Han official!

Chapter 98: Progress of Buying a Title to Atone for Sins

Two thousand five hundred buckets!
At the door of Lingshe's house, under the tiled eaves, the Maoling Ling looked in astonishment at Guo Jie who had said such a staggering amount, his eyes wide open, his face full of disbelief.

Two thousand two thousand five hundred buckets?
Two hundred and fifty gold!
this.
It's too shocking.

"Haha."

Zhao Yu was delighted: "You have the help of powerful people, and I also have Guo Jie as my assistant. The Du people of the Western Road raised 2,000 baskets of money and silk to submit the plan. It is indeed a lot, but it is not as much as the 2,500 baskets of cloth that Guo Jie brought to me."

He was quite delighted. There were many departments in the government offices of Chang'an, including the warehouse department that collected rent from the people, the market rent department, the tax collection department, and other departments. None of them could compare to Guo Jie, who was good at plundering the powerful.

In Zhao Yu's heart, Guo Jie has become somewhat irreplaceable.

Once again, he gained face in front of Sang Hongyang.

Maoling Ling's face turned red, and he was so angry that he couldn't say a word for a long time. He was too embarrassed to stay in Chang'an Ling's residence.

"Humph!"

The Maoling magistrate turned away with a cold snort, his face flushed with shame, and he could only leave in a carriage covered with a black cloth.

He turned around and said through gritted teeth, "Don't be so complacent. I already collect more land taxes and market rents than you do every year. I only need to find the Du brothers in the Western Road and offer them the same amount of money as you, and I will still be better than you. At the beginning of next year, I will be the only one who will be selected as the best official in the palace."

The Maoling Ling knelt inside the carriage and took a look at the Hanque at the gate of the official temple in Chang'an. He shuddered in his heart. The scene of him running naked was still vivid in his mind.

He was slapped by Prime Minister Dou Ying, firstly because he failed to come first in the plan, and secondly because Dou Ying's guests were running around naked, which was really embarrassing.

The Maoling magistrate thought to himself that he must come first in the proposal this time, so as not to ruin Dou Ying's plan to take control of the Right Secretary of the Interior.

"Go and call the people from the Western Road."

The Maoling magistrate gritted his teeth and said, "I can only use the county clerk to induce the powerful to use up more money and silk that they lent to me to use for the plan. It seems that I can only give a few scattered officials a quota, and I can't defeat Zhao Yu."

The powerful were willing to lend money to the Magistrate of Maoling, but although it was called a loan, everyone knew that the money would never be returned.

There is only one reason. When Maoling Ling was appointed as the Right Internal History, he recruited powerful people to serve as the county magistrate of the Right Internal History.

If Guo Jie knew about the deal between Maoling Ling and the powerful, he would definitely say that it was a good deal. The Western Han Dynasty had a two-level administrative system of counties and prefectures, and the governors set up in the states only had supervisory powers and no real power.

The rank of a provincial governor was only six hundred stones, while that of a county governor was two thousand stones.

A county is between a city and a province, roughly equivalent to a straight-tube city directly under the jurisdiction of the capital.

Although both are bureau-level cadres, there are huge differences between county bureaus and municipal bureaus, and their powers are even more different.

The powerful people gave political donations to the Maoling Ling. When he was promoted to the Right Internal History, he was given the position of Cao Yuan of the County Cao, which was the official position of the director of a municipal bureau or the director of a provincial department.

Since the Western Han Dynasty had a two-level administration system of counties and prefectures, the actual power of the county magistrate in a large county was equivalent to that of a provincial or ministerial level, while that of the county magistrate in a small county was equivalent to that of a municipal or bureau level.

The Right Internal History is undoubtedly a large county.

With only twenty-five million yuan's worth of property, one can obtain the position of provincial or department head. This deal is very profitable.

The Maoling magistrate hardened his resolve and directly offered a county official: "Go to the neighborhoods where the various officials of the Western Road live and tell them that for anyone who can bring 2,500 buckets of money and silk, I will recruit one of them to serve as the current official."

At that time, Cao was in charge of seasonal sacrifices.

There are also shrine clerks who are specially appointed to worship famous mountains and rivers within the county or the temples of ancient saints and sages.

The three elders of Chang'an County happened to be the Shicao of the Right Secretary of the Interior.

