When the crickets stopped chirping, the sky was already bright. When everyone woke up for breakfast, Zhang Zhong looked very energetic. It seemed that he had slept well last night.
However, it was different for the seven people in charge of affairs and the county magistrate of Taihu County. All of them had dark circles under their eyes and were yawning non-stop. It was as if they had not slept at all last night.
They couldn't be blamed for this. Last night's letter had given them too much of a shock. If they really followed the letter, they didn't know if there would be even more trouble. Once someone found out, it wouldn't be as simple as beheading. Even their entire clan would be destroyed along with it.
They also admitted that if they did that, Zhang Zhong would definitely not have the time to take care of them. Otherwise, let alone the 150,000 yuan tax this year, it was still uncertain whether they would be able to collect it. They might even need the help of the imperial court.
With such a choice in mind, how could the eight of them sleep well? Even if they were to lie down, they wouldn't be able to sleep. The County Magistrate of Taihu County fell asleep when the sun was about to rise. However, the things that happened in his dream woke him up again.
For the entire night, the eight of them asked themselves whether they should do it or not.
Zhang Zhong didn't know why these eight people didn't sleep well. He only knew that these eight people definitely didn't have good intentions.
Zhang Zhong watched as the eight of them ate a little bit of porridge listlessly and didn't eat anything else. Zhang Zhong didn't care about them and slowly ate by himself. Today, he still had a place to go, which was more than two hours away from here. Zhang Zhong was afraid that he would get hungry while talking to others on the road, so he couldn't eat casually. He had to eat his fill first.
When everyone was almost done eating, the group continued their journey and prepared to go to another place with beautiful scenery.
Just as they went down the mountain, another group appeared at the foot of the mountain. From the flag, it was obvious who had arrived. It was Tong 'an Commandery Prince, Li Xun.
Upon seeing Li Xun, Zhang Zhong was very calm and brought the officials to greet him. Li Xun was a Secondary Grade 1 official. No one could compare to him.
Zhang Zhong did not think much of it because he was familiar with Li Xun. He had never treated Li Xun as an important person and had always treated him as a junior. He only cared about him and did not respect him.
However, the others were not like this, especially the military officers. They were really afraid now. They were afraid that Li Xun would find out something and directly impeach them. Then, they would not be able to deal with Li Xun like how they dealt with Zhang Zhong.
They did not sleep well last night and were feeling very uncomfortable at this time. Then, they met Li Xun again. They were scared and immediately felt that they were in a trance. They could not see both sides of the road clearly.
However, Zhang Zhong talked to them from time to time, so they had to force themselves to deal with it. This was the end. Their minds were not enough. They were also worried about Li Xun who suddenly appeared. They kept looking at Li Xun to see what he wanted.
Li Xun did not have time to care about them. He directly ran to Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan. Seeing the two of them accompanying the four little fellows, he also helped to cut fruits and feed the four greedy little fellows.
As a Commandery Prince, Li Xun did not feel that he was inferior at all to personally serve others. The four little fellows of the Zhang family could not be fed by just anyone. After he came over, he just washed his hands and took the fruits himself. The Zhang family did not check at all. This showed his status. After all, they were a family.
What made Li Xun even more proud was that the four little fellows could not be fed by just anyone, even if it was someone from the inner courtyard. However, when he fed them, the little fellows always smiled at him. This made him even happier than when he suddenly received 10,000 strings of coins.
After the four little fellows were stuffed to the point that they covered their stomachs and did not eat anymore, Li Xun asked Zhang Xiaobao, "Why did you call me here in such a hurry? I'm busy with the road. I'm going to finish the road before this year's winter. There must be roads that lead to the various counties and docks.
Also, I planted the fruit trees on the side of the road. There is a ditch between two trees. When they grow up and passersby are thirsty, they can use stones to knock down a few fruits to eat. There are four kinds of fruits. Except for the winter, there are all kinds of fruits in spring, summer, and autumn. "
"What kind of fruits are there in spring?" Zhang Xiaobao thought that Li Xun had made an out-of-season fruit. "Yes, there are flowers.
It's the flowers of the locust tree. If there is no other way, I'll ask someone to look for them. There must be some. When the trees grow up, my fief will be better than others. Tell me, why did you call me here? I'm busy. It costs tens of thousands of yuan for a quarter of an hour. "
Li Xun used the words he learned from Zhang Xiaobao. Wang Juan laughed. In fact, Zhang Xiaobao was right. He did cost hundreds of thousands of yuan per minute, but Li Xun did not believe it.
