I

The ship docked and the autumn rain suddenly came.

Feng Xun, the county magistrate, held up an umbrella and asked, "Mr. Yaohai, the rain is cold and cold. Do you want to wait until the rain stops before going ashore?"

"Breeze and drizzle, it's a good time!"

Wei Zhaocheng pushed away the umbrella extended by his servant, leaned on a hiking stick, and chanted as he walked: "Don't listen to the sound of beating leaves in the forest, why not scream and walk slowly. A bamboo stick is lighter than a horse, and who is afraid of a straw hat? Misty Rain and Ren Shengsheng..."

Feng Xun gritted his teeth and simply put away the oil umbrella. After thinking for a while, he put on his big hat again and hurriedly chased after him: "Yao Haigong is smart and open-minded, and he can be Mr. Dongpo's confidant!"

Seeing this, the scholars behind them closed their umbrellas, put on their hats, and headed for Xin Qiji's former residence in the drizzle of autumn.

"Sir, don't we hold an umbrella either?" Wei Jianxiong asked.

Fei Yinghuan said, "Follow me and take your umbrella with you. It won't rain much anyway."

Zhao Han was quite excited. After all, it was the former residence of Xin Qiji, and he could appreciate the sage's grace from a distance.

I heard that the governor was coming to pay homage, and the local chief had been waiting for a long time.

There are many people named Xin nearby, some are descendants of Xin Qiji, and some are descendants of Xin Qiji's servants.

The village chief, whose surname was Xin, led the governor all the way to Laoquan and introduced: "This place is the former residence of our ancestors."

"The beautiful mountains and clear waters are really a good place to retreat to the countryside!" Wei Zhaocheng praised repeatedly.

Xin Qiji had two villas in Jiangxi. One was Jiaxuan Manor, which was completely burned down by fire. So he built Laoquan Manor, where he lived until his old age, and passed away with regrets.

Zhao Han was squeezed into the crowd outside. He was young and short, jumping on his feet, and finally saw the famous Laoquan clearly.

I instantly regretted it, so it would be better not to watch it.

It's just a mountain spring flowing into a gourd-shaped stone pit. There's nothing surprising about it. It can even be said to be very ordinary.

However, two-thirds of Xin Qiji's handed down lyrics were composed here, including the sentence: "I see how charming the green mountains are, and I expected that the green mountains should be so when they see me."

Zhao Han suddenly thought of the Eight Beauties of Qinhuai and wondered if Liu Rushi had started to open a business.

Wei Zhaocheng took a ladle and scooped water from the ladle spring. After tasting it, he praised it endlessly: "It is pure and sweet, the only one in the world. You can drink from the spring and taste it."

They are all local scholars, how could they not have drank the water from the ladle spring?

Alas, just pretend that I haven’t drunk it.

All the scholars came forward one after another, one mouthful at a time and one mouthful at a time, full of complimentary words, as if they were drinking nectar.

Suddenly, the autumn wind blew violently and the raindrops were like beans.

Not caring about the mist and rain, Wei Zhaocheng covered his head with his hands, ordered his servants to hold an umbrella quickly, and then trotted back to the boat to hide from the rain.

Come with good fortune and return with bad luck.

Xin Qiji's cemetery was halfway up the mountain, and there was no way to pay homage to it. Everyone took a boat back to the county town along the same route.

Zhao Han stood at the door of the cabin, admiring the fleet in the rain. Thinking of Governor Wei's face, he couldn't help but feel sick.

Fei Yinghuan also came over to enjoy the rain scene, and said happily: "It's really timely rain, otherwise we would have to go hiking together. If you have two or three close friends, you can brave the rain to visit Mr. Jiaxuan's grave, which can be regarded as an elegant and happy thing in your life. But Everyone here is a clinger, and they will only disturb Mr.’s spirit in heaven!”

Zhao Han pointed to a dozen ships in the distance: "Are those government officials?"

"No, most of them are temporary workers." Fei Yinghuan shook his head and said.

Temporary servants are ordinary people who work for the government in vain.

In order to accompany the governor on his sightseeing tour, the magistrate of Qianshan recruited many people to serve. Not only were no wages paid, the people had to bring their own dry food, and even the ships were recruited for free.

In addition, the wine, food, melons and fruits prepared for mountain climbing are also collected from relevant servants. Even if you give up halfway and don't go climbing to visit the tomb, and you don't return any supplies, there is a high probability that they will be divided up by the officials!

That is to say, Wei Zhao's sudden trip may lead some servants to sell their sons and daughters.

What's even more terrifying is that Wei Zhaocheng also plans to pay homage to Ehu Academy!

It is a sacred place of Neo-Confucianism and has been abandoned for a long time. Once the governor comes to pay homage in person, official procedures must be followed and simple cleaning and repairs must be carried out. It would cost at least a few hundred taels, and as much as tens of thousands of taels, Qianshan County's finances would immediately collapse.

And what can Wei Zhaocheng get?

reputation!

Ehu Academy is where Zhu Xi, Lu Zuqian, Lu Jiuling, Lu Jiuyuan and others gathered to give lectures, thus laying the foundation for the prosperity of Neo-Confucianism and psychology for hundreds of years.

If Wei Zhaocheng casually worships and repairs it, he can become famous all over the world.

After returning to the county seat and sending Governor Wei back to the hotel to rest, Magistrate Feng immediately summoned many scholars for a meeting.

