Jia Zheng through the Red Mansions

The magistrates of Jiangning and Hangzhou are very prosperous. Not only were they not demoted because of tax issues, but they were smooth sailing. Even the former prefect of Jiangning paid a lot more taxes in the first half of the year than in the whole of last year. According to the news, if there is no accident, the prefect of Jiangning will either return to Beijing and be promoted to be a Beijing official, or he will be directly promoted to the governor of Jiangsu.

Of the three places in the south of the Yangtze River, Jiangning and Hangzhou are fine, but there are so many things in Suzhou. Jia Zheng frowned in one place, and asked someone to call the governor and order him to hand over the documents from the magistrates and prefectures in the first half of the year. Sort it out first, so the governor sorted out these documents first when he sorted them into categories. When he heard that Jia Zheng wanted to have a look at it, he immediately went back to get it.

Jia Zheng's brows slowly relaxed after reading each of them. Most of these magistrate's and prefecture's documents revolved around tax matters, while the predecessor's approvals were all admonishing and not to increase taxes privately and abuse power. Disturbing the people, there is also a small part of the documents that report the situation of the Yoying Hall and Puji Hall in various places. Except for Changzhou, which has both halls, the rest of the counties and prefectures have written to express their lack of available money.

After Jia Zheng read these, he tapped his fingers on the table repeatedly. In such a wealthy Suzhou area, even paying taxes was blocked everywhere, let alone the construction of these Yoying Halls and Puji Halls. Judging from the documents, the predecessor was a good official who was upright and caring for the people, and from the fact that he repeatedly mentioned not to raise taxes privately, it can be inferred how Jiangning and Hangzhou, which should be no different from the situation in Suzhou, did not only If you don't default on taxes, you can still be praised by the court. If you can't get money from those farm owners and wealthy businessmen who are closely related to the Weaving Bureau, will you intensify the deduction of ordinary people?It's ridiculous that this kind of official will be praised by the court!

No, the sneer that Jia Zheng showed just now turned into deep thought again. After thinking for a while, Jia Zheng took up a pen and wrote a family letter to Jia Zhu, asking him about the punishment the former prefect of Suzhou received after he was demoted and returned to Beijing. Zheng now knew that he had to find out how much Kangxi knew about the Jiangnan area, and what he wanted him to do when he was transferred to Suzhou.

Just at this time, Tong Bing came to the door, saying that Xu Sheng in Qingyi was complaining outside the gate of the mansion alone. Why is there a Tsing Yi complaining now instead?

Sitting in the main hall, the yamen servants beside him had already set up their positions. As soon as Jia Zheng sat down, someone brought in the Tsing Yi. At this time, in such a field, the arrogance on his face still remained undiminished.

Jia Zheng glanced at the master who was sitting on the side. This man was about 50 years old, with a white beard hanging down, and his face did not look like a treacherous person. After a while, the master also noticed that Jia Zheng's eyes were on him, and raised his head slightly to meet Jia Zheng's eyes, but he didn't look disrespectful. With his appearance, Jia Zheng couldn't help but think highly of him.

Secretly thinking that these days I was confused by those evil officials who deceived the top and the bottom, and I had a little more dark thoughts about others before I knew it, and I put them all on the other side with preconceived ideas. Somewhat biased.

At this time, there is no time to think about it, and the most important thing is to ask the case. This Tsing Yi knelt down and listened to the prefect's question for the first time, and then replied loudly: "The student is a first-class catering student in Suzhou Prefecture. It has been five years in a row. Unexpectedly, he was framed by a villain. , In front of Master Xuezheng, he falsely accused the students of filial piety, and Master Xuezheng was deceived by the villain and punished the student as a Tsing Yi, please make decisions for the students."

Jia Zheng was taken aback when he heard the words, what does this Tsing Yi mean?

"You want to sue the Xuezheng?" The former Xuezheng has returned to Beijing after his term of office expired, and I believe that Xuezheng has not yet arrived. Even if you want to sue your predecessor, you will violate the rule of the people suing the government, and Xuezheng's official position is still higher than that of the magistrate. , second only to the governor in a province, even if you want to sue, you have to go to the governor's yamen to sue, how can you sue him? "Students don't dare. Students should sue Chen Baolin, an adjunct student of the government school, and Jin Lingshan, a Tongsheng, for collusion and false accusation for their own selfish desires." Xu Sheng in Tsing Yi looked calm, but Jia Zheng caught the undisguised worry in his eyes.

