Strange Tales from the Northern Qi Dynasty

Chapter 378 Gu Wang Zu Ting
(ps: The previous chapter should have been about annual production of 1,000 tons, but I wrote 10,000 more words. I lost my mind, I lost my mind. I apologize!)
Zhongshutai.

The Han Dynasty’s Zhongshutai was not located in the royal palace, but on Liang Street in the west of the city.

There are not many residential houses on this street, only two government agencies, one is the Secretariat and the other is the Censorate.

The Censorate occupies a larger area, and the buildings on three sides are all theirs. After all, they need more houses to supervise all officials and impeach the judiciary. The powers of the Secretariat and the Ministry of Justice are mostly biased towards the people, while the Censorate is for officials. If they encounter special cases, both sides need to cooperate.

The Zhongshutai stored a large amount of information and was in charge of confidential information. Logically, it should have been located inside the imperial palace, or established separately. However, because it was a temporary office in the past, there was no legitimate reason to move in, so this place was chosen.

This alley is not accessible to anyone.

There are elite armored soldiers stationed along the road. This distance of several hundred steps requires three inspections before one can pass.

Master Li Wen got off the carriage, humming a song.

Li Wenshi came from a prominent family, the Zhaojun Li family.

His father was called Li Yishen. He followed Gao Huan to start an uprising in Xindu. He served as the Sima of Gao Cheng and the Palace Attendant of Gao Yang.

He had the ability, but he also had the character and contemporary characteristics of a child of a wealthy family. Because he amassed wealth excessively and his eating habits were even uglier than those of the old Xianbei, Gao Yang angrily dismissed him, threw him into prison, and he died.

Li Wenshi was the second son of Li Yishen. After his father died of illness, he grasped Wei Shou's sleeve and became an official. Later, he followed Wei Shou to Pingcheng.

He is still young, in his thirties, but he has already become the Secretary of the Secretariat.

This position is critical.

The secrets of the Zhongshu include the household registration situation, farmland situation, steel production, etc. of the whole country. The duties of the Zhongshu Sheren include participating in the drafting of imperial edicts and recording secrets.

Having achieved this at such a young age, he has a bright future ahead of him.

Of course the soldier knew this young senior official, but he still had to follow the procedure to check his identity and search his clothes before politely escorting him in.

Li Wenshi was tall and handsome. He walked towards the Taifu on foot with a smile in his eyes and was in a very good mood.

When he arrived at the gate of the government office, the gatekeepers there lowered their heads, looking as if they had been scolded.

Li Wenshi was somewhat curious. While leaving his name on the entry and exit documents, he whispered, "What happened?"

The clerk raised his head and glanced behind him secretly.

His lips moved and he said only one word.

"Ancestor."

Li Wenshi knew what was going on and nodded quickly, "Thank you."

He cleared his throat, put away his previous impetuousness, and walked towards the stage in a serious manner.

There were many officials walking in the corridor. They all seemed to be in a hurry, not daring to delay and looking worried.

Master Li Wen was a little surprised.

Secrets leaked?
No, if it was a secret leak, a large army should have surrounded the Taiwan government long ago. Is this a temporary spot check?
Master Li Wen, holding a side of documents in his hand, walked around the long corridor and came to the library on the west side.

When I walked in, I saw four colleagues concentrating on writing something.

One person sat at the top seat, looking at them.

The person sitting in the upper seat is Zhao Yanshen. After arriving in Pingcheng, Old Zhao got a job in the Zhongshutai and took these young men to participate in state secrets.

After all, he has many years of experience in this area.

Master Li Wen handed the documents in his hand to the other party, and then sat among his colleagues.

He lowered his head slightly and found that his colleagues were comparing the treasury revenue and expenditure of the previous year. He breathed a sigh of relief.

It turned out to be a temporary spot check.

Master Li Wen also started to get busy with his colleagues. While they were comparing, they heard a lot of chaotic footsteps outside. It seemed that a lot of people were walking here.

Everyone's breathing became much quieter, and they held their breath and concentrated. The next moment, Zu Ting appeared at the door, surrounded by more than a dozen officials.

