Optimus One Pillar of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 59: Peeling off the hypocrite
A family uses [-] briquettes, [-] kilograms of lump coal and [-] kilograms of charcoal a month. What are they used to burn?Yuan Hongyu couldn't imagine this.

So Yuan Hongyu glared at the shopkeeper with his big eyes, and continued: "The shopkeeper, Mr. Cifu has a good reputation in the country. Don't accuse him unjustly."

"Yes, yes, yes, young master, this little old man has a bad mouth and deserves a beating." As he spoke, the shopkeeper gave himself two big mouths, loud and crisp.

Seeing that the shopkeeper admitted that he was talking nonsense, Yuan Hong became even more enthusiastic. He pointed at the shopkeeper and scolded the shopkeeper, telling him not to taint others' innocence.

Everyone in the capital knows that Xia Yan, the first assistant, was pulled down by Wang Daoqiu's imperial edict, and he is still at home thinking about his mistakes!But this friend who came with Wang Daoqiu helped Xia Yan in front of Wang Daoqiu, which made the shopkeeper a little confused.So he looked at Wang Daoqiu.

When he saw the shopkeeper looking at Wang Daoqiu, Yuan Hongyu also remembered what he had heard about Wang Daoqiu after he came to the capital and reported Xia Yan to the imperial court.

So Yuan Hongyu looked angry and scolded Wang Daoqiu: "You are the same, brother Xian. It's just a housekeeper in the Xia Mansion who is pretending to be powerful and borrowing the reputation of Mr. Cifu to bully others outside! Mr. Cifu is busy with state affairs all day long and neglects the people around him. Discipline, this is excusable, dear brother, why are you in front of the emperor...!"

"Hey, dear brother, why should I speak to you if I want to be my brother? Once you have done this, the upright Second Assistant will be changed from the First Assistant to the Second Assistant, and he will have to stay at home and think about it for three months. The current government affairs are all in ruins. In the hands of the treacherous Prime Minister Yan Thie. The Yan Thief Ayu flatters and only knows how to flatter others, and his son is even more greedy. The Yan Thief wholeheartedly protects him, and he has no style of being the leader of a country. Hi, Xian! Brother, you have lost a lot because of a small thing!"

Regarding Xia Yan's demotion, Yuan Hong was extremely saddened and blamed Wang Daoqiu endlessly.Three feet of ice does not freeze in a day. During his more than 20 years as an official, Xia Yan was upright, honest and capable, and he would do anything to the powerful if they refused.Deeply loved by the common people, he is a true civilian hero, his reputation is famous overseas, and he has even deceived future generations for hundreds of years. This is so irritating.

Wang Daoqiu knew that Yuan Hongyu lived in Suzhou, the paradise on earth in the south of the Yangtze River. He had just won the national examination this year and came to Beijing for the first time.Unlike the people of Beijing, he witnessed step by step how Xia Yan degenerated from a civilian hero to a corrupt official.Yuan Hongyu's understanding of Xia Yan was still at least five years ago.

Knowing the reason behind this, Wang Daoqiu did not argue with Yuan Hongyu's censure, but just said to the shopkeeper: "Shopkeeper, for a big and respectable customer like Xiafu, in addition to a general ledger in your shop, , there should be a special account for Xia Mansion!"

"Yes, yes, Xie Yuanlang."

"Then please, shopkeeper, please take out Xia Mansion's small account and let my friend have a look at it!"

"This, this, Xie Yuanlang, isn't this very convenient!"

The shopkeeper was afraid of getting into trouble and did not dare to disclose Xia Mansion's accounts, which Wang Daoqiu understood.So he explained: "Don't be afraid, shopkeeper. Mr. Wang personally guaranteed this matter to the shopkeeper. We will never leak it after seeing it. In addition, you know this matter, I know it, and my friend knows it. If there is any news in the future, , the shopkeeper just doesn’t admit it.”

