Rise From the Humble

Jia Langzhong, Zhao Langzhong and others warmly invited Zhu Pingan to Zhang Guanku's office room, and told Zhu Pingan carefully about Taicang's "practices". In addition, Secretary Liu, Secretary Zhang and others were playing drums on the side, and moved out Zhang Pingan. The manager waited for a long time for a reason, but it was hard to refuse such hospitality.

Inviting himself in front of everyone in the East Factory, it is expected that they would not dare to do anything evil at this time.

At the same time, Zhu Ping'an also wanted to see what kind of medicine they were selling in the gourd, so he followed them to Zhang Guancuna half-heartedly.

"Hehehe, Zihou is here, please come in quickly."

Zhang Guanku heard the commotion outside, and before Zhu Ping'an walked through the door, he greeted him with a gentle smile. Such enthusiasm, this scene is quite a bit like Cao Cao's style of greeting Xu You in the Three Kingdoms period. .

"Sir Zhang is so kind. I am ashamed to be a subordinate. I invite you, Mr. Zhang." Zhu Ping'an returned the gift with his hand.

After repeated courtesy at the door, Zhu Ping'an followed Zhang Guanku and others into the house, where the guests and hosts sat down.

Zhu Ping'an was humbly allowed by everyone to sit opposite Zhang Guanku.

It was getting dark outside, so three oil lamps were lit in the house, with the wicks raised, illuminating the room.

"Does Zihou know some of Taicang's 'customs'?"

Zhang Guanku was sitting on a chair, straightening his body as if at ease, looking at Zhu Ping'an calmly, like the endless sea, and asked softly like a famous scholar.

"I don't know about Ping'an, but I'd like to hear the details." Zhu Ping'an shook his head, and then pretended to ask for advice.

Zhang Guanku glanced at Jia Langzhong. Jia Langzhong knew what he meant and nodded slightly. Then he chuckled and attracted Zhu Pingan's attention. Then he smiled and said to Zhu Pingan, "Zihou can be regarded as his first time in Taicang. I don't know about Taicang." 'routine' is perfectly normal."

"Then let's talk about 'four and two equals' first." Jia Langzhong said with a smile.

"What is four ounces flat?" Zhu Ping'an asked curiously.

"Four taels are equal, haha, Zihou has been in Taicang for a few days, and he must have seen that it is very hard for the soldiers to carry the silver. Although we don't work hard, we are also very hardworking. Zihou, you don't know. It is common for us to stay up late and work overtime every year when taxes and salt taxes are collected and converted into silver. Think about it, the chief secretaries of various places and prefectures and counties such as North and South Zhili collect tax silver, horse grass, silk, cloth, and money. There are more than 20 items of silver such as banknotes, money yarn, grains, yellow wax, discounts, shipping materials, commercial taxes, deed taxes, salt taxes, stolen goods penalties, Liaoning rates, tax discounts, etc. It can be said that there is a lot of money, and I have to stay up late and work overtime for a month. More." Jia Langzhong looked at Zhu Pingan with a tired face and said with some emotion.

The foreshadowing is so vigorous and serious at the beginning, but the rest of the story will definitely not be serious.

Zhu Ping'an came to such a conclusion after listening to Jia Langzhong's foreshadowing.

really.

Next, when he heard Jia Langzhong's explanation of four-two draws, Zhu Ping'an sneered at Taicang's "routine" in his heart.

"At the local level, seeing how hard we are working, they all sympathize with us. Every year when they donate taels of silver to Taicang, they donate an extra 4 taels of silver for every 100 yuan to comfort us. We have refused many times. But this is a convention that has been established in Taicang and the local area for hundreds of years. The local government insists on this, and we have no choice but to abide by this convention. As for the extra 4 taels of silver, according to convention, 2 taels of it will be allocated to the treasury. Soldiers, and the other two taels are allocated to us, the Treasury officials and the Chaku envoys. This convention is commonly known as 'four ounces of flat'." Jia Langzhong slowly spoke out the convention of four taels of flat, as if they were also forced to do so. I have no choice but to abide by this convention.