Facing a group of scholars and scholars, Feng Xun looked as low as a gray grandson. He almost said in a begging tone: "You are all talented people in this county. Duke Yaohai wants to repair Ehu Academy. This is to revive Qianshan Literature." The feat of pulse. I also ask all friends to go home and tell their elders if each family can donate some money. The county government is really too poor. To be able to give out a hundred taels of silver is to sell iron..."

Feng Xun didn't lie, the Qianshan government did have no money.

Hekou Town is one of the four famous towns in Jiangxi, a thoroughfare to eight provinces and a trade center. Ehu Town is the shortest commercial road from Jiangxi to Zhejiang. Yongping Town is the only commercial road from Jiangxi to Fujian!

These three towns alone can make Qianshan County financially strong.

But we can’t collect taxes!

Moreover, in the huge Qianshan County, the official registered population is only over 10,000, resulting in not much miscellaneous taxes being levied.

Feng Xun, the county magistrate, was extremely aggrieved.

Upon hearing the county magistrate's call to donate money, all the scholars collectively transformed into Tai Chi masters.

Ehu Academy is located in a remote location. Unless a great scholar of the time comes to teach in person, it will not be able to recruit students at all. It has been repaired several times this dynasty, but every time it was repaired it was abandoned, which was a completely thankless task.

Let the gentry and wealthy families provide money to buy reputation for the governor and help the magistrate and county to please the superiors, but go away!

"Your Majesty, I have important things to do at home, so I'll leave first."

"I would like to teach you that the county magistrate knows that if a lowly wife is expecting a baby at home, she will have to rush back to take care of her if she is born late."

"Your Majesty, I've been exposed to the rain and cold. I have a splitting headache and want to see a doctor to prescribe two decoctions."

"County Honor..."

For a time, all the scholars dispersed, and Magistrate Feng was so anxious that he wanted to cry.

Seeing that Fei Yinghuan was about to leave, Feng Xun didn't care about his face and quickly stepped forward to catch him: "Brother Dazhao, can you have another cup of tea?"

Fei Yinghuan smiled and said, "I've had a lot of tea today, I'm in a hurry."

Feng Xun took Fei Yinghuan's hand and said, "I will go to the toilet with brother Dazhao."

Fei Yinghuan didn't bother to pretend anymore and said directly: "Fei has no money."

Feng Xun stretched out his hand and said: "With five thousand taels of silver, Wei Futai can recommend him as a magistrate of a county, not a small county, but a magistrate of a large county. This is a business that is sure to make money without losing money. In other times, it would have been more than ten thousand taels."

Fei Yinghuan smiled and said: "As a governor, can he recommend a large county as magistrate?"

Feng Xun explained: "Wei Futai's mentor is Zhan Rugong (Chen Yuting), the leader of the Donglin Party. Wei Futai himself is also deeply favored by His Majesty. Is it a fluke that he was promoted to eight levels in one day?"

The word "eldest elder" has been around since ancient times, and it often appears in daily communications and letters and notes.

"No need to say anything more, county magistrate. If I wanted to be the county magistrate, I would have taken my money to the Ministry of Civil Affairs and donated an official position." Fei Yinghuan refused directly.

Feng Xun said anxiously: "This is the magistrate of the county, not that county. There are already few official vacancies in large counties, let alone only five thousand taels of silver. This opportunity cannot be missed, the time will never come again!"

"Farewell!" Fei Yinghuan walked away with a puff of his sleeves.

"well……"

Feng Xun sighed alone, and without caring about his face, he wrote directly to a wealthy family with a successful family, and in black and white he helped Wei Zhaocheng sell his official position.

But this official position is really hard to sell, unless you are too old and everyone wants to be admitted to the imperial examination.

Even if you really plan to donate your official position, he has his own way, so why should he find the newly appointed governor?

The only selling point is that there are only five thousand taels left to buy the county chief official, which is similar to a discount promotion by a merchant...

Wei Zhaocheng's abacus was very clever. He not only wanted to sell his official position to make money, but also wanted to repair Ehu Academy to gain fame!

Back to the ship.

Zhao Han asked, "What's bothering you, Master?"

"Poof!"

Fei Yinghuan slammed the bulkhead and cursed loudly: "You're openly selling your official position, you've lost your face, this guy surnamed Wei deserves to be killed!"

Wei Jianxiong muttered: "My surname is also Wei."

Fei Yinghuan said angrily: "This Wei Zhaocheng has been a public official for many years and has never found an opportunity to make money. Now he has been promoted to eight levels in a row and was appointed as the governor of Jiangxi. He is eager to sell his official position everywhere. Listen. He said that he has been touring prefectures and counties in the past few months, and he probably sold his official position all the way to Qianshan. He really didn’t even give up his face for the sake of money!"

"Maybe he is eager to show off his performance." Zhao Han said sarcastically.

Fei Yinghuan asked: "What counts as performance?"

Zhao Han smiled and said: "Slip of the tongue, it's nothing."

Wei Zhaocheng was eager to sell his official position everywhere, not just for money.

You can also make friends with local wealthy families, accept the children of gentry as disciples, and send party members and minions to various places to serve as officials. By forming cliques at all levels, the Donglin Party grew stronger and gradually controlled the right to speak from the central to local governments.

Fei Yinghuan is being hypocritical here. His biological father, who is far away in Ehu, was very happy to receive the letter from Magistrate Feng.

With only five thousand taels of silver, you can buy a magistrate of a large county. This deal is such a bargain!

On June 18th and Double Eleven, I have never seen such an honest merchant. The discounts have been so severe that I feel like I have lost 100 million if I don’t place an order quickly.

(One more book to sacrifice: "Back to the Literary Era". I will be reborn and engage in literary creation. The literary and artistic genius is very good at showing off.)