After listening to Li Xun's plan, Zhang Xiaobao did not want to discourage him. Anyway, when the time comes, we will know whether it will succeed or not. It's just a matter of spending a little more money. Looking around, other than the four little guys who were eating fruits and sleeping, no one else could hear them.
"Do you want to be rich? The kind with a lot of money? I have a way to make you rich, and you don't have to worry about others making trouble for you. "
"No, I'm thinking about how to spend money now. How can I be in the mood to make money? My money is enough for me to build my fief. After the fief is built, I can get more money. I don't have to worry. I can't lose the big picture for small gains. I'm not afraid of others making trouble for me. I won't rebel. Who dares to make trouble for me? Who dares? There are many ways to die. Why do you want to find me? "
Li Xun refused. From the meaning of his words, it showed that he was now focused on building his fief. He did not consider other sources when he was not short of funds.
"You really don't want to? Make a fortune in your fief. There are two mines, one is a copper mine, and the other is a marble mine. They have been secretly mined for several years. Did you see the mountain we just came down from? There is a copper mine on it. However, in the official book, there is only an entry of ore income.
Do you understand what I mean? And that Cloud Stone, the real Cloud Stone. It's as white as the clouds, and it seems to be transparent. I use it to pave the floor at home. It stopped a thief once. If we don't think of a way, the two mines will be stolen away. "
Zhang Xiaobao pointed to the mountain they just came down from, and then pointed to the clouds floating in the sky.
Li Xun was stunned by Zhang Xiaobao's words. After a while, he suddenly shouted, "What? Really? Retreat. What are you doing here? "
After shouting at the guards who rushed to protect him to retreat, Li Xun's face was ashen. He lowered his voice and asked Zhang Xiaobao, "Xiao Bao, you're not lying to me, right? Who has the guts to secretly mine the copper and marble mines in my fief for several years? I think they don't want to live anymore. If I find out who it is, I will make them spit out all the money they have accumulated in the past few years. "
"Really. When have I ever lied to you? But what happened a few years ago has nothing to do with you. At that time, it was not your fief. After we came here, they probably could only transport it out three or four times. My father happened to meet them once. They ran away and did not catch up.
The goods were left behind. Most of the marble was given to Xiao Bei and the others to play with. The copper mine is still there. You can arrange for people to take it away. There was a copper mine on the mountain just now. The place we are going to now is the marble mine. "
Zhang Xiaobao finally found a solution to the problem. Although the two mines were good, the target was too big. After all, they were places where they could earn money by mining. It was not suitable for his own family to occupy them. It was better to give them to Li Xun and let Li Xun occupy them. No one could say anything.
Li Xun felt that it was right. The previous mine had nothing to do with him, but he still felt uncomfortable. He thought that if others did not secretly mine and left it to him, how much more money could he earn? He did not lack money. The problem was that it was his own money. He could not let others take it for free.
He finally understood why Zhang Xiaobao asked him to come. "You don't have to give me what your family left behind. Xiao Bei and the others like to play on the marble? Wait until I take back the mine, then I will give you more marble. How about this? Let's work together to mine, just like how your family brought me along when you did business.
Now that I have something good, I want to give you a share. Xiao Bao, do you know who secretly dug it? Tell me, and I will take care of them immediately. Beheading is a light punishment. Charge them with the crime of privately minting coins. Exterminate their entire family. "
Li Xun did not care about giving the marble to Xiao Bei and the others to play with. The four of them were so cute. It did not matter how many marble there were. He just wanted to find the culprit and take action.
Zhang Xiaobao saw Li Xun's reaction and knew that he had guessed correctly. But there was no evidence now. It was easy to kill, but difficult to convince the public. If he wanted to deal with someone, he had to find an excuse.
"Young Master Li, don't be anxious. We know who the culprit is. It is the officials here. Anyone who can come into contact with them is a suspect. Wait until we find evidence. Take a look at the place first and remember it. It is good to have a target."
"Yes, yes. We can't take action directly. There is no evidence, and it is not an emergency period. It is fine. They have to dig, right? As long as they dig, we can catch them. Let's see who is more daring. "
Li Xun was no longer the Little Prince who only knew how to bully others. Since he had a fief, he had to do things according to the rules. He agreed to Zhang Xiaobao's suggestion.
Zhang Xiaobao thought for a while and asked, "Then what if the person we find is from the imperial clan?"
"This … If it's a member of the imperial family, then I'll just treat it as a gift. However, the people below must be dealt with. I can't let Imperial Uncle kill all my cousins, right? That's impossible."
Li Xun did not hide his thoughts at all. That was, the leader was fine, but the people below were unlucky. It was their fault for not doing a good job. Now that they were caught, they had to bear such a punishment.
Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan could understand Li Xun. Not to mention now, when was it not the same? When something happened, the small fish were caught, the medium fish would be moved to another place, and the big fish would be fine.
"Just know who you suspect. Don't show it." Zhang Xiaobao said to Li Xun.
"Understood. I won't talk to them too much. Who am I? I am the Duke. What are they? Eh? The little guys can eat again. Fruit is digested quickly. "
As Li Xun spoke, he saw the four little guys being carried to pee and prepared to be fed fruit.
As soon as he finished speaking, he pulled Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan and ran away.
Due to the slow pace of the group, it took them nearly six hours to arrive at their destination. None of them had eaten lunch. Some of them had eaten too much in the morning, while others couldn't eat because they had too many things on their minds.
From afar, they could see that the mountain in front of them was lush green.
Zhang Xiaobao said to Li Xun, who was looking around for ores, "Do you see the trees over there? And the grass, in fact, it was all stuck there later. If you look closely, you will find that the trees and grass are not growing right. They shouldn't be so long. I don't know who is so stupid that they can't even see the Yin and Yang sides.
The trees are actually denser in the shade than in the sunny areas. And the grass on the steep areas, whose grass can grow perpendicular to the slope under such circumstances?
Where is this place? Taihu County, why did my father come here? To promote the construction of spiritual civilization in Shuzhou, who do you think has something to do with it? Just now on the mountain, the place where the mine should be is actually a lake. I originally thought that only the Zhang Family and Wang Family had such ability. A man-made lake, the county magistrate of Taihu County is also very capable. "
Li Xun heard Zhang Xiaobao's words and understood what he meant. He looked at the trees and flowers on the mountain, and it was indeed so. When he agreed with Zhang Xiaobao that he was stupid, he said angrily,
"There is no good official. There are layers upon layers of protection. It is not a single official that is caught, but a series of problems. Why do you think this is?"
"There are historical reasons for this, and at the same time, it is also a problem of the management mechanism. It is not easy to explain in a few words. Even if it is clear, it is not easy to solve. It is very difficult."
Zhang Xiaobao knew that this was a problem related to the whole human society. Even if they raised a high salary, it was useless. Were there really no corrupt officials in Singapore? That was under the condition that the place was small and easy to govern. If it were such a big country, who could put an end to it?
"As long as this society is governed by people, then don't expect all the officials to be honest. You have to know that the reason why society can develop is because of people's desires. Without desires, human beings will not exist. As long as they exist, there will be such situations."
Zhang Xiaobao said the most fundamental reason.
Li Xun could understand a special word Zhang Xiaobao said. This was what he had learned for many years. He knew that Zhang Xiaobao was right, but he still felt uncomfortable and asked, "Then why is Sanshui County different? Any random official will not show any corruption, bribery, or abuse of power for personal gain. "
"It is not that they do not have desires, but that they understand that as long as nothing happens, they will be promoted. When they leave office, they will get a large sum of money, more than what they are greedy for. There is no risk at all. The income and risk are proportional. 10,000 strings of cash is likely to cost them their lives, but 5,000 strings of cash is easy to get. Of course, they will choose 5,000 strings of cash."
"Didn't you say that if there is a 300% profit, someone will take all the risks to get it?" Li Xun argued.
"That is referring to the situation where the supervision mechanism is not working. Does Sanshui County have that kind of opportunity? Most importantly, there is a more powerful threat in Sanshui County, and that is the Zhang family. Especially with my father's official position, even if they take the tens of thousands of strings of cash they just collected and run away, it will be useless.
They understand the determination of the Zhang family. Even if they run out of the country, they will be hunted down. The opportunity is too small, and the risk is too great. That is why they are so honest. Besides, they are usually treated well, so why do they have to take the risk? "
Zhang Xiaobao knew the reason. The most important thing was that the Zhang family had the ability to make money, so there was no need to be greedy. If the Zhang family did not have the ability, they would not be able to handle the following matters.
"Then what should we do? Is there no solution? " Li Xun was even more depressed. He knew that there was no second Zhang family. They could not control the place at all. They were rich and capable, but they did not have the ambition to rebel. Where could he find another Zhang family?
"It's not that there's no way. There's one way, and that's to find a very powerful emperor who can see through everyone's heart. Moreover, he can see through everyone's heart in just a few breaths. Moreover, even if everyone in the world works together, they can't beat him alone. He can also make the land increase in production and make the flood disappear. That way, there will be no more corrupt officials."
Zhang Xiaobao gave an answer.
"You are not talking about an emperor, but an immortal." Li Xun was even more depressed.
