I am the king of the dead

"Last year last year, because of the Cochin War, the Songjiang Mansion responded with high food prices. At that time, the Songjiang Mansion kept issuing notices. Once the big ships arrived at the port, the food prices would definitely drop. Rich people should not be greedy, but we, people are soft-spoken, No one listened to what he said, and no one believed it. As a result, neither Li Yimin nor Li Sicheng stopped selling grain during the war with Daming. How can the price continue to be maintained?" Li Binyan said helplessly.

Most of these more than ten bad debts were fried food from the year before last or last year. As a result, the food still arrived in Hong Kong as scheduled. Even if the Annan Li Dynasty was about to perish, the contract must be fulfilled. It was beyond everyone's expectations. There is a deficit of more than 130 million silver coins.

"It's just blindfolded by greed. If you don't listen, don't read, don't smell, you will lose your fortune." Chen Zongqing doesn't think these people are pitiful at all. If they really let them raise the price of food, the people of Daming will pay the bill in the end. Well, there are many cotton fields in Songjiang Prefecture, and there is no grain production at all. If the price of grain rises, in the end, the savings that the common people have accumulated in the past few years will all fall into the pockets of these powerful people.

It's what he deserved to end up like this now.

Li Binyan said fiercely: "What is the most hateful thing? He obviously has money, but he just doesn't pay it back, and wants to transfer the loss to the court. Then the court asked the Baoyuan Bureau for the shortfall, and the Baoyuan Bureau asked for it. Sun Bingfu, will you give your majesty his head?"

"Take the Wuta Song family as an example. Originally they borrowed money from the Baoyuan Bureau to build a factory, but the factory was not built. Just after leveling the ground, the Song family embezzled the money for other purposes and threw it on the grain. In the end, he lost the bottom line. His family still has a thousand hectares of fertile land, three gardens, and several workshops. They can always be repaid if they are sold. trick, then you can only copy the house."

The Wuta Song family that Li Binyan was talking about was not in Songjiang, but in Suzhou. Li Binyan, a governor of Songjiang, naturally couldn’t run wild in the boundaries of Suzhou, but the governor of Jiangsu and the prefect of Suzhou had already passed the gas. Li Binyan wanted to do it. They can help out.

This Wuta Song family resold their ancestral property to distant relatives at an extremely low price, and then said that they were destitute and unable to pay back the money.

Li Binyan had no choice but to ransack the house. He was a scholar, and he wanted everyone to be decent, but he was a little poor, so he had to do it.

Chen Zongqing sneered and said: "At the end of the day, it's the Song family who can't turn his head around. He thinks that he needs wind and rain on the ground of Wu Tower. You can fool things, this is no longer an orthodox era, and this method is useless."

"Not everyone is like Liu Yongcheng, who is willing to turn around."

During His Majesty's southern tour, Renhe Xia's head was taken away by His Majesty. This set of calamities played by Ren and Xia was a very common phenomenon in the Ming Dynasty. Poaching the corners of Daming is not the only disaster. To avoid this set, this is where the vassal kings, nobles, eunuchs, civil officials, generals, gentry, subordinates, and merchants all waved their hoes together to participate in the grand event.

But this is the Jingtai year, which is no longer the orthodox year.

This Wuta Song family thought that they could continue to distribute the losses to the court as they did during the Zhengtong years, that was a dream.

"Then let's go, ransack the house." Li Binyan stomped his feet, and took a solemn look at the line between the sea and the sky. He couldn't go to the sky, so he should do the things in front of him.

Chapter 881 One thing or two about ransacking the house

Li Binyan got off the Guanhai Tower, and then ran in the direction of Wu Tower.

A total of more than ten households had to be confiscated, but this Wuta Song family, because it was in Suzhou, Li Binyan had to go there in person. Or take a trip yourself.

Although he didn't make this trip, the governor of Jiangsu and the prefect of Suzhou can't do anything to him. After all, one is the governor with the Yongle sword, and the other is the governor of Songjiang who is called the governor. The governor of Jiangsu and the prefect of Suzhou can only suffer from this sulking.

They are all in the officialdom. Today Li Binyan gave others face, and in the future, others will give Li Bin some face.

Li Binyan sat in the car, opened the window, and let the warm wind blow into the car. Outside the window was an endless cotton field. This is still the boundary of Songjiang Prefecture. There are many cotton farmers in Songjiang. The white cotton all over the place makes people feel relaxed and happy.

Li Binyan kept looking out of the window, and said to Chen Zongqing: "Cotton is showing in May, and cotton is drying in August. It's warm when the flowers bloom, and cold when the flowers fall. Although it's a few days late, the cotton is still blooming."

