Xian Sun of the Ning Mansion of the Red Chamber

Chapter 6 The Lakeside Politics
"Xi'er, you go to the city to find a courtyard, it doesn't have to be good, but it's fine if it's clean and undisturbed. I'm afraid we'll have to stay in Yueyang City for a while longer."

Jia Ying watched Feng Yankuan and his party walk away, and explained to Xi'er again.

Xi'er took the order, and found a familiar person to introduce Yazi to rent a place.

Jia Ying found Qianhu who was escorting the tank boat again, explained the reason, thanked her again and again, and waited outside the pier for news from Xi'er.

While waiting, Jia Ying's eyes turned to Tie Kou and Qi Sixian.

He said in his heart: "The two of you have also seen the situation just now, they have a big hatred, because they have nowhere to complain before, and they were chased by the government, so they settled down. Now that Master Feng has arrived in Yueyang, it is inevitable that he will It takes a lot of hammering to come up with any ideas."

Immediately, taking advantage of no one's attention, he called the two of them aside.

Looking at the two people in front of them who hesitated to speak, Jia Ying pondered slightly: "You have all seen the scene just now. The imperial envoy sent by the imperial court to Huguang is Jia's teacher, the right officer of the Nanjing Inspectorate. Shi Fenghengshi, I also know that you have been wronged, and I yearn for revenge from the bottom of my heart."

"Perhaps, you are thinking about how to approach the imperial envoy to submit a complaint!"

On the side, Tie Kou listened to Jia Ying's words, but didn't say a word, just lowered his head, looking worried.

When Jia Ying saw this situation, she didn't know that she had guessed right, and at the same time, she was secretly glad that she had put more thought into it, otherwise she would have caused him so much trouble, and even Feng Yankuan would have been involved by herself. .

For a moment, Jia Ying's face naturally darkened.

On the other hand, Qi Sixian, who had a delicate mind, saw Jia Ying's face change, and hurriedly said:
"Don't worry, my lord, you have saved our lives. Brother Tie and I are not ungrateful people, let alone implicate you because of our own selfishness."

At the same time, he stretched out his hand and tugged on Tie Button's sleeve, signaling him not to be reckless.

In the end, Tie Kou nodded in agreement. After all, he is a knight-errant in the world, and it is difficult to do anything wrong.

Regarding Qi Sixian's words, Jia Ying just pretended not to hear them, people are selfish, if they want to win people's hearts with only the words of kindness and righteousness, then there are so many Zhongshan wolves in this world.

He just sneered and said: "You don't have to promise me that Jia is not a three-year-old child, and he believed you just because of his generous words, but"

Jia Ying stared at the two of them with a warning on his face, and said, "I would also like to remind you, don't forget whose territory we are standing under, and let's not talk about what kind of imperial order Master Feng has, whether he will interfere in this matter, two If you really want to go your own way, I'm afraid you will lose your life before you even walk on the street."

He stared at Tie Kou specially and said: "That's all I said, you two should think about it carefully, is your opponent so stupid!"

While talking, Xi'er came over with a tooth, saying that he had taken a look at a courtyard in the north of the city, and then the group went to the residence.

By the time Jia Ying and his party settle down, a day has passed.

It wasn't until the third quarter of the second day that the captain in embroidered clothes came to the door.

The Embroidery Guard is one of the 26 guards of the emperor's pro-army. It is responsible for guarding the security of the imperial city. Of course, this is only one of its many responsibilities.

For example, this time, when the imperial envoy is in charge of the place, there will be embroidered guards accompanying him, one to protect the safety of the imperial envoy, and the other to guard the flag of the king's order, demonstrating the majesty of the royal family.

Therefore, even though the visitor was just an unpopular elementary school student, Jia Ying went out to greet him in person.

From a distance, he cupped his hands and said: "I don't know if the official will come to the door, please come to the room quickly, Xi'er, serve tea!"

Unexpectedly, the embroidered school captain declined and said: "My lord, you are welcome. A certain family has ordered you to come to Yueyang Tower to have a talk. If you have nothing to do, let's leave now. Your lord is busy with business, so it is absolutely impossible. Let the old man wait for a long time."

Jia Ying said with a smile on his face: "The messenger is right, let's go now."

After finishing speaking, he took out a piece of silver from his cuff and stuffed it into the opponent's hand without leaving a trace.

The school lieutenant didn't refuse either, he just clasped his fists with a smile on his face and said, "Thank you, Young Master, for your reward!"

After finishing speaking, he went out with Jia Ying.

Before leaving the house, Jia Ying gave Zhou Siwu and Xi'er a wink. The master and servant were in the same mind, so they naturally understood that Jia Ying was telling them to take care of the two people in the house.

