Back To The Beginning Of Ming To Do Charity

The college in the city is the only college in ten miles and eight villages. There are a lot of students, and the college is not badly built. The dean is a juren who has no appointments. His superiors saw that he is honest and doesn’t like to delve into contacts, so he was appointed. This dean, since he became the dean, dare not make a wrong step, and he dare not touch the money from his superiors, and he can spend it where it should be used.

It is also a good reputation among students, and scholars also regard him as a model dean.

Last year, the imperial court sent a brocade banner. When sending it, the dean burst into tears, and wept badly in front of the teachers and students of the whole school.

Da Zhuang is also called Da Zhuang in the college, and he is thinking about letting his husband give himself a big name in the future.

Er Ya walked in the city holding Da Zhuang's hand, she opened her mouth wide, feeling that everything in the city is so unreal, she has never been out of the village since she grew up so big, and she doesn't know what the world outside the village is like.

There are vendors selling goods on the street, but the roads are very tidy, pedestrians and vehicles are separated, and the vendors are shouting. Many women walk on the street, carrying cloth bags or vegetable baskets, some with buns, and some with hairpins. .

Erya found everything strange, looked around, and bumped into a woman in front of her.

"Little lady." The woman's eyebrows were curved, her eyebrows were gentle, "Be careful."

Erya's face flushed red, and she quickly said, "I didn't mean to..."

Da Zhuang took Er Ya's hand: "How did I teach you?"

Erya said again, "I'm sorry."

The woman smiled and said, "There are many people in the morning and at night, so be careful."

Erya nodded hurriedly.

The woman looked at Da Zhuang's clothes and said, "Is this young man a student?"

Da Zhuang hurriedly cupped his hands: "I am studying in Evergreen Academy."

The woman said softly: "Knowing the book and being polite, the young master must be a good student. I hope that the young master will succeed in his studies and get a title on the gold list."

Da Zhuang was also blushed by the woman's words. The folk customs in their place are tough. Where have you seen this gentle woman?Da Zhuang thanked her again and again, and after the woman left, she still looked back longingly.

Erya laughed at him softly: "Everyone has gone far away, so I can't see them anymore."

Da Zhuang blushed even more: "What are you talking about? Go quickly, so as not to delay the time."

Erya covered her mouth and smiled, but stopped joking. Since her big brother graduated from school, his skin has become much thinner than when he was a child.

When the woman walked to the end of the street, two people came out of the shop, one on the left and the other on the right. One of them whispered, "Your Excellency, I have inquired. Last year, there were eight villages and three towns affected by the drought, and only three towns received subsidies." .”

The woman, that is, Hongxiu, walked forward with a blank face, she looked at the front with cold eyes, and her tone was calm: "Let the provincial government check the file first, I want to see how a small magistrate swallowed so much Silver, cover the sky with one hand."

This year's big investigation was carried out quietly. No one knew about it beforehand except the capital procuratorate and the emperor. Hongxiu is no longer the envoy of the court. She has made a lot of achievements. He can be regarded as a person in the capital, but outside the capital, this official position is enough to scare the magistrates.

The local leadership team is elected every five years, and the lower officials are not easy to move.

The red-sleeved inspections usually have problems with these petty officials.

There are also small officials who will collectively pull the higher ones into the water, but fortunately, His Majesty is now so prestigious that very few dare to do so.

Like this place, there are still a few magistrates who dare to be greedy for ink. After all, the poorer the place, the more greedy it is.

Because there is no other way to get money, even the collusion between government and businessmen can't get much money, and the local economy can't get up, so they can only rely on the disaster relief funds allocated by the imperial court every year. People in big towns dare not be greedy, only those in small villages.

Everyone in Dazhen knew that if the disaster relief funds from the imperial court did not come down, they could write to the province to ask.

Only the small village is closed and unwilling to walk around with the outside world, it just suffered a disadvantage, maybe they don't know that they have suffered a disadvantage.

