The heavens set sail from the courtyard

Chapter 385 Concubine
Wang Gang attended the banquet held by Du Yuanwai, and met almost all the officials of the Jiujiang County Government at his home.

Du Yuanwai was also very polite to Wang Gang, entertained him with good food and wine, and arranged songs and dances to add to the fun.

After Wang Gang sat down, Niu Wenjin, the county magistrate, Hu Dahai, the county magistrate, Du Ming and Du Yuanwai raised their glasses to toast frequently, as if they wanted to get him drunk.

Distilled alcohol had not yet been invented in the Northern Song Dynasty, and most alcoholic beverages were not high in alcohol content, similar to beer. Wang Gang was also good at drinking, so his capacity for alcohol was naturally not bad.

He did not refuse anyone who came, and made Du Yuanwai and the others dizzy from drinking, but the atmosphere at the wine table was very good.

After drinking for three rounds, Du Yuanwai took out a powder box and pushed it in front of Wang Gang.

"I heard that Mr. Sheng brought his wife to Jiujiang for a banquet when he was newly married. This is a little bit of my heart. It is a gift to congratulate Mr. Sheng on his admission."

Wang Gang looked at the powder box on the table, and didn't care about it at first, but when he picked it up, he immediately realized that the weight was wrong.

He gently opened it, and found that the powder box was not rouge powder for women at all, but pearls.

The pearls are plump, and they are treasures at first glance, and they are of great value.

Wang Gang closed the lid and said to Du Yuanwai: "The courtesy of Yuanwai is too heavy, I dare not accept it."

"Just a little care." Du Yuanwai clapped his hands again, singing and dancing were all over, and two girls walked into the room.

The girl is twenty-eight years old, very beautiful, with low eyebrows and pleasing eyes, and she is actually twins.

"I just bought these two beautiful concubines. Not only are they good at singing and dancing, but they are also good at taking care of people. I will give them to the adults together."

Officials in the Northern Song Dynasty had the custom of exchanging concubines and presenting concubines, that is, giving their concubines to colleagues, or exchanging concubines with each other.

The two beautiful concubines Du Yuanwai found obviously took a lot of effort. They were completely grown up in the aesthetic points of men. It was even more rare that they looked the same but had very different temperaments, which was very special.

Wang Gang was unmoved.

"Mr. Du doesn't know anything about it. There is a rule in my wife's family that only those who have no children in their forties are allowed to take concubines." Wang Gang evaded with the rules of the Hai family.

Member Du was taken aback for a moment, but quickly realized.

"Then let them serve as the maids of the adults. They are not considered concubines, and they will not break the rules of the wife."

Niu Wenjin said at this time: "Mr. Sheng, this is also the kindness of Du Yuanwai. If you think these two people are not good, you can change them."

Wang Gang dislikes Du Yuanwai and Niu Wenjin's behavior of transferring people as livestock, but this is the way it is in this era, and Wang Gang can't change it.

And he also knew that Du Yuanwai's thrusting a woman into him was not only to please him, but also meant to plant eyeliner by his side.

If Wang Gang refused blindly, it would be tantamount to turning his face on the spot.

When he first arrived, he fell out with local snakes, and the magistrate didn't know if he could continue.

"Since it's Du Yuan's kind intentions, then I will be disrespectful, but this box of rouge is too expensive, and I dare not accept it."

Wang Gang finally kept the beauty and pushed Pearl back.

Du Yuanwai forced a smile, took the rouge box, and asked the two twins to serve Wang Gang for dinner.

The twins sat next to Wang Gang, one on the left and the other on the right, and they were attentive to what to eat and drink, and they were really good at serving people.

After drinking until midnight, Wang Gang pretended to be drunk and returned to the county government office with the twins in his arms.

Hai Chaoyun originally waited for her husband to return home with a worried face, but when he saw him bringing two women back with his left and right arms, his face suddenly turned black like carbon.

"Madam, come and see the maid Du Yuanwai gave us." Wang Gang drunkenly dragged the two twins and ran to Hai Chaoyun, as if offering a treasure.

Hai Chaoyun snorted coldly, and then said to the maid Xiaolian: "Help the master back to the room."

Xiao Lian shuddered, and quickly took over Wang Gang's heavy body.

The twins stood where they were, not daring to say a word.

With a straight face, Hai Chaoyun first arranged the twins into the servant's room and asked them to do heavy work in the future.

The twins accepted it without complaint.

When Hai Chaoyun returned to the room, he saw Wang Gang sitting at the desk soberly, looking at the documents sent by the yamen.

"Don't pretend to be drunk." Hai Chaoyun walked up to Wang Gang, and said angrily.

"I'm jealous." Wang Gang hugged Hai Chaoyun and let her sit on his lap.

Hai Chaoyun struggled, but couldn't break free from Wang Gang's big hand, so he could only pout and sulk.

