Great Qing Xiangguo

Chapter 86

Yang Wenqi said: "My lord, there is another plan for mediocrity. When the chaos really arises, even if Chen Tingjing is killed in the chaos, it can be done! Yunnan Tiangao Emperor is far away, you go to the booklet and only say that Chen Tingjing is not effective , provoked a civil uprising, and died in an emergency, what can the emperor do? It is nothing more than sending imperial envoys down to find out how Chen Tingjing died, or is it up to us to say?"

Wang Jiwen nodded, and told him to stop here and just act according to plan.

Chen Tingjing went up to Mount Taihua and went straight to Huating Temple.After seeing the abbot, he burned a few sticks of incense in the hall, and without hesitation, he ordered Ma Ming to invite the father and son of the Kan family.Not long after, the Kan family father and son came, all with shame on their faces.

Chen Tingjing laughed and said, "I must have a predestined relationship with Mr. Kan!"

Kan Zhenzhao shook his head and said, "It's not that Kan is concealing his identity on purpose, but he really doesn't want to interfere with the affairs of the governor's yamen and offend the imperial envoy."

Kan Wangda clasped his hands and said, "Wan Sheng also lied to the Imperial Envoy, so he will be punished."

Chen Tingjing glanced at Kan Wangda, then turned back to talk to Kan Zhenzhao: "You don't ask questions, you have to ask questions!"

Kan Zhenzhao said: "I pretend to be smart, but I did two stupid things that I regret!"

Chen Tingjing guessed that it was a foolish thing for him to come forward to find a merchant to borrow money for Wang Jiwen, but he didn't know what else was going on.Kan Zhenzhao said: "One is to borrow money from merchants for the governor's yamen, and the other is to supervise the construction of Daguanlou. Wang Jiwen asked me to pay the co-payment at first, but I did not accept the order. It is necessary to raise 17 taels of silver and 13 dans of grain in a short period of time. , [-] war horses, it is really difficult. I want Wang Jiwen to tell the court that it will be avoided if it can be avoided, and it will be delayed if it can be delayed. But Wang Jiwen is very happy and must complete the court errands on time. "

Chen Tingjing asked: "Wang Jiwen did complete the errand on time, and he paid for it with treasury money, didn't he?"

Kan Zhenzhao nodded and said: "Exactly! Later I heard that the imperial envoy was coming to investigate the bank and Wang Jiwen asked me for advice. I only knew that he and Yang Wenqi had done many things that violated the court regulations without telling me. I was just a case in the yamen. The first confession, a decoration! I thought that Wang Jiwen’s yamen was not a place for me to stay, so I walked away. But not long after, about four months ago, Wang Jiwen came to the door again, and asked me to come forward. Ask merchants to borrow money to temporarily fill the deficiencies in the treasury."

Kan Wangda interjected, "My father has soft ears. After all, he has been friends with Wang Jiwen for many years, so he agreed."

Chen Tingjing asked: "Why did Wang Jiwen insist on asking you to find a merchant?"

Kan Zhenzhao said: "Kan has a good reputation in Yunnan, and the Kan family has been a businessman for generations, and they are quite trusted by their peers."

Chen Tingjing asked again: "You said that supervising the construction of Daguan Tower is also a foolish thing. Why?"

Kan Zhenzhao said: "In name, I supervise the construction, but I only take care of the construction, and Yang Wenqi is in charge of the accounts. Yang Wenqi raised more than [-] taels of silver, which were all counted for the construction of Daguanlou. The actual consumption of Daguanlou is only [-] taels of silver! "

Chen Tingjing nodded and remained silent, listening to their father and son.Kan Wangda said: "But my father can't produce evidence of Yang Wenqi's corruption, so he can't sue him!"

Chen Tingjing felt strange and asked, "Why?"

Kan Zhenzhao said: "When I supervised the construction of Daguanlou, I had a bad fight with Wang Jiwen, and I only knew how to drink. Every time Yang Wenqi had income and expenses, he came to sign when I was drunk. Now I really want to investigate the accounts of Daguanlou. Responsibility It's all on my head, but it's my corruption!"

Kan Wangda said: "My family did not lend money to the yamen, and the salt shop was still able to open. Other merchants only said that my father and son had teamed up with the governor's yamen to cheat them, so they hated them. Xiang Yunhe came to my house to make a noise that day, and the governor's yamen was already occupied. Waiting inside. The yamen servants tricked Xiang Yunhe into going in and beat him to death, but they blamed me for the beating, and said that the merchants jointly sued me and arrested me."

Kan Zhenzhao said again: "I made it impossible for the merchants to do business. I also worked out a new tax law with Wangda. The merchants don't understand the details, so naturally they hate my Kan family!"

Chen Tingjing was very interested and said, "Tell me about this new tax law."

Kan Zhenzhao said: "The imperial envoy asked the imperial court to abolish the tax on copper mining in Yunnan and reduce the burden on the people. It is a good thing. However, the copper tax in Yunnan is the main income of the yamen, and it is gone now. If there is no new source of income, in the long run, it will be a good thing. After all, I will sit and eat the mountain.”

Chen Tingjing asked: "What can you do?"

Kan Zhenzhao said: "The imperial envoys don't know that there are many mountains and little land in Yunnan, and the people are poor. It is very difficult to share taxes and taxes on the people of Li. But besides copper, Yunnan also produces salt, tea, and a large amount of Caravans and commercial firms. At present, the imperial court is too loose on Yunnan salt and tea, and many caravans and commercial firms do not pay taxes.”

