The yamen servant agreed very much with what Zhu Yuanzhang said, and then changed his tone and said impatiently:
"Stop talking nonsense, this is the rule set by our county magistrate."
"If you want to see our Lord County Magistrate, you have to pay money. Without money, how can you qualify to see our Lord County Magistrate?"
"Just now that person said that you are wealthy businessmen from the capital. Now it seems that 80% of them are fake!"
"If you don't have any money, leave as soon as possible. The county government office is not a place where you and other unscrupulous people gather!!"
Zhu Yuanzhang felt a surge of anger rising from his chest and going straight to the top of his head.
Liu Bowen next to him was also stunned by Li Jin's boldness, and he actually blackmailed the emperor.
Are you just afraid that the emperor won't kill him? You must know that what the emperor hates most is corrupt officials.
Seeing Zhu Yuanzhang's flushed face, Liu Bowen did not dare to dissuade him at this time.
Seeing that Zhu Yuanzhang was about to burst into thunderous rage, Queen Ma stood up.
Queen Ma took out twenty taels of silver from her arms, handed it to the Yamen servant, and then said with a smile:
"I have twenty taels of silver here. Are you qualified to see the county magistrate?"
Empress Ma was very curious about Li Jin, and naturally she didn't want to see him killed by Zhu Yuanzhang without any reason.
Standing up at this time is just to see what kind of official Li Jin is?
The gatekeeper took the silver in his hand, weighed it, and said:
"This lady still knows the general idea."
Just when the three of them thought they could enter the county government office, the government official changed the subject and continued:
"However, such a small amount of money will not be enough for my county magistrate."
"You know, the county magistrate is known as the God of Wealth. He doesn't meet you just by asking."
Zhu Yuanzhang held back his anger and said in a deep voice:
"Then what else do you want?"
“You have to pay more!!”
As soon as these words came out, Zhu Yuanzhang and others immediately looked at each other, twenty taels of silver was not enough?
The Yamen servant continued to talk and said:
"My county magistrate stipulates that any businessman who wants to see my master must first pay one hundred taels of silver."
"Whether you are asking my master to do something or want to do business, otherwise there is no need to discuss it."
Zhu Yuanzhang felt that he was extremely angry, and shouted in a cold voice:
"Aren't you afraid that the emperor will chop off his head when your county magistrate acts like this?"
"The Emperor has so many things to do, why would he pay attention to a mere county magistrate of my family?"
"Besides, my lord only takes money from your businessmen, and doesn't take any money from the poor people."
Speaking of this, the yamen servant looked sarcastic and chuckled:
"Does the Emperor still care about you businessmen?"
"If you don't have money, get out of here and don't delay the Yamen's work."
The Yamen officials demoted the merchant's status to nothing, but Zhu Yuanzhang could not refute.
Scholars, farmers, industry and commerce, this was what Zhu Yuanzhang determined. You must know that in the early Ming Dynasty, it was a sin for merchants to even wear silk.
Seeing the disdainful look in the government officer's eyes, Zhu Yuanzhang felt that he was about to go berserk.
But he was stopped by Queen Ma.
Queen Ma took out another eighty taels of silver and handed it to the Yamen servant.
"Please go in and inform us that we need to see you."
The officer collected the money and then said:
"Wait!"
Turn around and leave.
Looking at the man's leaving figure, Zhu Yuanzhang felt that his impression of Li Jin had dropped to the freezing point.
"This Li Jin is such a bastard, openly asking for bribes."
"If Li Jin can't give us a satisfactory answer later, we will have to kill this corrupt official."
Zhu Yuanzhang said this with gritted teeth.
"Your Majesty, please be patient. Let's go in and have a look together."
At this time, Liu Bowen finally stood up and said a few words of peace.
Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly and said nothing more. To him, Li Jin had gone from being a capable official in governing the world to a corrupt official in the Ming Dynasty.
After a while, the government servant finally came out of the government office.
"My lord, please go in quickly. My lord is waiting for you in the backyard of the government office. It's almost noon, and it's time for you to have lunch."
"I'm afraid the county magistrate will be unhappy if I delay his meal."
After Zhu Yuanzhang and the other three heard this, they stopped arguing with the yamen servants and walked toward the yamen through the open door.
Not long after walking, we arrived at the backyard of the government office.
As soon as he entered the living room, he saw a young man wearing a county magistrate's official robe, sitting at the head of the living room.
Although he is young, he looks very official.
Seeing the arrival of several people, Li Jin didn't even raise his eyebrows, as if he didn't want to pay attention to them at all.
Zhu Yuanzhang and the other three couldn't help but look up and down at the man in front of them.
When Li Jin saw several people entering the room, he didn't say anything about it, and directly spoke in an official tone:
"What do you want to do with me?"
Seeing Li Jin looking at people with his nostrils and not opening his eyes, it was clear that he didn't take them seriously.
Zhu Yuanzhang was immediately filled with hatred and wished he could beat this dog official right now.
But just when he was about to get angry, Queen Ma quietly pulled her sleeves and signaled him to calm down.
Zhu Yuanzhang suppressed his anger and said in a low voice:
"Let me ask you, why is there so much sand in the relief food in your Shanghu County?"
It was okay if he didn't say it. After saying that, Li Jin, who had his eyes closed suddenly opened his eyes.
"Have you gone to receive relief porridge?"
"I see that you are well-dressed, and you don't look like someone in need of relief. Why do you want to take advantage of it and drink the relief porridge?"
"Aren't you afraid that the victims will laugh at you?"
Li Jin's tone was very rude, and his words were full of disdain.
Zhu Yuanzhang felt great shame, his face turned red instantly, and he said in a gloomy voice word by word:
"We didn't drink."
"But we saw the victims drank it, and some even threw away the relief porridge."
“They say even dogs won’t drink this kind of porridge!!”
Seeing Zhu Yuanzhang's appearance, Li Jin knew that what he said must be the truth.
However, Li Jin did not intend to explain to him, after all, it would waste a lot of his time.
"What does this matter have to do with you? Is this kind of thing your responsibility?"
"You businessmen just need to make a lot of money. The water for relieving the victims is very deep, and you have no control at all!"
Li Jin's words were not very harmful, but extremely insulting.
"you..."
Zhu Yuanzhang felt that he was almost fuming with anger from Li Jin.
good very good! !
The grave of the person who dared to speak to us so arrogantly last time should be one foot high now.
We want to see how many heads this Li Jin has. Now we will return to Beijing and mobilize our troops to raid this dog official's home.