After showing Wang Daoqiu and the others the accounts of the Xia Mansion, the shopkeeper was afraid that if the people of the Xia Mansion found out about this in the future, he would be retaliated against.But think about it, I have been unhappy with the Xia Mansion gang for a long time. If Wang Daoqiu files a petition next time and kills the old thief Xia completely, wouldn't he be able to set off firecrackers!
Thinking of this, the shopkeeper nodded to Wang Daoqiu, and then said: "There are many people here, Jie Yuanlang, please go inside with me and take a look!"

"good"

Following the shopkeeper to the back hall of the shop, the shopkeeper took out the business accounts between Xia Mansion and his shop since Xia Yan was recalled from his hometown in Jiangxi to Beijing to become prime minister last year.Comparing the accounts, the shopkeeper took the abacus and added them up one by one. The final total was more than 700 taels of silver.

In less than a year and a half, Xia Yanguang spent more than 700 taels of silver on "burning".With so much money, this is more than the annual salary of a Chief Assistant!This made Yuan Hongyu a little disbelieving, so he stared at the shopkeeper with a pair of eyes full of doubts.

Yuan Hongyu stared at him with such a look. How could the shopkeeper not know what Yuan Hongyu meant?So the shopkeeper explained to Yuan Hongyu: "We won't mention the previous accounts. Let's talk about Xia Mansion. This is the order we just placed for the shop today. Twenty thousand briquettes, ten thousand kilograms of coal, three thousand A kilogram of charcoal, for an ordinary family, would take more than a few years to burn, but for the Xia Mansion, this is not much."

"Master Ci Fu now has a wife and a concubine with thirteen rooms. Let's calculate it as one wife and concubine with one stove in the bedroom and hall, and two stoves in one wife and concubine's room. Xia Fuguang's fourteenth room with wives and concubines, in winter We have to burn 28 stoves every day. For these 28 stoves, if we consider one stove burning ten briquettes a day, 280 briquettes will be burned in a day, which is more than 8000 briquettes in a month." "Fourteenth Housewife and Concubine" For heating in one month, more than 8000 briquettes are used. In addition, more than 70 maids and servants in the Xia Mansion are used for heating in the winter. In winter, hot water is used to wash the body and clothes, and coal is used for cooking. Then every two days of the month Ten thousand briquettes and ten thousand kilograms of coal are almost enough. As for the three thousand kilograms of charcoal, they are usually used in Xia Mansion to burn portable charcoal pots for heating and for roasting meat in the Mansion."

The shopkeeper's businessman explained everything clearly, and Yuan Hongyu agreed after listening.So he asked: "Shopkeeper, how much money will it cost for so much coal and charcoal?"

"Well, it's like this. On the market, our lump coal sells for one qian, three silver, and one hundred catties, and the briquettes also cost one qian, three silver, and one hundred catties. But if you give it to Mr. Cifu, we will make it cheaper, and we will sell it for one yuan, two It was sold for silver. According to this price, 36 briquettes and 45 kilograms of lump coal are equivalent to [-] taels of silver. We calculated the three thousand kilograms of charcoal to the Xia Mansion at the price of three kilograms of silver and one hundred kilograms, so That’s nine taels of silver. In total, the Xia Mansion will have to pay [-] taels of silver to the shop every month.”

"What, it costs 45 taels of silver to buy coal and charcoal from your store in a month?"

"There are not enough briquettes this year. After all, do you have briquettes? Last winter, Master Cifu and his wife and concubines burned three coins and one hundred silver charcoal in the maid's room of the Xia Mansion. And the servants' rooms burned all the charcoal. It's coal, and burning those is much more expensive than burning briquettes. Otherwise, we just calculated the account, how did Xia Mansion spend more than 700 taels of silver in the shop in the past year or so? "

"A dog thief, a dog thief, who seeks fame and reputation is a thief of the country, a thief of the country."

After listening to the shopkeeper explain the matter clearly, Yuan Hongyu could no longer bear the anger of being deceived for a long time.He got up and walked quickly outside the store while yelling.

Seeing Yuan Hongyu leaving so emotionally, Wang Daoqiu also hurriedly apologized to the shopkeeper and told the shopkeeper that he lived in the sixth house at the entrance of Di'anmen Street in Gongjian Hutong and asked the waiter to bring the briquettes in the afternoon. Just send it there.Then he immediately went after Yuan Hongyu.