"Those two women were sent by Yuanwai Du to monitor me. In the future, try not to have contact with them, and be careful in what you say and do." Wang Gang said in Hai Chaoyun's ear.

Hai Chaoyun was startled, and dared not say anything: "The little boy Wailang, dare to spy on the court officials, who gave him the courage."

Wang Gang snorted coldly and said, "Jiujiang County's prime minister has never been against him. The county magistrate is his son-in-law, and the master's surname is Du. I'm the only outsider in the entire county office. Can he not be bold?"

Hai Chaoyun finally realized the seriousness of the matter, and put away his petty temper.

"Officer, this little Jiujiang County is actually controlled by a Yuanwailang!"

Wang Gang shook his head and said: "Du Yuanwai should not be simple, there must be someone behind him, otherwise he would not be so blatant, and the court would not let it go so far."

Hai Chaoyun worried: "Officer, what should we do in the future."

Wang Gang sighed and said, "Let's take one step at a time. Let's start with rectifying the county government. I'll check the accounts tomorrow."

Hai Chaoyun said with a worried face: "After you left today, I cleaned up the backyard of the yamen and found that the servants here have a lot of temper. I asked them to leave, but none of them left. They said they wanted Niu Xiancheng to make the decision."

Wang Gang said with a sullen face, "Jiujiang County has been controlled by them for too long, and they have to figure it out slowly if they want to change."

"The people sent by the caravan have arrived. I will arrange to stay here. Do you want to meet tomorrow?"

"No, you will be in charge of the caravan in the future, and let them know how powerful you are as the head of the house." Wang Gang laughed.

The husband and wife chatted for a while, and Hai Chaoyun began to wait for Wang Gang to wash up.

In fact, Wang Gang has said many times to Hai Chaoyun that he usually does not need to wait on him, and he does things by himself, but Hai Chaoyun refuses to do it, saying that it is a wife's duty to serve her husband.

Early the next morning, Hai Chaoyun got up earlier than Wang Gang, and prepared toiletries and breakfast for him.

Wang just finished his breakfast and went to meet other people in the yamen in his official uniform.

In a yamen, in addition to officials like the magistrate, there are also many small officials. These people perform their own duties, some are in charge of tax collection, and some are in charge of public security.

Wang Gang met them one by one, and after chatting for a long time, he called Master Du to start his daily work.

In fact, the county magistrate has a lot of work, besides holding courts and judging cases, he also needs to manage the local area. It can be said that Wang Gang is responsible for all the big and small matters in the county.

But when he really took over the official duties, he found that he had nothing to do at all, because his subordinates did everything and he didn't need to worry about it.

But on the other hand, his county magistrate has become a display without any rights.

Wang Gang, who had nothing to do, asked Mr. Du to check the accounts. Mr. Du did not stop him. On the contrary, he was very cooperative and brought all the historical accounts of Jiujiang County to Wang Gang for review.

How much is a county's accounts, just a year's tax revenue is a big box.

Master Du brought over twenty large boxes, and said that these were only the accounts of the past three years, and that someone had to be sent to collect the previous ones.

Wang Gang was not intimidated by the twenty boxes of ledgers. The people he transferred from the caravan were all master bookkeepers, and they could reconcile the accounts clearly in less than three days.

After Hai Chaoyun read the check result, he cursed angrily.

"These people are greedy. They spent 100 taels of silver to buy an inkstone. Are their inkstones made of gold?"

"And this renovation of the county government actually cost 10 taels. It doesn't cost so much to build a palace!"

Wang Gang was not surprised when he saw the correct accounts.

After all, it was a box of high-grade pearls as soon as they sold it, and no money from the county government was embezzled on weekdays, so no one would believe it when they said it.

"Officer, I also found out that Jiujiang has been a good year for the past few years, but the county magistrate reported to the court that there was a flood here. He not only asked for tax relief, but also asked the court for 7 taels of disaster relief money."

Wang Gang raised his eyebrows and said, "The local disaster situation will be inspected by the censor. It is not easy to lie about the disaster situation."

"Jiangxi Yushi may also have been bribed by Niu Wenjin and others."

The situation in Jiujiang County was more serious than Wang Gang had expected. Most of the land in the county was owned by Yuanwai Du, and the farmers were hired tenants, and land annexation was very serious.

What's more troublesome is that Jiujiang County will be attacked by bandits from time to time, making it difficult to open business routes. Apart from developing agriculture, there is no other way to go.

As for the situation in Jiujiang County, it is not an exaggeration to say that there are internal and external difficulties.

"Officer, this Jiujiang County is rotten from the inside to the outside, and what you took over is not just a mess." Hai Chaoyun worried.

"Don't believe that your officials can deal with these people?" Wang Gang laughed.

"Where do the officials want to start?" Hai Chaoyun asked.

Wang Gang thought about it, and said: "If you fight against the outside world, you must first secure the inside. I will start with Hu Dahai, the son-in-law of Du Yuanwai, the county captain."

(End of this chapter)