Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 339 God knows how many people are watching

Although the inspector was upright, he was not stupid. Why investigate the local tyrant? He did not ask what the relationship between Lord Xia and Prime Minister Zeng was, and how much Prime Minister Zeng liked the young Lord Xia. Every year when the Censorate held a meeting, Prime Minister Zeng asked all the censors to learn from Xia Lin's self-denial and dedication to public service.

Should we investigate him now? If we can't find anything wrong with him, we will be speechless when two big guys come to fight us. But if we find out something, Zeng Xiang is a person who cares most about his reputation, so we will be in trouble anyway.

But there was no other way. If he investigated, at most it would just be a fight between the two of them. If he didn't investigate, he would probably lose his position and be accused of favoritism and abuse of power, a crime punishable by death.

So the two came to the yamen in fear, and after explaining their purpose, they came to Xia Lin. At this moment, they were eating, each with a small plate. The two censors bowed to Xia Lin and said with a smile: "Sir Xia, sorry to bother you... The yamen of the patrol censors received a report saying that Sir Xia was extravagant in the yamen. I... We two were ordered... to check it out."

Xia Lin said "oh" and put down his bowl and chopsticks. "Go ahead and check it. It's right. I proposed to Prime Minister Zeng to set up a patrol censor's office to prevent such things. You can check it if you want."

After saying this, Xia Lin waved his hand and said, "Everyone, put down your bowls and chopsticks, and ask the officials from the Censorate to check it out."

The two imperial censors were also quite surprised. None of them had expected Lord Xia to be so reasonable. So they clasped their fists and bowed to him and the people around him: "Sorry for disturbing you."

The check was actually very simple, just check if there was drinking and entertainment, or if there was extravagance. They first checked the food, a serving of cabbage stewed with meatballs, a serving of pickled radish, and a serving of egg and chives. They were all small bowls, and a plate of food could hold at least eight bowls, and then a bowl of rice.

Oh, Xia Lin also got an extra portion of tofu pudding, which together cost at least ten cents. Since he was a bit pricey, he got twenty cents.

The Censorate's hospitality standard was that the hospitality expenses for seventh-rank officials should not exceed one or two taels of silver per person per meal. For these seventy or eighty people, the total cost was only two taels of silver.

This... this is not extravagance, it's almost the same as what the workers in the workshop eat. Look at who are sitting here, there are big guys who can mobilize huge amounts of money, and there is also Xia Lin, the temporary leader of Jiangnan Road.

Some time ago, the capital city investigated a temple prophet of the Zongzheng Temple. It was a small temple prophet, but although he was a royal relative, he could charge eight hundred taels of silver for a meal. No one had ever heard of the delicacies he ate. Before he could name them, he had to hesitate for a long time and even had to ask, "What is that?"

And now looking at the food here in Xia Lin, there is a big pot of cold tea, a bowl of rice, three side dishes and a tofu soup. What they ate before they came to investigate the case was better than this. At noon today, they even had fried loaches while inspecting the Censorate.

"Two Imperial Censors, have you finished your inspection? We are very busy this afternoon, so we need to hurry up."

Xia Lin asked with a smile, and the two imperial censors said quickly: "Sorry, sorry, Sir Xia, please continue. It is our duty and there is nothing we can do."

"It's my duty." Lord Xia nodded with a smile, which was considered as seeing the guest off.

The two censors hurried back. When they got back to the inspector's office, they got mad. I went over to see under such great pressure, and found out that someone had called the police falsely...

"Four or five meatballs per person, a plate of pickled vegetables, a portion of leeks, and a bowl of tofu soup, is this considered extravagant? If you tell others about this, I don't know what kind of famine this is. Go out and take a look. Even ordinary families who have hands and feet and can do some work, whose families don't eat better than this?"

"That's right. In my opinion, this is not to embarrass Lord Xia, but to embarrass our Censorate."

The officer who was inspecting the Censorate sat there, slapping his hands on the table and sighing, "What a big deal! Don't be angry. You are here to perform your official duties, and Lord Xia won't make things difficult for you. I will go to apologize to him in the evening, and I will definitely scold him then."

This censor's office is usually at the same level as a small county office or at the same level. The seventh and ninth rank county offices are usually at the same level, but the offices of county prefectures and state governments are one level lower. Xia Lin's fifth-rank county office must be one level lower, and Xia Lin himself is a fifth-rank inspector, so he is their real superior.

The subordinate investigates the superior, and if he finds any fault, he will let it go. If he does not find any fault, he will have to go and apologize in person, otherwise who knows if others will think he is trying to overthrow his superior.

But compared to this incident, what makes them more uncomfortable is who is reporting this. This is simply abusing the rules unscrupulously.

