The Ming Dynasty's Spokesperson

One disadvantage of dividing one city into two counties is that people like Lin Daguan, whose business involves the whole city, always have to go back and forth between the two county offices.

After discussing matters with Yuan Xianzun at the Changzhou County Government Office in the east city, Lin Daguan had to go to the Wuxian County Government Office in the west city.

But in Wu County, the process is much simpler. Lin Daguan did not go to see Deng Zhixian, who could not deal with it, but went to Zuotang Guo County Cheng.

He threw the account books and seals of the county's Jinongcang to Guo County Cheng, and directly ordered: "Start the project to build a new city gate, and collect corvee at the same time."

Guo Xian Cheng asked tentatively: "Have you reported it to Deng County Zun?"

Lin Daguan said arrogantly: "What does it have to do with him?"

As a member of the officialdom, Guo Xiancheng still has to pay attention to his status. "He is the official magistrate of Wu County after all."

Lin Tailai said disdainfully: "Bah! He is so poisonous and still wants to take care of Wu County's affairs?"

Guo Xiancheng asked again: "Then the Wang family is willing to demolish Yi Laoyuan?"

Technically speaking, there is no difficulty in building a new city gate. The real difficulties are non-technical issues.

Official Lin replied casually: "I didn't ask about it later, so I probably didn't want to."

Prime Minister Guo Xian was speechless. That was an 80-acre urban garden. The Wang family would definitely not be willing to demolish it!

In this optimal location, how can we build a city gate without settling the matter of the royal garden first?

Official Lin patted his chest and said with assurance: "Shan Ren has his own clever plan, please rest assured, Mr. Guo!

Start the city gate project when it's time to start, build it when you need to, don't worry about the future!

When did I, Lin Tailai, fail in the big things I wanted to do? "

Guo Xiancheng confirmed: "No matter what, the Wang family will be left to you to deal with. I will not be responsible for the Wang family!"

This is not because Prime Minister Guo is timid. If he was really timid, he would not have taken the risk to follow Lin Tai in the first place.

But the Prime Minister of Guo County is self-aware. He knows that he, the Prime Minister of Zuo Erguan, simply cannot deal with the Wang family, one of the four major families in Wu County.

Lin Tailai nodded and agreed, "Okay! Just leave the Wang family to me!"

Although Lin Daguan has many shortcomings, he can still shoulder the responsibilities he has to shoulder.

Then I heard Lin Tailai: "The Wang family previously colluded with Zhang Siwei's minion Zhu Zhifu, and now it is Zhang Siwei's remaining poison."

Guo Xian Cheng: "."

This is the residual poison, and the other is the residual poison. Guo Xiancheng really wants to ask, in this city of Suzhou, does Zhang Siwei have too much residual poison?

In Shen Shixing's hometown, the people you characterized as Zhang Siwei's minions and residual poisons seem to be more numerous than Shen Shixing's accomplices. Doesn't it seem too weird?

Finally, Lin Tailai said: "Anyway, I only have one request. The new city gate must be completed before New Year's Day! If the manpower is not enough, add more manpower!"

After leaving the Wuxian County Government Office, it was already getting late, so I went back to Sun Lianlian's house to rest.

The next day, Official Lin was going to the Inspectorate in the south of the city to see Governor Zhao.

Now that Zhang Siwei is dead and the situation has become clear, it is time to guide the governor's work.

From Sun Lianlian's house in the north of the city, walk along Wolong Street to the south of the city, passing near Shen Mansion.

Originally, Lin Daguan had no intention of visiting the Shen Mansion today, but he heard the continuous sound of firecrackers.

So I turned a corner and walked outside the gate of Shen Mansion. I saw a cart of firecrackers pulled by the servants of Shen Mansion, and there were gongs and drums playing loudly, making it very lively.

Lin Tailai was speechless, what kind of character is Mr. Shen?

Even if Zhang Siwei's death is indeed good news, it shouldn't be celebrated with such blatant firecrackers, right?

This kind of political morality is indeed a bit corrupted and has seriously affected the reputation of the Update Society!

He casually grabbed a servant of Shen Mansion and asked, "Is your second master crazy? Have you lost your face?"

The servant almost went crazy, but after seeing clearly that it was Mr. Lin, he quickly explained:

"Don't get me wrong! Our second master didn't set off firecrackers for Zhang Siwei!"

Lin Tailai said dissatisfiedly: "What happy event can you guys have in the Shen Mansion that deserves to be celebrated like this? Could it be that Second Master Shen gave birth to several sons at the same time last night?"

The servant then explained: "There is news from the capital that my master was summoned by the emperor alone for half an hour for questioning!

This is a grand event that has not happened in recent years. How can it not be worthy of celebration? "

Lin Tailai: "."

If placed in other dynasties, it would be a normal thing for ministers, especially prime ministers, to be personally summoned by the emperor.