He quickly caught up with Yuan Hongyu on the street. As soon as he saw Wang Daoqiu chasing him, Yuan Hongyu vented to Wang Daoqiu: "I have always thought that Thief Xia was a role model for our generation of scholars. I didn't expect that Thief Xia turned out to be a role model." He is also a dirty official. Think about it, dear brother, the monthly salary of Xia Thief, a first-class official, is only 87 taels, which is more than 45 taels of silver. But it costs [-] taels of silver to burn coal and charcoal in his house every month, and he still has a living Fourteen wives and concubines, seventy or eighty servants, how much does it cost each month? How could he afford this with his salary? I think that Xia Thief and Yan Thief are both the same, but Xia Thief is more expensive than Yan Thieves are better at pretending."

Now Yuan Hong was very angry, and his cheeks were bulging like toads again.However, Yuan Hongyu's current attitude is exactly the effect Wang Daoqiu wants to achieve.

So in order to further strengthen Yuan Hongyu's belief, Wang Daoqiu presented the facts and reasoned: "Okay, okay, brother, don't be angry anymore for that unworthy person! People will change. When Xia Yan first became an official, it was true that He is passionate and upright, and is not afraid of the powerful to ask for orders for the people. But after being in the officialdom for a long time, he was gradually tainted by this officialdom. Especially in the past two years, he was dismissed from the prime minister because he fell out of favor and lost his power. He was so neglected in his hometown that he couldn't even fart."

"It was during that time that he lost power and felt that life without power was worse than death. In order to regain power, he completely abandoned his conscience and his self-esteem. In order to regain power, he went to his hometown When he was idle, he would write to the emperor whenever he found an excuse, begging the emperor in secret or overtly to use him again. He always signed his letters as follows: Cao Tuchen. In order to deceive the emperor's sympathy, he was as despicable as a begging dog."

"Later he succeeded. The emperor finally forgave him for his past mistakes last year, recalled him to the capital, and restored his status. Then this Xia Yan was the same as the previous Xia Yan, only the skin was the same. Restored. It can be said that Xia Yan, the Prime Minister, is completely crazy about maintaining and enjoying power. Whenever his colleagues or subordinates have slightly different opinions on his decisions, he will regard it as a provocation against him, and then He immediately retaliates against others. But as long as others can succumb to his authority and praise him, no matter what kind of royal crime this person has committed, Xia Yan will raise his hands and let go after he has become addicted to being superior. Pass."

"Take the well-known corruption cases of Lu Bing, the commander of the Imperial Guards, and Yan Shifan, the only son of the current chief minister Yan Song! According to the financial corruption of those two people, they are enough to be punished with death! But what is the result? Lu Bing and Yan Song's father and son knelt down in front of Xia Yan's house in the street, and after letting Xia Yan get enough of the addiction of controlling other people's lives and deaths, wouldn't Xia Yan let them go? Brother Yuan, it's an ironclad case that can lead to a death penalty. Because the prisoner knelt down in front of Xia Yan's house and surrendered, Xia Yan raised his hand."

"Brother Yuan, don't you think his Xia Yan is absurd? What is more important than national law or personal relationship? His Xia Yan has now completely turned it upside down! Just such a lawless person, Brother Yuan, you think he is worthy of being The prime minister of a country? Or, if this case is brought to you, Yuan Hongyu, will you give Xia Yan a light sentence just because he did not take bribes?"

"The prime minister of a country, the head of hundreds of officials, actually took the lead in openly bending the law for personal gain. Two ironclad cases that were worthy of being investigated for death, just because the criminals knelt in front of his house and begged for mercy, he, Xia Yan, ignored the national law and allowed personal gain. ! How can such a person help the country and the people, and how can he set an example for all people?"

Wang Daoqiu's criticism of Xia Yan was impassioned and well-founded.Yuan Hongyu next to him was also convinced after hearing this. At this moment, Xia Yan's tall image in his mind suddenly collapsed.It can even be said that at this moment, Yuan Hong hated Xia Yan even more than he hated Yan Song.

(End of this chapter)