Hongxiu rubbed the center of her brows, and said to the man beside her, "You go to the province yourself... Forget it, don't go, so as not to leak the news."

The man nodded and asked cautiously, "My lord, what shall we do next?"

If you don't reveal your identity, you are not an official, and you cannot enter many places.

But exposing his identity is to give corrupt officials a chance to prepare.

It doesn't feel right to be exposed.

"Get ready, go to the village, and collect evidence first." Hongxiu sighed, "I just don't know if the village chiefs of those villages have listed the post-disaster subsidies for the past few years."

Man: "I'm a lower official, look at Xuan, in this kind of place, it's hard for all the village chiefs to be able to read and write."

Hong Xiu pursed her lips: "Let's go and have a look first, we must have solid evidence before we can stand our ground."

What His Majesty hates the most today is the trumped-up charges for striking down dissidents. To do things, you must have evidence.

Once there is evidence, the prefect and the officials involved in the matter below will not even try to escape.

The good times have passed for a long time, and I really don't cherish my head at all.

This time when Hongxiu came out, he brought a total of 30 people, and these 30 people were all good hands, not to mention anything else, they were top-notch in disguise.

This disguise is not only about clothes and conversation, but also work experience. If someone pretends to be a carpenter among them, he must really know this trade, really understand this trade, and no one would doubt opening a carpentry shop.

It was also Zheng Qingfeng who attached great importance to this big tune, so he gave so many masters to Hongxiu.

The two who followed Hongxiu both practiced martial arts since they were young, and they also had experience in the military camp, and they entered the Metropolitan Procuratorate after many selections. He should be like the elder brother of everyone, who can't see his stature under the skin in clothes, and won't let others see that he is the son of the Lian family.

They came into the village in a bullock cart, saying they were looking for relatives, but when they got lost during the troubled times, they searched for them village by village.

Hongxiu is the head of the house, but she is a widow. After the death of her husband, she will be the head of the house.

The first village they went to was Xiaowan Village. As the name suggests, there was a stream passing through the village, which divided the village into two. people.

Among people with foreign surnames, the surname Feng is the one with the largest number of people, so there have not been many fights in this village. After all, the Zhao family does not dare to bully people with foreign surnames too much.

There was no inn in the village, so Hongxiu rented a larger house. The family was very happy, it was money, and if they stayed for a few days, their expenses for the past few months would be covered. They happily moved away and moved in with relatives home, and gave some sweetness to relatives.

Hongxiu didn't hide her head and show her tail in the village, and occasionally went out for a walk, talking to the aunt and daughter-in-law nearby.

Probably because Hongxiu is from the city, and she doesn't like to hang out with men, and only talks to women. The aunt and daughter-in-law have a good impression of her, and they are willing to please her. Let's see if I can get some reward. , plus they have no guard against others, they will say whatever the red sleeve asks.

The beans are poured out like crackling.

"It hasn't rained these days?" Hong Xiu asked pretendingly strangely.

The aunt laughed and said: "It's raining, it's only raining last month, although it doesn't rain often, but it's better than the previous two years, the drought was very severe in the past two years, the stream in our village is dry, and we can only go to the river to drink water. Drink muddy water in the fields."

Hongxiu: "However, due to the drought a few years ago, I heard that many villages were digging wells."

The aunt said with a silly smile: "That must be a rich village. Our village has no money, so we can't afford to hire well diggers!"

Hongxiu had a smile on her face, her hands were already clenched into fists, and her nails were sunk into the flesh, but she didn't feel any pain.

The well-drilling team is paid by the local governments, and the villagers will not be asked to spend money.

Think about the drought, these men, women and children can only drink muddy water lying on the ground, what is it like?

The aunt said again: "Our life is getting better and better day by day, sister, you don't know, our Xiaowan village was famously poor in the past, but now it's better, and there is no money for studying! The imperial court also pays the poor Student subsidy! My son is studying in the academy, and every year he can save a little government subsidy to return to his family."