"When I was in the capital, Your Majesty asked me to go to Young Master Hu to learn how to be an official. Your Majesty likes to send us ignorant people to Hu Shangshu to have a better understanding."

"Master Hu taught me a lesson. He said that last year I was in a dilemma. One side impeached me, the other side praised me, and brought me to the forefront. Of course, some people are greedy for the huge profits of this maritime trade, but it's so big. I don’t know the world and I don’t understand the world, and I think that if you do an errand for His Majesty, you don’t need to give face to the local bureaucrats. If you say you want to take people, you can take people, and if you say you can do errands, it has a lot to do with provoking public anger.”

Chen Zongqing was full of envy. His majesty was able to send him to Shaoshi Hu to learn how to be an official. This is a blessing that cannot be asked for.

Hu Wei, a veteran official of the Six Dynasties, would speak admonition or two in a leisurely manner?Isn't it His Majesty's life?

Li Bin said leisurely: "I argued for a few words, and Shaoshi Hu took Yu Shaobao as an example. Yu Shaobao is such an upright person. This is Yu Shaobao's way of being an official."

"Your Majesty needs to show some face to the local bureaucrats at all levels when doing things. For example, this time the King of Joseon will follow Daming to go south to the West. Isn't His Majesty just looking at the shipping department of Jeju City? Lord Shouyang looked at Daming Yao, and he also supported North Korea. If you object, His Majesty will naturally repay the favor, isn't this exchange of favors just a exchange between you and me?"

"Young Master Hu taught you the lesson."

In the hearts of the traditional scholar-bureaucrats of the Ming Dynasty, since the King of Korea was canonized by the Ming Dynasty, it naturally belonged to the Land of Liuhe of the Ming Dynasty, and North Korea was the place of the Ming Dynasty.

You come and go, it seems simple, but Li Binyan also summed up his style of doing things in the past, more than decisive, not smooth enough.

This is a really difficult place in the world. It is certainly not a good thing to say that a person is "unsophisticated", but it is also not a good thing to say that he is "deeply sophisticated". Yes, I understand.

Li Binyan's accompanying car drove into the ground in Suzhou, and the governor of Jiangsu and the prefect of Suzhou had been waiting for a long time.

This Li Binyan relied on the presence of the holy family in Long, and relied on the fact that the Songjiang Jingjun was stationed behind him. When they went to fetch people and said they were going to raid the house in Suzhou, they didn't even say hello.

The governors and magistrates of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fengyang, etc. dared not speak out. When the minister of the Ministry of Rites, Xiao Xun, took the lead to deal with Li Binyan, they were immediately overwhelmed by everyone. However, Li Binyan's backer was the Emperor of Ming Dynasty. It was too hard, so hard that the wall did not fall under the push of everyone.

Something unexpected happened to the governor of Jiangsu and the prefect of Suzhou.

Li Binyan went back to the capital, came back to work, and began to say hello. Since Governor Li said hello, the etiquette must be in place. No, Jiangsu local officials went to the boundary marker to greet him.

"I've met Governor Li." Governor Zhou Zhongda of Jiangsu brought a group of officials to the ceremony. The governor of Jiangsu Province was listed as the official fourth-rank rank of Qiandu Yushi, and Li Binyan was the left servant of the third-rank household department. Naturally, we must meet first.

The Emperor of Ming Dynasty didn't like to kneel, so there was nothing good about it. Who would kowtow to others?This meeting is always bowing, the body stands tall, both hands clasped fists, left hand on the top, palms down, and a slight bow is the etiquette.

Li Binyan replied with a smile and said: "Today, the official ship of the Ming Dynasty went to sea, and the etiquette was cumbersome, so it took some time. Please don't blame Governor Zhou."

"It's not in the way, it's not in the way." Zhou Zhongda was also stunned, and hurriedly said, this face will be given back and forth, and you will have face. If you don't talk about face at all, I will lose face, and you will naturally have no face. You come to me. That's about it.

"Governor Li, if there is a need for the case of the Wuta Song family, Governor Li can speak up, and we on the ground in Jiangsu will definitely work together to solve the case." Zhou Zhongda talked about the business and fully supported Li Binyan's house raid.

The Song family of Wuta didn't spend less money, nor less entrusted relationships. If they want to follow Zhou Zhongda's path, they still want Jiangsu to report a famine, and spread the loss of the fried grain futures on the court. Anyway, It belongs to the public, and if it is lost, it is also a loss to the public, and you, Zhou Zhongda, will not lose anything.

