Chapter 200 Do you want only salted fish?
"Master Marquis, Xiaguan is yours now, you have to think about Xiaguan..."
Huang Shijing wiped the sweat from his forehead, which was caused by cold sweat.
Chen Cao sat on the chair until Huang Shijing felt that she was too rude, then sat back down, and then looked directly at Chen Cao.
"I want to verify something." Chen Cao then said quietly: "Every time you catch salted fish from Shanghai, do you eat it yourself or sell it? Or do you directly send it to Suzhou as taxes?"
Huang Shijing quickly recalled: "Some lower-level officials took it, but most of them were sold to the local people in Huating, or they were sent directly to the Huating County government, and Liu Wenzheng was given a discount on his official salary. Over there, Suzhou Prefecture I’ll give it away too, but it’s just a little small.”
"How is your relationship with Yang Weizhi?"
Huang Shijing smiled awkwardly: "Although the official is attached to Donglin, the official still knows that Lord Yang was the official who served when Fang Congzhe was the chief assistant."
"Then it doesn't matter," Chen Cao nodded: "The salary in our Ming Dynasty is really too low. It's either Lumi or some spices. How can these things be exchanged for money? Even the salted fish you sent has to be sold by your men. For a long time, the restaurant sold only salted fish banquets at a certain time, hahaha..."
Huang Shijing's mouth twitched. He was anxious now. If Chen Cao didn't protect him, he, as a prefect, would be doomed.
Of course, Chen Cao saw Huang Shijing's thoughts clearly, and then stood up with a smile and patted his shoulder: "Master Huang, please feel free. You have become my son, and I will naturally protect you. You can rest assured about taxes. Later, After I saw Yang Weizhi, I looked at my eyes and acted..."
Huang Shijing quickly stood up and bowed her head to the end: "Thank you, Mr. Hou..."
.
"This restaurant is the property under my name." Chen Cao did not shy away from the rule of being an official and not engaging in business. However, when he was a nobleman and had no official position, he could do business openly: "It is still in the early stages. The decoration and construction should be compared to the Qinhuai Tower in Jinling. I guess Master Yang knows about the Qinhuai Tower."
"Qinhuai Tower is the number one restaurant in Jinling," Yang Weizhi said with a smile, "I know that."
"Master Yang, what do you think of the harvest of the fishermen in Suzhou and Song Dynasty?"
Yang Weizhi had already picked up the wine glass, but then put it down: "There are not as many fishermen in Suzhou as there are in Songjiang, so the catch is actually pretty good."
"Well, Hangzhou's West Lake vinegar fish is famous all over the world, and Suzhou's carp is also very popular. But in recent years, I heard that Japanese fish is popular in Suzhou. I don't know if Mr. Yang has ever eaten it."
Before Yang Weizhi could speak, Chen Cao said, "Come here, bring tonight's main course."
Chen Cao likes sashimi. After going to Japan, the people under his command fell in love with this seemingly simple but not simple dish.
However, the second dish after a large plate of sashimi is a dish of Shanghai salted fish, and what follows is all salted fish, either steamed, roasted or stewed.
As soon as there is too much salted fish, the taste comes immediately.
"There are some bosses..."
Chen Cao took a deep breath, then smiled and pointed to the salted fish sprinkled with a lot of chili powder: "This is a new dish recently invented by this lord. Master Yang, hurry up and try it."
There was a large plate of sashimi in the middle surrounded by a salted fish feast. Even though Yang Weizhi had perfected his energy-raising skills, at this moment, his scalp was numb from the salted fish feast...
Seeing that Yang Weizhi was reluctant to reach out, Chen Cao personally picked up a piece of spicy salted fish and put it into Yang Weizhi's bowl: "Come and taste it..."
When the Marquis personally brings you food, are you embarrassed to eat it?
Yang Weizhi was flattered and picked up his chopsticks and took a bite. There are no small spines in sea fish. Yang Weizhi, who usually eats salted fish once in a while, suddenly felt that it was his first time to eat such spicy salted fish and it tasted really good.
"how?"
Yang Weizhi nodded: "Marquis Dingwu is not only good at civil and military skills, but he also has such research in cooking."
"That's right," Chen Cao looked a little too proud, and then he changed the subject and continued to ask: "Then let's ask Mr. Yang to comment, how do you like this spicy salted fish?"
Yang Weizhi didn't know Chen Cao's intention. He thought it was a trivial matter to simply comment on someone else's food: "The food is delicious..."
"good..."
Chen Cao stood up and applauded repeatedly, surprising everyone at the table: "Since even Mr. Yang praised the benefits of salted fish, then...
Mr. Huang, this year all taxes from Shanghai County should be paid to the city salted fish. If the Songjiang Prefecture’s Yamen does not have enough food, all taxes should be paid to the city’s salted fish, so as to avoid the embarrassment to the prefect Huang..."
Huang Shijing stood up and saluted Chen Cao with a grateful look on her face: "Master Hou is considerate of the official's difficulties, and the official is grateful."
Yang Weizhi's face turned green immediately. What did he mean by this?
"Marquis Dingwu, how can this...this salted fish...this salted fish be able to pay taxes?"
Chen Cao looked horrified: "Can't you pay the taxes?" After saying that, Chen Cao immediately stared at Huang Shijing with a serious face: "Prefect Huang, how were the taxes in Shanghai County paid in previous years?"
