When Qinzhou implemented the county system, it was named Tianshui County and governed six counties: Shanggui, Jicheng, Qingshui, Qinling, Longcheng and Chengji. The Weishui River runs through the middle of Qinzhou and divides the whole state into two. Basins and valley terraces with alternating wide valleys and canyons are formed on both sides of the Wei River. Far from the north and south of the Wei River basin, the terrain begins to rise upwards. The terraces are like jumping musical notes. Villages of different sizes are scattered among the mountains and ravines. , even the city of Gui, which is the state's capital, is also affected by this terrain.
Shanggui City is located in the open area on the south bank of the Weishui River, and then gradually rises towards the southern mountainous area. The buildings in the city are mainly tall and thick adobe houses. The square wooden windows are covered with paper-cut window grilles. They have many similarities with cave dwellings. It highlights the unique local flavor of the Loess Plateau. However, the constant flow of people on the streets, the merchants driving cattle, sheep and camels, and the cries of small vendors still made Shanggui City full of vitality.
Qinzhou is one of the inherent spheres of influence of the Yuan clan. The architectural style of the governor's office is naturally very different from the buildings in the city. Yuan Shan first served as a governor in Qinzhou for three years, and then went to Jingzhou in the north to serve as a governor for three years. , and then used the strong influence of the Yuan faction to squeeze out the previous governor, so that Yuan Shan was transferred back to Qinzhou as governor as he wished. After serving as governor for one term, he took the initiative to be demoted to chief governor, and served for another three years. He was promoted to governor, and such repeated operations enabled him to always perform his duties in Qinzhou. During this long period of time, he also expanded the governor's mansion into a castle. Although the front house retained the style of the governor's mansion, the back house continued to expand to the north.
The courtyard of the back house of the Governor's Mansion has rooms and doors, carved pillars and walls, and elegant windows. It is filled with beautiful boys and girls, singing and dancing all day long, day and night. It is simply a paradise on earth. But people in the front yard can never imagine that there is a cave behind a tall and thick wall in the dense jungle.
At this moment, in the east courtyard of the back house, the leaves and petals of colorful emerald green, fiery red, and golden precious flowers and trees are floating in the wind on the pavilion, sprinkled on the railings, and floating on the water.
In a pavilion with green and black cornices, a floor-to-ceiling red sandalwood screen inlaid with jade is located behind the master's seat. It is warm, simple, and natural in color, and is obviously an extremely expensive thing. The middle-aged man sitting in front of the screen is Yuan Shan, the head of the house and the governor of Qinzhou.
Tables were placed on both sides of the table below the main seat, and the seats were filled with beautiful ladies of extraordinary beauty. There is a beautiful woman on each side of Yuan Shan serving him. The beautiful maid on the left has her breasts half exposed, full of charming and bright charm. This girl's name is Wenzhu, and she is the most popular among Yuan Shan's many concubines. Pampered person.
The beauty on the right is named Xiao Jian. Her dress is very subtle and elegant. Her icy skin is not exposed at all. She has a bright red plum blossom between her eyebrows. Her shiny black hair has nothing but an emerald green crested hairpin. Other decorations, although the fair and pretty face has not been applied with makeup, it still looks crystal clear, white and elegant. However, the bulging Adam's apple under the jaw proves that this "beautiful girl" is actually a man wearing women's clothing. This is the male favorite that Yuan Shan has raised for many years.
Yuan Shan was wearing a white-collared Luo shirt. His many years of pampered life had made him full of the nobility of a superior person. Unfortunately, his aquiline nose made him a little more treacherous.
Speaking of which, everyone in Qinzhou has no bad feelings towards Yuan Shan. Although Yuan Shijun, who has repeatedly switched between being the chief official and the governor, has no outstanding political achievements, he has always done things step by step. It can also allow Qinzhou to develop slowly. Over the years, he has also built many roads and canals that benefit the people during the slack period. What is rare is that apart from the taxes he should collect, he has never harmed places by accidental designation, nor has he A provision was made to impose heavy taxes and miscellaneous taxes.
It’s not that he cherishes the people and cares about their power, nor that he is honest and honest, but that he knows that there is nothing to be squeezed out of the people and despises the petty profits. He is bolder than other corrupt officials. Because he is greedy for the imperial court's wealth.
In the first year of his first appointment as governor, Yuan Shijun, who had been serving as an official in Qinzhou, happened to catch up with a severe drought in Qinzhou. The drought that year was actually not serious, but Qinzhou's weak foundation still made most people suffer from hunger and cold.