Zhou Zhongda didn't dare to take a penny.

The accounts of the Baoyuan Bureau are all subject to cross-examination. The Song family's case only has less than 20 silver coins, but the combined deficit of these ten companies is more than 130 million. Can the word "disaster" be fooled?

Your Majesty is the Secretary of the Ministry of Households of Ming Dynasty. When the account book finally reaches the Heavenly Ting, officials at all levels who report the famine will have to eat His Majesty's iron fist. Your Majesty is usually polite, but when it comes to investigating corruption, he has never Unambiguously, how many people tried the method with their own bodies, and died after trying it.

If you, the Wuta Song family, pawned all your obscene clothes, or lost your clan, even if the court wanted to copy you, they would have no choice but to take your Wuta Song family.

But you, the Wuta Song family, did not pay back the money, and ended up losing money to the court. You played the trick of turning your left hand into your right hand, and wanted to report a famine?

The income of the Baoyuan Bureau is split between domestic funds and national funds. The loss falls to the court, which means it falls to His Majesty. Your Majesty is the emperor who only has one set of crown uniforms. You let His Majesty lose 130 million silver coins?

According to folk rumors, His Majesty the Emperor is so stingy that he would like to break a silver coin into a ten-petaled flower. You let His Majesty lose 130 million silver coins?

Zhou Zhongda dared not report the famine, and no one in Jiangsu dared to let His Majesty lose 130 million silver coins.

"I'm ostentatious, but I seem to be bothering you, but this case is being handled by various governments. It involves Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Yingtian, and Songjiang. It is supervised by a certain person. I have a duty, so I have to bother you." Li Binyan said quite politely.

Why didn't Li Binyan say hello to the place?

Is it because they are afraid that the local authorities will report in advance, or simply block the handling of the case, so they refuse to say hello?

But this time when he greeted Li Binyan, he realized that he should not regard his colleagues as enemies. We all served as officials in the same dynasty, and there were some taboos that Li Binyan dared not commit, and his colleagues even less dared to do so.

He Li Binyan said that the holy family is in Long, how many of these colleagues have the Yongle Sword?

Li Binyan is the only one who has such a precious sword as the Changpei Yongle Sword of the Ming Dynasty. He returned it several times, but His Majesty refused to take it back.

"What's the matter, what's the matter, it's just an unfeeling request from someone. Governor Li, can we officials on the ground in Jiangsu observe this case? It's ashamed to say that no one in Jiangsu really knows about this house raid. "Zhou Zhongda made a request, which is to observe and learn from handling cases.

To be honest, although Li Binyan handles the case, although he is unreasonable, no one can find fault with each case. His Majesty's family will not be an incompetent person. Apart from not being sophisticated enough, Li Binyan is indeed One capable minister.

Zhou Zhongda didn't dare to make such a request at first, after all, this is Li Binyan's unique skill, the foundation of his family's foothold, but after this contact, Zhou Zhongda found that Li Binyan was not such a difficult person as rumored, so he made a request. Kindly please.

"It's easy to say." Li Binyan replied with a smile without any hesitation.

Before Li Binyan had an argument with the inspector censor of Zhejiang Province and the Shipping Department of Ningbo City, it was Li Binyan who refused to share the experience of the Shipping Department of Songjiang City. Finally, the quarrel came before the emperor, and Li Binyan was willing to disagree after the emperor issued an order.

Li Binyan's temperament is very independent, and he seems to have little trust in anyone all these years, and he looks at everyone as if he was looking at the Kong family in Qufu.

The reason why Li Binyan regards his colleagues as enemies, and the reason why he is so independent, is related to his experience as the governor of Shandong. I'm calling him, once bitten by a snake for ten years and afraid of well ropes, the emperor didn't blame Li Binyan for being independent, this is a different person with such an experience, and his temperament is also independent.

After so many years, Li Binyan finally came back to life and stopped hiding.

Zhou Zhongda was overjoyed and took a group of bureaucrats to accompany Li Binyan to Wu Tower.

Li Binyan took the Wuta Song family as an example, and explained the process of copying the house in great detail, but Li Binyan did not elaborate on the secret method of copying the house that he learned from Lu Zhong.

Lu Zhong, the Zuo Dudu of Jinyiwei of the Ming Dynasty, the sharpest knife in the hands of His Majesty is the No. What he learned there, even if Li Binyan didn't talk about those secret methods, what he shared opened the eyes of the ground bureaucrats in Jiangsu.

What Li Binyan didn't say is actually the key point. How to find out how many assets the target has, how many assets are held on behalf of others, how many left-handed and right-handed transactions, and how much Tibetan silver is there. It is not publicized if you want to find out. Secret, leisurely enough and outsiders also.

