Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 195 0190 [Take People]

Zhu Ming found a rock, sat down at the foot of the mountain, and asked, "Who is in charge of the sacrifice?"

Geng Dingchen, the chief bookkeeper, stepped forward: "Reporting to the prefect, it is the subordinate officials who are handling the matter."

"Bring up the account books." Zhu Ming said.

Geng Dingchen offered it with both hands, feeling uneasy in his heart.

While flipping through the pages, Zhu Ming said, "Brush and ink!"

The county magistrate holds the pen, the county magistrate grinds the ink, and the master book sends the paper and inkstone.

Ju Ming didn't move the Jiujue, Bubo, etc., he picked up a pen to outline, and halved all the double offerings, such as Li Su, Dao Dou and so on.He also said: "Although the officials are offering sacrifices to the Yaoling Mausoleum on behalf of the Son of Heaven, they are not personally visited by the Son of Heaven. Not to mention the Son of Heaven, even the princes are not counted. Too prisons and small prisons are beyond the system. From now on, they will be changed to small three animals, and chickens, ducks and fish will be sacrificed That's it."

The gods are the little three animals, there was no such saying in the Song Dynasty.

Then, Zhu Ming saw the amount of wine: "120 jugs of wine, who wants to drink with Emperor Yao? Change to [-] jugs! Also, hazelnuts do not belong to the five grains, so they are all cancelled."

Zhu Ming invited Taigong Liu to inquire about the local prices of these offerings.

After some conversion, there are only 32 guan left.

Zhu Ming said to everyone: "32 guan is definitely too compact, and the price may increase in a disaster year. Adding in the husband's money, the quota for offering sacrifices to Yaoling will be 80 guan. Do you have any objections?"

The officials have complaints in their hearts, but they dare not oppose them face to face.

Once they sacrifice, they can toss hundreds of pieces, and they can share money up and down.Zhu Ming's approach is no longer to cut the funds in half, but to cut them down to the knees.

However, Ju Ming set the funding at 80 guan, but it also left room for making money.

The attitude is very clear, your hard work in offering sacrifices cannot be done in vain.Especially the subordinate staff, they don't have much salary after busy work, so you are allowed to be greedy for a few small money.

But you can only be greedy for small money, and you are not allowed to be greedy for more!

Zhu Ming continued: "The [-] guan fees will be shared equally by the whole county. Is there any objection?"

This question was asked by the squires present. After Song Huizong refined the capital protection, 250 households became a large protection.The [-] guan money is distributed equally to the whole county, and each insurance does not share a few, which is completely within the acceptable range.

However, the country gentry are afraid that the subordinate staff will mess around.

In the past, only the villages near Yaoling were apportioned, but now it has spread to the whole county.What if the subalterns expropriate and extort money throughout the county after Zhizhou leaves?At that time, Zhu Ming's order would not only fail to reduce the burden on the common people, but would instead become an excuse for the subordinate staff to make more money.

The country gentry didn't speak a word, they knew the subordinate staff too well.

Zhu Ming pointed to the small books brought back by Bai Sheng and Li Bao: "The local subordinates are very good at collecting money. Not only the exemption money is collected together with the Ding service, but also collected repeatedly at the capital, the big, and the small. Damn, dare to use the prefecture's signboard to levy more! Bai Sheng, do you calculate how much they levy?"

Bai Sheng fished for three days and posted nets for two days, and learned from Zhu Guoxiang for a while. Although his cultural level is still not high, he has fully mastered the four arithmetic operations.

He picked up the stones and arranged them vertically on the ground. After a while, he said, "A total of 552 pieces have been collected."

Zhu Ming asked Cao Yuangui: "How much can you get for these 500-odd guan?"

Cao Yuangui hurriedly argued: "The eunuch Rong Zhi, the subordinate officials will not take any money!"

Zhu Ming glanced at the other officials again, and said with a sneer, "Even if you are telling the truth, if you share the 80 pennies to the whole county, you can figure out how much money should be refunded to the common people. If there is a lot of money, return it immediately!"

The three county magistrates hurriedly gathered to settle the accounts, and also called the escorts, scribes, and stickers.

After repeated calculations, Cao Yuangui warned in a low voice: "Immediately return the excess money, and warn the subordinates not to reach out. If the prefect can send someone to conduct a secret investigation once, he can send someone to conduct a secret investigation twice or three times. This time it is for us to save face." , I’m afraid there will be a prison sentence next time!”

