Ming Dynasty man

Chapter 689
Shen Ying smiled slightly, remembering some trivial matters such as asking Xiaodie to urge Li Jing to read the accounts.

The two sat silently for a while, and Li Jing suddenly said, "We will arrive at the boundary of Anyang County in a while, do you want to go back to your hometown in Lin County with your father-in-law to have a look?"

Shen Ying shook her head slightly: "If you go to Lin County, you will have to take a detour. Let's wait and see when we come back. Let's go to Suizhou to pay homage to the gentleman first."

Li Jingting nodded: "Alright..."

Before Li Jing finished speaking, he suddenly heard Xiaojiu from outside the car say: "Commander, Henan Chief Envoy Ni Yuanlu and Henan officials are meeting the commander outside Anyang County."

Li Jing frowned, opened the curtain of the car and said, "Didn't you tell them not to greet them? What is this Ni Yuanlu doing! Call me Ni Yuanlu!"

"Master, don't be angry. I heard that Ni Yuanlu is also a student of Mr., so I shouldn't do such a disrespectful thing. There must be other reasons." Shen Ying persuaded softly.

Li Jing's face paled when he heard this, and he said to Xiao Jiu, "Bring Ni Yuanlu here."

"Yes!" Xiao Jiu replied.

After a while, Xiao Jiu came over with two people, one of whom was Ni Yuanlu, the chief envoy of Henan Province, and the other was Li Dingguo.

When they got to the side of the car, Ni Yuanlu bowed and saluted, "Your Majesty Ni Yuanlu has seen Mr. Shoufu and his wife."

Li Dingguo knelt down on the ground: "The child kowtowed to the father and the mother."

"Let's all be free." Li Jing said lightly.

Ni Yuanlu bowed and saluted, "Thank you, my lord."

Li Dingguo kowtowed respectfully three times before getting up.

Looking at Ni Yuanlu, Li Jing continued: "What's the matter, didn't I tell you in advance, don't greet me, is this sentence difficult to understand?"

Upon hearing this, Li Dingguo hurriedly said: "Father, this matter is not related to Master Ni's business. It is my child who asked Master Ni to lead the officials from Henan to meet Father and Mother."

Li Jing frowned and said, "You know how to fix things. Aren't you in Hetao? Why did you come back?"

"As far as my father is concerned, the boy is in Hetao, but this year is the three-year ceremony of Grandpa Yuan's death, so the boy took a leave of absence from Uncle Cao and went to Suizhou to worship his grandfather and his old man." Li Dingguo said hurriedly.

Li Jing nodded lightly: "It's good that you have this kind of filial piety, but why did you come to Anyang County? And you brought Master Ni here?"

Li Dingguo hurriedly said: "Returning to my lord father, my son knows that my lord father is coming, how can I not come to greet him? As for pulling Master Ni and others, I am afraid that the officials in Henan have something in their minds, why should my son come to greet me? Officials from Henan couldn’t welcome them? Doesn’t that seem like father favoring one another? That’s why the boy brought Master Ni and the others here.”

Li Jing nodded when he heard the words: "You are right, all right, go and meet your second mother, and then talk to your mother."

"Yes!" Li Dingguo replied.

Li Jing waved his hand, got off the carriage, and said to Ni Yuanlu, "Brother Ruyu, Dingguo is ignorant, please trouble everyone to go back and forth, and I will apologize to you on his behalf."

Ni Yuanlu hurriedly said: "The Henan officials are all looking forward to seeing your lord, but your lord is not allowed to pick him up, and I dare not disobey his orders. Young Master Dingguo is thinking of all the officials in Henan. Everyone is very grateful to Young Master Dingguo."

Li Jing looked at Ni Yuanlu, shook his head, and said, "Brother Ruyu, you are an honest person. I'm afraid you are not sincere. In such a cold day, who wants to travel long distances and wait for someone in the wild? I don't allow everyone to pick me up. One is because I am afraid that you will spend money, and the other is because I understand the thoughts of the people below, and I don’t want everyone to suffer, and I don’t want to be scolded behind my back.”

"Everyone sincerely wants to welcome you, and there is absolutely no complaint." Ni Yuanlu said hastily.

Li Jing said with a smile: "Then tell me, in such a cold day, everyone has traveled a long distance to meet me in this wild place, how can there be no complaints?"

Ni Yuanlu hurriedly said: "My lord, although you are strict with officials, you treat them very generously.

In the past, the annual salary of a seventh-rank official was only 97 shi of rice, which was only more than 100 taels of silver.But it costs more than ten taels of silver to make a set of official uniforms, and it costs about ten taels to welcome and send a decent banquet. It costs at least three taels of silver a month to hire a secretary, as well as bearers, carriages, and grooms. All the attendants have to pay for it. If you hire maids and servants, how can this salary be enough?
My lord, the lower officials say something ugly, how can those officials not embezzle this little salary?Otherwise, he would have to live at home like Hai Rui.

Obviously, my lord understands the truth. Not only have the salaries of officials been greatly increased, but also all personnel expenses for official duties have been paid by the imperial court. Can have a balance of hundreds of taels of silver.

Think about it, how can the officials not be grateful to His Majesty, so although His Majesty is very strict, everyone has no complaints against His Majesty, and this time they greeted His Excellency from the bottom of their hearts. "

Li Jingwen said with a smile: "Ruyu, you are very clear about your accounts, so let me ask you, do you know where the government has greatly increased the salaries of officials and where the officials' expenses come from?"