He rushed in quickly and Zhao Yanshen stood up hurriedly.

"Grandfather."

Zu Ting nodded at him and slowly glanced at the officials beside him, who also hurriedly stood up to greet him.

Zu Ting strode to Zhao Yanshen's seat, sat down, and motioned Zhao Yanshen to bring the things over.

Zhao Yanshen hurriedly handed him the document for him to look at.

Zu Ting just flipped through the document in his hand. After a while, he suddenly asked gloomily, "Who wrote this statistics?"

Zhao Yanshen replied, "It is my servant Li Wenshi."

Zu Ting slowly looked towards Master Li Wen and sneered.

"I've heard of you. You're young, but your political achievements are among the best."

Zu Ting threw the document in his hand heavily in front of him, "This is all you can write?!"

"see this!"

"There's an extra 'ten thousand' in the quantity statistics! An annual output of one thousand has become an annual output of ten million?! Are you crazy?"

"Such serious mistakes can occur in the statistics of the national treasury! It is simply laughable!!"

Zu Ting was furious, but Master Li Wen was shocked. How could he have made such a stupid mistake?

He leaned his head out to take a look, but Zu Ting had put the document away.

"madness!"

"Can someone like you be a servant?!"

Master Li Wen didn't dare to ask for it, he looked at Zhao Yanshen.

Zhao Yanshen slowly said, "Grandfather, Master Li Wen has not been in good health these days."

"Can you take important matters lightly just because you are not in good health?"

Zu Ting raised the document in his hand and said, "This is the evidence. He who neglects government affairs should be severely punished!"

He stood up and glared at Li Wenshi, "Just wait to be dismissed."

After saying that, Zu Ting turned around and left.

After Zu Ting led everyone away, Li Wenshi walked to Zhao Yanshen's side. He was anxious, "Mr. Zhao! How could I make such a mistake? I have been in the Secretariat for many years, you know that, you have also read my memorials, how could it be as he said? Even if there were mistakes, I have revised them. What on earth does Mr. Zu mean by this?!"

Zhao Yanshen still had that shrewd face. He glanced at Master Li Wen and said, "I don't know."

After saying this, he sat down again. Obviously, he had no intention of getting involved in this matter.

The more Li Wenshi thought about it, the more frightened he became, so he asked Zhao Yanshen for sick leave and left in a hurry.

Wei House.

There was laughter and joy in the study.

Wei Shou took a sip of tea and then looked at Wei Changxian who was sitting in front of him.

Wei Changxian is much younger than Wei Shou, but in terms of seniority, Wei Changxian is Wei Shou's uncle.

The big families are particularly concerned about this kind of seniority, and will not ignore it even if there is a difference in age.

"My uncle should have taken a concubine long ago. How can a man be without descendants?"

“It’s the right thing to do, don’t worry about what others think.”

Wei Shou said with a smile: "Perhaps my uncle will be able to have a son in his old age, and give birth to a wise man who can rule the world."

Wei Changxian shook his head. "I'm not Zhong Yao. At my age, I'm afraid I can't do it anymore."

"You can't say that. My uncle is in good health. Having a son is no problem. He will definitely be a great man when he grows up!"

"If I have a son, I don't ask him to be a great man. As long as he can uphold upright aspirations and not do evil, I will be satisfied."

Wei Changxian originally had several children, but they all died young and did not survive. This is why he wanted to take a concubine when he was older.

Although Wei Changxian and Wei Shou were from the same clan, Wei Changxian had been exiled before, and the gap in their official positions was too great, so they were not very close.

It was only after he followed Wei Shou to join Liu Taozi's army that the two became close. The main reason was that Wei Shou really could not find any relatives to recommend to Liu Taozi. His own relatives were worse than one another, and if he recommended someone, if something went wrong, they would all die together. At least Wei Changxian was still reliable.

The two talked for a while, and Wei Shou suddenly asked, "Why did you go to Qingzhou some time ago?"

Wei Changxian glanced at the other party and shook his head, "These are confidential matters, and I can't tell you yet."