So as a matter of course, Yuan Shan, as the governor of one side, petitioned the imperial court to provide relief to the victims. His memorial was brilliant in writing and exaggerated the not serious drought in Qinzhou into a miserable scene of thousands of miles of red land and Yi Zi eating each other.
In fact, this is also a common trick used by many local officials. Some officials who serve in poor and remote places far away from the center of the court have little money to make in the local area. As long as there is an opportunity to ask for money and food from the court, there will be no disaster. A small disaster repays a big disaster, and half of it comes true in the end, which is quite honest.
In addition, what local officials like to do is to declare project construction to the court. Once the court approves it, they can only provide food and drink for the people during the construction, and keep the rest of the money; when the court sends officials to inspect and accept the project, As long as they see that the project was completed on schedule, the quality is good, and no lives were lost, it will be approved as a matter of course; even if the inspection and acceptance officials conduct careful inspections, the "civilians" they face will always be the shills arranged by local officials. , In this case, how did the court know about the construction process?
Yuan Shan did the same thing. After the memorial he wrote in the year of drought reached the court, Yang Jian allocated a large sum of money to provide food relief to the victims without saying a word. At that time, Yang Jian was busy dealing with the Turkic Khanate and rushing to govern the land of Nanchen. How could he have the energy to pay attention to the disaster in Qinzhou? Besides, Qinzhou was so close to Guanzhong, and he never dreamed that Yuan Shan would dare to do something under his nose.
As a result, Yuan Shan only distributed a small amount of relief rice in a symbolic manner, and most of the relief materials were misappropriated by him.
After Yuan Shan tasted the sweetness, he reported no disaster in the second year. The people who didn't know that the imperial court had exempted them from taxes continued to pay taxes. In this way, the taxes paid by the people to the imperial court were withheld by Yuan Shan and the imperial court allocated them. The disaster relief money and food he ordered were also withheld by him.
He was greedy for the imperial court and local government, and he became very fat for a while.
Qinzhou was originally the Yuan family's inherent sphere of influence, and local officials were originally frightened by national laws and did not dare to do anything. But when they saw that the governor was taking the lead in being greedy and bolder than the Tengu, what else were they afraid of?
Although some officials want to remain clean, who is free from disasters and money-grubbing people? As long as one of their relatives received some benefits, it would be Yuan Shan's most advantageous leverage, making it difficult for the officials to turn back.
Yuan Shan also knew that in order to maintain this situation, he must make his subordinates work together, so he never thought of eating alone. For a time, all local officials in Qinzhou became part of the corruption network. Even some conscientious officials who wanted to clean themselves had to succumb to corrupt officials in the end.
If others are greedy but you are not greedy, who will work with you? Who are your friends? Moreover, promotions are all based on the testimonials and recommendations of your superiors. How can the emperor recognize you as a low-level official? Anyone who wants to be alone will be ostracized and criticized from top to bottom. In the end, Qinzhou officials protected each other and were in a situation where no officials were corrupt. Without strong external forces, it would have been impossible to expose this huge shady story.
The imperial censors inspected Qinzhou every year in accordance with the rules, but Qinzhou's top and bottom colluded, and Yuanshan used Yang Yong and now Yuanpai as a shield. Therefore, this appalling corruption case has been going on for nearly ten years. No one found out.
In addition, Yuanshan also worked with the Yuan family and Qinzhou officials to resell Qinzhou official rations to Tuyuhun; this was done through Zhang Jun, the former Taozhou governor who also stole and sold official rations and military rations; but Yuanshan was luckier. What is surprising is that he has a powerful family and a powerful power network as the backing, so when the imperial court thoroughly investigated the official warehouses across the country, the Yuan family used the grain and grain ships of the Dugu family to help him fill the huge hole in time, and Zhang Jun was far away in Taozhou, and there was no help from big forces, so it suddenly collapsed.
"Hahahaha..." Yuan Shan suddenly laughed loudly while enjoying the graceful singing and dancing.
He thought that the news was over, so he handed over the 100,000 shi of tax collected this year to the Yuan family's caravan in half a month. Among them, 30,000 shi of grain payment fell into his pocket, and the remaining 30,000 shi of grain payment was obtained by the Yuan family. Forty percent was divided among Qinzhou officials. Today is another good year in Qinzhou. When the autumn grain arrives, it will be a huge sum of money. Why won't Yuan Shan be overjoyed?
However, the evil star Yang Ji passed through Qinzhou, which really made Yuan Shan restless and had trouble sleeping and eating for several days. Fortunately, the evil star passed through the city without entering, and he was sent out of the country as a gift. If he really If I stay in Shanggui City for a few days, I'm afraid there will be clues.
