said, "Master, this time my son returns to Sichuan to serve, why not leave the child in Shandong? Look, how cute he is?"

Chunshou thought for a while, "You're still a baby who's breastfeeding, so why don't you let them separate from their mother and son? Do you really have the heart to bear it?"

"Then, why don't you go to work with my son, wife, and I? You can also see the children every day?"

Before the adult could speak, Chongshi's three-year-old daughter immediately cheered, "It's great! Madam, are you leaving with your granddaughter too?"

"Shut up!" Chongshi scolded, "Where is there a place where you talk?"

The daughter pouted and stood beside her grandmother, "Madam, Ama said to me?"

"I'm not afraid, I'll just say he'll do it later." The old lady glared at her son, took her granddaughter's little hand, and the maid was still serving her, and turned around and went out.

After this upsurge, Chunsu's anger was greatly reduced. "What are you going to do after you return to office?"

"My son thinks that he must always uphold the will of the holy people and welcome and send all kinds of exchanges in the Taotai yamen, gifts, and food and invitations. The son's position is not in charge of the next yamen, but the yamen under his control must be in charge of the yamen."

"It is of course great if you can think like this. However, don't rely on the emperor's reliance and just stretch out your hands randomly. You shouldn't care. If you ask, even if you make a fuss, don't ask about it - it's important to know that it's easy to leave a bad reputation in the officialdom, but it's difficult to turn your head and make a favor."

"Yes, my son has written it down."

The father and son talked for a long time in the study. After coming to the evening, they went back to their room to rest. They were preparing to get up the next morning and say goodbye to their parents. The family was about to gossip. Unexpectedly, when Chongshi heard Honglian gossip, he said that Ama had been feeling troubled over the past few days, and seemed to have any troubles?

"Oh? How did you know?"

"I know what I'm doing?" Honglian said a very impure official language and often brought out some Sichuan dialects. "I just heard my mother say it. Why, I don't dare to ask."

Chongshi felt ashamed. When did he become so selfish? He made his father worried about his own affairs, but he knew nothing about his thoughts? It would be fine if he didn't know it all. Now that he knew, as a son, he would definitely not be able to go on the road without caring and not asking about it. He still has time left, so he stayed in the provincial capital for one more day.

After making up his mind, he said a few words to Honglian. Honglian was in everything, "I am naturally determined by the master."

The next day, he got up and went to the hall to pay homage to his parents. The father and son said a few words, Chongshi asked, "Ama, my son wants to stay for a few more days."

"What's wrong? What else?"

"Yes, my son heard from Honglian that Ama has been frowning recently, and it seems that there is too much worry backlog. Why would his son share the burden for Ama?"

"You are confused again! This is Shandong, not Sichuan, what can you share with me?"

"Master, that's not what it means. As the saying goes, father and son are in battle. If the child has such filial piety, it's good to let him think of a solution for the master!"

Chunshou was silent for a while, "Okay, you have been by your master for many years. You know the emperor's temper best. If you offer advice from it, you will always have a lot of veins than if you touch the elephant by a blind man." As he said that, he waved his hand and ordered the listener to the person, "Go to the yamen and ask Brother Xin Jie to go to the yamen to discuss matters."

With this moment, Tsubasa explained to her son—.

It turned out that Chunshou was worried about the emperor's visit to Jiangnan last year, stationed in Dezhou, Shandong Province, where he spent all offerings, with a total of no less than 400,000 taels of silver. Before the emperor went south, he had an imperial edict: "The officials of various provinces were not allowed to take advantage of the southern tour to develop civil engineering, and they could only slightly modify the original palaces and pavilions. Although the emperor said this, how many officials who were welcomed by various provinces had the courage and courage of Hu Linyi? They were still spending money and rushed to serve. However, one of them was the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Revenue, because the imperial edict was there, the silver spent on each province to welcome the emperor was not reimbursed at all, and could only be solved by each province.

If more than 400,000 taels of silver were established in previous years, such as "uploading cannons", "reverse cannons", and "taiping cannons" - it would be easily obtained. However, since the fourth year of Xianfeng, the state implemented business courses and gave the merchants the right to "see the place where they belong, there are all kinds of illegal miscellaneous items, and they can all be controlled by the superior yamen", officials were afraid that they would ruin their future for a few taels of silver and would not dare to repeat the same trick. Where the money came from would become a difficult problem. (Note 1)

Halfway through Chunshou, Lao Chongguang's sedan chair was carried to Futai Gate. The father and son temporarily stopped talking and greeted him in person, "Please pay tribute to the old senior."

"Oh, is it Brother Baishui?" Lao Chongguang probably knew that Chongshi returned to Beijing to report his duties this time, and scolded the emperor for his repatriation. He was very embarrassed and he couldn't talk much. He said hello to him and saluted the Lord Futai, "I've seen the Lord."

"Come on, Xin Jie, come to the hall to talk. Come on, prepare tea and snacks." He greeted him and sat down at the hall. Chongshi was accompanying each other. Chunshou explained a few words, and then said, "Brother Xin Jie, the son of the dog is stupid, but I think he is always close to the emperor, and his master's temper is more familiar with the people outside. Why not just let him plan from the side?"

Lao Chongguang also felt embarrassed. He was a vassal department in one province, specializing in money, grain and personnel. In order to meet the deficit, he discussed with the staff of the clearing of the deficit several times, and was inconsistent with each other. There were two ways to deal with it. The first was to send people to Beijing to engage in activities. It would be best to clear the way of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, strive to eliminate the debts and settle the matters. Another opinion was to borrow some of the lijin, river workers and dike workers collected in a year. In the shortage, they ordered the prefectures and counties to send people to donate, especially those big businesses and shops in the prefectures and cities, and to unite the chamber of commerce to temporarily support and overcome the difficulties.