Zhang Xiaobao smiled and said, "It is impossible to make all the people and officials be selfless, but we can find a way to make the officials make fewer mistakes. Originally, 50 out of 100 officials are bad, so don't expect that there will be none. It will be a success if we can reduce it to 10."
"Then how can we reduce it?" Li Xun agreed. If they could not be eliminated, they could reduce it.
"When the military of the dictatorship is loyal and strong enough, they can monitor the officials without relying on manpower. Now, there is no need to think about it. It is useless. They are calling you. Go and praise them."
Zhang Xiaobao also had such a dream, but it could not be realized. When he saw the people over there looking back at them while they were talking, he gave Li Xun a push.
Li Xun was not willing to deal with such officials, but he had no other choice. He could only go over and join in the praise of the local officials. Even though he knew that there was a marble mine behind the very unnatural trees, he still had to praise the strange trees and the beautiful scenery.
"Not bad, it is really a good place. Lord Zhang will definitely build a place like this into a place for the people to enjoy, especially those trees. In other places, the trees are dense on the sunny side, but here, they are dense on the shady side. It is really different. They are strange, they are strange, and the scenery is beautiful."
Li Xun was depressed in his heart. He pointed at a tree and said. The county magistrate of Taihu County was so scared that he trembled and sweat dripped down his forehead.
"And those vines. In other places, they are coiled, slanted, or straight up, but here, they are growing horizontally. Moreover, they are not fixed by anything. It is beautiful. When I write a memorial to report to the Emperor, it will be an auspicious sign. I have decided to send people to guard this place day and night until the imperial court sends people to investigate."
Li Xun was not done with his anger, so he continued to scare.
This time, not only was the county magistrate of Taihu County trembling, but even the military officers were also scared. The important thing was that if they really wrote a memorial and asked the imperial court to come and guard the place day and night, they would definitely know that it was fake and understand what was going on behind the mine.
The first one to be arrested was the county magistrate of Taihu County. As long as he confessed, they would not be able to escape. If they really wanted to hide, they would have to kill the county magistrate and everyone related to him. Killing them would also be considered a crime of not investigating.
At the same time, they were thinking about what to do. At this time, Zhang Zhong spoke.
"Your Highness, this is not appropriate."
"Oh? What's wrong? Could it be that these vines are not so simple? Men, go and take a look. We have to figure it out even if we have to dig three feet into the ground. "
Li Xun often spent time with Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan. Not only did he learn knowledge, but he also learned a lot of evil tricks.
"No, Your Highness, you can't." Three of the military officers tried to stop him in unison. The others also wanted to say something, but they did not know what to say.
Zhang Zhong also tried to dissuade him, "Your Highness, I don't mean this. It's not appropriate now. When the news reaches the capital and people from the capital come here, the vines on the mountain will probably be dying or have already died. If they can't see it, wouldn't it be lying to the emperor?"
"Is that so? There's such a thing? Aiya, this is my first time here, so I don't know. What do you think? "Li Xun looked at the officials around him who were so scared that their faces changed. He was in a good mood.
"Yes, yes, Provincial Governor Zhang is right. That's right. If Your Highness really wants to report an auspicious sign, why don't you report it first thing next year?"
The military officer was about to sit on the ground and said with a dull look in his eyes.
"In that case, forget it. I want to climb the mountain and see who wants to climb with me. I can use the vines to climb up. Don't underestimate me. I'm very powerful."
Li Xun continued with his suggestion. When he said that it was fine, all the officials heaved a sigh of relief. However, when he said the second half of his suggestion, all of them became angry again. There were even two cowardly officials who sat on the ground.
Seeing Li Xun look over, one of them was smart and quickly explained, "Your Highness is really powerful. When I heard that we were going to climb, I was scared. I can't, I can't. What if I fall down halfway?"
The other one immediately followed suit, and the matter was finally resolved.
Zhang Zhong knew that Li Xun did it deliberately, so he said, "Your Highness, there is something more interesting than climbing the mountain. Not far from here, there is a lake called Lake Tai. I heard that the fish and shrimp in the lake are good. Why don't we go fishing there?"
"Oh? Is that so? Then let's take a look here and go to Lake Tai. " Li Xun finally didn't continue to scare people. After he finished speaking, he turned around and looked for Zhang Xiaobao. When the people who could barely stand saw that Li Xun had left, they didn't care whether Zhang Zhong was next to them. A few of them sat on the ground.
Zhang Zhong began to put on an act and asked people to write poems here. He also took other people's works and gave them some pointers. Amidst everyone's flattery, he left this place and went to Lake Tai. It could be said that this spiritual construction guidance work had ended.
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