"Hahaha, there aren't any outsiders here, so it's okay to talk about it."

"No, don't tell me." Wei Changxian was very decisive.

Wei Shou was stunned and continued to drink his tea.

At this moment, a servant came in to report.

"Master, Master Li Wen is here to see you."

Wei Shou asked someone to take him to the next room to rest, and he saw Wei Changxian off, and then went to see Li Wenshi in a swagger.

There were also conflicts in the Han Dynasty’s imperial court.

However, unlike the struggle between the old Xianbei and the old tribe in the past, the current struggle has turned into a struggle between the new and the old.

There is the veteran faction headed by Lu, Tian, ​​Cui and others, and there is the peach-picking faction headed by Yecheng.

In the past, the old Xianbei fought with the old tribe for interests, and the old tribe was suppressed. But now that Liu Taozi has risen strongly, it cannot be said that there is no difference between the Hu and Han people, but at least on the surface, this is no longer a point of etiquette conflict. After all, the old Xianbei in the Han country are not military leaders, nor can they be military leaders, so there is nothing to compete with court officials, unless they compete with Liu Taozi. But this is more difficult and is not recommended.

The conflict between the veterans and the newcomers is over the issue of change.

The elders had followed Liu Taozi for a long time and were generally young. They were more dissatisfied with the previous state affairs and had a strong desire for reform.

They hope to change all the bad habits of the previous dynasty and do things thoroughly.

As for these new arrivals, they hope to maintain the past order without making drastic changes so that they can continue to enjoy themselves.

It is hard to say who is right or wrong. After all, both factions are serving the country and have made contributions.

Zu Ting is considered to be quite different among both the old and the new. He is independent and can't get along with most people.

But overall, he was more inclined to the elders. He advocated many reforms to change the bad habits and bad policies left by the State of Qi.

Qi State had many bad habits that were not to be exposed, such as the practice of the great families recommending each other. I recommend your children, you recommend my children, we exchange with each other and make progress together. This practice has a long history.
Wei Shou slowly walked to the study.

Li Wenshi was pacing back and forth, waiting for him. When he saw Wei Shou come in, he hurriedly bowed to greet him.

"Okay, okay, why are you being so polite?"

Wei Shou sat down and looked at the panicked Li Wenshi. "What happened? Why are you so anxious?"

"Today, Zu Ting came to the Zhongshutai"

Master Li Wen hurriedly told the other party what had happened truthfully.

The more Wei Shou listened, the gloomier his expression became.

"This guy did it on purpose."

"Not long ago, this guy called all the officials together and said he wanted to completely abolish the recommendation system."

"It's not like the recommended candidates don't need to be assessed. If there are no recommendations, how can we select outstanding talents for the country?"

"But this guy doesn't think so. He insists that recommendation is a bad policy and that those who are recommended can be given a break and special care, and their chances of passing the exam are 100%. He hinted that we cheated in private."

"He also plans to separate the performance evaluation from the local level. The Minister of Personnel can't comment on the performance of the county magistrate? This is ridiculous!"

"I followed a few wise men to reprimand him in person, but I didn't expect that his revenge would come so quickly!"

Master Li Wen suddenly realized.

Is that so?
Wei Shou stood up and squinted his eyes. "Don't worry, I recommended you. Zu Ting wants to slap me in the face, but it's not that easy!"

"He thinks he can remove a Zhongshu official by framing him?"

"Just wait. Just wait."

Wei Shou's eyes flickered, and many thoughts suddenly popped up in his mind. He suddenly looked at Master Li Wen, his eyes extremely bright.

"This is a good opportunity to deal with Zu Ting!"

"Your Majesty will never allow Zu Ting to do such a thing. He has been punished for violating the law in the past. This time, dismissing an official without any reason is an even more serious crime!!"

"If we can use this as an excuse"

"Master Wen, I'm sorry to wrong you. Please don't refute me. If Zu Ting wants to dismiss you, then let him do it. I will contact everyone and find a suitable time."

The two chatted in low voices.

Pingcheng Iron Works.

