Hope for luck

Chapter 484
What Gao Ming said made Gao Pan very uncomfortable to hear. After thinking about it, he called the shopkeeper of Baiheju and asked him to send someone to Hejian County Prince's Mansion to invite Xie Yujun.

The shopkeeper is very familiar with Gao Pan, knowing that Gao Pan is not only Xie Yujun's friend, Xie Yujun is also Gao's son-in-law, and Gao Pan is also a famous upstart.

What he said, the shopkeeper just as if he had received the imperial decree, and after he agreed, he hurriedly called a young boy with quick legs and feet to the Hejian County Prince's Mansion to spread the word.

This Xie Yujun was also thinking of going to Gao's house to meet Gao Pan, and by the way to meet his fiancée whom he hadn't seen for a year.

As soon as he heard that his mistress came to invite him, saying that Gao Pan was waiting for him at Baiheju, he immediately followed the mistress to Baiheju.

As soon as he entered the private room, he saw Gao Pan with a gloomy face, and he didn't seem to greet him, Xie Yujun's heart skipped a beat.

Seeing Gao Ming standing next to Gao Pan as if he had made a mistake, Xie Yujun already roughly guessed what made Gao Pan so dissatisfied.

"Oh, I haven't seen Mr. Gao for half a year. He married a beautiful wife and entered the house. Now he is becoming more and more powerful. The next official can't help but want to bow down!"

Seeing that Gao Pan didn't say hello, Xie Yujun teased Gao Pan on his own.

Gao Pan glared at him horizontally, and said seriously:
"Stop smiling here, when I left Dantang County, you ignored what I told you? Deng Wenshan is such an honest person, you want to kill him?"

This made Xie Yujun a little dissatisfied:

"Fifth brother, what you said is wrong. Deng Wenshan embezzled money and filled his own pockets. The evidence is convincing. If I report it to the superior, is there still something wrong?"

Gao Pan reprimanded angrily:

"Nonsense! You know that Deng Wenshan is not that kind of person, but seeing that he is going to give some hidden benefits to everyone in the county government, you are better off, and you will be sent to prison!"

After hearing this, Xie Yujun blushed and argued:
"This is all the truth. The 500 taels of silver was slowly scraped off by Deng Wenshan from his daily tax money. He said it was a reward for everyone, but it turned out that he didn't keep it for himself...I didn't wrong him!"

Gao Pan still didn't believe it:
"Before they had time to distribute it, you charged them with the crime of corruption. Have you ever thought about what the people below think of you? Could it be that after Deng Wenshan was taken down later, the people below have turned against you instead?"

These words made Xie Yujun stunned, and then said with a bitter face:

"You're right. Ever since Deng Wenshan was taken away, the county government seemed to have lost all life. No matter how much I teach them, these people would ignore their answers. If it wasn't for me being the magistrate, I would I'm afraid they're going to have a falling out..."

After hearing this, Gao Pan rolled his eyes and said sadly:
"Brother, have you never thought that it is because you wronged Deng Wenshan that they will be alienated from you?"

"Fortunately, you are going to be promoted soon. If you work in Dantang County for another half a year, you will definitely be dismissed by these subordinates!"

Hearing what Gao Pan said was so serious, Xie Yujun was full of dissatisfaction, blushed, and said righteously:

"Even so, Deng Wenshan is corrupt. What's wrong with me doing this?"

Gao Pan saw that Xie Yujun couldn't make sense for a while, so he stopped trying to persuade him, but thought about how to get Deng Wenshan out. Once he passed the review and inspection of the Ministry of Punishment, the matter would be considered a certainty.

On the other hand, Gao Ming helped Gao Pan and said:

"Brother Xie, you are right, it's just that the method is wrong. If Deng Wenshan is really doing it for himself, Brother Xie is right, but he is also doing it for everyone's benefit. If this little money is distributed to everyone, it will not be much. It’s not corrupt at all.”

Xie Yujun still defended righteously:
"Nonsense, the imperial court gave them enough salaries, but Deng Wenshan was corrupted by the people's fat and anointing, and he did it openly and aboveboard. All these taxes had to be handed over to the imperial court..."

Gao Pan was thinking about countermeasures, and when he heard Deng Wenshan say something like this, he interrupted directly and asked:
"Let me ask you, what is the court collecting taxes for?"

Xie Yujun didn't think much about it, so he replied:
"Of course it's for state expenditures, such as disaster relief funds, military salaries, official salaries, clan expenses, palace repairs, etc..."

After Gao Pan listened, his eyes flickered slightly:
"Since that's the case, you know the usefulness of this tax, so Deng Wenshan deducted some of it and used it to win over the hearts of the lower class, which is also one of the benefits of the salary..."

Xie Yujun hastily retorted:

"But this is clearly corruption. The court's salary is already enough, so why should there be an extra salary?"

Hearing this, Gao Pan frowned, and continued:

"If all the officials think like this, then the administration of officials can be clear and transparent without having to govern at all. Do you know how much you are a seventh-rank magistrate in a year?"

Xie Yujun frowned, thought for a moment and replied:
"I heard that the annual salary is 40 taels of silver and [-] hu of lumi..."

Before the words fell, Gao Pan hurriedly took over the words:

"Think about it for yourself, what can a county magistrate do with such a meager salary for a year? How many taels of silver is needed to eat a good meal, 40 taels of silver, how many meals is enough?"

"Not to mention that there are still wives and children in the magistrate's family, and he has to support servants, servants, masters, etc., is the salary of 40 taels a year enough?"

These words made Xie Yujun speechless. He came from the Prince's Mansion of Hejian County, and his concept of money is quite weak, and he has never been short of money envoys since he was a child.

After listening to Gao Pan's words, he realized that it was difficult for a county magistrate in the Dayu Dynasty to live on his annual salary.

Seeing that Xie Yujun seemed to understand, Gao Pan narrowed his eyes and said:

"Corruption is indeed wrong. As long as you are not a real silverfish corrupting officials, you should not be so serious about this kind of thing..."

"If even this little matter is taken so seriously, all the county government offices in the world won't have to do their work, and they won't be able to catch corruption alone."

Gao Pan was also secretly grateful. Fortunately, Xie Yujun has already taken office. If he is allowed to take office for another half a year, Dantang County will probably be in big trouble.

"The consequences of what you do, obviously, the people below quit because they have no motivation. Then, in private, they can only squeeze those poor people..."

Gao Pan went on to talk about the vicious consequences of Xie Yujun's actions. After Gao Pan paused, he said in a deep voice:

"It's impossible for you to be aware of everything. Those subordinate officials who hold resentment will only change their ways to oppress and bully innocent people, and you, the county magistrate, are high above you and don't know the sufferings of the world. After a while, you will be promoted. Those subordinate officials The officials still stayed in Dantang County, and in the end, the common people bore all the crimes for you..."

"You have to learn to let them monitor each other internally, instead of arresting the leader Deng Wenshan like this, and eventually becoming a burden on the people."

(ps: At the end of today, only one chapter will be updated. I hope everyone understands, and tomorrow will be the same. I wish you all a happy New Year's Day and a happy holiday in advance!)

(End of this chapter)