Rise From the Humble

  Chapter 765 Four Liangping

Jia Langzhong, Zhao Langzhong and others warmly invited Zhu Pingan to Zhang Guanku's office room. Guan Ku waited for a long time for the reason to come, such kindness is really hard to refuse.

  Inviting myself in front of everyone in Dongchang, I guess they would not dare to do evil at this time.

  At the same time, Zhu Pingan also wanted to see what kind of medicine they sold in the gourd, so he followed them to Zhang Guanku.

   "Hehehe, Zihou is here, hurry up, please come in."

Hearing the commotion outside, Zhang Guanku greeted Zhu Ping'an with a gentle smile before he entered the door. He was so enthusiastic. This scene was a bit like Cao Cao who greeted Xu You backwards in the Three Kingdoms. .

   "Master Zhang is so kind, I am ashamed to be an official. Please, Mr. Zhang." Zhu Pingan bowed his hands in return.

   After repeatedly yielding at the door, Zhu Pingan followed Zhang Guanku and others into the room, where the guests and the host sat down.

  Zhu Ping'an was humbly sat down opposite Zhang Guanku.

  It was already dark outside, so three oil lamps were lit inside the house, and the wicks were raised high to brighten the room.

   "Does Zihou know some 'conventions' in Taicang?"

  Zhang Guanku was sitting on the chair, straightened his body as if relaxed, looked at Zhu Pingan calmly, like an endless sea, and asked softly like a famous scholar.

   "I don't know about Ping'an, but I would like to hear more about it." Zhu Ping'an shook his head, and then put on a gesture of asking for advice.

Zhang Guanku glanced at Jia Langzhong. Jia Langzhong knew what he meant and nodded slightly. Then he smiled and attracted Zhu Ping'an's attention. 'Routine' couldn't be more normal."

   "Then let's talk about 'four Liangping' first." Jia Langzhong said with a smile.

   "What is four Liangping?" Zhu Pingan asked curiously.

"Four taels of balance, hehe, Zihou has also been in Taicang for a few days, and I should have seen that it is very hard for the soldiers to carry the silver taels. Although we don't work hard, we also work hard. Zihou, you don't know, Every year when taxes and salt taxes are collected, it is common for us to stay up late and work overtime. Think about it, the chief secretaries of various places and prefectures and counties such as Zhili in the north and south pay tax silver, horse straw, silk, cloth, and money. There are more than 20 items of silver, such as banknotes, money yarn, grains, yellow wax, discounts, shipping materials, commercial taxes, deed taxes, salt taxes, fines for embezzlement, Liao pay, and water discounts. Yu." Jia Langzhong looked at Zhu Pingan with a tired face, and said with some emotion.

  The foreshadowing is so hard and serious at the beginning, the following is definitely not serious.

  After hearing Jia Langzhong's foreshadowing, Zhu Ping'an came to such a conclusion in his heart.

   Sure enough.

  After hearing Jia Langzhong’s explanation of the four-two balance, Zhu Pingan sneered at Taicang’s “convention” in his heart.

"As for the localities, they all sympathize with us when they see us working so hard. They donate 4 taels of silver to Taicang every year, and they donate an extra 4 taels of silver for every 100 taels to comfort us. We have refused many times. But this is a practice that has been formed in Taicang and the local area for hundreds of years. The local government insists on this, and we have no choice but to follow this practice. The extra 4 taels of silver, according to the convention, of which 2 taels will be allocated to the treasury Soldiers, the other 2 liang will be allocated to our treasury officials and envoys, this practice is commonly known as 'four liang leveling'." Jia Langzhong slowly explained the four liang leveling practice, as if they were also forced to Helpless, had to abide by this practice.

  After hearing this, Zhu Ping'an was expressionless, and his heart was already filled with shocking waves, and he spurned Jia Langzhong and others. For every 100 taels of silver, an extra 4 taels of silver will be collected. Taicang collects more than two million taels of silver every year. For the "four taels of balance" alone, they charge more than 80,000 taels of silver every year.

   How much burden this has added to the common people!

   "How much is a year?" Zhu Pingan pursed his lips and asked calmly.

   "It's not much, just more than 80,000 taels of 'hard money' in a year." Jia Langzhong shook his head disapprovingly, and said flatly.

   This is not much? ! Isn't more than 80,000 taels of silver not enough? It is equivalent to more than 48 million yuan. A senior official of the fourth rank only receives a salary of more than one hundred and forty taels of silver every year. The silver you get from this "custom" is enough for the annual salary of five or six hundred senior officials of the fourth rank.

  How many fourth-rank officials are there in the entire Ming Dynasty? !

  Not much. Hehe, it can be seen that their "practice" for making money is not limited to this one, and it can be seen that they have made much more money than this 80,000 taels.

   Huh, "hard money"? What you have done is just a matter of your duty. This is also called "hard money". Isn't this just lying around and picking up money? !

  Zhu Ping'an has a brand new understanding of the greed and shamelessness of Jia Langzhong and others.

"In the past, the treasury envoys dispatched every year were officials from the Taoist Ministry. This year, Zihou took such painstaking efforts to inspect Taicang. Presumably, the higher-ups will not send an official from the Taoist Ministry to inspect the treasury. In this way, the 80,000 taels of silver" "Hard work money", Zihou can get about 10,000 taels of "hard work money", although it is not much, but it can be regarded as a consolation for Zihou's hard work in checking the treasury." Jia Langzhong raised his head, looked at Zhu Pingan with a smile and said .

   "Ten thousand taels?!"

  When Langzhong Zhao heard the words, his face suddenly fell, and he seemed a little dissatisfied.

  Look at your future!

  Zhang Guanku, who had been controlling the situation in the house, immediately glared at Zhao Langzhong, and stared back at what Zhao Langzhong was about to blurt out.

  Under Zhang Guanku's gaze, Zhao Langzhong froze, muttered, and shut his mouth. There was ten thousand taels of dissatisfaction in his heart, so why should he give Zhu Pingan ten thousand taels? In previous years, only four to five thousand taels were allocated to Chakushi for this item.

   Now that Zhu Ping'an has been given more than twice as much at once, wouldn't that mean that we will get less money? !

   "Ten thousand taels" Zhu Ping'an clicked his tongue.

  It’s good to be tempted, hehe, you Zhu Ping’an are nothing more than that, I bought you for a mere ten thousand taels of silver.

   Seeing Zhu Pingan smacking his tongue, the smile on Jia Langzhong's face became wider, and a smile appeared on Zhang Guanku's face as well.

"Does the 'convention' agree to this? If you know you agree, then I can accept it; if you don't know, then I can't accept a penny." Zhu Pingan glanced at Jia Langzhong, Zhang Guanku and others one by one, shrugging slightly. shrugged.

   "Well, this has been done this way for more than a hundred years, and this practice can be regarded as a Taicang rule. If Zi Hou doesn't accept it, wouldn't it break the rules?" Jia Langzhong persuaded earnestly.

Uh.

  Why did I keep myself clean, but broke the rules instead? ! What kind of rule is this!

Zhu Pingan smiled speechlessly, cupped his hands and pleaded guilty: "Zi Hou doesn't understand the rules, please don't blame me, my lords. However, you won't be rewarded if you don't get rewarded. It's Ping An's job to inspect the bank. The daily time is enough, and I don't have the merit of staying up late and working overtime for more than a month like the adults, so I have absolutely no face to accept this silver tael."

  (end of this chapter)