Infrastructure Throne

Boya Viscount Mansion.

The lamb chops on the dining table were not eaten by anyone, and they were gradually getting colder. A few young nobles smiled and talked about what they had, and glanced at the door from time to time.

Only Viscount Boya calmly cut the lamb chops and put them into his mouth piece by piece.

The housekeeper who answered the door went back and forth: "My lord, the officiant is just outside the door, and he has arrived in person. Look... is someone coming in?"

The little nobles looked at each other and wanted to say goodbye, but they didn't dare, so they had to fidget on the chair and move half of their buttocks.

It wasn't until the third piece of lamb was chewed and swallowed that Viscount Boya put down the knife, wiped his mouth slowly, and said, "Since the Lord Priest is here, you can't be too rude, so let's open the door."

The butler nodded, and was about to bow out when he was stopped by the other party.

"Open the side door."

The butler froze, the muscles on his face twitched unnaturally, and he asked tentatively, "The side door? After all, it's the officiant, and he doesn't even open the front door, will it be..."

The little nobles on the side couldn't help persuading in a low voice: "If you refute the face of the chief priest like this, if you make him angry and order those guards to rush in, what should you do? It's a big mess, and it won't end well..."

"Hmph." Viscount Boya placed the wine glass heavily on the table, and with a heavy sound, several people's hearts trembled.

"Rush in? What name did he rush in? If he did that, he would be breaking into a house. Could it be that all the guards I raise are vegetarians? If there is a conflict, I am self-defense. If it spreads, it will only damage his own." prestige."

Viscount Boya thought for a while, and then cautiously told the butler: "For the outside world, just say that the gate is under repair these days, and it can't be opened. Please come in through the side door, the officiant."

The little nobles remained silent, and only flattered with a smile on their faces: "My lord Viscount is right, we are not rejecting him. After today, the whole Yuanliu City will know that the Lord Priest wants to see you. Go through the side door honestly."

Pleased by which word, Viscount Boya couldn't help showing a smile, leaning his upper body back into the back of the chair, waved his hand to let the butler pass the message, and picked up the wine glass with the other hand to let the maid fill it up for himself.

※※※

Outside the gate of the Viscount's mansion.

Jin Da was still barking at the door aggressively, and the poor carved wooden door was shaking all over, suffering from his torment, making toothache creaking noises constantly.

After a while, Jin Da's hands were almost sore, a small narrow door on the side suddenly opened, and a little old man who tried to calm down came out. He was the housekeeper of the Viscount's mansion.

The little old man bowed deeply in the direction of the carriage: "I'm sorry for keeping the officiant waiting for so long. The viscount is in the house, please follow me."

Jin Da rolled his eyes and rubbed his sore wrist: "Then open the door soon."

The butler hesitated in embarrassment for a moment, opened his mouth, and gnawed: "Uh, this gate has been under renovation for the past few days, so it can't be opened. Please, Master Priest..."

Jin Da followed his gaze and leaned forward to look at the side door, as if it hadn't been opened for a long time. It was old and short, so narrow that only one person could pass through, and even a little peeling paint could be seen when it was opened.

Jin Da turned black on the spot, pointed at the butler's nose, and said in a loud voice, "What the hell? You dare to ask our Lord Priest to go through this side door? Is this a person's way? It's not much better than a dog's hole!"

The butler turned his head slightly to avoid the spout of saliva from the other party, and ran under the carriage in small steps, burying his head with a guilty conscience: "Master Officiant, it's really a coincidence, look..."

The gilded carriage door opened from the inside out, and the butler saw a piece of plain white clothes in his lowered eyes. He raised his head slightly, and Shen Qingze's solemn and stern face came into view.

Looking down at the other party's black and white pupils, the butler's back was sweating profusely, Shen Qingze didn't speak, and he didn't dare to move, he could only lower his head to study the texture of the floor tiles under his feet.

After a long time, the hem of the clothes slowly dragged away. The butler secretly let out a long sigh of relief, and immediately turned his head to follow, ready to lead the way ahead.

Unexpectedly, Shen Qingze went straight to the closed door without looking sideways.

The butler panicked: "Master Officiant, I can't go there—"

Shen Qingze's footsteps stopped in front of the carved gate, with one hand on his waist, the hanging sleeves were loose and elegant, and the fluffy head of duck poked out from it, and crawled into his arms.

Shen Qingze caressed the soft hair on Yaya's head, tilted his head slightly: "The door is broken?"