But in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, being summoned by the emperor in private and having a few words with the emperor actually became an event worthy of crazy celebration.

If nothing else happens, this may be the last time Emperor Wanli summons his ministers to speak in private.

In the past few years after the liquidation of Zhang Juzheng, Emperor Wanli still wanted to pretend to be diligent in his duties. He was pushed to the point where he had no choice but to go to court occasionally, and the ministers could still look at the emperor from a distance.

But in a few years, Emperor Wanli would stop going to court at all. He would isolate himself in the palace and have no contact with ministers at all, just like his grandfather, Emperor Chenghua.

Anyway, with such a legitimate excuse, Lin Daguan had no reason to stop Shen Er from celebrating.

On the way to the Procuratorate, the Zhang brothers sighed together: "Second Master Shen was so upright at the beginning, but now he has learned to be yin and yang."

Even the Zhang family brothers could see that the Shen Mansion was beating gongs, drums and setting off firecrackers, clearly to celebrate Shen Shoufu being summoned by the emperor, but there was something else in mind.

When they arrived at the Governor's Court located in the southwest of the city, Lin Daguan was naturally treated as a distinguished guest.

Lin Tailai took a few sips of tea, and then said: "Now that the backbone of the enemy camp has been broken, Futai can go to Shu to impeach Magistrate Zhu!

Suzhou Prefecture is the core of Jiangnan. With the prefect of Suzhou Prefecture to offer sacrifices and establish prestige, who would dare to disobey the other prefectures in Jiangnan? "

Zhao Zhigao asked shamelessly: "What is the reason for impeachment?"

Regarding the crime of arrogance, Lin Daguan was so professional that he spoke without thinking:

"Prefect Zhu has three major crimes! The first one is that he neglected his duties and caused a tax-resistance crisis in the whole government, which has not yet been completely quelled.

The second article was to arbitrarily deteriorate the ancestral system and forcibly take over the county agricultural warehouses, but mismanage them, resulting in huge deficits in the two counties of Fucheng. "

Hearing this, Zhao Zhigao temporarily interrupted Lin Tailai and said doubtfully: "It has been found that Jinong Warehouse has a deficit? Didn't you just get the seal of this year's account book yesterday?"

Lin Tailai said disapprovingly: "Isn't it easy to create a deficit? Even if there is no deficit, management problems will definitely be discovered!

The third charge is that the Minister of Transportation flattered Zhang Siwei, and took advantage of Siwei's power to disobey and act violently. The whole city knew it!

That's about it, you can just make it up yourself. "

Zhao Zhigao thought about it and found that he didn't need to add anything at all. He could just write the bullet according to Lin Tailai's wishes.

Is this what we call, just listen to professionals when it comes to professional matters?

Then Zhao Zhigao talked about other matters and said with a little worry: "I have been going to understand the situation in various places in the past few days. The autumn grain collection progress in Suzhou Prefecture is quite slow."

In this season, the first important errand of the Jiangnan governor is to collect taxes. Nothing is more important than this.

Lin Tailaikuan explained: “In Suzhou and even the entire Jiangnan region, the most important grain will be shipped after the spring next year.

So as long as we collect them all before next spring, it's not too late. There's no need to be too anxious now. "

Zhao Zhigao said with great pressure: "But the current progress of Suzhou Prefecture is indeed too slow. We can't really delay it until next year."

Lin Tailai advised again: "While we were on the way, we had already submitted a petition to the imperial court to waive the arrears of Suzhou Prefecture for the past ten years.

When the imperial edict is issued to Suzhou, the people's grievances will be alleviated, and this year's tax collection will naturally be easier to handle! "

Lin Tai's words were still too vague, which made Zhao Zhigao feel uncertain. He asked inquiringly: "What can be done specifically?"

It’s not like Governor Zhao has never been a local official. He knows very well that even if there are good policies, they may not necessarily have a good effect at the grassroots level.

How to transform good policies issued from above into positive driving force at the grassroots level is the test of local governance capabilities.

Lin Daguan still said without thinking: "Isn't this simple?

Even if the imperial court exempts Suzhou Prefecture from ten years of arrears, it is only an opinion in principle. How to implement it in detail does not depend on how you control Futai?

For example, if your tax payment performance is good this year, you will be exempted; if your tax payment performance is poor this year, you will not be exempted! "

Governor Zhao suddenly felt like the sun was clearing from the clouds, and he felt like he had a sudden enlightenment!

His psychological pressure has also been reduced a lot. As long as there is a solution, he is not afraid of problems.

After guiding the governor's work, Lin Daguan stood up and left.

Walking outside the procuratorate again, Senior Official Lin thought about the experience of visiting four government offices in two days, and sighed:

“Going back and forth between various yamen is really cumbersome and tiring, and the work efficiency is also very low!

