Take the farm down to earth

Chapter 132 Black Hand
"Did you find the place where the surname Diao hid the money?"

Chinchilla narrowed its small eyes and said with a smile, "Master, the little one not only found the dark room in Diao's study, but also found the ledger.

The surnamed Diao relied on being the chief officer of the Department of Duzhi, who was in charge of the world's rent, property, water and land roads, and the power to pay and adjust the annual budget, so he actually put his mind on fire consumption. "

Shi Zhongkui's eyes lit up. Although Dazhou didn't have the law of returning fire consumption to the public, it also clearly stipulated that it should not exceed 30%.

That is to say, when the broken silver collected by the government needs to be cast into official silver ingots, 10% to 15% of it is in the south of the Yangtze River, and 3% of the loss is allowed in remote places.

Therefore, the tax of 7 yuan is only 9 to [-] thousand taels when it reaches the Ministry of Households.

And this is not counting the cost of transporting silver.

The ancient casting and smelting technology is not up to standard, and the fineness of the broken silver itself is different. When it is cast into official silver, there will inevitably be losses.

Even because of the wealthy place in the south of the Yangtze River, private casting is mixed with other metals, and there are too many silver ingots in circulation.

At one time, if the government did not increase the fire consumption by [-] to [-]%, the government would lose money casting silver ingots.

In some remote counties, it takes time to collect the fire, and [-]% of them have been.

Of course, no matter how strict and sound the law is, it will definitely not be able to stop someone with a heart.

Lao Zhu killed corrupt officials like he killed a chicken. It was not because someone wanted money but did not want his life.

Shi Zhongkui wanted to bring down Diao Dexing, a big rat.

But think about it, you are just a compilation of the Hanlin Academy, even if you only focus on Diao Dexing, and don't care about the people behind him.

In the end, there is no benefit, let alone being promoted to an official.

It's better to keep him as a stepping stone.

However, this does not prevent him from asking Chinchilla to copy a copy of the ledger.

But before that, Diao Dexing had to be dealt with, otherwise he would not get money, let alone dredging the river, even if he wanted to go to the Tuntian Division to raise rice and fish.

No, it is troublesome to have money but no food.

And it was already mid-April at this time, and the rice in the north had been sown any further.

So at this time, he is most concerned about raising fish in the rice fields and dredging the river. It shouldn't be a big problem to delay it for a month.

The Chinchilla got the order and ran out from the top beam.

Shi Zhongkui called Yu Shun, and soon Shi Guangzhu hurried over with six or seven strong servants.

Seeing Cui Hezhong, a hundred households of Embroidered Guards, and five general banners sitting in the main hall, Shi Guangzhu immediately lost his temper.

He politely greeted Cui Hezhong and the others, sat on the chair obediently, and waited for Shi Zhongkui to come over.

Not long after seeing Shi Zhongkui, Cui Hezhong and the others hurriedly got up and saluted, "I've seen you, my lord."

Shi Zhongkui nodded with a smile, sat on the main seat in the main hall, staring at Shi Guangzhu who stood up but did not salute.

After Cui Hezhong also looked at him, Shi Guangzhu's heart shuddered, and then he reacted.

He hurriedly cupped his hands and saluted, "I've seen you, sir."

Only then did Shi Zhongkui give orders.

After receiving the order, Shi Guangzhu took his servants with him, but Cui Hezhong and others did not bring servants, ordinary schoolboys, and powerful men according to the order, and came all the way to a house outside Chengde Gate.

Taking advantage of Shi Guangzhu, he ordered the servants to buy food.

A General Banner asked Cui Hezhong with a laugh, "My lord, what does the No. [-] Scholar want me to do here?"

"Shut up," Cui Hezhong glared at the general flag who was speaking, "The big man said before he came that this morning, Prime Minister Xia in the palace was smothered in front of the number one scholar, so he could only greet him with a smile, I understand. No?"

The faces of the five general banners turned pale with fright.

Xia Shouzhong could kill himself and others with a single word, and Cui Hezhong's words just now showed that Shi Zhongkui's family is upright, and even Xia Shouzhong dared not offend him.

This waited until the curfew was approaching, and when Shi Guangzhu, Cui Hezhong and the others got impatient, a fire suddenly appeared in the courtyard.

After lighting a fire in the firewood room of Diao Dexing's outer room, Chinchilla squeezed his throat, pretending to be a woman's voice, and shouted, 'It's gone, it's gone'.

Diao Dexing, who was drinking and eating grapes with the outside room, pushed the concubine in his arms away as soon as he heard it.

Through the papered doors and windows, I found a fire in the yard, and I was scared out of my wits.

Without even thinking about it, he rushed out of the house. Fortunately, the woodshed caught fire. Not only was the fire small, but it did not block the way to escape.

I was planning to call someone to put out the fire, but when I thought that my concubine married secretly, if the main wife at home found out, there would definitely be trouble.

Moreover, after the water is gone, the soldiers and horses of the five cities and the Yamen servants and officials of Shuntian Mansion will definitely rush over.