"Where did you expect to have such a good life before?"

Hong Xiu also smiled and said, "The days will get better and better."

The aunt was not without regrets: "It's a pity that my parents died early. If I live two more years, I can enjoy the blessings."

"Our family raises our own chickens. If you want to eat eggs and chicken, sister, you can come to my house. It will be cheaper for you."

The aunt also said: "I also fed meat sausage during the Chinese New Year. If you want to eat, you can come to my house."

The little daughter-in-law next to him said: "Girl, my family has geese and sausages!"

Hongxiu asked around again, and found that the chickens and geese were raised by people with the surname Zhao, and the land was better than that of people with a foreign surname, so they could afford meat. More people with a surname Zhao and people with a foreign surname could not eat two stews all year round. Meat, a family can raise a few old hens that lay eggs, and they are living a better life.

The village head's family is not very rich either. The village head's two sons both became carpenters and worked in the city. They have not yet married a wife, so all the money they earn is given to the family, so that the life of the village head's family can be relaxed.

When Hongxiu came to the door, the village chief's family was having dinner, a plate of sausage, a plate of wild vegetables and a pot of tofu soup. Seeing Hongxiu coming in, the village chief stood there dumbfounded and forgot to wipe the soup from the corner of his mouth.

"This... girl, why did you come here?" the village chief asked curiously.

Hongxiu: "Come with me, stop eating."

The village head's wife also looked confused, and then shouted: "What are you doing! You, a widow, dare to seduce my man in front of me?!"

Hongxiu glanced at the village head's wife, and the two people behind her stepped forward and immediately put the village head up. Hongxiu said, "Let's go, go to the hall in the village."

The hall is where the village committee works.

The village chief wanted to struggle, but the ones holding him up were all young men, whose arms were as hard as iron. Just as he wanted to call someone, Hong Xiu bowed his head and whispered in his ear: "This officer is here to investigate, and the village chief is in charge. Be careful with your mouth, otherwise I will kill you right now, saying that you are the one who corrupted and violated the law in this area, and you are dead, so I can't tell."

The village chief nodded frantically and kept his mouth shut, expressing that he would never talk nonsense.

His daughter-in-law was locked in the house, and if the village chief didn't go back, she couldn't get out.

When they got to the hall, Hongxiu asked his subordinates to let go of the village chief, and then solemnly saluted the village chief, saying solemnly: "This matter is of great importance, so I have to make such a bad move. I hope the village chief Haihan."

The village head quickly said: "Han, I Han... I don't know... my lord, what are you doing in the village this time?"

Hongxiu: "Village Chief, please sit down. This official is here to investigate the prefect's corruption and abuse of the law, and the vile crimes of exploiting the people."

The village chief swallowed hard and subconsciously said, "The magistrate is an upright official!"

Hongxiu also stared at him with good eyes: "The village chief say it again?"

The village chief didn't dare to say it anymore, he now knows who the woman in front of him is, everyone in the officialdom knows that there is a female adult in the Metropolitan Procuratorate, who is the most vicious and selfless, also known as Yan Luo with the iron face, who is being targeted by her She is an official who will lose a layer of skin if she is not dead. Many people hate her, but they can't touch her. This lord is protected by the emperor.

There are also rumors that she is the emperor's confidante, and the reason why the emperor has not married for so long is because of her, but this lord is determined to eradicate treachery, so he does not want to enter the palace. The emperor has no choice but to indulge his beloved woman.

He couldn't afford to offend the prefect, and he couldn't afford to offend such a big man. The village chief said with a weeping face, "My lord, if you ask me, I can't tell you..."

It would be fine if the magistrate was taken down, but if he wasn't taken down, wouldn't he be finished?

If a magistrate wants to kill a small village head, that's not a matter of raising his hand.

Hongxiu's face became gloomy: "I didn't expect that the man surnamed Meng would actually be the local emperor of this place! He has only been transferred for two years!"

