Ming Dynasty: My Father Zhang Juzheng

Chapter 125: County Magistrate Riding a Donkey
It was cloudy and rainy in Huating County in March.

Continuous drizzles fell from the dome, creating shallow ripples on the bluestone floor.

After a while, the ground was covered with hazy smoke, and it merged into one with the gray sky.

On the street, pedestrians were holding oil-paper fans and walking in a hurry, making a path through the smoke.

Just after the hour of Mao that day, a man in an official robe, riding a donkey and holding an oil-paper fan in his hand, slowly arrived at the magistrate's office of Huating County.

He was about forty years old, of medium build, with a square face and a stern expression, and it was hard to tell what was going on in his heart.

The official robe he was wearing was faded from being starched and washed, and his pair of boots were also unraveling.

When I stepped on the ground, it was loose and dragged down.

It was Li Liangcai, the county magistrate of Huating County.

In fact, given his position, he could have lived a much better life.

But he did not accept invitations to treats or amass wealth, and he often helped poor people. His salary was indeed barely enough to make ends meet.

Helplessly, he could only replace the sedan chairs used by officials with donkeys.

Therefore, he also got a nickname in Songjiang Prefecture, "Donkey County Magistrate".

As soon as Li Liangcai got off the donkey, the servant at the door came up to greet him and said with a smile, "Mr. Li, you are a little late today. The magistrate has been waiting for you inside."

"Oh, the magistrate comes early today." Li Liangcai was surprised.

"Not only did the magistrate come early today, but there are also great things waiting for you, the master of the county." The officer was also a dog that opens its mouth when entering the threshold. He couldn't help shouting when he heard any rumors.

Li Liangcai never liked such glib words, so he put on a stern face and shouted, "What good news? You are also a person without rules. Do I need you to tell me the good news?"

After saying that, he picked up his pace and walked inside.

The officer wanted to flatter the horse, but he hit the horse's hoof instead. He shrank his neck, muttered a few curses, and stood back in his original position.

Li Liangcai quickened his pace and finally arrived in front of a bungalow.

That's his office.

At this time, the door had been opened, and a clerk was moving things out with a happy face and a smile.

As they moved, the voices of the clerks' discussions could be heard.

"Well, that poor scholar is finally gone. We can finally have a good life in the future."

"Yeah, I've been in office for eight or nine years, and this is the first time I've seen such a stingy official. Tell me, didn't the new officials always give us some bonus money when they took office in the past?"

"Hehe. We heard that County Magistrate Wei was going to give each of us one or two taels of silver as a gift for the New Year. But this poor scholar refused and said he would file a complaint with the higher authorities."

"Damn it, he didn't know that the crotch of his pants was not closed properly, so this thing came out."

"."

The shouts and curses were like sharp steel needles, piercing Li Liangcai's heart and making him turn blue with anger.

He stood in a daze for a while at a distance, then waved his sleeves and went straight to Wei Ming's duty room.

At this moment, Wei Ming and a lawyer were sitting inside. The duty room was about 20 square meters. In the middle was a dark square table and a yellow pear wood armchair.

There is a set of valuable furniture next to the table in the room, and on the right are two pots of rich peonies.

Wei Ming crossed his legs, leaned back in the armchair, shook his head, and hummed a few words in the soft Wu dialect from time to time.

The legal advisor sitting on the left glanced at the county magistrate and cautiously said, "Your Excellency, it seems that the higher-ups are going to make a big move in Songjiang Prefecture this time. The Maritime Customs Office will be a lucrative government office in the future. If you push Li Juelu to the top, won't that be a bargain for this guy?"

Wei Ming straightened up, looked at his master with a sinister smile, and said, "Don't think I don't know what you are thinking. The Maritime Customs Office is not a good government office. Just stay with me and I will keep my wealth and glory."

"I don't want to go to the Maritime Customs." The lawyer waved his hands to explain.

"Hey, Lao Liang, you've been with me for four years, right? Don't you know who I am?" Wei Ming sat up from the armchair, clasped his hands behind his back, walked to the window, stared at the drizzle outside the window, and asked, "Tell me, when have you ever suffered a loss?"

Liang Shiye looked at the master's back, thought for a moment, shook his head and said: "The county lord has a lot of tricks in his mind, is clever and adaptable, and is well versed in the ways of officialdom. He is certainly not inferior to others."

"Yes, I have thousands of schemes, but I just happened to run into such a stubborn donkey!" Wei Ming gritted his teeth and said bitterly, "He said I'm a parasite, I just want to let him see how hot that position is!"

You can choose not to pay ten or twenty taels.

What if it's one thousand taels or two thousand taels, can you still keep your original heart and not be tempted?

Once the Maritime Customs Office of Songjiang Prefecture is established, it can be foreseen that the official of this office will be a hot figure in Songjiang Prefecture.

At that time, the amount of silver and money that passed through people's hands every day was measured in tens of thousands.

He just didn't believe that this stubborn donkey could still maintain his original intention.

When he first heard about the establishment of this government office, even he himself was somewhat excited.

But later he changed his mind and gave up the idea. His way of being an official was to "hide" and "endure". This position was too conspicuous and there were so many people watching.

An official is afraid of being watched all day long. It makes him feel uneasy even when sleeping with his wife at night.

Wei Ming made a prompt decision and recommended Li Liangcai to Zhang Yunxiu.