At that time, when people see him, it is inevitable that there will be rumors.

"Master, save me," the concubine ran out disheveled and grabbed Diao Dexing.

If the fire blocked the way, Diao Dexing would not care about this beautiful concubine.

But since they can escape together, of course no one is dead, and things are easier to suppress.

Pulling the concubine, and subconsciously shouting to the maid and mother who had run out to serve the concubine, "Hurry up and put out the fire."

But as soon as he finished speaking, he added, "Don't worry about it, life-saving is the most important thing."

The maids and mothers didn't have the guts to fight the fire.

Seeing Diao Dexing running away with his concubine, he also ran out.

Seeing that Diao Dexing and the others had all run away, the Chinchilla who set fire narrowed his eyes and laughed.

Since the embroidered guards had come a long time in advance, Chinmouse had of course also arrived early.

After a few kicks, I was bitten off by myself before, and a large piece of firewood beams were missing at both ends.

In an instant, the roof collapsed, and a large number of tiles fell into the woodshed, temporarily suppressing the fire.

Not counting that, Chinchilla took out a Vajra Talisman from the small rope bag tied around his neck, and slapped it on his body.

A faint golden light flashed, and Chin Maoshu instantly felt not only that he was much stronger, but also that there was a protective cover around his body.

I tried to bump into the wall of the firewood house, and when I knocked a crack in the wall, I didn't feel any pain at all, and I was overjoyed.

With a few bang bang bang bangs, the dirt wall was knocked down by him immediately.

This time the fire was directly extinguished by 8 to 9%.

And there is no need to worry about the eaves catching fire and spreading to other houses in the yard.

At this time, even if all the remaining wreckage of the firewood house is burned, it will not cause a big fire.

Diao Dexing, who ran out, hadn't run a few steps before he was stopped by Shi Guangzhu and his servants.

Then the six Xiuyiwei also came from the other side of the street, blocking them.

Shi Guangzhu chuckled, "Isn't this Mr. Diao, is your house on fire?"

Diao Dexing wished he could slap himself a few times at this moment, it would be great if he went home directly today.

He took out a few banknotes from his sleeve, "I'm just passing by today, and I will definitely thank you tomorrow."

Cui Hezhong and others knew at a glance that Diao Dexing wanted to seal their mouths with money.

Busily shook his head and said, "My lord, the officials and the others are just passing by, and this matter is not under our control, so we won't talk too much."

After finishing speaking, he looked at Shi Guangzhu who was staring at the disheveled concubine.

Diao Dexing thought about it for a while, and suddenly realized that Shi Guangzhu was the banner brother of Shi Zhongkui's mentor, and the emperor asked him to assist Shi Zhongkui in dredging the river.

He immediately understood that this was Shi Zhongkui's revenge.

In normal times, he wouldn't care about Xiu Yiwei and Shi Guangzhu.

But now he is blocked and not allowed to leave, and when the neighbors and officials all come, the whole city will know about the fact that he is raising an outside room tomorrow.

"Master Baihu, depending on the situation, the fire has been extinguished by itself."

When everyone looked back, they suddenly found that besides the smell of fireworks, the flames had indeed disappeared.

For a moment, Diao Dexing mistakenly thought that the matter must be done by the embroidered clothes guard.

The people in Xiuyiwei thought that it was Shi Zhongkui who set the fire and put it out again, but this person must have good skills, so that he and others didn't notice it.

"Since there is nothing to do, Mr. Diao, Xiaguan and others will not bother you."

Cui Hezhong saluted and was about to leave, but Diao Dexing still grabbed him and put the banknote into Cui Hezhong's hand.

Then he took out a silver note of 5 taels and gave it to Shi Guangzhu, "Tell Mr. Zhuangyuan, please come to the yamen of the Ministry of Households to talk about it tomorrow."

Shi Guangzhu glanced at it with a smile under the moonlight, and when he saw clearly that it was 5 taels, his eyes lit up immediately.

He nodded and said, "Don't worry, Mr. Diao, the next official will definitely bring the words to you."

Separated from Diao Dexing, Shi Guangzhu, Cui Hezhong and others went to Shi Zhongkui's house together.

After receiving the report, Shi Zhongkui laughed, and looked at the 200 taels of silver note that Cui Hezhong handed over in his hand.

Look at Shi Guangzhu again.

The guy immediately played dumb.

Shi Zhongkui smiled slightly, "Master Shi, if you eat alone, you won't know if there will be such a good thing next time."

Shi Guangzhu's face froze, after thinking for a while, he obediently handed over the bank note.

Without thinking about it, Shi Zhongkui gave the 2 taels of silver note to Shi Guangzhu.

Then he took out two 1 taels from his sleeve and gave them to Cui Hezhong.

Cui Hezhong and others were overjoyed, while Shi Guangzhu was so angry that he almost scolded his mother.

But after Shi Zhongkui glared at him, he couldn't help but think of Diao Dexing's embarrassment before.

Immediately gave up.