Huang Shijing immediately broke out in a cold sweat: "There are not enough people registered in Shanghai County, and the county is poor. Most of the local people are engaged in fishermen's livelihood. Therefore, Shanghai County is required to pay taxes on fish catch every summer and autumn, and the market price is deducted from the tax."
Huang Shijing's performance made Chen Cao very satisfied, and Chen Cao said sharply: "I want to ask you, are there any salted fish in the summer and autumn poems that your Songjiang Mansion has sent to Su Song Yamen over the years?"
Huang Shijing nodded with a headache: "I did send a lot of salted fish to Governor Yang's Yamen to pay. At that time, when it was time to pay the tax, the price of salted fish was very low under my rule, so much so that I am now under the official I still have a lot of dried salted fish at home that I can’t finish.”
Yang Weizhi looked at Chen Cao with an unkind expression and said, "Dingwuhou, according to your wishes, this time the entire Songjiang Prefecture will have to use salted fish to deliver the summer grain?"
Chen Cao turned to look at Huang Shijing: "Prefect Huang, this county only has salted fish. According to past practice, do you accept it or not?"
Huang Shijing wiped cold sweat: "As usual, we will accept..."
"So Magistrate Huang, what should you do with the salted fish you collected?"
"This...this..."
Chen Cao smiled: "You don't have to be afraid. I am here to discuss with Mr. Yang, and we will definitely be able to solve it perfectly."
"Yes... after collecting this, we will first sell it under Huating's rule. If it really can't be sold, we will exchange it with the market price of salted fish and the price of grain, and escort it to the governor's office."
The purpose of Yang Weizhi's trip was to squeeze Chen Cao. The relief for the hundreds of thousands of refugees was initially provided by Songjiang Prefecture, which opened the grain treasury for relief. The grain in the treasury was used to prepare for the next year's summer grain. , and the oil and water in Songjiang Prefecture is still okay. If Huang Shijing is defeated in a battle, the prefect of Songjiang Prefecture can let the people in power make rearrangements.
Now that the Eunuch Party is in power, Yang Weizhi, who was born in the Zhejiang Party and is attached to the Eunuch Party and has been flirting with him, will naturally come to Songjiang Mansion to find trouble with Chen Cao under the instructions of the leader Feng Quan. The reason for this is naturally based on the court's most rigorous Xia and Autumn Fu. Come on, no one dares to act recklessly in front of taxes.
Of course, Yang Weizhi thought so before.
But he didn't expect that his opponent would not play according to common sense. Before his side could attack, his opponent would strike first.
"There's a traitor..." This was the first thing that came to Yang Weizhi's mind.
"That's right, I want to ask you, how long has your Songjiang Mansion been doing this?"
Huang Shijing handed over his hand: "This has been the case since the construction of Shanghai County."
"Shanghai County was built during the Jiajing period. Even excluding the Jiajing period, it must have been more than fifty years ago." Chen Cao said and looked at Yang Weizhi harmlessly: "Mr. Yang, it shouldn't be possible for Magistrate Huang to do this. Question."
Yang Weizhi had no choice but to say that this practice was a normal thing in the Ming Dynasty. Whenever officials could not pay out their salaries, the court would ask them to use the physical objects in the treasury under their rule as salary payments, and then let the officials do it on their own. Go to the market to buy and sell items in exchange for food and money.
It is precisely because of this kind of saucy operation that the corruption of officials in the Ming Dynasty was unprecedented and unprecedented. Even if they were stripped of their skin, they still could not deter those who wanted to become officials.
The advantage of being an official is to make money. If you don't make money, what books do those scholars read? Even Mr. Qian, whose water is too cold, isn’t greedy?
When Chen Cao saw that Yang Weizhi was silent, he took the bottle and poured wine for Yang Weizhi himself: "Master Yang, don't be nervous. I am a well-known eunuch traitor in the country. Naturally, I will not joke about Liang Fu, but these fifty The rules that have been established for many years, Lord Yang, cannot be broken just because of the arrival of this prince, and most of the refugees under the rule of Songjiang Prefecture are from Suzhou Prefecture;
Magistrate Huang is really not to blame for this matter. Relieving the refugees is also a good thing. I think your Majesty will not blame him. After all, they are all your Majesty's subjects. "
"Opening a warehouse to store grain without permission is dereliction of duty..."
Yang Weizhi still wants to regain his position, but the current situation is clearly not good for him.
Chen Cao shook his head: "No, Magistrate Huang did not open the warehouse to release grain privately, because I have agreed to this matter."
"Marquis Dingwu..." Yang Weizhi frowned: "When the summer grain time comes, if the grain escorted to Nanjing is not enough and trouble occurs in Southern Zhili, the lower officials will not take the initiative to take responsibility. Whoever deserves the bad luck will be the unlucky one."
Huang Shijing was shocked. It was obvious that Yang Weizhi's words were directed at him.
Chen Cao was stunned for a moment, then laughed: "Don't worry, Mr. Yang, there won't be any trouble in Nanzhili. Today's salted fish banquet is even said by Mr. Yang to be 'delicious food'. With this sentence, I believe that these salty fish feasts are delicious." The fish will definitely sell well in Suzhou Mansion in the future, and when the time comes, I will have to congratulate Master Yang for his ruthless vision."
"sinister?"
Yang Weizhi completely despised this eunuch in his heart, and then pretended to be helpless and said: "The official said the same thing. If you can't hold it back, the official will not take this responsibility."
"Don't worry. Come on, let's continue serving the dishes. I'll pass on my order to load the county's summer grain salted fish this year and transport it to Suzhou Prefecture by sea."