Firstly, if this guy does a good job and is upright, then Wei Ming has the wisdom to identify people and the merit of recommending them. If this guy can't keep his bottom line and is really brought down, hehe, then don't blame him for beating the fallen dog.

Another point is that when this guy is not around, he can do things much more easily.

Thinking of this, Wei Ming stroked his beard lightly, feeling quite pleased with his plan of killing three birds with one stone.

"boom."

There was a noise, and the door of Wei Ming's duty room was roughly pushed open, and a gust of cool wind rushed in. Wei Ming and Master Liang turned their heads and looked towards the door.

Li Liangcai stood at the door in a threatening manner. He stared at Wei Ming and asked, "County Magistrate Wei, let me ask you, why were those clerks carrying our things out when we passed by the duty room just now?"

"What else are you talking about? We're leaving right away?"

"Oh, I was just planning to tell you about this." Wei Ming was very good at cultivating his Qi, and with a smile on his face, he pulled Li Liangcai to sit on a chair. "It's like this, our Songjiang Prefecture's Maritime Customs Office is about to be established."

"The higher-ups asked us for someone, and said that this person must be upright and not servile to the powerful. The first person we thought of was you, Brother Li."

"What do you mean?" Li Liangcai asked vigilantly with a serious look.

"Brother Li, you have been promoted. Now go and prepare for the Maritime Customs Office. This is a sixth-rank official position." Wei Ming said directly, "You don't need to come to the county government these days. Have a good rest."

"Do you have any documents from the court?" Li Liangcai stretched out his hands and shouted.

"The official document from the court will come down soon." Wei Ming smiled and replied casually.

"Since there is no document from the court, I am still the magistrate of Huating County. Isn't it too authoritarian and overbearing for County Magistrate Wei to ask people to move my things away?" Li Liangcai's eyes were bloodshot, and his voice was as loud as a bell as soon as he opened his mouth.

At this moment, the smile on Wei Ming's face froze instantly.

He suppressed his anger, waved his sleeves, and snorted, "Since Brother Li wants to serve, then come and serve. But Master Liang, tell the people below to put all of County Magistrate Li's things back!"

"Oh, yes." Master Liang nodded and ran out of the duty room with his crotch tucked under him.

Li Liangcai clasped his fists and followed him out of the duty room.

After a busy day, Li Liang finally rode his donkey into his courtyard at the end of the Shen hour. Before he entered the courtyard, he saw that it was filled with all kinds of gifts.

A young woman in her thirties stood among them, looking distressed.

That is Li Liangcai’s wife.

Li Liangcai walked in quickly and closed the half-open wooden door.

At this time, Madam Li also heard the noise and looked in from the door. The two looked at each other and Madam Li said jokingly, "Look, it's only been half a day and this small courtyard is already packed."

"Can't we just go back?" Li Liangcai took a quick look and walked straight into the main room.

Madam Li followed behind, frowning and mumbling, "You make it sound easy. There are too many people. If we go to each family, we will break our legs."

"Madam, don't forget what you promised me. You won't accept gifts." Li Liangcai stopped, turned his head to look at his wife, and said seriously.

"Don't forget, you promised me that if you return a gift, you have to help me wash clothes." Mrs. Li smiled and pointed to the two basins of clothes by the sink. "Look, the clothes I saved up finally came in handy this time."

"Madam, you are really shrewd and scheming." Li Liangcai smiled embarrassedly.

"That's right. We're not happy without the gift, so you can't expect to be happy either."

Mrs. Li said this and pulled her husband to sit by the pool.

County Magistrate Li had no choice but to roll up his sleeves, pick up a piece of women's clothing, and rub it carefully on the washboard.

Next to her, Mrs. Li was sitting in an armchair with pastries on the small table next to her.

While eating cakes and watching her husband washing clothes, she joked: "You are an official after all, why don't you just accept these gifts and save yourself from this pain."

"A gentleman loves money but gets it in a proper way. I will not take a penny of ill-gotten gains!" Li Liangcai said firmly.

"Tsk tsk, with your stubborn temper, I really don't know why I fell in love with you in the first place." Madam Li pursed her lips and added, "The four concubines of County Magistrate Wei are all dressed more lavishly than the other."

"I heard that even the toilet in his house is made of rosewood. Tell me, they are both officials, why is there such a big difference between them?"

"That's a villain. I don't want to associate with such a person."

"But he holds a higher position than you, is more comfortable in his position than you, and is more stable in his position than you."

Li Liangcai was stunned when he heard the sound, paused, and then put the washed clothes into clean water to wash.

Smiling and shaking her head, Madam Li said angrily, "You are nothing but a donkey. I wonder how many people you will offend when you are promoted to this new position."

"We have a lot of lice so we're not afraid of being bitten." Li Liangcai chuckled.

Mrs. Li was so angry at her husband that she laughed. She stood up, moved her lotus steps to Li Liangcai's side, snatched the laundry stick, and said angrily, "That's enough, that's enough. Look at how clumsy you are. How long will it take for you to finish washing?"

"Go and help me wash the vegetables."

"Madam, I really cannot accept that gift. Not only can I not accept it now, I can't accept it in the future either." Li Liangcai said seriously.

Mrs. Li glared at her husband and said angrily, "Do you think this is the first day I met you, a donkey? Go away, don't get in the way of our work."

"Thank you, ma'am." Li Liangcai raised his eyebrows and smiled.

(End of this chapter)