Lao Chongguang thought about it seriously and thought it was not good. Not to mention whether the way of the Ministry of Internal Affairs can be done, but he just wanted to manage these people, but he was afraid that it would not be possible to get rid of the matter. It was even worse to borrow money. After a few years, all the money was collected and transported to Beijing, and there were similar constants. It suddenly decreased. The court asked how to make excuses? As for the third article, it was even more inappropriate. Merchants are no longer those weak people who can play with applause for the government. On the contrary, after the implementation of the business course, as long as the tax officials and the clerks had a slight disrespect and unfairness in their actions, these people would jointly sue.

Although the officials ruled the Qing Dynasty, the corresponding ones were full of official affairs in various prefectures and counties, especially in the downtown Lu Xiao, who took advantage of the problem for Liu Zicai to play the role of Liu Zicai and punished the unruly tax collectors in the county. The province was full of merchants and civilians who came to complain. Officials were busy with official duties and complained one by one. They reported to the province. Chunshou and Lao Chongguang discussed it. Once they were soft-hearted, they were afraid that all the efforts Liu Zicai put into wasted! It would be better to put their hearts and deal with it hard-working - it took less time for the left and right, and those tax officials seemed to have no room for comfort, so they no longer dared to take advantage of official affairs and do evil.

Sure enough, the head of a province seeks truth from facts, so the people below dare not treat it with sloppy. By the sixth year of Xianfeng, the atmosphere in Shandong Province changed. The tax officials in each government were like the land in the Tianqi period in the previous dynasty. It was the foundation of wealth, but now it is the word "burden". In a county, if someone assigned to a tax officer and inspector, it would be as frowning as a dead father. And the case of businessmen suing tax collectors for misconduct has not been heard for a long time.

If he followed the advice of his staff and squeezed money from the businessman, he would be afraid that before the money was squeezed out, he would not be able to save his black hat and Chunshou's hat. He could not think of a countermeasure, so Goshha came to report, "Master Futai asked the Lord to go to the yamen to discuss matters."

Hearing Lao Chongguang exposes three strategies from the Qingkes in the mansion one by one, and explains his concerns. Chongshi nods deeply, "What the old senior said is very true. The above three points, which I think are not available for later generations."

"Then, what do you think?" Chunshou had no concerns about his son and asked loudly, "Does this hole be there? When will it be filled in?"

"Ama, don't worry, my son has two ways to alleviate it. First, you might as well take out a part of the money that was intercepted in the province as usual, and ask the court for an order to fill it in installments."

This method has also been thought of. After the treasury in the province, every year, all the money to be paid is handed over to the treasury, the amount of money left behind is not large, but it is still possible to support this hole. The only problem is that it is difficult to hide this from the censors of various provinces. Once people find out, they will be unsolved and will not be able to do so.

He then asked, "What about the second solution?"

Chongshi smiled, "I just ask Ama to submit to the court and tell the matter to the emperor." Without waiting for the two people to ask questions, he explained himself, "The emperor hates his ministers to take advantage of tricks and is born with kindness. As long as Ama can understand the truth and respond in a profound way, he will give the people Du Fanke, and the emperor will definitely be lenient and will not pursue the matter."

This method was unexpected by Chunshou and Lao Chongguang. Lao Chongguang stared for a long time and suddenly attacked the case and praised him, "It's a good thing to tell me! Instead of hiding it, it's better to tell me about the past, and have accounts to follow, all for the purpose of the whole province to respect the emperor. Even if the court sends people to investigate, the province is not afraid of it."

Chunshou was still a little worried, "But, Brother Xin Jie, before the emperor Nan Xing last year, he had an edict that the provinces would not allow them to spend a lot of money, thinking that we would like to welcome the emperor. Today we apologize. I am afraid that this crime of disrespect for the order is not eliminated, right?"

"Don't worry about this level. Gui Yanshan was in charge of the imperial submission from many parties during his tenure. Did he spend less money?" Chongshi looked dissatisfied. "Didn't the emperor say nothing? As Lord Lao said, silver is used where it should be used, and no one has ever entered the official's personal waist..." He suddenly paused, "Ama, you really won't put the money..."

Chunshou and Lao Chongguang looked at each other and smiled bitterly, "Do you lazy boy dare to joke with Ama?"

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He helped Ama draft a copy of the book and sent it to Beijing for a lifetime. Chongshi felt relieved and said goodbye to his parents. He took Honglian and his children and headed south to his post along the way.

Note 1: "...Attacking cannons, reverse cannons, Taiping cannons..." These are several bad rules routinely in the Qing Dynasty officialdom. Simply put, officials are about to leave office and implement the method of reducing the price and taxes, called the method of setting up cannons; officials are in office, reducing the price and raising taxes, called the name of the reverse cannons; and they are neither leaving or taking office, but just spreading rumors that officials will leave office, and the servants are spreading all over the countryside to deceive the people to pay taxes, which is called the Taiping cannons.

All of the above are the means for officials to make money. In the places where there are frequent dramas, you can get tens of thousands of gold or five or seven thousand gold. Most of the income taxes are spent on your personal pockets. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendations from *** (***.***) and your support is my greatest motivation.)
Chapter completed!