The butler nodded and pecked at the rice: "It's definitely not that the Viscount is deliberately neglecting you. The door is under repair, and it really can't be opened!"

Shen Qingze slowly put the duck on his shoulder, nodded to express his understanding: "It's okay."

The butler was overjoyed, and was about to praise the magnanimity of the officiant——

But seeing Shen Qingze press the door with both hands free, and push forward flatly...

I don't know where the huge force came from under his gentle skin, but with a "bang", two huge carved wooden doors fell directly from the door frame!

The two door panels, one on the left and the other on the right, were opened in a figure-eight shape towards the inside, shaking up a large cloud of dust and surging in the sunlight.

Shen Qingze lightly brushed off the dust on his shoulders, nodded to the stunned butler: "It seems that it is indeed broken."

Everyone: "..."

He didn't care about the butler's blue and white face, and told Jin Da: "Put back the door panel for him, so that Viscount Boya won't mistakenly think that I broke it. How bad it is."

There were sporadic muffled laughter from the crowd watching from a distance. The butler was so angry that he opened his mouth and then closed it, showing a smile that was uglier than crying: "Thank you, Lord Priest..."

Shen Qingze gave a reserved "Yes", led the crowd, and walked calmly into the gate of the Viscount's mansion, leaving the butler with a face full of tears.

There was such a commotion outside that someone has already reported to Viscount Boya in a hurry.

Shen Qingze came but reacted faster than Viscount Boya.

It was too late for the little nobles to run away when they saw that something was wrong.

Shen Qingze walked all the way, walking at the forefront of the team, under the halo of the officiant, none of the guards of the Viscount's Mansion dared to draw their swords against him, and could only watch helplessly as the accompanying guards quickly occupied all the entrances of the hall.

The atmosphere became more and more dignified in the confrontation between the two sides.

The butler ran back panting, and was glared at by Viscount Boya.

He slowly got up from the high-back chair, and said with a fake smile: "The priest and his guards broke into my house, what did he want to do? I just invited a few friends over for a party, isn't it against the law?" ?”

His voice became higher and higher, and in the end it was almost stern: "If you want to use your status as the chief priest to bully me and wait for the meritorious service, I will go to the city lord to judge now!"

Shen Qingze looked at him indifferently, and returned a calm smile for a moment, he rarely smiled, often at times like this, if he was not happy, someone would be in trouble.

He waved to Luo Xin who was following behind and trying to shrink his fat body. Jin Da cleverly dragged a high-back chair and asked him to sit down.

Shen Qingze folded his hands on his folded knees, sitting in a casual posture, and murmured out the first syllable after seeing the Viscount: "Nian."

Luo Xin sighed in his heart, honestly unfolded a roll of parchment, and cleared his throat:

"Viscount Boya, with more than 360 hectares of land under his name, [-]% of the tax is deducted, except for some meritorious land that can be deducted from taxes. Over the years, he has owed a total of more than [-] million jin of grain taxes, converted into market prices..."

"Wait!" Every time Luo Xin said a word, Viscount Boya's face turned green.

At first, he thought that Shen Qingze was so laborious that he came to question the craftsman, but he didn't expect that he and Luo Xin would come to check his taxes together!

Viscount Boya was unprepared for this, in other words, all the old nobles in the city would not have imagined that there are still people who dare to take the risk of becoming enemies of the whole city's nobles and blatantly come to their door to force taxes!

He was stunned by the terrible amount of 360 million catties of grain, his mind went blank, and after a while, he laughed angrily: "Commander Luo Xin, are you crazy? Where do I get so much grain?"

Luo Xin sighed: "Accumulated, since your grandfather was ennobled, your family has been in arrears of grain and tax every year under various names, and there are some people who try to evade taxes under your name. By now, it has snowballed." ?"

Viscount Boya let out a "ha", almost mad with anger, but the corners of his mouth were wide open, for fear that others would not know he was smiling:

"Master Priest is newly appointed, so it's understandable that you don't know about crops. You have been a tax official for so many years, and now you come to me and talk nonsense! I am a queen of merit! My grandfather is Yuan Yuan. Liucheng has made great contributions! Reduction and exemption of food tax is the reward my family deserves!"

Luo Xin glanced at Shen Qingze helplessly, and spread his hands: "You only inherited the title of Viscount. According to the rules, there is only a reduction or no exemption. What's more, I have already exempted the tax that should be deducted."