"Of course it comes from taxes." Ni Yuanlu said hastily.

Li Jing sighed softly: "Yes, it comes from taxes, but where does the tax come from? Ruyu, when you took office, I repeatedly told you to pay attention to the development of industry and commerce. The source of taxation. But what about you, how many factories have you opened in Henan this year? How many shops have you opened?
Let me tell you, Henan's industrial and commercial development is the slowest among all provinces. If it weren't for the foundation I laid back then, and this year I have established several companies and opened several factories in Henan, you would have failed this year's exam.

Ruyu, I know that you are a scholar and don't think much of businessmen, but you are now the chief envoy of Henan. If you don't pay attention to business development, then you are not qualified as a chief envoy. "

After a pause, Li Jing continued: "Ruyu, you and I are both students of Mr., and I have high hopes for you. I entrust Henan to you. I hope you will not let me down."

"I know I was wrong, I must remember your lord's instruction." Ni Yuanlu said hastily.

Li Jing waved his hand: "Don't think that I'm reprimanding you. You should know that I have scolded many people along the way. If I really reprimanded you, I wouldn't say these things to you alone."

"Yes! I understand, I know that your Excellency is saving face for you." Ni Yuanlu said hastily.

"It's good that you understand, but my ugly words are up front. If Henan is still like this this year, then I won't be polite." Li Jing said.

"Don't worry, my lord, I will definitely do my best to develop Henan's industry and commerce this year." Ni Yuanlu said hastily.

Li Jingwen said with a smile: "Okay, then I will wait and see!"

After finishing speaking, Li Jing waved his hands and said, "Let's go, everyone is waiting impatiently, take me to meet the officials in Henan."

"Yes." Ni Yuanlu said hastily.

Under the introduction of Ni Yuanlu, Li Jing met with all the officials in Henan one by one.

In fact, not all officials in Henan came to greet them. If they all came to greet them, no one would handle official business.The main ones who came were some chief officials of the governor's office, the prefects of various prefectures, and the county magistrates of the counties under the jurisdiction of Zhangde Prefecture.

After saying a few words of encouragement to a group of officials, and after taking a look around in Anyang County, he ordered everyone to set off.

The magistrate of Zhangde Prefecture originally wanted to keep Li Jing to live in Anyang for a night, but remembering that Li Jing started his business in Hongshanling, Qi County, he thought that Li Jing was going back to Hongshanling, so he didn't dare to speak in the end.

Contrary to everyone's expectations, Li Jing did not go to Hongshanling, nor did he spend the night in the county seat of Qi County, but spent the night in a remote village called Xiaomazhuang outside Qi County, and the place where Li Jing lived was is a temple.

None of the people knew that this temple was the place where Li Jing started his career, and that night Li Jing didn't sleep at all, he just stood by the window of the main hall, looking in the direction of Jinniuling, and stood quietly all night.

In the early morning of the next day, Li Jing greeted everyone to set off. After that, he did not delay on the road and arrived in Kaifeng a few days later.

When I arrived in Kaifeng, I looked it over carefully in the city. That night, Li Jing and his family came to the Zhou Palace.Stayed one night in Zhou Wangfu, then set off for Suizhou.

On the eighth day of February in the 13th year of Chongzhen, Li Jing presided over the grand sacrifice for Yuan Keli in Suizhou, and personally wrote the sacrificial text to describe Yuan Keli's life achievements.

In addition, Kong Zhenyun and Yuan Keli's students Huang Daozhou, Ni Yuanlu, Liu Lishun, Wang Duo and others also wrote sacrificial rites, which Ni Yuanlu recited in public.

Afterwards, Li Jing, his family and other ministers kneeled down three times and kowtowed nine times respectfully in front of Yuan Keli's tomb.

It can be said that Yuan Keli and Xu Guangqi are the only two people in this world who can make such a great gift from Li Jingxing.

After the sacrificial ceremony was over, Li Jing asked Yuan Shu for a jar of wine, then sent everyone away, and stayed alone in front of Yuan Keli's tomb.

Putting a wine bowl in front of Yuan Keli's tomb, Li Jing slowly filled the wine and poured himself another bowl of wine. Li Jing raised the wine bowl and said, "Sir, Li Jing, the unworthy student, came to visit your old man. Back then, when we were drinking, we both Use bowls, students still use bowls to respect you today, unfortunately, you old man can no longer drink with students.

Sir, the students tell you a piece of good news. Donglu was defeated by me, and Huang Taiji surrendered. You must be very happy to hear this news all the time, right?If you are always happy, drink this bowl of wine. "

As he spoke, Li Jing drank from the bowl in one gulp, then picked up the wine bowl in front of Yuan Keli's tomb, and slowly spilled it on the ground.

After pouring the wine, Li Jing continued: "Sir, the student didn't make a mistake to you, but the student is not happy, because you didn't let the old man see this day with his own eyes, the student is sorry for you."

After finishing speaking, Li Jing refilled the wine: "Sir, the student has another piece of good news for you. The rogues in Daming have also been wiped out by the students, and Daming is now stable. Do you still have to drink this bowl of wine? Student I know, you must have had more than a bowl of wine after hearing the news, but the students can't make you drink too much, lest you can't take it anymore!"

After speaking, Li Jing spilled the wine on the ground again, then raised his own wine bowl and drank it down in one gulp.

(End of this chapter)