The village chief said tremblingly at this moment: "The last one was his cousin."

Hongxiu's face was so dark that water dripped out.

"How did the provincial government conduct the trial!" Hongxiu stood up angrily, and slapped the table with his hand, causing the village chief to tremble twice in fright.

Having dealt with corrupt officials all the year round, Hongxiu is no longer the Hongxiu of the past. When he gets angry, he has a fierce aura, even those who have experienced the battle will feel terrified.

Hongxiu took a deep breath: "It's okay, you can continue."

Only then did the village chief realize that he had said what he was planning to hide in his stomach, and he wanted to cry without tears: "My lord, I am just a lowly official. I say that I am the village chief, but the village chief has no real power. At most, he is in charge of the village." I don't dare to talk nonsense about the quarrels in the house, the matters of the superiors, and the superiors."

Hongxiu: "Village Chief Zhao, let me show you a clear path. The clearer you make it clear, the better your life will be in the future. I dare not say anything else, but I can promise you this. If you don't make it clear, I will If you are punished with the same crime as Meng, where are you going to appeal for injustice? Everyone knows that in the cases I have handled, there has never been an unjust, false or wrongly decided case, and no one will die without ironclad evidence."

The village chief shook and shook, and finally said tremblingly: "The prefect of Meng took office two years ago. First, the government and business colluded. Every year there is a lot of filial piety, the disaster relief money sent by the court, the big ones dare not be greedy, and the small ones are all greedy."

"If it weren't for the fact that the dean of Changqing College is a decent person and has the banner bestowed by the emperor, then the college would probably..."

Hongxiu: "The pennant bestowed by His Majesty saved his life."

The village chief nodded again and again.

These small village chiefs seem to have no real power, and they can't be regarded as serious officials, but in fact, they look carefully at the people above them. After all, the village is poor. After studying it, I thought that no matter how much it is, as long as some money can be distributed to the village, life will be much easier.

I have searched for all possible avenues, but every time they have been turned away.

There are not only closed doors, but also threats, and even temptations are omitted.

That's right, those poor places with no contacts and no connections, even if they wanted to worship the mountain, they couldn't find the mountain.

When the village chief thought about it, he suddenly became angry. Yes, when he entered the city, even if he had to bow his head in front of a small clerk who had no rank and was not considered an official, he still kept his head down. They couldn't ask for the disaster relief money that belonged to their village.

What is he afraid of?What are you afraid of?Now that the envoys of the imperial court have come, and he is still the most stern and selfless adult, why doesn't he give it a go?

If they win, their village will not have to live in poverty.

There are many poor families in the village, and he took out his own small salary and subsidies, which made his wife scold him all the time.

He knew that it was not easy for his wife. If the two sons hadn't strived for success and learned the craft and left the teacher early, the family might have been unable to raise the pot.

There are only two or three households surnamed Zhao living well, and that is because they contributed to the village in the early years, the land was allocated well, and the children were sent to learn crafts.

There are only a few households with major surnames in the village who live well, let alone those with foreign surnames.

The village chief was bitter. When he first became the village chief, he also thought about leading the whole village to live a good life. How did he say that?Get rid of poverty and get rich, and when they went to study above, they often heard some examples, such as a village getting rich by raising pigs, and a village getting rich by raising chickens.

They felt their hearts flutter when they heard it, how wonderful it would be their village.

Everyone in a village raises pigs or chickens, and they can contact merchants to collect them. As long as they are willing to raise them, as long as they are raised well, they can live a good life, eat enough and wear warm clothes.

But they soon discovered that no matter how hard they tried, it was useless.

The imperial court will not help them!

They have no money to buy pigs, no front sheds to raise chickens collectively, and no money to buy looms to weave cloth.

The village chief said to Hongxiu: "My lord! If the lord has a errand, the little one will die!"

Hong Xiu asked him: "When the time comes, I will ask you to identify him, do you dare?"

