Start with detective Li Yuanfang

Chapter 1285

"Qi Ye, the medicinal materials are all packed!"

In front of the warehouse of the Chen family's old house in the Baicao Hall of the capital, horse-drawn carts loaded with medicinal materials are ready to go.

Chen Jingqi, who has changed from the eldest master in the past to the current family member, checked the list of medicinal materials again, nodded, and told the shopkeeper: "Be careful on the road!"

The shopkeeper nodded, and the strong man on the other side said with a smile: "Please rest assured, Qi Ye, my disciples of the Luo Sect have gone through a lot of things, and I will wait for the guards this time, so I promise nothing will happen!"

This person is indeed a disciple of the Luo Sect, and he believes in lifeless old mothers. In the early years, he was a water transporter in the south. In recent years, his power has expanded, and he has a certain influence in the capital, and even started an escort business.

Chen Jingqi has a bold personality, and he likes to make friends with all kinds of people from all walks of life. This time, he asked Luo Jiao to help escort him. He was assured of their ability, but he still couldn't help worrying: "Going to Guanzhong, I fear that there will be many refugees. In order to survive, they will become thieves. Bandits, these herbs are designed to cure diseases, but there are countless people alive, so there is absolutely no room for loss!"

Luo taught the man's smile to disappear, and he saluted solemnly: "Seventh Master Gaoyi!"

"It's just a little effort..."

Chen Jingqi knew that unless the court did its best to provide disaster relief, what the hospital did would be a drop in the bucket.

Of course, no matter how little, it is better than nothing, not to mention the publication of the medical book "Compendium of Materia Medica", which specifically describes the pathology, prevention and cure of epidemic diseases, and the most terrifying thing in any catastrophe is the outbreak of epidemic diseases. With these The decoction prepared by the medicinal materials may save countless lives by isolating and detoxifying.

"I hope to catch up soon!"

Watching the convoy leave, Chen Jingqi stood silent for a moment, then turned around and prepared to go back to the medical clinic.

At this moment, he suddenly found that a woman with a kind face was looking at him from across the street.

As soon as the eyes of the two sides met, a sedan chair passed by, and in the blink of an eye, the woman disappeared without a trace.

If this kind of thing were told by others, it would send chills down the spine, but maybe it was because of the holiness of that woman, Chen Jingqi was not afraid, but felt a little weird: "Who is so tall?"

Before he could figure out what was going on, the sound of gongs and drums not far away attracted his attention again.

The people gathered one after another, and when they saw the emperor's list was posted, the officials next to it began to recite and explain it in easy-to-understand words.

Chen Jingqi was also among them, and frowned after hearing a few words: "Looking for a strange man who has overcome suffering and ascended to heaven?"

Not only him, but other onlookers are either at a loss, or are secretly cursing: "Crafting and misleading the country, deceiving the saints!"

Now the north is going to fight against Mongolia, and the south is going to relieve the catastrophe. Even the people of the capital are having a hard time. At this juncture, what kind of strange people are recruited by His Majesty to let the evil people go to heaven?
Therefore, the dissatisfied people began to scold treacherous officials and corrupt officials in their hearts.

But Chen Jingqi has gradually seen clearly.

In the past, people's livelihood was poor and life was difficult, so they could scold the strict party.

Now that the strict party has collapsed, the government has not improved at all. In the Ming Dynasty, there were two capitals and thirteen provinces, and there was hardly a foot of pure land within thousands of miles. The root cause was obviously not in the cabinet.

"Healing the country is like treating people. Either you don't treat it, or you need it if you want it!"

This sentence emerged from Chen Jingqi's mind, as if someone had said it, and it seemed as if it was just a thought, but after all, he shook his head secretly and left from the crowd.

Where is the root of the disease of the Ming Dynasty? I believe that the princes of the Ming Dynasty can't see it clearly. Unfortunately, you know it, I know it, everyone knows it, but no one dares to touch it...

Chen Jingqi is the one who runs a medical clinic, so naturally he can't risk his whole family's life to tell the truth, maybe Jin Yiwei is hiding by his side, monitoring every move around Zhang Bang.

Out of sight, out of mind!
However, Huangbang could not look at it, his head felt cold quickly, he raised his head, and saw the snowflakes fluttering and falling.

"This snow came at an inopportune time!"

……

"This snow came at the wrong time!"

The snowflakes were all over the sky, and there were many officials gathered outside the Guangying warehouse of the Ministry of Household Affairs, lined up densely in the heavy snow.

Even though he was shivering from the cold, his eager eyes looked at the unopened door in the library, imagining that it was full of money and rice.

Guangyingku is the warehouse where the Ministry of Households stores money and food. There are three warehouse doors, each of which is two feet high and three feet wide, which means to store the property of two capitals and one thirteen provinces.