Yuan Shan's worries were gone, and now he was drunk again. He stood up happily. Wen Zhu and Xiao Jian saw that he was swaying, so they quickly stood up to help him. Yuan Shan hugged the slender waists of the two beauties and said with high spirits: "I have been busy with official duties these days and have neglected the two beauties. Now I finally have some free time. Today we will use the sky as our quilt and the earth as our bed." Make a bed and have a good time."
Wen Zhu and Xiao Jian glanced at each other, their faces flushed. This Yuan Shan likes both beauties and men. Sometimes he goes to extreme lengths and even lets his male favorites and concubines have sex and fool around in front of them to help his "interest" and "elegance"; sometimes even worse. After taking a large amount of Wu Shi Powder, he was sandwiched between a male favorite and a beloved concubine, pretending to be both a man and a woman. He also said euphemistically: "This is the character of a famous man and the style of a madman. We cannot let the sages enjoy their beauty alone." name."
The beauties sitting on both sides of the table got up one after another, and when they were about to lay down the carpet for Yuan Shan to play with, a MILF, a very charming female steward, held up her two half-exposed balls. She walked over and whispered a few words to Yuan Shan, who was immediately startled.
With a voice as charming as bone marrow, the female steward said coquettishly: "Alang, Mr. Yuan Min is here. He is waiting in the inner study. Look..."
Yuan Shan let go of the two beauties and said without hesitation: "You can play by yourself, I'll come and take a look!"
Yuan Min is Yuan Shou's son and Yuan Shan's nephew. He is young and has a lower seniority. However, Yuan Zhou and Yuan Shou not only support him as the heirs of the family, but also plan to push them to the position of leaders of the Wuchuan Alliance. How can Yuan Shan How dare you neglect it?
What's more, the reason why Yuan Shan got through the difficulties without any danger was all because of Yuan Min's running and activities. Therefore, Yuan Min was still his savior. In public and private matters, Yuan Shan was inferior to others in front of him.
Yuan Shan hurriedly drank a bowl of iced hangover soup, rinsed his mouth, wiped his face, and walked from the secret passage in the backyard to the inner study.
Yuan Min, who was waiting silently, saw him coming. He immediately stood up and saluted with clasped fists: "My nephew has met my uncle."
"Good nephew, no courtesy." Yuan Shan thought of Yuan Min's arrival without any warning, so he didn't say much. After sitting down, he asked directly: "My good nephew came to Qinzhou suddenly. Could it be that there is something important that the family needs me to do?" ?”
"Yes!" Yuan Min nodded and said with high spirits: "Uncle Haojiao has learned that Dugu Shun and Dou Wei have decided to give up their position as leader of the alliance to my Yuan family."
Yuan Shan was overjoyed, struck hard with both palms, and said excitedly: "This is a great thing."
"It is indeed a good thing." Yuan Min nodded and said solemnly: "But they also made an offer that we cannot refuse."
"What conditions?" Although Yuan Shan was greedy, he was extremely shrewd. He knew that this condition was related to him without even guessing, otherwise Yuan Min would not have arrived suddenly.
"It is to ask me, the Yuan family, to do something important in the near future that will convince the big families of Guanlong nobles." Yuan Min looked at Yuan Shan deeply and said slowly: "Didn't my uncle go to Weizhou a few days ago?" A profound lesson for Yang Ji, Master Cui, and the Li family? The head of the family decided to use all the power of Qinzhou to do this."
"..." Yuan Shan was dumbfounded. After he heard the news about Yang Ji passing through Qinzhou, he was indeed planning to teach Yang Ji a lesson in Weizhou. However, his purpose was not to Yang Ji, but to frame the Weizhou governor. Master Cui. As long as there is a vacancy in Weizhou, the family can also strive for the position of governor. At that time, they can do business with Dang Xiang Qiang and exchange ordinary grain for Dang Xiang Qiang's extremely valuable medicinal materials, animal skins, Animal bones, jade, gold and silver. He never expected that after his plan came into the hands of the family leader, it would turn into dealing with Yang Ji. However, as a member of the Yuan family who valued the interests of the family above all else, Yuan Shan decided to follow the arrangement of the family head and asked in a solemn voice: "But I don't know what the head of the family and the nephew are going to do? I want people to give people, money to give money, and money to give. Food gives food.”