When the two felt Yueyang Tower, the school captain let Jia Ying go in by himself, but he joined the ranks of guards outside the door, standing straight, looking around with eagle eyes, bluffing passers-by who saw them from a distance and walked away.

At this time, Yueyang Tower had already been cleared.

Jia Ying entered the main hall and went straight up the steps to the second floor.

In the main hall on the second floor, only one round table and two chairs remained, and all the rest had been removed.

At this moment, Feng Yankuan was standing on a railing, looking at Dongting Lake for eight hundred miles.

Hearing the sound coming from the stairs, he just looked back. This old man, who was almost sixty years old, seemed a little depressed at the moment.

Jia Ying didn't make a sound, but walked to the side lightly, and accompanied the old man to enjoy the [-]-mile blue waves.

After a long time, the old man suddenly chanted: "You can still look far when you travel thousands of miles, but it's more dangerous after three years of difficulty. In the old wind and frost of Baitouhang, the old wood cangbo is infinitely sad."

After Jia Ying heard this, she couldn't help frowning, and after thinking about it again and again, she asked, "Why is Teacher so sad?"

Feng Yankuan sighed softly and said with a smile: "Hehe, when you get old, you will complain a lot. I'm afraid you young people won't listen to it."

Jia Ying smiled slightly and persuaded, "Teacher, why does he feel like he's dying? Now that His Majesty wants to rectify the bureaucracy and reform the bad government, it's a good time for the teacher to serve the country. The teacher is only in his fifties, but at least he has some ambitions." How can you say you are old when you have 30 to [-] years to do it!"

Hearing Jia Ying's words, Feng Yankuan was stunned for a while, and then he said: "Hahaha! I think I'm over fifty years old, but I didn't expect to teach you a child in the end."

As he spoke, he pulled up Jia Ying's sleeves and walked towards the round table in the palace, saying:
"Don't worry, the old man hasn't reached the point of being discouraged yet. I just remembered some of the past and felt a little sentimental."

The old man pointed to the chair beside him, motioning for Jia Ying to sit down.

He said again: "It's you boy, you are not very old, and you are far away in the southern border. On the contrary, you have such a clear understanding of the direction of the imperial court. I am afraid that you have put in a lot of effort."

Jia Ying helped the old man to sit down first, then returned to his own seat and said, "It's not a clear understanding, it's just a student's random guess."

"Oh? Let's talk about it." Feng Yankuan became interested for a while, and at the same time secretly had the intention of taking the school exam.

Jia Ying straightened out her thoughts and said, "Let's start with the mansion report three months ago. The students think that there are only two major events in the court this year that deserve the most attention. Rehabilitation officers, especially honest and sophisticated ministers like teachers. These two incidents, no matter which one, are related to the administration of officials."

Seeing Jia Ying praising him so much, Feng Yankuan smiled and nodded silently.

Jia Ying continued: "Since Shangyuji, the first year of Jiade, the White Lotus Sect has conspired and rebelled in many places across the country. Although most of them were suppressed by the government and army, the largest group of white bandits is still in the army. The Xijiang generation is active, and several provinces have failed to collect any taxes for three consecutive years."

"If there is no money in the national treasury, the rebels will not be wiped out. If the rebels are not wiped out, these provinces will not be able to provide taxes to the treasury. This will become a vicious circle. The more bandits will be suppressed, the more they will be suppressed, and the poorer they will be. .”

Feng Yankuan's face gradually became serious, and he said in a deep voice: "Then how do you think the court can solve this problem?"

Jia Ying sat up straight and said: "If the court wants to solve the problem, it has to start from the root. What is the root? As far as this matter is concerned, the use of soldiers is the first thing to do. The state treasury is short and cannot allocate money to the Western Army to fight the bandits. appearance, but its real root lies in the administration of officials itself.”

"Just because the treasury is short of money doesn't mean the country has no money.

It is said that the white bandits occupy the four provinces of Western Xinjiang, but in fact most of them are concentrated in Sichuan and Shaanxi. The rebels in Huguang and Guizhou provinces are nothing more than stragglers. Even in Sichuan and Shaanxi, a small half of the land is still controlled by the court. in the hands of the court.

The two provinces of Sichuan and Shaanxi have been poisoned by rebel bandits, and the province of Guizhou has been newly established and has been a barren land since ancient times. It’s just that these three provinces cannot pay taxes as usual. What about the governor of Huguang? "

Then he said: "Even if the chief secretary of Huguang really can't pay taxes, but I have worked hard as the chief secretary of the two capitals and thirteen provinces. Excluding the above four provinces, there are still two capitals and nine provinces, and most of them are prosperous and prosperous provinces."

"Aside from other things, the taxation of Nanzhili province alone is more than the sum of these four provinces, not to mention Shanxi, Shandong, Henan and other big provinces. How can we not get together the money to suppress bandits in this area? Come on, where did the money go?