Viscount Boya was so choked that he couldn't speak, his face looked like an old stone covered with moss.

The rest of the little nobles were even more frightened. If they want to check taxes, which one of them has not taken advantage of the loopholes?Isn't this killing people?

If the news of today is spread, it may cause a big mess!

How dare you do this!

The expression on Viscount Boya's face changed several times, and then he calmed down again. He walked up to Shen Qingze step by step, bowed casually, then straightened up and looked down at him condescendingly, laughing twice:

"Master officiant, you're new to farming, and I'm afraid you don't understand it. The crops grown in this field seem to be a lot. In fact, those farmers work hard all year round, and there are only so many. There are hundreds of people in my Viscount's mansion. To eat and drink, and to support the families of the tenant farmers, even the viscount's mansion is almost unable to maintain its dignity!"

Viscount Boya leaned over to Shen Qingze's side, pressed the armrest with one hand, lowered his voice, and said earnestly:

"Master Priest, you are so high above, how do you know the sufferings of the poor below? Don't listen to the slander of the villain, and then foolishly intervene. You are used as a gunman, and you don't know it yet!"

"My Viscount's Mansion sees a big family and a big business, but in fact, it is eating enough food. There is no surplus food at all. If you insist on forcing it, we nobles will just tighten our belts. Then the tenant farmers and servants below will probably be hungry. Dead on the street."

Shen Qingze held back that absurd smile, and raised his eyebrows: "Oh? I came to urge you to make up the arrears of food tax, just to force the poor to starve to death? Since the viscount is so considerate of them, there is no food left at home , why not sell the property, can’t this big hole be filled?”

Viscount Boya's face darkened, and he straightened up slowly: "Does the priest know what he is doing? Don't deceive people too much! I am not the only one who owes taxes? Is the priest going to kill everyone? Are you afraid of killing people in the city? All the nobles offend Guang? At that time, I am afraid that your position of officiant will not be guaranteed!"

Seeing Shen Qingze groaning silently, Viscount Boya felt that he had grasped his bottom line, sneered in his heart, but pretended to call the housekeeper:

"Go, take out all the coarse grains, millet and wheat left in the warehouse. You can't ask the chief priest to come here and return empty-handed, right?"

The butler kept wiping the sweat from his forehead, and hesitantly whispered: "Those things are usually used for livestock, and I'm afraid they're all moldy at this time..."

Viscount Boya said coldly: "Moldy is food, won't you pick and choose?"

"Don't bother." Shen Qingze stood up slowly, and told Jin Da, "Since Viscount Boya refused to pay the tax and is stubborn, I have to work harder and help him make up for it."

Viscount Boya was stunned, and then he saw those guards, who began to move furniture out frantically amidst Jin Da's vicious laughter!

As long as the furnishings that look valuable, luxury goods, hanging paintings, porcelain vases, and even tableware, tables and chairs, all move out!

The group of tall and burly fellows brought by Shen Qingze, where there are no accompanying guards, they are clearly a group of bandits and porters!

They work in groups of two or three, you lift the legs of the table, and I hold the wine cabinet. They are very skilled in moving, as if they have practiced.

Everyone in the hall was dumbfounded.

"You guys! Stop it! Don't move! Put it down! I'm going to kill you!" Viscount Boya's nose was twisted with anger!

His hoarse howls were completely ignored.

Shen Qingze was still sitting in the chair calmly, instructing everyone to handle it with care and be careful not to fall, even the sitting posture was extraordinarily elegant and dignified.

It seems that this is not the Viscount's mansion, but his own home.

Viscount Boya was so angry that he pulled out a finger-wide iron sword from the scabbard hanging on the wall, and swiped it heavily in the air: "Are you all stupid! Stop them!"

When the master gave an order, the guards just woke up from their dreams and drew their swords to meet them——

Seeing that the conflict was about to get out of hand, Shen Qingze stood up abruptly, and went to find the nearest guard with a sword drawn, and stretched out his finger to lightly touch the opponent's blade.

A thin, almost invisible line of blood on the fingertips.

Shen Qingze raised up that finger, and said calmly, "Master Viscount, your bodyguard not only resisted the tax, but also dared to hurt me?"

Viscount Boya: "???"

Everyone below him was stunned. A few nobles opened their mouths wide, their faces full of shock.

Shen Qingze's face remained unchanged: "Catch them all."