It seems that this case is really a bit unusual. What is the background of Xu Sheng, and what is the background of Chen Baolin and Jin Lingshan he is suing? The person whom Sheng told brought him to the hall, glanced at the face of the master, and found that he was looking at him with a hesitant expression on his face. After leaving the hall, he called the master into the inner hall.

The master greeted Jia Zheng first, Jia Zhengxu gave him a hand, and said with a smile: "Master, you don't need to be polite, I don't know how to call him yet?"

The master hurriedly saluted again: "My surname is Wang. I have never gone to the master's house to pay my respects. Is it my fault? Please forgive me."

Jia Zheng said with a smile, "what's your disrespect, but I was negligent. I don't know how long Master Wang has been in this mansion?"

When Master Wang heard Jia Zheng's question, he didn't know why he was thinking, but his face was still respectful and said: "It's been more than ten years."

As expected, he is a veteran, Jia Zheng was slightly surprised, and then thought of his previous speculation on the character of his predecessor, since his predecessor could tolerate this master Wang, in a certain sense, it is enough to show that this master still has certain talents and virtues, in this case, Jia Zheng then said, "That's it, you must know about that Tsing Yi just now."

The master's heart moved, he looked up at Jia Zheng's face, and said truthfully: "This Xu Sheng is quite talented in this province. He was also the head of the Tongsheng case back then. It was a time when he was proud. His mother died of illness and kept filial piety for his mother. Three years later, the Master Xuezheng thought about his talents and specially approved him as a first-class official student. When the three-year filial piety period expired, Xu Sheng fainted in the college examination, which again missed his reputation. However, he already had excellent grades in the scientific examination before the college entrance examination, so even though he failed to be a scholar, he was still a first-class student. It has been five years since he has this qualification, and he will be able to enter the college next year I tried, but it just so happened that Tsing Yi was fined at this time, if Tsing Yi is fined again, he will be sent back to the agency, and I am afraid that he will have to start again from the child test."

"? If that's the case, what's the relationship with those two defendants?" Since it's a false accusation, there must be a reason, whether it's a personal grievance, or a conflict of interests. Jia Zheng thought about the pride on Xu Sheng's face. Both of these are a bit narrow.

Upon hearing this, Master Wang continued to say: "Master must know that if the student's qualifications have been completed for six years, he can directly serve as an official. Those who are talented naturally want to pass the college and township examinations all the way. There are also those who are as stupid as I am, so they look forward to serving as a teacher and aide after six years, and it is better than being deposed as a citizen." After finishing speaking, Master Wang himself laughed at himself.

But Master Wang's face turned pale after laughing, how could he have forgotten that this newly appointed magistrate was not born in the imperial examination, what he said just now offended this magistrate!Immediately closed his mouth, not daring to speak again.

When Jia Zheng heard the critical moment, he saw Master Wang's expression changed and he stopped speaking. He didn't know that his master had already figured out his details, so he couldn't help urging: "Master, let's talk about the reason for those two people. I can't get along with this Xu Sheng."

Master Wang was worried, and hurriedly replied: "There are fixed quotas for the new students, extra students, and epigenetic students. Even if the newly promoted children are talented, it depends on whether the upper students have vacancies. Since Xu Sheng was recruited If Tsing Yi is fined, there will be a supergene to make up for the obstinate, Chen Baolin has now been promoted to supernatural, and Jin Lingshan has also been promoted to supernatural, just now Xu Sheng still called them their original identities, because he was dissatisfied in his heart."

After hearing this, Jia Zheng understood, and said: "Since Xu Sheng is quite talented in this province, these two dare to blatantly make a false accusation, and they are not afraid of being criticized. I am afraid that these two are not simple scholars, right?"

Master Wang hesitated for a moment, and then said: "It's okay to talk about Chen Baolin, but this Jinling Mountain does have some origins, the master must know that the Zhen family weaves in Suzhou, and this Jinling Mountain is the cousin of the second wife of the Zhen family. "

It's related to the Zhen family again!Jia Zheng frowned. Ever since he arrived in Suzhou, no matter what the matter was, he couldn't get around the Zhen family. It really is a well-connected Jiangnan family!