The implication is quite good, but at this time, the Guangying library is wide, and it is not close to Yingying.

Even because of its vastness, it highlights the huge warehouse more and more, and it is a desolate scene with empty walls at a glance.

It's not completely empty. If you look carefully, there is still a thin layer of cloth bags on the ground.

Each pile of these bags is of two sizes, the big bag holds two buckets of rice, and the small bag holds ten shangs of money.

This is the idea of ​​the Ministry of Households, not to worry about unevenness, whether it is the six officials of the nine ministers or the seventh-rank officials of each department, those who come at the end of the year will receive two bags each.

Fair enough!

But at this time, the lanterns are just on, the lanterns are lit, the officials of the household department are assigned to sit in front of the big case, the rosters of the various ministries in the capital are spread out, and the warehouse workers are scattered in front of piles of bags waiting, but they are like an enemy .

Every time at this time, scolding and chaos are inevitable. Last time I was almost beaten up. It is really hard to predict what kind of serious accident will happen this time...

In the oppressive atmosphere, some officials couldn't help it anymore, and said bitterly: "The Ministry of Household Affairs is only paid by orders, so what kind of ability is it to take us out of anger?"

This statement broke the silence, Hubu, you glanced at me, and started to blame those people outside, why can't you understand the difficulties of the court, live in poverty and keep the way, and live a peaceful year of worrying about the world without changing your happiness...

Until a thin official looking at the account books with his head down suddenly said: "The year is sad, this year is the most difficult, just pass by; if you have to pay, you have to pay, and you have to pay..."

The surroundings suddenly became quiet, and one after another's eyes fell in the past, which was complicated and unspeakable.

The thin official raised his head slowly, revealing a pair of eyes that were not bright but extremely resolute, and looked around calmly: "Do you know the meaning of 'year end'?"

"The poor people are hungry and cold all year round. The whole family can see through their eyes. What they are waiting for is to eat meat and add clothes when the family arrives for the new year..."

"And the head of the family, for the sake of the yearning eyes of the old and the young, is desperately busy, begging for people, looking at people's eyes, listening to people's cold words, this is called the New Year's Eve, and it is a difficulty!"

Speaking of this, his tone became more and more low-key: "As for the year-end of the extremely poor family, it is even more panic. After a year, they are already full of debts. The fear is that the creditors will come to the door at this time and press them like thunder."

"Such headed family members have to hide as early as the new year's Eve, leaving the old and young, women and children, to listen to the creditors scolding in the dilapidated house, and they have to scold them until they leave on New Year's Eve. It's the end of the year..."

In the past, the high-ranking officials of the household department would not have cared about the age of these untouchables, but at this time, they actually feel sympathetic.

Because of the sad couplets just now, from the homes of poor people, they were hung on the doorsteps of many Beijing officials in the Ming Dynasty!

The arrears of many officials in Beijing amounted to more than half of their annual salaries on average, and some departments that were not valued even did not pay their salaries for more than a year.

It is no longer the Tang Dynasty, most of the officials came from wealthy families, and it was not the Song Dynasty, Jinshi had a list to catch a son-in-law. Many officials in the Ming Dynasty came from poor backgrounds. The treatment of Beijing officials is not as precious as that of local officials. This year was not going well, so he pointed to the door of Guangying Library and opened it.

In the end, only two buckets of rice and ten slings of copper coins could be given out. Who would accept it?
All the household officials who were making sarcastic remarks just now shut their mouths, but some people still stared at the thin official: "Hai Bijia, your ability is well known to everyone, otherwise you wouldn't be valued by Hu Butang. Now this matter What to do, come up with an idea!"

The skinny official didn't seem to hear the yin and yang in the words, he finished sorting out the account books in his hand, looked straight ahead: "Open a position!"

The warehouse door opened slowly, and the warehouse workers hurriedly lifted the heavy desks and placed them close to the door from the inside to prevent anyone from rushing in.

But although the outside was crowded with people, they were high-ranking officials after all, standing on tiptoes and sticking their heads at most, but still maintaining the last bit of decency.

Those fiery eyes caused the officials of the household department to shrink back one after another, and pushed the thin officials to the front.

The thin official was not afraid, and looked at the first-ranked beneficiary: "Which yamen is serving, and your name?"

The visitor said excitedly: "Censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, Zheng Michang, please look for it, please look for it!"

The skinny official didn't need the clerks around him, so he took out a copy from the roster, flipped through it a few times, and saw Zheng Michang's name in front of him: "Sign!"

Zheng Michang quickly took the pen, and with excitement, he wrote down the three words "Zheng Michang" squarely.