After hearing Yuan Shan's statement, Yuan Min suddenly smiled with satisfaction and said grimly: "Actually, it's not as serious as what my uncle thought. The head of the family is just preparing to expand the number of 'horse thieves' to the extreme. No matter what the outcome is, we must Leaving some clues that can be connected with Dangxiang Qiang can draw the court's attention to Dangxiang Qiang, thereby deepening the conflict and hatred between the court and Dangxiang Qiang. As long as both sides are jealous, the Hehuang area will inevitably Chaos turned into a pot of porridge. Officials from Taozhou, Hezhou, Lanzhou, Kuozhou, Shanzhou and other states served the country and the people and were loyal to their duties. They would rather die in the chaos and die in the line of duty. It’s very reasonable for me; all the powerful families of the Guanlong aristocracy are military families, and it’s also very reasonable for the children of the military family to be in the war-torn Hehuang area, what do you think, uncle?”
"Everything is reasonable!" Yuan Shan laughed loudly. He understood what Yuan Min meant, which was to use the name of Dang Xiangqiang to disrupt the Hehuang area, use brutal killings to scare away the ordinary people who had migrated, and use assassinations to clear the Hehuang area. The officials in the Huang area created a large number of vacant positions for the Guanlong nobles to allocate, and created a large amount of unowned land for the Guanlong nobles to occupy. In this way, the Yuan family made great contributions to the Guanlong nobles and gained power and benefits. All the wealthy families want to accept favors from the Yuan family.
Yuan Min smiled and said, "Since uncle also thinks it's reasonable, let's hurry up and prepare."
"Okay, okay, okay!" Yuan Shan nodded with a smile and asked, "Are you prepared to personally direct this operation?"
"No, no, no!" Yuan Min shook his head and said indifferently: "Our Yuan family cannot afford the consequences of failure and exposure, so our uncles and nephews cannot come forward. It is best to let the 'horse thieves' come forward."
Yuan Shan suddenly understood, raised his thumb and said: "My nephew is still thoughtful."
Yuan Min pondered for a while and then asked: "Uncle, I want to go and meet the leader of the party, Tuoba Ningcong. Do you know any of his close friends here?"
Yuan Shan hesitated and said: "My son Yuan Lang is responsible for dealing with Dangxiang Qiang. He is sworn brother to Tuoba Ningcong's favorite youngest son Tuoba Fuhu. The two are close friends."
The Guanlong clan arose in Wuchuan Town, one of the six towns of the Northern Wei Dynasty. In fact, before that, each clan had been leading the charge for a while, and they collaborated in attacks and attacks with each other in different situations. For example, the Dugu tribe and the Helan tribe are both part of the Huns, representing the forces and interests of Mobei. However, the Tuoba tribe, the core of Guanlong, is from Xianbei, Liaodong. They have different foundations, different bloodlines, and naturally different interests. It is just the current situation. To create heroes, everyone rose together in the six towns of the Northern Wei Dynasty. Since then, their interests have been consistent, so they are still connected to this day.
However, as the royal family of the Northern and Western Wei Dynasties, the Yuan family, who changed their surname to "Yuan", naturally inherited the interests and mission of the Tuoba family. Once they take the restoration of the country as their own responsibility, their own interests will inevitably conflict with other Guanlong clans. In order to strengthen their own strength and balance the various branches of the Guanlong nobles, the Yuan family worked hard to find allies outside the Guanlong nobles.
The two Dangxiang tribes were headed by Tuoba Ningcong and Tuoba Chici respectively. Yuan Shan asked his second son Yuan Lang and Tuoba Fuhu, the son of Tuoba Ningcong, to start a fight. "people" and so on, and then became sworn sworn lords with Tuoba Fuhu, not only for business, but also to win over a powerful external force for the Yuan family.
"Lang Di has made great achievements!" Yuan Min was overjoyed and said with a beaming smile: "Uncle, please ask Lang Di to accompany me to Dangxiang Qiang."
"This..." Yuan Shan glanced at Yuan Min and said hesitantly: "Dang Xiang Qiang is not a kind person, and my nephew is the future head of my Yuan family, how can I take such a risk?"
"Uncle, you are worrying too much!" Yuan Min smiled and said nonchalantly: "The ancients said, 'If you don't enter the tiger's den, you won't get the tiger's cubs.' For the sake of the Yuan family's great cause, what's the harm in my nephew taking this trip? If we can't even get together Dang Xiangqiang doesn't dare to go, so how can he lead the Yuan family to glory in the future? Besides, with Lang Di's relationship, how can there be any danger? "
Yuan Shan thought for a while, nodded and said: "That's fine! I'll prepare a generous gift for you brothers, so that you can meet Tuoba Ningcong."
"Thank you uncle."
"It doesn't matter."
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