After hearing this, Zhu Ping'an had no expression on his face. There was already a shocking wave in his heart, and he despised Jia Langzhong and others. For every 100 taels of silver, they charge 4 taels more. Taicang collects more than 2 million taels of silver every year. So just for the "four taels flat" alone, they collect more than 80,000 taels of silver every year.

What a burden this has put on the common people!

"How many are there in a year?" Zhu Pingan pursed his lips and asked calmly.

"It's not much, just over 80,000 taels of 'hard-earned money' in a year." Jia Langzhong shook his head disapprovingly and said lightly.

Not much? ! Isn't more than 80,000 taels of silver enough? It's equivalent to more than 48 million yuan in RMB. A fourth-grade official only receives a salary of more than 140 taels of silver every year. The money you get from this "custom" is enough to pay the annual salary of five to six hundred fourth-grade officials.

How many fourth-grade officials were there in the entire Ming Dynasty? !

Not much. Haha, it can be seen that they have more than one "routine" to make money, and it can be seen that the money they make is much more than the 80,000 taels.

Haha, "hard-earned money"? What you did was just your job. This is also called "hard-earned money". Isn't this just lying down and picking up money? !

Zhu Ping'an had a new level of understanding of the greed and shamelessness of Jia Langzhong and others.

"In the past, the treasury inspectors dispatched every year were all treasury officials. This year, with Zihou working so hard and laboriously to inspect Taicang, I think the higher authorities will no longer send treasury officers to inspect the treasury. Since then, the 80,000 taels of silver have been Zihou can get about 10,000 taels of hard-earned money. Although it is not much, it can be regarded as a consolation for Zihou's hard work in checking the treasury." Jia Langzhong raised his head and looked at Zhu Ping'an with a smile. .

"Ten thousand taels?!"

When Mr. Zhao on the side heard this, his face suddenly dropped, as if he was a little dissatisfied.

Look at your future! !

Zhang Guanku, who had been controlling the situation in the room, immediately glared at Mr. Zhao, and stared back at what Mr. Zhao was about to blurt out.

Under Zhang Guanku's gaze, Zhao Langzhong hesitated, muttered, and held his tongue. There were 10,000 dissatisfactions in his heart. Why should he give Zhu Ping'an 10,000 taels? In previous years, only four to five thousand taels of silver were given to Chakushi.

Now that Zhu Ping'an has been given more than twice as much, doesn't it mean that the money we receive is less? !

"Ten thousand taels" Zhu Ping'an clicked his tongue.

Just be tempted, haha, you Zhu Ping'an is nothing more than that, I bought you with a mere ten thousand taels of silver.

Seeing Zhu Ping'an smacking his lips, the smile on Jia Langzhong's face became even brighter, and Zhang Guanku's face also showed a smile.

"Do you know the consent of this 'convention'? If you know the consent, then I can accept it; if you don't know, then I can't accept a penny." Zhu Pingan glanced at Jia Langzhong, Zhang Guanku and others one by one, and shrugged slightly shrugged.

"Well, this has been done for more than a hundred years. This practice can be regarded as Taicang's rule. If Zihou refuses to accept it, wouldn't it be a violation of the rules?" Jia Langzhong advised earnestly.

Well.

Why do I break the rules when I try to keep myself clean? ! What kind of rule is this!

Zhu Ping'an smiled silently, held up his hands to plead guilty and said: "Zihou doesn't understand the rules, please don't blame me, sir. However, there is no reward for no merit, and checking the bank account is Ping'an's job. It's normal to order the number to go to the Yamen." There is enough time in the day, and I don’t have the merit to stay up late and work overtime for more than a month like all of you, so I have absolutely no shame in accepting this money."