I am the county magistrate in Daming

Things have to start from yesterday afternoon.

"It's finally finished!" Fu Bao wiped the sweat from his forehead and said to Fu Yuan beside him with a smile.

"Ah."

"It's really hard for you two little brothers." The steward of Fushoutang came over with a very friendly attitude.

After the banquet was over, it was supposed to be up to the staff of Fushoutang to clean up the mess, but Mu Qingtian looked at the sky, and then called Lai Fubao to whisper in a whisper.

Fu Bao was blessed to the heart, nodded and went to look for the steward, repeating what Mu Qingtian said to him word by word.

"What?" The steward frowned, "There is such a thing?"

"Those bandits don't hurt people's lives, they are only greedy for money, but there is no guarantee that there will be any accidents. My family is kind, and I am afraid that it will be inconvenient for you to travel at night when you go back. If you leave after half an hour, you can get there before dark." A village will not live in the wilderness."

"However, there have been no reports of bandits harming people recently." The steward was still suspicious, "We appreciate Li Zheng's kindness, but we can't finish packing these things in half an hour."

Why don't they want to return to Chongming County as soon as possible, but since they have received the money, they must start well and finish things well, this is the rule of Fushoutang all along.

After hearing this, Fu Bao smiled and said, "That's why my adults sent us to help."

"How did this happen?!"

Fu Bao waved his hand, not caring so much.If it was in the past, he would definitely not want to do these things, thinking that it would humiliate the identity of the Mu family.But after staying with Mu Qingtian for a long time, he gradually didn't take his status so seriously, and his personality became much calmer.

"My lord has said that, so don't refuse to be in charge. I'll call other people over right away. Don't be polite if you need us to do anything, just say it."

"Then..." The steward hesitated for a moment, then said with a smile: "Then respect is worse than obedience. An adult is as careful as a hair, and loves the people as a child. Given time, he will surely worship his prime minister and become a marquis, and he will go straight to the top."

Fu Bao was very happy to hear that, and his attitude towards the steward became more intimate.

"Take advantage of the steward's auspicious words."

Although Fu Bao can order anything, but the manager is not stupid enough to really ask Mu Qingtian's personal servant to do dirty work.He asked Fu Bao to restrain the jug, but Fu Bao had no objection, rolled up his sleeves and began to tidy up.

Mu Qing ordered five altars of bridge wine with all his blood, and after the banquet was over, there was still an unopened altar, and there was still half an altar unfinished.With Mu Qingtian's kindness in front of him, the steward returned the money for the jar of wine very understandingly, and also formed a good relationship between the two parties.The half jar of wine was taken by Mu Qingtian to borrow flowers to present to Buddha, and quietly put it in Wu Tingyun's room.

Fu Bao loves wine, but he didn't drink too much this time, for fear of delaying things.While packing up the wine jugs, he found that there was a little bit left in each jug.Unable to bear the restlessness of the wine worm in his stomach, Fu Bao secretly poured all the remaining wine from all the jugs on the table into the teapot inside, planning to go back and find a jar to seal it, and drink a small cup every day Mouth addicted.

"Fu Bao! Come and help!" Yao Qin shouted from a distance.

"coming!"

Fu Bao directly threw the teapot full of wine on the table.

Mu Qingtian walked out of the toilet after draining the water, feeling relaxed.He wobbled with his hands behind his back and turned to the front yard. Looking at the busy guys, he also wanted to go up and show his skills.

"Hey, isn't this my teapot?"

After Fu Bao left, the staff of Fu Shoutang swiftly removed the bowls, chopsticks and wine pots on the table, leaving only the teapot on the table, which was very conspicuous.

Mu Qingtian went over and weighed the teapot, the water in it was rattling and rattling, almost full.Based on the principle of thrifty housekeeping, Mu Qingtian went back to his room with the teapot in hand.

When Fu Bao came back, he found that the teapot on the table was missing, so he quickly grabbed a passerby and asked, "Did you see the teapot on the table before?"

The waiter also had a good attitude and said, "The teapot doesn't belong to our Fushoutang, so the steward didn't let it go. Later, Mu Lizheng passed by, so he took it away."

Those who hear it are sad, and those who see it weep.Fu Bao froze in place, unable to recover from his grief for a long time.

Fu Bao's expression was so ferocious that even the clerk felt something was wrong and asked him with concern if something happened.

"No, it's okay." Fu Bao could only smile awkwardly, and let the buddy go.

If he didn't dare to ask for it, if the young master knew that he wanted to hide wine secretly, he would definitely be fined to clean the toilet for a month!

Fu Bao sighed, and after a few words of comfort in his heart, he went to help again.

After sending away the people from Fushoutang, Mu Qingtian gave Fubao Fuyuan and the others ten copper coins each as a reward.Rewards and punishments are clearly defined, and the people under him are willing to obey.

"Yao Qin, come with me."

"Yes."

There are still three months left for the advanced task, but Mu Qingtian is not in a hurry.But there was one thing that he was very concerned about, and he had to figure it out now.