In Lu Zhong's words, ransacking a house is a meticulous job. If you dig up the money in the house and copy it out, that's not considered a skill. It's a skill to sort out and understand the intertwined assets.

And to know this, some methods need to be used, such as buying buyers, such as visiting private people, such as in-depth investigation, such as checking accounts, such as exploring bank channels, these are not clear in a few words, and need to be constantly in actual combat. Only by summing up experience and lessons can we achieve great success.

Li Binyan concluded in conclusion: "Young master Hu admonished me and said something to me: Since ancient times, people who rebelled all the time were farmers. How much money do they have? How much money can they squeeze out?" Drops of oil? Squeeze and squeeze the most peasants who are farming, and that is the time when the end of life is over."

"At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Wang Mang usurped the Han. If he hadn't tried to implement the well field law and forced the people to a dead end, the green forest and the red eyebrows had become a riot. How could the new vitality be only 14 years old? In the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, if it weren't for the Yellow Turban Army Stir the world, the world of the Eastern Han Dynasty is still the Liu family's world."

"Let's not talk about the merchants. It is impossible for the rich and powerful to rebel if they want to. For thousands of years, it is this vassal king who can make things happen. But it is difficult for Jing to win, and the Yan family is too."

It is difficult for the Yan Mansion to be quiet, and it is better for Lord Jianwen to cooperate, but if Lord Jianwen almost cooperates, it is unlikely that the Yan Mansion wants to take over the world. On the chessboard, the Emperor of Ming holds the Prince's Mansion, not Xing'an With a single move, Yu Qian, who had predicted the enemy before him, and Shi Heng, who was exhausted and fought again, could be defeated.

Just talk about local affairs in the local area. The biggest scruple in local house raids is to force people to turn against them, and they cannot explain to the court. But in fact, Li Binyan has copied for so many years, and he has never seen a powerful family who dared to rebel. of.

At best, the head of the culprit was taken away from the house. This rebellion has the heads of everyone in the family.

In the Western Han Dynasty, since Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty, for more than 100 years, wealthy households moved to guard the mausoleum, crop by crop, and no one who threatened the powerful family dared to rebel.

Li Binyan took a group of Tiqimen to ransack the house, and at dusk, he handled the matter cleanly, which made the local officials in Suzhou amazed. Li Binyan was able to do so cleanly and neatly, even with only half of Li Binyan's skill. concern?

Li Bin said that the family members are in Long, and while talking and joking, he handled such a big matter as ransacking the house neatly.

"Lee will leave now." Li Binyan looked at the sun and said with a smile: "Everyone stay here and don't have to go far."

"Governor Li, it's getting late, or you can stay in Wu Tower, and I'll do my best to be a landlord, and ask for advice." Zhou Zhongda was extremely surprised. Eating, drinking, having fun, Zhou Zhongda was ready to bleed heavily, and he even greeted the painting boat of Yangzhou Huakui. How could he imagine that Li Binyan would go back at such a late hour?

"Songjiang Mansion is like this. There are many things to do, and there are still some things to deal with when I go back, so I won't stay any longer." Li Bin said that he had decided to leave. He could be sophisticated if he was asked to be sophisticated, but he was really not good at being sophisticated. , he doesn't have that talent.

Seeing Li Binyan's resolute attitude, Zhou Zhongda didn't stay any longer, bowed his head and said, "Send Governor Li."

"It's easy to say." Li Binyan got into the car, and a group of people rushed back to Songjiang Mansion overnight.

Zhou Zhongda looked at Li Binyan's car for a long time before he said, "Governor Li finally understands how to be an official."

Yu Qian once suggested that Li Binyan should return to Beijing. Once the Northern Expedition of the Great Ming Army was wiped out, Li Binyan would be the one chosen by Yu Qian to replace him. .

Whether a minister is capable or not depends on his ability, and whether he is a good minister or not depends not only on his ability, but also on his reputation.

Li Binyan can't go to the sky to see, so naturally he has to do a good job of this official, make it transparent, and make it clear.

Chapter 882 Those who drive up food prices will be killed without mercy

"Governor Li, I don't understand something, I would like to ask Governor Li to clarify." Chen Zongqing held back for a day, and finally said it on the way back.

Li Binyan nodded and said, "Just ask."

"Governor Li didn't plan to return to Beijing to take up duties before?" Chen Zongqing asked this question after sorting out his own words. He was actually asking, after returning to Beijing to report on his duties, did Li Binyan change so much before and after? This reason.