Zhu Ming said to the squires again: "You representatives will protect each other, hand over the money, and go back to apportion it yourself. Remember, whoever dares to take the opportunity to blackmail the people, I will send him to Hebei to deal with the Liao people."

"Don't dare!"

The country gentry offered money in a hurry, and there was very little spread in the whole county. As long as the subordinate officials didn't mess around, they were willing to give money.

Zhu Ming continued: "From now on, you will not be allowed to eat or drink in the village during the sacrifice. All those who participate in the sacrifice must bring their own food. Two days ago, my followers and I harassed Mr. Liu, and all the money used was paid from the sacrifice fee. This time it is a special case. , there will be no more expenditures for this next year. As for stele inscriptions, additional money will be allocated by the county government. Also, since the entire county has shared the money, it is no longer possible to recruit slaves, just spend money to hire husbands!"

"Follow the prefect's orders!"

Officials and squires responded one after another.

Zhu Ming stood up and said, "Follow me to sacrifice to Yaoling, take back pigs, cattle and sheep, and immediately exchange chickens, ducks and fish."

Eighty-ninety-year-old Liu Taigong was also carried into the mountains by his descendants, and he insisted on attending in person to join in the fun.

The sacrifice took a long time, and it looked extremely shabby.

Where pigs, cattle and sheep should be placed, there are only poor chickens, ducks and fish. Emperor Yao has changed to a lighter taste this year.

After the sacrifice, he did not leave immediately.

Zhu Ming asked officials and squires to sit down under the altar.Pointing to the four directions, he said: "Within a radius of one mile, I will erect a few boundary markers. The area surrounded by the boundary markers is a restricted area. Outside the markers, you can collect firewood and herd sheep. Whoever dares to harass the people, you can go to the state government to file a complaint!"

A series of actions made everyone understand that this magistrate was not just pretending.

With tears in his eyes, Liu Taigong said with emotion: "The old man has been half buried in the ground, but today he can see the blue sky!"

Suddenly someone said: "Excuse me, the prefect, since woodcutters are allowed to herd sheep, can the paper mill under the mountain be restored?"

Zhu Ming shook his head: "I can't. If the common people collect firewood and raise livestock, if I go to the court myself, the officials will probably agree. But cutting down the trees in Yaoling to make paper, the officials and all the ministers will definitely reject it."

The man sighed secretly and said nothing more.

Zhu Ming asked again: "What other wishes do you have? Tell me everything, and you can talk about things that have nothing to do with Yaoling."

The officials were present, and no one dared to respond to the situation.

Zhu Ming took a glance: "All the officials retreated and waited at the foot of the mountain."

The three county officials looked at each other in blank dismay, they were already terrified, and led the officials to leave anxiously.

When the officials were gone, the gentry still remained silent.

Zhu Ming smiled: "Distribute paper and pen, and write it down, you don't need to write your name."

Not enough pens, write in turn.

The gentry looked up at Zhizhou in front of the altar, some of them were dazed and did not dare to write, and some deliberately wrote with their left hand.

Bai Sheng, Li Bao, Deng Chun and others all stared, and when they saw who finished writing, they immediately went to get it.Make up three copies and give them to Zhu Ming for review.

After carefully reading these public opinions, Zhu Ming said: "The ones who complain the most are taxation and horse administration."

Zhu Ming elaborated separately: "Excessive taxation and miscellaneous taxes, I will ask the county government to collect less. As for buying money, there are quotas for all parties. This is what the officials and the prime minister want to collect. I can only promise to restrict it as much as possible. I am really sorry. Your orders please."

A gentry said: "I am so grateful to the eunuch for taking such care of me. Why do I need to apologize?"

Another squire said: "In the past, prefects and counties only knew how to collect taxes. If the eunuch can tell us this, I am satisfied."

The country gentry flattered one after another, some from the bottom of their hearts, and some just coping.

Zhu Ming smiled, and continued: "I will find a way to change the Ma Zheng. Remember, it is just a change, not a sudden abolition, because I don't have that authority. You all say that the Ma Zheng harms the people, but in fact the court can't recruit people who can fight. Horses. When I have more information, I will reduce the number of horses you raise, and then according to the amount of horses set by the imperial court, I ask you to apportion the money every year. The apportionment expenses will be directly handed over to the state government, and the county government officials are not allowed to handle it! You can willing?"