It would be great if they could be centralized and provide one-stop guidance. "

The Zhang brothers roughly understood the meaning of sitting in the pavilion, and they couldn't help but secretly sigh in their hearts. Human desires are indeed endless, and it is difficult to be satisfied.

Being able to enter and leave the government office at will and take charge of affairs is already a good match for a local bully, but this still cannot satisfy the desire to sit in the government office.

After hearing the idea of ​​sitting in the restaurant, I actually began to dislike the trouble of running around and thought about opening an office and building a mansion.

In this way, when something happens, officials from other yamen can be summoned together to achieve what is known as "one-stop guidance."

Thinking of this, Protector Zuo Zhang Wen suggested: "Today, there should be one or several formal residences in the residence.

At the very least, there should be a place in the city, so that it can be worthy of the status of sitting in the hotel. "

Lin Tailai nodded and said, "It makes sense!"

The places where he often lived were Sun Lianlian's house in the city, which was not his residence; or the Xinxin Academy on Nanhao Street outside the city, which was the base of the community hall.

As for those in Hengtang Town, they still live in Tang Laotou's Courtyard, while in Mudu Town, they live in the Customs and Excise Department.

After counting, it turned out that there was no real "Lin Mansion" in Suzhou City.

The main reason is that Lin Daguan has not considered the marriage issue at present, so he has been dealing with the residence indiscriminately without paying much attention to it.

But now that my status has reached this point, if I don’t have a formal residence, the price will be a bit low.

All in all, opening a mansion must be put on the agenda.

However, Lin Tailai remembered something and said again: "Actually, there are real estate properties in the city. Mr. Zhang Youyu sold Taohua Temple in the north of the city to me.

That was Tang Bohu's former residence. Its character was worthy of mine, but it was too small, only two acres in size, and it didn't match my status at all.

The key is that the surrounding residential areas are densely populated, and it is difficult to further expand the house to a level worthy of my status. "

Zhang Wu, the right protector, said: "I have heard that the Zhang family in Fengqiao Town in the west set fire to the temple on the land in order to seize a piece of land."

Although Zhang Wu did not continue speaking, his meaning was self-evident.

Lin Tailai frowned and said, "Acting like this will harm the peace of the world, so you must not do it!"

Then he added: "The size of Taohua Temple is too limited after all, so we can just use it as an alternative place first.

In fact, I have another favorite place, but it is also quite difficult. "

The Zhang brothers had been following Lin Tailai for so long and knew a lot about Lin Tailai's thoughts, so they asked tentatively: "Canglang Pavilion in the south of the city?"

Lin Daguanren replied: "Yes, only here can I, Lin Tailai, be worthy!"

This is one of the four famous gardens in Suzhou City in later generations, and it is also the oldest existing garden in Suzhou City. It is absolutely stunning.

The most important thing is that Canglang Pavilion now has no "owner" and does not belong to any private person. It has always been managed by the government or the nearby temple.

From this point of view, it is actually better to seize and embezzle. No wonder Lin Daguan still thinks about it.

Zuo Dharma protector Zhang Wen made a mental calculation and said: "Nowadays, the city is densely populated with residents, and I'm afraid there aren't many suitable places to sit and practice.

The area around Canglang Pavilion is pretty good, with either temples or ancestral temples, and relatively open areas, so it is a very suitable location for residential use. "

Lin Daguan then decided to say: "When I have time in a few days, I will go to Canglang Pavilion to have a look first. If it is really suitable, I will find a way to get it."

The temptation of owning one of the four famous gardens is something that Lin Daguan cannot resist.

First formally establish this goal, and then wait until all aspects of the situation are stable before taking your time to focus on it.

Then Lin Daguan took his entourage and walked out of the city.

After coming back, I have been living in the city. Now that things have come to an end, it's time to go out of the city and have a look.

When passing through Xumen, the Zhang brothers reminded again: "Is the official leaving the city now? Don't you want to deal with Wang Jiayi's old garden first?"

Lin Tailai replied casually: "What are you doing to solve Yi Laoyuan?"

Zhang Wen was incredulous: "If we don't solve Yi Lao Garden, how can we build a new city gate?"

Official Lin waved his hand, "Don't worry, just do whatever you have to do. The people will help us solve it in the future! We must believe in the power of the people!"

After leaving the city, Lin Daguan did not go to the old stronghold to update the academy or Wulong Teahouse.

Nor did he go to Mudu Town, the de facto core area of ​​the current society, to mediate the relationship between the two women.

Instead, he boarded the boat and went straight to Hengtang Town, and then turned to his hometown of Linsong Village without stopping in the town.

As a dignified Jieyuan, Lin Daguan was the first to gain fame in the Lin family, although he was a martial artist.

According to the rules, you must go back to the ancestral hall in the village, pay tribute to your ancestors, and then show off to the surrounding villages. This is called Guangzong Yaozu.

Lin Daguan cannot refuse these traditional habits, otherwise he will really become an alternative.