He used to like to watch TV dramas when he was free, but he would always mention "Shiotin" when it comes to costume dramas.If a good official is wronged, he will definitely be charged with "salt smuggling";

In modern times, salt as a seasoning is commonplace and inexpensive.But in ancient times, the importance of salt was no less than that of military/defense, and there were strict requirements for obtaining channels and selling.Mu Qingtian didn't want to violate the laws and regulations of Ming Dynasty in a muddle-headed way, and die before realizing his grand ambition... Oh no, he died young.

"At today's banquet, what is the 'reform' you discussed with Ting Yun?"

"My lord doesn't know?" Yao Qin was a little surprised.

"The Mu's family doesn't do salt quotation business, so I don't know very well." Mu Qingtian moved out of Mu's residence as a shield, and tested Yao Qin by the way.

As he expected, Yao Qin didn't react too much when he heard about the "Yanyin business", which shows that Yanyin can be sold privately now.

Yao Qin firmly believed in Mu Qingtian's words, and said, "So that's the case. Where do you want to hear it, sir?"

"Let's start with Lord Ye. I've heard you mention it many times."

"Yes."

The Tai/Zu/Qi/bing drove away the Yuan/ren and established the Ming Dynasty.In order to prevent the Yuan/Ren from making a comeback and foreign invasions, Tai/Zu put a lot of effort into the military/defense to keep the country stable.From Hongwu to Ye Qi's reform last year, Ming practiced the salt law of "exchanging grain for salt".

Grain and grass are the basis for marching and fighting, but it was built in the early Ming Dynasty, and a lot of waste was waiting to be built. The treasury simply didn't have that much food to supply the army/team.So Tai/Zu ordered the implementation of the "opening method" to distribute the salt to the garrison troops in various places, and the common people need to hand over food to the garrison army to get the salt, and then go to the government to exchange salt.

This approach ensured the absolute sufficiency of food and grass, and successfully helped Daming survive the most difficult period.But later, especially during the Chenghua period, with the decline in the price of banknotes and the reduction of the army/garrison, the people still paid for food as before, but the treasury had no more salt to spend.

The national treasury is empty, and today there is an urgent need to solve the problem of Yanyin, so Ye Qi, the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, proposed the "color-folding method": Yanyin is no longer controlled by the garrison/army, but directly purchased by merchants with silver, and then sold to the people.

"Although the 'Zhe Se Method' eased the pressure on the national treasury, it raised the price of salt. Merchants bought salt from the imperial court at a low price and sold it to the common people at a high price. Big households like Fu Shou Tang were not affected by the salt price. Instead, they doubled their purchases of salt to attract diners." Yao Qin said with a slight sigh.

"But ordinary people have suffered." Mu Qingtian's face was serious.

The price of salt is controlled by the government, and merchants are not allowed to make huge profits through salt quotations.But now that officials and businessmen are colluding, part of the profits that businessmen get from Yanyin must be handed over to local officials/officials, and in the end it is all the blood of the people.

"Exactly." Yao Qin said respectfully.

"The eunuch Li Guang's family relied on his power to do their best and drive up the price of salt. Fortunately, there was a grand master who prevented them from succeeding."

Hearing this, Mu Qingtian turned to look at Yao Qin suspiciously, and asked, "How do you know so much?"

Yao Qin smiled and said, "It's the grass people who were negligent and haven't revealed their identity to the adults."

"Caomin's master used to be an imperial physician, and Caomin also lived in the palace with his master earlier."

……

Seeing the shit-eating expression on Mu Qingtian's face, the smile on Yao Qin's face couldn't hold back anymore.

"My lord, what's wrong?"

"No." Mu Qingtian shook his head.

The apprentice of the imperial doctor, his medical skills are so poor, it really opened his eyes.

"Master offended Concubine Wan Gui, and the whole family was exiled here." Yao Qin looked up, recalling the past.

"Master died of illness on the way, and neither the junior sister nor the junior brother were spared. In the end, the only ones who reached Zimingli were the master and Caomin."

Mu Qingtian was at a loss and didn't know how to comfort Yao Qin. In the end, he could only pat him on the shoulder and said, "The dead are gone, and the past is like smoke. If we live in the present, everything will be fine."

Yao Qin lowered his head, looked at Mu Qingtian with piercing eyes, and said seriously: "My lord is right, it's all over."

"It's getting late, you've worked hard today, go back and rest early." Mu Qingtian personally sent Yao Qin back, and walked back to his room.

Back in the house, Mu Qingtian suddenly felt a little thirsty.He talked to Yao Qin for nearly an hour without taking a sip of water, and after walking so far, his throat was already smoky, and his lips were dry and wrinkled.

Mu Qingtian sat down, picked up the teapot from the table, poured a cup of tea, and drank it all in one gulp.

"belch."

Others don't get drunk after a thousand cups, but Mu Qingtian just pours one cup.He slammed his head on the table, and it took him a while to get up. He rubbed his red forehead expressionlessly, stood up steadily, pushed open the door, and walked straight outside.

After wandering in the garden for half an hour, Mu Qingtian finally met the first living person.

"My lord, are you still awake at this late hour?" Wu Tingyun stopped and asked.

"I see the moonlight is very good, so come out and take a look." Mu Qingtian looked serious.

Wu Tingyun rolled his eyes, took Mu Qingtian's hand, and said.

"I also think that the moonlight is extremely beautiful, my lord might as well come in the servant's room and enjoy it while drinking."