Obviously, the theory of Feng Shui is illusory. The great master asked Bao Ba on the way and talked to Xu Song about the laboratory. The other party was definitely here because of the matter of the laboratory.
As for the purpose of Master Fan, the right minister of the Nanjing Ministry of War, it is unknown.
In the room, after Xu Dai announced personally outside the door, Fan Shouji and Shi Shiran walked in.
When he saw the Grand Master, Fan Shouji didn't seem surprised. Instead, he smiled and said, "Xiao Shigong, I came at the wrong time. I didn't expect that my righteous uncle is here too!"
Because the Grand Master's rank was the fourth rank, although Fan Shouji was younger than him, the assistant minister was the third rank. When he saw Fan Shouji, he stood up with a dark face and saluted: "It turns out to be Master Fan! What kind of wind has brought Master Fan here?" ?”
Fan Shouji didn't pay attention to the ridicule in his mouth, but smiled and said: "Isn't it strange that my righteous uncle didn't go anywhere else just after taking office, but he came to Hailing County first!"
The two of them didn't talk to each other, they each snorted coldly and turned away.
At this time, Fan Shouji took out a letter from his arms and handed it to Xu Song: "Xiao Shigong, this is the letter that the Chief Assistant asked me to bring to you!"
Xu Song supported his sick body and took the letter, but he did not open it. Instead, he put it next to his pillow and asked, "Why did Mr. Fan come to Hailing? You didn't inform me in advance so that I could have someone pick you up!"
Before Fan Shouji could speak, the Grand Master sneered: "What else could it be for? Someone must have made a cat and smelled fish!"
Fan Shouji chuckled, but did not answer. He turned to Xu Song and said, "The little bandits in Jiangyanpu have made such a big noise, and it has been going on for a long time. Everyone in the court is very concerned about it. I am here to go and see Chen in person." In response to the imperial edict, the army urged the Yangzhou guards to quickly clear out the bandits to prevent the bandits from escaping too much and causing trouble again."
The three people present knew that the so-called supervision of Chen Yingzhao's suppression of bandits was the reason, but neither Xu Song nor the Grand Master revealed it.
The Grand Master sat on the stool and kept sneering. On the other hand, Xu Songdao nodded and said thank you for your hard work.
After a while, he asked Xu Dai to see him off because of his poor health.
After the two left, today's affairs were about to come to an end, but Xu Song ordered someone to call Xu He in.
After seeing Xu He, Xu Song sighed and said, "Your health matters may change."
Xu He was shocked when he heard this. He didn't know what was going on. He was the head of both the county examination and the government examination, and he had a guaranteed reputation as a student member. Moreover, his performance in front of the grand master just now was almost perfect, but...
Xu Song frowned and leaned against the bed, with a heavy look of worry lingering on his brows.
After a long time, he finally said: "This scholar's name is Yang Yinqiu, also known as Yishu. There are three brothers in the family. Although the elder brother Yang Yinchun and the younger brother Yang Yindong have not become officials, they are very talented and learned. They are all popular people around the East Palace! "
Xu Hexin said okay, righteous uncle, righteous uncle, it turned out to be the best.
Xu Song continued: "This time he came, firstly, under the instruction of His Highness the Crown Prince, and secondly, under the entrustment of Xia Yangqiu, the second assistant, to come to Hailing to try to transfer the remaining salt from the hands of the kitchen households in the Lianghuai Salt Farm through us. Collect these local snakes and sell them, and the money earned will be given to the prince."
"Moreover, he wants me to join forces with friends from the DPRK and China to recommend Xia Yangqiu to serve as the judge of the salt transportation between the Huaihe River and Huaihe River, especially the transportation judge here in Yangzhou."
Xu He was shocked when he heard this.
The salt farm is actually similar to a village. There are many wealthy kitchen households here, and there are also many extremely poor households who don't even have production tools.
By lending salt fields or production tools, wealthy households, like landowners, exploited the poor people with seeds and fields.
This situation has resulted in a phenomenon in which poor households flee or take refuge in wealthy households.
The state collects salt in a rationed manner from each household, and the poor households have fled, but the rich households have control of human resources and production materials, so their salt output often exceeds the limit of the court's ration purchase by a thousand or a hundred times.
Some people can't help but ask, are you stupid if the court doesn't accept your salt? Still producing so much?
How could these wealthy kitchen households be fools? The remaining salt in their hands is the largest source of private salt.
The imperial salt industry adopted the method of opening up the country. As a result, a large number of salt households fled, causing the dilemma of merchants who had salt on their bodies but could not get the salt. In addition, private salt became more and more widespread, causing the country to be unable to collect taxes.
In the meantime, the Kai-China Law has been in vain in recent years. Because of these two loopholes, the national finances have lost nearly 6 million taels in salt tax every year from the Lianghuai Salt Farm alone.
Xu He frowned and said: "Uncle, His Highness the Crown Prince is not only interested in Yinggen and wants to earn this year's Lianghuai salt tax by distributing Yinggen indiscriminately, he also wants to control private salt by purchasing the remaining salt from Zao households. He What exactly do you want to do? These two things are major events that will destroy the foundation of our salt tax in Wei Dynasty. As the prince of a country, doesn’t he know that clearly?"
"So I don't want to get involved in this kind of thing, and I don't want the Xu family to get involved!" Xu Song sighed, "But this is tantamount to offending the prince and Xia Yangqiu. It doesn't matter to me as a dying old man, but your reputation as a student..."
In his opinion, Xu He was the most likely talent in the Xu family to become a high school scholar in recent years. He thought that with Yang Yinqiu's arrival, he would give Xu He a boost, but who would have thought that Yang Yinqiu had an ulterior motive.
Xu He said angrily: "Confucius said: [In discussing what is true and right, who is a gentleman, or who is a Zhuang?]"
Seeing him suddenly say this, Xu Song was a little confused and said: "What?"
Xu He sneered: "This grand master, on the surface, is full of authority and speaks and acts fairly, but in fact, in private, he helps the prince to do such rotten things that destroy the foundation of the country and suck up the people's wealth! My nephew thought of what he had just done Ethnic studies examine the meaning of this scripture from others. Sure enough, you should listen to their words and also observe their actions. You know the person but not the heart!"
Xu Song continued: "So, it seems that Mr. Fan just now is also the mouthpiece of a high-ranking person?"
Xu Song nodded and said: "He is the first assistant to Qin Yan. Qin Yan is the same year as me. He wants to use our friendship from the same year to help him do the same thing!"
Xu He was completely disappointed when he heard this. What happened to this country?
The emperor's two sons, the prince and the king of Qi, both had their own little ones.
Behind them stood the first and second assistants of the cabinet.
These people who are thinking about the future and destiny of the country are not thinking about the future and destiny of the country, they are not thinking about the life and death of the people, and they are not thinking about the situation where internal and external troubles are getting worse than ever. Instead, they are only thinking about how to survive in this country and the people of this country. The body continues to have bones and marrow sucked out.
It sucks, it sucks!
"Uncle, I understand, it's okay if this student doesn't do it!" Xu He could accept low-level officials like Hu County Cheng receiving money to do things, but a country's prince, prince and auxiliary ministers also died. He felt that the country had no I hope!
Xu Song took a deep look at Xu He and said: "Don't be discouraged. This country is not just about Qin Yan and Xia Yangqiu. Sometimes the words of the prince and the king of Qi are not that useful. I hope you stay useful and hide your sword in its sheath." ! Do you understand?”
Xu He nodded dejectedly, what else could he do now?