At that moment Jia Zheng nodded his head, and now Chen Baolin came outside, but there was no sign of Jin Lingshan, but a boy from the Jin family came. He replied cracklingly: "Master Bing, the young master of the Zhen family was called to discipline by the master of the Zhen family, but now he is not at the residence."

They directly took the Zhen family's big hat off, and when Jia Zheng heard that there was only a little anger in his heart, he became calm and calm. He glanced at the yamen servant who was in charge of arresting people, and said with a sneer: " The master ordered you to fetch Chen and Jin, since you know that Jin Lingshan is in the Zhen residence, why don't you go to the Zhen residence to fetch him?"

When the yamen servant heard this, he quickly replied: "I didn't know that this Jinlingshan person was in Zhen's residence before, but I only found out after the master asked the servant just now, I was wronged."

Naturally, Jia Zheng didn't believe his words, but the boy and the yamen servant insisted on the previous words. Even if Jia Zheng wanted the yamen servant to kill others, he couldn't find any fault, and he had to give up temporarily.

There is still one defendant missing, but the case cannot go on trial. Just as Jia Zheng was about to issue another signature to the person in Zhen's Mansion, he saw the master winking at him frequently, and he felt a little puzzled, so he pressed the signature first. It was getting late at this time, so Jia Zheng directly retreated from the hall, Xu Sheng walked outside with a very embarrassed face, Chen Baolin walked past him arrogantly, and snorted coldly, Xu Sheng After a pause, his complexion became even worse, and his body also tilted, almost falling down.

Jia Zheng saw all these things in his eyes. This Chen Baolin was so arrogant, and he was so defiant before he came out of court. It can be seen what kind of virtue Jin Lingshan has not seen so far!

That master thought a lot just now, he thought that he had offended the master just now by talking about the imperial examination, and now he thought in his heart that he must find an opportunity to show his usefulness, if he can be the master's right-hand man, he will Seats are still available.

At this time, the master came forward and said, "Look at the meaning of the master just now, do you want to go directly to Zhen's mansion to get someone?"

"Why not?" Jia Zheng asked, he also needed to use this little thing to try the Zhen family.

"In my opinion, it's a bit inappropriate. Just think about it, master. What Jin Lingshan did was relying on the Zhen family. Master, you also have some friendship with the Zhen family. Since this is the case, there is some sympathy. To take someone is to embarrass others in public. If this matter is not done well, it will be unsightly. Since you have a personal relationship, why not send a message in private, there must be a way to get the best of both worlds. Those villains in the yamen also know about it. If you have friendship with the Zhen family, you must not dare to be negligent, this matter kills three birds with one stone, please think twice." After Master Wang said this, Jia Zheng also had several twists and turns in his mind.

The anger that was very strong just now has gradually dissipated. Master Wang's words are indeed good. What's more, this case is still a trivial matter, and the Zhen family is also involved in the matter of paying taxes. , I am afraid that the gain will outweigh the loss. At that time, the carrot will not be pulled out, and it will be stuck in the soil. He will be very passive. Originally, he lost the opportunity and did not know the enemy. Now he must act cautiously.

Thinking of this, Jia Zheng smiled: "It's because I'm a little impatient, what the master said makes sense."

Master Wang breathed a sigh of relief, saying again and again that he didn't dare, Jia Zheng didn't say anything more, turned around and went back to the mansion behind, his buttocks hadn't warmed up in the study room yet, a post was sent on the door, but it was Zhen's family who invited him. He went to the house tonight for a talk.

Heh, what a grand gesture. Ordinary people invite people to the house three to five days in advance to give the guests ample time. This Zhen's family is really unambiguous, and they only sent people to see them off two hours in advance Posting the post, he still acted as if he had to go, Jia Zheng was really furious at this time, but his anger was gone.

He was also afraid that the Zhen family would not move and that he hadn't inserted needles. Since the other party made a move first, he was not afraid that he would not be able to find any loopholes in it!

Thinking of this, Jia Zheng asked someone to post back that he was going to a banquet tonight, and immediately called Liu Bao, and changed his official uniform to casual clothes.

Liu Bao looked at Jia Zheng's clothes, and couldn't help saying: "Master, this is too plain, I'm afraid people will look down upon it."

Jia Zheng looked down and said with a smile, "That's good. Let's go."