Moreover, the rules for inspecting the imperial censors were very strict. Every case must be investigated and the results must be made clear. That is to say, after the investigation, it must be made public. It is said that this plan was also developed by Lord Xia, and he was very happy to promote it throughout the country.

This thing is deadly. Some things can't be said, and some things can't be said. Now that this system has come out, it's too difficult to grasp the degree here. Just thinking about it makes my head hurt. But now he didn't dare to disturb Xia Lin, so let's make it public. The inspection censor's office quickly posted a notice, but this group of scholars is both smart and bad, and they are serious about using the Spring and Autumn style.

The public notice clearly states that someone reported that Fuliang County Magistrate Xia Lin was extravagant and spent money in a crowd, so the Fuliang County Inspector went to investigate in accordance with public duty. The two items of "report" and "public duty" are written very prominently.

Then below it were all kinds of details published in great detail, such as how many meatballs so-and-so had, how many bowls of rice so-and-so ate, and even how many pancakes and bowls of tofu pudding Xia Lin ate were all clearly written down.

This kind of announcement is what people like to watch the most. Firstly, they don’t have any special entertainment activities, and secondly, everyone loves gossip.

In the past, if they saw someone bending the law for personal gain or taking bribes, the onlookers would have cursed at them. But after seeing today's announcement, they also cursed unanimously, but they were not cursing Xia Lin but the whistleblower.

Looking at the people on the list, they are all well-known figures in Fuliang. Most likely, someone in their family works for these big guys, not to mention Lord Xia. When they eat this kind of food, except for those who are so poor that they can't even afford to eat, everyone else would say it's shabby.

The people below did the accounting and said that the seventy or eighty people, including their wages, only cost two taels of silver. Even if some families were not extremely wealthy, if an ordinary family had a wedding or funeral, each table of wine would cost two taels of silver.

The food these nobles ate was of the same standard as that sold at Mrs. Qing’s roadside shop, and was the kind of food that peddlers at the docks could only get by with.

If this can be called extravagance and waste, then life is unbearable. Does letting everyone eat pig grass mean being thrifty?
Xia Lin didn't take this seriously. He just asked people to clear the dishes, sat on the table, drank a sip of tea, and said to the factory managers, "You see, there are so many eyes watching you now. If you make a mistake, you will be doomed. If you find out one day, don't blame me for being ruthless."

After saying that, he rubbed his nose and said, "Do you still remember Zhao Da? He was one of my team members when I first came to Xinping. Last year, he was investigated because he wanted to save some dowry for his little daughter. Three thousand taels of silver is not much in your eyes, but now he has gone to Lingnan to cut trees. It will be difficult for him to come back in this lifetime. The confiscation of his property also involved settling all the previous accounts. More than ten thousand taels of silver implicated the whole family."

After Xia Lin finished speaking, he also sighed: "I'm almost sixty, why bother?"

The workshop heads below kept silent one by one. After all, many people had been investigated in the past few years, and many of them had followed Xia Lin to conquer the world early on. Some of them had suffered a lot, and in the end, they were removed from their posts without even being able to enjoy themselves for a few years.

Although Xia Lin tried his best to save them from death, it was difficult to enforce the law. Some of them went to Leping to raise pigs, some went to Lingnan to cut trees, and some even went to the grassland to mine coal.

It is not easy to get an official position in the local area nowadays. Some local officials even thought it was a good job when they heard that they would be transferred to Fuliang, but they had no tears to cry after they got the job.

At this moment, Princess Pingyang was also looking at the notice board. Since she had nothing to do, she had long since evolved into a street stalker, wandering around the world. She could be found almost wherever there was excitement.

Ordinary people think that a great general studies the art of war and the situation in the world all day long. A real great general takes his dog for a stroll every day, hunting when he is in good health and watching the fun when he is not.

After she saw the content on the notice, she really didn't think Xia Lin was lying, because she had known Xia Lin for quite some time and he usually ate like this, most of the time at roadside stalls or small restaurants, or he would eat at this restaurant or that restaurant.

But if you think about it carefully, he doesn't seem to have any weaknesses. He doesn't like antiques and paintings, he doesn't like delicious food, and lust is not a hobby. If someone really wants to hook up with him, he will definitely not take the bait.

At this moment, the princess has actually put Xia Lin into the role of the opponent. Such an opponent is extremely scary. Not only does he remain calm at all times, but he also does not leave any handle for others. He has outstanding abilities while maintaining a high degree of self-control.

Everyone says that Erfeng is a dragon among men, but judging from what he has shown now, Erfeng is not as good as Xia Lin to a great extent. At least his emotions are not as stable as Xia Lin. He is so calm that he does not look like a young man in his twenties. He is more composed than those old foxes.

"It's difficult." Princess Pingyang smacked her lips, put her hands behind her back, and walked away with the dog.

At this moment, two people behind him saw her back, just looked at each other, and then followed her quietly.

(End of this chapter)