The village chief gritted his teeth and said, "The little one dares."

Hongxiu nodded: "That's good, show me your village's notebook. Do you remember how many subsidies the government has given you over the years?"

The village chief smiled wryly and said, "Returning to your lord, what kind of subsidy? I haven't seen a copper coin in the past ten years."

Hongxiu was stunned: "Have you not had it for so many years?"

The village chief shook his head: "In the early years, the master above was an upright official, but at that time the court didn't have much money, and the master had no place to make money to subsidize us. The disaster relief funds were all given to the most severely affected people. Villages and towns, our Xiaowan Village is neither serious nor unaffected."

"Later, it was changed to Master Meng's cousin, so we have no part in it."

For more than ten years, they have been looking forward to the top leader of the court gang from the beginning, and now they have bowed their heads and accepted their fate.

To put it bluntly, they actually hated the surnamed Meng, but the family surnamed Meng are all so-called Qingliu, and they still have the right to speak in the court. .

If Hongxiu knew what the village head was thinking, he would definitely say: "The one named Meng has never registered with the emperor, what kind of onion is it?"

But in such an underdeveloped place, no one knew what the capital was like. They only knew that the Meng family came from the capital, which was enough to scare them off.

"Village Chief Zhao has a heart. I still want to visit the other seven villages. I also hope that the village chief will go with me, but I can't explain it to Mrs. Madam and the villagers." I'm going."

The village chief asked in surprise, "What arrangement?"

The next day, rumors spread throughout Xiaowan Village that their village chief ran away with the widow!His wife and son are gone!The village chief is gone too!O sin!Where is a widow then!That's a goblin!

The village chief's wife cried in the house all day, and even sent people to the city to call the two boys back.

Those aunts and daughter-in-laws who had talked to the widow didn't dare to speak anymore. They were only thankful that they didn't let their men see her, otherwise they wouldn't know who ran away.

But at this time, the village chief was already sitting in the bullock cart, and he was still holding rice cakes in his hand, eating deliciously.

This rice cake is sweet, made of good rice, it tastes good even when it is cold, the village chief squinted his eyes, he had never eaten such a fragrant pot in his life, after all, at home, he also ate multigrain rice, pure rice— —Hey, that's something only the old landlords can do.

Hongxiu saw that he was eating well, and asked someone to pour him a cup of tea. This teacup has a lid, so you don't have to worry about spilling it when you drink it in the car, just drink it into the small mouth.

Hongxiu said to him: "When this incident is over, the new magistrate must be a sensible person. At that time, your villages will rebuild roads and build factories. You have to lead your villagers out of poverty and become rich. When the time comes, you will see Rice cakes, maybe they still feel boring."

The village chief shook his head frantically: "Never get tired of the taste, this rice cake, I will never get tired of eating it for a lifetime!"

Hong Xiu was amused by him: "Mr. Zhao, it's too early to say that."

The village chief smiled flatteringly at Hongxiu.

He doesn't regret coming out with Hongxiu. If he can really gain some benefits for the village, it doesn't matter if he is more dangerous, but he doesn't know how he will come out like this... After going back, how to explain to his wife and children, to be honest, they may not believe it. After all, the superiors There must be an investigation. When the magistrate is really investigated, he may be beaten to death by his wife.

... His wife is the butcher's daughter. She learned a lot of moves from her father when she was a child. Although she is short and thin, she is stronger than a man and has broken hands.

In the past, when the husband and wife had an argument, his wife slapped him, making him dizzy.

Although his wife apologized to him afterwards and said that he would never hit him again, he still left a shadow, and every time he wanted to quarrel, he had to think about that slap.

So before the quarrel, he locked himself in the room, quarreled with his wife through the door, and waited for his wife to calm down before going out after the quarrel.

It can be regarded as finding a way for husband and wife to get along.

Village head Zhao touched his face, and already expected that he would not be able to escape this time when he went back.

Hey, I hope the sons can help stop it.