Zu Ting sat in the upper seat, holding the wine jug in his hand, putting it to his mouth. His throat moved, and the wine kept pouring into his mouth and flowing out from the corners of his mouth. Half of his body was wet with wine.

At this moment, the doors and windows of the house were closed and candles were lit.

There were sixteen people in total, kneeling carefully on both sides of Zu Ting. They couldn't help but applaud as they watched him gulp down the wine.

"Grandpa has a good alcohol tolerance!"

“What a great alcohol tolerance!!”

"As expected of you, Grandfather!!"

The sixteen people gathered at this moment are the iron officials of various large iron mills in the north.

The Hulu Iron Officer still invited these people over.

If other ministers jumped out and waved to them, saying, "Come to me, we will embezzle money together and become parasites," then they would definitely not believe it.

But since Zu Ting said this, it is very credible.

Zu Ting's reputation was very strong. He stole things from the emperor, embezzled the imperial stable, smuggled war horses, and collaborated with others to withhold national treasury revenue. These people would never dare to think about doing these things in their entire lives.

If these iron officials are the parasites of the world, then the ancestor can be regarded as the King of Gu.

Therefore, when Zu Ting said that he wanted to help everyone get rich together, they did not hesitate.

Besides, Zu Ting didn't even need to lie about what they had done. They simply couldn't stand up to scrutiny, especially from a veteran like Zu Ting. In Zu Ting's eyes, the corruption methods of these people were so low-level that he could see through them at a glance.

Since there is no way to resist, we can only leave it to fate.

Zu Ting wiped his mouth, his face full of joy.

His mood is getting better and better.

He looked at the people in front of him and said slowly, "Just you guys? There were 39 factories in Qi State back then, and there are still 34 factories in the country now. There are only 16 people from the 34th factory? Where are the others?"

Hulu Tieguan stood up hurriedly, lowered his head and said, "Grandfather, those other people are not the same as us."

"The current governors are not easy to mess with. After they came to power, they directly intervened in the affairs of the iron factory, drove out the original officials, promoted their own cronies, and took the iron factory back to the local area. These people have been following the local area. I also sent others privately to deal with them in the tone of other places, but these people had bad intentions and wanted to expose me, so I immediately cut off contact and stopped dealing with them."

Zu Ting narrowed his eyes. "So, there are only sixteen factories willing to follow me in corruption? Too few, too few."

"Grandpa, it's a lot. The five largest factories in the country are all here this time. If they work at full capacity, they can produce 10,000 tons a day, which is more than 300 tons a year. Our five factories can produce nearly 1,500 tons of iron a year. But in fact, with losses, we can only hide 30%."

"So, a factory can withhold 500 tons of iron a year?"

Zu Ting shook his head in disdain, "Rough, too rough."

"How much iron can you swallow? If you have to swallow, you should swallow the product."

"Grandfather, if all products are processed, not to mention the cost, a large number of ironware will flow into the public, and the market price will not be too high. If it keeps falling, we will suffer more in the end..."

Zu Ting glanced at the other party and said, "You are fools and you don't believe me."

"The domestic market is saturated, so what about the Zhou people? What about the Qi people? What about the Chen people?"

The iron officials shuddered.

This guy is the real corrupt official!

The Iron Officer Hulu hurriedly said, "Grandfather, this is not good. How can we sell domestic ironware to foreign countries? They are our enemies. They will use it to make weapons and fight us. Isn't this murdering our own people?"

"You've already swallowed up the country's ironware, and you still care about this?"

"Your weapons are underweight and have killed countless of our own people. What's the point of selling them to the enemy?"

Tieguan's face turned red and he was unable to refute for a moment.

Zu Ting looked at everyone and said seriously, "From today on, I will be responsible for the operation of the domestic ironworks. Everyone must only pay their share to me and not to anyone else."

"I have found a reason to dismiss Master Li Wen."

"I don't care who has approached you, threatened you, or asked you for help. From now on, completely cut off contact with them and do not give them any dividends!"

"It's all mine!!"

"It's all mine!!"

(End of this chapter)