He and He Maocai were once used by Zhao Wenhua to impeach Yan Maoqing and Luo Longwen for colluding with Japanese pirates, but Zhao Wenhua died tragically soon, which led to the downfall of the Yan Party. Instead, these two small characters were ignored, and they spent all their money to keep their official positions. , but the future is basically cut off.

Therefore, now Zheng Michang is a low-key official, and he really needs the salary from the court. He knows that the treasury is empty, and his majesty is requisitioning food and grass to prepare for war with Mongolia. .

Now I finally got my wish...

This excitement lasted until the store worker came over and placed two bags, one large and one small, on the case in front of him.

Zheng Michang was stunned suddenly, opened his eyes wide, looked at it for a long time, and then asked: "This...what's in it? How much is it in total?"

A deep voice came to my ears, and it turned into a nightmare: "Two buckets of rice, ten hanging copper coins."

"That's all? Is it all here?"

"That's all... it's all here..."

Zheng Michang was trembling all over, his teeth were chattering, and he finally yelled: "Aren't you bullying honest people? My salary owes me a hundred taels, which is less than five taels of silver. I have a family of nine, and what else is there?" Two servants, not to mention the New Year, it is not enough to pay off the debt!"

The official standing behind him also yelled: "Is it our low-grade, just these things?"

The thin official looked at them: "No, this year all the ministers will not distribute anything..."

"Don't tell us about the ministers!"

Zheng Michang broke out completely: "Do the court officials still need these things to celebrate the New Year? They not only have the yearly respect from the provinces, but also the reward from His Majesty, and they have come up with this excuse to deal with us small officials! Your household department relies on this little thing Chinese New Year, can the New Year pass!!"

"what happened?"

"How much is it?"

With this shout, the officials in the back became anxious and asked questions one after another, and then someone turned around and murmured excitedly: "This year, only two buckets of rice and ten pennies!"

Soon, all the officials queuing up were blown away, countless heads rushed over, and countless pairs of angry eyes pierced in from outside the door: "The household department is too dark!" "Where is all the money from the Ming Dynasty going?" Already!" "Let the elders come out! Let the six ministers come out and give us an explanation!!"

The scene became chaotic.

The officials of the household department retreated again and again, and some already wanted to escape.

Zheng Michang knew that apart from venting his anger, he would not be able to get a salary. Thinking of the creditor who had come to the door many times and his words became more and more impolite, he turned around and raised his arms and shouted: "Listen to me, everyone!" Words! Listen to me!"

"In the early years, there were Yan's father and son, who controlled the government, up and down their hands, greedy for money, and now the houses of those treacherous officials have been confiscated, equivalent to tens of millions of silver, but there are still so many disaster victims in the world who have no money to appease. We officials The owed salary still cannot be reissued, why is this so? Why is this so?"

"We don't fight for wages, and we can't die if we don't pass the year, but we have to fight for the state affairs of the Ming Dynasty and the people of the world! It's useless here, go to the cabinet, ask the elders, and don't care about the Ming Dynasty. Regardless of the common people in the two capitals and thirteen provinces!"

These remarks are well-founded, the key is to bring the arrears of salary to the national righteousness at once. Most of the officials present are poor and poor officials, and many of them still have a passion in their bones. Immediately shouted: "Brother Tai is right! If a country is not a country, how can you call it home?"

"Everyone go to write the memorandum, and when they are finished, they will go to the memoir together, and have a vegetarian meal in the cabinet!"

"Shang Shu! Shang Shu!"

There was a lot of response, most of the officials swarmed out of the warehouse door, and the rest who were relatively gentle and timid, hesitated for a while, but finally couldn't bear the delay in salary arrears, and followed them out of the warehouse door.

Even the officials of the Ministry of Household Affairs are eager to see it, so why don't they owe their salary for a long time?
"Go! Let's go too!"

Finally, most of the officials left together, and the few who remained still looked at the thin official who had been sitting quietly at the desk all this time: "Hai Gangfeng, don't you want to take a copy? "

The skinny official said coldly: "It's useless to participate."

The official of the household department said: "The famous sea pen holder also shrinks sometimes, so I will wait!"

The thin official sat in the empty Guangying warehouse without looking at the handsome backs of the group, stood up in silence for a long time.

He is going home.

No matter how sad the year is, we must honor our mother and take care of our pregnant wife.

As for some things, you might as well wait for your wife to give birth, send your mother out of Beijing, and then do it...

But at this moment, his feet suddenly stopped and he looked not far away.

There, a woman with a holy face stood still, looked at him, then nodded and smiled.

The skinny official was stunned for a moment, and looked again with his eyes wide open. The figure had disappeared into the snowstorm, without a trace.

(End of this chapter)