Li Binyan said with a smile: "Yes, Your Majesty's family, the courtiers must be heartbroken. The Songjiang Mansion is already on the right track. I wanted to go to the West, but I couldn't."

Li Binyan has been conscientious since he arrived in Songjiang Mansion, in order to be worthy of His Majesty's holy family. After taking care of Songjiang Mansion, he plans to go to the horizon. This is his long-cherished wish, which can also explain some of the reasons why he did not leave any room for things before. .

Li Binyan was really tired of this dirty officialdom.

After returning to Beijing to report on his work, Li Binyan knew clearly that if he couldn't go to the end of the world, then this official would continue to be an official, so Li Binyan became more sophisticated, which is understandable.

"That's it, the next official is clear." Chen Zongqing suddenly realized that his superior official didn't know how to be flexible. Everything goes well?

Li Binyan sat upright, and said quite seriously: "As you can see today, this Wuta Song family is so luxurious and rich, but it owes money to the Baoyuan Bureau. You have to wait and not pay back."

"What I got today was far beyond the expectations of the lower officials. This is a discounted purchase, and a few of them are worth 200 million silver coins. Since they are so extravagant, why are they unwilling to pay back the money?" Chen Zongqing said full of doubts.

Today, Li Binyan presided over the search of the house, and copied 150 hectares of Shangtian from the Wuta Song family. According to the land price of the Wuta, the [-] hectares of land exceeded [-] million silver coins.

At the beginning of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the Xinli army was reformed, and the land was empty with few people. The rate of going to the field was only one gold per mu, that is, one tael of silver in cash; in the eighth year of Jingtai, the people were subdued and domesticated, labor was light and cost-effective, physiological breeding, and the field or mu was hardware. , that is, one mu of land rose to five taels of silver or five silver coins.

The price per mu can objectively reflect the local population density.

For example, from Shunzhi to the last years of Kangxi, the land price in Jiangnan has always ranged from one tael to one tael per mu, and it did not rise to three taels until the end of Yongzheng.

The value of these three thousand hectares of land exceeds 150 million silver coins, and this is only the land deed. Among the confiscated property, there are more than [-] taels of cash in cash. The value of this place is more than [-] silver coins, various gold and silver colored coins, tens of thousands of coils of silk cloth, and various Nanyang and Western treasures. It is difficult to measure the value of these real objects.

The key point is that nearly 30 actors were also arrested. These actors were specially raised by Wu Ta Song's family for funerals and weddings.

But Wuta Song's debt to Baoyuan Bureau is only 20 silver coins.

Li Binyan sneered and said: "Governor Yingtian Li Xian and I have a bad reputation. Everyone in the south of the Yangtze River calls us cruel officials, but under the rule of such cruel officials, he is still so bold, and not only Wu Tasong This family, this incident involved more than a dozen luxurious families."

"Why are you so bold?"

Li Binyan said what Chen Zongqing wanted to say but didn't dare to say it. Shuangli is notorious, and everyone knows the craftsmanship of copying houses. Under such cruel officials, this Wuta Song family is so extravagant, but they dare to be so bold. , To pull a tooth out of the tiger's mouth.

Chen Zongqing couldn't figure it out, this was actually his second puzzle.

"Young Master Hu taught you the lesson." Li Binyan said with emotion: "Young Master Hu once asked me, what is the imperial court? In fact, in the eyes of the common people, we officials are the imperial court."

"When you were in the capital, what did His Majesty call you?"

"Chen Qingtian." Chen Zongqing was a little reserved, but said with a bit of pride. The name may be wrong, but the nickname is generally not wrong.

He was visiting various places in the capital, hoping to have an unimpeded official career, but he has not been able to get through this road, at least he has been an official so far, and he is worthy of His Majesty calling him Chen Qingtian.

Li Binyan looked at Chen Zongqing for a while before continuing: "Qingtian, in the eyes of the people of Songjiang Mansion, you are the Lord Qingtian, the God above their heads, this is what Young Master Hu said: the imperial court, in the eyes of the people, we are the officials." Son."

"In the past, the officials and the gentry were colluding, venting their anger from one nostril. Take the Wuta Song family as an example. They wanted to spread the loss of the fried food on the court because they had been doing this before. After all, the loss was If you use some money from the public house, you can report a famine and fool around."

"After the investigation by the imperial court, the governor covered it up for the magistrate, the magistrate covered it up for the county magistrate, and the county magistrate covered it up for the wealthy and luxurious family. This cover-up is a muddled bad account. In the end, it can't be sorted out, it can't be understood, and it can't be resolved."