The gentry looked at each other, worried that Zhizhou would take the opportunity to make money, and they would lose more in the future.

Zhu Ming knew that he was new here, and his prestige was obviously not enough, so he couldn't win the trust of these gentry.

He continued: "The third thing you react to is that there are too many rogue robbers, and even some tyrants colluded with the subordinates. There are four gentry who mentioned a name. This person is called Sun Zongdan, bullying the market, in Yurou Township, his Brother is still the head of the county. Is Sun Zongdan here today?"

A strong man stood up and angrily reprimanded everyone: "Who is suing me? Don't believe their nonsense, the eunuch. I have always been law-abiding. Where did the Yurou Township come from?"

All the squires bowed their heads in silence, not daring to meet the man's eyes, obviously fearful.

In front of Zhizhou, the gentry was frightened into silence, what is it if it is not powerful?
Zhu Ming could see it clearly, he was almost sure, and said in a flat tone, "Deng Chun, get someone."

It's really "taking people". Deng Chunsheng is a tall man, half a head taller than Sun Zongdan, a big man in Shandong.Sun Zongdan was so conceited in martial arts that he still wanted to resist, but was kicked down by Deng Chun, and then picked up with his belt.

Li Bao's eyes widened, and he said, "What a lot of strength!"

Sun Zongdan was still struggling and shouting: "My uncle is Wang Keshu, a doctor of the Ministry of Officials, let me go quickly! The Ministry of Officials is in charge of you officials, if you offend me, you will not be able to get promoted again!"

"Wang Keshu, the official doctor, right? It happened to be impeached at the same time." Zhu Ming wrote down the name in his notebook.

The squires were amazed, especially those who complained anonymously. No one thought that Zhu Ming would really dare to arrest people.

Where did the stunned head come from?

No, not stupefied.Such a young Zhizhou obviously has someone in the court, so he is not afraid of offending anyone when he does things!
Zhu Ming said again: "The head of the county is this man's brother, and he will do evil if he wants to. Li Bao, you take someone down the mountain to catch him, and that guy is waiting outside."

"Yes!"

Li Bao was extremely excited. Although he also had the nickname of "Po Li San", he was not a real rogue, it was just that he spoke and acted too casually.

He immediately took the two of them down the mountain, both of whom were sumo wrestlers married by the Zheng family.

But he said that the three county magistrates had been waiting, and it took a long time to see Li Bao coming.

Just as he was about to step forward to inquire, Li Bao had already shouted: "Sun Dutou, take a step to speak."

Sun Dutou trotted over, thinking that Zhizhou had some errands for him.

Unexpectedly, Li Bao swung the scabbard and smashed it out, beating Sun Du dizzily: "It's tied!"

The two sumo wrestlers held Sun Du's head down, took out the rope and tied him up.

The chief bookkeeper, Geng Dingchen, was Sun Dutou's immediate superior, and asked in horror, "This, this, this...how did this happen?"

Li Bao said: "Sun Zongzhen, the capital of this county, bullies and dominates the market, fishes and meats the common people, I was ordered to arrest! Do you want to stop it?"

Geng Dingchen quickly disregarded the relationship: "I have nothing to do with this fellow!"

Wang Tian looked at Cao Yuangui, who shook his head lightly.

Wang Tian said in a low voice, "This magistrate doesn't save any face."

Cao Yuangui said: "It's not something you and I can resist if you act so resolutely and have the backing in the court. Whatever he wants to do, follow him, don't let us in."

"Do you still want to work with Zhizhou?" Wang Tian reminded, "To arrest Sun Dutou today has offended Wang Langzhong of the Ministry of Officials. He is not afraid of someone in the court, but how dare you and I have a grudge against the officials of the Ministry of Officials?"

Cao Yuangui thought about it, gritted his teeth and said: "If we don't have any grudges with the officials, can you and I be promoted? Isn't it a waste of time. Why don't you take a gamble and completely attach yourself to Zhu Zhizhou, and risk your life for a future!"

Wang Tian felt that this statement was reasonable, they had no backer, and Zhu Zhizhou had a ready-made backer, so he also said: "Did it, I'm afraid of being an asshole!"

This kind of refuge is not swinging from side to side, leaving some leeway at all times.

Instead, I completely acted as a pawn for Zhu Ming, tied to the same boat with Zhu Ming, and it would be difficult to change jobs in the future, because the real thing to do is to offend others.

(End of this chapter)