Chen Tingjing nodded and said: "Oh, yes, as long as the salt, tea, caravans, and commercial firms are managed well, and taxes are collected reasonably, there will be no worries about financial resources."

Kan Zhenzhao said: "My family Wangda is also a scholar who is worried about the world. We father and son together wrote a policy theory on the new tax law, and I want to ask the master of Taiwan to forward it to the emperor."

Chen Tingjing said: "Before I came to Yunnan, the emperor did not receive this brochure."

Kan Zhenzhao shook his head vigorously, and said: "Wang Jiwen didn't submit to the emperor at all! He wanted to do more than do less, and only wanted to make some superficial articles in Yunnan, waiting for promotion, and slapped his ass to leave! But, the emperor didn't know, the merchants I knew it first. They didn't know the details, they only heard that the Kan family and his son had a bad idea for the court and wanted to take money out of their pockets. Xiang Yunhe took the lead in suing the Kan family for this matter!"

Chen Tingjing bowed his head and pondered for a long time, and said: "I settled the accounts, and the money in the treasury was used for the payment of the association, and it was only the cash part. Where did the money for purchasing grain, grass and horses come from?"

Kan Zhenzhao said: "I'm also trying to figure it out, but I can't figure it out. In addition to the 78 taels that Ku Yin embezzled for the cooperative salary, there is still 12 taels that are not on the account. Yang Wenqi blamed me for being greedy, and didn't say that the money was used for procurement. Grain and horses."

Chen Tingjing said: "The 12 taels of silver are not enough to buy grain and horses. Where did Wang Jiwen get the other silver?"

Kan Wangda said: "I can't figure it out either. In the past few years Wang Jiwen has been the governor, it is true that he hasn't apportioned a tael of silver to the people. Everyone calls him Wang Qingtian. Where did his money come from?"

It will soon be dusk, and it will be too late to return to the city.Chen Tingjing was not in a hurry, and ordered to stay in the temple.Only then did the abbot know that Chen Tingjing was an imperial envoy, so he followed him, chanting Buddha's name, and he had to ask for calligraphy.

On the second day, after the fast meal, Chen Tingjing took the Kan family father and son back to the city by boat.When the boat passed Dianchi Lake, the water waves were not disturbed, and the white gulls rose and fell, suddenly far and near.

The boat approached the pier, but there were already many people gathered on the shore.Kan Wangda's sharp eyes recognized those people, and said, "Too bad, they are all merchants in Yanhang Street, they must be targeting us!"

It turned out that Chen Tingjing said the day before yesterday that the governor's yamen would return the money the next day.Yesterday, merchants flocked to the governor's yamen, and the people in the yamen said that they needed to find Kan Zhenzhao, and the IOU was signed by him.The merchants rushed to the Kan's salt shop again, and almost got into a fight with the Kan family.At this time, I don't know who heard that Chen Tingjing will report the new tax law of the Kan family and his son to the court. Not only will the money borrowed this time be tax deductible, but everyone will not be able to live a good life in the future.The merchants became even more angry, saying that it would be fine to just kill the dog official.They heard that Chen Tingjing went to Huating Temple, so they rushed here early to wait.

The boat was still more than ten feet away from the shore, and a few people on the shore stretched out their bamboo poles and poked hard at the boat, and the boat swayed and retreated.The three boats collided and almost capsized.The people on the shore shouted loudly: "If you don't return our money, you will never go ashore! Abolish that new tax and tax law! They are not allowed to go ashore!"

Chen Tingjing stood on the boat and did not speak. He waited for the shore to calm down before shouting, "Masters, listen to me!"

Chen Tingjing had only spoken half a sentence, and there was a commotion on the shore again.

Kan Zhenzhao shouted: "Everyone in the neighborhood, you have been cheated by Wang Jiwen!"

As soon as Kan Zhenzhao opened his mouth, the insults came overwhelmingly, and no one could say a word.At this time, Liu Jing led the family members of the Kan family to run, and surrounded the merchants with swords and guns.Several young masters couldn't stand the tone, and were about to make a move, they were knocked to the ground by the Kan family's servant.No one dared to move anymore, they just cursed and cursed.

Chen Tingjing just landed, and hastily ordered not to hurt the people.

Shouted to Yuding: "Imperial envoys of the imperial court, how can the officials and bandits be a family!"

Chen Tingjing said: "I, Mr. Chen, is an official, and the Kan family is not a bandit. Like yours, his family is a citizen of the Qing Dynasty."

Xiang Yuding said: "You don't investigate cases with the governor's yamen, and hang out with profiteers and villains, what a good official!"

Chen Tingjing laughed and said, "Whoever borrows your money and doesn't return it is a bad official and a profiteer, right? That's easy to say. Calm your anger and follow me to the treasury immediately to get your money back!"

The merchants couldn't believe it, and no one answered for half a day.

Kan Zhenzhao said: "The imperial envoy means what he says!"

Xiang Yuding said angrily: "You don't have to speak!"

Chen Tingjing said: "My fellow villagers, you have misunderstood Duke Kan!"

Xiang Yuding said: "Who misunderstood him? His family is full of benevolence and morality, but in the end he almost beat my son to death!"

Kan Wangda said: "Old man Xiang, Yunhe really wasn't hit by my Kan family!"

(End of this chapter)