Lingxia immediately bowed and left, heading for the neighborhood where the Du clans of the Western Road lived, and told them to prepare two thousand five hundred buckets of money and silk.

"The various Caos of the Western Road?"

Zhao Yu sneered, a look of great concern on his face. "The prisoners of the Western Circuit live in the neighborhoods of Baling Town and the villages of Baling Plain. They are not under the jurisdiction of Chang'an. Patrolling the prisoners of the Western Circuit is indeed a difficult task."

Guo Jie knew of the Baling Plain, later known as the White Deer Plain. Zhao Yu sighed and said, "If the rents from the nine markets of Chang'an were collected by this official, there would be no worry about not getting first place in the report. Unfortunately, the nine markets of Chang'an fall under the jurisdiction of the Right Secretary of the Interior."

The subordinates of the Right Secretary of the Interior included the Chang'an City Magistrate, who was in charge of the nine markets in Chang'an. The collection of market rent was also the responsibility of the Chang'an City Magistrate.

Guo Jie understood what Zhao Yu meant.

The Chang'an official temple only had administrative power over the nine cities, but no financial power, and taxes were directly paid to the provincial treasury.

This kind of thing is very common. The thirteen cities of Su Daqiang were jokingly called the Soviet Union. A big reason for this was that they had a secondary fiscal system, and taxes were directly paid to the capital instead of to the provincial finances.

What’s even more interesting is that after removing the municipalities and several provincial capitals, there are eighteen secondary finances left, and the Soviet Union occupies thirteen of them.

"It doesn't matter."

Sang Hongyang smiled and said, "The powerful people in Chang'an are enough to support you in taking the first place. We can discuss this matter later. I'm just short of money to build a garden and I'm extremely anxious. The 2,500 buckets of grain that Guo Tingzhang brought here are just the right solution to my urgent need."

He took out a bamboo slip and quickly wrote two official documents.

You can tell from the speed at which he writes.

Very urgent.

Sang Hongyang took out a scroll of official documents and threw it to Zhao Yu. "This is the document stating that I have taken away money and silk from the Chang'an government warehouse. When it comes time to submit my report, even if I don't bring the 2,500 baskets of money and silk to the Right Secretary's official temple, I can still have it recorded in the report."

He then took out a letter-like document and handed it to Guo Jie, saying with a smile, "Two thousand five hundred baskets of money and silk in exchange for five hundred acres of good farmland. Each acre of good farmland costs five thousand coins in the market. Compared to the good farmland in Chang'an that costs three or four thousand coins an acre, it may seem like a loss, but in fact, you won't lose money."

Sang Hongyang smiled, glanced at Zhao Yu, and hurriedly left the residence and went to the gate of the official temple to take away the 2,500 baskets of money and silk sent by Guo Jie.

"Minister Sang."

Zhao Yu also smiled, shook his head, and handed a handwritten letter to Guo Jie: "This is a letter from me. Take it to the County Official Temple in Longxi County and exchange it for 500 acres of good farmland."

One thousand acres of prime farmland!

Two thousand five hundred buckets of soil exchanged for one thousand acres of good farmland.

He spent only 2,500 coins to buy a piece of prime land worth 4,000 coins.

Guo Jie was overjoyed and immediately bowed, "Thank you, Lord Zhao."

He carefully put the two letters in his pocket, and when Zhang Qian went to the border to deliver the horses, he gave the letters to him to be delivered to the county official temple.

The farmland in Jinchenglu reached 1,500 acres.

Only 3,500 acres are left to reach 5,000 acres.

Zhao Yu took the official documents and went to sit down. He asked his subordinates to record the 2,500 buckets of money and silk in the book.

Only Zhang Tang remained.

"Bring it here."

Zhang Tang looked at his subordinate Guo Jie, extended his hand, and said, "This time you can buy a title to atone for five sins. Bring me the letter of atonement, and I will personally clear your name."

Guo Jie's face was full of joy.

The cruel official Zhang Tang personally took the blame for Guo Jie's blood debt, and when the cruel officials started the purge, no one could find him.

Guo Jie immediately took out five volumes of love books and handed them to the official Zhang Tang, and watched Zhang Tang go and sit down.

The progress of buying a title to atone for sins is 17%.

(End of this chapter)