A few years ago, the student met a gentleman who traveled around the world and talked with him. The gentleman once told the student that in the sixth year of Xuanlong's dynasty, the national tax was equivalent to 800 million taels of silver.By the 20th year of Xuanlong, the national taxation had declined, but it was still as high as 500 million taels.

In the 36th year of Xuanlong's reign, the taxation of the whole country dropped sharply, and the amount of silver was only more than 700 million taels.Until 50 years after Xuanlong, the court tax could only be maintained at 700-[-] million taels. "

As he said that, Jia Ying couldn't help but patted the table, and said helplessly: "Now, the students heard that in the second year of Guardianship, the tax received by the court could barely maintain around 2000 million taels. The students are very happy. I want to know, where did the 800 million taels of silver that I lost in Dagan go! I think that since the founding of the country, I have only experienced the fourth generation of emperors, how did I get to this point?"

Feng Yankuan listened quietly on the side, but his heart was extremely uneasy, he couldn't help but increase his strength when stroking his beard, and pulled down several gray beards.

At the same time, he was also very surprised by his student. You know, even though he has been an official for more than 20 years, he only has a general impression of the tax income of Dagan since the year of Xuanlong. Much less, but not as familiar as Jia Ying.

"That's right, everyone in the world is praising Xuan Long's prosperity, but how many people know that my national strength is actually getting weaker and weaker!"

Feng Yankuan seemed a little gloomy, and after a long silence, he said, "Go ahead!"

Just then Jia Ying continued: "Master just mentioned the prosperity of Xuanlong, and the students think that this is true. Since the founding of the country by Taizu, until now, our Dagan has indeed become more and more prosperous, the population is also increasing, and there are more scholars, farmers, businesses, and businesses. There is development. But no matter how great the prosperous age is, it cannot withstand the disasters brought about by official corruption!"

"At the end of the day, it's not that our taxation has decreased, but it has increased. It's just that with the prosperity of the country, there have been more and more corrupt officials. If you are greedy today, I will take some tomorrow, layer by layer. Exploitation, layer upon layer of embezzlement, layer upon layer of corruption, and finally in the hands of the court, how much will be left?"

"Now that your Majesty has no more constraints, he must seek to revitalize. If he wants to revitalize, he must first solve the corruption of officials. If there is less corruption, the treasury will have money. As long as the treasury has money, it will only take a year or two to suppress the rebellion. At that time, when the world is at peace, His Majesty can really let go and do things without any scruples."

Speaking of this, Jia Ying looked at Feng Yankuan with burning eyes and said: "If you want to rectify the administration of officials, you need helpers. Where can helpers come from? One of them is to recruit new scholars. These scholars have not been corrupted by official corruption. , so that you can use it with confidence.

However, these new scholars are not enough. They have no experience in handling government affairs. Those who were demoted in the middle of the year were demoted, and those who were deposed were deposed. "

"That's why today's majesty will make two decrees after the funeral. Therefore, the students secretly think that this is probably the intention of this majesty."

After Jia Ying finished speaking, she stopped talking, and sat aside respectfully, waiting for her mentor to teach.

Feng Yankuan nodded with relief on his face and said, "I am so relieved that some disciples are like this!"

"To tell you the truth, I was a little bit displeased at the fact that you were so anxious to take part in the examination. After all, you haven't yet reached the age of weak crown. It's not too late to consider becoming an official after a few more years of reasoning, but now... It seems that this old man is worrying too much, your knowledge is much better than more than half of the officials in the court! This old man has a biased view of you in his own mind, you should not bear it in mind!"

Jia Ying was not at all surprised by this in her heart, and said with a slight smile: "Students are not people who don't know what is good or bad. The teacher's heart is actually to care for the students. After all, the students are really old."

It is not uncommon to see such prejudices in any era, but in most cases, this is not a prejudice, but a fact.

Seeing that the students had such an understanding, Feng Yankuan no longer worried, and changed the subject and said: "Since May this year, I have received intermittent letters from old friends and colleagues, many of them from Beijing, and the matters mentioned in the letters are also As you said, today there is an intention to re-enable the old man, but a few days ago, an imperial decree came from Beijing to appoint the old man as the imperial envoy to governor of Huguang, and the edict contained a urging meaning."

Feng Yankuan looked at Yueyang City outside the main hall again, and said: "At first, I was still a little puzzled, until Duke Donglai wrote to me from the middle of Beijing, and the letter mentioned that Qi Benzhong, the former governor of Huguang, was killed by his family on the way to Beijing. The incident occurred in Yuezhou, which is adjacent to his hometown, and now Shanglongyan is furious and wants to punish the real culprit severely, so Donglai Gong recommended this old man to investigate the case."

(End of this chapter)