Only then did Shi Zhongkui command Cui Hezhong in satisfaction, "Early tomorrow morning, you wait outside Diao Dexing's house.

Tell him that the official will see silver and ten thousand but grain tomorrow.

Otherwise, I will hand over the sign and enter the palace to meet His Majesty the day after tomorrow. "

"My lord," Cui Hezhong wanted to advance Shi Zhongkui. According to the emperor's decree, there was only 5 taels of silver and no food.

But before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Shi Zhongkui.

"It's getting late, go back to rest early, so as not to be late tomorrow. By the way, Lord Shi stays here."

When the six embroidered guards walked out of Shi's house, someone muttered, "Our No. 6 scholar is indeed the smartest person in the world. He is so young and has just become an official, so he understands these insidious methods in the palace."

The others fell silent after hearing this.

If the superior is too shrewd, life for the subordinates will be difficult.

Moreover, the greater the future of Shi Zhongkui, it may not be all good things for these embroidered guards.

But for Shi Zhongkui, he has watched so many TV dramas about spy wars and ancient officialdom.

In some ancient public schools, the method of passing on from father to son and master from master to apprentice has long been rotten.

And Shi Zhongkui in the living room returned the five hundred taels to Shi Guangzhu.

This made Shi Guangzhu dare not pick it up.

Shi Zhongkui smiled and said, "Uncle, it's better to read more books, lest you don't even understand such a simple truth."

Shi Guangzhu muttered immediately, "If I can learn the way of Confucius, I still need to obey orders from you, a junior."

But he said so, but subconsciously took the bank note in his hand.

Seeing that Shi Zhongkui was not angry, he smiled and said, "Boqian, next time if you have anything to do, just tell me, uncle will definitely do it beautifully."

Shi Zhongkui sneered in his heart, if you see money open today and commit crimes tomorrow, don't blame yourself for making an example of you.

In the early morning of the second day, Diao Dexing went out to the household department to go to the government office with his panda eyes. As soon as he left home, he saw Cui Hezhong and others.

asshole.

After hearing what Cui Hezhong told him, Diao Dexing cursed in his heart.

Shi Zhongkui made it clear that not only did the Ministry of Households approve 5 taels of silver, but he also personally helped him collect [-] taels of grain.

Calculated based on the price of grain at the end of spring, which is the most scarce grain, ten thousand but almost 8 taels of silver.

But seeing Cui Hezhong and others blocking the door at his house early in the morning, if he doesn't agree, who knows what else Shi Zhongkui will do to wait for him.

But within a few seconds, Diao Dexing rolled his eyes.

For 5 taels of silver, the difference between giving broken silver or silver ingots is not small.

Calculated on the basis of 15% of the fire consumption in Gyeonggi, 5 taels and 50 ingots of silver were paid out from the treasury and exchanged outside.

In Wanping County and Daxing County below, there are wealthy businessmen who are willing to exchange broken silver for silver ingots and hide them in their homes.

If I replaced the fire consumption with old food this time, I would definitely be able to get together 1 Dan.

Thinking of this, Diao Dexing pretended to be embarrassed for a while, and then nodded in agreement.

But he asked for a two-day grace period.

At this time, Shi Zhongkui was also planning to take a sedan chair to report to the Imperial Academy, but he heard Shun'er report that Xue Biao came to the door.

After thinking about it for a while, I quickly guessed Xue Biao's thoughts.

Instead of inviting Xue Biao in, he walked out of the gate and got into the sedan chair.

While walking towards the Hanlin Academy, he began to test Xue Biao's knowledge across the sedan chair.

After asking for a while, Shi Zhongkui was convinced that although Xue Biao had read books, he could only recite the Analects of Confucius and Mencius.

"Erlang, did your father never think about letting you study at ease?"

Xue Biao sighed and said, "Brother-in-law, it's not that my father doesn't understand the importance of fame, but it's because Xue's family has too many chores and worries because of their status as an imperial merchant.

and,,,. "

"Okay," Shi Zhongkui understood as soon as he heard the trouble, Xue Biao's father was worried that his son would have a future, and might be envied by others.

That's why even Xue Baoqin has traveled all over the world with her since she was a child.

What I am afraid of is that if I am not around, my children will have accidents.

It's not just outsiders and fellow clans that are being guarded against, but also Xue Pan's own father, his deceased father-in-law.

"While you are by my side doing errands, you still have to read books. Even if you don't pass the Jinshi exam, it is better to be a scholar and a scholar than to be a petty official all your life."

"Thank you, brother-in-law." Xue Biao was so excited that he almost wanted to kneel down in the street.

If someone else said this, Xue Biao would definitely scoff.

But how to study and how to take the imperial examination, there is absolutely no one in the world who has more say than Shi Zhongkui.

And there is a six-yuan leader who is willing to teach himself, so if he still can't pass the examination of scholar or Juren, he is really an idiot.

"I heard that Brother Pan invited a group of friends to drink flower wine the day before yesterday?"

(End of this chapter)